Han Sua, Breaking the Limit
—Crackle…
The Ether Shield Sua had raised was being stripped away under a storm of lightning.
"Unnie, get out of the way—now!"
"But—"
—Thump!
"Gotcha!"
Juju scooped Lua up into her arms. Most of the students had already poured out through the exit. The only ones left in the gymnasium were Lua, Juju, Himari, and Sua.
"Aren't the other teachers coming?"
"Not yet—even if they left the main building right now, the distance to the gym is…!"
At Himari's words, Juju's face went deathly pale.
No choice, then.
"Juju, put me down!"
"Huh? But—!"
"I'm fighting! Help me!"
Faced with the steel in Lua's eyes, Juju set her on the floor and slipped on her gauntlets. Himari, quick on the uptake, closed her hand around her sword's hilt.
"U-Unnie, why aren't you running…!"
Getting Sua—who looked ready to collapse—out of the line of fire came first.
"Juju, switch with Sua!"
"On it!"
Juju smashed a gauntleted fist into the tentacle that had been hammering Sua.
—Squelch!
The tentacle recoiled for a moment. But true to a slime's resistance to physical attacks, there was no real damage to speak of.
"Sua, over here…!"
Breathing hard, Lua dragged Sua—who had dropped to one knee—back behind them. A mage belonged in the rear.
Juju at the front, Himari just behind her, Lua and Sua in the back. The formation was set.
—Slap!
"Ugh!"
A tentacle slammed into Juju's guard.
Diagnosis (Lv.2)
Target's Current Status: Rage, Lightning Charge (4 remaining)
It burned through four charges already.
Sua's defense must have been sturdier than expected.
A wrong note snagged in Lua's mind.
Sua shouldn't be strong enough to tank a B-class monster's focused assault on her own…
In the game, Sua had been a character you just scraped through the early stages with. Even for a short stretch, facing a B-class monster alone should have been impossible.
So how had she just done that?
—Slap!
"Ow! Teach! What do we do now?!"
Lua shoved the question aside and snapped out orders.
"H-Himari! Split the tanking with Juju! Physical attacks won't work anyway, so just focus on defense!"
"Understood…!"
Himari drew her Japanese blade and cut aside an incoming tentacle. With the stored electricity spent, the tentacles had fallen back to ordinary strikes.
—Squelch, squelch.
The slime that had slipped free of its iron cage was closing in. The nearer it came, the more tentacles lashed at Juju and Himari—and the harder they hit.
"Sua, how did you do that just now?"
"Huh? D-Do what?"
Lua grabbed Sua by the shoulders and shook her. There was no time.
"Blocking those attacks! Can you normally hold out like that?!"
Sua shook her head, looking dazed.
"N-No, I just… did it without thinking…."
"Can you do it again?"
Sua's expression firmed. She nodded.
"I'll try."
She leveled her staff toward the front. Among all the shapes a staff could take, Sua's looked almost like a conductor's baton.
"Ether Shield!"
A translucent barrier bloomed in midair, snapping into place between the tentacles and Juju.
—BOOM!
"Ugh!"
But its strength was nothing like before. Where the earlier shield had weathered four lightning-charged strikes, this one shattered under a single physical blow.
"W-Why? It was so much tougher a second ago…!"
Sua panicked. Lua's eye, though, cut coldly through what she had just seen.
That's Sua's real ability.
So what had happened the first time?
Did Sua have some latent power even Lua—who had chewed through every last percent of the game—didn't know about?
And if so, what condition did she have to meet to fire a skill that punched past her own limits?
Even in the middle of a crisis, the gamer in Lua's chest lifted its head with a little spark of curiosity.
I'm going to figure this out.
If Sua could put out that kind of power consistently, the party's mage slot was hers.
"Sua—keep casting Ether Shield until it works!"
"W-What?"
"Until you hit that same power again! Change your position, change your timing—just keep going!"
The order bordered on ruthless. Even so, Sua bit her lip and nodded. Lua was her older sister—and the healer and leader of this makeshift party.
"Ether Shield!"
—Clang!
The shield broke in a single hit again.
"Uh, how long are we just supposed to block?!"
"Teacher… please give us an attack order!"
"No. Juju, Himari—stay on defense."
Lua's voice was ice. Himari's footwork could probably cut the slime's core—but right now, she wanted Sua's ability confirmed first.
—Squelch.
"Again—the big tentacle on the right!"
"E-Ether Shield!"
—BOOM!
They tried again and again. Every attempt failed. Lua's sharp gaze rewound everything that had happened so far.
Timing? Position? Or her mental state?
"U-Unnie!"
A tentacle that had slipped over Juju and Himari's heads came whipping straight at Lua. She flung herself backward—but with her pitiful strength, the dodge was barely better than standing still.
