Chapter 290: Vs Gilbalar V
***BOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!
The collision between the two attacks, resulted in a large mushroom cloud explosion, releasing cloud-parting shockwaves that could blast an average inferior-stage grandmaster to pieces.
’Fuck, if it wasn’t for my stored-up law essence I would have died just now!
I let my guard down too much!!
To think that a mere inferior stage nearly killed me!’
Although Gilbalar knew there was some sort of weird power at play that reduced his overall power, weakened his attacks, and reduced the effects of his own attacks, he still expected to be able to easily trump three inferior stages with ease.
He had done so in the past and had done so recently when he killed one of the weakened benevolent gods in his quest to return to his previous realm of existence.
He felt a mixture of both shame and anger at the thought that he had almost died to the teenagers, his vision going red as he screamed out with rage.
"I’LL KILL YOU ALL!!!"
Black fire burst from his body and spread out to cover the sky.
"FLAME LANCE BARRAGE!!!"
Close to a hundred spears of condensed flames manifested in the air, pointing towards the teenagers on the ground before launching forward at breakneck speed.
However, Nicole snapped her fingers and generated a similar barrage of water lances pointing upwards, firing them towards the incoming flaming spears.
**BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!
Flame and water projectiles collided with each other, with multiple steam explosions ringing out in the air.
The entire area was covered in thick hot steam, but Gilbalar did not care, coalescing his flames into a giant flaming sword of about fifty metres in length.
He dashed towards Nicole and swung the sword with all his might, releasing a large flaming slash that burned through the air.
**KAAAABOOOOMMM!!!!!
A mushroom cloud of smoke, flames and dust rose up kilometres into the sky as the slash that was dodged by Nicole, went on to hit the ground and turn everything on the floor within the nearest 5-kilometre radius to rubble.
"The City?!"
[Worry not, you’ve gone too far for them to be within the blast radius.]
Undine replied to Layla’s worry before directing her to refocus on the battle as she had been decided as the sword’s next target.
"Ether Spirit Technique: Spirit’s Lair."
Nicole’s voice rang out as a giant sphere composed of multiple whirlpools manifested around Layla and covered her surroundings.
She then reduced its size while concentrating the water density to make it more resilient.
The lesser water spirits that usually hung around her happily lent her their power and strengthened the dome of water.
They then went on to enhance the whirlpools, making them capable of blocking multiple piercing forces from any direction without breaking.
The moment the dome manifested around her, Gilbalar’s sword landed right on it causing ripples in the water dome and spreading shockwaves around.
His attack was unable to penetrate the dome’s defence.
Gilbalar noticed this and he frowned as he rose the sword up and motioned to prepare for another attack.
’Why didn’t he use those flames of life earlier? Especially when I shot his eye. Even now, he still hasn’t healed his eye or the other wounds, but he healed the wound caused by Edward’s attack alone.
...
The law energy in that ring of fire is most likely very limited and it’s probably not enough for him to use to attack us AND heal his other wounds.’
Those were Layla’s thoughts as she studied the god’s current state closely while preparing to counter his next attack.
However, contrary to her expectations, Gilbalar did not attack her again, instead reabsorbing the flames and suddenly shooting towards Esna and Edward’s direction at his top speed.
"Nicole!"
Layla called out to Nicole and the latter disabled the spirit lair. What followed was the sound of Layla’s gun spitting fire as she unleashed a full magazine on him, forcefully stopping him in his tracks.
’Just how many of those strange weapons does she have?!’
Gilbalar exclaimed internally when he saw Layla swap out her Assault rifle for another one with a full magazine, but before her bullets came flying Esna had already taken action.
"Light Magic: Astral Smite!"
Dozens of fist-sized light energy bullets emerged from the two-ringed circles that manifested in front of Esna and shot towards Gilbalar.
The god ducked to avoid the light magic projectiles but he ended up getting too close to the ground in the process, allowing Layla to use a darkness-restraining spell.
