The Author Reincarnated As An Extra-Chapter 55: • Three Pillars

"Brace yourselves!" Deremiah shouted.

The sword swung down with mighty acceleration. Just in the nick of time, Elora shifted all of her weight to the left, forced herself out of her stance and pushed her body to the far left.

She channeled a measured amount of Aether at the same time into her feet, and with a blast of energy, she managed to create for herself as much space as possible, mini seconds before the Sentinel swung.

FWOOOSH!

The enormous blade whistled down the air, slicing the atmosphere in her and cutting a vertical path toward her.

The Stone Sentinel saw when she sprinted out of the way, but it was impossible for it to do anything about that. It wasn’t a quick beast, and the weight of the sword could not allow it to change its action midway through.

So, the sword struck the Pillar.

Right at the instant she moved, the magical bullseye splintered into multiple shards and the Spine Pillar exploded into the tension driven air, shattered by the force of the strike.

Splinters of magical light, stone and bone rained down into the river below and the endless chasm as well, causing some white mist to spray into the air.

Enraged and infuriated by the pain, the Goliath Mammoth stretched forth its trunk and blared as loud as it could, utilizing one of its most powerful abilities — trumpet of catastrophe.

The blast of powerful wind attacked the Stone Sentinel with ferocity. It whipped at him wildly, tearing at the parts of its body, causing scars on the old stone.

The Stone Sentinel itself did not react in a defensive manner to this attack. It only stood straight and still, paying the Mammoth no heed, like it knew the attack won’t hurt it.

Elora on the other hand, was only getting to her feet after escaping the first Pillar attack. Once Deremiah saw that she was up and fine, he turned to the rest of the participants and let out a roar.

"NOW!"

Everyone immediately obeyed.

In a barrage, multiple Techniques sped through the air. Spells were ignited. Powers surged.

Many colors of dangerous attacks all fled towards the center of the Goliath Mammoth’s back.

Varion and Sarah were the first to release their shots. In unison, they released their bows and their enchanted arrows cut through the mist, leading many other blasts and Spells behind them.

One by one, they all began striking the damaged Pillar with pinpoint accuracy.

A dozen more others followed, a barrage of fire type Techniques, lightning, and raw Aether energy slamming into the already cracked structure.

The Mammoth began to move uncomfortably, wailing in pain as it could feel what was about to happen. After a few more collisions of Spells with the Pillar, the magical circle around it cracked deeper.

The cracks spiderwebbed to the ends of the circle as the weakened stone shuddered. And once it was unable to hold on any longer, it collapsed, breaking apart into the rushing current below.

Splinters of magic fell off, the jagged stone in that area disintegrated and uprooted grass were sent flying into the air.

"It’s working!" someone shouted.

"Fire again!" Deremiah ordered.

The fighters didn’t hesitate.

A second wave of magic, arrows, and raw Aether slammed into the Pillar. This time, almost in unison, causing more direct and heavy damage and a cascade of debris.

Seeing the dust coming for her, Elora leaped backwards, tumbling mid-air and hiding behind a tree.

The impact actually managed to uproot the tree and she twisted mid air from the shockwave, kicking a flying piece of debris to redirect herself toward the beast’s head where the next Pillar was.

But first, the Inquisitor had to relay to them the information of their success.

[Congratulations, participants]

[One Pillar has fallen]

[As a reward, you have been given an energy refuel of 20% to help take down the next Pillar]

"Yes!" someone exclaimed.

"It worked!"

"That purple-eyed guy is a genius!"

Down on the boat, Varion watched Deremiah who was still sitting on the tusk, his eyes not leaving Elora.

"So... he was right, huh?"he said to his sister’s hearing. "It might seem like an obvious thing to do but that’s only because he already thought of it. Using the Stone Sentinel to take down a Pillar was an ingenious idea."

"What are you saying?" Sarah asked him.

Varion narrowed his eyes at Deremiah. "I’m saying it’ll be smart of us to become friends with that guy as quickly as we can."

Sarah glanced at the boy. "Mhm."

