Psychokinetic Eyeball Pulling

Chapter 216: Overload: Courage 6/7

“Shieldwall!”

The knight ordered and with haste, warriors appeared with massive tower shields. Astrid was confused about where they came from as they had no magic, but that wasn’t her worry at the minute.

When the warriors stood side by side, Astrid could feel something rising in the air. It wasn’t mana. It reminded her of Darian’s sword strikes.

The unusual energy grew stronger with each shield that was added. As more and more joined, Astrid could hear a striking sound that gradually turned louder, and louder, until it reverberated into the distance. It was like that of a deep bass drum… or maybe a heartbeat.

It colluminated into an aura that made Astrid’s blood boil.

Astrid had heard of ancient war drums that were capable of making an army stronger. One of the noble families even had a set, empowering their guards to another level of power.

But this was the first time she had seen it created by shields. Even then, to her, they just seemed like ordinary metal. Metal from another world, but ordinary nonetheless.

No, it was something to do with the warriors themselves.

They were special.

Astrid used a lot of her mana to build a multi-layered Mind Barrier. However, it didn’t have the additional effects of the Assault Arachnid, nor did it have the absorbing capabilities of Steilgam glass. Because although she had consumed a health potion, it wasn’t enough to heal the savage wounds inflicted onto her internal organs.

She had to be careful. She couldn’t die here.

In the next second, the golden missiles tore through most of her shields in an instant. The only layer that proved to pose any sort of resistance at all was the last two, but even then, it only weakened the barrage somewhat.

Hopefully it was enough.

The golden rays of light continued through her barrier, and slammed against the shield wall of Darian’s troops.

An intense screeching sound blared against Astrid’s eardrums as sparks scattered in every direction. From Darian’s troops arms, the same energy Darian had, wrapped around them, then covered their shields.

The warriors gritted their teeth under their visors as they resisted the grandiose attack. There was no complaining, neither was there a slight hesitation. To them, they would rather die on the battlefield than have the attack get through.

After all, what lay behind them was their friends, and family.

However, it wasn’t only the threat of the golden spider that threatened to pierce holes into their bodies. There was also the oncoming army of spiders. They had managed to find a path through the sticky primal flames and like a neverending tide, they scuttled toward the walls with a predator's ferocity.

Most of the powerful archers were now focused on defence with their shields, so the large number of spiders was ever increasing, with no sign of stopping.

Courage 84/100%

At the sight of the eight legged beasts, Astrid was slowly becoming emboldened. She could feel her spirits rise, and unlike Anger, or Amity, a selfless attitude was being born.

It was difficult to describe, but she could feel her courage increasing. The courage of helping the warriors, the knight, and their people.

But Astrid could also tell the warriors were becoming weaker by the second as another barrage arrived. So she decided to alleviate the pressure as much as she could. Although it would cost a lot of mana, it was worth it.

Connecting to all of the warriors, the knight included, Astrid used Mind Armour. A visible light-blue armour transposed over their plate-mail. It not only protected their mind, giving them more resistance, but it also improved their defence.

Then the other barrage struck. And another.

It was clear that the situation wasn’t looking too good. If Astrid had to guess, then it wasn’t the golden demon spider that would run out of mana first, but it was the warriors who would fold.

The knight also seemed to be aware of their situation, but he remained still. His eyes were focused on the monster, clearly thinking of a way to get him, and his men out of the path of destruction.

While the knight was focusing, Astrid resorted to thinning the crowd of spiders once more.

Astrid didn’t bother saving the jungle this time. If they wanted to defeat the spiders, she had to annihilate their advantage. Trees.

So without further ado, Astrid shot a stream of primal fire into the surrounding area. By the second, levels entered her System notification as she put all the points straight into Intelligence. One day, she would have to obtain the other milestones from the other stats, but this wasn’t the day.

The entire jungle, and the grass land of the battlefield was transformed into a raging inferno that reached high up into the skies.

Sweat formed on the soldiers' bodies. It was a testament to the heat Astrid had created even though the blaze was forty metres away.

A few more minutes passed when the knight said, “We will need to assault the creature. Its movement is restricted on open ground. If we use your fire as a blanket, we can also obstruct its sight.”

It seemed the knight had been doing a lot of thinking, and Astrid agreed with the plan. Because of that, the duo leapt off of the wall, narrowly avoiding another golden assault.

