Chapter 1897. The Immortal Devil
Chapter 1897. The Immortal Devil
Jeanny and Spring Crown fought Mammon to keep him in place. Under Devilize's effects, they could keep Mammon from breaking away. David and Freddie supported them, with David's magnetic drones continuing to buzz around Mammon.
The soul swan arrived next. It used its vast body as an extra obstacle to block Mammon. Leda was with her. She didn't have many offensive spells, but she had spells that caused impediments to Mammon's attempt at fleeing.
Mammon continued to try to get past them. He was making progress. Despite Jeanny and the others having a great boost during Devilize, Mammon was still superior. When Mammon finally managed to execute an explosive attack that forced his adversaries back, something grabbed his legs before he could fly away.
He looked down and saw it was Jeanny's battle dragon. This dragon was strong but not fast, so it took some time to arrive here. Now that it did, it used its weight to drag Mammon back to the ground, much like the mobile fortress did before.
David took the chance when Mammon was burdened by the battle dragon. His magnetic drones, which were now down to four, came together. The magnetic energy that came out of them merged, resulting in a huge electromagnetic blast. The blast slammed into Mammon and sent him tumbling down.
Jeanny and Spring Crown rushed back as Mammon lost his balance.
Jeanny used her Fallen Apostle's Spear's offensive skill, Hell-piercing Demon Spear. She turned into a silver spear once she activated the skill. This spear spun at high speed before zooming toward its target.
Mammon only had the chance to put up an arm to block when the silver spear arrived. The spear drilled into his arm. Black blood spurted upon contact. Mammon roared from the pain. His arm was sturdy enough to resist the drilling attack, but his outer skin was shredded. The pain caused him to involuntarily move his blocking arm away. As a result, the drilling spear advanced and stabbed into his shoulder. He uttered another painful roar.
The Hell-piercing Demon Spear dealt continuous soul damage. It also had a high penetrative ability and a high chance of causing a wound. Black blood continued to pour out at the point of impact.
Mammon finally had a moment of clarity during the pain. He punched into the silver spear from the side. This act finally stopped the skill. The silver spear turned back into Jeanny as she flew from the impact.
Right when Mammon punched Jeanny, Spring Crown slammed his weapon into Mammon's head. He had been waiting for the right moment to hit one of the weak spots in Mammon's head. His weapon, which had transformed into a hammer, smashed into the enlarged red dot of the weak spot. This not only caused critical damage but also caused strong knockback.
Mammon flew straight down toward the ground. The battle dragon utilized the momentum and threw Mammon into the ground once they were close. The impact caused the ground to cave in. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
The battle dragon opened its jaws. Energy balls started to shoot out. The discharged energy balls slammed into Mammon. The energy balls exploded upon contact. The force kept Mammon pinned to the ground.
While Mammon was unable to get up, Freddie cast World Warden's level 70 spell, Living Forest. The ground in a large area around Mammon started to crack. Out of these cracks, Leafy branches sprouted. The cracks on the ground widened as the emerged branches turned larger until whole trees grew out of the cracks.
Suddenly, it was as if a small forest had materialized, and Mammon was in the middle of this forest.
This forest was as its name implied. It was alive. The trees that formed this forest moved and wrapped their branches around Mammon, entangling him, and stopping him from getting up. The branch also whipped Mammon, causing earth-element damage to him.
This spell was best in a warzone where allies and enemies were chaotically mixed. Aside from trapping enemies and dealing damage, the trees also healed allies and protected them. Thus, this spell could turn the tide of a battle when placed at a strategic place. However, their current objective was to defeat Mammon. So, even if this spell was wasted for dealing with only one enemy, it was still worth it.
Mammon roared in fury as he struggled to get up. His three heads bit and ripped the nearby trees apart, but other trees grew to replace the destroyed ones. They were unending.
The battle dragon also landed and pounced at Mammon. The trees didn't hinder it.
Mammon again unleashed black fog from his three mouths. The trees touched by this fog decomposed and died at a rapid rate. The battle dragon insisted on staying close to Mammon. It continued attacking Mammon using its claws while its HP dropped from exposure to the black fog.
Free from the trees' interference, Mammon used the Infernal Crescent of Darkness that was off cooldown. The battle dragon reeled back from the assault.
When he was about to fly back up, he sensed something approaching from above at high speed. He looked up and saw a huge bony lance.
The bony lance was Jeanny's Dragon Bone Lance. This skill was also off cooldown. While it failed to hit its target the first time it was used, it was different this time. The bone lance dropped like lightning. Mammon's condition was not as before. His mind was in turmoil. He couldn't believe these outworlders could push him to such an extent.