A three-ringed magic circle appeared around Gilbalar and chains of darkness burst from the ground and wrapped around his arm, restraining him and sapping his little remaining magic power.
Layla’s bullets shot right into his restrained arm, exploding immediately after as his flesh and golden blood splattered all over.
"Edward! Hole! Ground!"
Nicole’s shouted towards Edward who instantly understood what she wanted to do, downing the rest of the healing and magic energy potion he had on him before holding up his long sword and pointing to the sky.
"Hazy Style! Rumbling of Earth."
His body and his presence vanished as he blitzed towards Gilbalar, slashing down right in front of the god and destroying the ground underneath his feet.
The two of them fell down the gigantic fissure that opened up in the ground, with Gilbalar attempting to fly out of it but Edward spun his body round and kicked him in his injured arm, forcing him down the hole in the ground.
’Tsss!’
Pain racked Gilbalar’s brain as Edward held nothing back in his kick, but he still managed to draw out his remaining magic energy to coat his body in flames and create a gigantic claw of flames around his hand which he tried to grab Edward with.
However, Esna appeared with blink and grabbed Edward before disappearing once more, leaving him to catch nothing but empty air.
Outside the fissure, Nicole saw that Edward and Esna had escaped, before gesturing her hand downward and dropping a huge mass of dense water towards the fissure.
The mass of water slammed onto Gilbalar faster than he could expect, knocking him to the bottom of the fissure, and also quenching the last of the law energy flames that he had surrounded his body with.
Layla and Esna realised what Nicole was about to do, but before she could even do it, Edward had already taken action, holding up his arm and casting a tier 3 lightning spell.
"Arcane Bolt of Severance!"
Storm clouds gathered in the sky above and there was a bright flashing light as a golden lightning bolt crashed down onto the water and electrocuted the god trapped inside.
In lieu of his screams, muffled by the water, Nicole activated her magic without hesitation,
"Water Magic: Water Depth 3,000 meters."
The earth split open and the fissure on the ground widened even further as the pressure of water was too much for the earth that had been rent multiple times to take.
"?!"
Suddenly Nicole’s eyes widened and she sent out mental commands to the nearby spirits. The bird-shaped spirit swooped down towards Esna and Edward, abruptly grabbing them by its talons and dragging them up into the air.
Another group of spirits flew towards Layla and dragged her up into the air, with the girl taking the hint and understanding that Nicole did not want any of them on the ground.
Right after Layla made that inference-
***KAABOOOOMMM!!!!
The ground suddenly exploded, with a massive mushroom-shaped cloud of dust rising up into the air and releasing shockwaves that knocked all four of them away.
They didn’t even have the mental capacity to compute how many miles were blasted to bits by that sudden explosion as they were too busy protecting their bodies from harm with their energies.
Surprisingly, the explosion died down as abruptly as it happened, revealing a vast and deep crater in the ground, covered in flames and not a single drop of the water Nicolle had generated was to be found.
[Oh wow, that goes at least a few miles deep.
Anyway, I protected the city and all, but you guys have bigger problems.
That guy just broke through.]
Undine light-heartedly commented on the state of the god at the centre of the crater, with dark expressions adoring the quartet’s faces as the power they could now sense from him, was undoubtedly that of a Legendary Realm existence.
"Isn’t breaking through in the face of adversity something reserved for protagonists?"
Edward asked such a strange question as cold sweat dripped down his back, Layla on the other hand, was already considering pulling out one of her trump cards.
As for Gilbalar, the god took a deep breath, savouring the feeling of finally returning to the Legendary realm before turning his good eye in Esna’s direction.
’Her first.’
He roused his energy and a pillar of flames shot up into the sky, dying down immediately after to reveal his appearance of a body coated in flames all over.
The next instant, he kicked off the ground and shot forward, blitzing straight towards Esna and throwing out a punch.
