Chapter 313: The Tin Knight and the Meaning of the Sacred Treasures (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 313: The Tin Knight and the Meaning of the Sacred Treasures (5)
The Tin Knight and the white knight.
Adelaide and Alonso.
While these two different types of warriors were each showcasing their martial prowess, the witches were not standing idle.
In particular, Gale’s attacks, aimed at Dorothea, could only be described as ferocious.
“It won’t be like last time!”
Tap.
With the sound of a heel striking the ground, Gale vanished.
When the white witch reappeared, it was directly in front of Dorothea.
“Tch…!”
Dorothea, who had been expecting a surprise attack from behind or above, was a beat too slow to react—a fatal opening in a battle between experts.
Just as Gale’s staff, imbued with ominous mana, swung toward Dorothea, her own staff moved to protect its master.
Vwoooom!
A circular barrier materialized in an instant.
However, the white witch had anticipated even this.
A single word appeared on Gale’s staff.
Shatter.
The moment it made contact with the staff, the barrier, despite its immense strength, shattered in vain. Gale’s staff struck Dorothea’s body directly.
Boom! Dorothea was sent flying backward like a pebble.
But Gale, far from confidently declaring victory and bowing to the audience, immediately altered the word on her staff and launched into another combination attack.
Flame. Converge. Radiate.
A ball of fire, compressed into a small sphere before Gale’s eyes, burst forth the instant it touched her staff.
The audience, feeling the immense heat even from dozens of meters away, marveled that it was like the breath of a legendary dragon. Of course, the one on the receiving end had no such leisure to appreciate the technique.
She’s relentless! Seriously… if you’re going to send someone flying, isn’t it common decency to at least check on them?
Dorothea had barely avoided a fatal blow by hastily pulling out the rope made from Rapunzel’s hair with her Gloves of Haider. Now, facing a terrifying flame that looked capable of incinerating not just a person but an entire house, she cursed inwardly.
She could have understood if Gale was growling about killing her outright, but the crazy part about this white witch was her absolute certainty that Dorothea wouldn't die from such an attack.
Dorothea was annoyed, but there was nothing she could do. She couldn't just let herself be roasted alive to defy her opponent's expectations.
Gritting her teeth, Dorothea summoned another catalyst and poured her mana into it.
《─■■■■■!!》
The terrifying skull of a troll, its head alone easily eight times the size of a human’s, absorbed Dorothea’s mana and the dense, dark energy of the spirits, manifesting its flesh.
Overwhelming regenerative ability and a cold that could freeze the very bones of anyone it touched.
The ice troll, having withstood Gale’s fire attack, fixed its gaze directly on the white witch.
It was just as Dorothea was about to order the troll to attack.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ shouts at you to get down!]
It’s been said time and again, but an ordinary person can’t just instantly follow a command that pops into their head without warning, telling them to ‘Do XX right now!’
Pulling off a sudden jumping, spinning uppercut on someone just because you were told to input →↓↘P is the kind of thing only a character with broken reaction speed, like a certain little lion, could manage.
But once in a blue moon, it could work out by chance. That one stroke of luck saved Dorothea.
Whoosh!
Dorothea tumbled forward just in the nick of time. A pale, white hand swept through the space where her neck had just been.
As Dorothea rolled forward, her spinning vision caught a glimpse of Camilla looking down at her, an expression of annoyance on her face as if she were about to click her tongue.
There was no time to think about what might have happened if she had remained standing.
Camilla immediately raised her leg, intending to stomp down on Dorothea’s body.
However, her foot twitched and stopped just before it reached Dorothea.
A blindingly pure and holy light had erupted from around Dorothea’s body.
Sizzle! Camilla’s body smoked and burned where the light touched it.
“Kuh!”
Dorothea didn’t bother looking for Sophia, who had to be extending a hand from somewhere. In any physical confrontation, there was no way Sophia would ever be in danger.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ shouts at you to roll to the right!]
Perhaps because she was prepared this time, Dorothea executed the Tin Knight’s command instantly.
Sure enough, Gale, who had teleported above her, came crashing down.
Fall. Impact. Weight.
Craaaaaash!
A massive crater, not much smaller than the one Adelaide had made, was formed.
If not for the power of Protection in her staff, the sheer force of the indirect shockwave alone would have ruptured her internal organs, let alone a direct hit.
But Dorothea wasn't just taking the abuse.
《─■■■■■!!》
The Ice Troll Zombie, perhaps realizing a moment too late that it had been ignored, roared in anger and threw a punch at Gale.
Gale didn’t bother to fight back.
Camilla, who had appeared out of nowhere, blocked the ice troll’s punch with a single hand.
Crack!
Even as she took the full-force punch from the massive troll, Camilla didn’t budge an inch.
According to legend, vampires, considered the magic beasts of magic beasts, had several distinct traits.
Blood-sucking. Transformation. Charm. And, superhuman strength.
“Stop being a nuisance and disappear.”
