Dragon Speech: Soul Silence was an incredibly powerful ability that consumed a certain amount of the target's MP until leaving them in a state of Soul Exhaustion. But even this ability had its weaknesses. The grandfather of the dragon tribe had explained it to me during our conversation all those years ago. Apparently, it could only burn up to 50% of your maximum MP. In other words, if you kept an amount higher than that, your MP would not reach zero and you would not end up having to deal with Soul Depletion.
That's probably why he's been saving it.
After escaping Glacier Eye, my body had largely recovered thanks to the healing I received from the priests, but MP was a different story. My PM was already almost halfway done. Using gigantization to fight those guys and using Swing at will, he had consumed a significant amount. That's why he had deliberately provoked the guy.
«Just out of curiosity, when will it arrive? That moment when not even death can save me».
At this rate, I would run out of PM. I had Soul Immersion, of course, but I had a cooldown time. As soon as he used it, he would lose another way to counter his Dragon Speech. That's why I forced him to use the Dragon Speech now.
¡Toser! ¡Toser! ¡Karrrgh…!
As a result, the Dragon Slayer was now unable to fight. In Larcaz's Labyrinth he had also noticed that it was very difficult for him to use the Dragon Speech. But to think that he had become so incapacitated. That was unexpected.
[You have launched Soul Immersion.]
[You have launched gigantization.]
However, with the enemy's ultimate finisher gone and my MP recovered, I had nothing to worry about.
«How...?» His perfect expression was the icing on the cake.
«Behel-aaaaaah!» I felt as if the spirit of my ancestors ran through my body.
[Manua Repeles has launched Iron Fist.]
I received the next blow from Calvo with a laugh.
Hmm, so just as I thought, the Dragon Speech didn't affect these guys. Well, if he planned to use the Dragon Speech, he would have already made a Bond with the others beforehand.
Noark's first line, including Bald, had not been exposed to the Silence of the Soul. The rear also seemed to be out of reach.
Fortunately, my squadron was also out of reach.
This was actually the main reason I sent the rest of the group back. Acting as a second line of defense against the assault unit was also important, but he had to keep them away from the Dragon Speech at all costs.
The reason he didn't use Dragon Speech in the middle of our squad was probably because he thought I was the biggest threat. He probably did the math too and realized that his life would be in danger if he ended up incapacitated in the middle of our training.
When I thought about it like that, this couldn't be more fun.
«You have always forced me to make sacrifices».
Is this a sacrifice? If you have decided to cut your arm, then you should be prepared to cut your entire shoulder blade as well.
Throwing the ace up your sleeve so carelessly... If you were really determined to make a sacrifice, it would have been a huge problem for us.
This is a good thing. But...
Despite being a relief, it also felt incredibly unfair. No, more accurately, it felt... meaningless.
Because of someone like that, Dwalkie was...
He was a high-ranking member of Orcules, a superior dog and notorious criminal who killed the ancient dragon elder. However, that didn't change who he really was. Dwalkie had been a much bigger person than he could ever be.
[You have cast Eye of the Storm. By the authority of the transcendental body, the potential inherent in this ability is now unlocked].
I used my grappling ability to drag the Dragon Hunter. He was swept away by the strong gust of wind, still weak and coughing up blood.
¡Crack!
The moment my hammer fell, his left shoulder was pulverized. «Ahhh-!»
Oops, I was aiming for the head. I guess he twisted his body there.
Well, I was sure there would be another chance. Putting aside my regrets, I blocked Calvo, who had rushed in to save the Dragon Slayer. No, wait, it wasn't just him.
[Mike Roymus has launched Ground Leveling. The damage allies take in a given radius is halved, with the remaining half taken by the caster].
He was a warrior with blunt weapons who fulfilled a function similar to that of a tank.
[Lia Andes has launched Onda de fuego. All Fire damage is temporarily increased significantly, and additional effects are applied the closer you are to the center of the damage].
She was a rare case: a user of the Melee Fire skill. It seemed like these three had been working together for some time, as they skillfully approached to annoy me once the dragon slayer backed away.
[Kayle Elbad Zenegger has released Thorn at the End of the World.]
The ranged attacks that came from time to time from the rear were the icing on the cake. Since I had no armor, they pierced me and cut off my body.
[Roita Mamander has launched Advanced Healing.]
[Benjamin Orman has launched Advanced Healing.]
But thanks to the improvements that the priests were making to me, their efforts were not enough to make me retreat.
