Chapter 315: Radgyn II
There was a wave of silence as she spoke and in the short moment that the eight commanders took to snap out of their shock and answer her, the ambient spirits all instantly manifested their physical bodies, blaring out their auras to pressure the soldiers.
The weight of their combined presence bore down on the soldiers as if to compel them to bow under the weight of their auras.
One of them, a peak grandmaster lion-shaped spirit roared out loudly, while another who was a gigantic bird-shaped spirit descended from above and asked with a deep voice.
[Did you not hear her question?]
Nicole sent a glance to the bird spirit to calm it down, before turning to the eight and addressing them.
"I should have wiped out at least a third of the monste-"
"!!"
""Behind YOU!!""
The commanders urgently screamed out, cutting Nicole halfway through her speech in favour of warning her about the long water whip that shot through the air and towards her neck.
With lightning-fast reflexes, the girl’s hand blurred and she caught the whip before it could wrap around her neck, but it quickly changed targets and coiled around her arm tightly instead.
Radgyn, who was holding the other end of the whip, attempted to use her powerful strength to pull Nicole whose arm was captured, but much to her astonishment, Nicole didn’t even budge.
’AquaGenesis: Dominate.’
Nicole gave a command internally, and the water whip that the Malevolent goddess was holding broke out of her control despite the fact that it was made of divinity, an energy that Nicole clearly could not manipulate.
Notably, a thin layer of Ether shielded Nicole’s arm from the scorching effects of the goddess’s divinity, albeit temporarily.
After giving Radgyn her third major shock of the day by seizing control of her water whip, Nicole made the whip wrap around the goddess’ arm and faster than she could react, swung her arm downwards, slamming Radgyn’s body down to the ground.
Following up, she snapped her fingers and activated a Tier 3 Ice spell, generating a crystal blue magic circle in the air that launched a high-velocity beam of ice towards the spot where Radgyn had fallen.
***BOOOMMM!!!!
A massive explosion ensued, its impact unleashing a blinding flash of light accompanied by a deafening roar that reverberated throughout the area.
Fragments of frozen water shot in all directions like deadly shrapnel, carving deep furrows into the earth and leaving trails of devastation in their wake.
The explosion released an intense wave of frigid energy that caused the surrounding temperature to plummet rapidly, but Nicole, the caster of this spell remained unaffected.
Turning back to the commanders, her hand free from the divinity-formed whip, Nicole continued her speech with composure.
"As I was saying, I should have eliminated a third of the monsters under her control. Have your men engage the remaining forces while I confront her.
Be cautious, though, as these monsters possess a deathly power that drains life from those in close proximity without proper protection.
Strive to avoid as many of their attacks as you can, and if someone does get hit, have your priests or support units employ purification magic immediately."
"?!"
"Draining the life of people just by being near them?!"
"That’s absurd!"
"How are we supposed to fight that?"
Her words evoked a variety of reactions from those who heard, and the fact that she still had her voice imbued with magic power made a lot of soldiers if not all, hear her words.
"This is the army of a ’MALEVOLENT’ god, what else did you expect?
Besides, if you actually listened to my words earlier, I said that only happened if one does not have proper protection.
You all are at least Gold realm existences; you should be capable of protecting yourselves with your magic power and auras."
The eight commanders who were closest to Nicole instantly saw that the girl who had been expressionless from the start was now visibly getting displeased with each word she spoke.
They hurriedly acquiesced to her ’request’ and wished her safety in her fight while turning to placate the soldiers and rouse them for battle.
Seeing this, Nicole only shrugged her shoulders and turned around, her gaze locked in the direction of the massive thousand-metre-deep crater in the ground where her earlier spell had hit Radgyn.
[Are you sure you want to fight wearing that?]
Undine posed a question to her, prompting the girl to take a moment to briefly assess her current outfit.
She was wearing a simple purple-coloured oversized casual shirt over black pleated shorts, with long mid-thigh length stockings of a similar colour. There was a simple black leather thigh bracelet in between the hem of her shorts and the welt of her stockings.
This thigh bracelet was called the ’Swift Guardian’, an enchanted artifact that granted her a 25% increment in movement speed and 15% extra physical and magical resistance.
Like always, her baggy clothes ended up hiding her rather voluptuous figure. Of course, she simply liked baggy clothes and they just happened to have the added effect of making her look less endowed that than she naturally was.
Anyway, this particular outfit combination was one she favoured a lot more than others, hence the reason for Undine’s question.
"What about it?"
[It might get stained with blood.]
"Oh..."
The single syllable escaped her lips, laden with a mix of light surprise and realization. But in the next moment, her purple eyes narrowed in the direction of the crater upon sensing movement from there.
[Since you’re now in the Epic Realm, you can take this chance to summon it. Your ’real’ Battle Dress and not the ethereal version you’ve been using all this while.]
Undine spoke up with a suggestion, her voice carrying a tinge of anticipation that Nicole didn’t fail to notice.
Taking a deep breath, Nicole took a step forward and roused her energy as she spoke.
"Battle Dress."
With each step forward she took, her ether wrapped around her body, reshaping her appearance into one that looked more suited for battle.
Her formerly crystal blue suit of armour took on a darker hue, transforming into a black-coloured armour with streaks of navy blue. A short skirt of the same dark hue cascaded from her waist accompanied by black knee-high socks and boots with a similar coloured tiara-like accessory on her hair.
Hovering a bit over her left arm, was an illusory transparent wedge shield, slowly shimmering in and out of existence.
Appearing in her right hand was a lance of spiralling water, something that made Undine raise a brow in light surprise.
[You didn’t change the lance?]
"Not yet."
Nicole replied with those two words, before kicking off the ground with so much force that the earth where she stood cratered open.
She used Instant Acceleration to achieve her top speed immediately, leaving the sound barrier behind as she turned into a streak of navy-blue light that streaked through the air.
Radgyn who had just emerged from the kilometre-deep hole she had been smashed into by Nicole’s earlier attack, instantly sensed the danger posed by the incoming devil.
Without hesitation, she waved her hand and conjured dozens of pressurized water spears that hurtled Nicole at breakneck speed.
Undeterred, Nicole extended her left hand, materializing the shield on it fully and angling upwards to block the spears with ease.
Seeing that piercing damage wasn’t working, Radgyn instantly switched up her attacks, unleashing a barrage of thin pressurized water blades with tremendous cutting power upon Nicole.
Nicole also switched up, retracting her shield and stretching forward the hand that held her bullet lance. Her arm blurred as she slashed and knocked down all the water blades with lightning speed.
Attempting to create some distance from Nicole, Radgyn jumped hundreds of metres backwards in a single movement, but the devil girl had no intention of letting that happen.
Magic power surged through her wings and she flapped them powerfully, boosting her speed once more as the thousand-metre distance between them turned to a mere ten within a second.
"You’re not the only one who can do fancy tricks with water!"
The Malevolent goddess shouted out as she stretched out her arm and conjured a hydrokinetic polearm with water, thrusting it out in the same instant that Nicole thrust out her Lance.
**BOOOMMMM!!!!
Spear tip and Lance tip collided with each other, the force between the clash reverberating through the earth and quaking the ground beneath their feet.
Radgyn roused her divinity and took off into the skies, with Nicole trailing not too far behind as the two began an aerial battle that unfolded like a scene from a myth to the people of Gade.
The goddess was well versed in the arts of spear handling, and she showed her prowess in each of her precise attacks that all pulsed with lethal intent.
Nicole responded to Radgyn’s every move with her Lance, using her full might and not daring to underestimate the goddess even for a little bit as she could tell that the latter had expert-level skill.
