The Great Six spread out in every direction.
“I’m curious to see what kind of attack you’ll use this time,” Loki said as he gleefully stared down Griffith.
“We’ll show you what we’re made of, shenmo!” Strong was the one to make the first move. With a fierce roar, he brandished his morning star and swung the massive iron sphere attached to it by chain at Loki. The hefty mass of metal made a terrifying sound as it displaced the wind around it and approached at incredible speed.
“Come now, did you forget how you failed at the same thing earlier? I told you, I’m more powerful than you,” Loki said, sounding disappointed before he raised one arm to block the iron sphere. However, when it made contact, he was shocked to find himself pushed back a few centimeters. “Well well, what’s this? You seem a little stronger than before.”
The reason for Strong’s sudden strength bump stood a small distance away from them.
“Strength Boost!” Yoshida was using ether magic to enhance Strong’s physical strength.
“The old man’s magic is only helping me a bit, but the difference between you and me is small. It’s nothing like that time against that hag, Dora!” Strong raised his iron sphere again. “Even a hint of extra strength is enough!” A loud clang echoed as he struck Loki once more.
Loki had to block with both arms this time. He grunted in annoyance, then laughed. This time, their strength was comparable. “Impressive! Very good, young man—but I’m still more powerful!”
When Loki focused more strength into his arms, he started pushing back the iron sphere step by step.
Strong followed suit, but even his best efforts weren’t enough to hold his ground. “Urgh, dammit, it’s as you said! Even with help from magic, my strength is no match for a shenmo like you.” However, he was smiling as he spoke. “But, you see, I’m not alone here.”
“O savage earth, tear the winds apart. Swallow the sun with sandy clouds.” Behind Strong, Leen chanted a spell.
At his current position, Strong would get caught up in Leen’s spell too, but he abruptly vanished from sight without making the slightest sound.
“You could bear to lose some weight, Strong.”
“This is all muscle!”
Stephan, the fastest in the entire coalition, had carried Strong away.
With her ally out of the way, Leen fired her powerful earth elemental spell. “Sandblast!”
“Magical Energy Boost!” Naturally, Yoshida was assisting this time as well, if only a fraction.
“Black Magic, Number Thirty-Five!” Loki fired a whirlpool of black mana at the impending sandstorm. The two spells collided, and once again, their strength was comparable, but Loki outdid her by a thin margin.
“I’m quite adept at magic myself! Water Element, Twenty-First Magic!” Chris added her own spell on top of Leen’s. While her role in the Great Six was to utilize her special ability, Weak Point—which allowed her to bestow weaknesses on enemies by touching them—she’d grown quite skilled at magic in the process of learning how to control her ability.
Leen’s sandstorm grew heavier with the addition of water and overpowered Loki’s spell.
“Marvelous!” Loki rejoiced as the sandstorm swallowed him up. “Hmm, yes, not bad at all.”
He’d left himself completely defenseless, so he’d taken some damage, but his injuries rapidly healed before their very eyes.
Even if we disregard his immortality, he’s sturdy, Griffith thought.
He’d taken a direct hit from Leen and Chris’s combined spell without using any kind of magical defenses, yet the damage had still been fairly low. If an ordinary demon had done the same, their body would’ve crumpled like a piece of paper. Not only was Loki immortal, his body was also incredibly robust. How exactly were they supposed to defeat such an enemy?
“Next, it’s my turn in the spotlight!” Loki said. He ran up to Leen and Chris with tremendous speed. “You seem to be gifted at magic, young ladies, but what about physical strength?” With that, he raised his fist and threw a punch at the two girls.
“Whoa there, not so fast!” Strong appeared in Loki’s way—Stephan had dropped him from the sky—and violently countered the demon.
“Oh?” Loki fell backward from the blow and soared a short distance.
“Now’s your chance, you two!” Strong shouted.
Leen and Chris fired their magic at Loki again. His prone position left him no room to react, so he took the attack head-on.
“Bwa ha ha! Good, good!” He applauded their efforts even as his body crumbled and rebuilt itself in rapid succession.
“Looks like it went through,” Stephan told Griffith after getting next to him.
“Yeah, although it wasn’t enough to break through his immortality,” he replied.
