Chapter 689 (Patreon)

Ajax and Aurexion had barely made it. By the time Aurexion first got a glimpse of the battle the elites had been decimated and the champions were taking the field. Seeing Evelyn unleash the wave of Curse enhanced Fire Ajax knew things were going to go badly. That attack didn’t discriminate between friend and foe, the other champions were forced to get out of the way leaving her open to a follow up attack. 

Ajax already activated his Pseudo-Mythic Skill and was moving to join the fight but he had been a moment too late. The lion beastkin might have been surprised by the cursed flames but he hadn’t been shocked into a moment of inaction like the rest of the champions. 

Aurexion’s roar echoed through the battlefield drawing everyone’s attention to the dragon in the sky. A look of dread comes over the faces of a few of the champions that have already been burnt by the cursed flames. Most importantly however is that the lion beastkin stops for a moment. 

Evelyn can feel the blood pool in the back of her throat as Aurexion’s roar echoes in her ear a moment before she feels the pain in her gut spike as a new pressure appears. An instant later the view in front of her face changes, no longer blocked by the leonid more than two feet taller than her.

“I made it.” Ajax’s words are said as he works, he takes care to stop his [Absolute Body Enhancement] for just long enough to remove the arm from Evelyn’s stomach and then blasts a three hundred Light Mana and Life Mana healing spell to repair the damage.

The rest of the champions are all quick to adapt, there is a reason they all grew to their level of power so while they might have been stunned for a moment it didn’t take long for the battle to start up again. 

Ajax didn't hold back. [Absolute Body Enhancement] was reactivated and Ajax went to work as he pulled out his hammer. With his new Skills his body could better handle the strain of his body and after his training he knew exactly how to move and how hard to hit. 

That’s why Ajax was surprised to see his first target had actually managed to put up a defence. The boar beastkin brought up his shield just enough in the nick of time to tank the blow. Without any Mana to empower it the blow was still strong enough to shatter the shield and break the champion’s arm but it wasn’t enough to kill him. 

That’s when the beastkin went back on the offensive. The three mages they had, cast their next spells yet Evelyn didn’t have anything ready to counter them. Much as Ajax wanted to go on the offensive, he couldn’t, he moved to intercept all three spells ensuring the rest of Gryndor’s champion could get back on their feet. 

“You finally made it.” The prince laughed a bloody smile with a drop of blood running down from his lips where he took a right hook from the boar champion. “I never doubted you for a second.” 

With Ajax intercepting the spells and Evelyn already chanting her next one the remaining four champions already moved on the offensive, they were still outnumbered six to four in the melee even after Ajax sent the boar beastkin flying with a swing of his hammer but that was more manageable. 

The prince especially made use of his newfound freedom to focus on the one on one fight with the crow beastkin he was looking at. Now that Ajax was here he truly had no reason to preserve his Mana with Aurexion to cover their escape if it came to it.  His entire plan was to overwhelm him with too many spells as five different runes on his armor light up and his Mana channels complained at the strain he was putting on it. 

Unlike Ajax the prince couldn’t cast more than one spell at a time but with the target so close and the spells he was using not needing anything more after the initial moment they were cast he was able to cast five spells back to back, though it also put some extra pressure on his mind. 

The earth beneath their feet turned to mud even as the prince used Wind to jump. A lance of ice came at point blank even as his swords got coated in wind and lightning.the crow beastkin was faster than the prince but it was not by enough to matter, the loose footing combined with the odd angle and the extra movement required to block the ice lance meant that he just couldn’t block both blades. Deciding to take the pain he made sure to parry aside the lightning infused blade so as to not leave himself open but the wind coated blade bit deep into his leather armor, finding its way past his fibs and puncturing a lung.

Evelyn was worried about another wave of spells but she need not have. With Ajax already closing the distance Aurexion trusted his bond to handle the protection of the Gryndor champions and instead dove for one two of the mages that were close enough together that he could attack both at the same time.

Aurexion’s Stamina was already below half after he pushed himself to get here as quickly as he could so he wasted no time showing off the Legendary Skill the beastkins had yet to experience. Aurexion knew he didn’t need the overwhelming power of magma to kill mages, instead he needed the range and speed of fire as he unleashed a a [Dragon’s Breath] that was more than twice as strong as anything the beastkin’s had seen from him before.

The green hillside exploded in flames, this time however the rest of the blast headed for the rest of the beastkin army, where it was only stopped due to the arrival of three more beastkin champions. 

“Disengage.” The order roared out of the tiger beastkin’s throat, his shield hot and runes glowing from where he stopped the tail end of the dragon’s breath from wiping out a good portion of the army. 

With two of the mages handled and Gryndor’s champions pushing back against the physical fighters of the beastkin, Aurexion turned and moved to join them. He wanted to be in position to protect Evelyn and thereby freeing the other physical champions to chase down their targets if they ran while at the same time heading for the biggest clump of enemies. 

The order still echoed over the scorched hills when another voice resounded. “NO!!!” The lion beastkin had blood spurting out from his severed arm and the center of his plate armor was dented where Ajax’s kick landed, considering he had put Vibration Mana behind that kick Ajax was surprised the champion had survived, let alone was able to stand. “He doesn’t get away.” 

Evelyn took advantage of the disagreement to launch her own spells towards the melee fighters that were already starting to disengage. Sadly all the wind spell was able to do was add a few more cuts here and there as Gryndor’s champions were already pretty harried from the initial opening of the fight where they had been collapsed upon. 

“I’ll get the prince.” The high general told his two attendants, “the two of you get as many of the others out as you can but stay away from the dragon.” 

With the extra help from two more champions the rest of the beastkins had no issue splitting away from Gryndor’s champions but that wasn’t the same for the third mage the beastkins had. That was the target Ajax was going for. 

“I only killed one of them.” Aurexion called out, his eyes scanning the burnt hillside for a moment before he saw the tunnel the mage had used to survive. “Maybe I should have gone for magma after all.” 

Aurexion knew there was no way to know for sure magma would have killed the second mage as well but there was a better chance. Unfortunately hiding beneath the earth was a good tactic for dealing with [Dragon’s Breath] and he hadn’t yet found an answer to it. 

The mage stood no chance in dealing with Ajax. they did manage to properly predict Ajax’s initial attack hitting him with a fireball to the face, unfortunately the spell wasn’t powerful enough to do more than slow an empowered Ajax down a little as well as cause some slight discomfort as his skin was briefly burnt before his Life Mana healed it all back. 

This time Ajax added a void augmentation to the hammer strike wanting to make sure that his target wouldn’t survive as well as take advantage of the loss of momentum to move on to the next. 

Ajax’s blow worked exactly as intended with the reactive shielding enchantment of the mage doing nothing to weaken the blow that scattered their brains across the grass before Ajax was on the move towards his next victim. 

Ajax was surprised to find himself intercepted by an odd plant spell. For the first time since gaining his Pseudo-Mythic Skill a champion was actually able to react to him with a spell before he crossed the distance, more than that the vines that wrapped around his legs actually took some effort to break, enough that by the time Ajax broke free his Resources were not only starting to run lower than he’d have liked but the enemy champions had also managed to disengage. 

Breathing heavily, Ajax's eyes tracked the tiger beastkin that was physically dragging the injured lion beastkin away from the battle. Ajax recognised the tiger as the high general of the beastkin and he could conclude that the lion beastkin was the prince of the enemy nation.