Sitting on the tusk, Deremiah half glanced at the interface before him, showing him that his Void Reserves had been refilled by 15%.

’Good. This was what I was waiting for. I was almost worried that some changes would have been made but thankfully the Trial is just as I had designed it.’

His eyes continuously followed Elora as he thought, watching her head toward the Mammoth’s head while the Sentinel raised its sword once more.

It attacked, unwavering, striking its sword on the hard earth-like back of the beast, carving molten scars into the Mammoth’s hide.

Deremiah gritted his teeth. "Move faster, Elora!"

Of course Elora didn’t need to be told. She shone in moments like this.

As the Sentinel’s blade arced toward her once again, she sprang to the side, skimming past the deadly edge by mere inches. She leaped over the dust and trees, averting the endless collision of blade on the ground.

Once she got away from the turbulence, Deremiah was able to let out a breath.

Then his thoughts returned the energy refill reward they had all just gotten.

’Everyone is going to spend their refilled energies on the attack. I don’t blame them, I am the one who told them to. It might be for my own good but it’s for their survival as well anyway. But I get to keep my refilled energy for a much bigger purpose.’

His gaze turned to the giant Stone Sentinel, and his eyes narrowed with determination.

Hearing Elora grunt, he turned to her, seeing that she had now found her feet on the Core Pillar designated on the skull. ’Hopefully, Elora would be able to save some of hers as well. Since she isn’t joining others to attack.’

Elora’s feet screeched to a halt and she planted both of them in the center of the magical circle that highlighted the Giant Mammoth’s Core Pillar.

She glared at the Stone Sentinel, panting loudly. "Come on, now! What are you waiting for, you piece of rock?! Strike me!"

Carving the cold air, the Sentinel’s blade lifted up once again. This time the Mammoth did its best to fight back, shifting its head back and forth, trying to strike the Sentinel with its tusks.

Deremiah, who was sitting on one of them, held tighter, using the Writhe to keep his grasp steady and dry.

The Sentinel however, remained unmoved, even when the tusk struck it by the side of its chest, taking a large amount of rock out, which crumbled to the floor.

It still lowered its hands, the giant sword of hard stone heading straight for Elora once again, who was standing in the center of the Core Pillar.

Deremiah saw it attacking and his heart stood still, Elora waited with a ready gaze, prepared to move out of the way. The participants had their attacks prepared to finish the Pillar take down.

The plan was working.

But then—

CRACK!

The Mammoth lurched.

It was a sudden movement that caught everyone off guard, including the Stone Sentinel itself.

The Paragon had taken a step forward. It used its head to hit the Sentinel square in the stomach, since it was much more bigger than the statue warrior, only the tusks had connected and it sent the Sentinel crashing backwards into the river.

At the same time, an earthquake happened caused by the Mammoth’s World Shaker ability.

All of the competitors on the beast’s back stumbled uncontrollably, their balance thrown off by the shifting battlefield. Some slipped, barely catching onto the thick hide of the beast before they could plummet into the chasm below.

The river itself was not free from this earthly carnage. Multiple waves of water struck against each other over and over, pulling the boats around.

Cestrel let out a terrified cry as her boat crashed into the hand of the fallen Stone Sentinel, causing her to be lurched into the dancing sea.

Elora fell to her knees and held the beast as hard as she could by the grasses, while Deremiah remained tight on the tusk.

His mind raced as he looked around.

He had hoped that this could have been done quickly before giving the Mammoth much time to react. But even though it was a lazy beast of nothing but slumber and rest, it had finally decided to react to the destruction.

"Hold your ground!" he bellowed, trying to keep everyone together. "Don’t fall off! We only need two more Pillars down!"

Elora gritted her teeth, holding tight. Varion and Sarah pulled their boat closer to Cestrel who was fighting for her life in the river.

"Give me your hand!" Varion said, reaching out to her. She wasted no time grabbing his hand and was pulled into their boat.

However, waves began to surge once again. The Sentinel was already moving, finding its feet once more.

An entity of diligence and purpose through and through. It would not stop. Not until Elora was dead for defiling the silence of the River.

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