As soon as the Impiana was in range, Meifa pointed her scepter at the monster and casted a spell.
[Manah Vinashah]
A wave of compulsion mana echoed to the large beast.
It was a particularly strong spell for compulsion magic by Meifa.
Unfortunately, the Impiana was still able to resist the sorcery, to the point that the spell only hindered its movement slightly.
But that was probably what the Tchakran intended.
Aludra flicked her staff at the flying Impiana and conjured ropes of mana to bind the creature.
The ropes immediately snapped all around the Impiana and the creature fell to the fortress battlement.
Judging by how fast the ropes were thinning as the Impiana struggled, it was clear that the ropes would be severed in instant.
But they provided just enough time for the two mages to kill the Impiana with their ballistas.
At the same time, the other two Impianas arrived at the fortress.
They did not bother to cast any magic and immediately charged at the heroes.
Seeing the monster, Dharma threw herself in the path of the one arriving from the south.
The monster's charge was completely halted as it crashed into the dwarf's shield.
['Dharma (★★★)'s True Block has levelled up twice to level 3!]
As the Impiana was still stunned by the impact, Gaoling rushed in and leapt onto the monster.
She twirled her glaive furiously and decapitated the monster's huge wings as well as crippling one of its legs.
['Gaoling (★★★)'s Nimble Movement has levelled up to level 3!]
['Gaoling (★★★)'s Thrust Charge has levelled up twice to level 5!]
[Skill Awakened!]
['Gaoling (★★★)'s Basic Spearmanship has evolved into Intermediate Spearmanship!]
With the Impiana partially immobilized, the dwarf made her move.
She swung her spiked mace with thrice the power of Gaoling's and snapped the Impiana's other leg.
The Impiana tried attacking the dwarf as its limb was being crippled, but the dwarf managed to block and even repel the attack every time.
['Dharma (★★★)'s Insight has levelled up twice to level 5!]
['Dharma (★★★)'s Force Repel has levelled up to level 2!]
The dwarf continued crushing the remaining four legs and eventually felling the huge beast.
['Dharma (★★★)'s Power Charge has levelled up twice to level 6!]
[Skill Awakened!]
['Dharma (★★★)'s Basic Mace-Shield Technique has evolved into Intermediate Mace-Shield Technique!]
As soon as the Impiana was crippled, Gaoling delivered a finishing blow which cleaved the Impiana's head in one swift movement.
Similar battle was occurring on the northern side of the fortress.
Celeste unleashed a barrage of magic arcs toward the Prime Impiana.
Due to its incredible foresight, the monster was able to dodge every single one of the mage-swordswoman's attacks.
But, of course, Celeste expected this.
And she never intended for her attack to go through.
The mage-swordswoman was just the bait.
Sigmund was charging fast from the Impiana's blind side. He managed to get close enough to the monster to cleave its rear leg off.
But either through detection or its foresight, the Impiana managed to turn around in time to dodge the Guntur warrior's surprise assault.
It was then that the Impiana fell to the true bait laid by the advanced heroes.
Immense mana burst forth from Celeste's entire body. Her long sword was blazing with fiery energy.
She charged toward the Impiana with great speed and severed the three legs on the monster's right flank with one movement.
['Celeste (★★★)'s Combat Chant has levelled up to level 10!]
[Skill Awakened!]
['Celeste (★★★)'s Combat Chant has evolved into Warrior Chant!]
['Celeste (★★★)'s Basic Enchantment has evolved into Intermediate Enchantment!]
['Celeste (★★★)'s Basic Swordsmanship has evolved into Intermediate Swordsmanship!]
[Hero 'Celeste (★★★)'s Intermediate Enchantment, Warrior Chant and Intermediate Swordsmanship have been combined to create a new skill!]
['Celeste (★★★)' has obtained the skill, 'Intermediate Enchanted Sword Technique'!]
Following the mage-swordswoman powerful assault, the Impiana tried to flee to the air.
Sigmund failed the attempt by leaping on the monster and cleaved all of its wings mid-flight with his axe.
