Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 135

Chapter 135: The Battlefield of the Lava Zone

The ?Mage?, who had been preparing before engaging the enemy, uttered their final incantation. A level 1 advanced light magic spell, ?Sunshine?, was unleashed upon the ?Skeletons?, followed by a level 2 advanced water magic spell, ?Tidal Wave?, that exploded upon the flying ?Alter Lesser Dragons?.

Echoing across the battlefield were the dying screams of the monsters and the fierce battle cries of the adventurers.

As a massive horde of monsters surged forward, adventurers grabbed their weapons and charged to intercept them.

This was a direct, brutal clash of raw power, without any room for tactics or strategy.

While the adventurers had succeeded in reducing the enemy’s numbers through preemptive magic attacks, the monsters keep spawning, leaving them with the upper hand in sheer numbers.

However, unlike the brainless, brute-force tactics of the monsters, the adventurers had more to offer than just raw strength.

Three ambush units, made up of adventurers known for their speed and attack power from ?Hunters of the Twilight? and ?Hell and Heaven?, operated like moving spears. One by one, they crushed the ?Skeleton? squads, whose focus was only on the enemies directly in front of them.

“Haha! This ?Enchanter? girl is incredible!”

“With this, no matter what kind of monsters come, they won’t stand a chance against us!”

They had been granted a set of enchantments, four boosts to ?Attack Power Boost Enchantment V? and one boost to ?Speed Boost Enhancement V?, designed specifically for high-speed ambushes.

Thanks to the ?Lucifel? support system’s control, which constantly refreshed these enchantments using Sora’s infinite MP, this became a never-ending, permanent buff for the adventurers.

As one young member of the ambush unit cut down his ninth ?Skeleton?, he wiped his nose and smiled.

“If I survive this event, I’m going to confess to the Silver Sword Princess…”

“Hey, idiot! Stop raising such obvious death flags!”

“If you’re gonna die, die alone!”

While the youth was being bombarded with his comrades’ scolding, magma erupted in front of them. Startled, he froze in his tracks as an ?Alter Lesser Dragon? flying above locked its sights on the ambush unit.

“They’re targeting us, the Alter Lesser Dragon! Ambush unit, fall back to the first line using ?Accelerator?!”

“I knew this was gonna happen!”

“You’ll pay for this after the event’s over!”

The adventurers quickly changed course, turning their backs on the monsters and running. Awaiting them at their destination were their comrades, who had just finished taking down the Skeletons and were moving in for support.

“Knight unit, the ambush unit is being targeted. Prepare ?Provoke? and ?Phalanx?. We’re about to face the Alter Lesser Dragon’s breath attack!”

The ambush unit, using their advanced speed skills without hesitation, retreated behind the knight unit in an instant.

Immediately afterward, the ?Alter Lesser Dragon? that had been targeting them was drawn in by the ?Provoke? skill, changing its aim. A blast of black flames shot from its mouth, not towards the ambush unit, but towards the shields held up by the knight unit, turning the area in front of them into a sea of fire.

“Incredible! They only lost 30% HP after taking that hit.”

“Last time we fought, we lost over 60%, so this is the benefit of having ?Defense Power Boost Enchantment V?.”

“Hey, you idiots, this is no time to admire the situation! Here comes the charge followed by a sweeping attack!”

“Oh no!”

The knights were caught off guard. The massive dragon, with its razor-sharp claws that could cut through steel, dove down in a steep descent.

One of the knights hurriedly activated ?Phalanx?, a skill that temporarily halves damage for him and his allies, and raised his shield.

But simply raising their defenses was not enough to stop the ?Alter Lesser Dragon?’s powerful attack.

The dragon unleashed its ?Dragon Dual Nail? two-hit combo. The first strike shattered the knights’ stance, and the second blow landed on their torsos, reducing their HP to just 10%.

“Shift!”

The ambush unit, having regrouped from their retreat, surged forward and struck with ?Sonic Sword?, slicing away 20% of the dragon’s HP.

