"Let's see what you are made of!" Reyna leaped back, and multiple pentagrams appeared behind her, casting shadows over the dessert. And soon, multiple skeleton-like hands in the form of dark haze went out of the pentagrams and attacked Althord simultaneously.
[Death's Grip]
It was Reyna's most devastating spell. Its attacks were relentless as hundreds of skeleton-like hands pursued her enemy without pausing. And once you were caught in its web, it'd pull your soul out of your body, leaving you dead without the chance of recovery.
But the cost, it needed an enormous and continuous amount of mana to keep the skeleton-like hands to appear on the pentagrams and replace the ones that Althord managed to destroy.
But using only his agility, Althord avoided every hazy hand his way, and with his spear, he destroyed some which he couldn't avoid.
But with these many hazy fingers, some were bound to land on him.
However, those shadowy hands couldn't pull his soul anymore because he had none, to begin with. He was Tiamat's puppet. An empty shell that housed her will and a dose of her power.
Althord's body would shake every time that ominous hands took a grip on him, and the hard layers of his skin would break, and lava blood sprouted out. However, the hard rocky layers of his burnt skin would just move and reform around his wounds and patch it a new.
Reyna clicked her tongue when she realized that her attacks were useless.
"Then how about this!" Reyna bellowed, and the pentagrams behind her doubled and formed into a single giant pentagram and what came out was an enormous dark hand.
It was massive, and its power caused the space around it to distort. And contrary to the weight it brought, its speed was astonishing as it zoomed at Althord within a fraction of a second.
BaAaAmM!
The tents and huts all flew from the impact, and Clyde cried at the Right Oasis devastation. "Reyna, you idiot! Stop destroying everything!"
Reyna ignored Clyde. Her focus was on Althord. When the dust settled, a huge hole made a mark in the Right Oasis.
Althord body was emitting more smoke than usual, and wounds cracked her rocky burnt skin as magma blood oozed out from his cuts.
But what got Reyna worried was Althord's body was acting strange. It was shaking as a continuous growl vibrated from his parted lips. Unlike before, the layers of his burnt skin were trying to reform but failed, and every time it did, a new gaping wound cracked his flesh.
His blood was glowing, and his skin was breaking apart.
Did his body reach its limit? Reyna mused to herself.
But Reyna didn't have time to ponder when she realized what was happening when Althord's body suddenly bloated and his blood glowed red.
"He's going to explode!" Reyna's dilated eyes turned to slit, and she appeared next to Clyde.
Clyde didn't know what was happening when Reyna yanked him by the collar just in time that a loud explosion racked his senses and rendered him unconscious for a moment.
BoOOOoMM!
Althord body exploded, taking everything within a thousand kilometers with him. Even the faraway North Oasis wasn't spared. The explosion was so loud and powerful that it shook the earth and burnt the sand, leaving a deep fissure on the Oasis.
It was akin to a powerful fire blow of Tiamat, and needless to say, Althord's body was shattered to dust without recovering ever again. But the devastation it brought was enormous that Reyna had to teleport into the danger zone with Clyde in tow to avoid the blast. Leaving only the two of them as survivors from the Right Oasis.
While the North Oasis was also wasn't spared. But since its inhabitants were much stronger than the Left Oasis, most of them managed to flee before a single powerful blast pulverized them.
Clyde went on his knees with his terror-stricken face looking over what was left of the protective zone. "N-no. . ."
All those food and water. .. gone. What would he do now? The food wasn't a problem but the water. . .
"Reyna," Clyde grabbed Reyna's shoulders, confident that the Demoness wouldn't kill her. "W-what should we do now? Without water, how would I live?"
Reyna slapped Clyde's hands and looked down at him like he was a disgusting bug. "Shut up and stop panicking."
Reyna shifted her gaze at their surroundings. "We don't have a choice but to meet up with the others and find the exit." The Oasis was gone, and Reyna's face twisted in an ugly way. She was still having the best time of her life. Damn it!
Clyde's face brightened when he thought there was still the hunters' team out here accompanied by a water mage.
"That's right, let's track the others first!"
Reyna rolled her eyes, and she retracted her claws and sharp teeth. She was beginning to feel worried about traversing the danger zone with just the weakling Clyde as her company.
She suddenly regretted agreeing with the Seal of Promise. The lifesaving item he bargained with her was no use if the annoying man died, taking her soul with him.
But no use in regretting it now that this happened. She could only suck it up and tolerate Clyde for the rest of the journey. Just imagining feeding and protecting him like a baby was enough to make her gag.
"Let's go." Before I changed my mind, Reyna thought and led the way deeper into Tiamat's territory.
Reyna briefly threw a side-eye at Clyde and warned, "Don't make a noise and follow everything I tell you if you want to live." Though she was strong, she was not confident that she could take on Tiamat with just her alone and the feeble man whose only worth was his pockets and looks.
Clyde didn't like Reyna's tone, but he couldn't do anything. Reyna was his life support and the only thing holding it like that was the Seal of Promise. He didn't want to push his luck, so he just nodded his head.
Hundreds of meters from Reyna and Clyde was Azor who managed to flee when the explosion happened.
Concealing his presence, he decided to follow the Demoness and the mortal.