Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo (25 page)

Right at the start, Rasant launched an all out attack. He fully extended his whip sword and it snaked its way around the goblins left arm.
However, the monster's right fist came flying out. It was about to smash the orange Maneator's head to the ground, but Adelige's golden axe parried the Gargantuan Goblin's attack to the side.
This allowed Rasant to freely dish out an all out attack as he left all the defensive tasks to the golden Maneator. Adelige did her best to portray the role of his shield, and parried all of the goblin’s attacks with her double-headed axe.
Weise and Stark ran towards opposite sides of their goblin and launched their attacks one after the other. Stark's war hammer went crashing down on the monster.
The goblin managed to dodge it, but still got damaged as the red Maneator's warhammer made a deep impact on the ground, sending numerous shards of rocks towards the goblin and stunned it.
As soon as it got stunned, Weise launched his own attack. His spear created eight afterimages of itself and inflicted the monster with poison
Yet, this favorable encounter was only seen in the Maneators' battle against the Gargantuan Goblins. As soon as Horrabelle's personal army emerged, the power balance tipped towards the Witch’s favor.
This time, the dead bodies of Arcus, Ranseurs and Iron Knights were scattered on the battlefield. War chariots, swords, shields, tridents and bows alike were left behind as they were being slaughtered by the monstrous army.
Despite the horrendous terror that Horrabelle’s Therianthrope army had spread, the Vigilantez persevered and made sure that none of the Acolytes and Shamans were killed. It was an arduous undertaking, but none of them ran off. Everyone stood their ground and battled to the death.
Smoke watched the horrifying warfare with a determined look. He made a promise to himself to make each of their death count. Horrabelle’s head was going to roll today. His attention was diverted when he heard the most irritable laughter.
"Nyak nyak nyak!" Horrabelle let out her horrible cackling as she watched from on top her Nightmare, and reveled in the Vigilantez's struggling badly against her monstrous army.
"You were fools to follow this stupid Dark—" the Witch stopped talking as a poison bolt flew through the battlefield and struck her squarely on the chest. Her life bar displayed (1,199,150/1,200,000 HP).
Then, one more poison bolt knocked her off her mount and fell on the ground. Six fire arrows shortly followed and made contact with her flesh.
Meanwhile, Smoke fired eight arrows at her Nightmare and drove it away. He didn’t want to give the Witch an opportunity to escape.
Horrabelle searched for the source of the bolts and arrows and found that the leaders of the Vigilantez's main force was now in front of her and had joined in on the fight against her army. They arrived as soon as they finished off the last of the Brandal bandits.
Igniz flew directly above the Witch and fired numerous fireballs at her, as fast as he could, but his damage did not even reach 200 points.
With most of their war chariots destroyed, the severely injured Arcus tried to attack Horrabelle on foot, but their arrows could not reach her. Only the arrows of Smoke's core ranged members made contact with the black Witch, but they could only inflict less than a thousand damage points.
Then, eleven falcons dove in from above and started clawing her with their talons. Horrabelle responded by firing her lightning bolts at the flying enemies above her. The falcons safely retreated back to their owners.
However, Igniz remained flying above her and focused on dodging the lightning bolts while countering with a fireball after dodging.
Their accumulated damage was insignificant and barely made any dent on her life bar, but it greatly irritated Horrabelle nonetheless. Only the spiraling bolts from Sharur and Jinggu made her flinch, as it knocked her back a bit. Little by little their bolts were chipping away her high defense.
Two minutes passed and she finally got fed up with their cheap attacks. She took out ten electro stones from the pockets inside her robe and placed them on her palm.
She pointed her silver ring on them and activated its ability. The ten electro stones flew up in the air and scattered around the battlefield. The moment it made contact on the ground, the electro stones started pulling in the black and silver metallic rocks surrounding the area.
