We Need to Hurry
“Hmm… what should I do…”
Fration, the mage of Leo's team, drifted through the sky on his Formation of Levitation, taking stock of the situation at a glance.
Right now, Chuka Chip's team and Lily's team were locked in fierce combat.
He hadn't engineered this situation himself, but for Leo's team it was an absolute gift. While the others bled each other dry, they could grow steadily—and if Leo could simply take down that thing, victory would be all but assured.
Going by the flow of the battle alone, several players had already died and been sent into respawn queues.
“What if we push now? If they're fighting each other, this feels like our opening.”
Iron's hand crushed a Purple Knight wrapped in thick armor like a wad of paper.
Even seeing it again, the sheer mindless destructive power made him click his tongue.
Fration shook his head.
“We can't. It would be one thing if one side were finished off completely, but if we clumsily try to end one of them, we might end up treated as their ally instead.”
The Alliance Penalty.
If two teams chose not to fight each other and instead both attacked a third, the team under attack would be granted an advantage. Whether he intended it or not, if Leo's team struck either side, the team they'd originally been fighting would turn its attention to its existing enemy rather than treating Leo's team as the greater threat.
Then that team would grow stronger with the advantage buff.
With the growth lead and countless other benefits already in its pocket, Leo's team had no reason to take on that risk for nothing.
“There are only two timings worth stepping in. One is if one side becomes unable to recover—or collapses entirely.”
─Kyahaha!
…or when Leo's hunt came to an end.
The orcs who had defied death awakened.
Soldiers exhaling a powerful, sinister aura. If the undead orcs back in the fight against Nerindia had been around level 60, these were pushing level 70.
Growth-type equipment?
Or perhaps, as Yena's handling of mana grew more refined, her command over the sinister aura of Death's Echo was sharpening along with it.
Behind Yena, an orc shaman stretched out its hand.
The power it wielded was nothing less than what you'd expect from a level 80 dungeon boss.
The sinister aura welling from Yena's two eyes burned even redder.
“Whew…”
“Seems like you've made real progress.”
“Thanks to you.”
Yena's dagger moved with a vicious edge.
At the same moment, more than a hundred undead orcs came charging at me.
Yena truly had talent. Her growth potential was exceptional, and on top of her mana control, she'd become impressively adept at wielding that sinister aura as well. If she kept developing like this, she might one day be able to draw on the pendant's power and ignore even the cooldown restriction itself.
And then she could wield the abilities of sinister aura and undeath as if they were her very class.
Whoosh…
Which is exactly why it was such a shame.
“Huh?”
I would have liked to keep sparring with her a little longer.
But that's a favor I can't grant.
In a blaze of pure white light, the undead melted away.
Divinity, this tiresome power that had claimed nobility and purification since the beginning of time, passed judgment on all who defied life and death.
The divinity purified whatever evil it had arbitrarily decided was evil.
“………Huh?”
Every single one of Yena's undead was gone.
And before she knew it, I was standing behind her, where she stood frozen in a daze.
“Undead are the worst possible matchup.”
“What the…”
“Just bad luck, I'm afraid.”
My spear thrust toward Yena—
CLANG!
“...Oh?”
An arrow from far in the distance deflected my spear. Having recovered her senses, Yena vanished into the crimson mist at blinding speed.
The undead couldn't even approach me—but Yena herself was another matter.
Her sinister aura-laden dagger collided with my spear.
“Nnngh!”
“You've grown a lot these two weeks.”
The crimson aura tried to erode the spear.
But the divinity loftily repelled the intrusion of every power, and began gnawing back at the invader instead. Rather than repaying a debt or protecting anyone, it was a being that greedily crushed its enemies and cemented its own position.
Truly, there is nothing noble about divinity.
“Haaah!”
CLANG!
Yena was an assassin. Nobody understood better than she did that a contest of raw strength was hopeless.
Abandoning the power struggle at once, she stretched the sinister aura out into long threads, wrapping it around the entire area.
Any other user—or any ranker—would have struggled to even move inside that mist, let alone locate Yena within it.
“Hmm.”
But the divinity encircling me refused to tolerate so much as a touch of the sinister aura. Instead, it swept away the darkness around us and scattered light in every direction.
Shwick!
A razor-sharp stiletto grazed past my shoulder.
My body restored itself the instant the damage landed. As I'd expected, Yena slipped back into the mist to hide—
—and three arrows came flying at me.
I glanced up: a tracking mark was already etched above my head.
I spun my spear and drove it into the ground.
THRUM!