The Guntur warrior then plunged his weapon into the monster's back.
As powerful aura was bursting through the warrior's surface, he ran the axe through the Impiana's spine, splitting the creature in half.
I just discovered recently that the Guntur Elder's cool composed look was just a mask.
In truth, he was as spirited and ferocious as other Guntur warriors in battle. Almost rivalling a Near-Kin.
The man simply never displayed his fire of emotion raging within.
He instead translated them through his movement in combat. Letting out just enough of emotion to deal with his enemies.
Perhaps the reason he always seemed so composed was because previously there was not any situation that demanded him to channel all of his rage.
But in this Quintal Trial, he had to unleash everything.
[Skill Awakened!]
['Sigmund (★★★)'s Basic Battle-Axe Technique has evolved into Intermediate Battle-Axe Technique!]
['Sigmund (★★★)' has obtained the skill, 'Berserk'!]
The advanced heroes were able to dispose the dangerous Impianas before they could cause more damage.
But they were not the only threats in this mission.
The lesser Prime monsters had filled the grounds beyond the walls and were rushing into the entrances like sheep being herded into their pens.
They were no longer being intercepted outside the walls since the golems had collapsed having spent their cores.
With the arrival of the new hordes, monsters were going to overrun the fortress the heroes were in.
The raiders would not be able to stop all of them given how spent they already were.
Fortunately, Kiran had finished casting his spell.
The Kutub shaman raised his silver staff to the sky and chanted.
[Maha Shilavay]
A giant silver cloud formed above the fortress.
Instead of staying in place, the cloud moved beyond the walls.
Cold twisting gale descended from the cloud and struck the hordes of monsters charging toward the fortress.
The twister froze everything it touched. Those around it was obliterated by the ice shards rushing around the current.
Many monsters tried to escape the twister but Kiran made it chase them.
He used the freezing hurricane to decimate all the creatures beyond the walls.
The Kutub shaman's Fourth Circle magic prevented the heroes from being overrun by the monsters.
For the time being, at least.
Shrieekk!!!
[Wave 28]
[Prime Beastling Lv.30 x102]
[….]
[Wave 29]
[…]
[Wave 30]
[…]
[Wave 31]
[…]
[Prime Impiana Lv.36 x5]
[Time Remaining]
[09:58]
Another ocean of enemies was already on its way toward the heroes. Impianas were coming from all four directions and above.
Most of the heroes were too tired to be mortified by this sight.
[Kiran, can you cast a fusion spell to get rid of these waves?]
Celeste asked as the heroes were recuperating.
The elemental mage shook his head as he chugged down a vial of mana potion.
[Not soon enough. Not after that Fourth Circle.]
[But can you cast that Fourth Circle spell again?]
He nodded this time, though half-absentmindedly.
[I'll need five minutes this time, however.]
Celeste nodded back to him.
[Start casting! We'll buy you time!]
She turned to the other heroes.
[Aludra, deploy the last golems we have! Meifa, we won't have time to use the potions! So heal us whenever we're heavily injured! The rest of you, prepare for battle!]
Just as Celeste finished giving her orders, several Prime Gatormoles emerged from one of the holes on the ground. They were followed by a dozen Prime Beastlings and Prime Killer Spiders.
The heroes quickly pounced on the monsters before their number grew.
Meifa and Aludra continued defending Kiran that was already casting his second Fourth Circle spell.
A Prime Impiana descended from above and the two mages attempted to bring it down with the same tactic.
Their second attempt went much more effectively by having Meifa's compulsion spell lasted longer on the creature and caused them to kill it without needing Aludra to bind them first.
They also managed to kill the Impiana way earlier before it launched deadly magic assault on the fortress.
There were still four other Impianas to take care of, however.
All four arrived at the same time to the fortress.
Given the monsters' strength, the advanced heroes had taken the burden of taking them down.
Four against four. One hero against one Impiana.
Under the cover of the other ground combatants, Celeste and the advanced heroes engaged the winged beasts.
The battle was not as straightforward as before.
They had to fight alone against each of the monster this time.
