Chapter 436: Brawl and Chance of Victory

『Aro… What has happened…?』

I call out with [Telepathy], and Aro makes a complicated expression.

“…Nightmare's carrying her up right now. But, that slime… Just barely, it was able to get away.”

So Miria is safe. By that slime… You mean Thermal? Y-you were able to repel him? With the stat difference, I thought for sure the most you could do would be to get away.

“Then, on the way, I ran into her…”

She points at Alphiss.

Slight disgust shows in Aro's expression. From our first encounter, Alphiss was clearly looking down on us as a gathering of monsters. She’s cooperating, and saved me just now, but I doubt that she has meekly accepted us as allies.

…I want to thank everyone for their assistance, but against that slime, I don’t know how much Volk, Aro, and Alphiss will be able to do… To be honest, the most they'll do is cause me worry. Alphiss has riled the slime’s short temper, but rather than doing that, I’d prefer it if she went up to call for the Saint already.

“You’re so weak that you’ll disappear if I so much as blow on you, and yet you're mocking me? Don’t you realise that you stick out like a sore thumb?”

The slime moves. Alphiss holds up her sword.

“I’ve used my magic power and bought enough time. [Quick].”

Magical light covers Aro and Volk. Volk holds his sword ready and kicks off the floor to leap to the wall, then he forcefully runs across the wall towards the slime. Aro is taken aback at Volk’s power for a moment, but after a glance back at me, she runs forward.

…Volk is one thing, but for Aro the match is far too imbalanced.

“Guuu…!”

I call out to stop her, but she turns to look at me and smiles. “It’s okay… I have a surprise,” she says, touching her abdomen, then enlarges her left hand and runs towards the slime. A-a surprise…?

…Surely the difference in speed will be fatal. The slime’s not an opponent for which that difference in speed can be so easily supplemented for.

“Of course, it would be bad if you couldn’t fight on. [Mana Release]!”

As she speaks, Alphiss swings her sword up and thrusts it at my forehead. Her body glows, and light flows up her sword into me. My body feels light, my hazy senses becoming clear.

It's an MP transfer skill… It’s not a huge amount, possibly because Alphiss doesn’t want to overuse her own MP, or because the transfer efficiency is poor… But having it still makes a huge difference.

With this, I can regrow my missing parts with [Autoregeneration], and even heal with [High Rest]. I repair my wings and restore my gouged out flesh. G-great, I can still fight! From our first meeting, I had doubts whether Alphiss-san would be of any help, but she has quite a useful skill.

『I owe you my thanks.』

“The gratitude of a monster is unnecessary. Show it with results.”

Alphiss says dispassionately, not meeting my eyes.

…Her attitude is the same as ever. I wonder if there weren't any other strong people Lilixira could have called on. Since we’re putting our lives on the line together, I wish she’d ease up on the attitude a bit.

As I try to take a step forward, I stagger and pitch forwards. A-argh, even though I need to hurry! Is my body still not back to normal?

“…What are you getting confused over? Did you not know that MP recovered through an item or skill places a burden on the body?”

Th-that reminds me, when Aro would repeatedly recover with [Mana Drain], she would appear tired. So does that affects the slime too? Then [Life Mana] isn’t a skill that it can use endlessly? If so, I can understand why it was reluctant to use it… But, Aro has repeatedly gone from empty to full several times, so I don’t think the burden can ever be lethal.

“But transfer through skills should be much gentler than recovery using medicine. Hurry up and move.”

…I don’t feel like it’ll be a fatal obstacle in this battle. It’s at a level where I can endure it if I focus. I suppose it’s too much to hope for the burden from multiple uses of [Life Mana] to be too much to bear then…?

“…End it before this runs out. With what I've given to the Dragon Hunter and the undead as well, this is my limit. [Quick].”

The light of Alphiss’s magic falls onto my back.

…Not knowing the slime’s stupid toughness, she’s still maintaining her condescending attitude. But she’s correct in that the only way I could possibly defeat it is to do so while this [Quick] lasts. In my current state, I am superior to that cheat slime in a battle of pure brawn. My only option is to kill it with a rapid series of blows without giving it a chance to recover with [Life Mana].

