Chapter 233: We Are In This Together!!

"Interesting!! A coordinated assault is undoubtedly the most exhilarating way to die!"

?Havock raised its massive arm high above its head, a twisted, sadistic grin stretching across its scaly face:

?"All of you, drop dead where you stand!!!"

?BOOOOM!!!

?A spectral, phantom bear’s paw of incomprehensible proportions materialized directly out of the upper atmosphere, instantly plunging the battlefield into shadow and blocking out the morning sun.

?"What in the living hell?"

?Margaret muttered in disbelief, yanking her summoned warhorse to a sharp, skidding stop:

?"Celestial Warriors!! Execute Ascending Pierce formation right now!!"

?She pointed the tip of her blade vertically toward the sky. Every single member of her cavalry unit immediately halted their mounts, instantly mirroring her posture:

?"Ascending Pierce!!!!"

?They all hoisted their weapons upward in unison, channeling every ounce of their spirit energy into a singular, concentrated node.

?BOOOOM!!

?A massive, towering phantom sword forged entirely from condensed, pure white spirit energy erupted upward from their formation, screaming into the sky and colliding with the falling bear’s paw, shattering the spectral appendage into harmless floating particles.

?"Oh?"

?Havock lowered its hand, a flicker of genuine surprise crossing its eyes.

?"That trivial block won’t stop our momentum! Keep charging forward without breaking rank!!" Margaret screamed, kicking her mount’s flanks and surging ahead at twice her previous velocity.

?"That attack was merely a basic SSS-Rank skill." Havock muttered thoughtfully to itself, slowly extending its right arm horizontally to the side:

?"Wait a second... Something doesn’t add up here. That opening strike was unmistakably the ability of the ten-meter bear we slaughtered earlier." Marianne noted aloud, a frown forming between her brows.

?"That abomination successfully absorbed the corpses of all the fallen vanguard monsters, does that mean—"

?"--It possesses the horrifying capacity to replicate and execute the skills of every single creature it consumes." Katherine finished Elizabeth’s sentence, the color draining completely from her face until she looked ghostly pale.

?"Wait! If that hypothesis is true!! We will never be able to predict what attack it’ll hurl at us next." Marianne whispered, her eyes widening in horror as the true scale of the boss’s evolution dawned on her.

?"Let’s observe how gracefully you fragile humans survive this little trick."

?Havock swept its outstretched arm across its body in a wide, fluid arc, instantly releasing a sweeping wave of virulent, neon-red poisonous gas that ballooned outward, rushing like a tidal wave directly toward the charging Celestial Warriors.

?"Look out! That’s the venomous breath of the cobra!! We need to scream a warning to them immediately!!" An auxiliary soldier yelled from the ramparts.

?"It’s already far too late for warnings." Marianne muttered, her white-knuckled fingers tightening so hard around her sword hilt that her hand trembled.

?Margaret stared unflinchingly at the oncoming wall of toxic gas. With a single, sharp contraction of her thoughts, the fabric of space directly in front of her cavalry unit tore wide open, forming a gaping spatial rift that acted like a vacuum, swallowing the entire torrent of poison in a fraction of a second.

?"What an utterly useless, predictable attack!" she spat out dismissively as the spatial tear snapped shut, swallowing the toxic miasma and banishing it harmlessly into the void.

?"...?"

?Havock crossed its heavy arms over its chest, its expression turning contemplative as it glared down at them:

?"This impressive force is likely the strongest of your forces’ capabilities, yet as I proclaimed... It is ultimately meaningless."

?BAM!!

?"....?!"

?Margaret suddenly dropped her gaze down to the cracked earth beneath her horse’s hooves:

?"Watch out!! Celestial Warriors—the threat is coming from directly below us!!"

?BOOOOM!!!!

?Colossal, jagged spikes of hardened earth erupted violently from the ground like spears, thrusting upward with devastating force. They plunged straight through the chests of several warhorses, lifting their bodies high into the air. The caught-off-guard cavalry members were thrown violently from their saddles, only to be impaled instantly upon the razor-sharp rock pillars, killing them in agony before their emergency teleportation scrolls could even register the fatal trauma and trigger an evacuation.

