Chapter 401: 144: Joint Exercise – Part 2

We clear our minds and relax our bodies as I open up the sense sharing between everyone. The golems' single-mindedness is rather overwhelming, so we keep our connection with them thin to not disrupt our concentration, but their unending desire to serve is still helpful to get us into the right mindset for our Gestalt.

Yunia swallows an Eia pill, the second today since she used one during the previous bout, so the effects of the pill are lessened, but it's still powerful enough to bleed through our connection and sharpen our minds. Perhaps we could use [Weaverism] magic like our Lordsguard does to force our minds to "connect," but that'd be just a small boost and wouldn't make much of a difference.

Gify gives us a little hand… or rather, a little paw, by giving us a quick soul massage, then she pops out of existence to observe from above. The girls are already quite adept at surrendering their wills to me, so the takeover and synchronization goes smoothly, taking just a few minutes.

Sense sharing strengthened; shared thought speed doubled; wills organized hierarchically; life experience and skills melded; soft coupling of minds complete!

Gestalt fuu-… sion!

"We're ready," we announce in unison just to fuck with them.

"Remember, we have numerical superiority, so engage at the same time," Léonne advises the men.

"Don't be afraid of a little pain. They don't bite, except for Lord Wolf!" Silvano exclaims as he grins at us and prepares himself to exact revenge on Hana.

There are around one hundred men before us, but most of them have either magic or bow skills, so half switch to ranged to harass us in case we take flight. At the center, there's Jacques, flanked by Silvano, Palo, Montague, Anton, and the "Strength"-focused men while the "Speed"-focused men will flank and surround us.

They have enough warriors to still protect the mages even if we succeed in luring their melee line away from them, so there are no obvious weak spots for us to exploit. They're all experienced warriors, so it'd be embarrassing if they made such a rookie mistake, anyway. They also all have [Wind Shield] and [Dead Zone], so there's no easy way for our projectile or AOE spells to affect them.

A hard fight, but not impossible.

Allura stands up and begins the countdown, "We shall begin in five…"

We draw our weapons, and I arm six tentacles with enchanted hammers while Yunia begins chanting [Soul Blade] and the Verner's Blessing High Mage begins casting [Haste].

"Four…"

I shift into my dragon form.

"Three…"

We assume a combat stance.

"Two…"

Our opponents brace for impact.

"One…"

I cast [Haste] on everyone.

"START!"

"For this battle, we shall become stronger," I whisper with [Godly Language], then we rush forward as our bodies are filled with divine strength.

Aisco, Alcander, and Silvano begin casting spells, but only Silvano's is an AOE spell, which requires everyone to work together to interrupt it due to his high MPower, but with our Gestalt, that's as easy as blinking.

[Flaming Slash]es, arrows, and a few other spells fly towards us, but I summon a wind-Alissa to keep the bigger spells like the Slash from hitting us while everything else is diverted by our [Wind Armor] or just straight-up tanked by the our plate armor.

Jacques takes a step back, deeper into their line, while Silvano and the heavier men prepare to receive us. They all have enchanted shields, so we need to bypass them, or else we'll get boxed in.

We all cast [Earth Wall] at their feet, and it's almost immediately interrupted, but the unstable ground puts them off-balance. To take advantage of this opening, I send my tentacles at their ankles and throw my large body onto the men at our right while the girls engage the rest.

Aoi is so fucking massive that she just bypasses the [Wind Shield]s of the men at our left, and even though the enchantments nullify enough of her momentum that nobody is sent flying, she still drains a ton of their MP and pushes back the line, disrupting their formation.

The rest of the girls face off against Silvano, Palo, Montague, and a few other men at the center. With everyone buffed by [Haste], none of our opponents stand a chance, and they're promptly pushed back by a rapidly rising number of headache-inducing [Tremor] blows to their helmets.

While I swing around my body wildly, keeping our opponents at bay, the "Speed"-focused men circle around us and begin to approach us from behind.

[Battlefield Perception] activates, but I'm not able to dodge fast enough, and an arrow explodes right against the side of my head. Since I don't have armor in this form, it takes a second for my head to automatically heal, and then I notice Léonne in the back, staring at me amusedly while lowering her bow. Wereanimals wear helmets with pointy ears for comfort, so it's very easy to spot her.