"Ether Shield!"
—BOOM!
Sua cast on pure reflex. The translucent shield snapped into place between Lua and the tentacle—and the impact hit.
"……!"
The shield did not break.
Just like before…!
Lua's eyes went wide.
Line up the first case and this one—the common thread—and set them against every failed attempt, and—
The condition that makes Sua's skill stronger is…
Lua let out a short, disbelieving laugh.
"It's… me."
The first time, and just now—every time Lua was in danger, Sua's Ether Shield surged. That was the only common factor she could find.
"Eh… huh? I-It didn't break…?"
Judging by Sua's flustered reaction, she hadn't done it on purpose either.
In that case.
When Lua was in danger, Sua got stronger.
She had a hypothesis. Now it was time to prove it.
"Sua—prep an attack skill!"
"Ah—okay!"
Lua tore off her cumbersome white coat and, without warning, charged straight at the slime.
"Ah! Teacher!"
"Teach! That's dangerous!"
"Unnieee!"
—Whoosh!
Tentacles crashed down in an instant. Lua rolled across the floor and slipped one—but the thrust coming dead-on she couldn't dodge in time.
"Ugh!"
On pure instinct, Lua threw both arms up into a guard.
And in that same breath—
"Lightning Bolt!"
—CRACKLE!
Lightning lanced from Sua's staff and slammed into the slime. It should have been absorbed the way it had been before—
"Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt! Lightning Boooolt!"
—CRACKLE-CRACKLE!
—CRAAAAACKLE!
"Hhk…."
"Eek…."
Sua was dumping skills with terrifying force. The entire gymnasium flooded with white flashes of lightning; the superheated air convulsed and thunder rolled through the rafters.
It was less an attack than a natural disaster.
Juju, Himari, and Lua could only clap their hands over their heads and press themselves to the floor under that overwhelming pressure.
—Snap!
"Hah… hah…."
After the final Lightning Bolt detonated, Lua lifted her head.
The slime was gone without a trace. Where the monster had stood, only a few scattered blobs of gelatinous liquid remained.
The gymnasium floor was badly scorched, and a prickling charge still hung in the air.
"Unnie… a-are you okay…?"
Sua staggered toward her. Her face was ashen from drained mana, and smoke curled from the tip of her staff.
"S-Sua, you…."
"—You're all right."
The moment she confirmed Lua was safe, Sua went limp where she stood and blacked out.
"Ah!"
Lua caught her and eased her down onto the floor.
Diagnosis (Lv.2) → Diagnosis (Lv.3)
Diagnosis (Lv.3)
Target's Current Physical State: Unconscious from mana depletion
Target's Current Mental State: Stable
"I-Is she okay…?"
"Teacher, what in the world was that just now…."
Juju and Himari hurried over. Instead of answering, Lua simply held Sua's head close.
I messed up.
For no reason but to protect Lua, Sua had broken past her own limits without even realizing it.
In the game, school nurse Han Lua never ended up in real danger—so of course Lua had never known.
I had no idea she wanted to protect me this badly….
Lua lifted Sua's head and settled it on her own thigh.
Until the teachers, hastily contacted, came running into the gymnasium, her little sister slept soundly with her older sister's lap for a pillow.
"Just what is the meaning of this."
"……."
"……."
At the words of Felix Academy's Chairman, Pyo Yeonghan, the gathered teachers had nothing to say.
They had assembled in the wrecked gymnasium for the aftermath investigation.
"If it hadn't been for student Han Sua, this could have been a true disaster. Were safety regulations properly observed during the lesson?"
Under the Chairman's quiet, relentless questioning, the vice principal answered in a hesitant voice.
"W-Well… per regulations, we stationed the school nurse and the mage-position instructor as safety personnel. However, the monster turned out not to be the scheduled C-class, but a B-class."
Pyo Yeonghan's eyes sharpened.
"The safety personnel attempted to subdue it, but mistook the rank and used underpowered skills. They took a critical hit from an unexpected attack, and…."
"Who is the instructor in charge of monster research class?"
"Th-That would be me."
A teacher with a research background raised a hand and stepped forward.
"Did you not verify it before class?"
Under the Chairman's piercing stare, the teacher wilted.
"W-Well… I simply proceeded with the lesson using what the academy's operations team delivered as-is…."
"You mean you didn't even inspect what the operations team brought you? A monster, no less?"
"I-I checked the outward appearance, but… as you know, Chairman, a slime's grade is difficult to confirm by looks alone…."
"Prepare to attend a hearing."
"…Yes, sir."
The teacher withdrew with a stricken face.
Pyo Yeonghan examined the open iron cage. For an intelligent B-class slime, the flimsy lock was something it could have slipped with ease.
If it had been a simple mistake, it could be cleaned up.
But if this was someone's deliberate scheme….