We were ascending fast. It wouldn’t take long for us to hit the top of the barrier if it kept going. Honestly, I didn’t want to think about the impact of being sandwiched between the ice stage and an unbreakable barrier.
Oh, no, wait. This barrier stops attacks, but people can pass right through it, can’t they? Going outside the barrier counts as a ring out, so that’s probably their plan. The stage and the glacial meteor are part of Sylvia’s magic, so I’m sure they’ll have any number of ways to avoid passing through, like creating an escape route for themselves just before hitting the barrier, I thought privately.
What do you think we should prioritize, Shutola? Destroying this ice or defeating the two of them before we get flung out of the ring? I asked my partner telepathically.
::I want to say that destroying this meteor is top priority, but it seems this one’s as tough as Sylvia’s arena. My Frigid Lethal Threads are a bad match for things that are already frozen, and even if I deploy puppets now, we would need too much time. Destroying it with your Boreas Death Scythe would be ideal, but they would definitely aim for the opening they’ll see after you make the attack,:: Shutola replied.
I know you’ll protect me, Shutola, so that plan sounds viable to me, I commented.
::You know it’s impossible and you still said it? I may be able to manage one of us, but I can’t protect us both from their focused assault. I am the weakest among us,:: Shutola reminded me.
Ha ha! Sorry, sorry. Then what do we do? Aim for a quick finish? I asked.
::Jeez, I know you don’t really think that. You know such a plan isn’t reliable and you don’t want to end things too early, do you? Feel free to enjoy fighting them while breaking this ice with the aftereffects of your battle. That should be possible with Boreas Death Scythe’s range. I’ll do my best to support you, okay?::
Awesome! That’s what I was waiting for! I replied enthusiastically.
With Shutola’s permission, I happily jumped to the front of our formation. I firmly believed getting the permission of my wife first was a necessary step toward ensuring our married life was smooth. In this situation, with our enemies coming toward us, getting into melee range would be almost instantaneous if I were to run forward too—which was why I made sure to aim my Boreas Death Scythe to hit both of them before throwing out an especially large slash as a greeting.
“What a welcome! If we dodge this, won’t it hit the barrier?!” Ema shouted.
“You’re one to talk, with the surprise you whipped out right away! Also, feel free to dodge it if you can! I’ve adjusted it so it’ll disappear right before the barrier!”
“Mm, a safe plan,” Sylvia commented.
The incredible speed at which Ema spoke exemplified how great a speed we were fighting at. Meanwhile, Sylvia... Well, she was as cool and unhurried as always. At any rate, Ema used her fire-spewing greatsword as a thruster to travel along an outrageous trajectory and fling herself out of the way of the slash. Sylvia, on the other hand...
Ah, she’s not intending to dodge at all.
“This is in the way,” Sylvia said. She batted the slash away with her hand, forcing it off target. Sadly, I’d been feeling lately that Boreas Death Scythe, which should have boasted absolute destructive power, was on a trend of being dealt with too easily. I mean, I understood that against Hard, it was just a bad matchup, but I hadn’t expected it to be repeated multiple times in succession like this. Of course, experiencing such a shock during battle only made me happier!
If I remember right, Sylvia’s Unique Skill weakens the effect of magic. But I also remember her making sure to never be hit by it before. Her Unique Skill must have gotten more powerful, right? I mean, she totally nullified a Rank S spell. Ha ha! Amazing! I thought privately.
Watch out. It doesn’t look like magic will work on Sylvia at all, I warned Shutola through the Network.
::So, she’s a terrible match for us, since our main offensive strength lies in magic,:: Shutola concluded.
Yeah. Isn’t it great? I replied happily.
::Sorry to interrupt your excitement, but watch out for Ashley’s Chains of the Shunned as well. She can lock status effects in place, making them incurable. In this situation, being frozen would be terrifying,:: Shutola warned me.
Got it! I replied.
While we conversed telepathically, Sylvia made a beeline for us, throwing out a storm of thrusts with her weapon. It seemed she didn’t intend to let me swing my scythe again, as the storm showed no sign of ending. She mercilessly aimed for critical points like my head, heart, and anywhere I showed even the slightest opening with surgical precision and blinding speed, Each attack was like its own explosion of killing intent. I parried them all with my black staff, but if I missed even one, I would be finished, or at least seriously injured. Also...
“Haaahhh!”
Ema had used this chance to get behind me and was now taking an impressive swing at me. The attack boasted power unimaginable for her slight frame, with another heap of power added on thanks to the flames spewing from the sword itself. The swing itself was typical for a greatsword, and I had to think, Doesn’t this equal Gerard’s strongest attack?
“Oh, wow. I gotta say, I can’t afford to take that,” I admitted.
“Guh!”
In the blink of an eye, I whipped out the same disastrous tornado that had once decimated the elven village: a miniature version of Tempest Barrier, a Rank S Green Magic spell I had learned from Clive. Unfortunately, even with that, I couldn’t break the stage or the additional ice under it. In exchange, though, I repelled all the attacks coming at me from my two opponents. As before, I wasn’t able to damage Sylvia, but I was able to defend against her attacks. And Ema, who couldn’t nullify magic, was sent back quite far.
“Hmph,” Sylvia grunted.
I thought I heard her through all the noise of my wind barrier. Am I hearing things? No, I’m not.
It seemed she wasn’t going to hesitate, even in the face of this tornado. She poked her head through the wall of wind. “Was that a little like Ange?” she asked.
I responded with a confused noise. With her head tilted questioningly, she threw out wonderfully merciless attacks.
Oh man, I never expected her to just plunge face-first into the tornado. That’s pretty insane. Even if she doesn’t take any damage, there’s no way that applies to her weapons and armor too. It’s cool that you don’t care if they’re destroyed, but as a man, exposing yourself like that just makes me troub— Huh?
“Hey, you got changed before the stars of the show did?” I joked.
Sylvia was now inside the tornado, and her equipment was completely unscathed. In fact, she had covered herself with a layer of ice armor. It wasn’t full plate like Gerard’s but rather thin and light plating that wouldn’t impede movement. Still, it definitely provided more defense than it appeared at a glance.
“Mm, that’s not what I intended. Sorry,” Sylvia apologized.
“Ah, no, it was a joke, so you don’t need to apologize. Is that a new spell?”
“Yes. I call it Fahrenheit Goddess. It is like an extension of my Unique Skill, so my equipment is now affected by it. Also, it’s very tough,” Sylvia explained.
We continued our light conversation as we clashed inside the tornado.
I see. So it’s like when I don Hard in his Astaroth Form. Well, even if magic doesn’t work on her, physical attacks still do, so there are ways to overcome this obstacle. I could also use Divine Saber, just like I did against Hard, to— Ah, wait. It’s magic, so would it get nullified too? Hrm...it’s hard to tell.
“General Dan! I can only see a huge chunk of ice! Was there any point in me working so hard on my abilities as an announcer?!” Ronove shouted.
“Sorry, but I cannot help you with that,” Dan apologized. “But the sight of the ice being launched upward fired up the crowd a lot, so I don’t think this is a bad result?”
“It’s definitely bad! All my effooorrrt!” Ronove wailed.
Nice. It sounds like they’re having a great time down on the ground too!