Volume 5 Chapter 18 (2/2)

She narrowly avoided every attack coming her way by a few millimeters and relentlessly fired attacks of her own.

By nature, as a Celestial Fox, she had the skill [Precognition] which allowed her to glimpse a few moments into the future. To make full advantage of that skill, she used it in conjunction with [Ultra-rapid Reaction] which made her reflexes the fastest it could be. Furthermore, for those hard-to-avoid magic attacks, she had [All Magic Nullification].

All together, she definitely had overwhelming fighting prowess.

Nevertheless, she also had clear weaknesses. After all, there was a limit to how much she could see into the future. Plus, no matter how much she saw ahead or how fast she reacted to it, there were just some attacks that couldn't be avoided.

Moreover, using [Precognition] was awfully taxing on her powers of concentration and could therefore only be used for a few minutes.

However, that was before. Presently, even though the battle had been going on for an hour already, [Precognition] was still in use.

The secret to that and the way Kuina was fighting currently—which was unimaginable for her former self—was her finally reaching level 70, the standard level for any S rank monster born with a static level.

Upon reaching that level, Kuina had grown up. If before she looked like a young girl of age 12-13, currently, she looked like a beautiful maiden of age 16-17.

It wasn't just her appearance that changed. All her capabilities had drastically improved and she had gained new special abilities as well.

That power was just like when she used [Transform] to defeat [Wind] Demon Lord Stolas's trump card, the A rank Emarald Dragon that was under the effect of [Berserk].

Originally, Celestial Foxes were late-blooming monsters so this change wasn't really a power up; it was more fitting to say she was only wielding the power that was supposedly hers from the start.

As she was, no simple A rank monster could ever hope to compete.

She was now truly an S rank monster.

”Rorono, it isn't just Kuina that's amazing, Fel who is with her is as well.”

”Mhm, Kuina has [All Magic Nullification] but even without that, that girl is guarding Kuina's back amidst the melee.”

Kuina and Fel were both leading the charge in this battle. If Fel wasn't here, Kuina probably wouldn't had been able to rampage as much as she had. It was because Fel guarded Kuina's back that Kuina could fight as freely as she wanted.

But then, a rain of magic attacks was poured toward the two. Kuina, who was safe thanks to her ability to nullify magic attacks, aside, Fel reacted to such by raising her hand. Upon doing so, the rain of magic spells encountered an invisible wall.

Even Aura and Rorono couldn't make a barrier that could defend against the carpet bombing that was done by even A rank monsters.

The secret behind it was Fel's ability to manipulate time. With it, she stopped the flow of time within the space that was a few millimeters around her, thus becoming the barrier.

Because she had stopped time only within such a small area, its magic power consumption was at minimum. And hence, it was a barrier ridiculous both in its strength and efficiency.

”Ha, enough. You're all annoying! Don't come near me!”

Fel shouted so and then swung the sword in her hand.

Inconspicuously, the sword had no blade. However, the moment she swung the sword—and only then—a blade of light that was several meters long was formed.

Its ability to mow down enemies was spectacular. An attack that was supposed to be for close range was turned into a far-reaching one.

”Rorono, that, can it not really be used by the Avalon-Ritters, after all? It seems awfully useful.”

The sword without a blade was originally a weapon made for the Avalon-Ritters. However, with none of them being capable of using it, the development for it was put on hold and eventually canceled.

”It's impossible. The formation of the blade is a function of the weapon itself but for the blade to have the desired shape, have the desired output, it would depend completely on the user's control of magic. It is a task that is immensely difficult and time-consuming. Moreover, while the blade is given form, it has a fault wherein it continuously drains the user's magic power. To counter that, the blade should be formed only when it is about to cut something. But doing it so instantly and so perfectly is not something the Avalon-Ritters can do. It's precisely because it's her that it is being done effortlessly. She's got amazing senses, to the point I'm somewhat jealous, actually.”

Fel didn't fall behind Kuina in battle.

Even though she was a monster made using three high-level A rank medals, her martial arts and precision in magic was still far too great.

I had conjectured that perhaps it was more because of the [Time] Demon Lord's rigorous training.

After all, for all the feats she had shown, talent alone wasn't enough of an explanation.

Her use of her time manipulation abilities wasn't limited to just defense. Occasionally, I could notice that she was moving in such speed that she was faster than even Kuina who had [Godspeed]. It was perhaps her using her ability to accelerate her own time.

She was quite literally living on a different time.

Kuina the Celestial Fox and Fel the Celestial Wolf, the world's strongest sisters, were dominating the battle.

But that didn't mean that we could rest easy.

Our magic power and ammunition was limited. Our stock of potions too was beginning to run out.

Still… we had to press on.

”Oto-san, the enemies are running away”

”Hmp, if you're going to run away anyway, don't even try to fight from the very start”

The two shouted so as they gave pursuit.

The enemy had resisted heavily thus far but upon becoming numerically inferior, they understandably withdrew.

The current place we were in was the penultimate floor in Marcho's dungeon.

That meant that the enemies' stronghold was not far now.

Given all that, it was then feasible that the reason the enemy monsters here weren't fighting until the end was because they intended to link up with their main force.

From their viewpoint, from here on out, it was probably a do or die situation since it was pretty clear that they were going to be trapped on both ends by my and Marcho's forces. Presumably, they were going to go all out, sending even Covenant monsters.

In the case of a pincer attack, a logical solution was to attack with one's all the weaker of the two enemy forces. In this scenario, ours was undoubtedly the weaker end.

”Everyone, this will be our last break. Feel free to use up all the remaining potions. I want you all in perfect condition.”

I then issued a battlecry.

As things were, it was truly possible to help Marcho without losing anyone.

And, upon R'lyeh Diva's confirmation on where the enemy stronghold was, we could finally unleash that trump card.

We had managed to continuously win so far but an assault on the enemy's full force was on a whole other level.

Should we dare to confront them head on, there was no question that my forces, even Kuina and Fel, were going to be flattened.

It was great news.

From this point on, due to us now having full control of the other dimension, we would be able to guarantee at all the times the acquisition of intelligence. Moreover, we could now communicate with Marcho's monsters.

”Well done, R'lyeh Diva. I'd like you to do two more things. First is to know where the enemy's main force is. Next is to ask Marcho's monsters to deliver a message to her…”

Like so, there was no need to fight directly anymore. The trump card will surely be of great use now.

My plan might not be honorable but I will go will go with it nonetheless. I didn't come here for honor after all, I came here to save Marcho.