Chapter 377: Allied Force vs. Oración Seis (Part 5)
"I'll definitely beat Erza!" Natsu shouted loudly from the side.
Seeing Natsu like this, Gray couldn't help but facepalm.
"Erza-san is truly formidable." Jura looked at Erza with deep admiration.
"Meeennn..." Ichiya let out an inexplicable noise of agreement.
"You fought pretty well, Erza," Sorano said with a smile.
Having witnessed Erza's performance, the morale of the entire Allied Force soared significantly, and smiles appeared on everyone's faces.
Meanwhile, the other members of the Oración Seis were staring at Midnight. He naturally noticed their gazes. Irritated, Midnight abruptly waved his hand at Erza, sending a wave of invisible magic power blasting toward her.
The moment he raised his hand, Erza had already leaped out of the way. Midnight's attack completely missed.
Midnight waved both hands rapidly, firing several more invisible blasts of magic at Erza, but she easily dodged every single one.
"So this is Erza Belserion...?"
Seeing this, Brain furrowed his brow. He had initially believed that waking Midnight up would be enough to completely wipe out the Allied Force. Instead, Erza alone had managed to hold Midnight back, and had even effortlessly seen right through the weaknesses of his magic.
This completely ruined his plan to wipe out the Allied Force before searching for Nirvana. They couldn't let this drag on any longer; they had to eliminate these mages as quickly as possible.
Brain raised his right hand, placing two fingers in a sword gesture against his forehead, and fell completely silent.
Simultaneously, the other members of the Oración Seis also fell silent. The Allied Force stared at them warily, the atmosphere instantly growing incredibly tense.
"They're discussing a strategy! Interrupt them!"
Erza immediately recognized Brain's gesture. Warren from their guild often used this exact same gesture when employing his Telepathy magic. It was glaringly obvious that Brain was using Telepathy to communicate with the rest of the Oración Seis.
As she warned the Allied Force, a massive array of swords materialized behind Erza and shot directly toward the Oración Seis. Hearing her warning, the rest of the Allied Force also rapidly launched their long-distance magical attacks at the enemy.
"Hmph!"
Standing at the absolute front, Midnight swung a single arm forcefully, blasting an invisible wave of magic power into the space in front of him. Every single long-distance spell fired by the Allied Force was instantly reflected right back at them.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Allied Force had no choice but to fire off another volley of magic to intercept their own reflected attacks. A chain of massive explosions erupted in the empty space between the two sides. The resulting shockwaves blasted outward in all directions, whipping everyone's hair and clothes violently in the wind.
When the explosions subsided, the Allied Force noticed that Brain had already lowered his right hand. Realizing the enemy had finished coordinating their strategy, the Allied Force locked their eyes on the Oración Seis, highly alert to their next move.
Gusts of wind swept up countless clouds of dust across the empty space between them. Both sides stared each other down, neither making a single move.
But after waiting for a moment, the Allied Force realized something was wrong: the Oración Seis weren't attacking. They had just been relentlessly assaulting them, and they had clearly just formulated a plan. So why had they suddenly stopped completely, without launching a single attack?
"Observation Angel!"
Sensing something was amiss, Sorano instantly summoned her Observation Angel, which possessed the ability to observe and see through deceptions.
"Requip: Observation Glasses!"
Erza also equipped a pair of glasses with similar observational and analytical properties.
Both women heavily suspected that something unknown was happening right under their noses.
"Sunlight Angel!"
"Dance, my blades!"
The moment they observed their surroundings, Sorano and Erza instantly launched attacks toward a specific spot. A light beam and dozens of swords flew toward the exact same location.
At first, the others had no idea why they were attacking that seemingly random spot. But the next moment, as the explosions rang out, the scenery before their eyes underwent a reality-shattering transformation.
The blue sky and white clouds above them were completely blocked out by thick layers of earth. They were now standing deep inside a massive dirt cavern. The lighting was incredibly dim, with only a few rays of light filtering in from the entrance to illuminate the immediate area.
And the spot Sorano and Erza had attacked? It was the entrance of the cavern, where the Oración Seis were currently standing.
Midnight raised his right hand, and under the effect of his magic, both Sorano's light beam and Erza's swords sharply reversed direction, flying right back at the Allied Force.
Sorano and Erza quickly intercepted their own attacks, glaring grimly at the Oración Seis.
"That was an illusion just now?!" Lucy gasped in shock. She hadn't realized how this cavern had formed at all. If the enemy had attacked them while they were completely oblivious, wouldn't they have been wiped out instantly?
"This kind of illusion can't control us completely. If our bodies had taken damage, we would have instantly broken free from the illusion's influence. We likely would have suffered injuries, but it would have freed us regardless," Ultear explained, instantly realizing what Lucy was thinking based on her expression.
"But why didn't they attack then? Even if it only injured us, it still would have given them a huge advantage," Lucy asked, confused.
