Pride Be Damned
Even if it bruised my pride, the sloppy method was, when you thought about it, the original plan all along. It had only fallen apart because some woman with as much malice as she had in her chest had caused an accident. In other words, there was nothing I couldn't do. Just like I often did in the game, I could kill the Blesser with long-range attacks. Of course, one might ask where I even had the means for a long-range attack.
“Shannon! You’re still in there, right!”
I wasn’t sure if her attack power was any good, but at least there was one mage here capable of long-range strikes.
At my shout, a tail poked out from the window of a nearby house.
“Mr. Porter, you stay put. Get out here right now!”
She tried to wriggle her way through, whimpering. The window wasn’t open wide enough, though, and her tail slammed against the frame. Both she and the window crashed to the floor.
“Geh… geck.”
She made a sound like a dying lizard. Shannon staggered toward me, glass shards glittering in her hair.
“D-did you call…?!”
“Shannon, what long-range attack spells can you use?”
“Long-range… attack spells?”
Simple magic wouldn’t cut it. Even if the casting was slow, each hit needed real power behind it.
“Water Ball, Water Bolt, Water Cannon, Water Breath…”
Water magic had always been famous for its pathetic offensive power. True to form, every spell she listed was basic and by-the-book. Which was another way of saying they were weak compared to other schools. There was a good chance none of them would pack enough punch.
“Hmm.”
“The base power is a little low, but if you can just punch a hole through the enemy’s body, we can finish it with Water Cannon—”
“No. The problem is I can’t even make a hole in her right now.”
If I could, I would’ve carved her up ages ago. I pointed at the Blesser, who was wheezing painfully. It looked like she might choke if she swallowed water the wrong way, but reality wasn’t that convenient. There was a solid one-hundred-and-forty-percent chance the magic would fizzle out halfway.
“Given the situation, when I give the signal, bind her feet. If you can restrain her movements entirely, even better.”
“Ah… yes!”
Shannon would handle long-range support. So who was going to deliver the actual long-range attacks?
“Cheon Mari! Stop dawdling and get out here already!”
It was Mari, of course. I stared at the building she’d smashed into and vanished inside. Just as impatience started to creep in, the first-floor door creaked open. Mari walked out with a gash across her forehead, blood streaming down her face, and one eyeball dangling from its socket.
“Damn it! I really thought I could get through this without dirtying my clothes!”
She popped the eyeball back in and strolled over to my side. I gave her a look of pure pity.
“That’s why you should’ve just done the long-range sniping. Who told you to charge in like an idiot?”
“I didn’t know she’d hold up that well. If they’d been saint-types, the shock resistance limit would’ve knocked them out instantly and made this easy.”
With her eyeball fully reset, she fiddled with the hunter watch on her wrist and yanked out the depleted mana battery. Then she fished a spare from the pouch at her waist and bit her lip.
“It’s completely shattered.”
“Want to borrow mine?”
“That’d be great, thanks.”
The Blesser was still staggering, the aftereffects of coughing up blood clearly not over. Since we had a moment to reorganize, I handed it over without complaint.
“Wait, Sian?”
“Yeah?”
“This spec is different?”
She held up the battery that wouldn’t fit the watch. Only then did I realize my mistake. Mari’s was SI-unit international standard. Mine was yard-pound American standard. Different manufacturing countries. I cursed the hunter-watch maker that only operated in the States.
“Why’d you buy a different spec?”
“The company only sells watches in this spec. What else was I supposed to do?”
Of course they had their reasons. They were growing fast but still just a small-to-medium enterprise by American standards, so splitting production lines by spec was tough. It would take more time before they could fix that. I sighed at how a single intense fight had exposed every flaw in the system.
I quickly looked her over. Her shirt was completely undone from the brutal exchange, underwear fully exposed. I stared at her chest—boldly, but with genuine concern. She’d taken so many hits that massive bruises bloomed across her breasts. I poked the bruised areas with my fist, worried.
Mari gave me a sullen look.
“What are you doing? You’ve seen them plenty of times before. Suddenly got the urge to stare again?”
“I don’t feel anything, so shut up. Is your chest actually okay?”
My expression was dead serious. Mari kneaded her own chest experimentally and nodded.
“It stings a little, but I’m fine.”
“Not enough to interfere with Blood Manipulation, right?”
“No. But Blood Manipulation?”
Mari could launch long-range attacks using her superpower. It was limited because she had to use blood, but there was no doubt the power would be devastating.
