บท 512: CH. 539-540: One vs All
Finn and Gareth stood at the very front of the team, with Alise in the center as if she was the leader of the vanguard. She wasn't there because she was the strongest. Her crazy flames made it hard for her to cooperate with others.
Frankly, she deserved her spot at the front. In a head-on battle, her chantless flames posed the most threat if Aimi relied on her physical abilities alone.
Tiona and Tione were a step behind Alise, shoulder to shoulder, accompanied by Kaguya and Ais. The Amazonian sisters were high level 4 adventurers, but they could contest against a level 5 together. Whereas Ais and Kaguya could fight a level 6 if given the opportunity.
Riveria and Lefiya stayed hundreds of meters behind the vanguard, holding their magic staves with similar solemn looks. The mage elves felt the burden on their shoulders.
Ryuu, Haruhime, and the lower-leveled adventurers ranging from Level 3 to 4 surrounded the mage duo like a fortress. The spellcasters had to be protected at every cost. The massive area of Riveria's spells was their best shot at victory, or so the strategies implied.
Riveria grinned as she thought about paying Aimi back for all the beatings. "Don't get nervous, Lefiya."
Lefiya pursed her lips. "I should say that to you, Riveria-sama… he is watching you from there."
Riveria glanced at the man observing her from a distance. The only man she genuinely feared and admired in her life.
The Demon King of Orario.
'I can't fail my son.'
She chuckled. The victory wasn't about defeating Aimi. That feat was more impossible than reaching the heart of this dungeon. The condition of their victory was putting a scratch on Aimi, who couldn't rely on her magical cheats.
Riveria wanted to prove her competency and the results of her training under Aimi. She needed the victory to show her own potential to Asahi.
Would he take her seriously if she failed to lead a crew of twenty plus adventurers against a handicapped Aimi?
Absolutely not. She'd become a joke.
Haruhime was beyond surprised to find herself beside the stern elf. "U-Uh, Ryuu… Nee-sama, we just have to protect Captain Riveria."
"Yeah." Ryuu nodded slowly as her sharp gaze swept across the battlefield. "I can sense your agitation. Trust in your abilities and rely on your comrades if things go wrong."
"I will!"
Aimi approached Alise, holding two pitch-black curved daggers held in a reverse grip. She wasn't using any skill or magic, yet the adventurers saw massive skulls floating around her. She became the very manifestation of death, making the weaker adventurers from Loki Familia weak-kneed with her mere presence.
"Are you ready now?"
Alise took on a serious expression and pointed at Aimi with her rapier. "We may be sisters by relationship but I'll not hold anything back."
The provocation made Aimi grin. She spontaneously vanished and appeared behind Alise. The redhead twisted her waist and barely blocked an explosive kick. The kick made contact with her rapier and sent her flying backward.
"My old sword might be broken from that," Alise whispered, feeling grateful to her future husband for upgrading her weapon to take on the vicious spirits. "I thought you'd be stronger—"
She froze between her words as Aimi's cold dagger touched her neck. With a grim frown, she released her newly learned skill. A torrent of flames exploded with her at the center. She resorted to her trump card at the very beginning. It was her only choice besides retiring with no contribution.
"Get burned," Alise roared.
Aimi deftly cut down the very flames with her daggers and evaded a barrage of arrows. The offense didn't end there as a golden spearhead approached her heart at a breakneck speed. Finn had used every muscle in his small frame, putting every fiber of his being into that thrust.
He wanted her heart, literally.
Gareth dashed from the other side and swung his ax.
Tiona and Tione rushed from Aimi's flanks, looking uncoordinated from their team.
Spear from the back, giant ax on the front, and the sisters on the sides. Aimi couldn't take the four-sided pincer attack head-on without suffering a fatal injury.
Aimi jumped in the air; that was her only choice.
"Ais, get her!" Finn yelled.
"Gale strike."
"Got you, Onee-sama!"
Ais surrounded herself in a net of wind and leaped at Aimi. Kaguya followed closely and launched a joint attack in midair.
They conditioned her to go into the air and cornered her with two lethal techniques. The golden teamwork left the viewers in sheer awe.
Aimi couldn't maneuver in the air. Left with no choice, she clashed with Ais' multitude of sword slashes, blocking each with the elegant strokes of her dagger.
In terms of perception and experience, she far surpassed Ais. The blonde swordswoman had a natural talent for swordsmanship and magic, but she lacked the experience and extremely single-minded passion of yandere Aimi. And Ais also wasn't used to aerial combat as much as Aimi, who dismantled flying monsters every day.
It wasn't a fight that Ais could win. Cracks started to show with every passing exchange, openings presenting itself.
However, she wasn't alone.
Kaguya slashed Aimi's flank with a quick draw of her katana. Aimi used Ais' sword as a foothold and flipped backwards. The katana slashed a few strands of gray hair, but failed to achieve the win condition — scratching Aimi in a meaningful way.
Ais glided through the air and landed softly on the ground. Kaguya found herself alone and made a quick dash towards her comrades. Her fear came true as she sensed a presence right behind her.
"Death sentence."
Kaguya knew what was coming, but her body couldn't keep up with her battle instincts. "I'm fucked."
