A lighting bolt hit the Northern Star’s simulacrum, which came out from Charle’s staff. Valerie stumbled backwards leaving space for a Carranca to strike at her with a fast punch.The simulacrum took the punch, but, at the same time, she drew the last axe she had hanging from her waist. With a flap of her wings, she reached the giant’s throat and slashed it open, making it hold its neck with both hands as it suffocated on its own blood.
There was no time to pity the creature. Valerie threw the axe with extreme strength, making it fly faster than a bullet.
Charles tried to protect himself by raising a mana wall, but the axe simply shattered them and embedded itself in his fat belly, making him fall to the ground.
"Charles!" Kaoru screamed while running towards the Northern Star.
She roared while attacking the simulacrum with rage.
Matthew was close behind her and, jumping over her and landing on Valerie’s back, he joined the fight.
Even flanked like that, the both of them couldn’t connect any strike on her. She moved twice as fast as them, dodging with expert technique and countering with precise movements. If any of them faced her alone, they wouldn’t last a second.
Faralynn shot an that almost hit the Northern Star, followed by two of Catherine’s chakrams.
Avoiding those attacks put Valerie in an awkward position. At the same time, Kaoru and Matthew stepped back and a Carranca came in with a kick as if it was kicking a field goal.
The Carranca roared in pain as its foot was cut in two, but, at the same time Valerie cut its foot, she was hit and sent flying into the air.
She opened and flapped her wings, controlling her flight, but was hit midair by a boulder thrown by Eric, which made her fall onto the ground.
More Carrancas were there waiting for her.
She was punched, kicked and bitten. But she was tenacious. She fought back, slashing them with her halberd and burning them with fire breaths.
More and more Carranca charged at her, including the ones hurt.
The chaos of battle didn’t allow Matthew and the others to approach or even help from afar.
One by one, the guardians of that place fell, giving their lives to land a single strike on the simulacrum.
Emerging from the pile of dead, Valerie came walking. She had one arm and one wing missing. Her mana farm was cracked and missing pieces all over. She limped as she walked.
"It’s almost dead." Vanessa noted.
Miroslav healed Charles while the druid coughed blood.
Raphael took point, raising his shield.
"We either die or win." Kaoru smiled at his side. "You with me, Matthew?"
"Can’t let you fight alone." Matthew took a deep breath.
Mia was the first to act. She created a barrage of laser beams, which the simulacrum took head on while it charged them.
Vanessa shot her guns while Catherine added her electric chakrams to the attack. Faralynn shot her bow and Ffyr threw fireballs.
Yet, Valerie came out of the barrage as if that didn’t harm her at all.
Raphael was then clad in holy mana, shining bright in gold.
Kleb attacked, swinging his claws at her creating a white cloud on its path as ice mana covered his hands.
Valerie defended with the pole of her halberd. She was slower. She kicked him, breaking a rib. She was weaker.
Kleb sank his claws in her belly, freezing her midriff.
And then she brought her halberd down on him, opening a deep wound on his shoulder.
He howled in pain.
And then Raphael prayed out loud:
"Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress."
With those words, Raphael appeared to be made entirely of holy mana.
He charged at great speed, using his shield to stop a second halberd strike against Kleb.
Ffyr used wind magic to take the Totem Warrior away from the battle, delivering him to Miroslav who was still healing Charles.
Raphael attacked with his sword clashing on the halberd’s pole when Valerie defended herself. The force of the impact sent a shockwave through the air lifting dust from the ground.
Martyrdom was a Crusader skill that sapped the user’s own HP to increase the user’s Stats. Raphael used it adding the Bishop’s Prayer skill that allowed the user to use mana from their god adding it to his own.
Raphael sword strikes hit like bombs, but even in her convalesced state, Valeria defended herself masterfully.
She kicked him away from herself, but Matthew and Kaoru were ready. They charged in while the Faralynn managed to land an arrow on the simulacrum’s exposed shoulder.
The onslaught of the both of them was too much for the Northern Star now. She was forced to step back while avoiding them.
She then breathed fire in an arc to keep them away, but Raphael charged through the flames, letting go of his shield that took most of the damage from it, and held his sword with both hands.
While Matthew and Kaoru stepped away from the fire curtain, Raphael brought his sword down at full force.
Valerie lifted her halbert to defend herself.
When the two weapons met, another shockwave was formed by the impact. This time, the blow was so strong, that even the fortress walls shifted and a section of it crumbled in.
The wave pushed the others backwards, dragging their feet on the sandy ground.
Half of Valerie’s halberd disappeared in a mist of mana. But the blade was still on her hand.
She punched Raphael, using the blade as a brass knuckles and opening a deep hole on his armor and taking blood.
She pulled her hand back, preparing to slice his throat.
But that was the opening Eric was waiting for. Before she could react, he used his impressive Strength to launch himself forward at high speed.
Using his sword as a spear, he flew like an arrow and pierced right through the Northern Star’s simulacrum’s chest.
Unable to control his flight, Valerie and him hit the ground hard and rolled like cheese wheels being thrown from a hill.
He got up complaining of pain with a moan while the simulacrum slowly disappeared in a cloud of mana.
It was over. They won.
Matthew rushed to heal Raphael, while Miroslav healed Kleb.
Charles sat down massaging the new scar on his belly and thanking his luck.
So that was one of the Great Three. They all thought while sitting around to rest.
"I can’t believe we won." Mia was the first one to break the silence.
"At the cost of all their lives." Raphael lamented the death of the Carrancas.
"It’s dreadful to think how strong she was." Kaoru smiled, still shaking from excitement.
"And that wasn’t her full strength." Catherine gave an ironic laugh while tending to her husband’s wounds with a healing potion. "She’s a Dragon Rider. If her dragon, Ildbrann, was also here, we’d have no chance." She adds in an ominous tone.
"Really?" Kaoru smiled widely.
"Just be thankful it’s not the case." Vanessa said, drinking a mana potion.
"Well. I think that’s the end of this dungeon for us." Eric said, looking at his phone and counting the days they were there. He was thinking about his daughter who was surely missing them right now.
"Only one thing left." Faralynn said pointing at Orpheu’s katana that Kaoru still had in her hand.
She smiled and politely returned the katana to Faralynn.
"I hope you haven’t forgotten about our deal." Kaoru said, hiding her smile and coming back to her polite and reserved self.
"The duel." Matthew nodded, getting up.
"Wait." Charles intervened. "We just fought like hell. I’m sure none of you two have the mana to duel right now."
"Also, it’s stupid to duel with your lives on the line." Faralynn said.
"What do you suggest?" Kaoru asked the elf.
"First blood. A week from now." Faralynn said. "At Laufgraan."
"At your home ground?" Miroslav protested.
"It’s alright. I doubt the great Laufgraan household would use any subterfuge just for a simple sword." Kaoru smiled politely.
"Then it’s settled." Matthew smiled and got up, offering his hand for Kaoru to shake.
"It’s settled." She smiled at him, shaking his hand.
Catherine and her party stayed behind. The sword was just a secondary objective in their excursion. What she really wanted was to explore the gate and find out if it was profitable for the Tower.
Months later, that gate was known as The Deep Backcountry. A high level pocket dimension with no economic advantage at all. Its only wield was mana crystals from the monsters inside. It became a point where high level adventurers went to raise their levels and nothing else.
The government kept control of the gate and the tourism of the region plummeted. The only source of income for the nearby village was now the government officers that had to live there and very few adventurers that came to the gate to train.