Green Prison!

Lagartha cast her domain spell after getting close to Arto. A dome of green vines was created out of thin air, separating herself and Arto from the rest of the rankers. It was the same spell she had used on Eren once. Now that she was in the Awakened rank, she could truly exert her domain power.

She could strengthen all her wood-element spells inside the domain. Plus, it would allow her an enhanced recovery rate, preventing her from getting slowed down by serious injuries.

She was only at the beginning of her Awakened rank, while Arto was only a few steps away from reaching Arch rank. Arto's weapon proficiency alone was a deterrent on its own. Furthermore, he was a veteran fighter who dealt with demonic ranker subjugation raids in the past. His experiences as a veteran ranker couldn't be ignored.

However, Lagartha could rely on her domain attacks to bridge the gap between them to some extent. Defeating him was not possible for her. But she could hold him off till Eren is done with his opponents.

***

Raul and Eren fought using their dual weapons. Vasemir found himself surrounded by Eren's summoned creatures. They were all cast with the One Up spell which allowed them to pack a punch strong enough to contend with a rank-2 entity.

Vasemir received another shock when he fought Eren's summoned creatures. When he found out that they were being cast by a rank-1 entity, he was stunned.

The One Up was a support-type Hex spell that allowed the caster to imbue their will into their regular spells in greater quantity than before. And since Eren had come to this place with intentions of owning everything and destroying everyone at the cost of self-harm, his Hex spells looked like they were on steroids.

Only now did Vasemir understand why Eren was able to kill so many prominent Spiders. From his very first Meta rank, this man had become extraordinary.

Eren's movement spell allowed him to keep up with Raul. And his weapon spell enabled him to contend with Raul's dual weapon mastery.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Eren and Raul exchanged multiple moves within a fraction of a second. Metallic sparks flew around them as their weapons clashed against each other. Their mana-based martial arts were put to the test as they tried to gain an advantage over each other.historical

Raul knew that he had already lost when it came to weapon handling. He was only able to defend against Eren's attacks because of his higher body stat values. He would have been minced meat if Eren was the same rank as him.

Eren felt like his infinite mana core was responding to his will and his actions. It had started spinning more than usual, affecting his regular mana core as well. His mana points and mana veins were expanding before contracting the next moment. And he felt like his mana circuits as a whole were on fire. His skin had turned slightly red and he stopped looking pale. His blue eyes shined as he battled blow-to-blow with Raul while maintaining his summoning spells.

Thanks to Eren's unwavering intentions and infinite mana core, Raul was subjected to Igni Waves after Igni Waves. Eren would use elemental fusion and aspect fusion to mix up his attacks, making them harder to dodge for Raul.

Only a minute had passed since Lagartha had created her domain. But Raul felt like he had fought with Eren for hours on end. He believed this perception was justified by the injuries on his body.

"Aaaaaargh!"

All of a sudden, Raul started developing blisters on his skin. They started interfering with his pain signals and cranked up his feelings of pain to the maximum. Something was interfering with his mana circuits as well, making it harder for him to execute his spells properly.

"You! What did you do to me?"

Raul created some distance from Eren by asking him with a mix of shock and anger. He knew that the battlemage had done something in their first exchange to make things so difficult for him.

Eren had coated his axes in the debuff potion meant to be used on the Awakened rankers. He had told Lagartha to create an opening for him to attack Raul at the beginning because he wanted to administer this debuff potion.

The gifts he received from the ground of the Hexers were truly amazing. Rankers who had been directly affected by the potion were not the only ones affected by the potion. The debuff would also work on the rankers the infected came into contact with.

Raul had gotten close to Vasemir after he was rattled by Eren's sudden attack. As such, he also infected Vasemir with a debuff potion.

Raul's only advantage was the fact that he was a Paladin. It slowed down the debuff potion's effects, making Eren wonder if he had applied the potion to his axes.

"Heh! It finally showed up. The debuff is not as strong as it came advertised though."

Eren scrunched his nose in dissatisfaction when he looked at Raul from a distance. The debuff was supposed to hinder his movements and spells more than what he was currently suffering from.

"Aaaaaaargh! What the fuck is this?"

Vasemir screamed from the other end of the battlefield while being surrounded by Eren's summoned creatures. The debuff potion had also affected him through air contamination. And the effects were more prominent on Vasemir than Raul since he wasn't a Paladin class.

Eren had focused on Raul at first because the guy had been affected by Ariadne's act and injured to some extent by Vasemir's attacks on him. However, Eren soon realized that Raul's recovery rate was extraordinary. The guy could act as a meat shield for his team and still survive the ordeal if he learned to retreat at the right time.

The debuff didn't affect Raul much. He only passed it down to Vasemir and the latter had his entire battle style compromised. Eren's summoned creatures started gaining a steady advantage over him.

Taking down Raul in a short time was impossible. So Eren decided to change the game by focusing on Vasemir. Another batch of summoned creatures appeared around Raul next. They screamed at him before launching their attacks.

Eren appeared right inside the perimeter created by his summoned creatures. However, it was not Raul that he approached this time. The distraught and angry Vasemir stared at him, spewing venom from his eyes.

"This is not how rankers fight, you bastard. Give me the antidote if you are the real man."

Eren raised his eyebrows when he heard Vasemir's words.

"So the use of debuff potions is bad? Did you say that to other Spiders when they started ambushing Stardust guild members?"

Vasemir was about to state that he was a staunch supporter of fighting clean. And that he had said the same thing to other Spiders as well who liked to use debuff potions. However, Eren cut him off before he could say anything.

"I mean, even if you did, it is clear that nobody listened to you. So why should I?

And if fighting with you using the debuff potion makes me less of a man in your eyes, so be it. I don't have any insecurities about having a dick between my legs."

Blitz Steps!

Eren clashed with Vasemir while he was suffering from the debuff. The latter clenched his teeth at Eren's behavior. He did not have any choice but to fight him while being bombarded with attacks from his summoned creatures.

"Aaaargh!"

Eren managed to cut off Vasemir's finger. His dominant right hand with which he was holding his hatchet started spewing blood in abundance and his grip on his weapon was lost. This was enough of an opening for Eren to launch an all-out attack on him.

Lightning struck, and flames spread around. The winds howled around Eren as he started attacking Vasemir with various spells one after another. The guy was so bogged down by Eren's attacks that he stopped screaming all of a sudden. His body stopped responding to Eren's lethal blows and just stood still.

In a few seconds, Vasemir had an ax lodged in his neck. The weapon had pierced his Adam's Apple from the front. His body was lacerated by multiple ax wounds. And he was bleeding from every orifice.

Vasemir died within a minute. By this time, Raul had destroyed all of his summonses and was approaching him. Eren looked at Raul and flashed a wolfish grin. He got behind Vasemir and coated his legs in lightning and wind element mana before launching a round kick at the still-standing dead body.

Raul was rattled even more by Eren's nefarious actions. He partly blamed himself for Vasemir losing his life so easily in Eren's hands. He controlled his anger and tried to catch his colleague's body in his hands, intending to give him a proper burial once he was done handling Eren.

However, what the Paladin did not realize was the fact that Eren had laced Vasemir's dead body with another potion. A potion bomb.

Raul caught Vasemir's body and saw a small vial of potion inside his neck wound. He opened his eyes wide before his vision was shrouded in a white haze.

Boom!