Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

It was not like the butcher hadn't dealt with Mana Bodies before.

The summoned creatures conjured by his opponents in the past could also defend themselves against Eren's physical attacks in a similar fashion.

However, the summoned creatures were limited by their intelligence. Plus, they were not able to control the flow of the mana within their bodies, making them vulnerable to Elemental Attacks. Especially if the attacks were of opposite elements than the elemental mana the Mana Body was made from.

Eren was used to deal with Mana Bodies by changing the elemental spells. For example, he would use water-element spells to deal with fire-element creatures summoned by his opponents and that would be enough to deal with them. He would use fire-element spells against woodland creatures, dealing with them effectively by taking advantage of their natural vulnerability against certain elemental forces.

However, an Elementalist with the ability to transform into Spirit form was a completely different creature.

His slash attacks were landing on Yugi's body and even passing through it, but they failed to cause any damage. It was as if he were hurling stones into a lake, expecting them to cause harm, when in fact, they just sank into the water without any effect.

This was due to the fact that Yugi had greater control of her Mana Body when compared to the Mana Bodies of the summoned creatures. She could choose to defend against Eren's attacks whenever it suited her or simply let them pass through her body as if they didn't exist for her in the first place.

She didn't seem to have an elemental vulnerability against any element either. Not that Eren wanted to test out this theory by launching various elemental Skills on her. He neither had the mana reserves nor the breathing room for such adventures.

When it came to Weapon Comprehension and close-combat battle style, Yugi was no match for Eren even when he was worn out due to his recent battle. However, her Profession-specific Skill allowed her to break the balance and overwhelm Eren as soon as it was activated.

'Eren! It's the Mana Body Skill. Be careful and use your Spirit in the attacks.'

Vasco's urgent voice sounded in Eren's head when the latter was in a pinch. The latter had expended a significant amount of his Spirit Stat due to the use of the Enderflames in his fight against the demonic creatures earlier. However, this was not the time to be frugal.

At this point, even Yugi realized that targeting Eren's team was a huge mistake that Jen had committed. However, Yugi felt that she was equally responsible as she didn't stop Jen from taking action as well. After all, she too was convinced that dealing with Eren was easy. Plus, the amount of demonic energy they could claim from the dead demonic creatures was just too much to ignore.

"Uggh!"

An audible grunt was heard from Yugi as some of Eren's Spirit-imbued slash attacks managed to damage her real body to some extent. However, one could tell that the affected area quickly recovered due to the nature of the Mana Body. It was as if Eren's successful attempts to injure Yugi had also gone down the drain.

[ Skill: Flame Ifrit ]

With the remainder of his pitiful mana reserves, Vasco executed his skill, deploying his clone to support Eren against his duel with Yugi. He then executed his long-range attacks at once, concentrating them around Raif so that Horen could have a bit of an easy time dealing with the Body Art specialist.

The Flame Ifrit attacked Yugi from the opposite direction of Eren. She was sandwiched between the attacks coming from two directions, which affected her ability to control the flow of the mana.

Due to this, Eren's Spirit-imbued attacks started doing more damage to her Mana body as well, visible by the streaks of blood he drew even though her Mana Body was supposed to be impervious to his attacks.

"Haah. Don't underestimate me."

[ Skill: Venti Transformation

Venti Form: 55% Mana Body Transformed

Active Duration: ~4 Minutes ]

[ Skill: Venti Scythes ]

[ Skill: Venti Heart ]

[ Skill: Venti Multi Arms ]

Yugi regained control of the battle she had just lost due to being outnumbered. She upped the percentage of the Mana Body Transformation at the cost of bringing down the time limit for which she could maintain the Skill. However, she preferred dominating her opponents instead of playing defensively.

She grew another pair of arms that allowed her to launch Venti Scythes, countering Eren's dual prolonged attack. With Venti Heart, she enhanced her Body Stats temporarily, enabling her to take her offensive and defensive capabilities to the next level.

After all, she had plenty of energy and mana reserves left with her while her opponents were trying to land a lucky hit on her. She didn't want to give Eren and Vasco's clone the satisfaction of pulling that off successfully.

[ Spirit: 103 / 2000 ]

[ Spirit: 102 / 2000 ]

[ Spirit: 101 / 2000 ]

[ Spirit: 100 / 2000 ]

[ Spirit: 99 / 2000 ]

[ Warning: Excessive consumption of Spirit Stat has been observed. The user will lose consciousness if and when the value reaches zero. ]

A spectral warning briefly flashed before Eren, indicating his excessive use of Spirit to confront Yugi in her current form. Undeterred, he chose to press forward instead of retreating.

[ Skill: Demi-god's Gaze ]

[ Spirit: 10 /2000 ]

Eren's eyes turned completely white as he locked his gaze onto Yugi, heralding a significant shift.

Suddenly, an alternate version of the world materialized before Yugi, rising from the ground. In this surreal landscape, the ground was composed of flesh and bones, with limb-like branches bearing flesh flowers on the flesh trees.

The blood-red sky of this illusory realm merged with the maze's sky inside the isolated dimension. It seemed as if Yugi stood at the crossroads of two colliding worlds, yet instead of destruction, they harmoniously fused, creating a new reality.

It took a moment for Yugi to realize that Eren's ocular Skill had affected her consciousness, a potent ability considering it could influence an Elementalist like her with enhanced Spirit Stat.

However, this brief lapse was enough for Eren to find an opening in her defense.

Swoosh. Zoom. Slash.

"Ugh!"

A heart was pierced during this crucial moment, but it wasn't Yugi's—it was Eren's.

He had been attacked by a third person when he was just about to get rid of Yugi. His attacker was someone he had assumed to be dead since the beginning of the battle.

"Hehehehe. You thought you had me, didn't you?"

Jen smiled mockingly as she appeared behind Eren like a phantom, just as he had done to her. Using her bare hands and cat-like metal claws, she had pierced Eren's heart from behind with her elongated fingers.

"I'm a devout follower of Goddess Bastet, you see. I have nine lives," she whispered in Eren's ear before playfully biting his earlobe.