Leveling Up by Seducing Milfs-Chapter 212. Pyrrhic Victory

RAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!

This time, Cthulhu’s roar of pain was real. It was so loud that it made the air shake.

The Guardian’s rage replaced the amusement in its many eyes as it fought against its bindings and the ice started to crack.

Rick shouted to his dragon partner, "Sylvia! Hit it while it’s tied up!"

"Got it!" Sylvia had been flying around above, making her fire as hot as it could get.

And then she dove, and her huge dragon body turned into a comet of white-hot plasma that could have melted the planet’s core.

"DRAGON’S ULTIMATE: CELESTIAL PYRE!"

The fire that came out of Sylvia’s mouth was no longer just hot. It was heat with a divine purpose, a flame that burned not only physical things but also spiritual things. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

The attack penetrated the opening created by Liora’s divine spears, deeply penetrating Cthulhu’s body and intensifying the corruption from the inside out.

The Guardian thrashed violently, shattering the ice holding it together, but the damage was already irreparable. The wound in its torso, larger than most buildings, was healing slowly for the first time.

"Zara!" Rick called. "Finish this fucking sequence now!!!"

"ALRIGHT! LET’S FUCKING DO IT...!!!" The demon general’s Blood Price had been steadily increasing throughout the planned attacks.

She had given up seventy percent of her health, which was way too much for the skill, and the power it gave her made her demonic form grow three times its normal size.

"DEMON QUEEN’S APOCALYPSE!" Zara’s voice had changed into something that wasn’t human because of all the demonic energy flowing through her. "EVERYTHING I FUCKING HAVE!"

"TAKE IT ALL TO YOUR OWN DEMISE!!!"

She charged right into the wound the others had made, and her claws tore through the harmful tissue like it was paper. She dug deeper and deeper, her demonic power burning everything it touched, until she found something at the Guardian’s core that pulsed with concentrated corruption.

Zara put both hands on it and let go of all the power she had given up.

The explosion came from inside Cthulhu’s body and sent pieces of corrupted flesh flying in all directions, creating a sphere of destruction.

The Guardian’s body bent, and its torso was almost cut in half at the waist. Its tentacles went limp as it dealt with damage that would have killed any other creature a thousand times over.

But Cthulhu was not normal. It wasn’t even alive in the usual way.

It was corruption that took shape, and as long as it was around, it could come back. The wound was healing, but it was taking longer than before.

They inflicted significant damage, but it wasn’t enough to defeat it.

Rick reached for his Ocean Empress through their bond and said, "Nerissa!"

"We need your strength! One more hit while it’s weak!"

During the whole battle, Nerissa had been keeping the tsunami barrier up, but when Rick called out in desperation, she made a choice.

"Kids! Take over the barrier completely! Don’t let it fall!"

Her three hundred children screamed in agreement, their combined strength rising to make up for their mother’s absence. The barrier flickered but stayed up as Nerissa let go of her control and focused all of her energy on the fight.

"Rick Rolland," Nerissa said, her voice full of power from eight hundred years of authority and fifty years of anger that had been kept inside.

"Let’s show this horrible thing what happens when it threatens our world."

Rick nodded. "Yeah! Let’s go!"

Rick met her in the air, and their hands clasped together. The Spirit Bond between them flared with golden light as Ocean’s Hope merged with Nerissa’s oceanic sovereignty.

The water below them responded, rising in massive columns that surrounded their joined forms.

"OCEANIC AUTHORITY: EMPRESS’S WRATH!" Nerissa channeled every drop of her power into Rick’s body through their connection.

"EMPEROR’S DOMINION: FINAL TIDE!" Rick got it all and added his own power, which was a mix of oceanic, draconic, demonic, and divine.

They made something that had never been made before. A single attack that combined emperor and empress, surface and depth, and hope and redemption.

The ocean itself was their weapon. Not water shaped into spears or walls, but the basic idea of oceanic power made real.

It looked like a huge trident made of compressed seawater that shone with blue-white energy that was as bright as the sun.

"FOR ZORATHIAAAGGGHHHH!!!" Rick and Nerissa screamed at the same time, their voices blending together.

They threw the oceanic trident with all their strength, and it hit Cthulhu’s weak torso like a meteor. The impact went all the way through the Guardian’s body, coming out of its back and going into the corrupted ocean beyond.

HRAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

This time, Cthulhu’s scream was filled with real fear, not anger or pain, as it realized that these tiny creatures had truly hurt it.

The planned attack had worked. Five partners hit in a row, each one adding to the damage done by the last, ending with a fusion attack from Rick and Nerissa that actually broke through the Forbidden Guardian’s core.

"AGAIN...!" Rick screamed, feeling like he was about to win. "EVERYONE...!!!"

"JUST ONE MORE...!!! COORDINATED ATTACKS AND WE CAN WIN THIS FUCKING THING!!!"

"LET’S END IT ALL...!!!" Rick’s screams awaken their spirit right away.

But he had forgotten something very important...

Yes, they had hurt Cthulhu, but they had also provoked its anger significantly.

The Forbidden Guardian’s eyes were all on fire with purple flames as its mind worked out what to do next. By collaborating and launching a series of attacks, these creatures had inflicted damage on Cthulhu.

Cthulhu would make sure they couldn’t work together again.

The Guardian’s six arms all rose at the same time, and the corrupted vortex that had protected it before turned into something much worse. The creature used corruption from all over the Astral Deep, getting power from places that shouldn’t have been possible to reach.

The storm above got darker until it felt like it was midnight. The ocean below was so rough that tsunamis formed in every direction.

And around Cthulhu’s huge body, corruption formed a sphere of total destruction.

Fredrich knew right away what the Cthulhu was about to do. "OH SHIT...!!!"

"Fall back!" Fredrich’s warning came too late. "EVERYONE!!! FALL BACK NOW!"

Cthulhu sent out its counterattack.

It was not a wave, a beam, or any other type of attack that was directed in a single direction. This was all-around destruction, with corruption spreading out in a sphere that grew at an impossible speed.

There was no escape, no hiding, and no defense against it.

Rick saw it coming and tried to use all of his defensive skills. Glacial Fortress, Divine Aegis, and Resonant Shield all came together in a desperate hope.

"HARRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!" Rick let out a scream while trying to block the counterattack.

And then...

The wave of corruption hit everything like an angry god’s hammer.

BAAAMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

Rick’s defenses fell apart one after the other, each one giving him maybe half a second before breaking. The wave hit his body directly, and pain like he had never felt before ripped through every nerve.

It wasn’t just physical pain, but it was corruption trying to change him at the cellular level.

He felt as if his partners were experiencing the same torment through the bond network.

Carmilla’s scream.

Natasha’s gasp of pain and shock.

Liora’s prayer was cut off.

Sylvia’s dragon-like roar turned into a whimper.

Zara’s curse stopped in the middle of a word.

Nerissa’s cry of pain.

All of them fell at the same time.

Rick fell through the air, and his enhanced body was the only thing that kept him awake as he hit the corrupted ocean. The water burned his wounds, and he had a difficult time getting back up, flying back up, and fighting.

But his body wouldn’t listen. Zephyra’s magic was only good for a short time, and as the spell wore off, his level dropped quickly.

60... 55... 50... and then back to normal, where he had never felt so weak.

The ocean around him was full of bodies that were falling. Mages who had lived through the earlier fighting fell unconscious.

Dragon riders fell off of their dead horses.

Demon soldiers went back to their original forms because they were too hurt to keep changing.

The holy knights had lost their divine protection, making them vulnerable.

Now, the thousands of coordinated attack forces lay scattered, broken, and defeated.

Rick managed to lift his head above water, gasping for air while trying hard to look at the situation around him. "We... we lost...?"

He looked around in a panic and saw his partners floating in the corrupted water nearby. The sight sent a shiver through Rick’s body, making it impossible for him to continue looking at all of them at once.

Carmilla was unconscious, and her Unbreakable Bond was screaming warnings of serious injury.

Natasha was hardly breathing, and ice was forming and melting around her in strange ways.

Liora was face down in the water, her divine energy gone.

Sylvia is now back to her human form.

Zara’s demonic traits faded as Blood Price’s backlash hit all at once.

And Nerissa. His Ocean Empress floated with empty eyes toward the sky, her royal form shrinking back to normal size... with her three hundred kids screaming as they felt their mother’s defeat.

Everyone had fallen...

All of them...