Chapter 256: Chapter 256 - Black Tortoise!
Lumi spoke to Lena, though he did not turn his head. He kept his stare directly on the Black Tortoise, making sure it wouldn’t make any sudden moves that would force him into combat.
"Lena." Lumi spoke, firmly. "Your goal will be to make sure nothing goes wrong."
Lena nodded. "Understood, hubby."
Lena scanned the field, taking a good look at every detail across the field. In a rare show of seriousness, she was not even remotely smiling or gleeful. She stared with a firm look.
She evaluated the situation.
To begin with, Lumi would handle himself. She knew for absolute certain that he was the strongest here, and was the only one that truly understood how to fight these enemies.
She’d keep an eye partially on him, but he wouldn’t be her focus. Chances are, he would beat the Black Tortoise after some time, then move to help wherever it was needed most.
However, that would require time. Until then, that left her as the actual mobile piece to save anyone. Save, as in stop them from losing. Obviously, no one would die here, but defeat was still very much on the table.
Then from the remaining members, Eden and Sol had the Vermillion Bird. They probably wouldn’t need much help, since they were two, and Sol was really strong.
That left Lucy with the Azure Dragon, and Lily had the White Tiger.
Between the last two, Lily would need the most help. This wasn’t really because Lily was weaker, but because Lucy was a player, and this was her proving ground. She needed the experience of clawing through this on her own merit, sink or swim.
As for Lily, he was a native they were actively investing in. Therefore, there was obviously a difference in treatment.
She nodded once to herself, settled it, and turned her attention to the field as Lumi moved north toward the Black Tortoise.
Lumi faced his enemy, and in full view, put a hand down his robes. He put something inside, making his figure look bigger.
"?"
The black tortoise looked on in confusion. What was it watching?
Regardless of its thoughts, Lumi gripped his wand, and made the first move. "Lance of Light!"
BOOM!
As soon as he launched his first attack, the entire battlefield exploded as everyone else began their fight.
A volley of homing light lances shot forward, aiming straight towards the Black Toitouse. It didn’t even bother dodging. It swiftly shrunk its limbs inside its shell.
"Hm?" Lumi purposely made a small sound as if he was thinking, entirely for the sake of the Elder watching them.
"Lance of Light!" He sent out another volley, aiming his homing lances towards the gaps in the shell.
Clink!
The shell expanded downwards, entirely covering any entrance. The lance hit a hard shell, dissipating into light, leaving merely a few marks on the shell.
Immediately afterwards, the serpent left its hiding space and lifted its head, tongue tasting the air in Lumi’s direction.
Hiss~
Lumi immediately teleported away.
A hiss? If you thought it was a mere hiss, you would have already lost. Though it was entirely invisible to the eye, that hiss had carried poison through the air.
Lumi narrowed his eyes. This was fine. He had already planned this out before the first lance even landed.
He would stay safe, play at range, and simply build up his dark meter by attacking. He wouldn’t engage seriously until convergence was online.
"Lance of Light!" Lumi sent yet another volley. This time, the serpent had no need to even hide within the shell, for due to the curved nature of the shell, it slithered to the other side, using the shell as a wall.
As soon as the lance hit the shell, the serpent launched off the tortoise’s shell in a single fluid motion, covering the distance between them faster than its size suggested it should be able to.
Lumi teleported east immediately, leaving the serpent’s strike to land where he’d been standing. Without hesitation, Lumi immediately lunged himself forward.
BOOM!
Spread out like a cross, yellow lightning had spread across the ground, exploding outwards.
"Oarr..." The black tortoise let out a small groan, dissatisfied its attack had missed. A faint light could be seen connecting the serpent and tortoise, as the serpent flew back like a magnet.
Thus was the problem with teleport.
As incredible as the ability to teleport was, its biggest constraint was always the fact it could only be used in the cardinal directions, up, and down, with no variance in angle.
If you could strike every single possible teleport location at once, then a mage could be hit easily. It was only by a mere fraction of a second that Lumi had dodged the lightning spreading out from the impact zone.
Yet Lumi smirked instead. He was not dissatisfied in the slightest. After all, he needed to keep the entirety of the black tortoise’s attention during this time. He responded with retaliation. "Lance of Light!"
The tortoise finally moved. It moved slowly and deliberately, with each step pressing a visible imprint into the ground, but the mass behind it meant slow didn’t mean harmless. It opened its mouth, and a dense pulse of condensed water surged outward, wide enough to cover most of his available retreat path.
The lances finally arrived, and the serpent hid behind the shell as before. But Lumi had made the lances miss on purpose. He smirked.
Seeing the smirk, the serpent quickly turned in panic, expecting to be struck.
There was nothing. The lances had blatantly missed.
"..."
The serpent was shocked. What was the smirk for then!?
As for Lumi... what could he say? He learned from the best. Lena was a master of unconventional mental games while in combat.
Regardless, there was a wave of water to retreat from. There was only one viable teleport direction. He teleported directly south, closer to the tortoise.
BOOM!
An explosion rang out behind him, perfectly showcasing what would have been his result if he had chosen any other direction to teleport.
Yet there was a reason south wasn’t laced with thunderbolts.
First, he had clipped the edge of the wave anyway, twisting his angles and draining some MP from his mana guard. Second, it caused the serpent to immediately lunge at him..
CHOMP!
Its teeth took hold of the flesh on his chest, and savagely ripped out a chunk. Or so, the serpent thought.
"..."
It was entirely cotton fluff. Lumi had stored a thick layer of such under his robes to defend against bite attacks from this specific circumstance. The serpents eyes opened wide in realization...
"Lance of Light!" Lumi took the opportunity to hit the serpent with a point blank spell, causing it to recoil in pain as it swiftly retreated back to the tortoise.
CRUNCH! The black tortoise moved forward, taking a large bite of empty air as it chomped right through where Lumi had been before teleporting. He teleported west, barely ahead of it, and immediately regretted it when west, at some point, had a massive wave of water about to engulf him.
This is when Lumi performed the forbidden tactic no mage would ever dream of.
He grit his body, and as the wave approached...
BOOM!
Lightning shook the ground as it exploded right in the wave he was caught inside. "Ahh!" Lumi couldn’t help but groan as the massive shock ran through his system, searing through his mind and seizing his muscles. As soon as he could, he dragged an HP potion out of his inventory and chugged it.
Though MP took most of the damage, that didn’t mean he wasn’t damaged. It just meant he would be dead without mana guard.
When one was forced to take a hit, with no teleport up nor barriers, what was one to do? Most mages would be looking for a way to desperately weave a spell together to mitigate the damage, or still be dreaming of an escape.
Few would legitimately brace for impact.
And that was an important detail few mages would learn. The position of your body, your readiness when taking an impact was extremely important when determining the extent of the damage.
"Lance of Light!" His enemy wouldn’t give up after landing a single attack. The serpent lunged yet again, forcing Lumi to counter with a spell. As expected, faced with the spell heading towards it, the serpent violently changed its own direction midair, throwing itself to the side to dodge the attack, and ruining his own attack in the process.
As it did so, however, it flung a scale from his tail violently towards Lumi. He swiftly went to dodge, though it grazed his shoulder before he wrenched away, making him grit his teeth. There were only so many attacks he wanted to take.
The tortoise opened its mouth again, charging another water pulse, wider this time, clearly intending to close off his remaining angles entirely.
Lumi checked his MP, and made a conclusion. This would be a long day of sneaking potions in while fighting...
