Chapter 242 - Breath Of Fire
"Renita, that's enough. Keep the rest of the young boars alive."
Eren had split his team into four groups. His group contained only him and Renita as fighters. Bel was with them. But he was prepared to stay behind and provide support with his fire element spells.
Eren shot towards the boar which was also heading his way with everything it got. It had already executed its earth element spell, enabling it to don a sturdy exoskeleton. Its animal instincts had informed the beast that Eren's lightning element was going to be not that effective against it.
Eren had executed his Blitz Steps along with Blitz Bolt on his two katars. But this time, instead of using any time element spell, he was trying a fire-and-lightning combo.
Eren used the fireball spell he had learned and altered it a bit so that it would coat his weapons in the fire. Diceros Left and Right were now seen getting coated in tongues of purple-blue lightning and restless light orange flames.
The flames would try to retake the shape of a fireball. However, Eren commanded them to stay dancing on the sharp edges of his weapons. He ran towards the approaching boar while trying to sync his lightning and fire element spells with each other.
The fire-element spells weren't that effective against the earth element defensive spells either. But they were still better than the lightning-element spells that had practically no effect at all.
Eren didn't activate his time element spells because although the boar was charging towards him at an alarming rate, its speed wasn't something he couldn't handle. Plus, the earth-element defensive spell had also slowed it down to some extent by restricting its natural moments.
Renita stayed behind with Bel to protect him. With their long-distance spells, she and the historian were supposed to provide support.
Renita started shooting her wind bullets and targeted the chinks present at the boar's joints. She was trying to avoid the boar's exoskeleton and make her bullets reach its skin.
Eren had already told his team members that the beasts' bodies were a significant treasure for them. They were only told to gather the tusks if they strictly followed the Besan missions' instructions.
But they could still sell the beast bodies and make a side-profit out of them. The scrooge didn't want to waste any of his efforts after all. By doing the auction in Nilaami, he had reaped the rewards of his revenge. It was only natural that he'd maximize his profits the most from this deal as well.
This prevented him and his team members from attacking carelessly. They were only allowed to damage the beasts' heads. Plus, the tusks that were present near the beast's mouth needed to stay undamaged as they were part of the mission.
So the choices the White Raven members could attack the incoming boars with became very restrictive. Still, Eren's strategy of making some of the boars protect their younglings while the others splitting up from their sounder to attack them had played in the team's favour.
That's because the team members weren't bombarded with multiple targets at the same time anymore. They could have a breather while being ensured that the rest of the F-Ranker boars would stay behind.
Renita's precision-driven, wind bullet shots didn't damage the boar per se. However, it certainly limited its speed and movement. That was enough for Eren who was running short on his go-to time element spell.
The boar's seemingly unstoppable charge was stopped somehow when its tusks met Eren's weapons. The boar was just a tad shorter than Eren in stature. But its curved tusks were longer and shooting upwards, making them akin to a pair of curved swords.
Eren was shot backwards while the boar stayed rooted in its place right after their contact was made. But that didn't stop the butcher from approaching his target again.
The boar would have gained momentum on Eren right after pushing him backwards. But it was stopped by the ranger and the historian's joint efforts.
That's right. Bel was also providing support with his fire apparition trying to attack the boar upfront. The fire apparition this time wasn't humanoid but the boar itself.
Although it looked like Bel was only casting one spell he was using two. Having traced the sign of life, the first one created the fire apparition of the beast they were battling. The second spell allowed him to control that apparition the way he wanted using his mana sense.
Of course, there were a few restrictions placed on using this combo spell as well. Plus, the DPS value of such a spell combo wasn't decent. It only served to distract the enemy or keep it engaged until the backup showed up.
The historians never excelled in combat spells. But that didn't mean they didn't have any. With the right set of spells, some historians were also known to have risen above their class stereotype and dominated their battlefields.
The fire apparition Bel had used wasn't that strong against the boar either. At most the boar would feel its exoskeleton getting heated up and feeling a little burnt. However, this was not enough to get the boar to retrace its steps and fall back.
The real boar ran right through the fire apparition boar when it collided with it. Bel wasn't skilled enough in solidifying his apparitions after all. In addition, the fire apparition boar also did not suffer any injuries.
That meant that Bel could make the spell collide with his enemies numerous times as long as he could support the mana consumption. Plus, the spell worked as a close, mid, and long-range attack.
Renita and Bel provided the respite Eren needed to charge at the boar once again. He used his Blitz Steps to come closer to the beast. He maximized the movement spell's effect and shot upwards, seemingly vanishing from his place.
The next moment he appeared on the beast's back. Eren knew the beast's body wasn't able to get affected by any of his lightning element spells. So he didn't bother to use his AoE.
Eren caught the beast's tusks from above by bending a bit. Then he brought his face close to the beast's eyes before casting another fire-element spell.
Breath of fire!