Ten metallic golems, the same ones they fought on Mount Foudre with 200,000 HP, were instantly created on the battlefield. Laernea's and Gandiva's mounts bucked uncontrollably. Bilis and Tulin remembered the monsters who broke their antlers. The scattered golems went after the ranged core members, but their falcons, Ranseurs and Arcus blocked their path.
However, a straightforward attack was not Horrabelle's true intention. Her Therianthrope army scrambled away from the metallic golems and faced the Vigilantez that were far from them.
Horrabelle then hastily created a blue casting circle in front of her. Several sparks of lightning menacingly emitted from it.
A partially recovered Smoke then saw a powerful lightning strike, even stronger than the one he saw from Aral, hit one of the metallic golems. The lightning scattered into several directions, damaging the Vigilantez in the area.
Several of the ones caught in the scattered lightning attack were left with 30% on their life bars while a few of the unlucky ones were instantly killed.
Yet, the attack did not stop there. The thickest of the lightning bolts bounced off towards the next golem and repeated the same pattern. The Vigilantez screamed in pain as they were hit by unceasing scattered lightning attacks.
Then, Horrabelle released another lightning strike of the same calibre and bounced it off on the metallic golem in the opposite side of the battle ground.
Before she could fire a third lightning strike, Smoke's sickle, laced with poison, scratched her back. It tore through her black robe and exposed her lustrous white skin. His sudden back attack successfully addled her with poison.
This time, it was Horrabelle's turn to scream in agony. Smoke guessed that just like her sister, Crucibelle, she was only used to giving out pain and not receiving them.
Yet, unlike the Witch of Immolation, Horrabelle’s defense against physical attacks was somewhat lacking.
Stealthily, Sierra accompanied by Phen and Rear crept up from behind her. Yet, before their claws could do their damage, Horrabelle sent several lightning bolts their way and knocked them back.
Thankfully, their cursed form gave them high life bars and a resistance to the elements, which allowed them to survive the Witch's lightning attack.
The Witch created another blue casting circle aimed at the metallic golems while distracting Smoke's attention with several lightning bolts. It took everything in him to dodge her attacks as they were almost as many as Crucibelle's Meteor Strikes.
Horrabelle completed the casting circle and was about to aim for one of her metallic golems, but could not find any of them. Ledur had ordered his Tikbalangs to crush all of the metallic golems. They responded quickly as they already knew about their weakness from their encounter before.
The Witch vented out her frustration on the winged Tikbalang and aimed the Lightning Strike at him. Fortunately, Ledur saw the flash of light coming at his direction and created a thick earth pillar before the attack hit him.
As Smoke was lying on the ground, he saw how the Vigilantez were badly struggling against the Werewolves and Werebears.
“Everyone, it’s alright. I’ll keep her occupied. Just make sure no one else gets killed,” said Smoke to his core members as he pushed himself off the ground.
The winged Tikbalang concurred and went to join the rest of his Tikbalang brothers who were fending off the Therianthropes.
Mamelon’s, Adder’s, Ledur’s and Guro’s special teams did their best to protect the main strike force.
With his Symbiote Vision, Smoke saw how Mamelon took command of the battlefield. She only had thirty Elemental Knights left riding behind her as they took the brunt of most of the attacks.
He quickly realized that even her closest friends, Virer and Courant, died after battling with Horrabelle’s Therianthropes.
Although, Smoke knew they would return to Verbrannt after twenty-four hours he still pitied them. Their levels were now at 104, and he personally knows how painstakingly difficult it is to raise one level when you reach that point.
Yet, he could see it from Mamelon and her Knight’s expression how serious they were on putting their lives on the line. These Zectians from Verbrannt had already grown close to them and if losing a level meant they could save their lives, then it was more than worth it.
Due to Mamelon and her Sonstwelter regiment’s sacrifice, Adder’s and Ledur’s teams did not incur any losses. Smoke realized that aside from Sierra, there were other Sonstwelters out there that he could rely on. There may be few of them, but they still existed.
Despite the fact that the Vigilantez suffered many casualties, they were slowly gaining the upper hand against Horrabelle's army.
