--This chapter is written from Erik's POV--
Three minutes ago, Adriarch inford
that Maya's brother had attacked his base together with the demon that beca famous during the Last Divine Event, a gigantic dragon on par with an Advanced Dungeon's boss, and three winged won.
Though I expected a bigger force to focus on Adriarch to cause an unignorable diversion, this developnt wasn't a surprise, nor was its true intent.
I had made more than sufficient preparations on both fronts; thus, the only question was where I should intervene.
Our enemies had allocated more resources to their campaign against Ceres, raising the chance of her failing
again to 70%. In contrast, Adriarch, facing only a small elite team, stood at less than 43%.
As for the benefits, crippling either the majority force or the elite team should be of similar strategic value due to the asymtry of the war.
But if Miwen is anything like his sister, all mbers of his faction should be invaluable to him.
As such, I aid for the most devastating emotional blow, his bigger force.
Alexis inford
that I shouldn't underestimate the tracking abilities of a beastman I had already interacted with.
Her otherworld-specific knowledge had been useful so far, so I watched his companions from a completely different building, as far away from Ceres' as I could while still having hers in sight.
I waited until those inside had made enough progress, and once I confird that everyone's escape routes had been blocked by the debuffs inflicted through the blood bullets, I appeared before the ones outside.
The first to react to my presence was the beastwoman.
She noticed
from miles away and wasted no ti intercepting .
With an outstanding speed for her level, she grazed my arm with her claw-like, extended nails.
My speed status dropped as she circled , stopping in her tracks only to try another strike.
Despite the decrease in my speed, I was still more than capable of reacting to her, but I revealed that too early, moving my hands to grab hers a mont earlier than I should.
She turned her strike into a feint and put distance between us.
At the end of the road, a burning sphere the size of a house appeared to make its way towards us.
The wolf woman jumped from building to building, freezing my feet on the ground to ensure I couldn't do the sa.
While my mana output was limited, my pool certainly was not, and with no other enemies in sight, I began to discharge all that mana as a sprinkler of highly dense water bullets.
It took
more mana than what a common mage of my level would have available to dispel the flas, and all that mana ended up wasted as hiding a layer within the flas was another sphere of solid ice.
I broke through the ice with my fists, revealing the third layer of their attack, the blue-haired swordswoman our caras had caught a few days ago.
Unlike the wolf from before, her speed was quite lacking. I had more than enough ti to dodge each strike of hers.
Yet, I struggled against her feints and the imaginative ways she used her magic to control the battle's montum and dynamics.
The red-haired woman who accompanied her used a disciplined sword style that naturally contrasted with hers, making the pair a flawless unit.
This core unit acted in sync with the wolf woman, whose style could only be described as instinct-driven and overwhelming, and the pirate won and angel girl, who provided both offensive and defensive support.
They were only six, yet they managed to waste hours of my ti.
As expected from otherworlders, each of them had mastery over their abilities on par with that of my executives. So, like the wolf, were above even that level.
Individually, they would already be placed among the strongest in the world. As a unit, with such high cohesion and coordination, they were unmatched.
Even a week of effort would be worth it to recruit one of them, but no matter how much pain I put them through or what I offered in return, their loyalty to Maya's brother remained unwavering.
Most people would betray anyone, even themselves, if it ant survival.
I saw no trace of that in them.
I found it hard to believe that they all shared this rare characteristic by happenstance.
It must've been his influence. But to fit this many distinct personalities into the sa mold...
Even if it didn't compare to the miracles Maya could achieve, Maria might have a point about the siblings being cut from the sa cloth.
I should reevaluate him.
Once my attempts at negotiating with each of the won fell through, it was ti to stop holding back and put a quick end to this futility.
The first one I got rid of was the wolf woman.
Her ability to lower stats was the most troubleso. She could react to about half of my movents, and she seed to grow more used to the difference in our stats as the fight dragged on.
Even with my speed and strength reduced, I was more than capable of throwing her to the next city.
Her body broke the sound barrier, creating a loud boom as it traversed through buildings until it reached the sky and disappeared.
With her gone, I had enough ti to pressure and overwhelm the won in the ghost ship.
Their mana was much more limited than mine, and soon enough, I found myself inside the ship, knocking them out before it disappeared, and their bodies fell to the ground.
The angel briefly turned into a dragon to save them, seemingly unaware that she was the next target.
Her ability to heal and strengthen the others had been a nuisance for far too long.
She was smart enough to turn back into an angel as she saw
approaching. A small target, flying in a three-dinsional space, made her hard to catch.
I had to distract her with magic before I caught her by the ankle and slamd her into the ground, leaving a crater full of scattered feathers drenched red from her blood.
Just like with the others, I was unable to land a finishing blow before getting interrupted by the remaining two.
Interestingly, only after everything else had failed did they show the aces hidden up their sleeves.
One drank potions to sohow bypass both her mana output and pool limitations, continuously bursting spiky ice roses from the ground.
The other could summon two suns, the size of golf balls, through a spell that might've rivaled George's highest energy output strikes.
Impressive, even for otherworlders.
And yet, clearly not the most they could do.
Their focus was on buying ti for those still inside. Either to have them finish their mission, or in hopes of reinforcent.
Regardless, they couldn't give it their all in a single strike.
