Chapter 194: Road Block
Emir wore a serene smile on his face, like that of a child, an expression that contrasted sharply with the chaos around him.
He stood his ground, surrounded by monstrous creatures the size of trucks.
Many were even bigger.
His twin swords, caked in dark blood, remained as sharp and unyielding as the relics they were supposed to be.
To his left stood Lyra, her once-white hair stained with blood of all kinds, her gauntlet blades gleaming under the moonlight.
Between them was Emma, her tired eyes barely visible under her dirty blonde hair.
"EMIR! WHAT DO WE DO?! WE'RE SURROUNDED!"
He shrugged his shoulders and stepped in front of them.
"We're not surrounded... We can simply attack in every direction."
[Lyra now!]
"OBSIDIAN SHROUD!"
The battlefield, already dark, turned even darker as shadows emerged from the ground, swallowing them whole and blocking out the moon's light.
Emir and Lyra took no more than a second to reach the Fiends before them, ending their lives as they had countless times before.
Meanwhile, Emma continued casting spells.
Bolts of ice lanced out, piercing through the monsters' heads, dropping them dead.
Jake was some distance away, keeping the monsters distracted with his bullets.
He could no longer kill them as swiftly as before; now, he had to target their weak spots.
And it often took him a minute or two to bring down a single fiend.
This caused the bulk of the work to fall onto the trio on the front lines.
And work they did.
Their attacks never stopped.
Their weight was more than pulled.
Emir dodged a mighty jaw snatch from a massive alligator and then jumped over it, throwing one of his twin swords on its skull.
A moment passed, and he landed on it, pushing the sword deeper into its brain, instantly killing the monster.Nôv(el)B\\jnn
Another alligator came from his side, its maw gaping wide, ready to bite.
Without a moment's hesitation, he threw his remaining sword into its open mouth, and it pierced through the beast, emerging from the other side.
ROAR!
Just as he reached down to retrieve his sword from the lifeless alligator beneath him, another one of its kin lunged from behind.
However, he didn't flinch, knowing that Lyra was close by.
She stepped in and sliced the massive beast's head off.
He mused as he rushed towards the spike-thrower.
The monster before him was a hedgehog of sorts.
Its body was a mishmash of many, but the origin was still identified.
The many spikes protruding out of it spurted out at once, attacking Emir and all the monsters
around it.
Emir didn't need to use his Aetheric Shield as he simply hid behind another monster that did the work of protecting him.
He then grabbed the spikes stuck on his protector's dead body and threw them back towards the hedgehog, which was in the process of regenerating its weapons.
Not needing to confirm the monster's death, Emir turned around and grabbed a few of the
spikes around him.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
His arms never stopped as he threw one after the other.
While doing so, he looked at Emma for a moment, watching as Lyra hovered around her,
killing all that approached them.
Emir noticed a few monsters coming from their blindside, some tens of meters back.
Imbuing the spikes with his Aether, he paused for a moment and then used his Aerialis aspect
to strengthen his muscles.
He then threw them straight at the Fiends.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Skewering them to death.
In the battle, he realized something of great importance that related to his aspects.
He could only use two of them at the same time.
And if he used more than one in succession, he would need to pause for a slight moment,
allowing his Aether core and body to adjust to the change.
Emir didn't notice this before, as he simply used his abilities, not needing to lower his Aether
use to this degree.
Not even against the Tyrants he faced earlier today.
Letting out a sigh, he paused his thoughts and looked up, watching in slowed time as the paw
of a massive canine descended on him.