Even for their mission in this gate, a lot of things had already changed.
The fact that Luna would have died for sure if he weren't here made him wonder just how much had already deviated.
And now, Eric and Alia were here despite the fact that Eric must have just woken up from his coma. At this rate, a lot of things would go differently.
But now wasn't the time to think about that.
Eric stood facing the chieftain and he could tell just how deadly it was.
And Alia hadn't spoken again either. She just stood in fright.
Icard faced it as well. The Chieftain was almost done recovering, shaking off Eric's flame.
'We definitely have to deal with that first,' Icard thought.
He could only use potent attacks from the fourth floor once now.
But the problem here was its speed.
Without giving them any time to devise, it screeched loudly before dashing at them.
Alia jumped but Eric had already countered. He fired at it but then, it dodged this time, going round faster than Eric could follow.
It circled about them and dashed toward Alia from behind.
"Alia, use it!" Icard yelled. Alia stretched her hands instinctively and used it without thinking.
Before the chieftain could reach her, she diverted it like she did to the skydarts back then, only that it took more energy.
Due to its speed, the chieftain tumbled on the ground before finally anchoring itself about ten meters away from them.
It recovered instantly and attempted to move at them again but a ball of flames had been shot at it, blasting it before it could come at them.
That was Eric.
Icard's eyes widened again.
"Fire balls?" Icard muttered.
A skill Eric had learnt in his past life where he compressed his flames and shot them.
'Did he just come up with it now?'
Yet another deviation. This was Eric's first skill but he hadn't learnt it by this time.
Icard grinned widely.
Gritting his teeth, Eric fired at it again and again. The chieftain screeched from the blasts before finally dodging it, circling around them and changing its position.
So far, it had received quite the damage but they were still far from bringing it down.
And at this point also, Icard could tell it was becoming impatient with them.
And so, it inhaled again, inflating itself just like earlier.
"Woah! Everyone dodge that!" Icard yelled as it blasted, nearly hitting them if not for Icard who pushed Eric and Alia out of the way.
The blast path had dug a narrow trench through where they just stood, separating them from Luna and Marcus.
It inflated itself again for another round to blast at them, faster this time. Faster than they could get up and run.
That torrent of air would be enough to critically wound them.
Icard was just about to use Ice Yard again until a blast interrupted the chieftain while it was still inflated, sending it flying off.
"Huh?" Icard muttered.
It had come from that tunnel.
Everyone looked and there he was, bloodied but still standing.
Luna's eyes widened.
"Albert!"
'Heh. I was beginning to wonder if he actually died' Icard thought with a smirk.
The chieftain had received greater damage from Albert's attack this time but it still wasn't close to going down.
Albert studied the situation then, seeing Icard and two other people still standing.
While he had been battered, he could still stand. But now, he could tell just how strong the chieftain was.
In truth, he had underestimated it.
Another shrill again, followed by another radiation of bloodlust that made even Eric and Alia quiver.
Icard would have been shaken, but then, this chieftain was really nothing special.
In their current levels, of course a D rank spawn would be this strong.
The chieftain crouched then. Icard and the rest readied themselves. If it were getting serious now, it must have used a good portion of its strength.
"Young man. You still have it, don't you?!" Albert asked Icard loudly. Icard looked at him and nodded firmly.
Albert understood immediately.
"I will do my best to hold it down for you. Finish it up then!"
Then he unleashed his power fully, as much as he could, grabbing the full attention of the chieftain.
"You've got a plan?" Eric asked Icard.
"Yeah. I just need it at one place for a few seconds"
Eric didn't question any further.
Even though he wasn't familiar with Albert, seeing how Albert prepared to go at it, Eric suppressed his fears and readied himself to follow up.
He enflamed his hands again.
Albert then moved first. His energy swirled around his body. He released it fully, that it began tearing apart the earth where he stood.
That much power already...
Everyone there including Icard was amazed. In his past life, Albert was the force of their vicinity, but Icard couldn't have expected he had this much power already.
'He already has the potential to take on the chieftain' Icard thought. 'He's just not well-versed with control'
The chieftain, sensing the threat Albert posed let out another deafening warcry before lunging at him.
Since he knew how fast it would be, he released his energy throughout his body. Like blades, they swished through the air around him, cutting into the earth.
As soon as it blitzed at him, he sent his energy outwards with a powerful burst, cutting into the chieftain's exoskeleton but not quite deep enough.
That much slowed the chieftain down enough for Albert to follow up with another blast - the last his mana could afford.
With his left arm covered in violently swirling chaotic energy, he sent the most powerful gust he could muster at the chieftain, pushing it back while dealing even more damage.
After which, Albert collapsed but before anything else, Eric closed in. Intensifying the flames on his arms, he gathered his flame, directed its flow as much as he could before releasing it at the chieftain and blasting it away in his own fiery gust.
He poured as much as he could muster, but however, it escaped, shrieking from the damage it had received consecutively.
It darted away from Eric's fire. At this point, it wasn't as fast as it was originally.
Seeing Eric, it directed its fury at him, speeding towards him but before it could close in properly, a green aura enveloped it, seizing it in place.
Alia held on with all her might, crushing it as much as she could while holding it in place for Icard to step in.
He closed in on the chieftain then. His breath was misty; in each step he took, fog dispersed under his foot. His gaze was calm and fixed on his target.
[Fourth Floor Access Confirmed]
[Special Skill Activation: Great Frost Spear]
Icard raised his left arm up, just above his shoulder level and a blue sphere formed next to it.
The frost sphere swirled and spun, then began elongating horizontally. A layer of blue ice began creeping on Icard's left hand as the chill dispersed throughout the green chamber.
Everyone could feel it, the cold strong wind swirling around Icard as he grabbed the blue spear which had fully taken form with his frozen hand, took his right foot forward with a long stride, twisted his waist, aiming directly at the spawn before him.
'Well, this is definitely overkill, I guess' he thought mid-action but he was indifferent to it.
All he wanted was for that bastard to die, and so, he threw it.
Following it was a bright blue light and then a gust of wind flowing out in all directions.
"What amazing power" Gremit muttered from the entrance of the tunnel where he observed. "This is impossible. He's using a skill too high for the level he is at!"
Everyone watched on and after the light had faded, the mist drifted about and slowly dispersed.
They all looked at where the chieftain was, but in its place was a completely different spectacle.
The chieftain's frozen remains with an obvious hole around its chest.
It glowed blue from the type of skill Icard had used on it.
Very much unnecessary, but still did the job.
And Icard...as the mist cleared, they could all see Icard, flat on the ground, completely motionless.