To the Depth of Abyss

Jared's Head keeps spamming dark mana ball to the Hunters. 

Sara and Xian Ling focused on maintaining the sword barrier to stay strong. 

Bradley is in charge to kill Jared's head. But the Demonic Serpent's movement is faster than Bradley's lightning arrow. 

"Dang it! It was like playing 'whack a mole' in very hard mode!"

Even though Bradley's arrow hit Jared's Head, it only left a meaningless abrasion.

On the other side, Richard and Lian was fighting Jared's Body. The body-only hand was really strong, despite being headless. 

Maybe because Echidna was controlling it with her own Arts. 

Skadi and Unheil continued their pending fight.

"Are you sure you don't want to help those kids?!"

Unheil trying to disturb Skadi's focus. 

Once again, their fight was even. Skadi is like a tank, has high stat on defence and attack. Meanwhile Unheil is like jet aircraft, he can move fast and his attack is dangerous. 

However, they were in different situation position. Unheil could fight with ease because he has no anything to worry. On the other side, Skadi was holding herself back because of her teammate.

"Richard!"

On Lian and Richard's side. 

Jared's Body hit Richard hard. Richard blocked the attack, but he could not hold it for long.

"Attack him, Lian!"

Richard was like almost losing his breath because of holding Jared's Body.

Lian wants to attack. But Jared's Body has really tough skin. The monster had already endured Lian's attacks without getting the slightest damage. 

That lowered Lian's confident to try again. 

"Haaaa!"

Even though Lian had to do it for the sake of his member. 

"The brat's attacks became weaker the more he attacked that 'body of trash'."

Just like Unheil said; Lian's swing grew weaker the more he accepted failures.

"On the other side, that brat's shot became more aimless the more his shots did not hit the 'trash head'."

Jared's Head and Jared's Body. Who would have thought those two ugly creatures could defeat the power of the Platinum hunters.

That still two, the Walking Nuclear is not counted because it still far from them. But if it exploded in its current position, it would be so large that it could injure their defence and most likely will hurt them too.

"I bet they never felt a failure before this."

Skadi did not know about the youngster's history. But maybe Unheil's words were right. 

From the start, they were a party that had high spirit and positivity. But when Ars put them in pressure, their spirit immediately dropped down to almost zero. 

The same goes when they face the Sea of Monster. They can maintain their spirit because there is Skadi and Arlene who face the challenge with them. 

However, Skadi was separated from them, and Arlene is going inside the carriage once again to do something. 

"Just what is that woman doing in that carriage? Hey, what's in that carriage?"

"Something you don't need to know."

Skadi swung her sword hard, sending a destruction wave to Unheil. But of course, Unheil could easily avoid it and give Skadi a counterattack. 

~

Arlene finally done with her business and back outside .

"I am sorry it took me long, guys!"

Arlene's back is like a source of water in the desert by the Platinum juniors. 

"Missy! That head thing is really annoying! I could not hit it even once!"

"Miss Arlene! Your support, please!"

"We can't keep taking that monster attack!"

Her quick absence had made the three of them troubled.

"Alright! Alright! I will kill that thing in one shoot!"

Arlene directly pointed Black Sky Spine turret to Jared's Head. She is not kidding when she said she will kill that thing in one shoot. 

However, before she shoots, something shocking happened. 

"Richard!"

Richard got hit until he could not stand up anymore. There is only Lian left to face Jared's Body., and Lian could not possibly be standing against by himself. In a team of two already made them overwhelmed, let alone Lian did it himself.

Even so, he stood up to fight. Because if he ran, Jared's Body would likely finish off Richard.

"Missy! Save them first!"

Bradley had just asked Arlene for support. But Lian and Richard are the priority. 

"Got it!"

Arlene pointed Black Sky Spine turret to Jared's Body. Jared's Body was charging at Lian. At that instant, Arlene shot a high voltage laser to Jared's Body. Made the ugly creature pushed far back. 

"Did I kill it-?!"

After Arlene attacked Jared's Body, they got counterattack by Jared's Head. A few dark mana balls fired at them. 

"Kyah!"

"Xian Ling!"

Xian Ling is on her limit. She fell backwards because she couldn't stand the attack just now.