The bolts and arrows of his ranged core members gave cover-fire to their dying comrades. The dispersed Acolytes were having a difficult time healing everyone as almost all of the Vigilantez had less than 30% on their life bars. Yet despite this, the Vigilantez survivors braved on and continued to fight even with one foot in the grave.
A frustrated Horrabelle couldn’t believe that her monstrous army was losing. She screamed out loud and focused her numerous lightning bolts on Smoke.
Steadily, Smoke learned the timing of her lightning bolt attacks and was now able to launch a counterstrike with his weighted chain and sickle in between dodging her bolts.
He made sure to keep her attention on him as he saw Sierra, Phen and Rear patiently waiting in the sidelines. They postponed their attack for the perfect opportunity to strike.
The moment Horrabelle was out balanced after she dodged Smoke’s iron ball, Sierra and her Werewolves sprinted towards her. They cleared the distance between them in no time at all. Sharp claws pierced through her flesh. Then, Phen and Rear each took a bite out of both her arms.
BZZZT BZZZT BOOSH
Electrical sparks erupted out from Horrabelle’s entire body. All three Therianthropes were knocked back.
Despite seeing Sierra and her Werewolves blown away, Smoke could sense that Horrabelle's defeat was drawing close.
Their damage on her was minimal, but their persevering attacks reduced her life bar to 82%. Horrabelle’s Therianthrope army numbered less than a thousand. Whereas, the Vigilantez still had over three thousand members left.
'Don’t worry, Sierra, you'll finally be cured,’ thought a concerned Smoke as he gazed upon the red Werebear on the ground.
However, his reverie was interrupted when he heard a disturbing sound.
TOOT TOTOTOOT TOOT TOOT TOOOOT TOTOTOOT
Loud intimidating sounds of Cavalry Knight trumpets came from the northern clearing of the village. Its ominous resonance covered the battlegrounds. The Vigilantez did not need to see them because they could clearly hear the reverberations of the galloping dirus wolves charging straight for them.
Without hesitation, Smoke yelled out from the top of his lungs. “Everyone retreat!”
At once, all of his guild members scrambled towards their planned escape route. They desperately hurtled away from stampeding Cavalry Knights chasing after them.
Smoke used his Telefax Vision and saw Macher leading the charge. He was followed by a thousand Sonstwelters and ten thousand Zectians. He also noticed that out of the Zectian Knights, almost a thousand of them carried the emblem of Macher's personal army.
Smoke’s core members speedily followed their contingency plan and led their team members towards safety. They still had a long way to go before they could reach the forest patch where Baldaquin was waiting for them.
However, not everyone could escape right away as some of their Arcus and Ranseurs were caught by Therianthropes’ claws. They desperately tried to break free but their captors wouldn’t allow them to escape the incoming cavalry. The Tikbalangs tried to free them, but there were too many of them to rescue by themselves.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll help them out,” said Adder as he ordered his Warriors and Rangers to turn back and engage the enemy Werewolves and Werebears.
Meanwhile, the core members in charge of the main strike force continued on with their orders and made a hasty retreat.
"Nyak nyak nyak nyak! Serves you right! Just who do you think you people are!" exclaimed Horrabelle haughtily and laughed at her fleeing enemies. “Did you really think you stood a chance against me? Nyak nyak nya —”
She stopped laughing when she caught a glimpse of a  bright fireball overhead. She looked up and saw a flaming DarkElf diving straight towards her.
CRASH
Molten rocks flew everywhere. Smoke landed right on top of the Witch, stunning and damaging her with his Comet Crush ability.
Sierra then threw Phen and Rear out of the immediate vicinity and made a mad dash for the immobilized Witch.
Simultaneously, Ledur flew overhead and encased Smoke, Sierra and Horrabelle inside a large, thick earth-dome.

