The Gamer's POV-Chapter 271: Battle of the Lords: Getting Rid of the Lake of Eyes

The initial casualties from the ambush were staggering, leaving the bridge littered with the frozen, contorted forms of cadets and the bubbling pools of steaming green poison.

Many of the cadets were injured and all were terrified. Some tried to retreat, and when they figured out they could not, many sank into despair.

To make matters worse, not long after the chaos began, some of the Nagas began clambering out of the water onto the bridge.

Their massive clawed hands emerged first, followed by shoulders that cracked and shifted with sickening wet pops, and when they fully pulled their wet, muscular weight onto the stone, the cadets were left in such horror that many of them couldn’t even move.

You see, the Nagas were beautiful creatures. But that was only when they were not hostile. When they were, their forms changed to something completely horrific. It was almost as if they shed their skins revealing their true forms.

Their bodies were emaciated and unnaturally elongated, showing jagged, yellowed bones that pressed against the gray skin. Their round, bald heads showed facial features that looked like those of a mummified, thousand-year-old corpse. And their mouths revealed rows of needle-thin, serrated teeth that had the same toxic green glow as the poison they inflicted.

So of course, anyone seeing them would be truly unmanned at the sight of them.

Fortunately for the cadets, right at that moment of despair, a little over three hundred daffodils appeared atop the heads of some of the cadets. When that happened, their fear suddenly vanished and a purpose to stand their ground ignited within them like a wildfire. The trembling in their hands ceased, replaced by a cold drive to slaughter the abominations that were threatening them. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

And so, just as they had practiced in their grueling drills, those who could began fighting the abominations that had stepped onto the bridge.

Athena, too, joined the fight, slaughtering the Nagas on the bridge with the grace of a lethal battle warrior.

She would have loved to take away the fears of everyone on the bridge, but doing that cost mana, and she had to be conservative.

Because of this, she placed priority on the members of Cedric’s party and his subjects of influence.

The good thing was that when people saw their colleagues snap out of their fear and resume their formation alongside her, even those who didn’t have the daffodils began to regain their resolve and conviction. And before long, they too rejoined the fight.

***

At the same time, even Goldie had joined the fray.

But first, she had to protect herself from the lake of eyes, and so, the first thing she did was manifest a hovering mirror of reflection in front of her own eyes to serve as a barrier.

You see, Goldie had been able to figure out how the gaze of the petrification worked. She was able to deduce that one did not turn into stone because they looked into the eyes of a Naga. They turned to stone because the Naga looked into their eyes.

When she confirmed this theory, she made a mirror of reflection hover in front of her eyes. While this mirror allowed her to see the Naga perfectly, it shielded her eyes from the Naga.

She then cast a similar hovering mirror over the eyes of a few cadets as well.

Of course, she would have loved to cast it over everyone. But just like Athena, she also had to be conservative and strategic on the use of her mana. So, she chose a few strong cadets who she saw had a chance of surviving.

After that, the next thing she did was... she extended her hands to the sides and imagined bombs suddenly raining down from the air into the lake of eyes.

She then expelled a vast amount of mana into the air, and all of a sudden, dozens of heavy, matte-black spherical bombs began to materialize out of thin air, plummeting toward the water like iron hail. In the next instant, fiery explosions rang out across the surface of the lake, sending towering plumes of steam and black water into the sky.

***

...Not long after Leon spoke to Cedric, a notification appeared in Cedric’s vision:

[The character Leon Von Caprio is getting ready to use the exclusive: Judgment Time.]

Suddenly, the shimmering manifestation of two massive women in blindfolds appeared standing on the lake of eyes. One stood on one side of the bridge, while the other towered over the opposite bank, their ethereal robes rippling like liquid gold despite the lack of wind. They both held a large golden scale in one hand and a large golden sword in the other.

"Come on... accept it already," Leon muttered as he grew impatient for the judges to give their judgment.

Luckily, in only a few seconds, their scales suddenly tilted to the left and both women brought down their swords in a synchronized arc.

"Finally!"

A strained smile touched Leon’s lips as he quickly looked back and asked, "I’m spending fifty percent. The Sun is out, so you can recover that soon, right?"

Behind him on the horse, Uriel’s eyes were also closed as she was currently drawing in mana. When Leon spoke, her brows furrowed, but after a few seconds, she nodded. "If I’m not disturbed... then I can try."

Leon looked away, then raised a hand up and muttered, "Judgment Time."

Instantly, patches of golden light began to litter the high air above, and in the next second, fifty beams of light suddenly shot down from the patches into the lake with a sound like a chorus of falling stars. When those beams of light fell, a hundred eyes suddenly disappeared as fifty Nagas were killed instantly, painting the lake in even more red.

Leon then brought down his hand and exhaled hard. However, barely a few seconds later, he raised the hand again and the golden patches ignited once more.

Then he brought it down... again.