CH 545

Allen continued to fight with the Spirit Beast even as the cave collapsed.

"Hey! What's wrong!! Did you run out of Mana and Divine Power? Your attacks are getting weak!!"

'...'

(Could you at least react somehow? I really need you to loosen up your attacks.)

Allen knew his sword would not last much longer so he was starting to get desperate.

After the thousands of exchanged blows, the blade and the Spirit Beast's claws were cracked and about to break.

Now Allen was trying to distract his opponent to gain an advantage that way, but the Spirit Beast understood the situation they were in and completely ignored Allen's attempts.

But then something happened. The water pouring through the ceiling diminished, meaning the Spirit Beast would be unable to heal again. That caught its attention, and gave Allen an opening to attack.

(Yes, you finally looked away!!)

Possession Combination and Warrior's Roar had raised his Swordsmanship Level to 9, and Allen used that power to swing at the Spirit Beast's wrist to shatter it along with the claws.

"Huh?"

But the claws were not the only thing that shattered. The blade of Allen's sword did too.

'Kyuru! Kyuru!!'

The Spirit Beast saw and grinned widely, its mouth contorting.

"Wait a second!!"

(Timeout! I need a moment!!)

Allen held his palm up to stop the Spirit Beast while he desperately tried to take his spare orichalcum sword from his Grimoire with his other hand, but that took too long.

"Master Allen!!"

Sophie realized what happened and tried to use a Heaven's Blessing, but the Spirit Beast was faster than everyone else. One of its hands still had claws left, and it swung them at Allen.

The claws easily passed through his body now that his armor was broken, slicing him into various chunks of flesh that scattered on the ground.

His friends were speechless seeing that happen.

"Allen…Allen is dead!!"

Cecile loud cry finally broke the silence, desperately using a Heaven's Blessing from her magic bag, but it had no effect now. It was too late.

"Formar! Why didn't you shoot! You could've saved Allen!!"

Formar had held his [True Strong Bow] Skill ready the entire time but had not shot.

"Allen told me to keep it to deal the final hit. Look ahead, Luck. The fight isn't over yet."

'Kyururu.'

The Spirit Beast ginned seeing Allen's dead body, and slowly turned to face Cecile and the rest.

It clearly looked pleased with itself, as if boasting that defeating Allen was no big deal.

"We'll fight back at least a little, right Formar?"

"Yes, Lady Sophiarone."

Allen's friends would keep fighting until the end, even if Allen had died.

'They still won't give up then?'

'That's the kind of people they are.'

The Great Spirit God muttered, and Merus replied to him.

'I see…hm?'

"Hey, you fight too Merus! The Spirit Beast can't heal the claws back, so we have to…huh? Why is Merus still here?"

Cecile and the Great Spirit God were wondering the same thing.

Even though Allen had died, all his summons were still there.

"We should focus on the fight…Allen?"

Luck could not understand why Merus was still there, but he soon noticed the answer.

A burning feather was falling down behind the Spirit Beast.

It was only one at first, but then more came until there were dozens of them, falling like crimson phoenix feathers.

The feathers began to wrap on the chunks of Allen's body, and it quickly began to put itself back together. After a short moment, his body was back to normal and he picked up his spare sword.

"Phew, at least Warrior's Roar is still active. I guess buffs don't go away."

(And I resurrect with one fourth of my Strength, Phoenix Wings is definitely meant to combo with Warrior's Roar. Anyway, let's do this!)

'Kyuru?'

The Spirit Beast noticed everyone was looking behind it, so it carefully looked around.

The instant it saw Allen, it took an offensive stance.

"Uoooooohhhhh!!"

Allen was already dashing ahead, holding his sword up.

He was channeling all his Spiritual Power into the blade, giving it a blue glow.

The Spirit Beast realized being hit by that would be dangerous, so it held its hand forward to block the attack that way. At the same time, it grinned knowing it could counterattack with its tail.

All the buffs Allen had made him run faster than the speed of sound, and no one could follow his movements, except one person.

Formar would not let the Spirit Beast block the attack, drawing his bow with a lot of strength.

He had used [True Strong Bow] so many times that his attack would be the strongest it could be, and he used his Divine Technique.