Alphiss jumps up to straddle the base of my partner’s throat.

“Hurry up and move, you’re wasting magic.”

“GaaaaaaaA!?

My partner grinds her teeth and glares backwards at Alphiss.

“Hmph, there’s no time for that.”

Alphiss says, but my partner shows no sign of listening.

『Hey, can I eat her to cheer up?』

She opens her eyes wide and glares at Alphiss.

『I won’t say anything bad, so get off my partner! She doesn’t act based on logic!』

“R-right…”

She jumps to my back… This knight-san, is she frightened right now? Her face is all taut.

I begin to charge at the slime just as Aro and Volk enter combat.

“…I don’t need any unusual skills to deal with Irushia’s followers. I’ll simply crush you both.”

Countless tentacles stretch from the slime and attack Aro and Volk.

It doesn’t look like Aro is going to be able to get close. Just as she’s about to be caught by the tentacles, she uses [Gale] to blow herself away with a gust of wind… She’s avoiding it at the cost of MP. As I thought, the difference in stats is too much.

Volk dodges the tentacles, moving as though he had completely read them from the start, then jumps up, swinging his greatsword towards the tentacles.

“Hahahahahahaa!”

The tentacles are cut apart. The slime frowns, and Volk laughs fearlessly. But the next moment, another tentacle slams into Volk and knocks him into the wall. The wall cracks, and Volk’s body sinks in.

I wonder for a moment if he's dead, but then he immediately jumps out of the hole to dodge the tentacle's pursuit. He’s covered in blood, but still grinning. There’s no way he should be able to make such quick movements with those injuries, but it seens like he immediately used [Autoregeneration] to only repair the necessary parts. H-has he quit being human after all?

He then jumps onto the tentacle, and runs at the slime’s main body.

“Changing from Dragon Hunter to Demon Lord Hunter might not be so bad!”

“Annoying! [Gravity]!”

Black light rapidly expands, sealing the movements of Volk and Aro in range. Both of them are forced to their knees, their shoulders trembling.

“Muh, g-grr… This level of…!”

“Unfortunately, in this light, help won’t arrive in time, you know? Both of you will die now!”

The slime’s abdomen squirms, and an owl’s face rises to the surface and rotates one full revolution. Two spheres of black light appear in front of the owl’s beak. It’s a double, high-speed [Dark Sphere]!

As before, the maximum-output [Gravity] is too troublesome. Even my movements are heavily restricted inside it.

However, those two shots are certain to hit the immobile Aro and Volk. They have no way to escape. I have to do something.

I kick off the ground and spread my wings, entering the range of the [Gravity] just above the centre. The moment I enter the light, I feel my body being pulled downwards with an immense force. Using that weight to my advantage, I plunge towards the slime’s human form, holding my forelegs out in front of me.

“Wha-!”

The slime throws the two [Dark Spheres] in random directions, immediately raising both arms up. A huge shield of shell appears from its hand and stops my claws. But, seemingly unable to support the weight of my huge body with the force of [Gravity] behind it, the slime’s body shakes. The light of [Gravity] fades, and Aro and Volk become free to move.

“[Gale]!” “[Great Cleave]!”

Aro's tornado hits the phoenix’s leg directly. Volk’s sword cuts apart more tentacles.

The slime’s balance breaks, the incline of the shell becoming more severe.

“[Shockwave]!”

As though to apply pressure to that opening, Alphiss releases a sword attack. Slipping past the shield, the attack cuts the base of the slime’s human arm.

“Cheh!”

I dig my claws around the already-tilted shell shield and forcefully throw it aside. I then tear through the human body sprouting from the phoenix’s neck, ripping it in two. The shell shield falls to the floor and bursts into slime.

“Th-this is unfair…! It was one-on-one!”

Split in two, the slime’s mouth flaps open and closed. The remains of the human body begins to dissolve, sinking into the phoenix’s body.

Immediately, the phoenix’s body a silver colour covers the phoenix's body, and mouths of various sizes open all over its body and at the tips of the tentacles.

Wh-what is this form…?