I threw my body to the side to dodge the lion, but its fangs still grazed me.
“Damn you!” Egret screamed, lunging at the puppet with his shamshirs. He, too, was scratched in his battle against the beast, but none of the cuts looked severe. I’d been wounded more badly.
“Aqua Heal,” I chanted. A sphere of water appeared and covered my wounded arm. The injury started mending slowly. Aqua Heal was a great spell that also disinfected, detoxified, and removed curses on top of healing.
Egret noticed that I was unable to move much because I was healing myself, and he placed himself protectively between me and the enemy. He changed his fighting style to one that was more defensive.
“Sand Bullet!”
“Thread Puppet: Armor.” Strings twirled in the air before wrapping around Spider’s body like a suit of armor.
“Huh?!” Egret gasped as Spider charged forward, completely ignoring the bullets he’d fired.
“Get back, Egret!” I called out. I stepped in front of him and chanted, “Ice Block!”
Several large pieces of ice appeared before us, forcing Spider to modify his trajectory. I guessed which way he’d move and immediately brought Flügel down, slicing him in half.
“What?!” I exclaimed in confusion. It didn’t feel as though I’d cut through flesh at all! “Egret!” I yelled, hoping to warn him, but it was already too late.
The real Spider had smashed through the ice blocks, and his threads had just pierced Egret’s chest. Egret had been quick to react and had used both his normal shamshir and his Divine Artifact to block, so he’d managed to deflect the blow somewhat and avoid a deadly wound. Still, he was badly hurt.
Spider had taken advantage of my ice as a distraction to shed his armor and use it as bait. He must have known he’d suffer some damage by throwing himself through the ice, but he’d done it anyway. I’d completely misread the situation.
“Argh!” Egret let out. Despite the pain, he stepped forward and grabbed Spider’s arm. “Sand Bonds.”
Sand started covering Spider’s body, holding him in place. I created a sharp blade of ice and hurled it at Spider. The ice pierced through his body, but Egret’s binding of sand also lost its effect.
“Mud Legion!” Sistia chanted. Without a moment’s delay, a multitude of Mud Dolls rushed at Spider, which drew his attention. I took advantage of the distraction to cast a healing spell on Egret.
“Water Ball Heal.” I remained on alert while healing Egret’s chest. It was doubtful that my blade of ice or the Mud Dolls would be enough to kill Spider.
“Sistia, I have a request,” I whispered in the adventurer’s ear. She nodded.
As I expected, Spider emerged, having destroyed Sistia’s dolls and shattered my ice blade with his threads. He still seemed perfectly fine.
“Fighting the three of you at once is a little tough.” Despite Spider’s words, his hateful smirk was still plastered on his lips. “Thread Manipulation: Dispersion.”
Egret’s wound wasn’t entirely cured yet, so I stepped in front of him and created shards of ice, sending them flying at the woven spiral Spider had just released. I managed to block the attack, but my ice was crushed into tiny shavings.
“Mud Swamp,” Sistia tried once more. The ground under Spider’s feet turned into mud. “This time, I won’t let you go,” Sistia declared. “Mud Wave!” Sistia slammed her hands against the ground and a large swell of mud rose, crashing into Spider.
“Thread Manipulation: Sphere.”
Spider created a ball of threads around him. The mud slammed against it, but it didn’t rupture, leaving him unscathed. He quickly turned the tables by launching his strings at Sistia in a slashing motion, but she used some of her Mud Dolls to shield her.
In just a few more minutes, Egret’s recovery would be complete. We had to hold out until then.
“Let’s see how you fare against this,” Spider said. “Thread Puppet: Dragon.”
The magic cords twisted and assembled until they formed a gigantic dragon. I truly hadn’t expected Spider to still have this much mana. He was far stronger than most Rank A adventurers.
The thread dragon raised its humongous arm.
“This is not looking good,” I whispered.
Egret still wasn’t cured, so he couldn’t run just yet. If I moved away, he would die. But considering the size of the dragon and the quantity of mana it exuded, ice alone wouldn’t be enough to block it.
“Ellie, just run! Don’t mind me!” Egret screamed.
He was right behind me, but I felt as though his voice sounded distant. This was the first time I had found myself truly faced with the threat of death. My thoughts flowed at an incredible speed, the colors around me faded, and it seemed as though time itself had slowed down. For some reason, unshakable confidence that I could get us out of this dire situation welled up inside my chest. It was utterly groundless, but I was completely certain that if I tried it now, I’d succeed in casting a certain spell I had theorized about many times, but had never been able to pull off. It was a spell similar to the one that could temporarily make the most monstrous human I knew into a true monster on the battlefield.
“O silver ice king, devour my body and reclaim your might in this realm: Ice Spiritification!”
The nature of my mana changed as it flew into my body. I could feel myself becoming a different being—something that wasn’t human anymore. It was the same as when I’d used my grimoire to copy that devil Bulat’s Thunder Spiritification. However, while the nature of my mana somehow felt more familiar to me this time, only one of my arms turned into a perfect spirit form. It might have been a matter of proficiency, or perhaps I simply didn’t have enough mana left to transform my entire body. Either way, I could tell I wouldn’t be able to maintain this form for more than a few seconds.
“But a few seconds will be plenty,” I said. I lifted my right arm—the embodiment of ice itself. As soon as the thread dragon made contact with it, it froze and disintegrated.