While Regina, Wave, Eve, and Kallevang were fighting against Number Eight and his subordinates, Bloed, Liu Ying, Aya, Eres, Saintess Charise, plus Isabella, George, and the men of the Church of Fate and Prince Calisto, were fighting against the Blighted Creatures on the ground.
The battle was very fierce, but it quickly tilted towards Bloed's group. In the end, every one of them was an elite with strength comparable to the peak of A-Rank at the very least. Even if the creatures had similar strength, they were just mindless beasts.
Thanks to Saintess Charise's support, and Bloed, Liu Ying, and Eres's ability to counter the devourers' energy devouring, the group killed the creatures one by one, thinning their numbers without any casualty on their side.
It seemed like they would get rid of the beast quickly and then go to destroy the fifth node. But at that moment, the situation changed completely.
[Domain.] The voice of the dragon resounded.
And in an instant, a powerful pressure fell over the entire group.
No, over the entire city.
Bloed felt his entire body becoming several times heavier as gravity in Academy City increased crazily. If not for Tito (his pet armor) and the Body Enhancement Surgery he underwent, he would have been unable to move under this extreme gravity.
The others were a bit better, though. They could use their mana to strengthen their bodies and endure the increased gravity, something that Bloed could not do.
But in the next instant, the second effect of the dragon's domain appeared.
[Energy Devouring].
As soon as it appeared, all the people nearby felt their mana leaving their bodies.
The mana that was supposed to strengthen their bodies was drained away, leaving them to the mercy of the strengthened gravity. In an instant, several members of the group collapsed to the ground.
'It's bad!' Bloed managed to think, but before he could do anything, the creatures moved.
*Screech!*
They jumped towards the collapsed people, crushing their heads, tearing their limbs apart, and drinking their blood.
It was a massacre!
The creatures, whose bodies were inherently stronger than people and could resist better the gravity, were also immune to the dragon's energy devouring; so they turned the situation around in an instant!
"[Strength Blessing]!" Saintess Charise hurriedly cast a divine spell on the group, but as soon as her mana left her body, it was swallowed by the dragon's domain, rendering her spell useless.
"It's bad!" Isabella's expression became grave. She grabbed her chest with an expression of pain and focused her mana on strengthening her body.
As a mage whose body was weaker than fighters, the current situation incapacity her completely.
In fact, eighty percent of the group became completely useless under the dragon's domain, and the rest saw themselves greatly weakened.
Even Bloed could barely fight, but he could not use any of his mechanical pets due to the domain draining their energy.
His body felt heavy, and his bones groaned in pain. It was as though the entire world was pressing him down!
It was the worst situation possible.
Just then, a creature jumped towards him.
*Slash!*
Eres reacted quickly, going to his help and driving the beast away.
Somehow, she had managed to conserve most of her combat power in the current situation. But she alone could not face as many beasts.
She had realized the gravity of the situation as well.
"Brother, we need to leave. If we stay here, all of us will die."
Bloed fell silent. He knew that she was right. However, even if they tried to leave right now, where were they supposed to go?
The entire city had been affected by the dragon's domain.
He could see that Aya could barely stand up, and although Liu Ying was still fighting, her situation was not very good either.
Even Saintess Charise's expression was grave. Her face was pale, and her legs were trembling due to the extreme gravity.
To their horror, in just a few seconds after the dragon spread his domain, a third of the group perished!
'… What to do?' Bloed racked his mind for a solution, but at that moment, the creatures rushed towards them again with eyes full of hunger.
Bloed and the others resisted with all their might, but more of them were killed by the creatures. Every second, someone would scream in despair as his body was torn apart by hungry monsters.
"Fuck!" Bloed cursed and continued defending against the creatures, using his saber to attack them. Occasionally, he would injure one of them, but it only served to stimulate their bloodthirst.
Just then, a creature appeared behind Bloed without him noticing.
"Master!" Regina, who had been fighting the dragon, cried out, alerting Bloed of the situation and making him jump away instinctively, barely avoiding the claw of the beast.
Even so, it tore a piece of flesh off his arm.
"Ugh!" He screamed in pain and brandished his saber in the beast's direction, severing one of its legs and making it scream in pain. But then more beasts charged towards him.
"Dammit!" Bloed cursed loudly. Fortunately, Liu Ying, Eres, and George came to his rescue at this time, helping him to repel the beasts.
But right then–
*Swoosh!*
A black pillar of light descended from the sky, swallowing the Valkyrie who was fighting the dragon.
"Regina!" Bloed's face turned pale.
Seeing Regina's being swallowed by the dragon's attack, his mind turned blank.
He knew that the reason Regina did not manage to avoid that pillar of light was that she had been distracted by his perilous situation. And he could do nothing to help her.
He could feel his body screaming in pain, unable to continue enduring the extreme gravity on it; and he could hear the screams of pain and despair of the people being torn apart by the creatures.
Time slowed down at that moment. Bloed knew that he needed to do something. Otherwise, all of them would die here today.
Immediately, a determined look appeared on his face.
Then, he took a metallic tube out of his pocket.
"… I hope this works." He said to himself.
In the next second, he injected it into his neck.
...
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