Chapter 190 Near Death

The ground shook, and everyone quickly grouped back up, hoping it didn't mean anything bad.

"I think we might need Kiruya." Shaman was getting less confident in being able to beat the dark elf commander, as this seemed something unnatural.

"And you would be correct, I haven't seen anything like this, and from the looks of things, you had it up until now." Kiruya came floating from the sky and dropped next to the group.

"Were you in the sky the whole time?" Clara was a bit amazed as they had been going at it for quite some time and as such the mana consumption should have been quite strenuous.

"Haha, yes and I have to say you were doing really well." Kiruya, being at a much higher tier, did not need to use much mana as she could use ambient mana to keep herself up in the air

"Anyway, enough about that, we have much bigger problems." Kiruya felt something coming from the ground as she could sense the massive amount of mana moving below them.

"Alright, it should be coming any moment now. Shaman, I will take the lead, and I want everyone to do as I say." Kiruya took over the leadership role just to make sure she could keep them all safe.

Everyone nodded, having no complaints, as Kiruya was the strongest one out of all of them.

After a few more seconds, a bunch of tree roots shot out of the ground, creating a large wooden cocoon in front of them. It was about the height of a house with purple light seeped through its small gaps.

Shortly after, the cocoon shattered, revealing the dark elf commander, but this time he was much different. The elf had become a giant, its body turned into black wood with bright purple streaks.

"Shaman! Elysia! I want you to focus on throwing fire attacks at the elf. Silver! Clara! Try to restrain his legs or arms, and protect yourself if you are in danger." Kiruya jumped into the air after giving her orders.

Shaman and Elysia ran together while Silver took Clara into his shadow so they could find a place to get ready to restrain the elf.

"Eli, let's try to create a combined arrow attack." Shaman wanted to combine their flames again as it was somewhat effective.

Elysia and Shaman both halted their steps at a safe distance from the elf, who was about to wake up.

Elysia pulled out her bow and coated it in fire, making it look much larger. She then conjured up a basic fire arrow so Shaman could funnel her own fire into it.

Shaman grabbed the arrow directly, which shocked Elysia for a moment as it should have burnt her, and yet it did no such thing.

Suddenly, the fire thrashed around similarly to the effects of Shaman's blade of flamescion. Shaman had activated her skill on the arrow, amplifying its power many times over.

Elysia, seeing Shaman let go, knew it was her turn to fuel the arrow, and so she fuelled it with her red flames. The arrow went from orange to red in an instant and was now becoming too hard to control, forcing Elysia to let go of the string.

The arrow sent Elysia sliding back due to the force, but she was completely fine. However, Shaman was not faring as well, as she has used the skill so many times in a short amount of time and her mana was getting dangerously low.

The arrow flew through the air towards the elf, and yet just as it was about to reach the elf, the latter opened its glowing purple eyes. The demon sword it had before came out of his hand, much bigger to match its size. Slashing down directly onto the arrow, the elf was able to halt the arrow in its track.

While the arrow was being repelled, suddenly, a gust of wind pushed on the arrow, empowering its attack even further. Kiruya had sent her own wind strikes knowing she could make the flames much more violent.

The unexpected surge of power broke the elf's guard, allowing the arrow to continue into its chest. Burning right through the elf's body, the arrow set the black wood ablaze, but it seemingly didn't affect the elf at all.

Its entire body was now wood, making it much easier to regenerate. It had not realised, though, that Elysia's flames took vitality, so when the elf went to regenerate the gaping hole in its chest, it was unable to.

Elysia noticed her flames were successful in absorbing his vitality, making her realise something.

"Because it's using its own tree of life, I can suck up its vitality through my flames!" A grin appeared on Elysia as she had become the very weakness of the elf, and all she needed to do was set it on fire.

Kiruya now had a change of plans as they had a sure fire way of fighting the elf.

"Silver! Clara! Continue what you're doing. Shaman, I want you to support Elysia while she prepares another attack, we need to hit it with her fire." Kiruya, instead of focusing on damage over time, wanted to see if they could end this sooner.

Shaman did not mind playing the support role as she needed to watch her mana and not accidentally pass out.

The flames on Elysia's body flickered in excitement as it was permission to let loose and not hold back.

The elf that now had a huge gaping hole in its chest was now more reserved and careful. He made sure to have Kiruya, Shaman and Elysia in its sights at all times.

Elysia switched to her spear, covering everything in her flame and sprinted toward the elf. Shaman followed but was further back to act as a sort of guardian.

Kiruya intended to enhance all of Elysia's attacks to bring it on par with the elf's strength.

However, before Elysia could reach the elf, he stabbed the sword into the ground, and roots instantly rose from the ground. One of these roots came out right next to Shaman and grabbed her.

Shaman tried using her flames, but they were too weak, further cementing that Elysia was the only one able to do damage.

"Dammit, let go of me!" Shaman tried using her rift, shadow skills and stardust, but nothing worked as it seemed like the elf was draining her mana.

Feeling a wave of pain go through her head, she realised that it was sucking all her mana and that she was close to running out.

Losing her strength to fight back, she dropped Kotetsu, causing Elysia to turn around to see what had happened. Kiruya was quick to act and tried using her wind alongside her blades to cut the root but could not get deep enough.

"Shit!" Kiruya, at the moment, was about to pull out a crystal meant to call Freja for extreme emergencies, but before she did, she suddenly felt a surge of mana come from someone else.

Although [lovers call] would have activated, because Shaman was so low on mana, it could not, and Elysia knew this.

Kiruya looked over to Elysia and saw she was transforming.

[Bloodline arts - full transformation]

[Warning!: You will not be able to control yourself, please use the skill with caution]

Elysia, who unlocked her bloodline arts when she awakened her family's traits, had a few skills which come at a cost. Although most of the skills had a lesser version that did not require a price, the original skills were only meant as a last resort.

Elysia, when she first saw those skills, refused to use them as it would be far too dangerous, but seeing Shaman in the state she was in, she no longer cared for the consequences.

Her body was changing, growing and becoming more of a fox. Reaching the same size as an elephant, Elysia was now a full-fledged fox with six tails. The ends of her black hairs were blood red, with each tail having a raging red flame. Her eyes glowed red, and she stared directly at the root holding Shaman.

"What the hell?!" Kiruya didn't know what to do as she recognised the form but wasn't sure if Elysia was hostile.

'Should I call Freja?' Kiruya clutched the crystal in her hand. If Elysia had control over the true fox form, then there would be no issue, but if not, she would have to call Freja.

'I need to make sure Clara and Silver are safe, the best thing we can do is not get in the way.' Kiruya was aware of the effects of Elysia's skill due to being told about the old fox realm war by her family.

'Please be okay.'