Astrid hovered a few feet above the ground, while the knight crashed to the floor with the full weight of all of his armour.

Then, they both moved at high speed toward the lone spider. Astrid didn’t know if they could beat it considering its mighty armour that Astrid couldn’t penetrate, she just hoped that the knight was strong enough to deal damage.

Astrid decided to use a fighting style that she wasn’t used to. Melee. Summoning her voidbent blade, she blinked to the side of the monster, and slashed against its thick gilded armour. Of course, it dealt no damage, but she was only trying to obtain its attention.

And she did just that.

Turning to face her, a golden light shone from one of the holes in its armour. It shone, then fired. But Astrid had already blinked out of the way, allowing the knight to take her place.

The stalwart man was already swinging his enormous polearm the moment Astrid had blinked away. He shouted, using the full might of his strength as his weapon tore through the air. The same, strange energy coiled around his weapon like a snake as it smashed against the spider.

A savage clang reverberated across the land, sending sparks flying from the strike.

Astrid looked in horror as the hit that was the result of the man’s full strength, a hit that she didn’t dare take on herself, had only left a deep mark on the spider's armour. It hadn’t even penetrated. There was no blood, and there seemed to be no worry on the spiders… face.

After a few bouts of attack, Astrid realised that she was in the same position as before. She had tried to trick the monster again with her illusions, but it had wised up, not allowing her space to breathe.

The monster seemed to have an inexhaustible amount of mana. But after fighting it for a while, Astrid realised that it wasn’t coming from the monster directly.

No, something was giving it the mana it needed to function.

Astrid didn’t know how it was possible, but to her, it felt like something was feeding it in the middle of combat. Strengthening it, giving it fuel to be an unstoppable force.

Strangely, it was the same feeling she had when she encountered the strange psychic monster back before she entered Eyeamos.

Was someone, or something, pulling the strings once more?

Courage 89/100%

Two can play at that game.

Astrid snarled at the golden creature. A renewed sense of destruction imbued her thoughts as she decided to stop all of her attacks, and instead help the knight.

If she wanted to come out of this alive, then she had to be aware of who would make that possible. It wasn’t her, not directly, anyway, but the knight.

When the knight struck once more, Astrid Crashed the matter behind his weapon. The momentum increased as the blade thrummed through the air, and hit its mark with a devastating clang.

Finally, blood splashed once more.

However, the moment the strike made contact, Astrid felt a connection in the air. In a swirl of mana, the wound the spider had just suffered was immediately healed.

Because of the sudden recovery, it allowed the spider to act in a flash. It tore across the field, and slammed into the knight. Its sharpened golden lance-like legs penetrated the knight's armoured leg.

Blood splattered on the soil, dying it red.

Courage 94/100%

“Again!”

Astrid shouted, ignoring the wound the knight had just received.

Hearing Astrid’s words, the knight dodged to the side, and began their dance of death once more.

But this time, Astrid had another trick up her sleeve. Since it was just one enemy, it was a perfect opportunity to use Mind Domain.

Connecting her mind to the monster, she used Mind Domain. In an instant, Astrid could feel a monstrous strain on her mind. It wasn’t coming just from the spider, but there was indeed another connection joined with the arachnid.

Although she couldn’t detect where this person, or being was, it was definitely there.

Courage 97/100%

It battered against her mind. She was turning weaker by the second, but she could tell that the spider had lost control of its own body, and the healing attribute along with it.

With her in a mental war, the gilded monster was cut off from the connection

The knight struck the monster again and again in the exact same spot of the demon’s armour. Blood splashed, blossoming like a scarlet flower in bloom. Success was becoming more sure by the strike.

Then in the next moment, an intense pain caused Astrid to scream out. The pain was so severe that it took Astrid by a stranglehold, her entire body trembled as red seeped from her eyes.

Whoever the master was, was capable of shattering her mental connection.

Astrid fell to her knees, powerless. From the mental assault, Astrid had spent all of her mana. Not only that, her mind was scrambled. She couldn’t think straight, and in an instant, the spider's wounds were completely restored anew.

Despite that, she knew she wasn’t alone. There was a knight by her side.

Courage 97/100%

Courage 98/100%

Courage 99/100%

Astrid roused her spirits, and with great struggle, forced herself to stand up. With fire in her eyes, she gazed at the knight.

Courage 100/100%