[Kelvus Ayrne has cast the rank 4 Black Magic Spell Mark of Evil. The effectiveness of all regeneration effects applied to the target is significantly reduced].
[Benjamin Orman has released Moonlight of Purification. All negative effects applied to the target are eliminated].
The dark wizards cast curse spells on me insistently, but this kind of thing was easier to lift than to cast.
«Don't overdo it, just block!»
I could have taken down one or two if I had attacked them more proactively, but we kept a tight-knit defensive formation. That's what tower defense games were all about, right? As long as the opponent did not penetrate your line, you won the game. Our current situation was not much different.
It's not like they can retreat, anyway.
To be exact, it didn't matter if the enemy was fleeing because their escape route was blocked. The monsters crawled out after them, and even the boss monster approached with hunger in its eyes. I didn't know anything about the others, but the three who had beaten me to it and who were receiving a good beating at the time would see their bodies rot a few days after returning to Glacier's Eye. Would they be able to escape to the eighth floor in those conditions when they clearly no longer even had food?
«Damn, where has...?» The blunt-armed warrior who began a reckless power struggle with me was thrown back with a single kick, a dejected look on his face. «I thought no one from outside could stop us!»
Ah, so that was the hope they had been harboring while cultivating themselves on the eighth floor without the knowledge of the palace. Well, it wasn't a completely useless hope. The eighth floor was filled with essences that could become the basis of someone's construction.
But at least get the right combination.
For a Shield Barbarian, the basic skill needed was gigantization. It was a rank five essence that could be obtained by hunting an Orc Hero, and when used in combination with Union, it was incredibly efficient. But blindly stacking random essences on top of each other was not a good recipe for success.
«Repels! Let's retire for now!»
Did they lose morale when they saw how I refused to give in? The warrior with the blunt weapon asked for a withdrawal, but Calvo did not grant it.
«Where?!»
«We need to at least regroup-!»
«Stop talking nonsense and fight!»
They knew that if they stepped back for a moment to regroup, they would end up having to fight a more difficult battle later. Ultimately, they only had one option.
«We just have to kill this guy!»
«The rest is easy!»
Make your way and move forward.
«Behell-aaaaaah!» Of course, I had no intention of letting them pass.
The battle continued, and the pendulum, once swung, never moved in the opposite direction again.
«...We can't take it anymore!»
Two of the adventurers from the «assault unit» who came ahead of me to attack the main unit ran to my side to join their troops.
«¿Cullen...?»
«Isn't it obvious? He's dead!»
The three fought desperately, but once one of them died, they were unable to move forward and fled.
Well, there are already eleven people.
The number of enemies had decreased. Our side, on the other hand, had suffered no casualties. There was one squad member who was injured, as the healings were all focused on me at the time, but even that was mostly a minor injury.
Now the real fight begins.
Instead of letting my guard down, I raised it even higher. That was because they definitely would have noticed now. At this rate, everyone here could die.
«...Thinking that we have to risk our lives in a place like this.»
Humans were calculating creatures. Therefore, when they find themselves at a crossroads, they ultimately choose to give up everything except the possibility of survival.
This is the scariest state for an enemy.
To put it in boss monster terms, this was a pattern of frenzy, where the enemy fought with everything they had to survive.
[Your Soul Power is insufficient. Gigantization has been disabled.]
Just in time, my PM ran out and my body shrank.
«Yandel, go rest in the back for a while». Amelia immediately approached my right.
«That is. We'll deal here». Ravien stood to my left.
«We will take your place». Jun and Kaislan also left the back group to join us.
Yeah, I don't know Kaislan, but Jun should be able to take the tank position.
Deciding that it would be a better use of my energy to trust my comrades rather than be stubborn, I quickly retreated from the first line and moved on to the second. He planned to run forward immediately if anything happened.
«¡Ese monster if ha withdrawal!»
«Now, now is our chance!»
As soon as the thorn in their side disappeared, the Noarks regained their fighting spirit and launched an attack. However, that spirit soon broke.
[Jun Arshen has released Divine Opening.]
When he activated all his abilities, Jun turned into a tank monster just like me. As for Kaislan, Ravien and Amelia, if any of those three cut you on the wrong side, you would die.
¡Whooom!
«…¡Ugh!»
«¡Be careful!»
Since a good attack was said to be the best defense, sharp counterattacks aimed at the enemy's weak points were generously applied. The enemy was unable to launch offensives as actively as before.
«Repels, Ricky Aymond is down!»
Before long, we secured an additional victory. The long-range line composed of Erwen, Akurava and others eventually won the tug of war and killed one of the enemy's ranged damage. This was great for us.