From above the battlefield, a winged Tikbalang surveyed his created earth-dome. It was fifty meters in diameter and three meters thick. Ledur wasn't keen on this idea, but Smoke convinced him that this was their only option in order for them to kill her.
Ledur suggested to simply trap the Witch from the start, but Smoke countered that Horrabelle could easily escape if left alone. Someone had to be inside with her and finish her off there.
As Ledur scrutinized his dome, he would have liked it to be thicker. However, with the Cavalry Knights closing in on them, this was the best he could do. He estimated that Smoke and Sierra had at least twenty minutes before the Cavalry Knights could destroy his dome.
Yet, Macher did not move as expected. Instead, he and his army ignored the earth-dome altogether. The Cavalry Knights went after the scrambling Vigilantez who were running for their lives.
Along with the Tikbalangs, Adder and his special team stayed behind as many of Horrabelle's Therianthropes viciously held on to one or two of their comrades.
Mamelon who was about to leave saw this and ordered her Elemental Knights to join Adder's team. Together, they bravely fought off the Therianthropes who had detained some of their Zectian friends.
Ardu and Vrai who were already halfway out of the plains looked back. They growled and ordered the Werewolves under them to help out as well.
Meanwhile, Ledur was busy thinking of a way to stop the Cavalry Knights. He thought about creating a wall or a trench, but realized that he could not cover the entire plain in time. Ledur then remembered a conversation he had with Smoke.
'Even if you can't stop them, then slowing them down will be enough,' thought Ledur to himself as he repeated what Smoke told him.
Posthaste, Ledur created multiple random walls in the vast plain between the Vigilantez and the Cavalry Knights. The earth walls were only three meters tall and six meters wide. However, Ledur created so many of them that the land in the middle of the Cavalry Knights and the Vigilantez now looked like a small maze.
The mounted Macher was forced to stop in front of Ledur's sudden earth creation. From on top his dirus wolf, he stood up and allowed him to see through the maze. He tried his mount to climb over it, but immediately found that it could not find any footing, as the wall itself was smooth. He and his men either had to travel inside it or around it.
Macher ordered two groups to head around the opposite sides of the maze, and a one group to turn back and destroy the earth-dome. As for him, he led a group straight into it. He shouted out directions while standing on the back of his dirus wolf. Due to this, they quickly zigzagged their way through the earth walls.
Yet, the dirus wolves had a difficult time traversing the maze as they kept running into each other whenever they tried to make the sharp turns.
Adder was left with 30% on his life bar while the rest of his teammates were below 20%. He then heard Ledur yell from above.
"It's time. We have to leave, now!" cried out Ledur somberly from the skies.
Adder and Mamelon checked on the still captured Zectians. Both of them realized why Ledur spoke such words. They gave each other a regretful nod, and ordered their teams to retreat.
The remaining captured Vigilantez had less than 10% left on their life bars, and they were in too deep inside Horrabelle's Therianthrope army for them to rescue.
Even if they could free them, they would still soon die from their fatal wounds. The liberated Vigilantez were carried off by Centaurs and Tikbalangs while others hitched a ride on the war chariots pulled by aardwolves.
Adelige, Rasant, Stark and Weise reunited with their war elephants and rejected Ledur's order. They stayed behind and tried to help the dying Vigilantez that were still captured.
Stark and Weise rode their own war elephants, while Adelige and Rasant shared one. The trunks of their massive mounts flicked away the Werewolves blocking their path towards their comrades.
Weise got to one of the half dead Ranseurs whom he recognized as Veinard Gars, one of Sierra's promoted lieutenants.
"Come on, Veinard, we've got to get out of here," said Weise and pulled him up to his war elephant after he pierced the surrounding Werewolves with his Narwhal Horn.
"Thank you, Weise, but you shouldn't have come. We've already accepted our fate," said the half dead Ranseur. "If you stay here any longer. You'll all be killed, and the four of you are the last Maneators alive."
Before Weise could argue with Veinard, Horrabelle's Werewolves swarmed their mounts and quickly brought down the war elephants' life bars to 40%.
