151 Igni Lotus
The battle between blue-skin Slaad and Mia was at a stalemate.
On one end, Mia had superior agility to her opponent, which allowed her to dodge or divert most of his attacks. On the other hand, she lacked the heavy-damage attack at close range to inflict serious damage to the monster.
The blue-skin Slaad’s instant regeneration was even faster than his peer. That’s because he could focus and control the effects of his inherent healing spell, enhancing its effects at the cost of higher mana consumption.
This Slaad didn’t have versatile spells anyway. All his attacks and defensive moves were predictable. But that didn’t mean Mia would have an easier time battling with him.
The blue-skinned Slaad used his exoskeleton claws to launch attacks on Mia. She used her movement spell to get away from the claws in the nick of time, preventing a serious injury.
Mia was just about to close the distance between the Blue-skin Slaad and begin a counterattack on him using her daggers. Suddenly, it looked like she heard or felt something coming in her direction.
Mia coated her two daggers in her wind-element mana before throwing them toward the blue-skin monster using her dagger arts. She had basically discarded her weapons for close range, which was something seemingly unthinkable.
The weapons cut through the air and flew straight toward the blue-skin monster at crazy speeds. The blue Slaad was able to dodge one of them but in doing so he made himself prone to the second dagger’s attack.
The second dagger, which was coated with Mia’s wind element mana, pierced the blue Slaad’s right thigh. The compressed wind-element mana expanded after the clash, extending the length of the blade and making it come out from the other side of the monster’s thigh.
“Daraayav!”
The blue Slaad cried in pain when he felt Mia’s dagger pierce his right thigh. She had managed to make him stay where he was, even if it was only for a short time. His exaggerated healing and regenerative powers would soon kick in and render the wound futile.
Mia wasn’t waiting for her attack’s effects to show themselves. She fled the scene as soon as she launched her self-sabotage-like attack. There was no way for her to confront the monster in close range without her daggers. Luckily, she didn’t have to.
That’s because Eren had asked her to serve as a support for him.
There was no sound of an arrow flying. It just cut through the air without making noise before landing straight on the monster’s exposed back.
“Daryaav!”
The blue Slaad shrieked in pain when the Igni Bolt Blast was detonated right over his back. The flames it generated were then quickly turned into flame chains before latching onto the monster’s body like coiling snakes.
Eren appeared right in front of the Blue monster by the time the latter’s vision was cleared of flames all around him. The monster sensed a huge danger after feeling Eren’s presence so close to him. His eyes turned red as he entered the same berserk-like state as the green Slaad had.
The blue Slaad’s power-up was effortless. He just got bigger and bulkier, snapping the flame chains that were trying to restrain his exaggerated growth.
The blue Slaad soon turned into a 14 feet tall hulking monster that seemed to have been consumed by his rage. His frenzied eyes fixed on Eren as he pounded his chest vigorously.
Eren was busy casting spells and imbuing his will into the spell. Unlike most of his instant spells, this Hex spell still took some time for him to cast. The advantage of the near-instantaneous casting of Hex spells was nowhere to be seen for this particular spell.
So Eren just stood there watching the blue monster transform into a mini giant in front of him. Meanwhile, Mia had secured a vantage point from which she could support Eren’s moves. Her attention was focused on his signal and action.
Eren looked at the monster and made an “I’m impressed” face before commenting.
“If you hit me, I’ll go to sleep. But that is IF you are fast enough to catch me.”
Eren said, borrowing his words from one of the memories he had received from Bruce. He then opened his arms wide before letting his body get consumed by lightning streaks.
Swoosh. Zoom. Bzzt.
The blue monster approached Eren like he had been teleported to the place. He clenched his fist before directing it towards Eren’s face. But by then, Eren’s body had been consumed by lightning streaks.
When the monster punched Eren’s face, he didn’t feel like he had hit anything but empty air. It was apparent that Eren had disappeared from his position, leaving only a shadow of himself in his stead.
The blue monster immediately looked up and located Eren who had been looking down on him from mid-air. He had retreated into aerial space using a movement-spell-powered jump that had sent him 15 meters away from the ground.
“Daryaav!”
The blue monster’s voice had also been jacked up with his body. His mana-imbued war cry made Eren’s skin tingle while he was in the air. However, he wasn’t afraid of the monster’s attacks.
Eren knew he was already faster than him in the first place. And the monster’s transformation had made him relatively less agile even though he seemed to have been moving faster.
“Keep him busy, Mia. Don’t let him get away.”
Eren spoke out loud to Mia without using voice communication. The elf woman let a barrage of arrows fly in response, attacking the monster with all she had.
A rain of wind-element arrows started falling on the blue monster before he could leap and approach Eren in midair. Eren knew the monster’s attack would have been devastating for him if he had stayed near him. That’s why he had retreated into the air.
Eren and Mia both knew the rain of wind-element arrows wasn’t enough to take care of the Blue monster for long. But the attack gave Eren some respite. This was all the time Eren needed to finally finish casting his most expensive Igni spell from the lot.
“Igni Lotus!”