“Fighting that thing up close is pointless. I’ll buy time while Shannon slows her down. You make spears and snipe her.”
“Ugh… my clothes are definitely getting ruined.”
“They’re already ruined.”
“True.”
I swallowed the last mana potion. Then I started walking toward the Blesser, who was slowly regaining her senses and glancing around.
“I’m heading in. Keep hammering her with attacks. Got it?”
There was no room for refusal. Mari immediately slashed her arm with a dagger, drawing blood. A thin, razor-sharp spear of dark crimson formed instantly. Shannon prepared her magic through self-hypnosis. Water shaped like a coiling dragon appeared in the air and shot forward. I raised my superpower as I closed in.
But the moment I got close enough, the Blesser read my movements.
“Ha! Come on then, try it again!!”
“Tsk. Her senses are annoyingly sharp.”
She moved quickly to counter. But I wasn’t alone. Shannon’s magic flew in like a gale. Translucent water wrapped around the Blesser’s legs. She sneered that something like this couldn’t possibly do anything. Yet she couldn’t move properly. She tried to lift her leg. The water held it down and forced it back to the ground. She attempted to dispel the magic, but Shannon poured everything into maintaining it and the attempt failed. That was only natural in front of a woman with innate talent for water magic.
“The World Tree cheat isn’t working so well, huh?”
“?!”
Before the Blesser, who had failed to dispel the magic, stood Sian. I began beating her mercilessly. There was no mana in my sword.
“Kyaaak! Kek! You bastards!!!”
Yet it still hurt. The pain grew stronger with every blow. I can’t use mana until the time is right! I have to endure somehow!
Until Mari created an opening. I had to keep her attention and remain an easy target. I held on with pure technique alone.
“Haaap—!!!”
Watching me, a blood spear flew in. The red spear, already thrown with raw strength, accelerated even further with my superpower. Then—thud! Despite how thin it was, it struck the Blesser’s head with a heavy impact. She groaned as she felt her power of faith cracking. But that wasn’t the end of the blood-spear assault. Another red spear flew. The one that had already hit returned to Mari’s hand. She threw the retrieved spear again. It collided with the Blesser and flew back to its master once more. The attacks came with almost no gap between them, and the accuracy was terrifyingly high. It was enough to keep her from regaining her balance, and in that state she couldn’t withstand me striking from the front with my sword. Her eyes grew dim. Even as she tried to squeeze out her power of faith, it weakened steadily. She tried to cast magic like she had earlier to escape danger, but I wasn’t stupid enough to fall for the same trick twice. The moment she extended her palm, I struck it hard with my sword. Thud! The spell slammed into the ground. Pow! My swung blade sent her jaw spinning violently. The light in her eyes died without so much as a final flicker. Finally, my attacks—which had been following her leisurely—began to feel vicious. Her once-powerful movements completely collapsed.
“Shannon, pin her down completely! Mari! One last time!”
“Okay!”
“Yes!!!”
The water swallowed her and forced her body to the ground. Mari’s thrown spear pierced through the water and embedded solidly in her torso.
“Urk—”
Her protective ability had reached its limit. I immediately poured mana into my sword. No fancy techniques. Blue particles traced a clean arc forward.
“World Tree, please grant me another—”
Shing! Her neck was severed. Everyone froze at the sight. The paralysis lasted until her head rolled across the floor and her torso collapsed. Blessings sometimes defied even death, after all. So the closest one—me—prodded the fallen body. No movement. The same with the head. She was definitely dead. The Blesser’s last wish had become nothing but overflowing greed. It was absurdly hollow, but a common end for one of her kind.
“Yeah, she’s dead.”
I said it flatly. But while my reaction was calm, the other two’s were anything but.
“Huh? Huuuuh?! She’s dead?!”
“Holy shit! We finally got her!”
Shock and relief. It was only natural—this was the first opponent in this life who had pushed all of us so hard. The magic and superpower dissipated, and both women collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.
“Still, it’s a relief she was technically lacking.”
I remained standing. As if the reality of defeating such a difficult enemy hadn’t fully hit me, I walked over to the severed head. I picked it up and checked again. The eye sockets were burned through, the insides melted. She was unmistakably dead. No one survived something like that. I let out a final sigh of relief and moved to set the head down.
That was when it happened.
◈ Two lustrous orbs
◈ Faint yet complex mixture of holy power and mana
Two brilliant beads had rolled from the empty eye sockets. A complex yet faint sensation of holy power and mana emanated from them.