Chapter 383 382. The Liabilities.
Eshwar had somehow ended up in the middle of the encirclement as kicks, punches, and grapples thrown at him. He, of course, dodged then without much major concerns, he certainly had taken damages as he fell prey to his opponents' luck, but that didn't and couldn't stop or hinder him.
But, the levels of threats increased when spells were added to the fray, a humongous vortex of different coloured flames had devoured him, thin wind blades were shot at him while he was being burnt alive, a water dome enveloped the vortex as it continued to increase the heat and smoke inside it, earth walls and much more earth related spells shot at him, as many of those spells glimmered golden, damaging him greatly, under Eshwar's persistent gaze that remained unwavering.
Damages seemed to continue to accumulate within him as his body showed no actual changes outwardly, but those present could understand that Eshwar was merely hiding the actual facts behind his healthy unhuman form.
None of the initiated spells seemed to run low on mana even after minutes passed, instead they even showed signs of getting stronger while new spells were added to the fray.
The ground turned into lava which Eshwar remained standing on, the smoke in the dome turned poisonous which acted as a catalyst that burned the flames stronger.
It was low like a mumble, but they, the voices that were rendered unable to be heard due to number of bombarded spells, soon began to be heard clearly.
Names of the spells began to sound in Eshwar's spread consciousness.
"Magma torrent!"
A spell that launches molten hot lava at the target; it is also a spell that can melt through physical and magical defence, an appropriate spell to be launched at Eshwar, whose plight could potentially begin to threaten him.
"Pressure!"
A spell that causes the air around the target to dense heavily or thin out until it becomes a vacuum of space. In the Eshwar's case, the gathered hot and already dense air thickened even more up to an unbearable degree as all the mist in the dome slammed down onto the ground and forcing Eshwar to kneel on the lava blanketed ground.
The fire related spells were exhausted and the air attributed mana in the water dome was dragged along the pressure spell, breaking down the dome in the process.
All while Isha continued to swing her shadow sword at the clones that had managed to land a diagonal slash on her chest, which bleed reddish-gold blood; and unsurprisingly, that wasn't the only attack that had managed to land on her.
There was even a slash on her right cheek that indicated a dodged attack's gaze, her shoulders, thighs, and her left forearm also had deep enough cuts on them, and if one could see Eshwar peering through the dense cloud around him, they would notice how his gaze had never left his wife's figure.
The liabilities; Seo Hana, Katline, Grace, Neal, Louie , Arngrim, Frostine, Amanda, Dominic, Core, and Belinda, were able to do nothing but merely gaze at things happening in utter horror and unfocused gazes, while twenty or so clones surrounded them, oozing a dreadful aura which they didn't even seem to have really noticed.
Thoughts filled their minds, as even dangerous thoughts of losing more of their friends flashed in their minds upon gazing at Eshwar's and Isha's figures which forced them to focus on the situation, but their unnoticed situation rendered them unable to do anything.
Only after noticing they weren't able to move, did they notice the dense aura of dread surrounding them. Seo Hana snapped instantly, rage flood her mind at the thoughts of somebody else forcing her to stay put, as the thoughts of making things right with Eshwar dominated most of her consciousness, and she didn't like even a bit of how mere clones were forcing her to stay still.
Unbeknownst to her, her rage fuelled her agathokakological mind, her phoenix flames tuned crimson as they busted out of her petite body, the whole of her body turned into a blazing torch that forced those around her to take a step away.
The temperature around them rose sharply to insane degrees, under the effects of which, the mannequins began to melt subtly and unnoticeably.
"Nova conflagration!" A growling roar escaped her throat and a wave of extreme heat rippled out of her blazing body, melting the mannequins around them in an instant while also enveloping her allies in a flames that boosted their overall abilities.
"Don't torch my bony pets!" Katline roared strange words as she lunged herself towards the new platoon of clones rushing towards them.
"Rise from your eternal slumber," Katline spoke as mana enveloped her words.