Weise gulped; and watched Adelige, Rasant and Stark fight off the furry monsters. He knew that Ledur and Veinard were both right. With a heavy heart, he turned to his fellow Maneators and cried out. "We have to leave. King Smoke, would want us to live."
At once all three war elephants turned around and ran after the fleeing Vigilantez.
Ledur, who was scouring the skies, created several blockades behind the Maneators and delayed the Therianthropes that were coming after them.
Weise looked back and memorized the faces of those they left behind. He applied pressure on Veinard's open wound to slow down the bleeding. Even though they weren't able to save all of them, he consoled himself with the fact that they saved at least Veinard Gar's life.
The trapped Vigilantez knew what their role was. The Arcus and Ranseurs went berserk and fought without a thought of defending themselves. Their suicidal attacks managed to hold off most of the Therianthropes from chasing after their escaping comrades, but only for a few minutes as they were quickly devoured by Horrabelle's monstrous army.
From the sky, Ledur attacked the Werebears with elemental spikes sprouting out from the ground, temporarily impaling them to it. Yet, the Therianthropes continued on with their chase.
Despite their alphas being stopped, more than three hundred Werewolves pushed on and went after the Vigilantez who were still trying to get away.
Baldaquin, Earat and Louche; who were waiting for their guildmates inside the forest patch, had set up traps in advance and activated them when the Werewolves entered the tree lines. Yet despite their numerous preparations, they only caught less than two dozen Werewolves.
The injured Vigilantez fled through the gaps in between the trees, and broke branches along the way. The Acolytes who rode on the war carriages tried to heal as many as they could, but their mana quickly ran out and could not keep up with everyone's injuries.
At Thyrsus suggestion, all of the Vigilantez teams scattered. Mamelon's, Adder's and Guro's team went straight. Whereas, Thyrsus, Vijaya, Ichaival and Laernea went right. Sharanga's, Gandiva's, Sharur's and Jinggu's went left.
Meanwhile, the Maneators stayed behind to fight some of the off. Weise handed over Veinard to Laernea, who had an Acolytes and Shamans riding with her.
Thyrsus hoped that this would give the Werewolves a harder target to follow, and expected the monsters to disperse even more and chase after all the teams.
Seven minutes after the Vigilantez entered the forest patch, Baldaquin's eyes glowed white. "Macher has entered the treeline," said the Light Wizard to Gandiva, who he hitched a ride on her war carriage.
"Don't worry, old man. We're almost at the hidden tunnels," replied Gandiva with a grin. She then pointed to a winged Tikbalang waiting for them on top of one of the trees.
"What about the Maneators?" asked a worried Baldaquin.
"They're too big to enter the emergency tunnel, and they know how to handle themselves. Besides Ledur is gonna help them out, soon. Right after he secures us," answered Gandiva confidently.
Ledur waited for them near the trees of the forest patch ended. It was here where Smoke and Ledur created another tunnel on the ground that was connected to the tunnel system in Mount Vorteil.
After a few seconds, Laernea's team arrived. One by one, all of the teams of the main strike force and the special teams that were scattered entered the entrance of the escape tunnel.
Despite this, they did not completely lose their tail as almost two hundred Werewolves were still chasing after them. Without decreasing their speed, Horrabelle's minions charged in after the Vigilantez into the dark passage.
After the last Werewolf disappeared into the tunnel, Ledur landed in front of it. With both his open hands apart, he brought them together and closed the opening on the ground. He manipulated the earth in the area and completely camouflaged the former entrance.
Ledur then flew towards the fighting Maneators, with the sole purpose of leading Macher's Cavalry Knights to a different direction.
 

* * * * * * 

The earth-dome that Ledur made was completely sealed. Their only source of light was from Igniz's flames and the electrical charges coming out of Horrabelle's body.
Smoke was knocked back as soon as the Witch regained consciousness. He looked around the sturdy, airtight structure and knew that he had a few minutes before Macher and his army could break through.
