The destruction caused by the attack was immense. A dense cloud of dust spread throughout the area, making it difficult for everyone to see and rendering it impossible to immediately determine where Grark had fallen.
Enrico searched for his companion with his crimson eyes, examining the debris around him. However, what he found made his heart tighten: the lower half of Grark's body was lying on the ground, about seven meters away.
"If he's still breathing, maybe I can..."
Before he could finish the sentence, Gray appeared above his head, its claws raised and ready to deliver another blow. Enrico noticed the danger and dodged at the last moment, rolling across the ground to get away from the creature.
'I need to find Grark's upper body and call a healer as quickly as possible.'
[Enrico, unfortunately, now is not the time for that! You need to defeat this monster first!]
Enrico bit his lip but soon took a deep breath to regain his composure.
The System was right. He needed to remain rational, just as he always did. Even if he found Grark at that moment, he would still have to protect him while fighting Gray. That would only make the situation even worse.
'Maybe the two of them can find him... Besides, Grark will hold on. I'm sure of it.'
[That's right. Focus on the battle.]
Enrico assumed a fighting stance, positioning the arm protected by his Crimson Gauntlet below his waist.
Since the beginning of the confrontation against that Nartheis, the gauntlet had been accumulating magic, and he intended to take advantage of that energy at the right moment.
'If Narisse's poison keeps weakening its body, I can finish everything with a single blow. I just need to buy enough time for it to take effect.'
Using Charged Impulse and concentrating a large amount of magic in his feet, Enrico charged forward at an absurd speed, breaking the sound barrier. His acceleration reached a level similar to what Grark had demonstrated with his Impact Magic.
'CC Impact!'
At the same time, Enrico summoned Lunaris, which merged with his right arm, the very one he intended to use to strike Gray in the face.
Upon noticing the incoming attack, the Nartheis activated its intangibility ability once again, allowing the blow to pass through its body without causing any damage. Then, it raised one of its claws and prepared a counterattack.
"Fire Steps!"
Enrico disappeared from the creature's sight before it could hit him. Gray's claw ended up striking the ground, while fifteen images of Enrico appeared around it, seemingly concentrating magic at the same time.
Confused by the number of targets, Gray was struck by all of them. However, unlike what had happened previously, this time it felt considerable damage to its back.
Irritated, the Nartheis concentrated magic in its claws and twisted its body, delivering a slash that split Enrico's Elemental Clone in half.
Upon realizing that it had lost its target, Gray began repeatedly switching positions with its other clones, trying to prevent its opponent from identifying which one was the real one.
'Good plan for an irrational animal, but you won't escape my eyes.'
Inside one of the nearby houses, Enrico was hiding with his Fire Bow prepared, aiming directly at Gray's head.
His crimson eyes could see the invisible sparks of fire he had left behind. They moved whenever they detected a change in the clones' positions, allowing Enrico to track the creature's movements even without seeing it directly.
'Maximum Flaming Shot!'
Enrico released the arrow. The house's window exploded at the same instant, while the projectile tore through the surroundings, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
The speed of the shot was enough to hit Gray's head, but the Nartheis seemed to have concentrated its Unique Ability solely on the core region, protecting it from the impact and managing to prolong the use of its intangibility.
Upon realizing where the attack had come from, Gray immediately turned toward the house. To reach its target faster, it switched positions with one of the clones in front of it, charging directly toward the building.
'Tsk... I doubt it thought of that on its own. Someone must be giving it orders from somewhere.'
Enrico realized there was something strange about the creature's behavior. Its movements were far too efficient to be the result of instinct alone, as though someone were directing its actions from outside the battlefield.
At that moment, Elowyn raised one of her hands and began gathering a large amount of mana. Upon recognizing the nature of the magic she was preparing, Enrico concluded that it would be an extremely destructive attack. Without hesitation, he switched places with his clone, moving several meters away from the house.
"Golden Sword: Total Destruction!"
Elowyn lowered her hand toward the building Gray was about to reach.
An eight-meter golden sword appeared above the house, with several rays of energy emerging from its surface. The next moment, the weapon descended at an astonishing speed, completely destroying the building and the entire surrounding area with an absurd impact.
"What a frustrating ability..."
