“Kazu-san, we’ll handle this,” Arisu told me. “You go ahead to the school building!” She seemed excited, too.
Ah, you’ve just acquired Holy Spear Technique and gotten stronger, so you want to try it out, huh…
“Right, you two just need to buy us some time. Rushia, cover for Arisu and Tamaki. Nahan, let’s go.”
“Yes, Master.” The Heavenly Turtle, with a little help from my Deflection spell, cast Wind Walk on all of us. To guard against any friendly fire, I removed the invisibility from Arisu and Tamaki.
“Take care, Arisu!” I called.
“Yeah, hold on! Here we go, Shape Lightning!”
The two moved like a bolt across the sky, closing the distance to the winged skeletons, then just as quickly maneuvered behind the giants and launched their aerial attacks.
“Prominent Snake!” Rushia conjured a serpent of flame and directed it toward a Gevshar Helix Skeleton.
After a brief glance at their battle, I took the miniaturized Nahan under my arm and set off at a run toward the main building of the middle school. Coeurl ran beside us. I briefly wondered why he wasn’t joining the fight, but then I realized he was there as our guide. Besides, it was hard to imagine him battling divine-class beings.
✦ ✦ ✦
We entered a random first-floor classroom through a broken window. Sunlight streamed in, illuminating a chaotic scene of scattered desks and chairs. The last time we’d been in this classroom, there wasn’t anyone in there… at least, not that I remembered. Anyway, there were no bodies lying around now.
Outside, the sounds of fighting echoed, and the ground shook violently. The fierce battle between Arisu, Tamaki, and the three Gevshar Helix Skeletons had begun.
In the classroom, it was just me, Coeurl, a black panther-type monster, and Nahan, the miniaturized Heavenly Turtle.
Coeurl sniffed the air attentively. “There are undead nearby,” he observed.
“Have they come inside already? Can you tell how many?”
“I cannot discern numbers by scent,” Coeurl admitted.
It seemed like it was time to call in the frontline. I decided to summon one of my newly contracted familiars.
“Summon Familiar: Sword of Conviction, Strass.”
A figure appeared before me—a humanoid monster clad in silver armor, about one hundred and eighty centimeters tall. Its features were hidden behind a full-face helmet, though its eyes shone red. In one hand it held a greatsword that was almost as long as its body.
The armor was hollow, making it essentially living armor, though it appeared the sword itself was the real thing.
According to one legend I’d heard, Strass was once a man who’d lost his family due to the whims of the gods. He had forged this sword to eradicate the world’s injustices, eventually becoming one with the great weapon. Another tale suggested that a god, pitying the man obsessed with revenge, sealed his soul into the sword after his death.
That almost sounded more like a curse than a blessing.
I had summoned Strass with Familiar Enhancement 5, same as Nahan. That meant his effective power was at Rank 9.5—he should be capable of annihilating most enemies on his own.
“Strass, be on your guard,” I instructed.
The silver-armored being nodded silently. Strass wasn’t much for talking; even when we’d made our contract, he hadn’t spoken a word.
“Nahan, can you do an underground search from here?”
“I’ll begin now,” Nahan affirmed.
The turtle familiar hopped down from my arms, expanding to about two meters in length before beginning to chant a spell in the center of the classroom. Strass silently peered down the hallway from the open door, giving a small nod and readying his sword.
Just then, the clatter of something hard running down the hall reached our ears. Possibly the footsteps of skeletons…
Strass stepped into the corridor, swinging his sword. The weapon was so large that I wondered if it would make his movements slow and awkward. But it seemed such concerns were unfounded for a swordsman of Strass’s skill.
A pale shockwave surged down the length of the hallway as Strass began to strike down skeletons. In the classroom, the remaining glass in the windows shattered with a crash. Several shockwaves later, I heard something hit the hallway with a loud thud—and then we were in the White Room, where Tamaki had leveled up.
✦ ✦ ✦
Now it was Tamaki’s turn to acquire a derivative skill. The one available from her Swordsmanship and Strength skills was Heavy Sword Technique, which focused primarily on brute-force slashing abilities.
“First off, Enhanced Sword Technique purely boosts Swordsmanship skills, so that’s essential…” I mused, “but what about the second choice?”
“I want Dragon Slayer Slash!” Tamaki decided immediately. She’d probably chosen it for its cool-sounding name, but that was reason enough.
Dragon Slayer Slash, an ability available up to Rank 3, consumed MP to increase the sword’s destructive power. At Rank 1, it used 10 MP and can make a sword able to destroy a castle wall with a single strike.
At Rank 2, Dragon Slayer Slash consumed 30 MP for its activation, and at Rank 3, it required 70 MP to unleash its full potential. However, this ability necessitated a slight charge-up period, which could be risky in close combat where any delay could prove fatal. To me, it seemed best suited for demolishing structures or entities too massive to handle otherwise.
Among Tamaki’s other options, Great Sword Technique (which let you wield a sword much bigger than yourself) and Demon Slayer Sword (which randomly dispelled buffs on the target) stood out as particularly useful. Demon Slayer Sword, being an active ability, could be toggled on and off at will. This meant, for instance, to counteract shield spells like Deflection with Demon Slayer Sword, you had to activate it with precise timing in response to the shield’s activation, so it took keen reflexes and anticipation.
This could be an effective counter to the current dominance of Deflection in battle, I thought, although it seems like Tamaki might struggle with the strategic aspect of timing and anticipation.
“If Tamaki has decided on that, then I think it’s a good choice,” I declared.
“Yeah! With this, I’ll be able to contribute even more!”
With that decision made, I told the girls that Coeurl, Nahan, Strass and I seemed to be managing the lesser skeletons just fine on our own, so we probably wouldn’t need any help. Then I asked, “How’s the battle outside going?”
“With three of them, it’s a bit tough, but not crazy tough,” Arisu responded. Despite facing such gigantic adversaries, Tamaki apparently had the upper hand in terms of power, thanks to her Strength skill being at Level 9.
“Do you think you can take them down?” I asked.
“If I can use my magic release at ten times power for one shot.”
“One shot’s fine. If we can make it two against two, and since both of you have improved your frontline skills, do you think you can manage?”
“Yeah, we’ll do our best!”
“Let’s do it!”
Charged with enthusiasm, Arisu and Tamaki clenched their fists in front of their chests. Hmm, it’s like having two tail-wagging puppies here. They’re so adorable.
“Just remember, don’t push yourselves too hard. If it gets dangerous, let me know. We can make a quick retreat.”
With those final words, we exited the White Room.