However, it dawned on him that he had to defeat Horrabelle as fast as he could as there was another element gunning for his life, oxygen.
"Igniz, back inside, bud," he quickly called out to his symbiote.
His symbiote followed his orders without question, and flew into the metal container on his chest.
"Stay there and keep your fire to a minimum," he said as he worried that if Igniz's fire could quickly burn up the limited oxygen inside the dome.
With Igniz's safely hidden, the only source of light was now Horrabelle. The Witch was the only one clearly seen, out in the open. She quickly canceled her electrical charges, but not before Smoke's sickle nicked her stomach.
"Argh!" cried out Horrabelle in pain, but her suffering did not end as she was quickly attacked by Sierra's claws.
The red Werebear used her Double Slash attacked and smashed the Witch hard against the earth-dome behind her.
A loud thud was heard, but then complete darkness overtook the earth-dome. A few seconds passed, Smoke didn't move a muscle as he couldn't see anything.
His Cunning of the Dire Fox allowed him to sense Horrabelle's and Sierra's general locations, but he had no idea what the Witch was doing. He thought about calling out Sierra, but decided not to as it would only give out his position.
Suddenly, a bright blue light erupted out of Horrabelle.
"Sierra, jump!" he shouted, but it was too late. He saw a powerful Lightning Strike ram into Sierra's back. She tumbled forward and rolled on the ground.
Fortunately, for her, her cursed form had a high resistance to most elemental attacks and a colossal life bar which displayed (359,199/478,933 HP).
It became pitch black again after the attack. Smoke could sense Horrabelle getting closer to him, so he threw the weighted iron ball at her.
'There's no way she could dodge this,' he thought as he smirked at the charging Witch.
However, the iron ball went right through and completely missed her. She got in front of him and her palms glowed an electrified blue color. The luminance allowed him to see her face. She gave him a maniacal look before she fired several lightning bolts in his direction.
Smoke left an after image of himself after he used his Hyper Jump ability and dodged to the right. He didn't want to use this ability so soon, but there was no other way he could have dodged that many lightning bolts at such a close range.
"Nyak nyak nyak. Is running away the only thing you're good at?" taunted Horrabelle. "I thought this was what you wanted? Me by myself, without my army?"
Horrabelle then turned to Sierra. "And my most precious, Werebear. I saw you made two other Werebears on your own. You proved how potent your blood really is. I look forward to draining it from your lifeless body. Nyak nyak nyak!"
Smoke shook his head in dismay. He thought that this earth-dome would give the Witch a big handicap, but he was wrong. Despite her reduced life bar and the poisoned status, Horrabelle was still putting up quite a fight and wasn't going down easy.
'She must have a sensory ability like my Cunning of the Dire Fox and Sierra's Animal Instinct,' he surmised. It was the only thing he could think of as to how the Witch could find them in this absolute darkness.
Also, he thought that the Witch's ability was above his, as she easily dodged his frontal attacks and delivered a counterattack on Sierra. He would have wanted to use his current favorite weapon, but he thought that Aral's Lightning Rods would most probably have no effect on her.
Several things passed through his head, and a question suddenly popped up.
'But if she had a sensory ability, then how was Sierra able to deliver her Double Slash attack earlier?' he wondered to himself. He couldn't find the answer to that puzzle, but he decided that it was safe to talk out loud as Horrabelle had her own way of finding them.
"Sierra, are you hurt?" he asked loudly enough for her to hear.
"I'm fine. But I'm not sure if I could still eat a ram after that attack," she answered him with a pained voice.
Smoke smiled after he heard Sierra's encrypted answer. "But a tenderized ram is one of the tastiest dishes this world has to offer."
He suddenly used his Hyper Jump ability and changed to a different location. He used his Extra Sensory ability to see whether Horrabelle was looking at him, but it appeared that she was desperately searching for him instead.
