Chapter 201: Chapter 201 - The Tunnels(Part 3)

Point-of-View: Prysm Duralles

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"I must say, I underestimated you...I had assumed you were the weakest of your group, but you are quite capable," Remarked Arofri, as I sliced apart several Antitans by forming sharp water whips and swinging them around.

"Well, to be fair, I actually am the weakest of the four of us...but thanks nonetheless," I replied wryly, firing out a drilling blast of wind as an Antitan leapt at me, tearing its head apart and ripping its body to shreds.

"Create a wide breeze, it doesn’t need to have much force, focus on its range instead," Instructed Tania, landing on my shoulder.

"Huh? Just a breeze? Well, okay, if you say so...," I replied, before blowing out a stiff gust of wind from my hands.

"Now, Initiate Skill: Enchantment - Paralysis," She chanted, overlapping an Enchantment Magic Circle onto my Elemental Wind Spell, all the Antitans ahead of us freezing up and unable to move, "There we go, now we can take them out without any danger."

"Woah, that’s amazing! Seriously, talk about effective...heck, you could probably take out an entire army with that," I remarked in awe.

"No, it’s not that convenient...granted, I would likely be able to slow down an army for a moment with this, but Enchantments like this work best on unintelligent creatures. Beings with intelligence, especially those with strong wills, can easy resist and break free of the effect," She explained, as we began killing the Monsters.

"Additionally, the more it’s used on the same target, the less effective it is, especially if said target has previously broken free of it," Added Arofri, as he fired out a plasma blast at one of the Antitans, destroying its head.

"Enchantments work best on inanimate objects, such as enhancing existing properties or adding new properties...the effectiveness of the latter depends on compatibility of the target object. For instance, making a rock more durable with Enchantments is easy and highly effective, but giving it an explosive property using Enchantments is less effective. It will explode, but the force of the explosion won’t be all that powerful," Tania informed me.

Huh, she sure is being really open about her powers...guess that means she trusts us.

"I see, that’s really-...hm? Hey, there’s a lot of them up ahead, I think they’re gathered around something," I frowned, as a large group of Antitans came into sight.

"Looks like they’re paralyzed too, your wind combined with Tania’s paralysis Enchantment worked great. Stand back, I’ll deal with this," Remarked Arofri, sparks of electricity crackling around him as he charged up a massive bolt of lightning, taking aim as the electric glow brightly lit up the tunnel and then fired it out with a sharp crackle, incinerating several of the Monsters in one shot.

"You think maybe that was a bit overkill?" I coughed, as clouds of dust burst out towards us following impact.

"Yeah, perhaps that was a little too much force...," He grinned sheepishly.

"Huh? Isn’t that...?" Frowned Tania warily, as the dust began to clear, a large figure coming into sight.

It had been obscured by the large group of Antitans gathered in this spot, but with all of them having been reduced to ash, it was visible now...crap, this could be bad... 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"It’s much bigger than the others, it has to be the Queen Antitan," I frowned warily.

Wait, it isn’t moving at all though...

"Perhaps the Enchanted wind paralyzed it as well?" Suggested Arofri uncertainly.

"Maybe, but it’s supposed to be a fairly intelligent Monster, right? Based on what Larrk told me about it, it should be intelligent enough to break free of the Enchantment," Responded Tania, as I fired out a gust of wind to blow away the dust and smoke.

"Uh...I think it’s dead," I replied, before cautiously walking over to get a closer look.

Woah, yeah, it’s definitely dead...there’s a big hole through the middle of its body.

"Did my lightning Spell get it?" Inquired Arofri, as the others followed after me.

"No, definitely not...it has taken some damage from your attack, but it’s clearly been dead for a while. Something else killed it. Look up ahead, the way the ground’s been disturbed...the Antitans must have dragged its corpse over here, away from whatever killed it. Hm, or maybe it was still alive and commanded the Antitans to do so, before succumbing to its injury and dying. Well, I suppose that doesn’t really matter as far as we’re concerned...because either way, this means that there’s definitely something more powerful up ahead," I surmised, a sense of dread welling up inside me.

"Impressive observation and analysis," Remarked Tania, giving me a pat on the shoulder, where she was seated.

"Well, I’ve fought a lot of Monsters with Larrk, I probably picked it up from him...he’s all about sneak attacks and analyzing his targets from a distance, that probably rubbed off on me," I replied with an awkward smile...Larrk is also pretty stingy when it comes to praise, so I feel kinda awkward when others praise me like this, since I’m not used to it.

"Anyway, what should we do now? Keep going? There’s no telling what kind of threat is up ahead, after all," Pointed out Arofri with a grimace.

"Good point, but if we leave it be, it could become a bigger problem later on," Frowned Tania in response, before turning to me, "What do you think?"

"Hm, let’s see...well, if it turns out to be something we don’t stand a chance against, I can always teleport us back to the Haven. So, I say we keep going, you guys should stick close to me so that we can teleport away immediately if necessary. That’s my suggestion, anyway...if you guys think it’s too risky, we can turn back," I surmised, after mulling it over.

"I think that’s a good plan...and worth the risk since we have a solid retreat option. Yes, I say we go with that plan," Nodded Tania, after a brief pause.

"Agreed...we’ve done this far, we might as well see it to the end," Added Arofri in agreement.

Looks like it’s decided, then. I just hope we don’t come to regret this choice...

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