Chapter 260 War
While the Old Elf Crevian began to speak with his enhanced voice, Nial's mind became fuzzy. He had to shroud his ears in mana because they started to ache heavily.
Even the vibrations of the enhanced voice impacted hard on him, or his heart, to be precise.
Crevian's voice was loud, and Nial's sensitive ears would burst apart if he continued to listen to the speech for several seconds.
Controlling his heightened senses didn't seem to work properly right now, and Nial's expression was distorted due to the pain he was feeling.
'I forgot to keep my enhanced senses to the bare minimum after I advanced to the Mirae rank.' Nial grumbled inwardly, cursing himself for forgetting that his senses had been enhanced drastically as well.
The curse [Hodur's Heir] had been enhanced when Nial finished the creation of the primary Ancient Origin ring, and his physical traits, including his hearing, had been strengthened as well.
Thus, his hearing and the other senses were still sensitive, which Mathias and Hana could easily gauge.
"Poor Nial." Mathias felt sorry for his friend and lightly slapped Nial's back.
"His senses are quite sensitive, aren't they?" Hana asked quietly, but nobody answered her.
'Had he been able to evade my attacks earlier because of his senses?' She wondered as she recalled her spar with Nial.
But before she was able to focus on Nial, Crevian's speech was over, and Nial straightened his back. The mana around his ears was retracted, and his focus returned to the Dryx.
Rows of thousands of Dryx shot in their direction, bringing lethal bacteria and contagious diseases with them.
Behind the Dryx, a dark-greenish cloud of bacteria and viruses was created. Many Originals paled at the sight of the huge clouds that could bring death and disease.
However, without showing hesitation, the Elves dashed forward the moment Old Elf Crevian finished his speech.
'They seem more motivated than before.' Nial concluded in seconds as he perceived the mana that circulated through their body and the wind that shrouded them, accelerating the Elves' speed even further.
As they continued to expertly spin the spears around their body, the Elves looked like they had everything in their control. They didn't show even the slightest bit of hesitation when they emerged in front of the disgusting-looking Dryx, all of whom slashed out with their long claws.
A single thrust with their spear was enough to pierce a large hole into the Dryx's body, destroying both their heart and their mana core simultaneously.
When Nial perceived this, his expression changed.
"Did they just release a burst of compressed wind currents the moment the spear's tip pierced through the Dryx's chest?" Nial was shocked. He knew that Elves could be dangerous and far from docile, however, the precision with which the Prometheus Elves attacked their opponents was on an entirely different level.
'The memories belonging to the God of Darkness made me believe that Elves had faced problems killing Dryx in the past. Why does it seem like this isn't the case anymore, at all?' He was confused.
However, his confusion was perfectly normal. Damian's memories showed him times when more than a dozen Elves had lost in a fight against a Dryx, who was at a lower rank than the others. While each of the Elf had been at a higher rank than the Dryx, it survived each attack and tore the Elves apart at the end of the day.
Yet, at this moment, close to 40 Elves were fighting at the front, and they had already eliminated more than 200 Dryx!
This was great, and it calmed Nial down, which was how he could focus on his own fight.
The Elves and human Originals around him had already left. They appeared on the cruel and merciless battlefield and started to slaughter the Dryx around them.
'Chaotic mana, everyone releases their abilities, and altered mana.' Nial's mind picked up several things, while his [Mana Sense] was facing difficulties in working properly.
But Nial quickly adjusted himself to the unexpected situation. He forcefully suppressed his senses to work on 100%, so that he would be able to fight without his ears starting to bleed from the loud noises all around him.
While wielding the Dragonflame spear, he realized that it was time for him to leave, and join the battle as well. Mathias was by his side, and so was Hana, who had joined their group without bothering about asking anything further.
Neither Nial nor Mathias minded this much attention. In their opinion, it was best to have more people in a group because they may even be able to defeat beings that were of a much higher rank than them.
As Nial dashed forward, Mathias followed suit while tightly gripping the Tier-1 Blackwood wand. Meanwhile, Hana disappeared from her spot and reappeared next to Nial a moment later.
"What is your plan?" Hana asked, her whole attention on both the thousands of beasts ahead of them and Nial.
"Plan... Not to die, I guess?" He answered hesitantly before accelerating his speed further. With a smooth motion, Nial manifested more than a dozen darkness needles which she shot out in the row right in front of them.
There were human Originals, but they didn't even think of listening to what Crevian had said about the best way to defeat the Dryx.
It also looked like these Originals had never fought or even heard something about the Dryx, and that was weird, considering that all shelters and military camps had faced their infiltration.
Nial pierced the mana cores of the Dryx, whose hearts had been destroyed by the human Originals. Some fellow humans were lightly grazed by Nial's attack, but that was not something he cared about.
While Nial saved the human Originals from facing trouble in defeating their first Dryx, Mathias was far less considerate. He moved the soil on the ground to forcibly drag the two Originals apart from each other.
