Joshua charged in with a thrust, and at the moment of impact, he twisted his wrists a little.
“Graaaaaaah!”
“Tch! Still too shallow?!”
This was likely a means of making full use of his flamberge’s attributes. To put it really simply, it dealt more damage when you could scrape its jagged edges against something. This was a very logical means of taking down any living being, and I would be sure to scream my lungs out if I was ever struck with a twisting stab from such a weapon. I definitely never wanted to experience it.
However, even such a debilitating strike wasn’t enough to bring down Id Invicius. Was it simply too shallow? Or were we just one small push away? It wasn’t clear.
That was when Lucy provided some new information.
“Hmm... It seems to be regenerating little by little. That’s why it won’t go down.”
“Makes sense!”
I suddenly understood. Lucy could use healing magic, so it was perfectly logical for Id Invicius to be able to use its mana for the same thing. I was glad I had some experience with magic now. I didn’t need a full explanation to wrap my head around it.
Now that I thought of it, despite the amount of damage it’d taken to its forelegs from amplified swords, it was still moving around. Normally, it should’ve collapsed by now, but its regeneration was keeping it going. It was actually pretty simple to overcome this trick—you needed to damage it faster than it could regenerate.
However, that was easier said than done. It was honestly pretty hard to put enough force behind every blow while also focusing on volume. To add to that, there was only one spot where our attacks worked. Allucia and I specialized in a hit-and-run style—that was pretty much the case for all of our dojo’s pupils. We were technically capable of pushing through with overwhelming force, but it wasn’t our strength. It was probably possible for me to finish this. However, from a logical standpoint, there were still concerns regarding the reliability and safety of that approach.
Given all of these factors, our best bet was Surena. We could use her strength and stamina to bring it down all at once.
“The pupil is to surpass the master... That sounds fun too,” I muttered to myself. I then turned to the others. “Allucia! Take out the right hind leg! Joshua, Misty, with me!”
It was the teacher’s duty to create the opportunity to draw out the full extent of the student’s abilities. Without magic, our attacks couldn’t deal direct damage. However, the impact itself got through. Its exterior was endlessly tough, but it wasn’t canceling out all momentum and inertia or anything. I was able to tell this instinctively based on the blows we’d dealt so far.
“Hah!”
At my command, Allucia made the first move with her explosive acceleration. She didn’t take it on from the front like before but circled wide around it. Due to her agility, she was able to take this longer route without any notable delay.
“Ooooh!”
Matching her charge, I closed in on Id Invicius’s right foreleg. Even if it was gradually regenerating, this leg was still fairly injured. My attacks weren’t so weak that it could completely ignore them in that state.
“Here we go!”
Joshua followed in after me. My instruction to him had been brief, but he still knew what I was getting at. He, too, was a first-class swordsman.
“Hmph!”
“Haaah!”
“Tah!”
Me, Allucia, and Joshua all let out battle cries in unison. Our three attacks were perfectly in sync. Allucia delivered an intense slash to the thigh of its right hind leg. Joshua and I swung with all our might at the right foreleg. We didn’t need our blades to cut—the plan here was to deliver as much of an impact as possible. I was sure our weapons could endure it...even if some of that was just wishful thinking.
“Graaah!”
Suffering a blow to both its right legs at the same time, Id Invicius tilted over. I would’ve complained if it hadn’t, given its size. The bigger the monster, the more agility it lost from damage to half the legs holding up its immense weight.
“Impressive. Please leave the next move to me.”
One beat later, Misty’s whip cracked forth for the third time. She was pretty impressive. She’d figured out my intentions in an instant and was taking the most optimal course of action to follow up on it. I doubted anyone could serve as Joshua’s support better than her. Joshua was a black rank, after all, so his partner had to possess considerable skill.
“Grrrrr!”
As Id Invicius lost its balance, Misty’s whip coiled around its right foreleg. She wasn’t in a tug-of-war like before, but due to the weight difference, pulling on a beast that big usually wouldn’t do anything.
“Shhh!”
However, things were a little different when its weight was heavily slanted to one side. Any living being that walked on the ground, be it with two or four legs, instinctively tried to keep its balance.
“Graaaah!”
In theory, it was surprisingly simple to get someone like that to fall over. Putting that into practice against such a large monster took impressive skill. It was quite difficult to pull off using a sword, but with a whip, she could execute this tactic.
At this stage, we could probably beat it without resorting to this, but nobody wanted this battle to drag on. It was best to finish things quickly.
“Raaaaaaaaah!”
Id Invicius toppled over, exposing its weak point. The pinnacle of all adventurers, Twin Dragonblade, charged in. Flashing a fearsome face, she swung her two namesakes wildly.
Surena slashed and cut and thrust and sent viscera flying. She was a prime example of what you would call “blindingly fast.” It was a sight to behold.