It was much harder trying to land an effective blow against creatures that could predict the future.
But the heroes did not give up.
They fought on and on and eventually they started landing a blow on the Impianas.
First blow. And the second blow. Third.
It was slow but surely. The battle was tipping toward the heroes' favor.
But time was of the essence.
['Oliberr (★★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. His stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
['Johaime (★★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. His stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
['Namira (★★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. Her stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
['Ansel (★★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. His….]
The other ground heroes were beginning to falter.
Meifa tried to buy them time by healing their wounds mid-battle as well as strengthening their body and mind through enchantments.
The heroes fought on.
Eventually the last of the Impiana was killed by the advanced heroes, and just in time for Kiran to cast his spell.
[Maha Shilavay]
['Kiran (★★★)'s Intermediate Ice Magic has levelled up to level 7!]
Another hurricane of ice descended on the grounds beyond the fortress.
Hundreds of monsters were swallowed by the freezing twister and reduced them to stiff shattered corpses.
The Kutub shaman immediately fell to his knees after casting the spell.
But another chorus of monster shriek pushed him back to his feet.
[Wave 32]
[Prime Beastling Lv.30 x122]
[….]
[Wave 33]
[…]
[Wave 34]
[…]
[Wave 35]
[…]
[Prime Impiana Lv.36 x8]
[Time Remaining]
[04:46]
A new ocean of monsters had formed on the horizon.
That ocean quickly flowed through the Phirdaus jungle like a flash flood.
[Celeste, I can't cast that spell again! I can barely cast Second Circle magic now!]
The Kutub shaman warned his party leader.
Celeste nodded to him.
[Just do what you can!]
She proceeded to raise her sword and shouted to the rest of the heroes.
[This is it, everyone! We're almost there! We only need to survive these waves of monsters! Just hang in there a bit more!]
A series of lightning struck all over the fortress, sent by the two Impianas charging from above.
The heroes were disoriented by the powerful assaults.
They barely recomposed themselves before engaging the monsters that had infiltrated the entrance.
Meifa casted a powerful compulsion spell on one of the two Impianas.
Her previous attempt was more effective than the first one. So her third attempt should be even better.
Once she seized the monster's mind completely, she maintained a firm grip on the creature and made it attack the second monster.
Aludra used the distraction to kill the second Impiana with her ballista.
Having killed the second one, Meifa used her mind controlled Impiana to intercept the other ones charging toward the fortress.
Kiran and Aludra worked together to dwindle the number of the dangerous monsters as Meifa distracted them.
Thanks to the mages' efforts, only four Impianas managed to breach the fortress.
Celeste and the other advanced heroes engaged the Impianas again while leaving the other raiders to deal with the lesser monsters.
Their tactic did not prove as effective as before, however.
Meifa was too preoccupied controlling her Impiana that she could not freely aid the heroes with her healing magic.
As such, most of the heroes had to fight while bearing wounds.
This state caused them to start losing focus, no matter how slightly.
That could prove very fatal in the Quintal Trial.
An archer was caught in a lightning blast sent by an Impiana aimed for Celeste.
['Namira (★★★)' has returned to the Goddesses' embrace! Her fighting spirit will be remembered forever.]
A hero was distracted by the chaos and got his neck punctured by a Poison Stinger's thorn.
['Janis (★★★)' has returned to the Goddesses' embrace! His fighting spirit will be remembered forever.]
As if death itself was infectious, more heroes began to fall.
One person stumbled into a Gatormole's hole while trying to dodge an Impiana's assault. He died as he was ambushed by the monsters lying within.
['Ansel (★★★)' has returned to the Goddesses' embrace! His fighting spirit will be remembered forever.]
Trying to kill giant Prime Killer Spiders by climbing their back, two heroes were snatched by man-sized Blood Crows and got thrown beyond the walls, where they met their deaths by being devoured by the ocean of monsters outside.
['Oliberr (★★★)' has returned to the Goddesses' embrace! His fighting spirit will be remembered forever.]
['Johaime (★★★)' has returned to the Goddesses' embrace! His fighting spirit will be remembered forever.]