Sierra then called her attention. "If you say so, Smoke." She paused and waited until he got into position. "Then, let's have ram after we kill this Witch," she said and moved in on Horrabelle.
"Stop with this nonsense!" yelled out Horrabelle. "The only thing you'll be doing is dyi—"
The Witch stopped talking as both Smoke and Sierra charged at her simultaneously. Sierra with raised claws came at her from the front while Smoke with his Armored Armadillo Shield ran to her right side.
With her left hand, Horrabelle fired several of her lightning bolts at Sierra. The Witch then turned to fire the same attack at Smoke with her right, but found no DarkElf to be hit.
'Yes! I was right. She doesn't have a sensory ability, she was only seeing us in the dark,' he thought confidently and smacked his shield on the back of her head.
TWANG
Smoke used his Hyper Jump ability to move behind her almost instantaneously. He used his shield's Armadillo Bash and stunned her. His ability should have a full second before she recovers. He switched out his shield with his weighted chain and sickle. He was about to trap her with its chains, but lightning bolts blasted him away before he could capture her.
Horrabelle quickly fired a Lightning Strike at the blown away DarkElf before he could recover his footing. Smoke dodged to his right, but was shocked when he felt a pair of hands grab him. The Black Lady of Malady caught him.
"You're not the only one who can move fast. I can also ride my Lightning Strikes in short distances," she said maniacally.
Her body emitted black lightning, which brightened the room. Then, a small mouth formed on each of her palms. Their sharp, jagged teeth sunk into Smoke’s flesh. He had already experienced this before and knew what was coming next.
"Ability Devourer!" cried out Horrabelle and a black progress bar appeared above his head with ‘Cunning of the Dire Fox’ written on it.
Sierra, who was on the opposite side of the earth-dome, saw what the Witch was doing. She moved as fast as her Werebear legs could carry her.
Unfortunately, the progress bar indicated that it only had ten seconds left before completion.
Smoke was in a bind, but he already prepared for this situation. He pointed his hands at the ground behind the Witch and an earth spike came out and struck her squarely on the back.
Horrabelle released her grip on him and sunk down to the ground. Instantly, the progress bar of the Ability Devourer was canceled. Smoke was about to hit her with his sickle, but the Witch fired a Lightning Strike away from both Smoke and Sierra.
The Witch's body vanished as she merged with her lightning and materialized again, from a safe distance away.
"Nyak nyak nyak. Looks like you learned your lesson, Dark—" Horrabelle stopped talking as numerous stone daggers fell down on her. Smoke used his Earth Manipulation to create an attack similar to that of the invisible knives he experienced in Mystique Forest.
Horrabelle used her lightning to escape the rain of stone daggers, but she got hit several times before she escaped and her life bar now displayed (820,000/1,200,000 HP).
Yet, the red Werebear followed the course of the lightning and was already running towards her.
"Sierra, now!" shouted Smoke as he equipped his Armadillo Shield and used his Hyper Jump ability.
This time, he appeared in front of the Witch and smacked her head with his shield. Shortly after, Sierra used her claws and grabbed a hold of the Witch's shoulders.
Sierra opened her mouth wide and sunk her sharp teeth into Horrabelle's neck. Blood spurted out, but the red Werebear kept on going. Fighting in such a feral manner used to appall her, but trained to use it after she saw how deadly and effective it was.
Horrabelle vanished as she merged with her lightning once more and disappeared to the opposite side of the earth-dome. She was breathing hard. She touched her bleeding neck with her hand. The mouth in her palm sucked out the poison. It then coughed out a black goo, closing the wound and ending both her Bleeding and Poisoned status.
"Thank you, my Werebear. I was having trouble with that poison earlier, but you helped me get rid of it," said Horrabelle sarcastically.
"Now, allow me to show you two how much I appreciate it," she said calmly. She then chanted and aimed her hands at both Smoke and Sierra before she yelled out. "Dark Chain Lightning!"
