An Extremely Ordinary Group Assignment (14)
While the trio tracking Chrome and Ligret wrestled with mounting anxiety and disbelief, Chrome’s own thoughts were far from at ease.
Damn it. If the princess actually takes out Alphonse or that Grendel bastard and then gets eliminated herself, we’re finished.
He briefly regretted not finishing Alphonse’s group off on the spot, yet he knew with cold clarity that continuing the fight there would have left both sides devoured by Lyla’s team. All he could do now was pray Alphonse’s side bought them even a little more time.
“Ligret! Distance to the goal?”
“Almost there!”
“Then I’ll hold them here, so you—”
The rest of the sentence—go on ahead—never left his mouth.
Kwaaaaang!
An explosion tore through the air, accompanied by a blinding flash. The moment the ground tremor rolled in from nearby, a massive, muscular figure burst from the underbrush.
“Guoooooo!”
Grendel’s condition was dire at a glance. His right hand was crushed beyond recognition. His bronze skin was riddled with lacerations and burns, wooden splinters jutting from his back. The beastly roar died in his throat as he spotted Chrome and Ligret—then suddenly charged straight at them.
The pair instinctively tightened their grips on their weapons, but Grendel ignored them completely and barreled past, hurling himself at the princess team’s trio closing in from behind.
“You animal! How dare you!”
The female knight’s three blades flashed like lightning. The elegant, practiced arcs she had carved into muscle memory countless times. She was certain the strike would sever Grendel’s outstretched left arm in a single cut—until the result widened her eyes in shock.
Blood sprayed. Flesh parted beneath the edge. But that was all. The steel blade had sunk a third of the way into the log-thick arm before stopping short of bone. In return, Grendel’s brutal hand clamped around the knight’s throat.
A sickening crunch echoed. Her arms fell limp.
Had the two mages behind her unleashed offensive spells immediately, the already-wounded Grendel would have had no time to react. But the gruesome sound in their ears and the horrific sight before them froze them for a fatal instant—an opening far too critical in front of a wounded predator.
Faster than the knight’s bracelet could teleport her fallen body, Grendel’s kick slammed into the young mage’s chest. The impact was like a boulder hurled at full speed. Ribs shattered. Heart and organs pulped instantly.
In that razor-thin moment between death and pain, the bracelet activated before his brain could register agony. He lost consciousness without ever feeling his insides turned to minced meat.
“Hik!”
The robed girl screamed at the sight of Grendel’s eyes locking onto her. Any awareness that this was merely a school exercise, that her fallen comrades hadn’t truly died, had already vanished from her mind.
She collapsed without even thinking to raise a shield. Grendel showed no mercy, swinging his iron fist down. The girl squeezed her eyes shut.
—Right then, instead of the crushing blow she expected, a savage gale ripped past her.
A swarm of magic bullets danced toward Grendel. Each one resembled the basic Low-tier Mana Arrow, yet the mana density packed inside was nearly ten times greater. And there were dozens of them.
⟨ Low-tier Mana Arrow ⟩
Grendel would have brushed off ordinary arrows as mere scratches, but even he could not withstand this barrage unscathed. The bracelet whisked him away just as the impacts turned him into a collapsing mass of blood and pulp. The robed girl sat stunned until Lyla Everblaze Barhart gently stroked her hair.
“I’m sorry. I was late.”
“P-Princess…!”
Watching from a distance, Chrome let out an impressed whistle.
“Wow. She really does look like the main character on stage.”
“Staring’s fine, but shouldn’t we be running?”
Ligret gave him a look that said she couldn’t believe him. Chrome shrugged.
“With those insane magic bullets raining down from behind, you think we can still reach the goal?”
“…Fair point.”
Once the robed girl had somewhat regained her composure, Lyla turned her gaze toward them.
“Well then. Shall we bring this to a close? Chrome.”
Chrome called out, “The finish line’s right in front of us anyway. How about a gentlemanly footrace?”
Lyla smiled elegantly. “I’m afraid my legs are rather slow, Chrome. If I truly wish to compete, I must employ a small trick to make the path a little more… accommodating.”
