Chapter 795: December 15th: What Do You Think Upon Seeing the Slashing Blade?・2
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This is fun. That was PT Overwerke's honest impression.
Not that the time he spent with the members of Team 10PM was boring or dull. Formulating meticulous plans, preparing thoroughly, and securing success with movements that minimized unexpected variables. Overwerke firmly believed that for people like them, who didn't have limitless time to spare, this was a surefire way to fully enjoy the time they did have, whether it was mundane material farming or subjugating powerful monsters. But, even so.
"Hahaha... This is tough. It's a massive, unpredictable struggle."
Going in blind, with barely any information-sharing among party members, and to top it off, everyone moving completely as they pleased.
There were times when they would ignore Overwerke's instructions—who had naturally assumed the role of party leader over the course of the battle—and move on their own, and other times when one-sided demands were thrown his way.
In this battle, Overwerke's role was positioned in the mid-line, providing cover for the vanguard from mid-range while preventing aggro from shifting to the rearguard. To put it nicely, a skirmishing balancer; to put it poorly, middle management. But both the vanguard and the rearguard were trying to utilize that mid-line to its absolute fullest.
"Overwerke! Need buffs!!"
"Overwerke-san, do you think you could stop that thing's movements for just a bit?"
Even now, two requests—one for enhancement support and one for an offensive attack—came flying at him simultaneously. Seeing the arm-blade Sunraku had cut off, everyone in the party was looking to shift into a full-scale offensive... consequently, Overwerke's burden was increasing exponentially. Yet, caught in the middle of these conflicting demands, Overwerke still smiled.
Unlike Team 10PM's strategy, which systematically and rationally managed resources. This was a razor-thin... nerve-wracking strategy where you might burn an Elixir on the very first move. For Overwerke, that was a fresh, exhilarating stimulus he couldn't normally experience.
"Sure thing, holding back during a dragon hunt is just plain foolish...! 【Great Courage in Small Palms】!!"
Whether it was highly expensive Disposable Magic Mediums or the excessively tedious-to-use Ritual Sword, Overwerke moved at maximum capacity, throwing all thoughts of preservation out the window.
The enemy was the True Dragon Species Tomahawk. He believed that when they finally succeeded in subjugating it... even if he had lost everything in the process, he would be able to accept it with a smile.
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The man falling into the sky, and the metallic dragon whose body had been chipped away, however slightly. Deep Slaughter kept her eyes fixed on Sunraku while somehow managing to control the violent fluctuations of exhilaration and suppression swirling within her emotions.
"Ahh......... as expected, it's you, there's no one but you............ I don't need anyone but you."
Tomahawk. The more she looked at it, the more this unpleasant dragon shook Deep Slaughter's heart. If asked what exactly annoyed her so much, she would probably answer, "Pretty much everything."
That was because Deep Slaughter actually possessed some degree of knowledge regarding the entities known as "True Dragon Species," and the very existence of a "True Dragon Species whose entire body is made of metal" itself was infuriating.
Watching Tomahawk endure the storm of attacks and launch counter-offensives was unpleasant.
Seeing Tomahawk fully exhibit its capabilities and dominate the battlefield made her want to vomit.
That was exactly why.
That was exactly why Deep Slaughter was more overjoyed than anyone else present at the fact that Sunraku's flaming sword had cut Tomahawk. The sight of him slashing and tearing apart the shadow of discomfort that Deep Slaughter had projected onto Tomahawk was truly that of a hero.
"Fufufu, fufufufufu! Sunraku-ku~un... you really are going to save me... I'll do aaanything for you..."
The Rod of Actualization, The Desire. The one and only staff that doubles the output of non-offensive magic doesn't grant its blessings to its user unconditionally. One of its conditions for use is that the user cannot change equipment after using its doubling ability, and furthermore, The Desire itself cannot be used to cast offensive magic.
Although Deep Slaughter had somewhat mitigated that issue using the "Hand of Crave"—a subjugation reward from the battle against the Devouring Great Crimson Clad—due to the MP consumption and the performance constraints of one-handed weapons, The Desire was not something that could be used casually. But Deep Slaughter didn't care about any of that as she invoked the Rod of Actualization, The Desire.
"Fufu, right now, I'd gladly let that sword burn me. Ah, wait, that's just the usual... then I have to make it stronger, much stronger......... With that sword, with those flames, ...cut the shadow... the shadow eating at me... cut it, cut it, cut it………!"
The figure that had been continuously falling into the sky slowly came to a halt at a distance where he could barely be confirmed with the naked eye. After hovering briefly, his body finally submitted to the correct gravity and began falling downwards this time.
Sunraku's body repelled most magic in almost all cases. That was simply because the majority of his body, specifically his torso and arms, as well as his lower half, excluding his waist, was engraved with Lycaon's "Curse" and its evolved form.
In other words, when applying magical interference to Sunraku, area-of-effect type magic that applied to a specific overall range couldn't be used; one had no choice but to use magic that struck the buff target directly like a bullet.
Taking that premise into account, the skill Overwerke displayed in accurately landing magical support on the back of Sunraku's dizzyingly moving head was enough for even Deep Slaughter to evaluate him as "capable," but... all the more reason.
"You wouldn't be satisfied unless you achieved results greater than that, right?"
Deep Slaughter had constructed her character so that she could convert her HP and STM gauges into MP in order to wield ultra-high-output magic.
Siphoning off Deep Slaughter's life and vitality, The Desire actualized an impossibly massive desire.
"Ten-times output... 【Angel's Arrow of Grace】."
A doubling spell that could be described as an enhancement-magic support spell, which changed the magic cast after it into a single-target projectile while further extending its range. But on its own, it was just a bow, and a bow only showed its true worth when it fired an arrow.
"Fufufu... To think it's an angel."
The Hand of Crave extending from Deep Slaughter's back moved. The short staff grasped in that red hand invoked an enhancement spell, and while still gripping the staff that was gripping the light, she brought it close to The Desire and... drew it back.
It was a grotesque archery technique—gripping the greatbow with two hands and drawing the bowstring with a third hand. As the brilliance of the magic took the outline of a bow around The Desire, at the end of Deep Slaughter's glaring, sharp gaze... she took aim at Sunraku, who was now falling at natural terminal velocity.
"Please accept an angel's love, Sunraku-kuuuun."
───She let it fly.
A distance of 246 meters. Furthermore, it boasted the longest range and highest level of difficulty among single-target support spells wielded by an individual mage—but as if to say, "So what?", the arrow of enhancement support tore through the sky as it flew.
Author's Afterword
The angel's arrow cannot pierce through the heart.
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