Bitch.

I pull mana from the air with [Redirect Mana], refilling my MP pool, then summon three Orc Chiefs behind us to keep our opponents busy. A single Orc can keep multiple knights at bay, so three will be enough to cover our backs, and Alissa will support them to keep them from being overwhelmed.

A nearly one-meter tall ball of lead comes flying towards us, but the golems deflect it with their own balls of steel, and they begin a battle to keep Alcander from crushing us with his [Telekinesis]-controlled ball.

Then Aisco casts a spell a few meters above our heads, far enough from us that we can't easily interrupt it, even with joined wills.

"Not dangerous," Roxanne reports telepathically.

"Observing," Aoi adds.

Understood.

A couple of seconds later, a ball of flaming rock is conjured by Aisco's spell, and then tendrils of fire immediately shoot out of it towards us.

"Blocking," Aoi announces, and her ball of conjured water snuffs the tendrils out, moving on its own as our little blue dragon continues to rampage.

"Supporting," Roxanne joins in, and her [Water Spirit] spits a continuous jet of water at the flaming ball, which creates a cloud of steam, and though not even that is enough to overwhelm the spell, it'll keep it at bay for us. I really should've asked for a list of all the Unique Spells that Aisco has developed since he's an unpredictable wildcard, and we don't know how dangerous he can be.

I throw my body against Anton's [Wind Shield] to drain his MP, and the other men attack my tentacles while I'm "distracted," but I have them simply dodge out of the way, and the men whiff their attacks.

One of them is smart enough to strike at my ribs, and the [Tremor] makes my bones tremble, but this form doesn't care about pain. In fact, seeing these puny men have the audacity to attack their Lords makes the dragon spread its wings and take over the body, allowing the human to watch over everyone.

Anton tries to attack me, but the moment his arm comes out of his [Wind Shield], I cast [Rush] on myself for just a second, and with the added speed boost of [Haste], I instantly snap onto his wrist, then pull with all my strength, making him stumble forward.

I'm just a distraction, a big beast to keep a number of our opponents occupied so that the girls can focus on the real threats. And while my tentacle hammers pummel the back of Anton's head until he passes out, the perfect moment arrives for us to begin the Ultimate Ryder Combo.

Yunia is unable to deal with Silvano on her own as he's simply too fast, and he's been using [Lightning Bolt] to keep her dangerous [Soul Blade] away from him, but we don't have the luxury to wait until he's out of MP to get through him.

Trap Combo, begin!

Another of Léonne's arrows hits my cheek at the same time that I cast [Entangling Vines] right under Silvano, and he takes a step back as he detects the spell, but Roxanne casts [Water Wall] a split second later, and his back is caught by the sudden upward surge of water, lifting his feet off the ground.

[Haste] allows us to savor the moment in slow motion as his face goes from a grin to a desperate frown as he gets sucked up into the pillar of water, unable to retreat towards safety.

Palo and Montague both switch targets and lunge towards Yunia to stop her from taking out the vulnerable Silvano, but their opponents were ready for this.

"Combo!" The girls report internally and sync up their attacks.

Lina throws her hammer at Palo's feet, who jumps to dodge it as [Battlefield Perception] warns him of the incoming danger, but that sense of "danger" melds with the incoming rocket of Hana's whole body, so he gets caught unaware and doesn't activate his [Wind Shield].

Montague simply tanks Ciel's [Judgment]-infused hammer, then kicks my and Lina's little stub of an [Earth Wall] and blocks Alissa's arrow with his [Wind Shield], but he can't stop Yunia's [Chain Soul] from freezing his legs. Just a split second is enough to make him trip, and then I use [Telekinesis] to tip him to the side, followed by an [Entangling Vines] where he falls to keep the mountain down.

Yunia uses [Muscle Explosion] to lunge, and [Soul Blade] sinks into Silvano's face at the same time that Roxanne's [Water Wall] is interrupted, but the High Mage has already passed out.

Another explosive arrow hits my face, and multiple [Tremor] hammers strike my body due to my distraction, but I only need a moment to heal up, so we spam Wall spells around me to give me a second to breathe while Alissa's arrows make them retreat.

