Subjugation of the Abyssal Kraken (2)
-SHRAAAAK!
『RAAAARGH!!!』
Ethan's blade, now empowered by my Sharp Blade buff, carved clean through one of the Kraken's arms in a massive V-shaped slash, cleaving it nearly in two.
To be precise, he'd first cut at a forty-five degree angle with the sword in his left hand, then intercepted the chunk of severed tentacle that came flying at us with the blade in his right — but whatever the process, there was no doubt his strike had landed for real. Which meant I could be certain of something else, too: from here on out, we wouldn't have to do nothing but dodge this thing's attacks.
'I almost died of sheer terror back there.'
If that blow hadn't connected, Ethan and I — both of us, together, in perfect harmony — would have been flattened like dried squid strips.
And dying that grotesquely out here in the middle of a lake? Not even Serista could have saved us. No, not even Serista's grandfather could have. Our weekend date would have ended in a spectacular, catastrophic death, plain and simple.
It was a mercy that Ethan had trusted me and swung his swords with everything he had. If he'd held back even a little, the buff alone would never have carried enough power.
'They say buff magic works better the deeper the trust between caster and target… which means….'
The thought that flashed through my mind nearly derailed me for a moment, but I forced myself to focus on the battle in front of us.
Wherever my relationship with Ethan might go in the future, the far more pressing question was whether Ethan and I were going to survive this fight.
I had clawed my way into the Academy against all odds — there was no way I was dying here to some event boss of all things.
"Ah… aaah…?"
Meanwhile, Ethan stood frozen with his swords still raised, apparently unable to believe he'd actually sliced off a slab of that enormous tentacle.
I shouted at the top of my lungs at his dopey, vacant face to snap him out of it.
"Snap out of it, Ethan! Is this really the time to be standing around with your mouth hanging open?!"
"R-right, sorry!"
"Burn that feeling into your memory! While I'm maintaining your support magic, you can cut through that thick tentacle two more times!"
"Two? So I've got one more strike after this?!"
"You just cut with both swords at once a second ago! That's one strike gone, so from now on, use only one blade per attack!"
"G-got it! I'll be careful!"
The whole advantage of dual-wielding was the sheer destructive power of attacking with two blades at once — which made it, in a number of ways, a poor fit for support magic that counted "number of cuts."
A buff like Sharp Blade, which amplified the next n strikes, effectively consumed charges twice as fast when you swung both swords simultaneously.
And since identical support magic didn't stack in this system, every single strike had to be spent carefully. I simply hadn't had the time to explain all that before, given how desperate things had been.
'Still, now that he's actually cut one down, he'll have more confidence swinging a single blade next time.'
At the very least, I judged he wouldn't just stand there gawking at an incoming tentacle again.
He was Harold's son, after all. He'd better have that much grit.
Of course, even with my buff, Ethan's current abilities made actually beheading this Kraken all but impossible — and for me, who had neither daggers nor spirits to fall back on, there was only one viable means of attack left.
So the best I could do was simply tell him to follow my lead and pray he did.
"Ethan, of everything we can use right now, the only thing capable of killing that monster is Mana Blast."
"Mana Blast — you mean that spell where you hurl that enormous sphere of mana?"
"Yes. So while I gather mana to cast it, Ethan, you—"
"—Buy time against that thing? Leave it to me, Lilith."
"…Yes. Exactly."
He understood before I'd even finished the sentence.
And the way he nodded without a moment's hesitation — even though I was openly asking him to take on the most dangerous role — that, too.
Not that I intended to send him out to stall bare-handed with no safety net, so I cast Sharp Blade on him once more—
"Look out, Lilith!"
"Hugyaaaagh?!"
-WHOOOOSH!
Ethan yanked me into his arms and threw us both flat against the water's surface just as a Kraken tentacle skimmed past us by a hair's breadth.
It had come flying from behind, so I hadn't seen it in time. Not that it helped that I'd let my guard down, admittedly.
"Th-thank you, Ethan."
"Stay sharp, Lilith. You have to land that Mana Blast if we're going to bring this thing down, remember?"
"…Right."
He was right. If I died here in some absurd accident, then with near certainty, Ethan would die too.
Me, I could shrug off — this second life was something I'd stumbled into unasked, after all. But not Ethan.
In every other worldline, he'd been nothing but a villain, a repulsive character — this was the first time he'd ever gotten the chance to live a real life.
It would be an unforgivable waste to let him die in a place like this.
"Like I said — two strikes. Use them carefully."
"……Yeah."
