The destruction was immense, making it impossible to see where Grark was due to the amount of dust and debris. Scanning with his crimson eyes, Enrico could only see the lower half of Grark's body on the ground, about seven meters away.
"If he's still breathing, maybe there's still—"
Cinza appeared above his head with claws raised, coming down in a slashing strike. Enrico had to roll on the ground just in time to dodge and gain distance.
'I need to find Grark's upper half and look for a healer fast.'
[Enrico, now's not the time for that. You have to defeat this monster.]
Biting his lip, Enrico calmed himself slightly by taking a deep breath. The system was right — he had to be rational as always, because even if he found Grark, Cinza would chase them, making things even worse.
'Maybe the two of them can find him... Besides, Grark will hold on, I'm sure of it.'
[That's right. Focus on the battle.]
Taking a fighting stance, he lowered his arm with the crimson shell beneath his waist. Since the fight against that Nartheis began, the crimson shell had been accumulating magic.
'If he weakens from Narisse's poison, I can finish him off in one strike, but I need to buy time for that to happen.'
Using a large-scale magic boost on his feet, Enrico broke the sound barrier, matching the same level of impact magic that Grark had used.
'Impact CC'
Summoning Lunaris, it merged with his right arm — the same one he'd used to strike Cinza's face. Seeing the attack, Cinza became intangible again, letting it pass through and raising her claw for a counter.
"Fire Steps!"
Disappearing from sight as the attack hit the ground, fifteen images of Enrico appeared around her, as if all were gathering magic at once.
Confused, she was hit by all of them, but only felt a strong impact on her back. Transferring magic to her hands, she spun and slashed, cutting one of Enrico's elemental clones in half. Not seeing her opponent, Cinza switched positions several times so he couldn't track who was real.
'Good plan for an irrational beast… but you won't escape my eyes.'
Inside a nearby house, Enrico had his fire bow aimed at Cinza's head. His crimson eyes tracked the invisible fire sparks he'd left behind, which moved whenever the clones shifted.
'Flame Shot — Maximum.'
Firing his arrow, the house window exploded, leaving a trail of destruction in its path. The arrow, moving at extreme speed, hit her head, but it seemed she focused her unique ability only on the core, allowing her to maintain it longer. Turning around, Cinza rushed toward the house, switching with a clone in front to reach faster.
'Tsk, there's no way she thought of that. Someone must be giving orders from somewhere.'
Seeing Elowyn with her hand raised, summoning magic, Enrico realized it would be a destructive attack and switched places with his clone several meters from the house.
"Golden Sword of Total Destruction!"
Lowering her hand toward the house being torn apart by Cinza, an eight-meter-long golden sword formed above it. Bursting with lightning, it fell rapidly, obliterating everything around the house with an absurd impact.
"What a frustrating ability."
Knowing Cinza had survived again with that intangibility, Elowyn raised a golden barrier around herself.
"Narisse, how much longer until this creature reaches our level?"
"Just three more minutes, Princess."
Narisse was desperately trying to keep Grark alive after finding the upper half of his body, using her poison in an analgesic way while her pure magic prevented more blood loss.
"Princess, he won't survive those three minutes."
"Narisse, we have to focus on the enemy, so use your poison magic from a distance more often."
"Yes, Princess."
Still trying to keep him alive, Narisse filled the area with poison, commanding her magic to affect only her enemies. Elowyn nodded and turned her attention back to Cinza, who was rushing toward her. She had no time to cry — she couldn't feel anything anyway.
'This isn't his fault. The only thing that could ever affect me is if something happened to my father.'
She couldn't feel emotions for others and accepted that, because since childhood, she had been cruel. Feeling anything now was impossible — she was born that way and couldn't change.
"Golden Prison!"
Creating golden bars, she formed a new spell and tried to trap not just him but all his clones. It worked — the clones couldn't escape, and only the original broke free with its speed.
'Now if he switches, he'll be trapped. Of course, he can still use intangibility, but if he does, he'll have to take another hit.'
Enrico appeared above Cinza's head with his fire bow, gathering mana at the tip. Releasing the arrow, it split into several others that struck Cinza, forcing her into intangibility.
'Got you.'
When her intangibility ended, the last arrow — hidden among all the others — carried the most power and pierced her head.
'Who's the bastard behind this?'
Enrico noticed the core disappeared for a second when his attack passed through her head. Someone was doing something to hide that core.
'At least because of that, the connection between them seems to be weakening.'
Noticing the core flicker, he realized that trick wouldn't work anymore — the next attack to hit the core would be the last.
With a sudden leap, Cinza stopped aiming at Enrico and instead jumped toward Elowyn. If she killed her, the clones would be freed, because summoning new ones would take too long given her remaining mana.
"Damn it, she's coming—"
"As if I'd let that happen!"
Switching places with his clone, Enrico arrived just in time to block the attack, catching both of Cinza's claws. Jumping over him, Cinza's body pulsed with black energy for just a second — and through his crimson eyes, Enrico could tell something huge was about to happen.
'Wait—he's going to blow himself up? Don't tell me he jumped just so it would hit Elowyn?'