VS CATS (2)
My palm was merely resting against Furia's shield. Beyond that single point of contact, nothing else had changed. There was no explosion, no shockwave, no dramatic burst of power. Furia's shield remained completely unscathed. The only thing that had vanished was the Cheonma Repulsor. To anyone watching, it probably looked like I'd simply walked up and placed my hand on it.
I examined the situation more closely. That's when I noticed a golden barrier wrapped around the shield, visible only in my field of vision. It was a completely different color from the white defensive field he'd used throughout the main tournament. Even the aura it gave off felt fundamentally different.
While I stood there stunned, Furia swung his shield at me. I quickly retreated to gain distance. Seeing the bewilderment on my face, he declared in a voice dripping with confidence.
"What the fuck is this?"
Still unable to hide my shock, I watched as Furia puffed out his chest like he'd already won.
"What makes you so sure?"
"Haaah!!!! Why are you just blurting out all your weaknesses like an idiot, nya!!!"
Caersi, who had been busy smashing through summons, whirled on Furia with an angry hiss.
"Ah! I fell for it again!"
"Again my ass! You're the one who kept running your mouth, nya!!!!!"
Jung Ayeon's summons had been irritating her enough already. Her face was already twisted with irritation, and now her idiot subordinate had made it worse by handing out critical information. She was practically hysterical. But with the summons still swarming her, she couldn't spare the time to kick the holy knight and had to focus on eliminating the creatures first.
Separately from that little comedy show, my situation had become genuinely troublesome. The Cheonma Repulsor was completely ineffective. This was the worst-case scenario. I'd have to break through using pure physical force.
Can you break that shield?
It doesn't look like any of my current weapons can do it.
Furia's shield was proper holy knight equipment. It was thick, sturdy, and clearly not something that would shatter from ordinary strikes.
"Keep talking like that and I'll start by ripping your beard out."
At that exact moment, something changed on Furia's smugly presented shield.
- KWAANG!!!!!!!!!!!
Something flew in with a deafening roar and smashed directly into Furia's shield. The object in question was none other than—
"Nabi!!!!"
"Kyaaaak!!! Our Nabi is finished, nya!!!"
It was the lion. Its once-beautiful golden fur was now completely drenched in blood. Every tooth and claw was broken. It was so exhausted that not even a groan escaped its mouth. Only the faint, thready sound of its breathing proved it was still clinging to life.
Just from that single glimpse, I could tell how brutal the fight against the white bear must have been. At that moment, the white bear appeared beside me and spat loudly.
The white bear was breathing hard, its eyes unfocused. The state of unconscious extreme had already worn off, returning it to normal. Even so, it still radiated the will to fight.
"Good work."
As a reward, I pulled out a cola and handed it over. The white bear drank half of it, then asked if it was Coca-Cola.
"No, it's Pepsi."
The white bear shot me a look of pure fury. It was a perfectly logical complaint. As an advertising model, it couldn't be seen consuming a rival product. I apologized with genuine remorse.
"Ah, fuck. I didn't realize. Sorry."
The white bear warned me to be more careful next time and finished the cola. Since it wasn't officially the model yet, the action was still permissible.
Meanwhile, the lion that had crashed into Furia's shield slowly pushed itself up. It mumbled something, lowered its head, and lost consciousness.
"No!! Nabi!!!"
"This cannot be, nya!!!"
Both Caersi and Furia wailed at the sight of the lion's final moments. Their grief instantly transformed into burning rage.
Furia's eyes blazed with a murderous intensity far beyond what he'd shown before. Meanwhile, Caersi looked at me with tear-filled eyes.
"What did our Nabi say at the very end, nya?"
"Oh, that."
I relayed the lion's last words without embellishment.
"He said not to steal his special meal anymore. He couldn't eat properly, so he didn't have the strength to win."
Furia suddenly exploded with rage toward me. At that moment, the collapsed lion rose up, gathered the last of its strength, roared, and swung its paw at Furia. Furia raised his shield to block it, then kicked the lion away. It was an utterly pathetic display, even in the face of the lion's final act.
"He says I got it right."
