BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM
Chapter 1352 - 1352: The last battle (15)

Erik hovered above the ruined command center, watching as Vania's monstrous form followed him. She couldn't fly, but that didn't matter because Vania made sure to be close enough for her to attack from a distance.

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[LEVEL UP.]

She also jumped, and when she did, she jumped very fast, but most importantly, very high. Her newly developed leg muscles cracked the ground beneath her every time she did. When that happened, for some weird reason, the woman's four-part mouth opened, unleashing screeches that split the air and were akin to a battle cry.

Telekinesis kept Erik away from her, but even with his powers powered up by Essence Flow, attacking Vania kept a toll on his mana reserves. They got immediately refilled, but this didn't mean Erik wasn't risking finding himself in front of an attack without mana to protect himself.

[Avoid it!] The system said as Vania sent blood spears at him.

The mutated first division commander reached his altitude in seconds, and her clawed hands came too close, far too many times for Erik's liking.

<What do we do?>

[You could try slicing her leg tendons. She relies heavily on those jumps for mobility. A well-placed attack could reduce her offensive abilities!]

<I failed to land a single hit! How can I sever her tendons?>

[I don't know, but you need to try!]

Even the system didn't know exactly what to do. She prepared Erik as best as she could before the fight, but Vania's attributes were simply too great, and pumping up his strength only worked to level the playing field.

But Erik quickly found out increasing strength was meaningless and that, at best, he could only fly around. The reason was he didn't have enough dexterity to keep up with Vania.

Erik moved sideways, avoiding another one of Vania's attacks. Erik's hydra heads autonomously handled various aspects of his defense and offense. One kept him flying, while another gathered mana for a reprisal.

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

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[LEVEL UP.]

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Wind blades formed around his hands. He directed them toward the woman; the air distorted as they passed through the space between them.

Vania twisted her grotesque body with unfathomable agility, avoiding more than half of the attack. One blade struck her shoulder, slicing through the hardened blood armor and spraying a dark fluid.

But it didn't go past that.

Vania growled. Blood circled her body before shooting toward Erik in razor-sharp spikes. Erik erected a barrier, but he was barely able to defend in time.

He tried to keep a barrier up indefinitely as he fought, but doing so required him to use more mana, and Vania simply shattered the barrier some seconds later. That much was her strength. It was an amount that even Erik's large mana pool could not keep up with.

Vania was not like the thaids on Mannard. There, even a barrier master could create something strong enough to protect the city, and when monsters attacked, usually thousands of them, they helped in the barrier generation.

But Erik was alone here. He decided he was only going to use it when she attacked—and only if he couldn't avoid it.

Vania followed, closing the distance again. Her clawed hand caught his leg, tearing through his mana armor and into his flesh. Pain lanced up his thigh as she yanked him toward her gaping maw.

Erik channeled mana through Elemental Lord. Fire exploded between them, temporarily blinding the beast and destroying her blood armor again.

But she wasn't relying on mana that much, so she still had plenty of mana reserves to make another one.

The sudden burst of flame scorched the forest below, igniting trees across a hundred-meter radius. The heat wave rippled outward, turning the surroundings into an inferno within seconds.

The flames created just enough distraction for Erik to wrench free from Vania's grasp. His leg burned with pain for a second, but then he healed his wound.

<She is too strong. Much more than the thanatocoleoptera queen.>

[I know. You should keep more distance. You should be able to kill her if you do.]

<And what if she targets the Chimaeric Demons? Without them, there is no way I can win.>

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

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[LEVEL UP.]

[LEVEL UP.]

His friends fought ferociously against the remaining Vindicators. Emily's sniper aim had already claimed two of them.

The clones fought against the regular Blackguard forces, but even with Essence Flow supplying constant mana, they struggled against superior mana pools, better powers, and greater experience.

Vania recovered from the fire blast and launched herself toward Erik again. This time, she summoned a massive pillar of earth from the ground below.

The column rose hundreds of meters in an instant, shattering another section of the forest as trees, soil, and rock gave way to the column.

Erik dodged the rising pillar only to find Vania using it as a platform to spring toward him. Her speed bordered on teleportation. Before he could react, she slammed into his barrier with the force of a train hitting a bird.

Then she went past the barrier, shattering it, and landed a dangerous hit on Erik. The force got reduced enough by the barrier for Erik to survive the blow, but the impact knocked them both toward the ground.

Erik's armor prevented his bones from shattering, but the momentum carried them down in a violent spiral.

They crashed through the canopy, and the trees splintered beneath their combined weight and the force behind the blow.

Erik separated himself from Vania's grip before impact by electrocuting her. That was the only thing that prevented her from doing more damage. Erik's barrier and armor would resist her brain crystal power. He had more than her, and with essence flow, he had a flowy stream of mana entering his body.

The problem was her strength. She could exert much more power than her mana allowed through her twisted and deformed body alone.

That was also the first time Erik landed a hit on her, and luckily, it worked a lot.

Erik landed hard but controlled, sliding across the forest floor while she crashed through several more trees before coming to a stop. Contrary to her, Erik used telekinesis to reduce the force behind the blow that sent him skidding through the air, coming to a halt quickly.

The forest around them bore witness to their battle. Scorched earth stretched for hundreds of meters in every direction.

The fire Erik started was spreading, consuming the underbrush and climbing onto the trees, which became huge lanterns in the darkening sky.

Earthen pillars jutted from the ground at odd angles, evidence of Vania's tries to skewer him. Some trees had been encased in ice, and some were sticking out of earth barriers and pillars Erik used to prevent Vania from jumping.

But more than that, there was blood everywhere. It clung to every leaf, every tree, every rock, and every centimeter of ground. Making all red.

A nearby lake basically formed as a result not only of his and Vania's water attacks, but even from the other blackguards.

However, the lake quickly turned frozen as a result of a cryomancy attack Erik unleashed minutes later.

The ice spread across the water's surface in jagged patterns, creeping up nearby trees where water vapor had condensed before freezing.

The unnatural cold created a boundary between the burning forest and untouched wilderness. It was weird to see. In such a contrast, yet strangely in harmony.

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