"Lightning Speed"

He knew that if he missed, the entire party could be wiped out. He took a deep breath to calm down, then continued drawing his bow.

Allen had more than 100000 Agility, dashing at the Spirit Beast at a high speed, but Formar's arrow flew even faster than that.

PAM

The Spirit Beast's arm was blown away, and then there was a loud bang after a short delay.

The arrow pierced through the cave and came out on the other side of the mountain.

'Kyuro?'

The Spirit Beast took a second to notice its arm was gone and spinning in the air.

That gave enough time for Allen to attack as he rushed in.

"Soul Sabeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrr!!"

Allen's sword closed in onto the Spirit Beast's defenseless neck.

'Kyuraaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!'

The Spirit Beast screamed in desperation as its head was cut off, and its body fell limp.

"Huff…huff… Did we win..?"

Allen muttered with ragged breath.

(I don't have anything more I could do. I even had to use Phoenix Wings. The divine realm really has some tough enemies, first Nestiad, now this…)

The Spirit Beast had been too powerful, and Kuwatoro's Awakened Skill [Phoenix Wings] had been activated, even though Allen was not prepared for that.

[Kuwatoro's Awakened Skill Phoenix Wings]

Bump

The Grimoire appeared in front of Allen's exhausted eyes.

'You've defeated 1 Spirit Beast. You reached level 220. Strength + 5000, Mana + 8000, Attack + 2800, Endurance + 2800, Agility + 5200, Intelligence + 8000, Luck + 5200. A Skill has been Unsealed, you gained the Divine Technique Activation Skill.'

(I've gained a lot of Levels. Oh?! A Skill is Unsealed!!)

Allen was excited seeing he gained 20 Levels and a new Skill.

"Allen!!"

Cecile and the rest ran up to him.

"Yeah, we won."

"What's wrong with you! At least tell us if you're going to revive!!"

Cecile complained even though they won, and Sophie and Luck nodded in agreement.

"Sorry. It was just a trump card."

(Though I only learned about that Skill by getting killed by Nestiad.)

Allen had tried fighting Nestiad many times as he Leveled Up, and that was how he learned what Phoenix Wings did. Though even after reviving he still could not defeat Nestiad.

"You also look different now, Formar. Something about you feels different."

In a way, Formar's return which Allen had not accounted for had let them win.

Once they were all done complaining to Allen, they turned to look at Formar.

"Yeah, I obtained Lady Elize's power."

Formar explained everything in his usual monotone attitude.

"I see, so you got Divine Artifacts and revived. And you have the Great Spirit God's Blessing."

"It seems that way. I was expecting to only get my body back at first, so I was surprised."

Formar could not see his own stats, but he could tell he had gained some sort of power.

They wanted to talk for longer, but the cave was finally reaching its limit, large cracks appearing on the ground and walls. Formar's last arrow had been the final blow to it.

Everything began to shake, and everyone knew they would be in danger if they stayed there.

"Allen, we should get away from here. The cave is falling on us."

Pop

"Right, Luck. Wait, what was that pop?"

The sound of something popping out echoed through the crumbling cave.

Some green round object had emerged from the defeated Spirit Beast's throat.

It was bigger than a beach ball, and something like leaves surrounded it.

'It seems things went well. That's a Sacred Tree Seed.'

'Yes, we were on time. Allen, go pick up the Sacred Tree Seed.'

Fabre and Rosen started to talk.

"Oh?! Sacred Tree?"

Splash sploosh

"Wait, what's happening now?!"

The Spirit Beast's body had started to leak Dew of Life from all its wounds in large quantities.

(What's happening here? Whatever it is, I'll take all the loot. I'm sure it's something good!)

Allen picked up the green orb with both his hands.

"Alright, I'll take us above the mountain. Teleport!"

While Dew of Life poured out of the Spirit Beast, and the ceiling crumbled down, Allen's group left the cave, going to the [Nest] he had placed high in the sky above the mountain.

"The Great Spirit God's mountain is crumbling…"

From up there they watched as the mountain collapsed.

They had managed to defeat the Spirit Beast and escaped from the cave.