Besides, no matter how outstanding his sword skills were, I doubted he could pierce Id Invicius’s armor. I also wasn’t sure we could unveil Lucy’s magic to adventurers we hardly knew. But this wasn’t something for me to bring up. If Joshua’s attacks weren’t going to affect Id Invicius, it was better for him to watch the rear rather than serve as a vanguard.
We advanced in this formation for several minutes, and then, it happened.
“Mrgh... It’s approaching,” Lucy warned. “Get ready.”
“Got it.”
How convenient to be getting a rough idea of where an invisible enemy was. There were very few wizards who could accurately identify something like this, but the way battles were carried out could change drastically with the development of magic technology. Would there even be a role for swordsmen in such a future? Lucy’s existence was so far out there that I couldn’t help but think about that.
“There! Here it comes!” Lucy shouted.
“Bring it on!”
I couldn’t see the thing, but if Lucy was saying so, it had to be there. I held my beloved sword at the ready and lowered my stance, instantly shifting from walking to being combat ready. Though I wasn’t watching the others, I was sure all of them except for Lucy had done the same. They were all people I’d taught or who’d gone through a harsh life where their survival had depended on such instincts.
“Graaaah!”
The massive monster appeared out of thin air once more. I caught its destructive claws with my brilliant blade. This was the starting signal to the third round against Id Invicius.
“Shhh!”
As I blocked the attack at the last second, Allucia let out a short exhalation and kicked off the ground. She thrust her ink-black blade into one of its forelegs. Yes, into. Her sword hadn’t been repelled like before—it had definitely overcome Id Invicius’s defenses.
“Graw?!”
It’d probably never expected a sword to pierce its skin. Id Invicius’s reaction was delayed, giving Allucia time to quickly retreat out of its range.
Hmm, looks like Lucy’s magic really worked.
Our attacks were indeed working, and this brought the difficulty of this battle down considerably. If we could only do something about its invisibility, victory would be well within our grasp.
“Lucy!” I called.
“Ha ha ha! Leave it to me!”
In short, it was up to our wizard. Since Allucia had attacked, she no longer had a knight protecting her, but she still took a step forward.
“Graaah!”
“Hmph... It ended up this way because you’ve only fought those weaker than you,” Lucy lectured the thing. “Well, I suppose there’s no point in telling a beast that.”
She held up a hand with an almost elegant movement. As she did, Id Invicius, who’d always vanished and retreated after a single strike, fell back—but it didn’t disappear. Under any other circumstances, this would have been a normal sight for a monster, but here, it was quite the opposite.
“Grrr!”
“It didn’t vanish...?” I muttered. “No, it can’t!”
Even regular animals were usually quite good at sensing presences around them. They were more sensitive to stuff like the wind, atmosphere, and the gazes of others than people believed. Id Invicius could tell that all eyes were still following it, even though it was supposed to be invisible. It knew by instinct that something was wrong.
I had no idea what exactly Lucy had done, and I doubted I could make sense of it if she explained it. All I could do was immediately take action. Id Invicius wasn’t vanishing—it was both visible to the eye and it gave off a presence. Our party was full of experts, so there was no better opportunity during a big hunt.
“It’ll stop working if it gets too far from me!” Lucy shouted. “Close in!”
“And you?!”
“I can move on my own!”
I confirmed the situation quickly with Lucy. The fact that we were able to convey everything in so few words showed how accustomed to battle she was.
“Got it! Surena!”
“I’m with you!”
Allucia had already jumped to the fore. She was sure to take decisive action on her own, but she was a little too far ahead and thus too out of sync with me, so we couldn’t link up immediately. I couldn’t work with Lucy—our approach to battle was too different. And I didn’t know how Joshua and Misty fought. So, in an instant, I knew it was best to pair up with Surena. She followed my charge, her red hair flashing through the air.
Id Invicius’s body was so large that no normal human would have been able to catch up if it had tried jumping away. However, the abnormality of the situation had created a blank in Id Invicius’s thoughts. This only lasted one or two breaths, but any swordsman who couldn’t take advantage of that was second-rate at best. Surena and I had plenty of time.
“Haaaah!”
“Hmph!”
“Graaawr!”
“All right! We got through!”
As for where exactly we aimed on its enormous body, Surena and I knew each other well enough that we didn’t need to discuss it beforehand. If we weren’t going for an instant kill, it was common sense to start by chipping away at the limbs. This was especially effective against monsters. The eyes were good targets too.
Things changed based on individual judgment, personality, and the current situation, but this time around, it was best to stick to the basics. Surena and I slashed at both of Id Invicius’s forelegs, dealing definite damage. Now, it couldn’t run away anymore—as long as it didn’t rise and start walking upright or something.
“Well, we did manage to cut it...” I muttered.