Jack turned to David, Selena, and Yellow Death, “The three of you, range attackers, land as much damage as you can. Don’t even think about coming near our opponent. While for you,” Jack pointed at Princess Purple. “I don’t need your healing. Just make sure you heal the others who do.”
Jack then approached Leavemealone and said, “The fact that he knows about our divine skills and requests us to use them might mean that he has a way to defend against it.”
“His HP is too high. We can only wound him even if we use the divine skill,” Leavemealone reminded.
“That’s true. But just in case, don’t use it unless you see a good chance,” Jack said. “We can only use it once in this match. Those skills are our chance for the highest damage count, need to make sure they hit.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t use my skills at random.”
The others had started gathering around the portal while Jack and Paytowin talked. Seeing them grouped like that, Pallas said, “Just enter. Mihos won’t attack unless you are all ready.”
Pallas then made a gesture and a projection appeared in the sky, similar to when it was the team match. The projection showed Mihos inside a void. He was currently standing in wait with his eyes closed. His two hands were gripping the hilt of a golden greatsword with its tip on the ground. The cross-guard of the greatsword had the shape of wings.
“Damn! He knows how to look cool,” Jack remarked.
The ten started to enter the portal. They came out into a void that Jack found to be very similar to the challenge spaces in the League of Champions.
Once the ten entered, Mihos opened his eyes and asked, “Are you ready?”
“Wait! Let us get into positions first!” Jack uttered. If the opponent was asking, then might as well take advantage of it, Jack thought.
Jack asked the range attackers to spread out while keeping a safe distance. Would be easier to hit from different angles. The exception was Princess Purple who Jack asked to stay next to David, because out of the other range attackers, he was the most proficient in melee in case of the opponent breaking through.
Red Death and Leavemealone also placed themselves on opposite sides while Domon, Arthur, Giant Steve, and Jack surrounded Mihos from four different sides.
“Are you ready now?” Mihos asked after seeing their positionings.
“Let’s start,” Jack said and cast Magic Weapon.
Mihos pulled his greatsword from the ground just as the four at the frontline rushed forward. Mihos made a circular swing. The wind of its swing radiated out.
“Whirlwind slash!” Jack recognized the skill while slashing forward with his swords. His two swords collided with the energy wind. The impact felt like his swords had collided with a physical weapon. His advance was stopped on track. The other three had blocked with their weapons as well with a similar result.
Mihos made another swing again in a backward motion, producing a second wind. This second wind came abruptly. This time, Jack only had the chance to parry instead of using an attack. He was pushed back with damage numbers appearing on his head.
<br/>Giant Steve was the same but his situation was better since he blocked the second wind using his shield. Domon and Arthur managed to perform a complex attacking maneuver to receive the second wind. They didn’t receive damage but they were still pushed back.
The ground underneath Mihos lighted up at this time, it was the starting animation of Selena’s Flame Turbulence. Mihos twisted the greatsword in his hand and stabbed the weapon to the ground. The flame turbulence which almost emerged died down.
Selena was greatly shocked by it, but those with mana sense had a better sense of what had happened, even if they were still shocked as well.
‘Mana manipulation can be used that way?’ Jack thought in astonishment. Mihos had used mana manipulation in his stab to the ground and disrupted the mana buildup from Selena’s spell, effectively canceling the spell.
Domon had a better understanding since he had done a similar thing when he defended against Assassin’s Unblockable Stab in the past, but to do it against an area of effect spell such as Arcane Turbulence required a better understanding of the spell, of where the focal point of the spell was, where the mana was being channeled so that the spell could be disrupted.
Jack was already casting when he was being pushed back by the second wind. His Hundred Synchronous Thoughts allowed one part of his mind to fully concentrate on casting spells while in the middle of a fight. When Mihos canceled Selena’s spell. Jack threw his completed Myriad Ensnaring Chains where Mihos was standing.
Mihos had just used his mana manipulation technique to cancel Selena’s spell. Even for him, he was not proficient enough to do it consecutively. Thirteen crimson chains came out to entangle the golden champion.
A shockwave exploded from Mihos’ body, knocking all the crimson chains that were about to tackle him. Before the chains came back again, he squatted down and jumped.
“Crap! It’s that boss jump skill again,” Jack uttered.
Mihos was using Berserker’s Jump Assault. The jump brought him out of the four melees’ encirclement and landed not far away from where David and Princess Purple were. Since the battle started, Yellow Death and David had been shooting bullets, but their hits were insignificant compared to Mihos’ ridiculously high HP.
Additionally, as Peniel had mentioned in the past, Mythical-grade beings could regenerate HP passively even during combat. Mihos regenerated at 100 HP per second. This gave the player additional pressure as this meant they couldn’t afford to stop attacking. Any reprieve would just mean Myhos slowly recovering his lost HP.
Leavemealone had seen Mihos jump and came to where he landed. Mihos slashed at him when he saw the vampire. Leavemealone used the evasive version of his Cycle of Shade and Shadow, dodging the slash and coming to Mihos’ side. His fists were alighted with Ki-infused Fist. He used Iron Punch skill as his fist struck Mihos’ side.
He gave another fast tap with his other fist before pulling away, just as Mihos’ greatsword came slashing. Leavemealone followed Jack’s instruction of not lingering after landing that one-two punch. His eyes never left Mihos as he retreated. Mihos’ eyes were staring back at him as well and they suddenly shone a golden glow.
‘Oh no, look away!’ Leavemealone heard Carnelia’s voice in his mind.
It’s too late, Leavemealone found his body becoming heavy as his movements came to a stop. A layer of rocky substance was covering his body.
‘Why is he stopping? What is that glow from Mihos’ eyes?’ Jack who saw the scene asked Peniel in his mind.
‘That’s one of the rare eye skills, Petrifying Gaze,’ Peniel answered. ‘Similar to the one used by the Ruin Basilisks you encountered at the Temple of Divine Squall. The petrification status is temporary for you outworlders but you will receive earth damage over time. High earth resistance can reduce the duration.’
While Leavemealone was helpless, a light landed on him. Princess Purple cast Cure on him, removing the petrification status.
Mihos, however, didn’t give Leavemealone any attention. He was heading to where David and Princess Purple were as soon as his Petrifying Gaze landed.
Red Death appeared behind Mihos by using Phase Strike, but Mihos stepped to the side just as Red Death’s poison dagger stabbed. Mihos thrust his greatsword to his back without looking. Red Death was glad that Jack had informed her about the possibility of this native possessing mana sense. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been vigilant of it.
She used Back Shift to dodge the thrust, Mihos turned back as she appeared behind. The native champion pulled his greatsword back before making a wide swing. Red Death felt danger from the incoming move. She didn’t take any chances, she used Vanish and teleported away.
Eight golden swords flew out from that swing. They headed to each of the players except for David and Princess Purple.
Red Death who had teleported away was surprised to find one of these golden swords coming. The golden swords didn’t fly in a straight line, they homed towards their targets. Each of the players defended against these golden swords in their own way. They couldn’t dodge because the golden swords would just fly back at them again.
Jack used Flame Strike at this golden sword. The golden sword was destroyed, he received no damage. The others received damage though, except for Domon and Arthur who used mana manipulation in their strikes to destroy these golden swords.
Jack then fired his Mana Bullet and Energy Bolts at Myhos who was approaching David. Selena did the same. But Mihos seemed to ignore these small damages. It was clear that his target was Princess Purple. This native also understood that without a healer, this group of players would be much easier to defeat.