"Gih!"

Warning: Boss incoming!

Jarn stops playing with Alcander, then takes over for me as the men part ways, and a [Haste]-boosted Jacques clashes against Yunia. He immediately goes hard on her, displaying a high level of skill with weapons, and the crude [Shocking Touch] enchantment in his weapon is enough to keep her [Soul Blade] at bay.

Focus target: Jacques. BRING HIM DOWN!

"Understood!"

I fly to Montague as he's starting to escape his bindings, and repeatedly slam all of my hammers against the back of his head until he surrenders. Then I stop behind Yunia and receive another explosive arrow to the head from Léonne, and this time, I have to [Heal] myself to recover from the ringing.

This. Bitch. Needs. To. Go!

"Hold him back for me!" Yunia exclaims in my mind.

"Wolf, tentacles!" Alissa requests.

I let my tentacles loose on Jacques and allow Alissa to control them so that she can fire a volley of explosive arrows at him in between the openings while spamming all of the Illusion and Nocturna's magic that she knows, but even that isn't enough to stop the red beast in plate armor before us.

Prepare the Shocking Surprise Combo!

Yunia stops fighting against him and steps back, then begins gathering as much Life as she can within herself. Jacques obviously notices that there's something wrong, so he immediately goes on the offensive, but Lina and Ciel block his path.

The massive man is a veritable tank as he takes dozens of [Tremor] attacks and even Ciel's [Judgment]-infused attacks all over his body, and he still doesn't even slow down. His skill is so high that Ciel struggles to fight him and takes many hits to the head, but she won't go down as she can [Heal] herself. Lina helps too, but the experienced Lord is avoiding getting close to the little dwarf girl to not get hit by a [Spirit of Gaia]-boosted massive strike.

"Gih!" Gify warns us, and the men release a rain of explosive arrows upon us as they have climbed up onto vantage points, allowing them to fire over their allies.

I grit my teeth in anger as I immediately summon three more wind-Alissas to keep the arrows away from us, and the summons further limit my already limited MP pool, but we won't let them take control of the flow of battle!

I also have Alissa shoot an arrow at Klein, just to fuck with her.

Then I realize that Jacques is stalling. He's just like me in my dragon form: a tank that absorbs hits to drain our energy and allow the men to overwhelm us. We have to get past him; we have to trap him in place, now!

"Gih!" Gify warns us again. Aisco's ball of flaming rock is starting to shift into a cylindrical shape, but we won't let it complete its transformation.

"[EXPLOSION]!" Roxanne shouts and destroys half of the cylinder. It immediately begins to reform, but Roxanne will destroy it again in a couple of seconds. We don't know if it's just a distraction or not, but we can't afford to risk it against someone as high-leveled as him.

I take a second to admire how Léonne has managed to effectively tie all of our resources down, but we still have some cards up our sleeves!

I quickly move Hana's points around, then Yunia finishes gathering Life, and we promptly begin the Shocking Surprise Combo!

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"Combo!" Yunia shouts as she releases her powered-up [Chain Soul] upon Jacques' arms.

He takes a step back and starts to fight against it, but he doesn't see Hana coming at him from behind now that she's using [Hide Presence].

"Combo!" She shouts internally as she gives him a bear hug, then laughs out loud as she unleashes [Shocking Touch] on his head.

"UOOO!" He roars in pain and tries to tear her off of himself, but he's in such a disadvantaged position that he can't use his full 23 "Strength" against her. Palo tries to help him, but all Hana needs to do is use [Draconic Body] while keeping up [Shocking Touch] and refilling her MP with [Redirect Mana], and there's nothing either of them can do to take her down.

With all of the more dangerous melee fighters tied up, I simply fly past them and towards Léonne.

Chaarge!

I see her eyes smirk at me from under her helmet, and she lands another arrow on my forehead right before a thick and tall wall of flame blocks my way, but I didn't come alone. Aoi takes the lead while I stop to [Heal], and with Roxanne's help, they both spam Water spells at the [Fire Wall] as fast as they can, opening a hole wide enough for a dragon.

