Simply being cautious of her debuff magic would be enough to handle an opponent of her caliber. She could utilize long range and melee range magic equally, with her shield magic from before being one such example. However, her long-range abilities weren’t as good as Shion’s, and her close-range abilities couldn’t best Katorina’s. The best way to put it was that support was her specialty.
Just as I had expected, she cast a spell. After she enveloped her scythe in dark magic, she swung it at me full force.
The scythe rocketed toward me, spinning all the while.
For a second, I thought she had thrown her scythe at me, but it was still firm in her hands. What she had really done was summoned another scythe with her magic and fired it at me.
What is this, Ghost n’ G**lins? I inwardly quipped as I recalled a classic game.
I took a breath before cutting through the magic scythe approaching me. If I had dodged, it would have continued onward to hit Yuika, who was providing support at my back.
During our next several exchanges of blows, I came to understand something about Hortensia—she felt sort of like a cross between Yukine and Ivy, having a superb physical core and sense of balance while being light and nimble.
With that in mind, how would she handle this?
I blocked her sweeping sideways slash by slamming it down to the ground.
Hortensia used not only her own strength, but also the centrifugal force created from swinging her heavy scythe to move and connect her attacks. As such, I tried to smother her centrifugal force by smacking the scythe down to the ground, then deliver an attack from above while her arms were down low.
However, this plan of mine didn’t work out well.
Hortensia lost her balance for a minute. Unfortunately, in a drastic feat of strength, she purposefully rolled along the ground to open up space between us. As she rolled, she created a dark magic shield, defending against any follow-up attacks as she regained her footing.
In the face of her maneuver, my attack failed to hit its mark.
She was truly a pain in the ass. Her combat sense was too keen. Honestly, she was super hard to fight. The impression I got from her in-game was that she had pretty high evasion, but if this was how she was able to move, then obviously her evasion chances would be through the roof.
“What a nuisance.”
She finally let out the first words since our paths had crossed. I had been convinced she was going to go through all this without saying a word, but evidently, I was wrong. Now how was I going to follow up? I hoped I could keep our conversation going a while and draw some information out of her, but…
“This is the first time you’ve graced me with your voice, and it’s just as cute as you are.”
Yeah, I couldn’t think of anything. Instead, I just ended up hitting on her. I felt a twinge of regret at screwing up my opening line so badly.
“…What’s your deal anyway?” she asked, adjusting her hood. She didn’t pull it down very far, perhaps because I had already gotten a clear look at her face.
While it wasn’t exactly a reply to the drivel I had spat out, for now, I was just relieved we were holding a conversation at all.
“Whoever I am, it’s got something to do with the Hanamuras, apparently. Hell if I know, though.”
I only knew the same stuff everyone else could look up. I seriously had no clue. Obviously, I was aware that this wasn’t what she was really getting at, but for now, this was my reply.
“I know you’re involved with the Hanamura family, Kousuke Takioto. I’ve also heard about that freakish nature of yours.”
So she was calling me a freak, eh? What a rude thing to say.
“While I would love to explain things, it’s extremely difficult to really lay out. If I go into everything, you’ll probably think I’m kinda kooky, too.”
“I already think that.”
…Well, that answer bugged me a bit, but whatever. There was something more important I wanted to ask.
“Why are you here? And why are you keeping your distance from the Diamond Cross Knights?”
I glanced at Yukine and the others. Claris and Yukine appeared to be safely battling against the two frontliners. Yukine had said something about her opponent’s raw power giving her trouble, but her stats leaned less toward power and more toward speed and technique. She would never lose to an enemy who was all brute strength and nothing else. Claris also trained regularly with Yukine. No way she was going to be bested by a foe weaker than her sparring partner.
Of course, the enemy’s back line was providing enough support to turn the tides if things kept up this way. However, Ludia and Nanami were providing their own backup fire. All things told, we had an overwhelming advantage, more or less.
Though our foe may have been strong, we were even stronger—simple as that.
Yuika must have figured I didn’t need much help either and had turned her attention to Yukine and the others.
With all that in mind…
…we were busily engaged in this team battle, yet Hortensia had no back up at all. No one was coming to her. She was all alone.
“Why do I need to tell you that?” she asked.
I mean, this basically shut down the whole conversation, but…
“You don’t, but can’t a guy be curious?”
“…I was part of a different squad originally. Just happened to be grouped up with them today.”
She gave what seemed to be a genuine answer. Judging from the vibe of our conversation, I believed she was telling the truth.
I still had questions, though. She hadn’t talked about why she was here, and even as her comrades were getting pushed to the brink, she didn’t show any signs of panic.