A faint shroud of mana rose around Ethan's body as my support magic settled into place, and I rose to my feet and immediately began chanting toward the colossal monster before us.
Mana Blast.
-WHIIINE!
The instant I started the incantation, the Kraken came crashing down at me with its next attack.
Every fiber of me wanted to cancel the spell mid-chant and bolt — but Mana Blast was not a spell you could abandon halfway through once begun.
And I had committed, once and for all, to trusting Ethan. I couldn't stop here.
-SHRAAAK!
『GUOOOOOH…!!』
The tentacle lunged at me the moment my chant began, and Ethan was forced to burn the first strike shielding me from it.
The first of two charges, wasted — and I hadn't even chanted a quarter of the spell yet.
Granted, if I'd held out hoping for a "better moment," the extra mana cost of keeping Water Walking running would only have ballooned. For the sake of a stable, maximum-power Mana Blast, it had been the only choice I could make.
Fortunately, this enormous Kraken — which had already lost pieces of itself several times over — grew wary the instant that attack landed, and hesitated before its next strike.
And that hesitation bought me just a little more time to stretch out my incantation.
"…O all mana within me! O pure power…!"
'Just a little more!'
In my mind, I drew in every last drop of mana I possessed as the Mana Blast took shape.
As my chant lengthened, the sphere of condensed mana gathering above my head swelled larger and larger.
I was roughly three-quarters through the incantation when the sound of a second severing rang out beside my ear once more.
-SHRAAAAK!
『RAAAARGH…!!』
'…That's the second one.'
So with that, every last charge of the support magic I'd given Ethan was spent.
It had been close. As long as the thing didn't suddenly do something erratic, it wouldn't have been strange for my spell to finish first, just barely.
Whether by razor-thin luck or careful arithmetic, I managed to complete the spell I was chanting right before its next attack could come flying in.
With the final words of the incantation, the massive orb of mana in my hand was hurled straight at the Abyssal Kraken.
"…Be released! Mana Blast!!"
-VMMMMMM!!!
…And at that very same instant — the monster's final attack, flying directly at me.
It wasn't aiming for Ethan. It was coming for me, precisely and unerringly, which meant dodging it with a sidestep or diving into the water was simply not on the table.
I'd made it to Level 12 in my own way, so with enough luck I might just barely survive a single hit… honestly, though, hoping for that much was basically praying for a miracle.
Well. Nothing to be done about it. This plan had been half-baked from the moment I conceived it — I hadn't exactly come prepared to fight this thing in the first place.
I'd started this battle thinking that at worst, we could take the monster down with us. If only one of the two of us had to die instead, that was honestly the better outcome.
"LILITH!!"
"……."
…Looks like I won't be able to give you an answer to your confession after all.
If I'd known it would end like this, I should have told you yes — even as a lie.
No… if I'd just given Ethan what he wanted from the start, saintess's power or no, maybe I'd feel at least a little less guilty.
If I had to die anyway, I hoped it would be instant, painless — and with my heart settled on that thought, a figure suddenly stepped between me and death itself.
…It took me a beat longer to realize that the shadow blocking my view was Ethan's.
-CLAAAANG!!
"…Ethan?"
He should have used up both of his remaining strikes — and yet here he stood, boldly planted in front of me, meeting the tentacle head-on with both blades.
His recklessness was enough to make me wonder, for a split second, whether I'd miscounted the charges.
But there was no glimmer of Sharp Blade's light left on the swords Ethan was swinging before my eyes.
Swords in both hands, squared up against the sucker-laden bulk of a legendary boss monster — Ethan had never looked more serious.
…What stunned me even more than that, though, was the fact that Ethan was deflecting the Kraken's tentacle.
"………Huh?"
My brain flatlined at the impossible sight unfolding in front of me.
Yes, the thing had already taken some damage over the course of our fight — but even so, Ethan as he was now should never have been able to withstand its attack.
And yet, contrary to every calculation, there he was, drenched in sweat, turning aside that enormous tentacle with a pair of swords.
And from the edges of those blades, an aura like blue flames flickered and leaked out in intermittent bursts.
Wait. Aura of that color… no way.
'Ethan, don't tell me you've already reached Expert—'
-KABOOOOOOOM!!!
The instant that stray thought flickered across my mind, a colossal explosion tore through the Kraken's body at its core.
In the same moment, the tentacle that had been bearing down on Ethan and me went hurtling into the air as the creature's main body lost its balance and collapsed.
"We… we made it…."
-SPLOOOOSH!
"…Urkgh?!"
Oh, right. I don't have any mana left for Water Walking.
…I'm screwed. I can't swim.