While I was interested in how much further they could have gone had that not been the case, this made my job easier, and soon enough, the blue-haired woman was the last obstacle before .
She had the will to stand, but not the strength to oppose.
My last strike sent her flying towards the walls of Ceres' building, just as the front door opened, revealing the three won who led the invasion.
A human, battered and seemingly with a foot on the grave, carried three others on her back. One of them was Mikaela, a mber of Alpha Team that I had gone through much trouble to capture.
Erik: "I see. Ceres has failed again..."
Not a surprise. Even I hadn't predicted these won to be so resilient.
But Mikaela wasn't hers to lose, and I should have allocated enough resources to compensate for her shortcomings.
As I thought, Ceres' abilities no longer justified her position.
Anna: "Ellie... Take them and run..."
I saw no light in the eyes of the woman who so defiantly stood before .
She was solely driven by instinct, though not the sa kind as the wolf.
Her will was the only thing that allowed her to maintain consciousness. She couldn't even raise the sword from the ground.
In fact, she used its handle to support herself, and once I destroyed it, she fell to the ground, without even once attempting to reach .
She had already been defeated long ago.
Now, she was only the closest object to , making her body the most convenient projectile I could throw at the small elf desperately staggering away with the other two on her back.
The thought of offering the elf girl a way out by joining
crossed my mind.
But I had seen enough. These won didn't listen to reason.
Besides, the look in her eye was far more determined than the fallen swordswoman's had been.
While lying on the ground, with three other bodies weighing on her, she raised an arrow towards .
She lacked the strength to get her bow or even throw the arrow, her hands trembling as she used the last of her magic in a final bet that didn't pay off.
Whatever her plan was, she had failed.
Erik: "You're out of luck."
I noticed during their fight that the blue-haired woman seed to be their acting leader in Miwen's absence.
More than likely, she was the only one I needed alive to blackmail him.
Without any remaining obstruction, I could finally start killing them off.
...Or so it should have been.
As I grabbed the elf's neck and lifted her from the ground, an arrow, tied to a rope, made its way past .
The next thing I knew, the rope had pulled
back, tying
to a nearby street lamp.
??????: "I wouldn't be so sure about that."
A familiar voice.
One that had no business being here.
And yet, she was.
A miraculous occurrence that happened so often, I had co to expect it.
Erik: "...What are you doing here, Maya?"
She carried a bow in her hands, but no quiver.
With a soft smile on her face, she waved her hand, greeting
while she conjured another arrow made of solid light, aid at my heart.
Without the elent of surprise, even [Light Magic] wasn't faster than my hands.
Although...
I chose not to block it.
Through my study of her public fights, I discovered that Maya had a slight inclination for fighting barehanded.
On further analysis, whenever she used a weapon, it didn't draw any blood.
Maya's personal kill count had been zero throughout the entire war.
The chances of her changing that now were...
Close enough to zero.
As the arrow made contact with my chest, it exploded into blinding rays of colorful light, dealing absolutely no damage to .
Once the flashing lights subsided, it took a few seconds for my vision to return.
In the anti, I heard the sound of bodies being dragged on the street.
The mont I could finally see again, all the scattered won had disappeared from my sight.
The only one left was Maya herself.
Erik: "Did you truly expect
to fall for this?"
While the won from inside the building had nothing more to bleed, the ones I personally dealt with sure had, as evidenced by the bloodied feathers.
Yet, despite the sound of their bodies being dragged along the ground, there were no blood trails to be seen.
Yes, they had disappeared.
But they hadn't been moved an inch.
She just emulated the sound, either through magic or her Gift.
Whatever the case, she knew better than this.
I suppose this was her way of insulting .
Maya: "...Gathering them all in one spot didn't seem like a bright idea. You'd definitely use it to force my hand."
As if there was any doubt about that.
Erik: "And you thought I'd search for them? Or did you plan to have
chase after you?"
The bow allowed her to fight from a distance.
It was a good cover, if that was her intention.
It would, however, bring into question how much she had predicted of this scenario.
I myself had only decided on my course of action once all of the information had been established.
Of course, I couldn't dismiss that this, like so many other things about her, could be a simple stroke of good luck.
Another small miracle to throw into the ever-growing pile.
Maya: "I was hoping for sothing like that, yes..."
With her trick exposed, the won around us reappeared, alongside a few mounds of dirt and grass.
At least, I could confirm that those within my line of sight had, as I refused to turn my head and take my eyes off Maya.
The seriousness in her expression was another surprise.
For the first ti, she seed worried.
Erik: "So? What are you hoping for now?"
Maya was a problem. I still hadn't discovered what her Gift was, and thus, had not prepared sufficient counterasures for everything she had already displayed.
She had enough power to face , but from all that I had seen, she shouldn't be able to guarantee the lives of the won lying on the ground while fighting .
Just like she shouldn't have survived the ambush I prepared before the war.
Just like she shouldn't have been able to oppose .
And just like she shouldn't have appeared here.
Maya: "Well... I was wondering if I could still talk you out of this… before you cross a line you can't co back from?"
Not even the best codians had co this close to making
laugh.
How could soone so intelligent ask such a stupid question?
Erik: "I'm listening."
How could I not?
After all, I held every card, while she held none.
I couldn't ask for a better opportunity to take everything from her.
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