Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 919 - Taming the Crystal Hearts - 3

Orion would flee toward the ruinʼs depths where overcoming a bottleneck in unmoldable terrain would be difficult…

Where pursuing would require fighting through confined spaces favoring defenders.

She needed him to stay visible. Needed him committed to surface confrontation where she could actually reach him, confident enough in his position that he wouldnʼt immediately flee when she arrived.

So she was holding back... Deliberately. Making the advance look difficult rather than easy. Making it seem like she was struggling against the armyʼs coordinated defense rather than merely inconvenienced by it.

Let him think she was near her limits. Let him believe the day of continuous combat had depleted her to the point where breaking through three thousand soldiers required all her remaining strength. Let him feel secure in his numerical advantage and prepared defenses.

Then strike when he was committed and flee routes were cut off by her ice.

The White Serpent continued weaving through attacks. Ice shields continued deflecting what couldnʼt be evaded. And Selphira advanced meter by meter through the armyʼs defensive fire.

Looking tired... Looking like someone fighting at their absolute limits.

To make every one unaware that the old woman approaching was considerably more dangerous than she appeared.

She couldnʼt fuse yet…

It was a risk she couldnʼt take when the primary objective was reaching Orion and Victor, not demonstrating dominance over an army that was secondary to the real confrontation that mattered to her.

For the moment Orion seemed not to be retreating despite her advancing aggressively through defenses supposed to protect him.

It was behavior that was still intriguing in its lack of appropriate caution despite her acting.

Perhaps because she was alone too now and that made him underestimate her? Did he think an individual tamer without backing of her own army was a threat he could handle even if that tamer was Selphira?

It was good, but still another thing that enraged her slightly, yet something that also provided advantage. If Orionʼs arrogance kept him in a position where she could reach him before he recognized his evaluation error, better for her.

Let him think he was safe. Let him believe his army and prepared defenses were sufficient. Let him stay visible and reachable.

Thatʼs all she needed.

Selphira kept pressing directly through the army without deviating toward the flanks or attempting some maneuver that would have taken more time even though it might cost her more mana.

It was an approach that used more shields to literally run over soldiers who didnʼt move fast enough to get out of the way.

The White Serpent didnʼt slow for individual soldiers. It just flowed forward like an avalanche. Anyone too slow to dodge was crushed under its mass or sent flying by an impact with the ice shields protecting its body.

It was brutal... The advance of someone whoʼd decided that reaching an objective mattered more than minimizing casualties of some traitors.

Advancing through the center also considerably affected the quantity of soldiers composing defensive and offensive formations. Created chaos in ranks supposed to maintain order under pressure.

They couldnʼt defend very well because the serpent broke or climbed any obstacle and obstacles couldnʼt be too large or theyʼd obstruct their own formation. Also they couldnʼt launch very concentrated attacks toward Selphira because collateral damage to their own units would be worse than permitting her to continue progressing without maximum opposition. Attacking with power sufficient to seriously threaten her required techniques that would cause massive casualties among the same soldiers who were too close to possible deflection trajectories.

It was a tactical nightmare... Their numerical advantage became a liability when their own people were in the line of fire. But though they couldnʼt stop her completely, they were effectively wearing her down through accumulation of small and more accurate attacks.

They forced her spending considerable mana on shields she had to constantly manifest. Projection after projection responding to attack waves that never completely ceased.

Dozens of minor techniques, hundreds in seconds and thousands in cumulative terms. Small attacks that though they bounced off defenses or were destroyed, accumulated damage through the cost that each defensive layer required.

It was a strategy of death by thousand cuts. Recognition that if they couldnʼt defeat her through a single great blow then theyʼd exhaust her through attrition eventually reducing her capabilities to the point where sheʼd become vulnerable.

Each shield manifested costing mana. Each deflection required some energy expenditure. The drain was constant and relentless even if no single attack was threatening.

And Selphira was pretending but still felt it.

Sheʼd been fighting for a day already. Hours of eliminating mutants before this and now pushing through three thousand soldiers while maintaining constant defense. Even her tremendous resources had limits.

She still penetrated the defenses with a combination of speed and ice shields that formed and fractured repeatedly as they absorbed impacts. Regeneration maintaining her functional protection but draining her reserves with each cycle of damage and repair.

The army also attempted different tactics. Tamers with earth affinity trying to destabilize the ground beneath the Serpent to compromise Selphiraʼs high mobility.

But the ice she projected stabilized the surface before the enemy techniques could fully manifest. Counter-manipulation negated the attempts to create treacherous terrain that would have slowed the advance.

Freeze the ground solid... Make it hard and stable to deny earth tamers the moldable material they needed for their techniques. Simple but effective counter.

Water and wood mana also couldnʼt do much against the superior ice.

Water she absorbed and converted. Wood she froze and shattered. Her elemental advantage in these matchups was significant enough that enemies with those affinities were nearly useless against her.

But each conversion still cost mana. Each absorption required energy investment and though it was fairly efficient, efficiency wasnʼt the same as free.

Reserves continued draining as she penetrated line after line. Progress that was impressive in speed but that came with a price accumulating inevitably.

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Finally Selphira reached the armyʼs rear guard. Position that was already almost in the courtyard of the building guarding the underground entrance.