The wolverine was adjusting shots in real ti to keep pushing the Bashe near the next tower in sequence, enabling each subsequent shot by positioning the target exactly where it needed to be for an optimal next impact.
It was extraordinary control requiring not only precision in the initial launch but also perfect prediction of how the serpent's massive body would react to each blow. Ren was treating the Bashe as an object in a physics problem to solve, calculating force vectors and adjusting angles to guide movent toward the desired result.
Multiple vectors combine into a final trajectory.
And the Bashe was the problem being solved.
The shots from the second stake onward no longer carried the augnted wind-and-fire propulsion the first stake had used.
So more observant spectators wondered why, if the sa impact force applied 2 or 3 tis would have been sufficient to split the serpent completely in two and perhaps end the battle imdiately.
"Why isn't he finishing it?" soone asked.
"He could kill it right now. One more hit like the first."
"So why doesn't he?"
Now the stakes only inserted deeply and pushed instead of causing imnse trauma that would sever almost any beast's bond through excessive damage.
But Liora and Ren knew there was a specific reason for that apparent moderation.
It wasn't rcy or miscalculation but tactical necessity.
He needed the Bashe in one piece but immobilized, unable to resist while roots systematically drained it. It was a cruel distinction in a certain sense but necessary.
The fourth stake impacted, continuing the sequence of directional pushes.
THUD
The Bashe's trajectory adjusted again, montum carrying it exactly where Ren needed. The serpent tried to resist, tried to use its flotation to counter the force, but wounded and suffering, it couldn't overco physics.
Its flight path beca predictable, its fate approached inevitability.
And then the fifth stake fired from above instead of laterally, vertical trajectory designed specifically to push the Bashe downward instead of to the sides.
This was the critical hit. Not the most damaging but the most important.
It was a blow negating the spiritual flotation the serpent had been using to maintain its altitude as near as possible to 100 ters, forcing it toward ground where mobility would be even more limited.
The Bashe dropped, pushed, driven downward by a force it couldn't resist.
80 ters altitude. 70 ters. 60 ters.
Still descending.
The dark purple coils writhed, trying desperately to arrest the fall, but each movent cost energy the roots were actively draining. Every attempt to stabilize made the situation worse.
50 ters. 40 ters. 30 ters.
Getting close to the ground now. Close to where Ren wanted it.
Ren smiled while watching the fifth stake connect exactly as planned.
Everything was proceeding perfectly… Five hits delivered, five directional adjustnts achieved and a target successfully guided to optimal position for the final phase.
The 5 ground stakes, those he'd been constructing while the towers grew, were just about to be finished. He could feel through the connection with the wolverine that only seconds remained before they'd be ready for the launch that would complete the 10-point network he'd calculated as a bit more than necessary.
Its core spun faster, channeling mana to complete the last constructions. Almost there, almost ready.
Liora realized that the roots were already becoming a serious problem with only 5 stakes embedded in her beast's body.
She could feel through the bond how they constantly drained the Bashe's energy, erosion accelerating as more roots established themselves.
Each second ant slightly less spiritual energy available. Each root that grew ant slightly faster drain rate.
10 stakes would literally be a death sentence, an amount of drainage that the simple miasma expelled passively through her serpent's skin wouldn't be sufficient to effectively counter.
The numbers were absolute. The math was final.
The complete root network would overco any defense the Bashe could manifest in its current weakened state. It was simple mathematics allowing no denial or false hope.
But Liora didn't surrender even facing apparent inevitability.
She'd never surrendered. Not when her parents died, nor when nobles whispered she was too weak for the Ashenway na.
She'd proven them all wrong through sheer stubborn refusal to accept defeat.
This would be no different.
If she was already here, in the middle of an exchange clearly favoring Ren, she might as well try to cause maximum damage to his strategy before it closed completely.
If she was going to lose, at least she'd demonstrate it hadn't been an easy victory Ren could obtain without effort. She'd make him work for it, make him rember this battle even if he won.
She commanded the Bashe to release powerful miasma breath, not careful conservation but massive expenditure of spiritual energy in a single devastating attack.
All or nothing. Everything on this one strike.
The miasma focused and launched like a directed torrent striking the middle tower's base, that central structure Ren had built thickest and which served as the fundantal pillar of the 5-point design.
Being so close to the base, the effect was dramatic.
The structure gave way almost instantly, its structural integrity collapsing under the miasma assault that eroded elental cohesion faster than roots could compensate. It broke upon itself in a manner recalling modern controlled demolition, upper sections falling on lower ones in a cascade that raised a massive cloud of dust and debris.
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
Sequential failures running up the spine. The tower groaned, then surrendered to gravity.
200 ters of carefully constructed engineering collapsing in seconds.
It was a small but genuine victory.
And it ca at a critical mont.
The 5 remaining stakes fired just as they were completed, a sequence Ren had planned to execute with the middle tower still standing. That tower's loss forced last-second trajectory adjustnts to compensate for the enormous structure that was tilting and obstructing paths.
The wolverine's calculations updated in real-ti, but there were limits to how much could be adjusted after launch. Projectiles already in flight couldn't be recalled or redirected significantly.
Liora managed to capitalize on that montary confusion.
She positioned the Bashe behind the collapsing tower, using the falling mass of earth and wood as an improvised shield blocking 2 of the 5 shots. It wasn't a defense that would last more than seconds, but it was sufficient for those 2 projectiles to miss their intended target, embedding themselves in debris instead of the serpent's body
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