Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 296: Being Noble

Chapter 296: Being Noble

PAULINE POV

Gripping her staff tightly, Pauline glanced nervously at the others. The Yumboes, as small as they were, stood ready to aid with their wind magic. Pauline couldn’t understand their bravery. Her own heart was pounding so hard that it felt like it was going to burst out at any second. Pauline, no, everyone could hear the distant calls of the stone partridges and the unsettling growls of the Booas. They were near.

’Kenzo got bit in the shoulder,’ Pauline noted. ’I will need to cover him. And since he’s in pain, Akihiko might be thrown off too. He’s going to be thinking of his friend.’ Inhale, exhale. ’Remember, you matter here.’

The fourth wave was coming and it was going to happen at the same location. The beginning of the wave was signalled by the sound of wings flapping. Everyone was too slow for a vocal call out.

Stone partridges burst from the trees. The three bird creatures moved with surprising speed. Pauline couldn’t react to them at all.

But while Pauline could not, the Yumboes as well as Akihiko and Kenzo could. Their physical stats were high enough to see clearly and thus react. Kenzo and Akihiko, swords gleaming in the dying light, charged forward. Their strikes cracked the stone shells and sent them reeling back. When the creatures recovered and readied to strike, Kenzo and Akihiko raised their wands and unleashed spells.

"Fire Ball! Fire Ball!"

Wands were short and stout. Even collectively, Akihiko and Kenzo’s spells were ineffective. However, with the Yumboes and their wind magic, the three stone birds were crashed back into the woodlands. Whether they were killed was impossible to tell, especially from the following moment.

Two Booas jumped in their place. That was when the staff wielders, when Pauline and Sylvia, were supposed to act.

"Here they come!" Sylvia shouted. All this time, she had been prepping for this, four magic circles glowing in front of her. "Pauline, on my mark!"

Pauline nodded, raising her staff. As the first of the hyenas closed in, Sylvia’s circles flared to life. "Now!"

"Fire Ball!" Pauline chanted, launching a flaming orbs into the oncoming monster. The Yumboes joined in, their wind magic whipping the flames into a fiercer inferno that forced the Booa to yelp and retreat.

[ Warning! Mana in critical zone! ]

’My skills are too weak! And I’m out of mana...!’

But Pauline wasn’t afraid. Her heart was racing and she was vulnerable, but she wasn’t afraid.

"Because I trust Kibiwott will kill the Archer before that happens. In battle, there’s never a guarantee. There’s always something that is going to make you anxious. That doesn’t mean you should stop. And if you can’t believe in yourself, believe in comrades. You’ll realize just how amazing they can be."

Because Sylvia’s spells incinerated the two Booas entirely. Pauline was merely a distraction for the real deal; for five Fire Ball spells amplified by a di-circle. The Booas didn’t stand a chance.

"Phoo..." Sylvia’s beige trench coat fluttered in the wind. "Alright, I’m outta mana now. Gimme a potion, people."

"Right!" Pauline promptly handed her one: a five-thousand point potion that, in a few minutes, increased MP by two hundred points. Sylvia drank like a drunk would.

"Disgusting." Sylvia wiped the potion from her chin. "Another?"

"Here!"

Gulp, gulp, gulp. She drank again. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call her the crux of their operation here. Without Sylvia, devastation damage couldn’t be dealt. Akihiko and Kenzo, while capable, were better in one-on-one situations. Their swords deflected and did well defensively while their wands did low long-range damage. It was all very mechanical, very game-like.

Until a certain sound clicked from the woodlands.

"The birds!" Sarah ran forward, her staff glowing with holy light. "Light Shield!" she called out, erecting a long, rectangle barrier just as partridges returned. The stone beaks and claws scraped harmlessly against the white barrier and the enemy monsters swooped back for a second attack. A second attack that gave the group a crucial moment to regroup.

"Kenzo, Akihiko, I’m opening it in three!" Sarah urged. "One, two...three!"

The white-yellow barrier fell—and the pair brandished their swords and batted the birds away. It wasn’t enough to kill them though.

Sylvia shouted, rising above the cacophony. "This will take a moment. Cover me!"

"Radiant Blast!" From Sarah’s staff erupted a beam of pure light, lancing out and striking a partridge so hard that stone chipped out. Its range and AOE were limited and unable to hit the remaining two partridges.

The Yumboes clapped their hands together and thrust, creating gusts that buffeted the partridges, who fought against the wind, trying to reach them, trying to kill them.

Akihiko and Kenzo jumped together and slammed the stone partridges down! Crack! Shatter! They hit the ground and broke apart.

Victory, right? Nope.

From the shadows, a second wave of Booas emerged. Like animals, they stared and growled and moved with terrifying speed. The Yumboes could not clap their hands in time to stop them with their wind magic.

Akihiko and Kenzo went and met them in close combat. Five of them, Pauline counted.

’Too many...!’

"Almost there!" Sylvia replied, her circle glowing brighter. With a final flourish and tap, she completed the spell. "Fire Dart!"

Two Fire Darts flew forward.

Both missed.

Real panic settled in as the Fire Dart lit up the woodlands in orange before disappearing.

"Shit...!" Sylvia muttered.

Out of mana, nearing the final stretch, and Sylvia missed. Pauline’s heart raged against her ribcage.

Kenzo and Akihiko were on the defensive. A Booa lunged at Akihiko, its jaws snapping onto his shoulder. He countered with a downward slash of his sword, piercing the creature’s neck, or at least, some inches of its flesh. A second Booa attempted to pounce on him but then...

"Super Light Slash!"

He ripped down at the Booa’s neck and struck the pouncing Booa in the left eye. The little battle was suddenly tense and quiet again. Was this victory? Not quite. One Booa was bleeding and likely wouldn’t be able to last for a minute.

A minute could mean life or death.

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