"I've heard enough. You'll all die now!" Once more he created that strange black ball with small needles on it but this time no one fled.
As the black ball descended Chronos and Lyla remained where they were. According to the plan the singers would dispel that ball any second now.
Just before it collided with their barrier a song echoed from the depths of the current and the ball shattered, revealing a large number of small needles in its center.
Seconds after being revealed the needles shot out with great force, nearly piercing through Chronos' barrier.
"Hah." Chronos released a breath he had been unconsciously holding.
He hadn't been sure their combined barrier could hold up to a rank four spell, if it had been complete, he was certain that it would have killed both of them.
Before Lucan could understand what had happened clear icicles shot out of the water at him.
Flapping his wings he deftly dodged all of the icicles. Just as a sneer crossed his face the icicles shattered around him.
Krshh! AAAAHHH!
""Agh!""
As a horrifying shriek echoed around the void both Chronos and Lucan shouted in pain. Lucan had been the target but with how strong Chronos' hearing was he had also been affected, even though he knew it was coming.
Shaking his head Chronos moved to attack Lucan who was now falling from the air. If they let him get too far from the water, then they would have little chance of defeating him.
Swinging Echoforge he viciously brought the hammer down on Lucan, who barely managed to react, using his wings to block it.
Which did little good against a weapon that carried two echoes of [Shatter] with it. When combined with the [Mark of Collapsing Structure] it tore through his wings but just as it was going to strike his body Chronos was forced to retreat.
[Miasmic Arrows] that had been concealed by Lucan's wings flew past Chronos, carving shallow wounds into his face.
""Tch.""
Both of them clicked their tongues at the near miss then Lucan released something new.
The object behind him stretched out before shooting at the world crystal. It became a serpent made of miasma that swiftly enlarged to be 5 meters long and nearly a meter in diameter.
"We've got the serpent you handle the fool, fish." Chronos said as he chased after the serpent.
Lyla was in the serpent's way but instead of moving she condensed a [Lawbound Bulwark] shield onto her mace and used it to block its charge.
Unfortunately for her she was much weaker than Chronos and was easily lifted off the ground as the serpent's jaw locked around her mace. It pushed her backwards as it single mindedly rushed at the world crystal.
Lucan prepared to assist his serpent, but a thin thread wrapped around his leg and dragged him underwater where the orca's ambush was waiting for him.
Thanks to Lyla slowing the serpent down Chronos caught up with it and swung Echoforge at its side only to face no resistance as he spun around.
"It's made out of mist; physical attacks won't do much damage."
"Then this should deal plenty!" [Blessed Flame] coated Lyla's bulwark in holy fire, which got an immediate reaction from the serpent.
Hissing and spitting it reared back disengaging from Lyla as it tried to escape her flames.
Chronos put Echoforge away and drew the heartwood war sword using [Sever] he enhanced its cutting power with hope that it would deal more damage than his hammer had.
Shink.
It cleanly cut through the miasma, shimmering like it was cutting out a piece of the world, but that couldn't be right, during testing it had only cut through whatever he aimed at.
Cutting through space wasn't possible with his bloodline level, he was still only a first level bloodline and not even a completely awakened bloodline just yet.
No matter, right now he needed to focus on the battle.
Swinging several more times he got the same result with each cut going deeper than the last. With holy fire burning its face and spatial cuts tearing apart its body it chose to make a desperate move in order to reach the world crystal.
Its body split into a hundred smaller serpents which ignored both of them rapidly slithering towards the crystal that had been brought to the surface of the river.
Chronos slashed at every serpent he could reach, killing a dozen of them in just a few seconds while Lyla cast [Holy Gavel] summoning two golden white gavels that struck at every serpent with extreme prejudice.
The orcas and singers guarding the priests attacked when the serpents entered their range but had much less success than Chronos and Lyla.
As each serpent was defeated it created a black mist that drifted about them, slowly corrupting them until one of the guards couldn't withstand it any longer.
"Aargh."
Turning to those next to him he tried to bite them only to be pinned by another guard who was barely doing better than he was.
Then one of the priests broke away from the purification ritual.
[Tide of the Unbroken Mind]. A deep blue ripple expanded out from him pushing back the mist and calming the two wrestling guards. Standing up they nodded to the priest before returning to slaying the serpents.
Two more guards collapsed not from corruption but from poison after receiving multiple bites from the serpents, the priest rushed to cure them but found it was several times more difficult than curing normal poison.
As they continued to fight dozens of serpents were destroyed and just as they believed it was winding down the serpents gathered together once again turning into a 4-meter serpent as it absorbed much of the drifting mist.
Only now did they realize that they had barely damaged this damned construct.
It shoved the weakened guards out of the way as it charged at the crystal once more. The singers' voices gave out a deep rumbling echo that turned into a wave pushing the serpent back and giving Chronos a chance to jump on its back.
Driving his sword deep into its body he used it like a saw then shoved his claws into the wound and pried it open.
A vicious grin crossed his face as he stabbed at something within the wound. A burst of mist forced him off of its body as it shrunk from 4-meters to 3.5-meters.
"What did you do?" Yelled the priest.
"There are runes inside of its body; they are its weak point. If they remain undamaged then we'll have to fight until it runs out of energy but if we damage the runes it will collapse in on itself."
Discovering the serpent's weakness changed the entire flow of battle as the singers sang [Fractured Lines Resonance]. The song caused the anchor points and weaknesses within the serpent to vibrate at a tone that all of the merfolk could hear.
Aiming their attacks at those points they rapidly whittled away the serpent's miasma but only occasionally managed to hit a rune as they were deeply embedded in its body, slowly breaking apart its structure.
As more of the runes became visible Chronos and Lyla viciously attacked each rune that entered their reach.
The serpent lashed out at everyone around it causing serious injury to the orca guards and even some of the singers, but they desperately held the line. Stopping it from getting any closer to the ritual.
Chronos cut into the serpent once more, discovering the main rune right below him but just as he was about to cut it the serpent coiled around him in a crushing grip.
He grunted as he braced his arms and legs against its body, it took everything he had to stop it from crushing him to death.
"Keep it right there Chronos!"
Lyla used the serpent's body like steps to get above both of them then threw both her gavels at the exposed rune transferring her holy fire to them.
Clash. Ssshhraa!
With a final shriek the serpent collapsed as the holy flame consumed the rune supporting its body and then the mist that formed it was burned away. Only a sword with a wolf emblem was left in its place.
Chronos flexed his shoulders to relieve the strain from holding it still during the last attack before scowling at the sword. He recognized it as his, but he had lost it when fighting the boar.
A singer picked it up as he turned to the others.
"Well, that took longer than I thought it would. How is everyone doing?"
Looking at the orca guards, he saw that half of them were no longer capable of fighting until a priest had healed them and two singers were unconscious.
"We'll be fine with time to recover. You took several blows yourself, is your body alright?"
"Yeah, I'll be fully healed in a few minutes."
Just as they were healing the injured a massive orca made of water erupted from the river. It was badly damaged and several injured orca guards were revealed from inside of its body as it dispersed back into the river.