Aisco's ball of flaming rock is now free to do what it was supposed to, but it's already too late as Aoi emerges from the cloud of steam right in front of the little elf. In a desperate attempt to save his comrade, Alcander's huge ball of lead slams against Aoi's armored back, pressing her against the floor and stopping her charge, but he pays for it by receiving the two balls of steel from the golems right in the gut, sending him flying through the air like a ragdoll.

Good hit, golems!

"Thank you, Master. Switching to rear defense," the dolls calmly report.

Aisco's [Fire Spirit] launches a barrage of spells at Aoi, who has to use all of her control over water to snuff them out. Seeing that death is staring him right in the face, Aisco promptly casts [Heart of Fire] and shifts into a ball of flame to retreat.

"You've activated my trap card!" Roxanne steals my meme as she casts [Drown] on Aisco, partially extinguishing him with a bubble of water, and he immediately returns to his human form in mid-air, flying away like a ragdoll just like his fellow High Officer.

The archers are switching to melee to reinforce the dwindling numbers of melee warriors, but the path ahead is now clear, so I charge at Léonne, and I see that her eyes are still smirking as she draws her hammer to meet mine.

"Ready to surrender?!" I shout excitedly as I attack with all of my hammers. She masterfully dodges all but two, which slam into her right flank, but she barely flinches from the pain.

Her smirking eyes continue to stare at me as she takes a step back, then activates an enchantment, and vines burst out of the ground, which promptly grab the tentacles coming out of my back. This is actually kind of annoying since it'll take me some time to reform all of them. She's not as skilled in melee combat as Jacques, but I need those tentacles if I want to overwhelm her in a timely manner.

"You still haven't dealt with my husband," she calmly replies and quickly fires an explosive arrow at my face.

"Are you sure about that?" I reply through gritted teeth as I [Heal] myself.

With the air full of steam, the first condition for Aoi's special attack has been fulfilled, and I see Léonne's posture stiffen as she notices the air becoming full of "power," her hairs and fur likely standing on end.

There's no need to be conservative with MP since we can all just use [Redirect Mana] to refill our mana pools any time we need to, so Aoi releases over one thousand particles of mana into the air, and the fighting slows down as everyone notices that something is happening.

Mission: Protect Aoi!

They all charge towards her, but our MP is effectively our max MP pool multiplied by a (still untested) number of times thanks to [Redirect Mana], so we can spam Wall spells around her all day long!

"None shall pass!" Roxanne steals my meme again, and I regret linking my mind with hers.

Their paths are blocked by a chaotic mess of Wall spells, making it so hazardous that they hesitate for a moment, but it's only a matter of time before they attempt to swarm it.

Then a cloud of [Mesmerizing Butterflies] surrounds Aoi, and confusion spreads through our opponents. There goes all of Alissa's MP in just a couple of seconds, but that's all the time we needed.

Léonne turns her head as she notices Aoi's chant, "Chaos! Listen to me, Chaos! Give me your power! Show me your greatness! Align with my will and descend upon us! Let your [Lightning Strike] the earth!"

Even my hairs stand on end as I sense the air getting saturated with power, and Hana jumps away from Jacques just in time to avoid the blinding and deafening lightning.

I feel for the werefoxes as Ciel immediately [Heal]s Alissa's ears, but Léonne doesn't have that luxury and actually flinches in pain. Then the battlefield goes silent as everyone waits for their eyes to recover before inspecting the damage.

Palo falls flat onto the floor, completely passed out, but Jacques remains conscious, though he's barely holding on as he collapses to one knee. His armor is glowing with heat, and his chest heaves as he struggles to breathe, but it's obvious that he's too weak to continue fighting.

He drops his hammer and raises one hand as he hoarsely shouts, "I surrender!"

Then Allura lights up a very bright red crystal, which tells everyone that the exercise is over.

I turn to Léonne and smirk as I watch her amusement turn to surprise, then I land a hand on her shoulder and [Heal] her.

"What a pity. I really wanted to beat you up for those arrows you shot at me," I cheekily remark.

She takes off her helmet and flashes me an enticing look. "I'm afraid my husband would be jealous if you did that, so I must refuse."

Godsdamn, this woman. If she wasn't married, I'm sure I'd be balls deep in her right now.

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