This was exactly what the rest of the Allied Force was wondering as well, causing them to raise their guard even higher.
"Although it pisses me off that you saw through my illusion, you noticed it far too late," Midnight smirked.
As everyone wondered why Midnight would say such a thing, Ichiya suddenly cried out, "Oh no! There's poison!"
As a mage who utilized Perfume Magic, Ichiya was highly sensitive to scents. He had finally noticed that something was terribly wrong with the surrounding air.
The hearts of the Allied Force sank upon hearing this. They immediately covered their noses and mouths, using the dim light streaming in from the cavern entrance to carefully inspect the air in front of them.
Sure enough, they discovered a very faint, almost imperceptible layer of purple toxic mist lingering in the air throughout the entire cavern.
And standing at the very front of the Oración Seis was Cobra. The giant purple snake beside him currently had its mouth wide open, continuously exhaling faint clouds of purple poison gas into the air.
The cavern was incredibly dark; if Ichiya hadn't warned them, they wouldn't have noticed it at all.
"Break out of here!" Sorano shouted.
Beside her, the Sunlight Angel immediately fired a beam of light at the cavern wall, blasting a massive hole through it. Seeing this, everyone else unleashed their attacks on the surrounding dirt walls. In an instant, the entire cavern was blown to pieces by the Allied Force. The Oración Seis made no attempt to stop them.
The blue sky and white clouds returned to their vision. Fresh outside air blew the poison mist away while rushing into their lungs.
However, the Allied Force quickly realized that their bodies were beginning to fail. Extreme lethargy washed over them, accompanied by intense dizziness and blurred vision.
Most of them felt their legs give out, collapsing onto the ground. Only Erza, leaning heavily on a sword, and Jura, supporting himself with his staff, barely managed to remain standing. But their bodies were trembling violently; it was glaringly obvious they were in terrible shape.
Natsu had also collapsed to the ground, but his condition appeared significantly better than the others.
"Hehe, his poison won't kill you instantly. You can just spend your final moments choking on your last breath in sheer agony," Cobra laughed, supremely confident in his snake's venom.
"Ugh..."
"Damn it..."
"Huff... huff..."
The members of the Allied Force gasped heavily for air, glaring fiercely at the Oración Seis.
"Pain-Relieving Parfum!"
Ichiya struggled to pull the perfume bottle from his coat and popped the cork. Waves of fragrance drifted over the group.
"Can pain relief... cure poison?" Lucy panted heavily.
"Senior's parfum... doesn't just work on wounds... it also has a purifying effect on toxins..." Hibiki gasped from where he sat nearby.
However, after inhaling the fragrance, the agony racking their bodies didn't lessen in the slightest.
"Parfum Enhancement!"
Seeing this, Ichiya hastily forced the perfume to vaporize faster, heavily increasing the concentration of the fragrance in the air.
But their physical symptoms still showed no signs of alleviating. Ichiya's face couldn't help but flush red with embarrassment.
"How can this be... the Pain-Relieving Parfum isn't working at all..." Eve stared in utter disbelief.
"Healing Angel!"
Seeing that Ichiya's perfume was useless, Sorano fought through the agonizing discomfort and summoned her Healing Angel.
Upon appearing, the Healing Angel began radiating a soft, gentle light. The members of the Allied Force bathed in the light immediately felt their symptoms begin to subside. Their strength returned, and their mental clarity restored.
"Amazing!" Lucy looked at the glowing Healing Angel, her eyes shining with absolute joy and surprise.
According to everyone, Ichiya's strength was not lacking, but even he couldn't cure Cobra's poison. Yet the moment Sorano's Healing Angel appeared, everyone's condition was completely restored. Didn't this prove that Sorano's strength and magic were far superior?
"Alright! I'm fully recovered! Time to hit back!"
Having completely regained his energy, Natsu instantly leaped to his feet, roaring fiercely at the Oración Seis. Everyone else stood up as well, glaring hostilely at their enemies.
"Cobra!"
Brain's expression darkened considerably. The only reason they had stood by and watched the Allied Force attempt to save themselves instead of attacking was because they wanted to watch them struggle in vain, writhing in sheer, helpless agony.
But to his deep displeasure, while Ichiya's perfume magic had failed, Sorano's Healing Angel had actually succeeded. He shot a sharp look at Cobra.
"I know. I didn't expect you to actually be able to cure his poison. It seems I'll have to get serious," Cobra said to the giant purple snake beside him. "Cubellios!"
Hearing Cobra's call, the snake named Cubellios spewed out a massive cloud of dense, purple poison gas. Cobra reached out with both hands and grabbed the poison gas, treating it as if it were a solid object. He continuously stuffed the toxic mist into his mouth, chewing it in large mouthfuls as if he were eating food.
"He's eating poison?!" Sherry cried out in shock.
~~~
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