The crimson mist of sinister aura dispersed, and the divinity rose as a barrier to intercept the arrows.
But these were the Sure-Hit arrows that pierce the enemy without fail. They sailed clean over the barrier and came straight for me.
Blocking the absolute condition was still beyond me.
“Pii.”
Piii~!
A snow-white bird in the shape of a parrot took to the air—
—and bit down exactly three times, swallowing the arrows whole.
The arrows vanished without a trace.
“...!”
Raguel, flustered, nonetheless drew her bowstring with composure. There was no way I could pull that off every time.
Sure-Hit arrows carried a broken, cheat-tier effect: they always pierced their target. Even a bird that could eat a skill and copy it wholesale—this had to be—
Pii~?
Dozens of arrows came raining down.
Their raw power was diminished compared to before, but each and every one carried the Sure-Hit effect.
Pii!
But it was useless.
Gulp! Gulp-gulp-gulp!
“That's impossible…”
Because they'd already been swallowed.
Pii devoured the dozens of arrows one after another at incredible speed, then took a delighted loop around the sky before landing on my shoulder.
“H-how did you…”
─Don't misunderstand. I didn't actually digest them.
I heard Raguel's voice from far away and sent my words across on a thread of mana.
Blocking or dodging a Sure-Hit arrow was impossible. Equipment of Legendary Tier or higher could block them, but you'd still take damage—so from the moment they were loosed, there was no counterplay at all.
But a 'deferral'? That, I could arrange.
I could see it: Pii's sub-dimension, woven from divinity.
The Sure-Hit arrows, still running endlessly forward, like hamsters on a wheel. The arrows kept sprinting toward me, desperate to land their hit—but it availed them nothing.
Six rotating magic arrays and five controlling arrays were interlocked within Pii's sub-dimension, and it would keep spinning so long as my divinity did not wear away.
But the essence of the ability was always hitting the mark. Sooner or later, the arrows would find me.
By then, though, their force would be spent—and they'd be weaker than a toy arrow.
“And—”
FWOOSH!!
“Gah!”
“I told you, didn't I? You need to learn how to hide your mana.”
Yena's hand, poised for her opening, stopped dead. Her dagger had barely grazed my neck—but the price was five spears punching through her body.
“...And here I thought I'd hidden it pretty well.”
“I'll teach you more later.”
Yena was retired.
I wrenched out one of the five spears and hurled it straight at Raguel. The divinity-laden spear punched through every defensive skill she raised and ran her through on the spot.
Then I lifted my head, roughly gauging the angle the broadcast camera would be watching from. About now, the chat window would be filling up with messages like LILY! LILY! LILY! Knew I could count on Lily the Emperor lol what a legend.
Such a shame I can't read the chat mid-tournament.
I pressed a hand to my neck.
The wound had long since healed.
Twice. No—three times?
I'd fought her properly, and I'd already given up three clean hits. And that was after regaining a fragment of my strength with the divinity.
KUUUUNG!
“...We need to hurry.”
Even from this distance, the aftershock stung against my skin.
Ryzaka was being hunted.
Round 1 of the Mock Siege Battle—a torrent of simultaneous clashes unfolding faster than the broadcast could keep up with. While Chuka Chip's team and Lily's team tore into each other, Leo absorbed the cascade of buffs her teammates were pouring over her and gazed at the old adversary before her.
“Hi there!”
“Grrrrrrrrh…”
Compared to itself, a life form no larger than an ant. And yet Ryzaka had deigned to raise its colossal frame with its own two hands—to crush the insect that dared invade its lair.
SKREEEEEECH!!!
Warped scales shed a turbid light, and the torn eyes reddened with blood.
Ryzaka's mightiest attack, second only to its ultimate Ruin itself.
The Chaos Incarnate, Supreme Dragon Ryzaka, unleashes Fury!
“Hah! What are you getting mad for already?”
Leo laughed brightly as she wrapped herself in the power of countless spirits.
She vaulted skyward, weaving through the shockwave of Fury as it swept the ground ahead of her. The wind spirit sharpened her body's agility. The lightning spirit amplified her strength. The ice spirit honed her attacks to a keener edge. The earth spirit hardened her frame—and hindered Ryzaka while it was still rooted to the ground.
And then, the last one.
That stubborn, finicky spirit who had only now, through genuine enlightenment, finally allowed Spirit Descent.
The sole hidden piece obtained through the World Boss raid.
Phajik.
“Grulk?”
Spirit Descent.
The colossal being of light fused as one with Leo's body—and her mind.
“Spirit of Light.”
A blade of light severed both of Ryzaka's wings clean off.