Which meant—
Force her down in a quick fight. Kill her…? Like I have a choice. Might just have to bring the body back and see if we can revive her.
She felt her eyes going to the girl’s belly and forced them not to.
Her armor was like a dress made of metal, and it left her soft-looking belly exposed—not a shred of visible muscle there. Boldly revealing a weak point right where all sorts of vital organs lay. Still, it wasn’t safe to assume aiming there would do much damage.
Most armor’s defense was determined by the mana poured in, the metal used, and whatever special skills were involved in the forging. That slim waist likely had defensive properties derived from the strength of the armor’s magic. But it did mean there was no defense provided by the materials used in the armor’s creation. It was definitely the least defended point.
So why wear something like this?
Displaying a clear weakness would bait an enemy’s attack. There was likely some sort of trap.
She knew that but couldn’t help but hope a clean hit there might finish this girl off. That’s why she wouldn’t let herself even look.
“Power of Gaea.”
Out of nowhere, the girl cast a spell. No Death’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.
Huh?! Magic?! She’s not a warrior?! No, no, there are warrior classes that learn a few spells, but… Huh?
No Death herself could use faith magic, but she’d never heard of the spell this girl used. It hadn’t affected her, so she could safely assume it was some kind of self-buff.
If the girl was a warrior main and dabbled in magic on the side, then she didn’t need to be that worried. But if she was primarily a caster, that was another story.
Magic had a whole range of options, making casters much less predictable than a warrior. For all she knew, a really nasty spell could instantly turn the tables.
That qualifier was because No Death was not well briefed on pure caster builds. She would have to be that much more cautious here. Even if this girl could just match what No Death could, those minor healing spells could really draw this fight out.
She had to assume the worst. Assume this girl wasn’t a warrior but some kind of caster.
Hard to be sure of anything, but their initial exchange suggested she wasn’t an arcane caster. That type was usually quite poor at close-up fighting. That meant she was a class that had options there—a druid or a priest? Some type of faith magic.
There was always a chance she was an exception to that arcane caster rule or even specialized in psychic or wild magic. But No Death knew even less about those. No use thinking about it. It’d be better to just make a mental note to be ready for anything.
And—since she was a dark elf, druid was far more likely.
Especially if she was related to the elf king.
Problem was—No Death didn’t really have anything good against druids. Instead, she activated one of two special abilities she’d acquired while mastering Inquisitor. This was in case the girl was a faith caster capable of using spells higher tier than anything No Death knew about.
“Denounce Heretic.”
This ability mildly increased the mana cost of spells used in No Death’s vicinity, if the priest worshipped a different god than she did. The effect would not be immediately transparent, but over a lengthy battle, the extra mana cost could add up.
She wasn’t planning on drawing this fight out, but this would help if her opponent started with high-tier spells. Using a targeted ability like this before knowing what her foe could do might mean it was a wasted move, but tricks like this really mattered only if you used them early on.
“Elemental Form: Earth.”
Another spell she’d never heard. The girl’s skin turned brown.
She could assume the visual was not the main effect. She wondered if this was her true form—if this girl had never actually been a dark elf—but there seemed no point in speculating.
In a battle to the death, questions without answers were worth caution, but not getting hung up on.
Same with magic.
She didn’t know what that spell did, so should spend minimal time thinking on it. No Death moved on to her next ability.
“Condemn Heretic.”
This was her other Inquisitor skill. It had a similar effect, the difference being that it increased the rate of spell failures. Naturally, if a spell failed, the mana used to cast it was still lost.
Since she’d activated both, she couldn’t use any other Inquisitor abilities until the effective period ran out, but that’s how it worked. It wasn’t like she lost the physical enhancements or magic-related strengths the class had given her, so that was a fair price.
No Death was going for a quick kill, so this might seem a little roundabout. She was not hoping for a lengthy battle. To her mind, there were roughly two ways a fight could go. A beatdown that just pressed your own advantage and never let a foe fight back or whittling down an opponent, watching their moves while never letting them gain an advantage.
She’d planned on going all in, but since this girl was blocking each of her attacks, that forced them into a fight where they took turns playing their cards. Frustratingly, that meant it was the girl in control of the battle flow. No Death’s only option was to go alone with that plot and try and turn the tables on her eventually.
“Er, um…I am sorry.”
Were those two spells enough, or was that all she could use? The girl offered words of apology while swinging the staff high—then it shot down with bloodcurdling speed.
