“Lycoris!” Irislaevi screamed. She let go of her sword after she was already flying through the air, and her body was blown all the way outside the barrier.
“Damn it.” Both Glenn and Lycoris had been protected by their partners. If they managed to offset the impact, it was possible for them to survive damage that would kill a normal person ten times over. Immediately changing course, I moved to cover the now defenseless holy women. “Nemophila! Have the blue-haired asshole back up Irislaevi! I’ll head over to Campsis!”
Nemophila turned to me, the indifferent smile she had been looking at the giant with still on her face. “Why?”
“Huh?”
“More importantly, you should be aiming for the giant’s head, Sir Albert.” She considered her revenge more important than the lives of her comrades. After losing her partner, all she cared about was bringing as many curions as possible down with her.
“Sir Albert! I’ll protect Lady Campsis!” The moment Myra shouted at me, I immediately turned my attention to Irislaevi. I was closer to her than Myra was, but it’d be cutting it close. The giant’s fist was already coming down like a hammer on the two-story building she was standing on.
Physical Enhancement strengthened your base abilities, so for someone with a childlike physique like Irislaevi, avoiding the oncoming attack was impossible. The core concept of saints was that holy women strengthened holy knights, and holy knights protected holy women. A holy woman without a holy knight wasn’t expected to survive long.
I dashed forward with enough force to crush the stone paving beneath my feet, racing through the ruined city at a speed that left the wind behind. Jumping on top of buildings, I hurried to Irislaevi. Should I slash it? No, the building isn’t gonna hold!
That left me with only one choice. “Strengthen me more!” Euryops and Irislaevi added their own Physical Enhancements to the princess’s, increasing my speed even further. A moment before Irislaevi was pulverized, I managed to pick her up and leap to another building. As I heard the building she had just been standing on collapse behind me, I spoke to Irislaevi. “Are you all right, ma’am?”
“Albert...” She was a slim, petite woman and fit snugly in my arms. Although we’d only just met, I was truly relieved that I had been able to save her.
“I’m sure Lycoris is okay. But you need to stay alive to see for yourself.”
Her eyes moist, Irislaevi nodded. “Yeah. Thanks.”
Carrying a beautiful girl with another beautiful girl on your back wasn’t an experience you got to have very often. Looking around, I saw that Myra had managed to rescue Campsis as well.
“Nice goin’, Albert!” I heard a voice behind me. Slipping behind the giant, I jumped to the ground from the roof of a different building and finally turned around. The giant was pulling its arm out of the building it had just destroyed, yet its hand was missing. Its wrist was glowing reddish orange. It had been burned by Radiance, but Glenn hadn’t been the one to do it.
“Yeah, that’s definitely something she would do.” In our mock battle, the moment her own sword broke, she had used her partner’s to continue fighting. It was Bronze’s holy knight, Serrulata. She had replaced one of her swords with the Heavenly Sword Glenn had dropped and used it to cut off the giant’s hand.
“How do ya like that, giant?! All it takes is twelve puny humans and you’re already fallin’ apart!” Serrulata shouted, baring her sharp fangs with a smile.
Although we had to be cautious of the giant’s range, its ability wasn’t an offensive one, so we were making progress damaging it. Well, progress at the cost of two holy knights who were now out of commission. At any rate, if we could continue chipping away at the giant and eventually cut off its head, that would be good enough. Still, if it was that simple, the giant wouldn’t have survived for three hundred years. It was best to assume it still had something up its sleeve.
The Grave Keeper of the Golden City concerned me too—he had only used his powers to restrain the giant so far. Looking past the giant, I locked eyes with Nemophila. She grinned at me, though I had to assume she no longer had the ability to feel fun.
“Irislaevi.”
“I know. I’ll give you my divine protection now.” The petite holy woman in my arms had already shifted her focus without me needing to say anything. Even without her partner, she stayed focused on the task at hand. That willpower was probably something all the Twelve Saints possessed. Glenn and Lycoris were by no means weak—the Twelve Corpses were simply that dangerous.
“Thanks, but I’ve got one other favor to ask.”
“Leave that to me as well. You want me to keep Astrantia safe, right?”
“I appreciate it, ma’am.” Myra and Campsis were probably thinking the same thing I was, and we all formed up behind the giant. I set Irislaevi and the princess down.
“Albert?” the princess asked.
“Princess, I want all three of you holy women to work together from here out.”
The princess looked at me in confusion for a moment, then nodded. “You want the three of us to strengthen you, then protect you with all three of our Physical Protections when the giant targets you?”
“Exactly. Glad you’re quick on the uptake.” I looked over at Campsis, the other holy woman missing her holy knight.
Noticing my gaze, she shot me a brave smile. “There’s no sign that his protection broke. Glenn’s alive; don’t worry.”
“Yeah.” I didn’t reject her claim, but I also didn’t touch on the traces of tears around her eyes. She had shown the willingness to fight, so I would respect that.
“Sir Albert.”
“Yeah, let’s go.” At Myra’s urging, we took off running. We couldn’t afford to stand around talking forever.