Chapter 1889: Fighting Mammon
Mammon swung his darkness-coated monk's spade. His swing conjured a darkness-filled hurricane that assailed everyone around him. Nearby Devotee of Passion's members were swept by this dark turbulence. Leda cast a spell that created a pyramid of light that protected her. The Soul Swan covered itself using its wings.
"Haha! Are you two the only worthy opponents left?" Mammoth mocked. "If you are, then I have grown bored of this. Maybe it's time to end this pathetic game."
Mammon increased his attacking pace. Leda and the Soul Swan had difficulty keeping up. The others could no longer approach with Mammon's dark energy growing more violent. Many demons also kept them occupied, leaving only Leda and the Soul Swan to deal with the devil. The two's HP continued to drop at a worrying rate.
Suddenly, a soothing wind blew past, and a refreshing rain fell from the sky.
"Hm...?" Mammon stopped his offense. He could sense this was no normal wind and rain.
Nearby defenders touched by the wind and rain had their HP, MP, and Stamina restored. They also felt refreshed. Their fatigue was gone. Most of all, they felt hope inside their hearts again. This wind and rain had somehow washed away the despair gripping their hearts.
This wind and rain were a spell cast by Freddie. The spell was called World's Blessing. He gained this spell when his World Warden class reached level 80. Its recovery effect was much more powerful than Druid's healing wind and healing rain combined. The spell also covered an extremely large area. One-fifth of the battlefield received the healing. World's Blessing lasted half an hour at max level. As long as this enchanted rain fell, the defenders were unlikely to die.
Mammon's keen mana sense quickly guided him to the source of the spell. He laid eyes on four outworlders heading toward him. The Soul Swan and Leda took the chance when Mammon was preoccupied with the outworlders to retreat and recover themselves.
"Outworlders?! Good! I will enjoy tearing you to shreds!" He exclaimed. He shoved one of his arms forward. A thick dark-elemental beam shot at the four.
Jeanny and the others went in different directions when the beam came. The beam split into four smaller beams after passing them. These beams then made a U-turn and came at them from behind.
"Look out!" Freddie warned.
Jeanny had mana sense, so she was aware of the incoming beam. David and Spring Crown looked back after hearing Freddie's warning.
Freddie used his curved stick to perform Reversing Heaven and Earth, which he had learned from Domon. The martial art deflected the dark beam and sent it careening in another direction.
Spring Crown's weapon again changed into a buckler. He blocked the incoming dark beam while activating Absorb Energy. He then sent a Ki Wave enhanced by the energy of the dark beam. This Ki Wave slammed into the other dark beam that was about to hit David.
"Thanks," David said. He was just about to fire at the beam using his gun.
Jeanny didn't deal with the beam like the others. She instead increased her flying speed using her Dragon Lord level 60 skill, Dragonflight. A pair of illusory dragon wings appeared on her back. Together with the wings from her wings tool, she appeared to have two pairs of wings.
Her flying speed multiplied. She shot forward, leaving behind the dark beam that was about to hit her. The dark beam continued chasing her, but she ignored it. She was heading straight to Mammon. The dark beam expired before catching her.
The devil snickered when he saw Jeanny approaching. "Like a moth to a flame," he ridiculed.
When Jeanny got into range, Mammon made a lightning-quick swing. His monk's spade went from a relaxed state to a full swing right before Jeanny in the blink of an eye. Any regular combatant would have been caught off-guard by the rhythm, but Jeanny's body swayed, and the bladed part of Mammon's weapon missed Jeanny by a hairbreadth.
This took Mammon by surprise. Most opponents were taken aback by his explosive swing speed when they fought him for the first time. This was the first time someone dodged his attack during the first exchange. He considered this outworlder very lucky.
Jeanny didn't achieve the feat due to luck. She was indeed startled by Mammon's quick swing, but she was saved because of her special class' passive ability. Dragon Lord had a response skill called Dragon Lord Reflex. This skill triggered every time an attack almost hit. When it was triggered, the time in her perception slowed to 30% of its original speed. This was how she managed to adjust her body to avoid getting hit by Mammon's weapon.
She in turn utilized Mammon's surprise to land an attack. She used Dragoon's Piercing Spear. The spear energy she fired aimed at Mammon's eye. Mammon tilted his head, and the attack missed, but then he found Jeanny was gone.
