Novel Full Chapter 327: Third Party!
Audrey moved ceaselessly between both the King and his dragon, forcing them into what had become a relentless two-against-one battle.
Every exchange seemed to end with her vanishing from one location only to appear at another.
Her Position Reversion had become increasingly difficult to predict.
Beilong’s torrents of flames would descend upon one location.
Sigurd’s massive blade would cleave through another.
Yet every single time, only translucent afterimages were left behind as Audrey’s figure folded backward through her own timeline before reappearing elsewhere.
The coordination between dragon and rider, formidable as it was, simply could not pin her down.
Unfortunately, in one of those countless exchanges, she caught the King off guard.
Carson was several meters away from Beilong by then and was standing at a position Audrey had occupied moments earlier.
So she reappeared at the point closest to him.
The King reacted on instinct, swinging his sword at her, but she released a greenish wave of mana that struck him head-on and sent him hurtling backward.
His boots carved deep trenches through the ground before he finally regained his footing several meters away.
But his expression had changed when he immediately raised Sigurd again.
A faint cracking sound echoed from the blade. Crk.
Another followed. Crk... Crk...
Thin fractures spread across the length of the glowing weapon, multiplying until the entire sword had become webbed with cracks.
Then it shattered completely.
Carson’s eyes widened. His gaze dropped to the armor covering his body, only to see the same fractures had spread across it as well.
The armored torso covering his upper body broke away piece by piece and fell to the ground.
For a brief moment, silence settled over Carson’s expression.
Unfortunately, neither Sigurd nor Sir Lancelot had ever truly existed on a level capable of contesting Audrey’s power directly.
Every clash between them had only been accelerating their inevitable collapse.
A small stream of blood escaped from the corner of Carson’s mouth.
He immediately coughed again, more blood staining the ruined ground beneath him.
The blast wave had not only damaged his equipment. It had reached him as well, forcing parts of his body toward their natural end point.
Carson dropped onto one knee, placing a hand against the ground to steady himself.
Audrey had reduced his combat capability tremendously. Had he not possessed the magic resistance of a High Invoker, his own body would have deteriorated just as catastrophically as Sigurd and the armor that now lay scattered on the battlefield.
Following that, Beilong roared, swinging down her enormous tail toward Audrey.
Yet once again, Audrey simply raised a hand toward it, suspending the dragon’s tail a few inches above her head.
Athat exact moment, Anton suddenly appeared beside her.
His condition was miserable; blood soaked portions of his clothing, cuts covered his body, and one of his eyes had swollen shut.
Even so, the moment he appeared, he wasted no time in raising the staff artifact in his hand and lightly tapped the immobilized tail.
The instant the tip made contact, a mark was engraved upon it and all of Beilong vanished.
The staff artifact he had summoned earlier was precisely for this purpose. Rather than requiring direct physical contact himself, it acted as an extension of his own ability, allowing him to apply dimensional marks through the staff instead.
Admittedly, Beilong had been the greatest obstacle throughout Audrey’s battle with Carson.
Audrey finally turned toward Anton, looking over his battered appearance before she spoke.
"You don’t look so good." She sounded amused
Anton let out a weary breath. "That girl’s a monster."
The instant Anton dragged both himself and Isabella into his dimension, the spatial transition caused the shadow restraints binding him to distort for the briefest moment.
It was only an instant, but it was enough opening for Anton to seize immediately.
Before Isabella could tighten her hold again, he escaped from the shadow pool, leaving her trapped inside the pocket dimension while he himself teleported back into this reality alone.
Audrey glanced toward him and smiled faintly. Then she waved a hand at him and greenish mana flowed over Anton’s battered body.
The blood vanished and his bruises receded. His condition rewound to what it had been before the chase begun.
Only then did Audrey shift her attention back toward King Carson who had already forced himself back onto his feet.
His initial shock had come from witnessing Beilong disappear.
But that surprise lasted only briefly.
Without hesitation, Carson immediately attempted to summon his dragon back onto the field.
But nothing happened, not even after a second attempt.
His eyes slowly lifted toward Audrey, whose laughter made it obvious she had something to do with it.
Carson remained silent, moving his gaze between Audrey and Anton, who casually rolled his shoulders.
Then Audrey spoke. "Trying to call your dragon back?"
Her smile widened. "That one’s going to take a while."
The reason Carson’s summoning continued to fail was not because Beilong had become unreachable after being sent to another dimension.
No. Summons could not exist on a different plane of existence from their summoners. The mana link that sustained them would be severed the instant they were separated in that way.
Rather, It was because Audrey had interfered with the time required for Carson’s basic summoning process to complete.
A technique that would normally bring a contracted summon onto the battlefield almost instantly had now been stretched dramatically.
Fortunately for Carson, the effect was temporary. Within a few minutes, his summoning speed would naturally return to normal.
Unfortunately... In a battle between members of the Grand Class, a few minutes was an eternity.
And right now, Carson could scarcely afford even a few seconds.
Realizing that his options had been reduced to almost nothing, Carson tilted his head backward and drew in an enormous breath.
His chest expanded as flames gathered within him. Then, he released them.
A colossal torrent of fire erupted from his mouth, roaring across the battlefield toward Audrey.
It was one of the skill he had borrowed from Beilong.
Dragon’s Breath.
Audrey simply extended a hand toward the incoming inferno as the green aura surrounding her palm intensified.
A smile slowly spread across her face.
From where she stood, the outcome of this battle already seemed decided.
This battle was already reaching its conclusion.
—
Meanwhile...
The clash between General Iroh and Esmeray continued unabated high above the ruined palace.
Neither combatant gave the other even the slightest opening.
Esmeray was just about to cast another spell when, all of a sudden, a hand gently settled on her left shoulder.
Her body stiffened as she instinctively attempted to turn toward the unfamiliar touch.
But before she could, she felt something drive through her back, jerking her body forward.
Her eyes widened and a sharp gasp escaped her lips.
Slowly, she lowered her gaze to meet the sight of a blood-soaked hand thrusted through chest.
The third party had finally arrived.
Floating silently behind Esmeray was Ethan, whose expression was completely calm.
"When did you—"
Esmeray tried to finish the sentence, but blood spilled from her lips before the words could leave her mouth.
Ethan had approached her under the effects of Albedo’s Stealth.
It was one of the borrowed skills at his disposal; an ability that completely concealed both his mana and physical presence, making surprise attacks like this possible, especially against opponents who had no reason to suspect anyone was nearby.
Esmeray’s body trembled, then it became still.
Ethan slowly withdrew his arm before letting her body fall silently through the air.
His first target had always been Esmeray.
From Isabella’s earlier account of the testimony one of the family heads had personally delivered to the King, Ethan already knew that the one responsible for placing the life-linking spell on the noble and business families was Audrey’s assistant.
Thankfully, the King had been thorough enough to ask an additional question like "Did the spell require an external anchor?"
The family leader had answered that it did not. Or at least, none had been observed when the spell was cast.
That meant there was a strong possibility that simply eliminating Esmeray herself would immediately undo the life connection binding Audrey to the elf nobles and corporate heads.
General Iroh witnessed the entire exchange, then shared a brief nod of acknowledgment with Ethan.
Then their attention immediately returned to the battlefield.
—
At almost that exact same moment, Audrey and Anton, who had been standing side by side while advancing toward Carson, both sensed something simultaneously.
Not just Ethan’s presence, but several additional mana signatures entering the battlefield at once.
Their advance halted.