Even with Rachana's taunting, the determination to survive did not leave the knights' faces.
In their minds, as long as there is a way to have a chance to kill one more enemy, they will grit their teeth and try to survive.
Rachana on the other hand did not mind their struggle as she looked at the ball of congealed curse power with laces of asani mana.
Controlling the massive ball of power, she pushed it toward the barrier array.
Underneath the ground where Eli was trying her best to sustain the mana array alone, Wisey notified her, "Eli-chan, it's coming!"
"Alright!" She acknowledged as she wore the artifacts she received from the late high priest, the one whom she used when she first appeared to the world as the Paladin.
Then Eli gritted her teeth and circulated her holy powers.
In an instant, the barrier became more sturdy as her pure holy power nurtured the array at once.
Bzzzzzt! Brrrrr!!!
Crackle! Crackle!
As soon as the ball of mana touched the surface of the barrier, the clashing of the energy from both sides caused several waves of violent winds that swept away the soldiers and even Rachana who was outside was also being pushed back.
She frowned upon seeing how it did not take an instant for the ball of mana to penetrate the barrier as she expected.
Instead, the barrier seemed to have been retaliating by slowly dispelling the layers and layers of Rachana's mana ball.
Rachana frowned and immediately went nearer, there she infused more cursed power in order to expedite the process of breaching the dome barrier.
"Arrgg!!" Eli felt her mind buzzing as she tried to hold for a little longer. "W-wisey how is it?"
"Eli-chan, just a little bit more, there were still a few of the soldiers that were in the way of the mana ball's trajectory!" Wisey answered worriedly, but she still encouraged Eli.
"Alright!" Eli did her best to endure as long as possible. "Are we there yet?"
"A few more seconds, Eli-chan! Hang in there…" Wisey answered.
On the other hand, Rachana was getting annoyed, 'Why would the barrier not budge?'
In the end, she concluded that she just underestimated the power of the barrier and increased more of her power into the ball.
Eli felt the pressure from the newly injected energy. "Arrggg!!"
If it was just to deflect the mana ball, she can do it with ease, as her powers were meant to deal with Rachana's.
However, she had to allocate a lot of her holy powers to maintain the barrier all over the holy island which is already a large area then make the barrier sturdy enough to hold the mana ball in place.
"Faster!!! Move faster!" The soldiers knew that the moment the horrifying ball of mana stayed in place because their comrades in the array team were doing their best to buy them more time.
And so they picked up their pace and crawled as far as they could in the trajectory.
"Now! Eli chan!" Wisey finally gave Eli the cue.
"Raaaaah!!!!" Eli finally withdrew her powers that supplied the mana array and then circulated it back again to directly clash with the force of Rachana's attack!
"It's coming!" The knights exclaimed, for some reason, the pressure from Rachana's suppression suddenly disappeared due to the fact that she used more power to break into the barrier.
"Men! Get ready to fight!" Abaddon and the rest of the captains raised their weapons and alerted the soldiers.
Boom!
At last! The ball of mana broke into the barrier which immediately collapsed.
"Charge!!!" The knights from the holy island ignored the gigantic ball coming from them. Instead, their eyes are on the vast army rushing toward them at full speed.
That is because they have the confidence that the mana ball will be dealt with by their leaders and their only job was to deal with the rest of the army.
"Merfolks! Attack!" Prince Nalu conjured another wave of tidal waves to sweep another portion of the enemy knights sideways.
Then his men conjured a high water wall to divide the army and delay another portion of the army moving forward.
"Dragons! Toast the enemies!" The lead warrior of the dragon clan shouted as well. They immediately charged the enemies with high speed and attacked them ferociously with their elemental attacks.
"Beastmen! Let's go!" The beast men clan charged as well. Flying beasts, four-legged beasts, and many more, all charged at the enemy without hesitation.
"Remember to keep our distance from us!" Kayden warned them as he led the poison team to fight as well.
Boom! Boom! Boom! A bloody war ignited.
The lieutenants found their targets and met the platoon leaders of the troops from the holy island.
Abaddon, Gabriel, Mishael, and the rest immediately faced them and tried to take them down as soon as possible.
However, just like the temple captains, the lieutenants of the Vanderford army are also strong and hard to deal with.
Moreover, they were more nourished with curse power than the temple knight captains who tend to hide their true nature as they still have to pose as the servants of heaven even though they have already sided with evil.
As such the scene on the battlefield was tight as none of the two sides showed any signs of advantage.
Meanwhile, the mana ball which Rachana expected to cause massive damage to the troops on the ground did not do as she wished
Instead, the mana ball seemed to have been sucked by an unknown energy. Like a magnet attracting it, the mana ball flew straight to where Eli was and where it landed.
Boom!
Shiuuuuuuu!
After dealing a huge dent in the ground the mana ball only started to 'melt' like liquid.
"What's happening?" Rachana felt that something was definitely wrong as there were already multiple times that her plans did not go along her way.
She flew down toward the crash site of the mana ball to see what was up.
She squinted her eyes with heightened vigilance as she waited for the rubble and debris to settle down. 'What's lying beyond that location, why are my powers acting so strange?' She wondered.
After some time, she finally knew the answer.
Someone wearing a clean robe and a golden full-face mask directly hiding the wearer's signs of identity appeared before her eyes.
"It's you!" Rachana's eyes turned bloodshot as soon as she realized who the person in front of her was.
Everything matched the description she got from their sources.
The person in front of her was none other than Rachana's natural nemesis!
The one who made her suffer grave injuries for several months! The one who truly stands in her way of being the most revered woman in the world!
The True Paladin!
Eli looked at the highly provoked Rachana and did not say anything further.
Seeing Rachana still processing everything, she used that time to recover from the loss she incurred from maintaining the dome alone for a few minutes and stopping the mana ball from exploding.
"You are the one behind this all!!!" Rachana pointed at her with great hatred as she realized and slowly connected the dots.
Even so, Eli remained silent, not intending to confirm nor refute Rachana's accusation.
Instead, she took out her staff artifact from the late high priest and pointed it at Rachana.
Ready to attack!