Richard is on his limit too and barely could stand by himself. 

Lian and Bradley still can continue. But they had lost their sharpness because they could not defeat their enemies. 

"Get up! Richard!"

"Xian Ling! Back to me!"

Richard couldn't move anywhere. Xian Ling fell unconscious. 

They had lost two important elements of their party. 

"All of your junior is at their limit."

Echidna knows very well the condition of her opponent's team. 

"Well, they were unreliable young people after all. If you want to face me, at least bring the legends who are ready to die."

Echidna's suggestion has a point.

Even three days ago in Fisherman Town, the Legends offered their lives to join the expedition. But Arlene refused that for a reason – 

"Dying is not an option in this expedition!"

"But this is not an expedition. This is a battle to death. And this ground would be your grave."

Echidna ordered Jared's Body to stand up. The wound caused by Black Sky Spine shot had cured and the monster is ready to fight once more. 

"Richard! Come on!"

"No. Let me go, leader. Go back to the rest. I will stop him for you."

Their sworn enemy was charging to them once more. They can't win against it, so Richard chooses to sacrifice himself for the party leader. 

"As if I will let you die here."

Lian rejected Richard's choice and stands in front to face their enemy. 

"Lian, no! You can't win against him!"

Lian rejected that idea. He still stand bravely. Holding his blade strongly. That final battle would be the death of him or his opponent.

"[Black Sky Spine: Black Fatality]!"

Arlene unleashed Black Sky Spine's strongest attack and made a large hole in Jared's Body chest. 

After that, she jumps down to the sword barrier, and put her two palms to the front. 

Jared's Head charging a thick, large dark mana ball, then shot it to the Abyssal Hunters. 

That was a really strong energy to be fired. 

Lian took Richard's shield and protects both of them for the upcoming explosion. 

Boom. 

The dark mana ball hits the sword barrier. Create really strong explosion than ever. 

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Arlene tried her really best to maintain the sword barrier. Her long sleeves were torn apart, shattering down to her arms. 

The sword barrier was broken. Fortunately, the explosion was over. 

Arlene fell to her knees. Both of her hands were bruised. There was a small stream of blood dripping from her head down her face. Blocking the massive attack just now made her injured from inside. 

Sara and Bradley got goosebumps seeing Arlene's state. If that was not for her, they would definitely got wiped out because of the previous massive attack. 

"Are you still there, Missi?"

Bradley wanted to make sure that Arlene is still conscious. 

"Yeah."

Fortunately, she still. 

"I just need to take a breath for a moment."

Even after taking such an attack, Arlene could still stand up straight. She then looking at their only left enemy, Echidna. 

"As a hybrid of Supporter and Specialist, I admit you're quite strong, Ophelia."

Echidna's words made Bradley remember something. 

"Ophelia? Missy, are you Ophelia, the great archer who had fought alongside the Spear Saint?"

Arlene smirked at Bradley's expression. 

"It is in the past. Now I'm just a Bounty Hunter trying to keep moving forward."

Though humbled, that great woman was now standing up to protect them. The party who two days ago were very confident that they could carry out their mission well, but at that time they couldn't do anything anymore because their enemy way too strong for them to handle. 

"Don;t worry about it."

Arlene understands that her juniors' feeling very disappointed in themselves. They have failed the trust given to them.

"It's also my fault because I don't want to waste the lives of those old people to come with us. But I also wrong because I had high hopes for you."

Skadi came on Arlene's speech with Lian and Richard in her hands. 

"But don't worry, we your senior will take care of this fight."

Skadi has joined Arlene's side. Leaving her own battle for later. 

"What does this mean. Unheil?" asked Echidna to Unheil. 

Unheil, the man who was supposed to be in charge of fighting Skadi, let go of his hand on his opponent for one reason.

"I don't want to be ordered by you anymore. From the start, I joined this group to serve Soul Saint. But I ended up in your hands instead. A maniac woman who likes monsters."

Unheil betrayed Echidna. 

"Oh, is that so? Then, after dealing with them, I will make sure to reboot you to became the second Jared."

____________

"This fight is meaningless."

"Only if I get back my heart! I won't stop! And you won't stop either, aren't you?"

"I will not."

"Then, don't waste your words and just die already!"