[The Whisper of Immortality state effect is now active.]
Unlike the people on our side who died earlier, one of Glacier's Eye field effects activated and this guy stood up like a zombie.
«¡Deprisa, empujadlo! Suéltalo-»
«Arghhh!» The special ability user who became lich began to indiscriminately attack his allies before finally being knocked down and thrown off the cliff.
Unfortunately, we couldn't score any additional points thanks to his quick response, but the remaining rangers were two dark wizards, a special ability user, and a Karui priest. After that, an even fiercer battle broke out. Kaislan withdrew from the front row after a serious injury, but a tank waiting in the second row immediately took his place to block his path.
Jadear, outar, outar...
The way Sven Parav hyperventilated nervously didn't make him seem very reliable, but he was still a paladin. Excluding Jun and me, he was the only main tank here. There was only one main replacement for a short distance damage as well.
«¡Emily, vuelve!»
Amelia returned to the second line once her MP ran out, and Team Three warrior Rick Jugusta stepped forward. We took advantage of all the advantages that our numerical superiority gave us in this narrow passage to face the enemy.
Stab!
Still, sacrifices were made. A sharp black thorn pierced Jugusta's upper body. It was the same move that had instantly killed Might Million, a tank, during the battle at Deadwood.
Squeeze...
Rick Jugusta died shortly after being sent forward. As it was outside the boundaries of Glacier Eye, the Whisper of Immortality did not activate.
«¡N-No! Rick...!»
True, he... was Calla's friend.
«Futa Rickerburn! What are they doing? Stop them!»
Team Two's scout and close-range damage dealer rushed to the empty spot. This wasn't the kind of situation where he could rest in the rear just because he was missing an arm. He himself said he could fight.
«Rick...!» As soon as Rickerburn filled the empty gap on the front line, Calla ran forward from the back to pick up her dead friend in her arms.
«Shut up, go back to your position», I said coldly. Maybe what I needed right now were words of comfort, but what I needed and what I had to do were two different things.
Luckily, Calla knew it too. «Okay...» With those brief words of recognition, he headed to the back row carrying his friend's body. I couldn't say anything when I saw him force his trembling feet forward with clenched teeth. I looked away to look at the battlefield.
Cut!
Although there was a sacrifice, we secured another victory just in time.
«Repels! M-Mike is hurt!»
We got rid of the warrior with blunt weapons who served as their tank. It was Ravien who hit her, but she was injured in the process. He would not die, as he received healing from one of the priests, but he needed time to recover.
[The Whisper of Immortality state effect is now active].
This time again, the field effect worked to turn the enemy into an undead. But this time it wasn't so fun for us.
«What are you doing? Back!»
The aggro headed towards us, which pushed us back to the front line. Thanks to that, we had to go through the trouble of taking down a guy we had already taken down.
Ten people now... No, the Dragon Hunter is incapacitated so there are nine of them...
The number of enemies was constantly decreasing. Victory was getting closer. Just as the number of people who were left without PM increased on our side, theirs was beginning to run out of all kinds of resources.
«Cursing magic! Cast curse spells, fast!»
The dark wizard's curse magic, which was decreasing his Natural Regeneration, rose. Their bodies began to rot and deteriorate. This was because the dark mage antagonist of the priests had finally run out of mana.
Well, we have to keep it up.
After confirming that Paladin Jun's doping was fading and his tank power was decreasing, I pushed the line back and took a step forward.
«...Damn, he's recovered!»
In reality, I still had a long way to go until my PM was replenished enough, but it was enough to maintain the gigantization. The Soul Immersion cooldown would also end soon.
More importantly, now that the curse spells have disappeared, we no longer have to deal any more damage.
The dam had finally broken. From now on, as long as we blocked their path and let the effects of Glacier's Eye work their magic on them, the enemy would collapse on its own.
«Push it back! Push!»
The enemy also knew it and tried by all means to get our first line to give in, but I held on with clenched teeth.
«It seems that his priests were left without divine power!»
It no longer mattered that the healings that had been serving as powerful support were over. These guys had also run out of power. They still managed to brandish their weapons, even though their arms and legs quickly rotted, but that was it. I was able to hold on with that thought in mind.
¡Pum!
But as the saying went, tragedy always struck without warning.
«Aaaaaah!» Suddenly, I heard a scream behind us, a sound I didn't have to hear when we were winning.
«Y-Yandel!» Kaislan shouted urgently because I was not able to look back. «New enemies have appeared!».
A new variable had entered the scene.