It was a terrifying declaration—she intended to flatten every obstacle in her way into level ground. Even if people happened to be standing between those obstacles, the result would be the same.
“Then I guess… we have no choice!”
The instant the words left his mouth, Chrome vanished into the trees. Ligret exploded forward toward Lyla. Her speed was hard to believe after running nearly nonstop all day.
If Grendel’s earlier rampage had resembled a wounded bear, Ligret sprinting through the underbrush was a wolf on the hunt. The distance between them—once far enough that voices could barely carry—closed in the blink of an eye. Before the robed girl could even call out a warning, the Ancient Guardian’s Greatsword in Ligret’s hands descended toward the crown of Lyla’s head.
Clang!
A sharp metallic ring. A translucent barrier had unfolded at some point to protect Lyla, stopping what should have been a lethal blow.
The strange sensation of striking a thick wall with a blade made Ligret’s brow furrow. To Lyla, however, the outcome was only natural.
Defensive Power: Literal iron wall. Impossible to breach with cold weapons.
The defensive capability of a High-tier Mana Barrier was, quite literally, an iron wall. Breaking through it with ordinary melee weapons was impossible—which also proved that no amount of martial prowess could ever defeat Lyla.
She’s probably trying to draw my attention while Chrome picks off the others and escapes…
There was no need to pay attention to an opponent who posed no threat. The only things that could threaten Lyla were the various magical tools Chrome kept producing. They weren’t common items, but if he possessed an Attribute Gem capable of replicating high-tier spell effects, even she might be caught off guard.
Most of Lyla’s focus was locked on the forest, anticipating Chrome’s ambush. Because of that, she failed to realize exactly what kind of existence she was currently facing.
Ligret swapped the Ancient Guardian’s Greatsword for the Impact Amplification Hammer.
Full weight and centrifugal force behind a single devastating blow.
The hammer slammed into the barrier. This time a roar like an explosion erupted. A section of the barrier had been faintly damaged. Lyla’s eyes widened slightly.
That had been respectable power. Roughly equivalent to two mid-tier spells. Impressive for a simple hammer swing—yet still only that much.
A High-tier Mana Barrier required at least five hundred mana. To an ordinary mage it would be a trump card, but to Lyla, who held over eight thousand, it was merely a convenient support technique. Even if it broke, she could simply retreat a step and recast it. Moreover, striking it meant absorbing the corresponding recoil.
Whether Ligret’s body or the hammer would break first was obvious. She would surely exhaust herself long before the barrier fell—
Kuuuung!Crack!
A visible, massive fracture spiderwebbed across the proud iron wall of magic.
The power was too obvious to dismiss as a fluke. Lyla’s eyes flew wide, and the next instant that surprise turned to pure shock.
The third swing. A huge arc descended from upper right to lower left and detonated. The inside of the mana barrier bounced violently, as if struck by a cannonball.
The Mid-tier Mana Hammer she had cast on pure reflex collided with Ligret’s attack, sending the girl flying backward. Not a single scratch appeared on Lyla’s body—yet the mental shock she received was beyond words.
“…Did you just break a High-tier Mana Barrier? With nothing but a hammer?”
The question dripped with denial. Ligret, who had flipped lightly through the air to land, answered in her usual lazy monotone.
“Barrier, wall—doesn’t matter. Hit it enough and it breaks. Simple.”
It was, of course, complete nonsense. If things worked that way, why would anyone need siege engines? Why focus on breaching gates? Just hand every soldier a hammer and tell them to hit the wall three times.
Yet the fact that such absurdity could be made real was precisely why high-ranking mana users were called superhuman. Beings who shattered common sense, limits, and preconceptions through sheer personal power—human in appearance, yet far beyond humanity.
Just as Lyla Everblaze Barhart herself was one, perhaps the girl before her was as well.
Lyla asked, voice dignified.
“I am Lyla. May I ask your name once more?”
Ligret answered, blunt and cold.
“Ligret. The one who’s going to smash you to pieces.”