Return Of The Strongest Player

"Are you suggesting…?"

"Yeah," Arthur confirmed, backing away from the elephant, who seemed to be experiencing rapid changes. "It wasn't there before, but perhaps when we looked away… it's supposed to be invisible unless inside a host, right?"

Caroline nodded solemnly, reinforcing Arthur's presumption. "Does that mean no one else found the Invisible Venom Lizard until we just happened to come across it when it entered the elephant we were fighting?"

"Is there a different possibility at this moment?"

"No…" Caroline muttered under her breath.

The elephant's body convulsed rapidly, as if he were undergoing a seizure at that very moment. Its mana spread across a vast area, draping a veil over everything it covered. The forest became darker by the second.

Since the Invisible Venom Lizard had no strength of its own, it usually relied on hosts and used their mana to its benefit… like a human controlling a mech. They borrowed the power of the host while controlling its mana, reactions, and movements.

At that point, the existence whom the Lizard was possessing lost its will and became a marionette, free for anyone to control.

The Invisible Venom Lizard was quite slippery as well. When an organism whom the Lizard was controlling perished, the latter rushed to another host. The only way to successfully kill the Lizard was to destroy its host from both the inside and outside.

A high-level spell, perhaps.

But none of the students could cast a high-level spell, and even the teachers were helpless in that department… except, perhaps Ms. Gomez, as she was a warrior affiliated with Arcadia Academy before her tenure as a teacher.

Now that the Lizard had possessed the Tuskim Elephant, it was nigh impossible to combat it.

Fighting it would be foolish.

'But can we escape?' Arthur wondered, attempting to find a route that would help in escaping from the elephant. Considering its mana reserve, using footwork techniques wouldn't be too difficult for the beast.

Caroline was quite slow, as she usually acted as support.

Evan was too inexperienced, while Gary and Arthur had exhausted a significant amount of mana while battling the elephant. Their efforts were in vain.

"What do we do now?" Evan asked. His face was pale, as if he'd realized the gravity of the situation. Caroline and Gary's expressions were strained, too. It seemed everyone in the group had come to a conclusion.

And it was not looking good.

The dark mana was spreading quickly, and they barely had a minute or two to decide their next move. Otherwise, they would have to battle the Invisible Venom Lizard, who had killed several thousands of people.

"First, alert the teachers using your wristwatch," ordered Arthur, tapping the object on his wrist.

Ding!

A message was sent to the teachers, alerting them of Arthur and the others' current location. It would still take them quite some time to reach, so the crimson-eyed man wasn't hoping for assistance too quickly.

He simply wanted to alert them.

"Gary, go find a teacher," ordered Arthur as a dangerous gleam flashed in his eyes. Gary attempted to protest.

"Why me?"

"You're the fastest here," said Arthur. "I could use my footwork technique, but I don't specialize in speed. Using it would only deter my abilities. Caroline isn't fast, and neither is Evan. You're the only option."

Gary nodded, finding logic in that argument. He shot into the distance.

"Caroline, is it possible to strengthen the blessing?"

"A little," replied Caroline, trembling. "But it would use my entire mana reserve, and the blessing won't last very long… maybe a few minutes at best."

"Do it. Evan, we're going to fight that thing."

"You're insane," replied Evan, sighing in disbelief. However, he was aware of their situation, and that they had no other choice. It was appropriate that Arthur was taking charge, considering he was the number one student in the first year batch.

"Caroline, blessing."

A stream of mana enveloped Arthur and Evan's bodies, providing them with a sense of invigoration.

[The power of the Blessing has risen by 3%.]

[All attributes have risen by 3%.]

"Three minutes," said Caroline. Arthur and Evan shot towards the elephant, entering the dark mist that surrounded its body. It was difficult to see within the mist, but the beast was quite enormous.

"Evan, attack its tusk," ordered Arthur, brandishing his longsword. Evan nodded before gritting his teeth, heading for the beast's tusk.

While he did that, Arthur approached the elephant before laying his hand upon its thick hide. [Judgment Regeneration] might not have worked before due to the beast's position as a guardian, but now that his will had disappeared, it wasn't too difficult to infect him.

A crimson aura leaked from Arthur's hand, enveloping the beast whole.

[Judgment Regeneration has been used.]

[The Sins and Virtues of the target are being examined.]

[Target has 99% Sin and 1% Virtue.]

[Mediocre de-buffs are being applied.]

The dark mist around the convulsing beast dissipated slightly, and the Invisible Venom Lizard's control weakened. Since the Lizard was so powerful, Arthur couldn't apply massive de-buffs, but mediocre ones were fine, too.

Although it wasn't much, the Lizard's weakening was noticeable.

"Did you do something?" Evan asked, noticing that the elephant's hide had become a little more tender. Delivering powerful strikes wasn't as difficult anymore. "The beast… it has become a little weaker."

"Perhaps it was Caroline," said Arthur, shaking his head in denial. He acted all right, but the crimson-eyed man's mana reserve was dangerously low now. It would only take a few minutes before it was exhausted.

Still, he had to resist the advances of the elephant until the teachers arrived.

A full minute passed, and the elephant's eyes regained their luster. This time, a certain sense of malevolence exuded from the beast, providing it with a malicious aura. Its affinity was now both darkness and Earth.

"A few minutes, Evan," said Arthur, taking a deep breath. It was now that the countdown would begin. They simply had to survive for a few minutes.

Evan nodded, and it began.