A change.
The air grew dense. The ground beneath Mirelle's feet pulsed. And though she could not see it yet, something was coming. Something vast, ancient, and unlike anything she had ever felt before. She turned her head towards Celeste's position, seeing her Master's pale skin, bloodied and trembling hand tightly holding her neck and the other holding her staff upright.
Mirelle was now fully aware of the changes that were happening to Lady Celeste. Her Mana was spreading out, becoming one with everything, even the very fabric of the world. Mirelle was now sure she needed to focus now more than ever. She knew that Lady Celeste couldn't be disturbed at any cost, as the mana around her and Tsukihana were now dancing intricately into something very big.
Mirelle could feel Tsukihana's now only have half of its mana and was running from continues use of its skill. She however still had tons of Mana left, given how she opted to use physical attacks instead of using her Mana. Given the situation, Mirelle finally decided what to do next. She lowered herself almost in a kneeling position as she sheathed back her sword and placed her hands against the ground, letting her Mana flow into the earth beneath her hands.
Mana slowly flowed into the earth, softening the ground. Quickly turning the ground around Mirelle into a deep muddy plain as thick stone pillars appeared in numerous locations around them, but despite all these changes, she made sure the that ground where her Lady was sitting surrounded by her own Light Barrier was unchanged. With the changes of the area continuing to widen, it finally stopped after reaching quite size.
Mirelle had made a wide and large knee deep muddy plain, with the changes in the area settling and more than 1,500 of her mana was lost in the process, Mirelle immediately jump to one of the thick stone pillars near her. Looking towards the center if the muddy plain, where her lady stood, she was satisfied to see the numerous shadows of the thick stone pillars reached the area.
Tsukihana came out of the shadow on the center of the muddy plain where her master rested, the center unchanged from Mirelle's terra forming. Tsukihana had enough space to move around, and she understood what Mirelle was planning to do, she wanted her to remain close to Celeste and deal with the monsters that got through her and protect the master while conserving and recovering her mana.
With the shadows of the pillar touching the area where Celeste's dome barrier was placed, Tsukihana could travel between the shadows quickly without expanding too much Mana or her stamina, while Mirelle on the other hand is able to use the pillars of varying sizes to move swiftly around the muddy plains, and fortunately enough due to her unique racial trait and physique, she could move through the mud with ease or walk atop of it.
The problem lay in the fact that the Monsters that were initially scattered were starting to move towards their area, putting pressure not only on Mirelle but also on Tsukihana.
Mirelle would move between the pillars swiftly, taking out as much enemy as she could, trying not to let even one of the monsters to reach her Master, to disturb her Master's warm magic.
Moving towards another pillar, she sliced the head of a red wolf she passed by and immediately moving towards another area where the body of the defeated monsters lay. As she approached her movements were swift, picking up the monster's body and throwing it out the mud plains, making sure their bodies couldn't be used as a foothold in the mud swamp, yet she does not stop moving to another spot.
Killing monsters, Removing monsters' body, and repeat.
Mirelle doesn't get tired, as her body isn't made from flesh but instead is made of Mana, and with her large amount of mana, and with how little her movements consume her mana, it made no dent. The only times when her mana would decrease is when she would cast a spell, strengthen her body, or when her body is damage. While her body makes it so that physical attacks are pointless against her, as well as a certain resistance to certain magic to a certain extent, her body still needs mana to move her unique body to mend her injuries, especially more so with blunt weapons and certain magics below a certain point and elements.
On Tsukihana's side, she hides into the pillars shadow and jumping from one shadow to another, swiping or biting the necks of monsters who slipped passed through Mirelle, making sure no monster could touch their Master's barrier and disturb her magic. Whatever was happening both Mirelle and Tsukihana could tell that it was important, so they put more effort into defending their master, their lady.
Still the monster who had given their lady the serious injury was not yet killed. It was too fast for them, they couldn't follow its movement, especially more so when its movements were erratic and random.
As if taunting, those fast-moving creatures finally revealed themselves to Mirelle and Tsukihana, standing on one of the pillars Mirelle had constructed earlier. It's thinner and wirier, with long, sinewy limbs and a hunched posture. Its fur dark and smooth, with its long arms hanging by its side, legs that resembled a cat.
The fast-moving creature kept staring at Mirelle and Tsukihana, as if it knows it wasn't facing any threat, that they were nothing to it.
It lowered its body, facing Mirelle, its posture as if it was about to pounce. Mirelle seeing this, threw the monster in her hand away, taking out her two katana and getting into a stance, ready to take down the monster that had harm her master.
With her stance ready, she kept her eye on it, ready to take it down. The fast-moving creature moved quickly and she immediately stomp her foot strongly onto the ground and earthen spikes erupted from the ground in front of her and a curved wall behind her, at the same time, she swung down both of her katana with great force. She knew that her speed was much lower than the creature, and without much experience in fighting monsters or people that were this fast, she decided to bet it all on this swing.
As her sword swung down, her tummy was torn to shreds, and the fast-moving creature had a big gash on its shoulder, and due to the unexpected wound, it slammed into the wall behind her. Taking this opportunity, she swiftly swung one of her katana behind her in a low stance, where her sword cut one of its legs making the monster cry out loud. Mirelle didn't stop, her body was already healing. She was made of mud after all. As she saw it squirm on the ground, she didn't hesitate to finish it off. Raising one of her katana up and swinging it down with greater speed and strength than she was used to.
The fast-moving creature was dead, but she took too much damage compared to all her previous fights. Almost all fights have left no severe damage or hit to her, but now with this fast-moving creature with its erratic movements and fast speed, it had caused way too much damage to her, causing her "wounds" to heal or repair itself slowly, especially more so when it came to her cut arm.
She tries to pick up her cut off arm and trying to reattach it to her side, but as she lifted her arm, her finger went through it and turned into mud. Mirelle didn't know what to do nor does she know why it wasn't attaching, all that she knew was it wasn't the time to think too much.
During the time she was facing it, many monsters were already closing in on her master, she couldn't waste any more time, as strong as Tsukihana was, she wasn't as strong as her, she knew that her strength lay in surprise attacks. Mirelle stopped thinking about things she didn't know and immediately sheathed her katana, picking up the other that fell and immediately got back into fight.
Unfortunately, due to the damage she had sustain and with her unfamiliarity of only being able to use one arm. She kept accumulating damage on her body, and while she was repairing and healing, it wasn't fast enough. Especially more so, when it was draining her mana fast.
Mirelle was being overwhelmed. Unsure of what to do, she stuck her katana into the ground and swiftly placed her arms into the ground and made thin and sharp earthen spikes appear from the ground, striking many monsters that were starting to overwhelmed her and were closing in on her monsters.
But it was starting to show how much the monsters' numbers were too much for just her and Tsukihana, she kept slashing and killing the monsters, and they kept coming and the bigger monsters were getting closer and closer, she knew that if they reach her and engage in a fight, more and more monsters would slip past her and as they slip past her, it would put more pressure on Tsukihana and there was no guarantee that no monsters could also slip past her.
However, Mirelle ignores everything pursuing monsters faster and faster, trading injury for injury. All that mattered to her at the moment was her master's safety and due to her sustaining, more and more damage her mud body couldn't keep up with her regeneration. Her mana was draining faster, as she was now using [Earth Magic] to attack the monsters.
The bigger monsters who stood behind were getting closer and closer, and Celeste still wasn't coming out.