His mana sense informed him that Jeanny had used Jump Attack to teleport above him. His monk's spade swung up to intercept Jeanny before her attack hit, but Jeanny's presence disappeared again.
"What the...," Mammon looked up. He saw Jeanny reappear somewhere else above him. She was stabbing down again, similar to when she used Jump Attack.
Mammon swung at her to again intercept her before she arrived. Yet, the same thing repeated. She vanished before Mammon's weapon hit her. She then reappeared at a different position above the devil.
The scene was like someone trying to hit a fly using a fly swatter. Mammon continued swinging his weapon to hit Jeanny mid-flight, but Jeanny zipped all around the place, dodging Mammon's swings.
What Jeanny used was Dragon Lord's beginning skill, Shift Jumps. This skill allowed her to perform attacks similar to Jump Attack but repeatedly. At max level, she could do twenty jumps.
Despite successfully drawing Mammon's frustration, she was not without worry. She had already used half of her twenty jumps but still couldn't stab Mammon even once. She was already at her limit making sure none of Mammon's swings hit her. Mammon's swinging speed was indeed extremely fast.
Because of the frustration, Mammon was late to sense an attack from a different source. A meteor-like energy that moved at an incredible speed and left sonic boom trails slammed into one of Mammon's eyes.
This meteor-like energy came from David. He was holding two guns. His fallen apostle's gun was the same as the fallen apostle's longsword and dagger. Its original form was a long rifle, but it could split into two smaller handguns, allowing David to use dual guns.
The skill David used to hit Mammon was Meteor Shot. It was a non-standard skill. The same skill used by Fast Hand Triggerman, an outlaw Jack defeated in the past.
David's shot bought Jeanny the opportunity she needed. The pain from having his eye assaulted caused Mammon to stop swinging. Jeanny finally stabbed her spear into Mammon. She disappeared after the stab, reappearing above Mammon, and landing another stab again.
The process repeated, drawing multiple damage numbers from Mammon. The fallen apostle's weapons had the highest damage stat for a weapon. The damage was further amplified by Jeanny's skills. Shift Jump's dished out better damage compared to Dragoon's Jump Attack. Dragonflight also increased the damage as long as the attack was performed during movement. The farther Jeanny moved before her spear stabbed, the higher the inflicted damage.
Even though the damage numbers were high, they were minuscule compared to Mammon's total HP. Rather than physical pain, the devil was hurt more by the shame of getting hit by these outworlders.
"You, worthless bugs...!!!" He screamed in anger.
Turbulent winds of darkness burst out of his body. Jeanny, who was the closest, was hit point-blank by the surge. She tumbled within the dark hurricane while suffering damage numbers. While she was helpless, Mammon drew his weapon, ready to strike.
"Jeanny!!" David called with worry. He used Rapid Shot, intending to draw the devil's attention.
His bullets hit, but they didn't bother Mammon. However, another person managed to draw the devil's attention. This person was Spring Crown. His flight speed was slower than Jeanny's Dragonflight speed, but he had used the chance when Jeanny was tussling with Mammon to sneak behind the devil. His inhuman perception let him perceive the weakest part among the turbulent winds blowing around Mammon. He coursed through this part to get close to the devil.
Sneaking was, of course, useless against Mammon who could sense mana. Mammon even intentionally ignored Spring Crown. He was determined to take down Jeanny first, who had been so audacious to lay a hand on him. He didn't put Spring Crown in his eyes. Even if that outworlder hit him, he wouldn't stop his strike.
When he felt an impact on his arm that was swinging the weapon, it was a critical hit. However, that was not the surprising part. The surprising thing was the impact caused his swing to swerve. Because of that, his monk's spade went off course and missed Jeanny.
"What...?!" He looked back in surprise. Spring Crown had hit him using Power Strike, but he had a natural constitution that resisted most knockback effects. He had used mana manipulation to make sure his swinging arm was protected. How did that seemingly weak strike cause his swing to swerve?
The outworlder who had done so was grinning at him with mockery. This pissed Mammon even more than what the outworlder woman had done.
"Diee...!!!" Mammon roared. His arm shot back at Spring Crown. His monk's spade gleamed with a dark purple aura.