The dragon Bone Lance stabbed into Mammon's chest. His half-rising body was forced into the ground again due to the momentum. While the skill's damage was not enough to take out Mammon's almost-depleted HP, it ripped a hole in his chest. This wound gave Mammon extra damage. It also depleted Mammon's HP by 5%. This was the same as dealing 5% damage instantly. This 5% HP reduction was outside of the normal damage inflicted by the skill.
All these factors caused Mammon's HP to drop rapidly. The devil stared in disbelief as his HP bar fell to zero. He lost all strength in his body. His heads and outstretched arms fell to the ground. He stopped moving.
Players and native soldiers who happened to witness the fall of the devil erupted into a thundering cheer. They let out a victory cry even when the demon army still had them surrounded. They were sure the devil's demise would cause these demons to lose morale.
Yet, the demons acted like nothing happened. This confused the defenders.
Jeanny and the others were not as confused.
"Get ready! This is the deciding point!" Jeanny called.
Following Jeanny's lead, Spring Crown and the others flew towards Mammon's corpse. Leda and the Soul Swan were as puzzled as the rest of the defenders. Hadn't they defeated Mammon? Despite their bewilderment, they flew down following those four outworlders.
Right when Spring Crown and the others landed, Mammon's body exploded into a swirling black mist. Within the mist was the shadow of a horned wolf. Above the mist was an HP bar.
"Now! Give it everything you got!" Jeanny yelled.
She activated Demonize Weapon. Similar to Spring Crown's weapon, her spear became larger and exhibited spikes along its surface. David's and Freddie's weapons were also the same. They then sent attack upon attack on the mist.
The mist didn't fight back. It just stayed there and took the punishment. Leda and the Soul Swan landed behind Jeanny and the others. While they watched in puzzlement, Jeanny yelled at them, "Don't just stand there! Help us attack! We need to deplete this mist's HP as fast as possible. If we fail to do it within five minutes, Mammon will return to life with his HP bar fully refilled!"
"What?!" Leda exclaimed in shock.
It already took them so much trouble to defeat the devil. If Mammon returned to full HP, they could not guarantee they could repeat the feat. Mammon looked down on them at the beginning, after all. If he decided to return to his army from the get-go, it would be almost impossible to prevent that.
Leda, the soul swan, and nearby defenders who happened to hear immediately aided them in sending attacks to reduce the mist's HP.
Jeanny and her three partners were already aware of this from the start. Wilted informed them that Mammon's other nickname was the immortal devil. Just like his dark wolves, he could recover his HP after he was defeated. The only way to truly defeat him was to deplete his second HP bar when he was in mist form. They could freely attack because the mist wouldn't retaliate, but they had only a short time to do it.
That's why Jeanny and the others had refrained from using Devilize and Demonize Weapon. Luckily, their Devilize condition had not yet run out of duration. Unluckily, Spring Crown's Demonize Weapon had, so his weapon was back to normal again. The Demonize Weapon's duration was much shorter than Devilize, after all.
David, Freddie, and Spring Crown used the offensive skills from their fallen apostle's weapons. Jeanny had used hers earlier, so she couldn't. They had also exhausted their pinnacle class' skills. Even so, they used everything available to them.
They looked at the HP bar that decreased very slowly. Everyone was anxious.
"Don't worry. We will make it," they heard Spring Crown said. "If we keep up this pace, we will deplete that HP bar in less than four minutes."
"Are you sure?" David asked skeptically. He didn't stop firing, though.
"If he says four minutes, then it will be four minutes," Jeanny said. She was aware of Spring Crown's reputation as a human calculator.
"Hah! Listen to your girlfriend," Spring Crown uttered.
Jeanny told them to focus. They continued delivering attacks. It was as Spring Crown predicted. When it reached three minutes, they depleted the HP bar to 75%. They were sure now that they could do this.
When they were rejoicing, the mist suddenly shifted. This took them aback because Wilted clearly said that Mammon couldn't do anything while in this form. While they were still wondering what that little movement meant, the demonic wolf shadow inside the mist suddenly lunged. The mist also lunged with it.
Before they could react, the mist zoomed past them. They then heard a cry.
They looked back and saw the mist swirling around the Soul Swan. The soul swan was the one who had cried. It was currently struggling against the mist. They didn't know what they should do. Should they attack? But they would hit the soul swan. While they were undecided, the mist suddenly entered the soul swan through its eyes and mouth at a rapid rate.
Once the process ended, the soul swan was bathed in a crimson aura. Its silvery feathers changed color to red. They were shocked by the transformation, but what shocked them the most was the soul swan's eyes. Red mists covered those eyes. They stared at Jeanny and the others with ferocity.
They then heard Mammon's voice from the Soul Swan, "You, despicable outworlders. You think you can defeat me, Mammon, the immortal? I will take all your souls and your bodies! Everyone and everything will be mine by the time this war is over!"