Knowing that Gray could survive thanks to its ability to become intangible, Elowyn created a golden barrier around her own body to protect herself from a possible counterattack.
Then, she turned her attention to Narisse, who was standing a little farther away, trying to keep Grark alive after finding the upper half of his body.
She was using her poison in a controlled manner to ease the orc's pain while employing pure magic to prevent him from losing even more blood.
"Narisse, how much longer until this creature reaches our level of weakness?"
Her subordinate raised her eyes for a moment without interrupting the treatment.
"Just three more minutes, Princess."
Elowyn looked at Grark and realized that his condition was extremely serious. Even with Narisse's efforts, there was no guarantee that the orc would survive another three minutes.
"Princess, he won't survive that long."
Elowyn remained silent for a brief moment.
"Narisse, we need to focus on our opponent. Continue using your Poison Magic from a distance."
"Understood, Princess."
Even after receiving the order, Narisse did not abandon her efforts to keep Grark alive. She spread her poison throughout the area and established a command within her magic so that it would affect only enemies, preventing her allies from being contaminated.
Elowyn gave a brief nod and turned her attention back to Gray, who was now running directly toward her. She had no time to mourn what had happened. After all, she felt nothing beyond the need to keep fighting.
'This isn't his fault. After all, the only thing that can truly affect me is if something happens to my father.'
Elowyn knew she couldn't develop feelings for other people in the same way they did. It had always been that way since childhood, and she accepted that she would hardly be able to change. To her, any feeling unrelated to her own father simply didn't exist.
Unfortunately, she had been a human monster since birth.
'Even so, after all the time he has spent by my side, I can say that Grark deserves a leader whom he can follow of his own free will. So, if he survives, I'll release him from my command.'
"Golden Prison!"
The princess created several golden bars around Gray, forming a structure that began to close. However, she didn't limit herself to trapping only the original body. She also attempted to capture all the clones at the same time.
The strategy worked. The copies couldn't escape the bars and became trapped inside the structure. The real Gray, however, used its speed to get away before the prison could close completely.
'Now, if it switches places with one of its clones, it will get trapped too. Of course, it can still use its intangibility, but if it does, it will be forced to endure another attack once the effect ends.'
Enrico appeared above Gray's head, with his Fire Bow prepared and a large amount of mana concentrated at the tip of the arrow. When he fired it, the projectile split into several smaller arrows, which began striking the Nartheis from different directions.
Gray was forced to activate its intangibility ability once again to avoid the attacks.
'Got you.'
Enrico carefully watched the moment when the ability's effect would end.
Among all the arrows fired, there was one last arrow that had remained hidden, carrying a much greater amount of power than the others. As soon as the intangibility disappeared, it struck the Nartheis directly in the head.
'Who the hell is that bastard?'
Enrico narrowed his eyes when he noticed something strange. For a brief moment, when the arrow pierced Gray's head, the core seemed to disappear. Someone was interfering somehow, concealing that vital part of the creature to prevent him from hitting it directly.
'At least, because of this, it seems that the connection between those two is getting weaker.'
Upon observing the core flicker for an instant, Enrico realized that this interference couldn't keep working for much longer. The next attack that managed to hit the core directly would probably be enough to finish off the creature.
However, Gray also seemed to have realized that it was running out of options.
Instead of charging at Enrico, it suddenly changed direction and leaped toward Elowyn.
If it managed to kill her, the clones could be freed, since without the magic keeping them active, Enrico and the others would have to deal with a much smaller number of copies. Furthermore, because of the large amount of mana it had already used, it would take quite some time to summon them all again.
"Shit, it's coming..."
Elowyn noticed the Nartheis approaching but didn't have enough time to prepare another defense.
"As if I'd let that happen!"
Enrico switched places with his clone and managed to arrive in time to intercept the attack. He raised both arms and grabbed Gray's claws before they could reach the princess.
However, as soon as he managed to block the blow, he noticed a sudden change in the creature's body. Gray leaped over him, and for a brief moment, its entire body began pulsing with black energy.
Thanks to his crimson eyes, Enrico immediately realized that something was wrong. That concentration of energy didn't seem to be part of an ordinary attack.
'Wait... Is it going to blow itself up? Don't tell me it made that leap just so the explosion would hit Elowyn too?'