3007 Blindsided (Part 1)
Maergron cursed his bad luck, with the Raiju coming like a missile from his back and the Zouwu in front of him, there was no way to dodge. He split his body into vines and his armor into its components, escaping from the jaws of defeat.
On the one hand, Strider was forced to dodge Bytra's charge as well, relieving the pressure on the Redcap. On the other hand, not only did Strider need a single step to avoid the living projectile, but Maergron was forced to expose his Root in the process.
'There it is!' Azhom Blinked right in front of the target while the rest of the group shot their spells with the largest area of effect.
The vines shuffled in a rush, hiding the Root from the Lich's deadly touch and her Rot Claw. Darkness magic was slow but from so up close and with Maergron's body still reforming, it didn't matter much.
The spell created a condensed fog in an area big enough to engulf the Redcap without affecting her companions.
Maergron cursed, unleashing upon the Lich the tier five Phoenix Smash he had prepared to kill the Zouwu. Emerald Flames burned at the Lich's body and mana, foiling the Blink she had conjured to escape.
The dimensional spell burned as well and exploded in her face. Azhom shrieked as what was left of her mortal body was incinerated by the Spirit spell. It couldn't kill her, but even a Lich wouldn't forget that kind of pain easily.
"Azhom!" Rhuta pretended to be worried, hoping to fool the enemy into believing that the Lich was gone.
The Ears showed Maergron the blood core moving to the surface so he didn't buy the act nor the fake outrage that followed.
The Naga unleashed a flurry of his six weapons while also conjuring his best spells against the Redcap.
'If I can't match him with quality and speed, I must make up for it with quantity.' Unanna thought.
He was too weak to fight Maergron alone but with Bytra and Strider covering for him, he could fight on par with the bright violet core until his mana ran dry. Then he had to recover with Invigoration, rinse and repeat.
Rhuta kept himself at a distance, his fastest and most destructive spells at the ready while waiting for the Root to be exposed again. His chances of success were minimal but it gave the Redcap one more thing to worry about.
'I don't get it.' He thought. 'I can go on like this until I run out of blood whereas if they make one mistake, I can destroy them like I did with the Lich. What are they hoping to achieve?'
The answer to his question kept themselves out of the fight.
Lith used Demon Grasp to conjure, Locrias, Valia, Trion, and Varegrave with six eyes each. He shared with them the plan and how to safely exploit the endless stream of world energy of the Garden.
He didn't give them a body to possess so that even if they failed to control the power of the Garden, Valia and Varegrave wouldn't lose their corpses.
At the same time, Solus conjured the tier four Void Magic spell, Rising Storm. Part of the floor of the Garden's tenth floor broke down, either turning into a muddy substance that Solus manipulated to hinder the Redcap or into small thunderclouds.
Thanks to the mind link, Bytra and Strider knew where and when the floor would soften or become electrified. They used the information to move even faster while Maergron stumbled, taking more and more hits.
Lith left the Demons of the Darkness behind and moved forward. They were nibbling at the world energy and using it to conjure more and more Demons by themselves via the black chains that came out of their chests.
Maergron still failed to see the point in that strategy.
'The six-eyed creatures are strong but they are made of pure energy. If they attack, I can destroy them with one hit thanks to the Ears. The one-eyed creatures aren't even worth defending against.
'Whatever they are doing, I must stop them before it's too late!' He consumed the blood stored in his thorns in one go.
The stolen strength, speed, and agility coupled with his Fae body now exceeded his opponents'. Also, the blood gave him access to some of the most powerful spells of the Hand of Fate and how to use them.
Ryka's rocks shattered while a hail of electrified ice blades cut Unanna arms and impaled him to the wall. The Killer Wasp slipped with ease past the Zouwu's defenses and the Raiju's, the claws pierced their flesh and poisoned their cores.
It was a desperate gamble that Maergron had tried to avoid but he had no choice. Solus' spell had tipped the scales of the fight too much. If it kept on like that, he would lose. To make matters worse, the Shadow Dragon had been looking at him the whole time.
Soon her Dragon Eyes would learn everything about him and when that happened, his speed would be worth nothing.
The Redcap's only option was to kill everyone in one fell swoop If it failed, however, the abilities he had stolen would fade and he would be a sitting duck.
'He fell for it. Now!' Solus said via the mind link.
Rising Storm generated bolts of lightning that came from both the ground and the ceiling in a loop, intercepting Maergron's spells and giving Solus' allies the time to retreat to safety.
Lith activated Tiamat Fear and flooded the world energy with his willpower and mana. The interference jammed the Ears' readings and for one precious second, synaesthesia made Maergron blind and deaf.
Zoreth Chaos Blinked to the throne and cut it into five pieces with Sky Piercer. The moment the flow of world energy was cut off, the Ears went back to their normal mode, unable to split the information through the Redcap's five senses any longer.
The noise caused by the flow of mana and the world energy in the room gave Maergron a splitting headache but his training and willpower held.
'I can still do it. The power of the blood in my vines will make me last until-' Until the Demons of the Darkness started to move in a frenzy and conjured as many spells as they could.
Blood and sap seeped out of the vines that comprised the Redcap's eyes, mouth, and ears due to the sudden sensory overload. Maergron lost his mind and with it all the spells he kept at the ready.
He tried to surrender, but the voice was stuck in his throat and a wail of agony escaped his lips instead.
The moment his body froze in pain, Strider cut it into shreds, Lith burned the pieces with small bursts of Origin Flames, and Bytra hammered them into bits. Maergron's Root was hidden in his right foot and contained so much mana that it shone like a lightbulb.
Bytra spotted the luminescence coming from the armored heel and destroyed it by "accident".
"Sorry." She said as the remaining vines withered at a speed visible to the naked eye.
