Chương 66: Chapter : 66

"He is way too strong!" Zinia yelled, holding her arms up to shield her face from the flying rocks.

"Physical attacks are not working! He is completely ignoring the pain!" Ken saw the elite girls struggling, and he knew he had to play his part perfectly. He couldn't just stand behind the desk doing nothing, or they might actually ask him to help. He had to look completely useless. Ken jumped out from behind the desk, throwing his hands into the air and pulling his hair in an overly dramatic display of pure panic.

"Oh my gosh! He is huge! He is like a giant, glowing green angry bear!" Ken screamed, running in tight, frantic circles around Ira. He started pointing his fingers and shooting his tiny, pathetic blue sparks randomly into the air. Pew! Pew! Pew!

"Take that, you giant green monster! My sparks will defeat you!" Ken yelled. One of his tiny sparks floated over and hit Blight on the arm. It did absolutely nothing. It just fizzled out against his glowing skin. Ken stopped running, his jaw dropping in a completely fake look of absolute horror.

"He is completely immune to my ultimate technique! It's impossible! The math is totally broken! We are doomed! We should just lie down and surrender!"

"Ken, shut up and get out of the way!" Laxmi yelled at him, completely fed up with his nonsense. The situation was getting incredibly bad. Blight was pushing the team backward, and the hundred other thugs were using the distraction to close the circle around them. They were completely cut off from the stairwells. Princess Iris gritted her teeth, her violet eyes scanning the chaotic battlefield. Her mind was racing.

"We are wasting too much time," Princess Iris said, her voice tight with worry.

"Every minute we spend fighting this mob in the lobby is another minute Vane uses to prepare his traps at the top of the tower. If we do not break through to the stairs right now, he is going to escape or finish whatever sick ritual he is planning."

"But we can't get past them, Princess!" Ira said calmly, her water whips slicing through the air to keep the regular thugs at bay.

"The lieutenant is taking up all of our heavy hitters' attention. If Naomi and Zinia focus on him, the mob will rush us." Laxmi heard this. The hot-headed fire user stopped throwing fireballs for a second. She looked at the giant, mutated Blight, and then she looked at the massive crowd of thugs blocking the stairs. Laxmi cracked her knuckles loudly. A fierce, wild, absolutely fearless smile spread across her face. She turned to look at Zinia. Zinia, standing strong and steady, caught her eye and nodded slowly.

They didn't even need to speak. They had trained together for years. They knew exactly what had to be done. Luna, who was still rubbing sleep out of her eyes, let out a massive sigh.

"I guess this means I have to skip my mid-morning nap," Luna mumbled lazily. But as she spoke, bright, dangerous yellow lightning began to crackle and spark violently all around her body. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Laxmi, Zinia, and Luna stepped forward together. They walked right to the absolute front of the group, placing themselves directly between Princess Iris and the charging, glowing monster that was Blight.

"Princess," Laxmi called out over her shoulder, her hands igniting with massive, roaring orange flames.

"You are right. We cannot afford to waste time down here playing games with these street rats. You need to get up those stairs and find Vane."

"What are you doing?" Princess Iris asked, her eyes widening in surprise.

"We are doing our job," Zinia said firmly, her boots planted heavily on the ground. The floor around her began to rumble and shake as she pulled up massive amounts of earth magic. Luna tilted her head, her hair standing on end from the raw static electricity filling the air.

"We will handle the big guy and his annoying friends. You guys just run past them." Sayma stepped forward, pushing her glasses up.

"Are you insane? You three cannot hold off an enhanced lieutenant and a hundred armed men by yourselves! You will be completely overwhelmed!"

"Don't insult us, Vice-Captain," Laxmi grinned, her eyes burning with fierce competitive fire.

"We are the Vanguard of the 13th Unit. We don't get overwhelmed. We do the overwhelming." Blight roared again, completely enraged that these three girls were standing in his way. He charged forward, swinging his massive, glowing fist down to crush them.

"Now!" Laxmi screamed. The three girls unleashed their magic at the exact same time. Zinia slammed the ground, sending a shockwave of jagged earth spikes shooting forward like a tidal wave of rock. The spikes forced the regular thugs to scramble backward, creating a narrow, clear path through the crowd. Luna pointed her fingers directly at Blight.

"Thunder Strike!" A blinding, deafening bolt of pure yellow lightning blasted right into Blight's chest. The sheer voltage was so high it actually stopped the giant monster in his tracks, making his muscles spasm wildly. Laxmi followed up instantly. She threw a massive, concentrated pillar of roaring fire that wrapped around Blight and the front line of thugs, pushing them all backward with an explosion of intense, unbearable heat.

The combination of Earth, Lightning, and Fire created an absolute, impenetrable wall of elemental destruction. The mob screamed in panic, completely unable to step forward. The Vanguard had successfully created a safe tunnel through the chaos, leading directly to the open stairwell at the back of the lobby.

"The path is clear!" Zinia yelled over the roaring flames.

"Go! Right now!" Princess Iris looked at the three girls holding the line. Her heart swelled with immense pride and gratitude. She didn't argue. She knew that trusting her team was the only way to win this war.

"Hold the line," Princess Iris commanded, her voice ringing out clearly.

"I promise you, their sacrifice will not be in vain. We will end Vane today."

"We will be right behind you, Princess!" Laxmi shouted, throwing another fireball at a charging thug.

"Save a piece of that coward for me!"

"Move out!" Sayma ordered. Princess Iris, Sayma, Naomi, Ira, and Ken immediately broke away from the Vanguard. They dashed forward, running straight through the clear path Zinia had made. The heat from Laxmi's fire washed over them, but the Vanguard kept the flames perfectly controlled, ensuring their teammates passed through safely. Ken jogged at the back of the group, fully keeping up his goofy, complaining persona.

"Oh, thank goodness we are leaving that lobby!" Ken yelled, dramatically wiping fake sweat from his forehead. He looked at the massive, dark stairwell looming in front of them. It went up endlessly into the dark tower. Ken let out a loud, miserable groan.

"Wait, are we seriously taking the stairs? Do you have any idea how many floors are in a skyscraper? My legs are going to fall off! Why couldn't Vane be an evil villain who invested in a working elevator? This is absolutely the worst day of my life!"

"Shut up and climb, Ken!" Naomi yelled back, not even looking over her shoulder as she dashed up the first flight of concrete steps.