With the mage disrupted, the assassin seized his opening. Operating entirely in the shadows without magic, Zaun materialized from the dark corner of the alley, executing one of his deadly skill:
A flurry of silent, lethal dagger strikes rained down toward Maddy’s exposed flank.
"This is it!" Ed shouted from the back line, slamming his fist against his musket. "You’re done, you weird hooded freak! Nobody survives Zaun’s blind-spot blitz!"
Maddy didn’t even turn around. She just smiled.
Her Compound Vision tracked the incoming daggers perfectly, mapping out the trajectory of every single blade in real-ti. Activating her Brace Stance and utilizing her Heavyweight Physique, she anchored her limbs into the earth, transforming her body into an immovable fortress of pure muscle and iron will.
Zaun’s rapid dagger strikes collided with her armored sides, but the imnse physical hardness deflected the blades, failing to shift her balance by even an inch.
"TCH!" Zaun clicked his tongue.
"My turn," Maddy murmured.
Before Zaun could even register that his ultimate move had done zero damage, Maddy pivoted with Thumping Locomotion. The sudden twist of her massive fra kicked up a cloud of dust as she unleashed a:
"Cross Slice!"
Her greatsword tore through the air, sending two intersecting slashes forming a massive, glowing X aid directly at the assassin and the marksman.
Ed, who had just been celebrating her supposed defeat a second ago, choked on his own breath. His smug grin vanished, his eyes widening to the size of saucers as the lethal shockwave hurtled straight toward him.
"Wait—no way! She didn’t even take a scratch?!"
Ed stamred, his voice cracking in sheer panic as he scrambled to throw himself backward. The absolute certainty that he was about to end her had flipped instantly into a desperate, terrifying scramble for his own life.
Erwin, seeing his backline in imdiate peril, bypassed a standard defense. He stepped into the fray, channeling his offense skill.
"Not on my watch!"
Erwin shouted, his greaves skidding across the stone as he threw himself between Maddy’s lethal cross slice and his panicked backline.
With no ti for a passive shield, he poured every ounce of his remaining mana into a desperate counter-offensive, bellowing:
"ADVANCE LIGHT ELENT: DIVINE SMITE!"
The holy energy surged directly through his claymore to et her blades head on. The golden light was tightly compressed around his edge, keeping the illumination low but the striking power concentrated.
The weapons locked in a tense, silent struggle of raw attributes. Erwin’s muscles strained against Maddy’s formidable strength, his feet digging into the cracked pavent.
Maddy maintained the pressure, her violet eyes studying how effectively the S rank party adapted to a silent, high stakes ambush. They hadn’t panicked, their communication remained completely airtight, and they had successfully mitigated the lack of loud, destructive magic. They were proving exactly why they held their rank.
Erwin’s teeth ground together so hard they threatened to shatter. The compressed golden light of his Divine Smite hissed against Maddy’s greatsword, but the energy was draining fast.
"Everyone! Combine!" Erwin roared, his voice straining under the imnse pressure. "We cannot hold her individually! Force her to commit!"
The S rank party moved with the fluid precision of a single organism. Despite the panic creeping into their chests, their years of shared battlefields took over.
Gela, forcing her paranoia down, quickly raised her staff and snapped out a rapid-fire incantation.
"LIGHT ELENT: ENHANCED RAPIDITY!"
A faint, pale glow washed over her allies, instantly sharpening their reflexes and boosting their movent speed to counteract the pressure Maddy was applying.
With the speed buff taking effect, Lita leaped over Erwin’s shoulder, her staff suddenly drawing a massive amount of moisture from the humid night air. She did not use a loud spell. Instead, she concentrated the water into thin, razor sharp edges.
"ADVANCE WATER ELENT: FLOWING PRESS!" Lita scread, driving both razor sharp edges downward toward Maddy’s collarbone.
Simultaneously, Zaun vanished into the low shadows below the light barrier. He slithered forward, his movents mimicking a grave goblin as he aid his daggers directly at the back of Maddy’s knees—the exact weak point of any armored vanguard.
From the rear, Ed didn’t fire at Maddy. He aid his magic musket at the stone archway directly above the alley.
"Disruption Round!" Ed muttered, pulling the trigger.
The specialized bullet struck the stone ceiling with a soft thud, causing a massive pile of heavy masonry and debris to collapse straight down on top of Maddy’s position. They were attacking her from the front, the bottom, and the sky all at once.
Maddy felt a genuine surge of excitent. Her Acute Predator Awareness humd with delight.
"Beautiful," Maddy whispered. "You really do work well together."
She activated her Brace Stance and Load Bearing Strength. Her feet sank into the cobblestones as she allowed the falling masonry to crash directly onto her head. Her Diamond like Hardness turned the heavy stones into harmless dust upon impact.
With her left hand, she raised her round shield to catch Lita’s descending water blades. With her right, she swung her greatsword down to block Zaun’s low daggers.
CLANG!BANG!
The triple collision created a massive vacuum of wind, blowing away the dust and masonry fragnts in an instant. The S rank party had thrown everything they had into a perfectly synchronized, silent assault.
The sudden vacuum of wind died down, leaving nothing but a heavy, suffocating silence in the dark alleyway. Dust and pulverized stone drifted through the air, settling over the frozen combatants.
Lita was still suspended mid air, her feet barely touching the ground, her face pale as her water blades hissed helplessly against Maddy’s raised shield. Below her, Zaun remained crouched like a zombie, his daggers locked solid against the massive edge of the greatsword. In the rear, Ed slowly lowered his musket, his hands trembling slightly as the smoke cleared.
For a fraction of a second, a flicker of desperate hope passed through the team. They had executed a flawless, three pronged, zero delay assault. The masonry had fallen, the angles were perfect, and the speed buff had pushed their synchronization to its absolute limit.
"Is it over?" Ed thought, his heart hamring too loudly. "Did we actually pin her down?"
"Did... did we get her?" Lita gasped out, her loud voice dropping into a breathless, terrified whisper.
Reviews
All reviews (0)