Feeling provoked by Rourke’s somewhat mocking attitude, Ophelia impulsively ordered Dreadnought to attack.
A thunderous sound echoed as Dreadnought’s bombardment assaulted the defenseless giant lying on the ground. In an instant, the giant was engulfed in explosive flames, its earthen body being destroyed.
In a matter of minutes, the giant’s body, having taken the full brunt of the bombardment, was in tatters, scattered miserably.
“Hah… hah…”
“…”
Ophelia, catching her breath, smiled with satisfaction at the giant’s miserable state.
On the other hand, Rourke showed no signs of distress at the sight of his giant’s pitiful condition, merely observing Ophelia standing before him.
“That giant seems to have regenerative abilities, but after this much damage… surely…”
“Surely what?”
Ophelia’s smile deepened, believing she had dealt enough damage to force even a high-ranking spirit to be dismissed, but… she froze as she saw the rubble gathering around the five scattered parts, attempting to regenerate the giant.
“Surely… what?”
Rourke asked while quietly assuming a stance with his sword.
“A collective of earth spirits and lesser-spirits, that’s the true identity of that giant.”
“I see, so that’s how it is. It’s a simpler structure than I thought.”
Lily finally saw through the true nature of the giant that kept repeating destruction and regeneration.
The giant that seemed to regenerate without showing any signs of damage no matter how many attacks it received was, in fact, just a facade created by lesser-spirits gathering earth and rocks around a core of earth spirits.
No matter how many times it’s shattered, the lesser-spirits gather the fragments again around the earth spirits, making it appear as if it’s regenerating. That was the secret behind the seemingly immortal giant.
“…Still, it’s impressive.”
Two large shadows rampaged in the arena.
The earthen giant swung its arm wide, smashing its fist into the side of the giant ship before it. A deep bass sound resonated through the air as the ship’s hull shook violently. However, the ship-like spirit, Dreadnought, didn’t flinch at all and returned fire, bombarding the giant.
The giant’s body, formed instantly from earth, crumbles away. Yet, undeterred, it swings its broken arm to strike. The impact rocks the ship’s hull once more, causing the cannon’s aim to shift and fire a shell in the wrong direction.
In the brief interval between cannon fire, the scattered spirits, along with the broken fragments, gather earth around themselves again and converge towards the giant, where the core earth spirit resides.
“ROOAARR!!”
As the giant’s nearly destroyed limbs reform, it charges at the now-stabilized dreadnought with a mighty roar. The battle between the massive ship utilizing the vast arena and the giant, a collective of spirits, reaches a stalemate, with neither side able to land a decisive blow.
“Now Ophelia is separated from her spirits,”
Lily states matter-of-factly, though inwardly she’s filled with amazement.
When Rourke had asked her about strategy in the library, she had shared her opinion but never truly believed it possible to subdue the dreadnought without summoning contracted spirits.
“It’s impressive how he came up with such a strategy,” she muses.
“Even if one could think of it, it’s not something just anyone could pull off. The amount of spiritual power required to maintain that giant must be enormous…”
The ability to regenerate the body as fast as it’s destroyed requires an immense supply of spiritual power. An average spirit master wouldn’t last five minutes attempting such a feat. Only Rourke’s extraordinary spiritual power and technique make it possible to sustain that giant.
In fact, it would be far more efficient to summon contracted spirits for combat rather than using such a giant. Yet Rourke insists on fighting without summoning contracted spirits, unhesitatingly employing an inefficient battle method. Ironically, this unexpected approach catches the opponent off guard and turns the tide of battle.
Rourke is indeed an anomaly among spirit master.
“So, he needs to defeat Ophelia before his spiritual power runs out,”
“True, the situation has turned in Rourke’s favor, but defeating Ophelia while maintaining that giant is still a formidable task…”
Although he’s managed to restrain the most troublesome dreadnought, Ophelia herself is a cut above other spirit master in terms of strength. Even for someone like Rourke, defeating her while constantly draining his spiritual power seems like an insurmountable challenge.
