The Founder's POV

Chapter 56: Fight's End [2]

Elara barely dodged a massive three-meter-long sword. He darted between the legs of the machine and started running towards the distant trees. After Jin went to Cassian through the summoning a few minutes ago, these machines appeared out of nowhere and began attacking him.

'This is bad...' He thought as he noticed the machines closing in on him. He had broken through to rank S- just a while ago and was still far from the level needed to fight enemies in rank S.

The only reason he managed to do it before was that the machine hadn't been attacking him with the intent to kill, and his sudden breakthrough had likely caught the enemy off guard. Moreover, he had exhausted most of his mana reserves. '

'Should I burden myself with another contract?' He started considering harming himself permanently to survive.

'Where did Jin go, for god's sake... If he were here, things would be easier.' Elara's expression worsened as the machines drew closer.

Before injuring himself for survival, he decided to think of other solutions first, scanning his surroundings. The tall, straight red trees of the west were all around him, with the shortest of them surpassing forty meters in height. The cliff was behind him as well, but he couldn't use it anymore; there were also mountains, but they were too far away.

The ground was very muddy, which significantly slowed him down, but it also affected the war machines. He suddenly took a sharp turn, testing the machine's mobility to analyze them and look for any weaknesses.

The lead war machine's foot turned to face the opposite direction of Elara's, and jet flames erupted from it.

The machine turned and continued moving towards him without slowing down, and the same happened with the other four.

'There are no weaknesses; the dwarves' craftsmanship is truly amazing.' Elara frowned as he observed what was happening.

"There are no weaknesses on the ground, so I'll take them to the sky." He grabbed the thick leaves above him and used them to leap high into the air.

{Strong as Asher}

He used his remaining mana very carefully, fully aware of what would happen if his reserves ran out while these machines were still on his tail. He reached a height of thirty meters quickly, not stopping as he continued using the leaves to climb higher and higher.

When he found himself at a height of 100 meters from the ground, 40 meters above the treetop, he was met by the five machines that had reached the sky before him. Jet flames erupted from their feet, and they remained balanced in the sky in a strange manner.

Now that the area above the giant trees was more illuminated, the weapons of the war machines became clearer and more threatening. A great sword, a club, a scepter, a spear, and an axe. Each made Elara reconsider his plan, but he decided to proceed anyway.

{Smart as Killian}

With Asher's strength and Killian's predictive abilities, Elara's mana reserves finally hit rock bottom, with only a few drops left.

The first attacker was the spear machine, which was easy to avoid with Elara's new stats. He grabbed the spear from the side, using it to climb to the head of the war machine.

He noticed the machine's mouth opening just a moment before, and he frowned as he realized what was about to happen. He dropped from the head immediately and jumped to the side, then clung to the machine's back and stayed there.

Flames erupted from the spear machine's mouth. Had Elara not dodged earlier, he would have been roasted.

The sword machine appeared behind him at that moment and aimed its weapon at him. His lower back was pierced instantly as he didn't have time to dodge.