Vol. 12 - Ch. 726 - Battle against Andrey (3)
Chapter 726 -
Andrey pursued with his attacks promptly after activation of his divine skill.
The ground shook, as if an earthquake had hit them, with Andrey at its epicentre. The floor rises like the displaced earth crust after a meteorite crash, and the ground swoops toward everyone, no matter the direction.
Allen and others promptly backstepped to avoid the tsunami-like several tens of meters of ground wall crashing on them, but there was no escape path for them.
«Allen-dono! Wat—aaarrrrgggg!»
Luvanka in his wind incarnation state rushed to cover Allen, and held Allen between his three pairs of arms. A second later, the creeping pulverized floor turned in fine sand and swallowed them whole.
«We must do something!! Myun!!»
The situation was no less better for Sophia and others too. But the situation was handled by the Great Water Spirit Tonis. He created a huge water pearl shaped barrier promptly—it was big enough to swallow Kuwataro in it—which was then strengthened by Space Spirit Jigen, pouring their spiritual power in it.
«T-this is nuts, Luck! I am going to swallow you!»
"H-Hey! Geh!»
Similarly being pressed on by the situation, Mutton from above Luck's head shouted and thinly spread himself, covering Luck in a transparent membrane. This grants him a newfound elasticity and he takes a huge leap in direction of Tonis's bubble barrier, narrowly diving inside it.
«Kyaaa!!»
A shriek escaped from Cecile. She had been standing 100m, shooting her spells from a safe position, but it appeared while she was out of ground attack, shockwaves still hit her.
This took her by surprise but she continued to shoot her spells at the floor, and nimbly jumped behind.
«Phew, that was so close. I wondered why you gave up on key, but I didn't expect you would be jump at me, and push for a frontal battle. Indeed, one isn't vain if one can make it to this far. Brave Ones, but you have pushed me to be take you in all seriousness. I'm Andrey, the incarnation of soil, and the familiar of Earth God Gaia. It would besmirch the honor if I let some people pull a fast one over me.»
Andrey remarked with a huge grin, seemingly assured of his victory.
The soil turned into a muddy stream as Andrey's words ended, allowing Allen and Luvanka, and many others, who had many buried in sand, to appear out.
«You're alright?»
Merus affirmed their safety from the sky. He had managed to avoid the attack by flying around.
"Yes, there's no problem. Thanks, Luvanka."
«...I am a summoned beast now. I just want to see the future that you will pave.»
Luvanka shrugged off as Allen gave an apologetic look. It appeared he was seeking the answer for himself after becoming Allen's summoned beast, in contrast to his depressed self from the past. Besides, saving their summoner was an obvious thing to do.
After that, Allen immediately turned to analyze the damage they'd bore from the area attack. He took a look at Grimoire and affirmed that they'd escaped the fate of dying under the current attack, but they;d lost a huge chunk of their endurance.
«The path at your back is always there if you forfeit now and retreat. There's only around 50 minutes left. You may be able to save your spiritual aura too. —Hmm, Earth's Heal!!»
Having recovered the spiritual power along with the usage of divine skill, Andrey then turned to heal himself. It seemed he had already anticipated Allen's decision.
(So, its endurance is above 100,000, and spiritual power has seen an increase as well by 100,000. The attack range is mostly 300 meter, and pertaining only to the main area of effect, 100 range of meter huh. It doesn't seem like that tsunami-like attack has much cooldown. It would be game over if he could spam it. So there's some cooldown time huh. But it makes a tough situation for Luck to keep fighting in close combat. Kuwataro, tell Luck of it.)
Allen went through the pros and cons of the situation. Once he had firmly grasped the situation, he immediately had Bird F to inform Luck and Sophia behind Andrey.
«Keep a distance of 100 metres at minimum, and focus on long-range attacks and continue to shave off Andrey' resistance and endurance from there.»
It would be a pity to lose the debuff attack as good as «Cursed Strike», but since it required Luck to be in close proximity, it would be counterproductive in their current situation. It would be better to stick to the slightly inferior Acid Vortex or Poisonous Tsunami skills than lose their team members.
He also instructed Great Spirits to fight from distance.
"...So, it's to assume Allen-sama isn't going to give up yet, huh?"
Sophia murmured in a quiet voice, subdued enough to keep it out from Allen to hear. Luck and Formar heard her however, and nodded in affirmation.
"Meanwhile, we will act the same. Luvanka, you might need to become my shield this time."
(Well, at least I can immediately convert mana, spiritual power, and endurance any time with my Life Circulation blessing.)
[Life Cycle - Grasss S's Blessing]
1. Allow to convert one's endurance into spiritual power.
2. Allow to convert one's spiritual power into mana.
3. Allow to convert one's mana into endurance.
4. Reverse flow, simultaneous conversion, and any conversion outside of the three types mentioned above are not possible.
5. Conversion must be consciously performed, as it will not occur automatically.
It was like gaining the life codex in his hand. And for Allen, it raised his odds of survivability, and it also gave Merus ease of mind, allowing him to act from a second position.