Things weren't easy on Shane's side, either.
The crimson longbow in his hand hummed incessantly. Although every arrow was sharp and deadly, his shooting rhythm was invisibly dragged down.
Because he had to split his attention to monitor the entire battlefield, his arrows not only had to kill enemies but also cover the others, preventing the Magic Soldiers' attacks from landing on them.
"Get down!" he shouted sharply, an arrow tearing through the air and precisely exploding a fireball that was diving toward the crowd.
This protective fighting style severely limited his killing efficiency. The battle fell into a stalemate for a moment.
The Magic Soldiers keenly noticed his constraint. The leader coldly ordered, "Take out that red-haired girl first!"
The power the girl had just unleashed unsettled him; he couldn't allow the possibility of a second Mage appearing on the battlefield.
In an instant, at least three magic staves turned in her direction.
"Haa... Haa..." Erza had just cleared a space with her sword and was leaning on it, panting. When she looked up, her pupils shrank.
Several beams of magic light had already sealed off all her escape routes.
"Can't dodge!" Erza realized this instantly. Even if she hid behind cover, such a concentrated volley was enough to critically injure her.
She wanted to try intercepting them with her sword like before, but the attacks were so dense she had no way to respond in such a rush.
"No!" Grandpa Rob, who had been watching the whole field, changed his expression. He could see that Erza had nowhere to run. The old man almost instinctively moved to rush forward.
But just as he moved his feet, an arm barred his way.
"Don't go, old man." Shane's voice carried an undeniable tone.
He had sensed from the beginning that the old man had some sort of self-destructive sacrificial spirit and had kept part of his attention on Rob's movements.
"B-but..." Rob looked at Erza, who was about to be swallowed by magic, his voice trembling.
With this delay, even if Shane was a Mage, he probably wouldn't make it in time to save her now.
"Relax."
Shane's voice was calm but carried a reassuring power.
As soon as his voice fell, the air around him suddenly stagnated.
It was as if an invisible loom was operating in the dark. Spiritual garments full of exotic style covered his original prisoner garb like flowing light.
Deep red ribbons surged from behind his shoulders, moving without wind, unfurling behind him.
Shane gathered strength and took a step forward. Without warning, without an afterimage, he appeared beside Erza, arriving before the attacks despite moving later.
He wrapped one arm around the girl's waist and easily lifted her up.
"Yaa!" Erza only had time to let out a short cry of surprise before he deftly hoisted her onto his shoulder.
In the next moment, the two landed steadily beside Rob.
Behind them, the three missed magic attacks collided. As if celebrating the girl's escape, they exploded into a brilliant display of light and shadow like fireworks.
"S-Shane... You're Shane?" Rob stared blankly at this figure who was both familiar and strange, his face full of disbelief.
Erza also widened her eyes, too shocked to speak, even forgetting that she was still being carried on his shoulder.
At this moment, Shane radiated a blazing intensity like sunlight, yet also an stability like a winter hearth.
These contradictory temperaments interwove, making people feel inexplicably at ease, as if as long as they were by his side, nothing was unsolvable.
It was a warm, yet undeniable strength.
"Leave the rest to me." Shane smiled slightly and put the girl down.
Originally, he hadn't planned to use the True Name Release so early. Although with the increase in his stats, his "vessel" capacity had greatly increased, extending the release duration from one minute to five minutes.
But just like in an RPG where players get excellent consumables and refuse to use them until a critical moment...
Shane was the same. He was worried that trickier variables would appear later, so he had been holding back.
However, since he had now revealed his Heroic Spirit form, it naturally meant that the matter at hand was about to end.
In the stat system recorded in the Book of Heroic Spirits, the gap between each small rank was quite significant.
Taking E- Rank as an example, its lower limit could be as weak as a paramecium, while its upper limit could rival a sickly ordinary person.
E Rank covered everything from average human fitness to the physical level of top-tier athletes; the span was not to be underestimated.
As for E+ Rank, the physique displayed in every gesture already initially surpassed the realm of ordinary humans.
Because the gap in each small rank was so distinct, the ability gap between each large rank... was abnormally exaggerated.
And right now, Shane, transformed into the Heroic Spirit form of Arash, had stats of—
Strength B, Endurance A, Agility B+, Magic Power E...
"My combat power is 530,000! Ahahahaha!" Shane laughed wildly.
Facing the small fry in front of him, the current him was indeed, as he had evaluated himself earlier, omnipotent.
Hum—
As if sensing a long-lost aura, the crimson longbow in his hand emitted a hum completely different from before.
Shane drew the bow, nocked the arrow, and fired. The movements were as fluid as breathing.
BOOM!
The arrow left the string. It was no longer a precise snipe but a terrifying force that crushed everything in its path, smashing into the enemy group like an artillery shell.
Deep craters were blown into the ground. The bodies of the Magic Soldiers shattered on impact, and men and staves alike were sent flying. Just one hit cleared a large area.
The surviving enemies were intimidated by this sudden firepower. Their charging steps froze instantly, their eyes filled with terror.
"M-Monster...!"
The surrounding slaves were even more dumbfounded. The garrison forces that had been suffocating them just moments ago were as fragile as paper in front of Shane.
Shane didn't speak. To save time, he acted like a tireless machine, constantly repeating the cycle of drawing, nocking, and firing.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Arrows smashed into the enemy group like small meteors, carrying destructive power.
Every explosion shook the ground. The enemies scattered amidst the roar, as if experiencing a missile bombardment.
In just a few dozen seconds, the enemies standing in front were swept away, leaving only a mess on the ground.
The dust of battle settled, and the reassuring aura around Shane receded like the tide.
The spiritual garments on his body also dissolved into specks of light, revealing the tattered prisoner garb underneath.
Shane let out a soft breath, visible exhaustion on his face.
Heroic Spirit Transformation put a huge load on the vessel. Even though he had only released it for less than a minute, the stamina consumed far exceeded the total of all his previous battles.
"Shane, you..." Erza looked at him with eyes full of shock. She wanted to know why he had suddenly become so strong when his strength before was clearly inferior to hers.
"It's over." Shane smiled at her and Grandpa Rob. Just as he was about to give a simple explanation, a rush of footsteps interrupted him.
Millianna ran over panting, her face drained of blood, her voice shrill with fear: "Shane! It's bad! Jellal... Jellal was caught by berserk guards and dragged to the interrogation room!"
Jellal caught by guards?
These words seemed strange when put together. With Jellal's ability, that shouldn't have happened...
Shane's eyes suddenly sharpened, connecting this to the inexplicably coordinated discipline and decisions of the Tower of Heaven over the past few days.
He hesitated no longer. "Erza, Simon, Grandpa Rob, I leave this place to you. Organize everyone immediately and go seize the supply ship at the coast!"
"Understood. Leave it to me." Having witnessed Shane's strength just now, Erza nodded without hesitation.
Shane said no more, nodded, and rushed back into the corridor they came from.