"My bony puppies~" Katline muttered as her face gained a bright blush as her gaze shone in excitement. She, who had understood the influences and consequences of her trait and skills after her awakening, thought of never using those skills if possible, which strongly influenced her resolve to master her archery, but she had later learnt the limitations of her actions, but she still hesitated to use her trait which had continued to level up and increase in levels without her consent.
But she had thrown away her hesitation when hers and her friends' lives were in danger, though she couldn't protect the lives of her friends, she survived, an outcome that resulted in her not wanting to use her trait ever again even more, but now, she couldn't find a reason to hesitate anymore.
Hence her reason for finally using her strange trait that influenced her behaviour. Necromancy.
A perverted trait in her case.
Her eyes gained a perverted glint as strong excitement marred her face, while her figure felt behind a trail of blackening gust, through which shadowed skeletons poured out.
She neared the platoon of clones which had swung their fists and legs at her, but she jumped at them without even bothering to think of dodging any of the incoming attacks. Her head, biceps, forearms, and knees became prey to the clones' kicks while her face, chest, and abdomen became prey to the punches.
Each blow threatened to blow off the crimson flames that enveloped her as circular wind pressures exploded out of her back, but she remained standing as her bow, which had remained in her inventory appeared in her hand while an arrow in an other.
She nocked the arrow and pulled the bow string with trembling hands while the kicks and punches remained on her. The flames enveloping her did wonders as the damage she took healed to a certain degree, enabling her to move as she wanted without trembling.
It wasn't long until the shadowed skeletons rushed next to her and pushed back the clones that began to fight against them, but Katline didn't give them any chance to fend off her skelies.
The pulled arrow gained threatening power as her necromancy trait's "masochism" skill got activated under her command. A wild pleasurable grin flashed on her face as a pair of blood trails flowed from her nose marred her beautiful face with a wild gothic appearance.
"Masochism" skill granted her a strong boost in her prowess the more damage she sustained, with the penalty of her body sustaining damages normally even though the pain resistance played an active role in lowering the pain she experienced.
The arrow which was her selected target of the boosted power began to brim in absurd power as the power's concentration at one spot increased the threat the arrow held. The damage would be disastrous in any situations, except the current one; where her opponents were mere clones of the original, which was stronger than all the clones combined.
But,
None mattered to the current Katline as she released the arrow with a wild grin on her face, as Seo Hana's crimson flames followed after the arrow and enveloped a wide range of the area while the arrow pierced through the clones while a violent trail of a sideways cyclone shredded the clones into pieces that dispersed into nothingness before Seo Hana's flames could affect them.
Of course, Katline's skelies weren't unaffected either, they too were shredded to pieces, but were healing at an unbelievable rate.
Seo Hana's and Katline's actions snapped the rest of group out of their daze, as they too rushed to the battlefield with their bodies set ablaze in Hana's crimson flames.
Grace stood behind with Louie, as she began to employ magic while Louie stayed to defend her.
"Gaia's Chosen!" Grace muttered as green veins grew from her feet to envelope her body while also spreading all-over, her range spread wide before Seo Hana's flames stopped her spell's advance, but that didn't discourage her as she rose over the veins that stretched beneath her feet accompanied by Louie, who stood with a shield and a sword in his hands.
"Divine deployment!" Louie roared as a dense golden hued shield manifested in front him, big enough cover him and Gaia's chosen behind him. As if on an unvoiced understanding, Grace pointed forward as her body leaned forward, the veins around her began to crawl, pushing her forward with Louie in defending in front of her.
Hana's flames climbed Grace's veins but didn't damage them, instead boosted their prowess as they had done with the others. The reason behind the halt of the roots and veins' growth and expansion was due to the lack of natural nature in the domain, not the flames as the spell caster had been set ablaze even before the spell was brought to life.
The forces of opposite sides clashed as the spell initiators pulled out the big cards in their arsenals, while half of the forces on Eshwar's side remained still under a petite woman's, Core's, orders.
Waiting to analyse more of Vine's and his doll's battle prowess as they had yet to use more than a mere cloning ability, while their group had been forced to pull out big cards even though it was merely a start of their battle.