......
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Shin danced around the group of Ice Golems as they bombarded him with a series of punches that destroyed the surroundings. The trees were taken down as well as the other plantation in the surroundings that were shielding them from the violent wind and intense downpour of rain that was sweeping through the entire place.
The strength of these ice golems was quite remarkable, but they were not enough to threaten Shin in the slightest. Their battle formation under Leviathan's control was also a little troublesome to deal with, but even that was still manageable.
What made Shin wary of these ice golems was they could divide themselves into multiple smaller golems after he cut them. Moreover, they would explode when they reached the smallest size that they could get.
The might of each explosion was so powerful that Shin was forced to retreat multiple times. Even his Psychic Barrier formed through his Demonic Telekinesis was not enough to withstand these explosions, especially when they were releasing a powerful ice wave every time they occurred.
The explosion froze the surroundings, which the barrier could withstand. But the sharp ice fragments mixed in the explosions were able to break through the barrier, forcing Shin to repeatedly retreat.
At times, he was also caught off guard by some slimmer golems that had a pair of arms formed into blades. They were executing complex and unorthodox swordsmanship that forced him to engage in a melee battle.
Aside from this, he also discovered that the Ice-Elemental Powers of his opponent were slightly stronger than the Power of Abyssal Moon that he wielded. It also carried the unique powers of Demons and Demonic Player, the Demonic Energy.
At first, Shin was not using his ice powers since it did not fit his current style and swordsmanship. Now, he had another reason not to use it – the opposing side was able to absorb his ice-elemental powers due to its superiority.
Fortunately, his other forms of mana and elemental powers were not affected by this. His Primordial Lighting was more than enough for him to hold his ground.
Regardless, the state of the battle was still in a stalemate as neither side could take down their opposition.
Shin had repeatedly tried to approach Leviathan, but the battle formation was so enough to block him. Even if he used his movement skills, the latter was cunning enough to maintain a decent space between them.
Even if Shin was able to break through the formation, the 'Puppeteer's Barrier' protecting Leviathan was sturdy enough to buy time for the ice golems to catch up to him.
Moreover, the barrier also possessed an ice aura that was affecting his movements once the freezing effects started to pile up. Even if his resistance coming from his equipment, titles, and battle physique was not enough to withstand these effects once they had accumulated enough stacks.
"Tsk! This is going to be a little troublesome," mumbled Shin as he dodged yet another bombarding attack from the ice golems.
At the same time, he also glanced in the direction where Alice and Belphegor were currently fighting. Then what he had seen was something he did not expect. The battle between those two mage-class players was much more intense than what was happening to his side.
"Woah! That is one hell of an exchange," he commented before focusing on his battle.
...
On the other side of the battlefield, Alice was somewhat having trouble keeping up with her opponent. She had to use some of her most advanced techniques to match the other party.
There were three elemental dragons surrounding her as she used one of the signature techniques that made her known as the Elemental Goddess.
'Legendary Combat Technique: Elemental Dragon Dance'
Just like Shin's 'Infinity Edge' and 'Eclipse Wielding', Alice had already promoted this technique to Legendary Rank and could even use them along with her spells, making it a part of herself and her overall style.
Currently, she could only summon three of the Elemental Dragons – the Wind, Lightning, and Water Dragons – due to the current situation and the environment that they were in.
Regardless, she was still able to use her three Elemental Spirit Possessions at the same time, making her 'Elven Partners' fuse with her magic.
This made the might of her Elemental Magic and the casting time of all her related spells reach another level.
But despite this being the case, she was still unable to force her opponent to move from his spot. She could not even force the other party to chant or make a hand gesture to cast a spell.
Moreover, even her innate talent – the Mind Reader that let her read the thoughts of her opponents – was ineffective against Belphegor.
Aside from that, there was also the strange power that kept bothering her since the start of the battle. She kept getting drowsy during the fight, making it hard for her to cast her spells. Her focus kept on slipping whenever she was trying to cast an advanced spell. Even if she tried to cast a cleansing skill to try to remove this debuff, it was still ineffective.
The surrounding mana gathered around him while a dark aura shrouded his body. The Mana that entered the magic formation was instantly corrupted and turned into dense Demonic Energy.
A pair of slender horns grew from each side of his temple and extended outwards, forming a wavy pattern.
'Racial Special Trait: Demonic Transformation (Perfect)'
He then sat on his broom lazy, but his eyes were full of savageness and liveliness. He stared at Alice, who was floating in the air while carrying a crafty smile.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
With a thought, the magic circles behind him released a blinding light before firing a barrage of shadow beams toward Alice.
Alice could instantly measure the might of each of these shadow beams. Each of them carried a power comparable to intermediate magic while the bigger ones would not lose that much against advanced spells.
Without holding back, she raised her Elemental Staff in the air commanding the surrounding mana to obey her command.
The Elemental Particles gathered in front of her before forming a sturdy wall made of wind elements.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
At the same time, the plants under her suddenly grew at insane speed while the fallen trees seemed to have become alive after heeding her call.
The thick roots of the trees and the vines of the plants grew and merged before forming a cocoon that surrounded Alice, protecting her from any harm.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The shadow beams first collided against the wind wall, weakening their impact, before landing on the wooden barrier that protected her.
The roots were instantly corroded by the demonic aura mixed in those shadow beams, making them rot at an extreme rate. But before they could affect the rest of the barrier, the affected parts immediately detached themselves from the rest. Then the roots and vines continued to grow, patching up the holes that appeared.
Within that cocoon-like barrier, Alice was busy chanting out a series of elven prayers, summoning rune after rune of elvish language that arranged themselves in a specific magic sequence.
Swoosh!
When she was done, the top of the barrier suddenly opened itself like a blooming flower, matching Alice as she pointed her long scepter toward the sky.
At the same time, a beam of light suddenly shot toward the sky, connecting the clouds and the top of her scepter.
Boom!
Then a thunder roared in the sky while flashes of lightning danced in the dark clouds.
Swoosh!
Roar!
Then a huge lightning dragon fell from the sky and headed straight to the spot where Belphegor was standing.
'Elven Sage Skill (Tier 2): Advent of the Thunder Dragon'
Boom!
The thunderous explosion reverberated in the entire mountain range while the ground shook violently when the dragon struck.
Electric currents filled the air, causing the surrounding trees to be scorched while releasing a series of cracking sounds.
The might of this spell signified how strong her current state was.
...