Elemental Cats

After deciding to assume that Lucy was okay and to stop worrying about him, Toz had an easier time focusing on the fight with the Blood Fiend. Since they had changed goals from beating the Blood Fiend to stalling for as long as possible, Mindle just kept the Blood Fiend from moving around instead of wasting all of her energy on splattering it.

Mindle still had to expend some mana when defending against the waves of blood that rushed from the Blood Fiend or to smack it and stop it from advancing toward the Alliance of Kingdoms. But with Toz and the other three supporting her, Mindle had quite an easy time, at least for the moment. She was still shrinking with each passing second, and the Alliance was still far from their destination.

However, if nothing happens or no one does anything soon, the battle's outcome wouldn't have changed, despite all their efforts.

Well, Toz had managed to restore enough mana to make sure that he would be able to flee the plane after bringing the cats along with him. Although, he hadn't quite figured out how to reach Lucy and the three who entered the tunnel system below ground to look for him.

So, while he launched Fireballs at the Blood Fiend to help Mindle restrain it, he subtly started using his void magic to create a way down to the tunnels deep underground. He could try and reach Asilean through their bond and cooperate with him to create a portal. But the tunnels were still interfering with Toz's inclination due to the material it was made of, so it wasn't a guarantee.

Besides, Asilean might have ended up in battle with a near-transcendent and might be too busy to construct a portal. So, it would be better if Toz found a way below ground on his own. Since everyone else was so busy with the battle, no one except Mindle noticed what he was doing.

However, it wasn't exactly smooth work, digging through several tens of meters of dirt on a high level plane while also fighting the Blood Fiend and regulating how much mana he used. Like most magic, void magic consumed more mana the further away the mage tried to use it. So, after a while, Toz couldn't keep up the digging any longer without having to risk running out of mana.

So, while waiting for his mana to recover, he began dropping down constructs of metal into the hole he had made to see if they would be enough to reach the tunnels deep underground.

There was the possibility of there not being any tunnels at all at the spot where Toz had dug his hole. But since they were so close to the center of the battlefield, Toz willingly wagered that the odds of him striking a tunnel were pretty good.

Mindle had shrunk to a size between Kahglia and the Blood Fiend. She was still taller than the Flesh Golem and Death Knight, but not by much. And by the looks of it, she wasn't the only one running on fumes.

The Flesh Golem was a war machine made by forcefully combining the remains of dead troops on the battlefield. The spell created a powerful being that surpassed the dead materials' individual strength. But in exchange, the Flesh Golem was a consumable. It would naturally fall apart after some time. Depleting its demonic energy would naturally bring that time closer.

With how much demonic energy the Flesh Golem had already used up, it was a wonder it could still fight.

The Death Knight was in a similar position. It had used a spell to absorb its subordinates and reach levels of strength that rivaled the Flesh Golem and Kahglia. It was strong from the beginning, so it hadn't needed as many sacrifices to reach that power, and it also wouldn't die afterward. But it would grow weak and return to its original state as a strong ninth level death knight. It would probably also suffer a backlash from the spell and be even weaker than most high level beings for a while.

Kahglia was still in relatively decent shape, but like any mortal, she was also getting exhausted after fighting for so long without a break.

The Flesh Golem and the Death Knight knew each other's states better than anyone else, and they exchanged several glances before the Flesh Golem eventually nodded with a resolved expression on its face.

Kahglia could tell something was up, but it was difficult to communicate with beings that were more the product of spells rather than living beings.

"Step. Back."

However, the Death Knight managed to push out a couple of words through its helmet with a voice that sounded as if it belonged to a grim reaper. Mindle and Kahglia instinctively followed its order and stepped back. Toz wasn't as affected and didn't react on instinct. But he was also quite far away already since he was only in charge of casting Fireballs.

While Mindle, Kahglia, and the Death Knight stepped back, the Flesh Golem charged toward the Blood Fiend and forcefully moved its body past its limits until it was in the middle of the pool of blood around the Blood Fiend's feet.

The Blood Fiend wasn't rational enough to have any complicated thoughts. But it was good enough at fighting not to let such an opportunity go, and it slammed its arms of blood together to create one large pillar of blood.

The Blood Fiend raised the pillar of blood above its head and slammed it down toward the Flesh Golem like a sledgehammer. Its strike fell unhindered onto the Flesh Golem, which had closed its eyes.

The Flesh Golem accepted the Blood Fiend's strike and activated a last-ditch trump card that was only used in emergencies when the Flesh Golem wasn't strong enough to defeat its opponent. It was a trick that most mages and fighters with enough resolve could pull off. But it was something special when the Flesh Golem did it.

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