The ?Alter Lesser Dragon?, having taken the counterattack, soared back into the sky, and in its wake, the Skeletons surged forward to support it.

The deputy leader of ?Hell and Heaven?, Glen, led his knights and ambush unit in a shift formation, blocking the Skeletons’ charge head-on.

As the red-haired knight Glen commanded the frontline, slashing down Skeletons, he issued orders to his troops.

“Anyone who’s taken damage, get healed by the clerics! And remember, this is a battlefield. Complacency or carelessness will lead directly to death!”

“Understood!”

Under the command of the deputy leaders spread across various fronts, the fierce back-and-forth battle with the monsters continued.

………………………

From the rear of the battlefield, Sora, the world’s strongest silver-haired adventurer, surveyed the scene with a slight furrow in his brow and narrowed his golden eyes.

“Where is the ?Demon Dragon King? Belial?”

No one could answer.

While everyone else used telescopes to scan the distance, several minutes into the battle, no one had reported spotting the boss monster.

Closing his eyes, Sora expanded his search range.

Even with the ?Perception? skill supported by the system ?Lucifel?, there was no sign of any massive presence like during the encounter with the ?Leviathan?. And using his ?Insight? skill, Sora couldn’t find any traces of something big hiding.

According to Dragon King Otter, the ?Demon Dragon King? was supposed to be a colossal creature, over 10 meters long. The lava zone was flat, leaving nowhere for such a massive being to hide, and there were no reports of the enemy possessing concealment skills.

That left only one possibility.

“He faced defeat before and was sealed away. Considering that, and the fact that we haven’t seen him yet…”

“You’re saying he’s going to ambush us from somewhere?” Kuro guessed.

“Exactly, Kuro. Well, it’s unlikely he’s underground, so the obvious answer in this kind of scenario would be—up.”

Pointing his right index finger toward the sky, Sora shifted all his detection efforts upward.

Sure enough, something resembling a giant dragon appeared on the radar.

“I hate to admit it, but it really is coming from above,” Sora muttered with a wry smile, as Shin and Rou nodded nearby.

“Yeah, I guess there’s nothing quite as powerful or hard to defend against as a simple attack using sheer mass from a fall.”

“Considering our defeat conditions, the enemy’s target is likely either the Dragon King, who’s fending off monsters on the other side, or the princess still asleep in the castle.”

“Judging by its current path heading straight toward the castle, it’s probably after Alice, who’s weakened and inherited the blood of the Shrine Maiden that sealed it.”

I had heard from Dragon King Otter that the stolen ?Royal Fan? possessed a sealing skill that only the Dragon Shrine Maiden could use to seal the ?Demon Dragon King?.

Now that the enemy had taken it, we no longer had the means to seal it. Given that it had already suffered a defeat once, it seems the enemy was being extra cautious.

Shio glared at the sky with a look of frustration, asking what I was planning to do now.

“How are you going to knock down that cowardly dragon, big brother?”

“Hmm, well… Even with my enchantment magic, I can’t make us fly.”

“We’ll just have to hit it from the side when it falls and try to change its course. That’s probably all we can do,” I said.

“Yeah, Master’s right. While we can’t change its course with brute force alone, we can blast it with powerful magic from the side. That should work.”

Slightly modifying Shino’s suggestion, I explained our plan, and then took out four items.

They were four colored gems.

By themselves, it was hard to tell what they were. But once they were all together, my ?Insight? skill finally revealed their true identity.

Right in front of everyone’s eyes, I was given a choice: ?Use? [Yes/No], and I selected [Yes]?.

The gems shone brightly and merged into one, becoming a crimson ring.

The item’s name was ?Ruby Ring?.

Its effect was to grant the wearer the unique skill ?Michael? once, on the condition that they did not already possess the unique skills ?Lucifer?, ?Raphael?, ?Gabriel?, or ?Uriel?.

This was one of our trump cards.