“No, this match is already decided in Rourke’s favor,”
Gareth declares, dispelling Lily’s concerns.
Lily glances at Gareth’ face, seeing an expression of absolute certainty in Rourke’s victory.
“On what basis?”
“I taught him the basics of swordsmanship, remember? Ophelia may be strong, but she’s no match for Rourke.”
Gareth places his hand on the hilt of the magic sword at his waist, smiling as he murmurs,
“I’m afraid her chances of winning vanished the moment she entered Rourke’s range.”
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Rourke unleashes a slash, and Ophelia dodges. Rourke casts a spirit technique, and Ophelia counters with her own. Rourke strikes again, and Ophelia defends with spirit magic.
The battle had completely reversed, with Ophelia now on the defensive against Rourke’s furious onslaught.
Trying to create distance, Ophelia raises an earthen wall between them, but countless sword flashes shred it to pieces. As the debris scatters, Rourke appears in her view, sword swinging. Ophelia grimaces.
“Damn you!”
She places her hand on the ground, creating spears around Rourke. She thrusts them at him, but with a slight movement of his sword arm, he slices off all the spear tips, rendering them harmless.
As Ophelia, seething with anger, attempts to cast another spirit technique, Rourke preempts her by swinging his sword, sending a slash flying towards her.
“Kuh!?”
She rolls to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack, but it grazes her shoulder, drawing blood.
It’s her first injury in this battle. Though it’s just a small cut on her white skin, at this moment, Ophelia clearly realizes she’s in a dire situation.
“Fire Moon”
Her vision flashes red. A small, glowing red spirit appears beside Rourke, and another slash, now imbued with flames, comes hurtling towards her.
Unable to fully regain her stance, Ophelia instinctively raises the ground to create a wall, blocking the slash.
Heat waves pass by on both sides, singeing her skin. Wincing slightly at the sensation, she dispels her spirit technique to see Rourke standing there, surrounded by small spirits.
“Looks tough, Ophelia.”
“…!”
“Running low on spirit power?”
Ophelia doesn’t answer Rourke’s question. But her silence is affirmation, implicitly proving his words correct.
Thinking about it, it’s obvious. Dreadnought consumes more spirit power compared to other spirits, depleting it rapidly just by manifesting. Yet she had fired a barrage of shells at the start and continued shelling throughout. She had already exhausted more spirit power than she and Dreadnought could provide alone.
As if to prove this, Ophelia was out of breath despite not using many spirit techniques. From the beginning, if she had bombarded that giant with the same intensity as her initial attack on Rourke, she could have destroyed it before it had a chance to regenerate.
The fact that she didn’t do this was clear evidence of Ophelia’s severe spirit power depletion.
Having finally gained a clear advantage, Rourke conceals his fatigue from controlling the giant and, maintaining an air of composure, points his sword at the kneeling Ophelia and declares:
“That was close, but it’s over now. Surrender quietly.”
“Don’t underestimate me, Rourke Areas!”
In response to Rourke’s victorious tone, Ophelia rises, fueled by surging anger, and activates a spirit technique.
“Oh crap.”
It seems that instead of breaking Ophelia’s spirit, Rourke had only invigorated her.
Three stone pillars appear around her. She must have poured all her remaining spirit power into them. Each pillar, with its spiraling tip, is imbued with tremendous spirit power. Even one direct hit could be dangerous, potentially fatal.
Rourke decides to destroy them before she can unleash the technique. But as he tries to release a slash, he realizes his arm won’t move as intended.
“What!?”
Looking down, he sees a rope entangled around his arm. Tracing it back, he finds Dreadnought, still engaged in combat with the giant.
Feeling a twinge of envy for the contracted spirit providing such perfect support to its master even in this critical moment, Rourke swiftly cuts the rope with his sword. But it’s too late; Ophelia has already unleashed her final spirit technique.
“Pierce through!”
The three stone pillars are released. Probably infused with her entire being, they fly towards Rourke at maximum speed. It’s too late to dodge now.
The only option is to cut through all of them.
“Bring it on!”
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