Nial and the others shot through the opening that emerged thanks to Mathias' precise control over his earth affinity.
"What the hell?" One of the young Originals at the 3rd Advanced Mirae rank exclaimed in frustration when he saw how the Dryx in front of him slumped to the ground after a needle manifested out of pure darkness struck it in its chest.
A moment later, three Originals had already pushed past him and his colleagues. Drops of blood trickled to the ground as some Originals touched their cheeks, realizing belatedly that they were bleeding.
They had been cut, without even realizing it. Their eyes widened involuntarily as their heads turned in the direction of the three Originals, who were using brute force to pave their way through the rows of Dryx.
"Collect their bodies, you idiot!" A thunderous voice echoed throughout the battlefield all of a sudden.
Nobody knew who said this, but everyone's gut twisted in knots the moment they heard the instructions.
On the other hand, Mathias and Hana were just looking at Nial with a weird expression.
'Miranda would definitely slap the back of his head if she were to know that Nial just shouted this....' Mathias thought, smirking brightly.
He controlled the surrounding area, erected several pillars of the earth, and manifested walls of mud through which the Dryx tried to fly.
However, before they could emerge on the other end of the wall by flying through the mud it turned solid, imprisoning the Dryx. A moment later compressed jets of water pierced through their heart and mana core, killing them.
'If my master were to know that Nial called her an idiot, she would probably set his butt on fire.' Hana thought, before visualizing the exact scenario in her head.
The corners of her lips curled upward at this thought. Hana lashed out with her rapier, piercing the beast's heart without an issue. Yet, even before she could move, the Dryx roared out loudly, its one-meter-long tongue swirling around as high-pitched laughter came out of the beast's mouth.
It believed that it could kill Hana because she wouldn't be able to retract her weapon and pierce out again in an instant. Hana would have to change her movements twice, rapidly at that, retracting and thrusting out again.
Thus, when the Dryx slashed out, it was confident of being able to kill the veiled woman. It expected her warm blood to splatter through the surrounding, and for its claws to dig into her body.
However, the moment the Dryx's long claws were about to cut through Hana, her body turned into a blur.
Her image dissolved into countless particles, the white fog was released and the Dryx ended up cutting through nothing but the white fog and empty air that shrouded the Dryx in its entirety.
The surrounding two meters were shrouded in the fog, preventing anyone from seeing anything.
'Oh? She disappeared...no, she is still there.' Nial quickly concluded as he pierced out with the Dragonflame spear. It was not enhanced in any way, but that was not necessary to begin with. After piercing out once, Nial shot out a tiny darkness needle and finished off the Dryx by destroying its mana core.
Afterward, his empty hand pierced out, grasping the Dryx's body before disappearing into his spatial ring.
'Your mana cores are mine!' He nearly shouted out, claiming possession of the Dryx mana cores. It did not matter in the slightest whether they were only pierced lightly or completely destroyed, they were his.
Their use and value was of utmost importance in any form!
But rather than focusing solely on the Dryx, Nial's interest in Hana increased as well. Her second ability was quite interesting.
She could release fog, disappear into it, and re-appear wherever the fog was located. This was quite useful because it allowed her to evade attacks that were supposed to be impossible to be evaded under normal circumstances. Furthermore, it gave her an opportunity to attack at an angle that the opponent would never expect.
Hana had disappeared right in front of the Dryx, who had attacked her, before appearing behind it mid-air. She pierced out with the rapier before penetrating its hide and flesh, thereby destroying the mana core it had aimed at.
Her attack was precise and there was no wasted movement in her action.
However, just as she was about to land on the ground another Dryx attacked her. Hana was just about to flinch when she disappeared in the fog again.
At the same time, a jet of water burst the Dryx's head open. Meanwhile, Nial emerged within Hana's fog, and he thrust the Dragonflame spear forward.
With his might, he destroyed the Dryx's heart, and it was almost as if their team of three had been working together for eons that the two finished off the Dryx. Hana appeared by Nial's side and pierced out with her rapier. The rapier grazed Nial's arm, and its sharp pointed tip cut open the cloth of his sleeves, before penetrating the Dryx's mana core.
It died, which was why Nial stored its corpse in a smooth motion. A moment later the other Dryx body was also stored in his spatial ring.
He temporarily ignored that it was Hana's spoil of war. This was not important right now, because every corpse they missed out on collecting provided an opportunity for the Dryx to become stronger.
Upon releasing his [Mana Sense] as far as possible, Nial sensed that the Elves and human Originals were able to fight the Dryx without too many issues. They ran into some obstacles, but the situation was much better than expected.
"Oh shit!!!" Nial exclaimed, his entire body stiffening as his head turned in the direction of the Tornadoes of Ariela.
"What?!" Mathias exclaimed in response. He looked around wildly and immediately knew that something was off, which made him feel restless. The moment Nial said that something was 'shit', or when his body stiffened, Mathias could tell that true shit was going to happen!
"The Dryx which the Tornadoes of Ariela killed...are getting devoured..."