Chapter 716

『Well, here we are! The quarterfinals! The hero of the Black Cats has achieved victory after victory up to this point! Here's Fran the Black Lightning Princess! She is as small as ever! But everyone knows just how strong she really is!』

In the quarterfinals, the audience's voltage was at its peak even before the event started. The crowd cheered so loudly that the earth shook.

『Against the red mercenary, Sibylla! She has defeated many strong opponents and won with her overwhelming destructive power!』

Fran and Sibylla faced each other on the stage.

「Hey. Nice to see you again.」

「Nn.」

「I saw the Biscot fight. You weren't serious, right?」

「Watch and see.」

「Kukuku. I know it!」

『Last year's dark horse against this year's dark horse! Who will win?』

Now that you mention it, it's fitting to call it a match-up of dark horses.

「Brilliant Lightning Rush!」

「Huh? So you really are an evolved black cat, aren't you?」

Sibylla smiles happily watching the black lightning rushing around Fran.

SHe's probably already checked out the information on Fran. It's a well-known story, so it's easy to find out if you ask around a bit.

It's best to assume that they have at least some information about us.

「Now, show me your power as one of the best adventurers in the world!」

「I don't need to be told.」

『Let the match begin!』

「Yeah!」

「Nn!」

As soon as the match started, Sibylla came forward. This was unexpected. In the previous matches, she'd wait and see what would happen first, but……

This is a sign that Sibylla's as serious as we were.

A sword thrusts out at high speed, and it aimed right for Fran's throat.

Even though that was unexpected, this possibility was not completely ruled out.

『Air shield, multi cast!』

This time, I was at full throttle from the very start. I created multiple air shields and blocked Sibylla's attack.

「Chantless?!」

「Fuh!」

Fran fires a slash at Sibylla's open flank.

It should have caught her perfectly, but…

「Kuhaha! It's so light!」

「Mnh!」

It didn't cut her in the slightest.

It's not like it was bounced by a barrier. There was a dull feeling and sound, as if she was hitting a thick tire with an iron pipe.

The black lightning did not seem to damage Sibylla either.

（Master!）

『I don't know yet!』

It seems like Sibylla has some kind of skill to mitigate the damage. Physical resistance and lightning resistance? But, could she really have the exact resistances against us?

「Doryaa!」

We tried to parry her attack and take advantage of the opportunity, but Sibylla was the one who struck first. It was quite fast, but not enough to catch Fran.

Fran, who had avoided the slash with minimal movement, now slammed a low kick into Sibylla's inner thigh.

But it didn't seem to work either.

『Then I'll look for a weak spot!』

「Nn!」

From there it was a fierce exchange of blows.

Dozens of sword clashes ensued, but neither Fran nor Sibylla were seriously damaged.

Fran evaded everything and Sibylla simply took no damage.

That's right. She didn't bleed at all no matter where we cut or stabbed her from her head to her feet. Even a thrust straight at her eyeball didn't leave a mark.

I tried Destroyer of Evil, Demon Poison Fang, Elemental Swords of various elements… Still no effect.

「Nice try but it's all useless!」

『Then we'll use magic!』

I let Fran handle the evasion and fired several spells at once at Sibylla, who continued to swing her sword down at us.

Inferno, storm, land, water, lightning, ice, molten, dust, poison, darkness, light, space-time. I used pretty much every single spell I had that could cause direct damage.

Then with Fire Control, Water Control, Earth Control, Poison Control, and Wind Control, I launched non-magical elemental attacks.

However, Sibylla didn't show any attempt to avoid them.

It seems likely that she has a skill nullifying damage below a certain level rather than a resistance skill. It would be too hard to believe that Sibylla has resistance against all the attacks I just made.

「That's not enough to hurt me!」

「Then try this!」

Sibylla approached us, deflecting the attack with her own body.

Fran held me at waist height while ducking to avoid a side slash.

Using all her strength, Fran sends me flying from the sheath made of wind.

The Sheaths of Wind slash flew right for Sibylla's neck with divine speed.

Against any normal opponent, this would have been the decisive blow. However, Sibylla didn't even care.

I thought it might be a skill that reduces damage beyond a certain threshold, but how could it possibly nullify even this powerful attack?

Physical nullification? No, that doesn't explain why black lightning doesn't work.

In the first place, she certainly took a lot of damage in the fight with Colbert. The last technique that Colbert had unleashed was indeed impressive.

Even so, the Sheaths of Wind is comparable to that. In fact, the damage should be way higher than Colbert's because of the addition of my attack power to it.

So why is there no damage?

『What kind of a trick is this!?』

「Nice! That's a good one! But it's not enough to beat me! I'm just about warmed up, let's get this party going!」

Sibylla's pressure increased at once, and her entire body erupted with red magic power.