A New World, an immersive game experience

'It definitely appears to be spreading. Is the devil still alive?' Ceph asked.

"According to my map, yeah. But I can't think he'll stay sane inside that mess." Watching the carnage playing out beneath them, it reminded Eldrian of his own failures in controlling his auras. And indeed, when he had accessed his bloodline without proper guidance.

There was no doubt that the devil had lost control of the power it had called forth. Whatever it may be, it was rampaging. Seeking more and more to feed on.

Which, sadly, only made it all that more dangerous. Control limited the spiraling chaos of magic. When it was lacking, chaos took over. It might even grow to a point where the gods needed to intervene. Eldrian had caused this before, and he could see this as a clear possibility.

'How are you going to kill... stop... it?' Ceph asked. He felt the strategy would the similar to how he targeted the concentrated magical power inside the Night Terror. However, he knew the Night Terror's weakness, and it was constrained and weakened when he attacked.

This blood monster was free to move, and they had no information on it. For now, it was only collecting more blood, and thus power. Both Eldrian and Ceph could pinpoint the origin of its power, where all the absorbed energy was flowing.

That was not difficult for them. Getting to it, however, was another story. Especially considering all the attacks it had blocked before the centaurs had ordered their retreat.

"How strong do you think it is?" Eldrian asked casually, both to Ceph and Two. Gripping Crystoi in hand, weighing how many mana crystals he needed to add to it.

The ammunition Evale had given Eldrian was certainly a powerful tool, extremely expensive, and Kynigo was short on supply. Medium mana crystals with over 10k mana were worth 100 gold each. But with the recent shortage, they would easily go for over 200 or even 300 gold each.

'It weathered Evale's attacks, so it should be capable of blocking an attack worth a few thousand damage.' Ceph was still lacking in the numerical analysis of a fight. His grasp was more intuitive, but he had to try to have it make sense to Eldrian.

The best he could say was that his strongest attack would not destroy the protective barrier that the blood had formed.

Two, however, had a better grasp. 'Assuming Evale's bow is Tier 7 and so too her arrows, we can predict a raw damage value around 200 from her attacks, if not more. Add her skills addition, we are looking at something with an armor value of 300 or 400. Given her attributes, conservatively, it weathered over three thousand physical damage.'

'As her skill also added around 200 mana to the arrow as a magical attack, we can assume that it has an MR of 200 at the minimum. Or perhaps it has resistance or a skill nullification?'

"So, Crystoi alone definitely cannot pierce it." Eldrian murmured. Of course, he had yet to run into such a problem when doing a dive attack. As Ceph and he were currently around a kilometer in the air, the added mass their speed would add to their attack normally pushed his attack home.

After all, Ceph going at max speed was truly fast. And he just needed a few hundred meters to reach that speed.

Sadly, they had no quantitive data, so most of the information Two gave flew over Eldrian's head. He also did not know what the raw values for Nova were. Only that it was effective and had yet to fail him.

He hated using all the mana crystals, but he would rather not be frugal now, only to regret it later. "Alright then, I'm using all three and wrath."

Of course, Eldrian still lacked full control of his auras. He would not dare try to use them while in the air on Ceph's back. Thus, he had to rely on spirit magic instead. First, he started elemental alignment. His spear catching fire as his mana poured into it.

Then, he sourced for anger. It wasn't too hard to find something to be angry about. There was the entire Miracle debacle, the chaos in the city, and the unknown regarding the gods. He hadn't asked her directly about it. But Ziraili being willing to answer any questions, had more or less confirmed that he had been screwed by the other AI.

However, he did not want to tap into that container. Instead, he focused on the actions of the devil below. It had enacted a power that took the blood of his own allies. Eldrian assumed this was perhaps linked to how vampires fed on the lifeforce inside their victims' blood.

Which, if correct, meant that this man was damaging their chances at an afterlife. Especially those he was draining while alive. And while Eldrian didn't care too much about his enemy's eternal afterlife. Viewing the betrayal of the one who was supposed to be their commander was something he could get angry at.

He channeled this anger into the flames surrounding his spear. While not blazing rage, it still added some heat to the flames.

'Alright Ceph, dive attack like normal. But stop once we reach a 100 meters. I do not know how massive the fallout is going to be.' Relaying this to Ceph, Eldrian next warned Elizabeth. Telling her to also warn the players on the walls and have everyone take cover.

Of course, he knew not everyone would follow those orders. But having given them the chance was good enough. As they dived, Eldrian got a message from another player, asking for details for the mayor.

Sadly, he had no time to reply as he reached the point where they would need to start their retreat.

Focusing on the blood sphere, Eldrian pinpointed the flow of energy inside it. Taking aim, he took control of the mana crystals and fixed their position behind the spear. And then he threw with all his might.

Immediately, Ceph changed trajectory. Using their downward momentum to land with a gallop. Taking flight immediately after again as he sped away from the flaming spear.

—

Nikki stood atop the walls and watched the mass of blood growing. Shivers covered her from head to toe.

The monster before her appeared like a demon right out of hell. Hundreds of blood tendrils flowed into it from the surrounding enemy. Their enemy. Their numbers dropping faster than during the most heated part of the battle.

Seeing them being sacrificed like this made even her angry at their commander. It showed just how little the devils cared for those they commanded.

As she was wondering what to do against it, giving the command to take aim with their cannons, she got Elizabeth's message. "Everyone! Store the cannons and take cover!" She shouted, and those from Phoenix followed her orders perfectly.

The surrounding players were slower to react, but when they saw the streaming line of fire heading for the blood mass—like a meteor from outer space—they all dived for cover.

The soldiers were a second later, some reacting in time—others did not.

The flaming spear clashed with the blood mass, failing to penetrate with its thrust alone. Or so it appeared. However, the searing tip pierced the blood sphere as the surrounding air turned red. And then, like an erupting volcano, flames spread everywhere.

From inside the spear, light shone. As bright as the sun. Followed immediately by a massive shockwave. Sending blood spattering everywhere. The blood carrying such force that it ripped holes into the houses. Shaking the foundation of the city.

The blood tore apart any who had failed to take cover apart. Those in cover had their eardrums burst and their lungs collapsed.

Next came the heatwave. Like having stepped into hell, those gasping for breath as they lay in agony found themselves being cooked alive. Followed by silence. Interrupted only by the moans of the survivors.

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