Second World

Despite all the buffs, the damage caused by Makubwa was minuscule. Yet, his attack still caused the eldritch beholder to stop her offensive against Quetzalcoatl.

The dragon didn't waste the opening. He turned into a lightning bolt and rushed forward. He arrived before the beholder in an instant with his two hind legs ready to claw at the beholder's giant eyeball.

The beholder acted fast. She cast Magic Wall that blocked Quetzalcoatl's claws before they arrived. Quetzalcoatl's battle style relied more on spells, but that didn't mean he couldn't fight in melee. He was a true dragon, after all. Even untrained, his physical strength dwarfed most creatures of the same level.

The magic wall cracked after getting hit by Quetzalcoatl's claws. Quetzalcoatl followed up with a swing using his wing. The magic wall was shattered then. Quetzalcoatl's head dove down toward the beholder. His jaws were opened wide, ready to take a bite, but the beholder used the Teleportation spell again and moved away.

The beholder's large eye was staring at Makubwa after she teleported.

Makubwa felt a chilling cold in his body upon the stare. A deafening voice rang inside his head. "You, insignificant insect! How dare you interfere?!"

"Urgh…!" Makubwa held his head. His vision was spinning.

Something like a shining light bulb covered Makubwa's head. As it did, he felt the throb in his head greatly lessened. That light bulb was Isabelle's spell that protected Makubwa's mind. This mind barrier barely resisted the beholder's mental attack as cracks already appeared on it in such a short instant.

"More pesky ants!" The beholder cast a spell that conjured crimson chains with living balls at their ends. These balls had large mouths filled with sharp metal teeth. These crimson chains rushed at Makubwa and Isabelle. The mouths in their heads made loud clanking sounds as they kept on chomping.

Isabelle summoned her living weapons which were composed of light. These living melee weapons clashed with the crimson chains as she flew back. Makubwa refused to retreat. His giant club spun as he used Hurricane Punishing Cyclone.

However, even when the crimson chains appeared fragile, they were not. Isabelle's living weapons were crushed when the living balls chomped on them. Luckily, she had retreated. She cast Wind Jet when one of these living balls almost bit her.

Makubwa was shoved back each time his hurricane made an impact with the crimson chains. The chains were more powerful, but they couldn't get to him as long as his hurricane skill was still ongoing.

"Pick someone your own size, fiend!" Quetzalcoatl yelled as he flapped his wings. Several lightning blades slashed out. These lightning blades cut the crimson chains and the chains crumbled to dust. His spells might be useless to harm the eldritch beholder but they were still potent enough to break the beholder's spells.

After saving the two, Quetzalcoatl flew toward the beholder again, intending to get her into a melee fight.

The beholder continued casting spells to keep Quetzalcoatl away. Makubwa flew to a different angle and tried striking from there. When the beholder cast a spell to target Makubwa, Isabelle cast a spell to either redirect the beholder's spell or pull Makubwa to safety. Makubwa couldn't be saved every time. Luckily, at the unfortunate times when he was hit, the buffs from Emris and Samuhn reduced the damage he received.

Makubwa and Isabelle didn't truly present much threat to the beholder, but their interference was still disturbing enough. Quetzalcoatl's HP was close to 60% before the two came, while the beholder still had 90% HP. With the two's aid, the rate by which Quetzalcoatl received damage was greatly reduced. Instead, it was the beholder who had to keep running away from Quetzalcoatl's forceful charge. This caused her to spend less time casting offensive spells.

With this pace, it was unlikely the eldritch beholder could defeat Quetzalcoatl before her summon time ran out.

*

Mistress was cursing non-stop when she saw the situation. Her cold and collected persona was gone. She had no choice but to go to the front line and help her soldiers, but the tide had slowly changed ever since the Themisphere army showed up.

With more troops and more high-level mythical-grade combatants, Aurebor troops were slowly pushed back even with their advantage in terrains. Lead Designer was also not a good tactician. He moved the troops in the most obvious ways without any well-thought consideration.

Kima was average in terms of tactical movements, but she had a better understanding of Verremor troops compared to Lead Designer with Aurebor troops. Lead Designer might know all the soldiers' specs, but knowing their data was not good enough. Kima understood her troops' behavior. How they cooperate and what stimulated their fighting spirit. This gave her a better edge in controlling the troops compared to Lead Designer.

The Themisphere army didn't have anyone controlling them. Themisphere's war table was inside the mobile fortress in Hydrurond. Even so, this army could still move with some tactical benefits. This was because John had made the army perform many war drills. Every unit always moved with a conscious effort to stay in formation.

Many of the officers had also received direct tutelage from John. This allowed them to make tactical decisions based on the situation. As a large-scale army, they might not cooperate as well as an army controlled by a war table, but they functioned efficiently in smaller-scale divisions. This gave them the awareness to always cover their nearby comrades and prevented the Aurebor troops from successfully isolating them

Additionally, after researching the martial arts drills, the rate by which the native soldiers learned martial arts had improved by leaps and bounds. The Themisphere soldiers had no problem even when the Aurebor soldiers successfully isolated them and hit them with a bigger number. They were able to fight back or hold their ground until their comrades arrived.

Lead Designer watched anxiously at the indication of their troops' number on the war table's projection. They kept on falling, while the enemies didn't lose as many. At this rate, they would be vanquished.

He looked up in the sky at the combat between the country guardians. Although the beholder was winning, Quetzalcoatl was nowhere near defeated. It was almost one day since these country guardians were summoned. They couldn't rely on the beholder to turn the situation anymore.

Reluctantly, he sent his review of the situation to Mistress who was fighting in the front line. He was ready for a scolding.

Instead, he received a weak, defeated answer. "Sound the retreat," Mistress ordered.