Several branches of black Lightning Strikes appeared out of her hands and hit the two of them at the same time. They were knocked back against the earth-dome and was held there as her Dark Chain Lightning attack did not stop.
Smoke's life bar quickly depleted to 45% as it displayed (89,017/197,816 HP). He quickly switched to his white metallic staff and created a purple concave barrier.
His Manatl completely absorbed the Dark Chain Lightning attacks. He looked at Sierra and saw that she was in pain as she struggled to block Horrabelle's attack.
He knew he had to do something soon or else Sierra could die. He tried to move to the side, and the Dark Chain Lightning slowly followed his Manatl, but it wasn't fast enough to change directions.
Smoke left an afterimage of himself as he used his Hyper Jump ability and appeared on the Witch's side. He was charging in fast with his Manatl in front of him.
Horrabelle shifted her attention to Smoke, which gave Sierra the opportunity she needed to escape. The red Werebear rolled to the side, away from the branches of black lightning.
After she recovered her footing, Sierra also sprinted towards the Witch.
With both Smoke and Sierra coming at Horrabelle simultaneously, the Witch canceled her Dark Chain Lightning and was about to create a Lightning Strike to ride on.
However, before her body could merge with the lightning, the gathered energy from Smoke's Manatl walloped her in the back as he struck her with his white staff.
Horrabelle's escape was thwarted as she rolled on the floor. Due to the absorbed power of her Dark Chain Lightning, Smoke delivered 244,000 damage points, and her life bar displayed 48%.
Sierra pounced on the crouched Witch on the ground. Horrabelle's eyes almost popped out, as the red Werebear squatted on her with her full weight.
Even in the darkness, her big, sharp claws went straight for Horrabelle's pale neck. Slash after slash, blood splattered on the ground.
Smoke ran to where he could sense Sierra and Horrabelle were, but panted hard as he found it difficult to breathe.
'We're almost out of oxygen. We have to kill her now,' thought Smoke as he tried to stabilize his breathing. He thought about making a hole at the top of the dome or even a small one on the side that could allow the air to enter, but instantly decided against it. He couldn't risk Horrabelle escaping. He wasn't sure how small she could manipulate her lightning and there was a risk she could ride it out of the dome.
Then, a bright flash of light flashed in front of him and he saw Sierra's massive cursed form flying straight towards him. Without thinking it through, he braced his footing and tried to catch her, but the two of them went tumbling backwards instead.
"Twenty percent. Just twenty more," said Sierra excitedly as she pulled herself up from the flattened DarkElf. "I saw it, Smoke. We can do this!" she said with much difficulty as the thin air finally got to her.
The dark earth-dome suddenly became bright again as a series of lightning bolts came straight at them. Smoke quickly stood up and formed a larger concave Manatl to ensure that Sierra won't get damage by Horrabelle's attack.
A full minute passed, before the Witch's lightning bolts finally stopped. Smoke's everyday Manatl training proved to be effective as his barrier showed no signs of degradation.
From across the dome, he could hear Horrabelle panting hard for air.
'Looks like we're all in the same boat,' he thought to himself.
He was about to tell Sierra to move, but she beat him to it.
"Smoke, let's finish this." she said in between deep breaths.
"I'm ready whenever you are," he answered back and positioned his feet to run.
"Go!" shouted Sierra and bolted straight for Horrabelle.
Charging in with his Manatl, Smoke ran to the side of the Witch in order to flank her.
Horrabelle fired off her lightning bolts and caught Sierra. The red Werebear tumbled down after taking a few of the lightning bolts directly. Fortunately, for her, the Witch stopped her attacks as she still had difficulty breathing.
With Smoke still coming straight for the Witch, Horrabelle created a smaller version of her Lightning Strike and merged with it to move farther away.
However, Smoke already devised a countermeasure for this move. With his Manatl still activated, he used his Hyper Jump ability and collided with the Lightning Strike.
Horrabelle materialized in front of him. He quickly canceled out his Manatl and transferred the absorbed energy into his white staff.