A dagger ripped open the back of her kimono, creating a long wound right beside her spine. Blood sprayed from her wound before she plummeted to the ground, dying the murky rocks with her blood.
Aimi cut down Kaguya without an ounce of mercy and landed.
"Kaguya retired," Asahi's voice boomed as Kaguya was teleported to his side.
Kaguya's retirement didn't give any relief to Aimi. Bells rang in her mind. She could sense mana congealing around her, forming jade magic circles on the ground.
"Hell's Inferno."
At Riveria's command, a multitude of flaming pillars erupted and engulfed Aimi. The assassin showed up meters away from the flame spell, unscathed.
"That was close."
Alise gritted her teeth and rushed at Aimi with a flaming frenzy. Ais followed suit and tried to force a fight. To stop Aimi and let others catch up to surround her.
The nimble assassin slipped away from everyone's grasp and sprinted in the other direction, towards the source of her magic troubles. Two fireballs gave chase, though not keeping up with her at all. She tore through the deserted ground like a storm and crossed over five hundred meters in seconds.
Aimi couldn't fight everyone together; she wasn't that powerful without her spells. Divide and conquer had been her plan from the start.
Lefiya sighed. "My spells can't target her…"
"Doesn't matter. Keep throwing your spells." Riveria saw through Aimi's obvious move of getting rid of mages and thrust her hand. "Ryuu, distract her."
Ryuu leaped into action before Aimi approached the two-hundred-meter vicinity of the magicians. Aimi changed her directions and sprinted, Ryuu hot on her heels. Aimi suddenly stopped, spun on her heel, and tried to sweep Ryuu's legs from under her with a low kick.
The attack came out of nowhere for Ryuu, who was solely focused on catching up. Falling down was a certain death, so she jumped over Aimi with the intention of landing behind her. Before Ryuu could land, however, Aimi flipped and threw her dagger like a dart. The dagger skewered Ryuu's thigh, embedding itself deep in her flesh.
The elf groaned and nearly tumbled from the sharp pain.
"You are a scary opponent," Ryuu uttered her honest thoughts, even if it was a strategy to buy time. "I can't ever imagine fighting you at your best."
Aimi's lips curled up at the compliment. She pounced on Ryuu like a hungry beast. Ryuu was pushed back with every exchange as blood flowed down her leg.
Aimi's sharp eyes studied and found the space in Ryuu's limbs. An opening showed up when Ryuu's pain reached a threshold, making her movement just a tad slower.
Ryuu could see Ais approaching with her wind magic. Just a few more seconds would finish her job.
She fought through the pain and tried to draw away from Aimi's range.
Alas, she couldn't avoid the death goddess, who had no intention of losing today. Aimi's unarmed fist landed squarely on Ryuu's chest with an adequate force to stun her. She followed up with a stab to Ryuu's neck. The dagger slid across Ryuu's skin, creating a surface-level wound.
Aimi trusted Asahi to recognize it as her triumph over Ryuu.
"Ryuu retired."
And he answered her trust, like always. Before Ryuu was teleported, Aimi claimed her dagger from Ryuu's thigh and stormed off.
Riveria's pure white skin and flawless features warped. She hadn't expected Aimi to keep this inhumane speed without her magic. Her calculations were off by a wide margin, and her team paid the price. Two of her strongest fighters retired at the start. It wasn't good for morale.
Asahi also gave Aimi the biggest advantage by throwing them on the open dungeon floor nearly the size of a town.
"We have to wear her down," she whispered and looked at Finn. "Finn, implement the Exterminate Strategy."
"On it." Finn hollered back, almost out of breath. "Tiona, Tione, hurry and take your positions. Show your Amazonian spirit. Gareth, you too!"
"Yes, Captain."
"Alright!" answered the dwarf, who could barely run at this point.
The Amazonian Sisters didn't have enough rest after the training. Catching up to Aimi seemed like an impossible chore in their current physical condition.
Meanwhile, Ais stopped after Ryuu's retirement announcement, and her symmetric features twisted. She was in the prime position to end the fight within seconds.
The plan fell apart because of her weakness.
She clenched her jaw and poured more magic power into her wind element. Wind roared around her as an armor of cutting gale surrounded her.
Her green eyes sparkled like gems. "I won't fail again."
She charged at Aimi with twice the speed. She surpassed Alise in an instant before reaching the striking distance of Aimi. Readying her sword, she slashed at Aimi's defenseless back.
"Fuck," Aimi cursed, seeing Ais' new troublesome technique. She was fast, but not fast enough to parry the hundred wind blades surrounding Ais like an armor.
She evaded to her side and continued sprinting. Her impeccable breathing technique kept her lungs in peak condition even after running for so long. She couldn't stop now, not until Ais ran out of her magic power.
The game of cat and mouse continued. Aimi didn't need to dodge more magic spells from Riveria, making her suspicious of the high elf princess. She glanced at Riveria, who was standing idly, sweat trickling down her forehead. Their eyes met, and Aimi realized the high elf's plan.
"Good luck."
Riveria's face remained stern and determined, unclear if she read the movement of Aimi's lips. She observed the entire battlefields from her position. The pieces moved together just as her strategy. Even the enraged Ais did what Riveria expected from her.
The Extermination Strategy came together; Aimi was too late to realize it.
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