"Move!" Kazimir ordered the men to immediately hurl the glass potions at the monster.
The little amount of divine power might work to distract the absorption process of the monster as it was only the divine power coming from the cure potion which can counter the curse.
At his signal, Antoine and his men immediately threw the balls toward the slowly growing monster to disrupt his activity.
Groar!
The shadow monster reacted but could only randomly attack with shadow blades around him as it was focusing on the absorption of sustenance.
The glass vials were only a number but it was only able to slow down their absorption momentarily. After a few seconds of pulsating purple light in the center of its body, the light steadied once again and continued its activity.
Arabella also noticed the attention from the other people in the camp as the pitch-black barrier was now totally cleared.
She could clearly see that Kazimir, her cousin, was looking at her so intently as he instructed his men to disrupt the monster she was controlling.
But then her focus at the moment was dealing with Mishael who was still unscathed after several clashes. Apart from the frown on his face and the beads of sweat trickling at the side of his neck, there were no signs of weakness around him.
He was only focusing on keeping her at bay until she crumbled to his attacks. But his tactic did not last for long…
When Mishael heard Kazimir's cry he noticed the changes in the monster's actions. And so without hesitation, he changed his course of attack and charged toward the monster at full speed.
Shiing!
The blade of his sword, which was covered by his divine power, cut through the air with a piercing sound.
Arabella only realized Mishael's action when her eyes finally caught up on his location - in front of the shadow monster.
Vrrr…. Boom!
Mishael's sword fiercely sliced through the center of the shadow creature's body and ignited an explosion. At the sound of his divine power bursting into the shadow monster's stomach, a gaping hole appeared in his body.
A ray of hope appeared in his eyes, as did Antoine and Kazimir, but that too did not last long.
For Arabella was already raising her hand to deal a huge blow to Mishael's lower rib with an aggressive look on her face, full of killing intent.
Boom!
Mishael was directly hit in the side of his ribs and he could only clench his teeth to bear the pain as he tried hard to stop his body from flying toward the walls of the gorge.
Shriek!
He forced his right hand to pierce the earth below with his sword to stop the momentum from Arabella's hit and immediately struggled to stand up.
Puff…
As soon as he managed to finally stand up, a mouthful of blood came out of Mishael's mouth.
Because he was so focused on attacking the monster, he had completely forgotten that the barrier was already long gone and Arabella could already use her shadow power once more.
And so he did not even feel that Arabella was already on her side and injured him quite severely.
"I finally managed to hit you so cleanly… It's quite a novel experience!" Arabella smiled as she shook her fist in satisfaction. She looked quite happy to see Mishael's white clothing dyed with bright red blood.
"The next time my attack lands on your body will be a death blow." She declared while showing her smile that looked like she was certain of the words she just uttered.
While the shadow monster tried hard to regrow the hole in its body, Arabella engaged another barrage of attacks on Mishael's side.
Kazimir and Antoine tried to speed up things on their end as they saw that the situation on Mishael's side was not going well.
With Mishael's unexpected injury and the presence of the shadow monsters, the convoy team will certainly crumble.
However, Mishael is not the least bit scared about the sudden turn of situation. With the use of his divine power, his injuries slowly healed while he valiantly avoided and even parried Arabella's attacks.
"You are not the only one who has powers…" Mishael coldly told Arabella as he conjured a magic circle under his feet.
The span of the array circle was as big as five meters in radius which startled everyone.
It activated in a split second, so fast that Arabella did not even anticipate that the ground she would lay her feet on would be covered by the array spell.
With that she was effectively immobilized, effectively stopping her barrage of sneak attacks.
Not allowing a single second to waste, Mishael moved forward and attacked Arabella mercilessly. He no longer gave her pity as she was utterly cruel to the men that were gobbled up by the shadow monster she just released.
"Ahhh!!!!" For the first time since the battle, Arabella had the mark of pain and distress on her face. Mishael slashed her dominant hand without hesitation and broke her lower legs making her fall to the ground in a thug.
"F*ck you! C*rse you temple sc*m!" She hurled curses as the pain dominated her body. While she was a fighter, she only had a few months to train herself. Thus a part of her was still the pampered and spoiled youngest mistress of the fallen Vesala family.
As soon as she weakened, the shadow monster's actions also became chaotic. From Mishael's perspective, however, it was a sign that the shadow monster was greatly affected by Arabella's condition.
And so, in the midst of Arabella's wail of agony, Mishael lifted his sword and pointed it at her sorry state, "You have to be killed."
He looked at them and declared coldly. Then he immediately raised his sword to slide off her head.
But then before his sword was able to approach the surface of her neck, the sword monster quickly moved and attacked him with its big body, forcing him to retreat.
Almost instantly a speedy shadow retrieved Arabella's body and disappeared to a safe distance.
Mishael could no longer pay attention to Arabella's sudden escape but only faced the shadow monster and dealt with it once and for all.
Using the same immobilizing spell, he used his divine powers to forcibly lock the shadow monster in place.
But since the divine power and the curse power counteract each other, the effect was less efficient.
However, it was enough for Mishael for he only needed the monster to slow down so that he could accumulate enough firepower to deal a massive blow once again.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Multiple holes emerge into the shadow monster's body, effectively decreasing its large body mass by a third.
Seeing that Mishael was the only one dealing with the shadow monster, Kazimir, and Antoine could only assign several of their men to help him for he was no longer with people.
With their help, the shadow monster gradually weakened and his previously gigantic body was reduced to nothing but a slob of ink.
Finally, without thinking further, Mishael used the purest cure potion and immediately poured it into the shadow blob, completely melting it to nothing.
At last, the shadow monster is no more, but the lives of Mishael's men are gone as well.
"Let's check the prisoners…" Mishael could only hide the regret in his heart and move to continue the mission.
"Yes, captain!" The men who helped him answered.
They moved to the prisoners and checked the condition of the security barrier inside.
"It is intact on this side…"
"Intact as well on this side too…"
"No problems on this corner…"
They checked the security one by one and immediately reported on Mishael's side.
"Move… I will strengthen the array once again, others can join the First and Second Prince so that they could deal with the rest of the ambushers.
"Yes, sire!"
But just as they were about to move, there was a voice roaring in the air… a voice so familiar to them that immediately made their hearts turn cold.
Crown Prince Ranon, whom they treated as an envoy to the temple, stood on top of the gorge, on his side the injured Arabella who was holding a projection stone.
"First and Second Prince of Seirende! You and your men shall surrender at once! Or else your beloved family will instantly die at the moment!"
Crown Prince Ranon no longer supported the amiable demeanor of an envoy crown prince. Instead he was wearing an excited expression, as if he had long desired for this blood bath to finally happen.
In his words, Arabella activated the projection stone and flashed several images on the screen.
It was none other than Queen Tehila and Lucia along with Princess Ariella and Evelyn and their respective sons.
They were wearing a peaceful expression and were completely oblivious to the fact that there were several men sinisterly stalking through the shadows behind them.
Kazimir and Antoine froze, they did not expect that the enemy had planned so far ahead to even consider taking their loved ones as hostages!