《─■■■!?>》
With pure physical strength, Camilla lifted the troll and hurled it with all her might in Sophia’s direction.
The enormous body slammed down on Sophia, and a gruesome crunching sound echoed from beneath it.
However, Dorothea wasn't just standing by idly.
Tatak!
Scurry, scurry, scurry.
A swarm of dozens of bone mice charged toward Gale and Camilla all at once.
For an ordinary young lady, it would have been a terrifying sight straight out of a nightmare. But for two of the most powerful women on the continent, a messy swarm of undead mice was hardly a threat.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
That is, if the mice weren't all carrying curse bombs in their mouths.
Camilla quickly tried to retreat by turning into mist, while Gale kicked off the ground with her heels.
At almost the same instant, dozens of curse bombs detonated simultaneously.
BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM!
“What is this…!”
Camilla, having escaped the epicenter in her mist form, staggered and dropped to one knee.
As a high-ranking vampire, she was nearly immune to most physical attacks, but these bombs were weapons whose primary component was a curse, not pure physical force.
Fever, chills, paralysis, dizziness, itching, pain. All sorts of negative symptoms afflicted Camilla’s body, worsening her condition.
It wasn’t enough to render her unable to fight, but she would need a few moments to catch her breath and recover.
The fact that she was fighting under the sun, which drained her power more intensely, also played a part.
“You’re not as easy as you look!”
Meanwhile, Gale wasn’t in great shape either.
Although she had instantly moved outside the blast radius, just being grazed by the curse for a moment had caused all sorts of adverse effects on her body. The fact that she could even speak with a smile was a feat in itself.
However, an Enchantress might often lack raw power, but they never lacked for methods.
And for a genius like Gale, whose power was also immense, her adaptability was nearly omnipotent.
Dispel. Dispel. Dispel.
By layering three enchantment spells on herself, the malevolent energy eating away at her body vanished in an instant.
Watching Gale’s complexion return to normal, Dorothea clicked her tongue.
A direct fight is a losing battle.
It wasn't purely a matter of their respective schools of magic being a bad match-up.
Gale might be putting on a firepower show now, but compared to Algind Goodwitch, who was practically a one-woman artillery unit, it wasn't so overwhelming that it couldn't be handled with a horde of undead. The problem was that damned pair of shoes; even if she summoned undead, they couldn't block the front lines, leaving her rear completely exposed.
But more than that, Gale was overwhelmingly superior in terms of basic combat sense.
Dorothea might go around clanking on the Tin Knight for fun, but that was possible because it was more like a joke or a form of communication between comrades. It didn't mean she could actually beat down martial artists with a staff.
She had mana overflowing, so she could use sword energy, staff energy, or body enhancements as she pleased, but she lacked the combat sense or reaction speed to make use of them.
Dorothea glanced around the battlefield.
The Tin Knight was steadily overwhelming the white knight. Adelaide was hard to see through the thick dust storm, but it didn't look like she was losing.
As for Sophia, she couldn't be expected to contribute much in terms of combat power anyway. If she could occasionally trip up Camilla, that alone would be a blessing.
The conclusion was clear.
If I can hold out until he demolishes the white knight and comes back, I win. If Gale gets me before that, she wins.
Countless strategies surfaced in Dorothea’s mind only to be discarded.
Hiding inside a barrier—she was confident in its pure durability, but that Gale girl would just use some anti-barrier concept to break it like before. Canceled.
Spreading a curse like a fog for a wide-area attack—she’d get beaten to a pulp before the fog even spread properly. Canceled.
Summoning the Jabberwock—not something to bring out with so many spectators, and there was no way Gale, who already knew of its existence, hadn't prepared a countermeasure. Canceled.
In the end, it’s a matter of the sacred treasures.
The main reason that Gale girl could run wild like this was the Shoes of Borealis. Decondra's Bracelet, while not affecting Dorothea directly, was also being used effectively to strengthen both Alonso and the white knight simultaneously.
In other words, Gale was actively using the two sacred treasures she possessed in battle.
But what about Dorothea?
The Chalice of Tuberose and the Belt of Amaryllis were being used by her comrades, so they were out of the question. But even among the sacred treasures she herself possessed, many were being left to rot, unused.
The Key of Opium was one, and the Pouch of Lilium was another.
The only one she was really using was the Gloves of Haider to quickly pull out catalysts.
But. She had one.
One that was useful in battle. No, a sacred treasure that made you wonder what else it could possibly be used for besides battle.
Dorothea slipped the Ring of Dracaena onto her finger and aimed her palm at Gale.
Immediately after about thirty percent of Dorothea’s total mana was drained and absorbed into the ring.
SHWAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
A tremendous torrent of mana erupted from the ring, literally wiping a small mountain off the map.
“...Huh?”
Dorothea was dumbfounded. Seeing this, the Tin Knight went wild for some reason.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ cheers, calling it a real-life destruction beam!!]