Kiva was not the one to have cursed, but instead, it was actually Ayse and Weslie who were now in trouble. When Weslie had lowered the tower shield for Ayse to shoot her Arc Induction Lance Rifle, Kiva, in turn, had ready a long spinning drill at the tip of his tail.
The Lightning Arc from the Lance Rifle did not damage Kiva in any single way. Rather, the drill acted like a potent lightning rod, as well as storing all the electrical potential in its spinning tail. “I’ve already predicted that you were going to hit me with that electrical fluff gadget you have. Too bad for you, I knew a way to store it for my own use! Now have a taste of your own medicine!”
The previous two Drill Rhino could have also deflected the attack… if their drill was at the receiving point of the electrical energy. But too bad for the Chimaeras, the Arc Lance was a little too unwieldy for Ayse despite her fairly stout build. So, the lightning arc moved sideways and damaged other areas instead, causing them to fall.
Still, it was a mystery as to how Kiva’s long drill tail had managed to store all that electrical energy, spinning while not being hurt by it. Unfortunately, there was no time for the researchers to analyse it as Kiva decided to go into the offensive by plucking its tail and turning it into a flail with the drill spinning furiously with electrical pulses emitted at different intervals.
Weslie quickly propped up the tower shield again to defend against the attack, and while Kiva knew that he could easily move to the side and destroy them, he decided to entertain them further.
The feeling of dominance over these two ladies of science somehow was a tad too intoxicating to just let go, and it was an excellent opportunity not to break their inventions. It was as if he had to prove a point that his craft was far too strong for them to handle.
However, to his surprise, the spinning flail of a drill tail did not manage to put a single scratch or dent on Weslie’s tower shield. Ayse, now aware that her Arc Induction Lance Rifle was useless, decided to use the very same weapon that Kraft had employed against the Dragonlite sentries.
“Behold! The Edged Boomerangs!” Ayse grinned widely when she took it out from her storage ring and started to induce them with magic.
Even without line of sight, Ayse threw them with ease as they magically aimed for the target beyond the tower shield and they struck the enemy with precision. However, to her dismay, the attack did not seem to be as powerful as recorded in the System’s database.
“Did Kraft lie to the System?” Ayse thought to herself as Kiva dismissed the feeble attempts of the Edged Boomerangs.
“Negative. Original Bellator Kraft merely used chi manipulation to make the attacks stronger. The weapon was still working as intended. Regrettably, your power output cannot compare to his.” The System replied all of a sudden, and it made the situation for the two ladies even more desperate.
Frustrated that his weapon did not work as intended, Kiva decided to perform a sidestep to defeat the defender and proceed to cut Ayse’s head off. However, he did not expect that the moment he moved, the tower shield was moving at the same speed as him.
“How could this be?!” Kiva thought to himself as he now tried to pass and hit Ayse with his flailing drill from a distance, but the tower shield kept intervening just as the drill left Kiva’s proximity.
“Surprised? Don’t be. Your drill eating electricity is equally a mystery to us. Thought we’d return the favour.” Weslie smirked as she managed to counterattack when Kiva had a slight opening after his weapon was deflected by her shield.
“You impudent human!” Kiva shouted as he continued to underestimated Weslie by trying to move faster and attempted to get rid of Ayse by flying over. (Especially when he deemed Weslie too weak to even bring up the tower shield.)
“Hah! Try harder!” Weslie taunted behind the safety of the tower shield. She lifted it upwards with ease and protected Ayse from being hit. Yet, all of this was merely a distraction.
Kiva was actually aiming for their concentration to focus on him. He mumbled a few magical words and the flail turned into the very same drill that Kiva had attempted to use against the Stalingrad.
“Since, I lost the opportunity to use it about minutes ago… Then you will have to become my target board!” Kiva declared. He flew away from the two researchers and used that distance to gain speed. Again, he mumbled a few more taboo words and the drill spun even more rapidly, to the point that its sound became irritating enough to cause Jin and King Baal to stop for a moment to see what Kiva was about to do.
—–
“Stop. How about a temporary truce. I’d like to see what my advisor is capable of doing.” King Baal suggested that with a prideful and unyielding tone. It was as if he was rewarding Jin for even managing to entertain him until now.
Nevertheless, Jin gladly agreed, making use of the time to catch his breath and at the same time relieved that King Baal curiosity gave him the break he needed.
It was definitely clear that the King of Demon Metropolis was merely toying or buying time for his subjects. For what reason, Jin did not know as he trusted that his monsters and remaining cultivators were equally capable of stopping the Demon Horde in their tracks despite the chaos from the Mass Teleportation spell. And that wasn’t even accounting for Kraft’s group who apparently was making great progress.
—–
“DIE!” Kiva shouted and went for a pinpoint charge as his wings fluttered at the speed of sound, heading towards Weslie with all he got. The Scholar of the West also realised that there was nothing that could be done but to wear the abomination down while Ayse or she came up with a plan to defeat it.
… However, things didn’t go as predicted.
To everyone’s surprise, Kiva’s enchanted drill penetrated the energy shield with ease. The impact from the weapon was enough to create a hole in the tower shield, inadvertently piercing Weslie’s abdomen with such force that her innards and even bits of her spine and lower ribcage flew in every direction possible.
And that was not the end as the electrical charges from the drill were being discharged, causing bolts of lightning to spear towards Ayse and injuring her severely. From mere burns to loss of limbs, Ayse fell to the ground alongside Weslie.
Jin saw the entire incident from the floating platform and his fists banged onto the invisible walls that the Dungeon Core had created to prevent any disturbances from the outside (and ironically the inside)
“What’s with your reaction? Not used to seeing your comrades die such a horrible death?” King Baal scoffed at Jin’s whimpering scream. In a certain sadistic way, he was jovial that he had graciously granted his opponent a small break.
But now it was time to finish the duel and call it a day!
