"Elite Ten, maintain your distance! Number One, support with your totem!"
As Alyon commanded the orcs under his lead, the Third Sheikh launched his first strike. Blue wind-vanes rained down upon the area—shrouded by plants sprouting from seeds—like a hailstorm breaking on a summer day. Some lost their leaves, some their stems, and some were obliterated entirely, yet a breath later, they surged back from the same spot, even more lush than before.
"Thank you for the magic-infused attacks. Please, do continue feeding my plants."
A garden composed of flora that feasted on magical energy—what a massive wall for the people of the Hell Realm.
"I reckon we can only settle this with brute force. Even the Druids' protection spells look like they'll end up as plant fodder!"
Alyon stepped forward, flanked by Alis and the Third Sheikh's spirit animal.
"It's going to be a pain in the ass, but we've got no other choice!"
The Apostle might have looked like he had taken a passive stance, but his true state was only visible to someone looking down from the sky. With the energy he had siphoned, he had grown a size larger, drawing the garden ever closer to the enemy.
"You're focusing on the others while fighting me?!"
Eyshan roared as a blast of fire energy from her blade grazed Mora's cheek. Her target had been the head; the enemy had barely escaped by a hair's breadth.
"I don't know who this 'Master' of yours is, but it seems you've sold your soul to someone formidable!"
Clutching her bow, Mora unleashed a rain of arrows upon the long-faced woman. Fire and blood clashed incessantly.
"The Master is the one who stands at the apex of the world. The being who decides who rules and who dies. Those two below, the humans who earned the titles of Ninth and Eighth Apostle... your friends will share the same fate as you. Death!"
"Ha ha ha! You always loved hiding behind someone even when we were kids, didn't you? Didn't take you long to find a new back to hide behind after you stabbed me in mine!"
"Fool! Your brother's death, your own impending death, even my throwing your father into the dungeon—it was all his plan. Oh, I remember now, he actually arranged your mother's death too."
Time stood still. Mora was too far gone to notice the fiery trap closing in around her.
"This was always your greatest weakness. Thinking those around you were your family and binding yourself to them with such passion. The Master found me when I was ten and laid out exactly what I had to do. Everything happened just as he said, and it will end just as he desires!"
Charging like a bolt of lightning at her trapped foe, Eyshan plunged her long, slender blade into Mora's right flank. There was no resistance; Mora didn't even lift a hand.
"Don't worry; I'll send your father and that newly surfaced brother of yours right after you!"
As the Queen of Hell whispered into her ear, Mora's head slumped onto her shoulder, and soon, her breath went silent.
"Blood Techniques: Jaw of the Barbarian!"
A soul-wrenching scream filled the heavens and the earth. Eyshan recoiled fifty paces in a single breath.
"Where do you think you're going, Eyshan? I barely got a tiny bite!"
Mora's words were barely audible because Eyshan's left shoulder was currently inside her mouth. Flames erupted from the long-faced woman's left side, quickly cauterizing the wound where her shoulder and half her arm had been ripped away.
"What, did you think this little scratch would kill me? Who do you think you're facing? This body belongs to the Blood God Nafız. It's not going to die just because it got poked by your little toothpick!"
Though Mora mocked her, Eyshan was certain she had scorched the woman's insides with searing flames after driving the blade in. Immunity to fire. The three words echoed in her mind. She had heard of this before, but accepting it so quickly was nearly impossible.
"You taste like shit, too! There's a hint of cheesy aroma, but it's not enough to mask your stench!"
Mora used her daggers to shred the shoulder she had spat out from the massive jaw formed of blood energy. She sliced it so finely that the pieces were almost invisible as they fell.
The fragments nearly touched the ground before being completely erased by a sweeping wave of blood energy. A spear the size of a grown man hurtled toward its target, the air vibrating in its wake, obliterating everything in its path.
The male Apostle refused to take the hit. He dodged the spear—which had slowed down as it grew in size—and lunged for his target.
"You first. Your technique is a pain in the neck!"
The person in question was none other than Jashua. Ever since the Young Count had entered the fray, the Apostle had been wary of taking direct hits from the spear-wielding Sheikh.
"In your dreams!"
The voice had lost its edge by the time it reached their ears, but the speaker had already made their move. Just as Jashua was about to fall into the Apostle's clawed hands, the air tore open, and he was pulled into the rift. A breath later, he was somewhere else entirely, with the spear-wielding Sheikh appearing right beside him.
"You fossilized old bastard!"
The Apostle gritted his teeth so hard the sound of them snapping was audible to everyone. Even if they mended a breath later, the pain they caused was easy to imagine.
"I know exactly what the Master's goal is. What wouldn't he give to be in my place, eh?"
"Sooner or later, the Master will win. You don't have a shred of value in his eyes, you filthy humans!"
The Apostle spread both arms and began swinging them violently. His right hand sent barrages toward the Holy Blood Front, while his left hand slashed through the flora of the other Apostle who had created the Plant Garden.
"Thanks, brother. I'll crush these insects and join you!"
The Holy Blood Front weathered the attack, but on the other side, the female Apostle absorbed all the energy, doubling the size of her domain.
"Orc warrior, use everything you've got!"
The Third Sheikh—ugliness personified—called out to Alyon, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead. The only reason he could wield such a massive axe despite his frail body was his incredible mastery over wind energy.
Now, he couldn't use it, and his fellow orcs were in the same boat. Neither the spirits summoned by the Elite Ten's Number One nor the energy-laden attacks of the others did anything but empower the enemy.
"We just need to hold on a bit longer. Just a little more!"
Alyon was a master of brute force. Most of the attacks surging from the Plant Garden bowed before his war hammer, but even superior orc endurance was beginning to succumb to time.
As the distance between them closed, the Apostle's attacks didn't just become more frequent—they grew stronger. Driven into a frenzy by the energy siphoned from her comrade, the number of thorny vines descending upon the Orc Group was now counted in the hundreds.
"Die, die, die! This is the end for anyone who stands between the Master and his goal! You will die in agony!"
The speed of the assault increased by the moment. What was happening was no longer a battle; it had turned into a desperate effort for one side to survive.
"Orc Warrior, I'll hold this off. Run while you can!"
"No!"
"My real body isn't here. This Apostle has an ability that counters our skills; we can't defeat her!"
"No, we're going to hold on a bit longer!"
"You brainless orc, you're going to die here!"
The Third Sheikh had the final word. He and his Power Animal would somehow be reborn, but the orcs' fates were sealed. The female Apostle held the upper hand with her magic absorption and used countless plants to negate physical damage.
Under an assault that lasted another hundred breaths, Alyon and the orcs were spent. The Third Sheikh and his Power Animal were barely clinging on. Then, Alyon's weapon hit the ground; the giant orc chief no longer had the strength to carry his war hammer.
"You're the first to die!"
The vines, twisting together to increase their size tenfold, were about to pierce Alyon's torso, and there was no one left to help him. Alyon was only a few breaths away from death.
When only an inch remained between the vines and their target, a violent wind descended upon the area, followed swiftly by a rushing shadow.