"You fucking idiot nya!!! So that's why you were acting crazy after eating everything, nya!!!"
"Aaaack!! I'm sorry!!!"
Furia was once again getting his shin mercilessly kicked by Caersi. She took a moment to steady her ragged breathing before issuing a stern warning.
"You bastard!! Come at me right now!!"
"Stop dodging the question and answer me properly, nya!!!"
"You bastard!!!!!"
- KANG!!!!!!!!!!
The cat paw Caersi had manifested slammed into Furia's head. A clear metallic ring echoed from his skull.
I could see it clearly. The lion's final strike had left a small crack in Furia's shield.
I quietly explained a simple strategy to Jung Ayeon and the white bear. It didn't take long to coordinate. We moved immediately.
As planned, Jung Ayeon summoned creatures to attack Furia and Caersi from behind.
Caersi manifested her cat paws and swept them in a wide horizontal arc, smashing most of the summons aside. She then turned toward Jung Ayeon with clear irritation.
Caersi began swinging her cat paws at Jung Ayeon. Even as the remaining summons tore into her, she ignored them completely and focused solely on the silver-rank student. Caught completely off guard by the sudden counterattack, Jung Ayeon was flailing in panic.
Deciding she wouldn't be able to dodge in time, I quickly stripped off my Defensive Coat and threw it to her.
"Jung Ayeon! Use this to block!"
"My thanks!"
Just before Caersi's attack landed, Jung Ayeon managed to clumsily pull the coat over herself. Protected by the Defensive Coat, she endured the assault while continuing to summon creatures that slowly chipped away at Caersi.
While the two of them were locked in their exchange, I charged straight at Furia. He raised his shield and shouted in a mocking tone.
"I'll know once I hit it!"
I manifested a mace in each hand, specifically to shatter the shield. Before entering the range of Furia's spear, I hurled the left mace straight at his shield. Furia flicked his shield sideways with minimal movement, refusing to allow even a single hit.
"Exactly where I wanted."
The mace that had sliced through empty air arrived at the perfect spot, right in front of the white bear. The bear, which had already slipped into Furia's blind spot, caught the flying mace and brought it down with all its strength onto the shield.
- CRACK!!!!
The mace shattered in a single blow, but the crack on Furia's shield grew noticeably larger. Excited by the result, the white bear tried to press the advantage with a reckless follow-up attack. Furia didn't miss the opening. He calmly took three steps and thrust his spear forward.
"Hey! Dodge it!"
Despite my desperate shout, the white bear became a victim of the spear. Even so, it helped me until the very end by gripping the weapon tightly so Furia couldn't withdraw it. I accelerated, refusing to waste its sacrifice.
While Furia struggled to pull his spear free, I dashed past the white bear and arrived directly in front of the shield. Furia's eyes widened in panic.
"This is our advertising model's share!!!"
I swung the mace with blinding speed, hammering Furia's shield repeatedly. The shield was indeed incredibly tough. Even when I struck with full power, the cracks barely widened while my mace shattered instead.
But I couldn't stop. Not while the white bear was still holding the spear in place. I circulated mana through both arms and unleashed a relentless barrage of strikes.
- Boom!Boom!Boom!Boom!
The cracks were slowly but surely spreading. Realizing the danger, Furia released the spear, kicked its handle to drive it deeper into the white bear, and tried to retreat. The white bear collapsed, but its face wore an expression of deep satisfaction.
I tried to close the distance again, but—
"Young master! Watch out!"
"Hey! The aggro just got pulled over here! Fuck!"
Caersi's attack suddenly changed targets to me. I had no choice but to stop moving to evade it. In that brief window, Furia created enough distance to regroup with Caersi.
"Can you still move, nya?"
"There is no problem."
Caersi's condition looked terrible. Wounds from the summons covered her body, and exhaustion was written plainly across her face. Even so, she hadn't given up. With clear hunger for victory in her eyes, she issued an order to Furia.
The atmosphere around the pair had completely changed. Their solemn, resolute expressions made them look like they were preparing for a holy war. It was the very picture of a noble saintess and her loyal holy knight.