Either way... Griffith glanced over at Yoshida. His timing for using his support magic is impeccable. The effects aren’t very potent, but he casts his spells at the exact moment needed during battle, even with everyone moving helter-skelter.
Of course, if Yoshida was exceptional at ether magic, he’d have used his best support magic on them at the beginning; his performance was no doubt below average. However, the skills he’d acquired surviving the Titanomachy were plenty of help to them.
I’ll have to apologize later for telling him to stay out of this, Griffith thought. It might’ve been impossible for him to recognize Yoshida as a hero on the same standing as Alan, but the Villager was also a pioneer who’d survived the Titanomachy. That made him worthy of respect.
“Oh, I get it now,” Loki said as his gaze fell on Yoshida. “I’m not sure exactly what you’re planning, but he’s the leading actor of this funny play, right? I wonder what you’ll do if I aim for him,” he said. Without warning, he broke into a sprint toward Yoshida.
“Oh no you don’t!” Leen shouted before firing a spell at him.
Loki cackled as the spell hit him directly and didn’t slow his charge at all. Part of his body had melted, but he didn’t care—it would be restored in a matter of seconds. He soon reached the defenseless Yoshida, the one supporting the rest of the members, and unleashed his attack.
“You fell for it,” Griffith said.
Loki collided with something he couldn’t see and bounced back. “What’s this? An invisible barrier?”
“When you set up protective magic in a fixed location, it’s easier to make it more complex and powerful,” Griffith said.
Of course, the barrier wasn’t sturdy enough that Loki could never break it, but it would take him some time to crack through the unexpected obstacle.
“You’ve left yourself wide open,” Stephan said. Before Loki could notice, she’d moved behind him with Chris in tow.
“Weak Point, Blaze Element,” Chris said as she touched Loki’s back. The blood she smeared on that spot changed into the shape of a flame.
“Hmph!” Loki turned around and threw a backhand chop at Chris, but Stephan immediately whisked her out of there with her speed.
“Preparations are complete,” Lynel said.
Griffith nodded and placed his hands on the ground to activate his spell. “Onion Shell!” He formed a barrier out of countless thin mana layers stacked upon each other—not around them, but around Loki. The shenmo was now surrounded by a spherical wall.
Lynel touched the barrier, which started shining. “I gave it a reflective property. Any magic that comes into contact with the barrier will be sent back the way it came.”
“What, are you trying to keep me safe? How sweet,” Loki said with a chuckle.
“You wish, moron. You’re about to experience hell,” Strong said. “I’m not very good at all this support magic stuff, but I can use the fundamental ones. Basic Gate!”
The spell Strong used created a small, one-way wormhole that linked two locations no farther than one meter apart. It didn’t have any practical combat applications under normal circumstances, but things were different with Loki surrounded by a barrier on all sides. Using the wormhole, they could send spells directly into the barrier.
“No, you couldn’t be...” Loki had finally realized their goal.
“All-consuming hellfire, cleanse the stain of sin from this world.” Leen pointed the tip of her staff at the wormhole. “Flame Tornado!” The raging flames passed through the wormhole and into the barrier.
“Graaaaaaaaaagh!” Loki screamed.
The inside of the barrier soon became an inferno. Its walls reflected both the fire and heat, infinitely multiplying the temperature. Moreover, Chris had made Loki vulnerable against fire. No matter how abnormally sturdy a shenmo like him was, he couldn’t take such damage without batting an eyelid. The barrier obviously melted too, but every time the innermost layer of Onion Shell broke, Griffith created a new one on the outside, rinse and repeat.
“You said your skill makes you immortal, but there’s no such thing as true immortality! Every skill consumes mana when used. If we keep killing you until you run out of mana, you’ll die for good,” Griffith said. “Oh, and for the record, Leen and I have thoroughly trained to increase our mana capacity these past months, and we’ve prepared a mountain of mana-replenishment potions. Let’s see who runs out of mana first, shall we?”
Loki screamed as he became trapped in an endless cycle. The heat melted his body, which automatically reformed itself, then the process repeated, again and again.
“Hot, hot, hot, I’m burning up!” he called out. However, even when he was literally being roasted alive, he laughed. “Yes, that’s great, keep going just like that! Just kill meeeeeee!”