No Death shuddered.
Not because of the uncanny attack speed.
This girl hadn’t meant that apology in the slightest. Neither voice nor expression betrayed any remorse. It was like she’d just been ordered to apologize. Like some kind of puppet
Don’t think!
That wasn’t what mattered here. Only the incoming attack did.
By a warrior’s standard, the attack did not pass muster. No feints, just a very basic swing.
The speed was intense, but it was easy enough to dodge or block.
No Death chose the latter. She’d see how this foe dodged and blocked, so she wanted to compare their raw physical strength.
As she thought, her scythe easily blocked the blow—
Damn!!
She thought she’d blocked it well, but it made both knees and elbows buckle. The staff forced her back and bore down on her brow.
She gritted her teeth and grunted, pushing against the dark elf. It wasn’t enough to throw this girl off balance, but her weapon did lift away.
An opening.
Keeping her eyes off the exposed waist, No Death use her martial arts.
Super Stride of Wind! Sturdy Arm, Strong Blow! Super Pierce! Greater Ability Boost! Greater Possibility Perception!
She’d specifically avoided using any earlier, saving them for this moment.
Boosting her movement speed and dexterity, enhancing all damage done, boosting pierce damage, strengthening her flesh, and honing her sixth sense.
It was all aimed at a single point.
That visibly exposed belly.
It might be a trap, but she was sure she could endure it. And she couldn’t resist the allure of maybe doing enough damage to break the deadlock and instantly change the balance of power in her favor. No Death had good reason for trying to end this quickly.
Conquering the distance between them like a bolt from the blue, leaving the sound of the wind itself behind, she rocketed toward the girl’s tender-looking navel.
Surprised by the sudden boost in speed and strength, the girl failed to block No Death’s charge in time.
She forced through unexpected resistance—this was far harder than skin—stabbing her scythe blade home.
Nice!
She couldn’t help but grin.
No Death had maxed the Executioner class. This increased the damage of any critical hits and opened up the possibility of killing foes with a single attack. She also had an ability that could deepen the wound when doing over a set amount of damage with a cutting weapon; unfortunately, this time she hadn’t used the crescent blades that spread like wings on either side but the stabbing blade at the end of the central rod, which meant that ability didn’t apply. But this attack should still have done substantial damage to the girl.
But the look of jubilation proved fleeting.
The impact made its way up the weapon to her hands…and it felt odd.
There was no familiar squish of organs slicing.
And before she learned the reason, out of the corner of her eye—she saw a shadow coming toward her head.
“Instant Reflex!”
Too late. Far too late.
For just a moment, she’d been distracted by that odd sensation. A huge blunder.
There was a hard clang.
A swing of that staff connected with her head.
She quickly used Dull Pain and then Super Stride of Wind to bound away. She jerked her scythe back out of the girl, doing more damage.
That blunt strike had broken her skin, and blood was flowing down her face. Her martial art was diminishing the pain, but even the slightest shift of her expression was agonizing. Her vision blurred.
No Death wore armor that had belonged to the wind god. Yet, she’d still taken enough damage to leave her reeling. She hadn’t taken a blow like that in recent memory.
“Heavy Recovery.”
Staying a step out of range, No Death used the highest-tier healing spell she knew. It wouldn’t fully fix her, but it should work for now. Even as she cast the spell, she looked to the girl, wary of further attacks.
And her eyes went wide.
Not only were the girl’s guts not spilling out, she wasn’t even bleeding. Proof she had hurt her was on her face—her expression twisted with pain. There was a split open in that earth-colored skin.
“Owww…,” she said, taking out a scroll and activating the spell on it. “Heal.”
A higher-tier spell than the one No Death had used.
Sixth tier! How does she have that scroll? Shit! That’ll recover all the damage I just did! I dunno how much stamina she has, but it’s pretty damn clear I came out of that exchange worse off! And the way her belly felt…far too hard. I knew it was a trap!
There must have been a spell on the belly that negated critical hits. But apparently, the thrust to the navel had left the girl in pain. It had done the trick and baited her attack but was clearly not a pleasant experience for the dark elf.
What kind of asshole designed this armor? No Death spat. If you knew it would be targeted, you oughtta include some pain resistance. This equipment was basically cursed.
Infuriated, No Death fought off the urge to muss up her hair. Didn’t want to do anything that stimulated the pain and couldn’t afford the opening.