?Margaret whipped her head around, watching her loyal subordinates drop lifelessly from the stone spikes. Her vision instantly turned bloodshot with blinding fury:

?"You bastard-coated monster!!"

?Without a shred of hesitation, she abandoned the cavalry formation, shooting forward like a white streak as ranged suppression spells from the main wall soared overhead, slamming heavily into Havock.

?"Insignificant insects! Low-tier magic holds zero destructive value against my defense..." Havock growled, casually waving a hand to brush away the lingering smoke:

?"Just sit back quietly and wait for your inevitable dea--"

?"--Die right now!!"

?Margaret materialized directly in front of the lizard’s face, her blade thrusting forward with lethal intent straight toward its exposed throat.

?"How on earth did you bridge this distance so instantaneously?!"

?Havock barked, genuinely taken aback by her sudden appearance; but even amidst its surprise, its lightning-fast reflexes allowed it to snap its hand shut, catching the razor-sharp edge of Margaret’s sword in a vice-like grip of scaled fingers:

?"You are going to pay with your life for every single one of my members you slaughtered!!" Margaret screamed, channeling her energy. Her sword began to pulse with a blinding, celestial brilliance, and a concentrated beam of divine light erupted point-blank, striking Havock directly in the neck.

?BOOOOM!!

?The towering ten-foot reptile was forced back three heavy paces by the sheer concussive blast. It slowly lowered its gaze to look down at the hand that had caught the blade:

?"You expended all that extraordinary energy... merely to inflict a scratch?" it mocked coldly.

?"Do not ever dare to look down on me!!"

?The space directly behind Havock suddenly fractured open like shattered glass, and Margaret burst out from the dimensional fold, executing a ferocious, blind-spot slash aimed squarely at the lizard’s neck.

?"A void manipulation skill? Out of all the countless skills I’ve absorbed across my life, I strangely lack that one."

?BAM!

?Margaret’s blade swung harmlessly through empty air as Havock casually vanished. Thrown off balance by the empty swing, she rolled across the scorched ground, finally arresting her momentum and dropping heavily onto one knee. She blinked hard, snapping her head back up toward the sky to track the lizard’s position.

?"You are becoming an intensely irritating nuisance, human." Havock grunted, lazily pointing a single clawed finger directly at her.

"You have to..."

?BOOOOM!!!

?A sudden, sharp whistling tore through the air as a heavy spirit arrow struck Havock’s raised arm dead-center, throwing its aim off and forcing the lizard to snap its head around toward the city wall, locking its eyes onto Daniel, Zion, and the other veteran fighters.

?"These persistent insects are testing my patience. I suppose I should clear them out first."

?It raised both massive arms high into the air, instantly coalescing countless crackling spears of destructive fire around its frame. Without a single second of hesitation, the entire volley launched simultaneously, screaming across the open field toward the city fortifications and zeroing in directly on Daniel’s position.

?"Do not mistake us for helpless targets who will stand by and let you dictate the terms!!"

?Daniel roared defiantly. He planted his boots firmly into the stone rampart and thrust both hands forward, channeling his spirit energy until a gigantic, reinforced spiritual shield manifested before him.

?BOOOOM!!!!

?The relentless barrage of fire spears slammed continuously against the barrier, spiderwebbing the glowing energy shield with angry, glowing cracks:

?’Such monstrous strength... It’s even destroying my shield. If this heavy attack continues for another ten seconds, the shield is going to shatter.’ He thought grimly.

?The very next microsecond, a cool, soothing wall of dense water materialized seamlessly in front of Daniel’s cracking shield.

?"Water element possesses a natural dampening affinity against fire... Allow me to reinforce your defense." Danica, the Dean of the Awakened Academy, announced calmly as she planted her carved wooden walking stick firmly into the stone, her eyes blazing with energy.

?"We are all standing shoulder-to-shoulder in this war—no one fights this monster alone." She added quietly, pouring her vast reserves of energy into the shared barrier.