Volume 3 - CH 7.3

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist  Editor: Weasalopes

「… Is it steam?」

「Ugh, found out already, huh?」

Sarnak frowned at Yueloi’s muttering. That was steam indeed. The steam made by evaporating large amounts of water with Folio’s flames. That is what that white haze floating around him truly was.

「The 『Mass of Water』 was evaporated with the 『Great Flame』, and that made the armor blow up, right?」

When water turns into steam, it’s volume rapidly expands. The armor was unable to withstand the pressure created during that process and ended up bursting. If any ordinary person tried imitating it, his body would not only suffer severe burns, but his body would also be crushed by the pressure of the water vapor. But Sarnak is not an ordinary man. He has his Skill, the 『Steel Shield』, which makes him capable of performing even the most suicidal of acts like it was nothing.

「I have to admit, you’re way smarter than I thought you’d be, 『Steel Shield』. Did you take Folio’s 『Great Flame』 from her?」

「Ha! And why would I do that if I can do it myself?」

He laughed through his nose and put his hands together, which created a large amount of steam. Yueloi thought that this is just a little bit bad.

The flames created through Skills are not as strong as they actually look. Unless you’ll constantly sustain something created with a Skill, it will disappear immediately. Flames are no exception to that rule, and Skill-created flames usually go out in less than a second. That’s why they can be prevented with a simple iron armor. It would be a different story if it would be continuously applied, but if there are only one or two flames, the surface of the armor is only going to heat up by a little. They might look flashy as hell, but their killing potential is not that great.

However, hot steam might be a really bad news for her. Water generally lasts longer than flames and it can penetrate the gaps in the armor to transfer heat, and above all else, and getting close to the enemy won’t give you anything, since water cannot be restrained the same way fire can be.

「I guess it can’t be helped.」

Originally she didn’t want to use it against the Bottom dwellers, but now that she whispered that, Yueloi steeled her resolve and rushed towards Sarnak. She placed her hand at her hips and then thrusted it towards him, and he reflexively tried to block it. At first it looked like Yueloi’s hand was holding some kind of invisible stick because it was half-closed as if gripping something, but as she got closer and closer it was revealed that she was actually holding a huge spear.

It was not an ordinary long spear with a small tip, but rather an assault spear-lance with a large conical tip about three meters long. She intended to cut through the steam and pierce through Sarnak’s throat.

「Hmm, you’re one interesting fellow. If nothing else, your intuition is quite something.」

That was Yueloi’s plan, but she stopped the spear’s tip when she saw Sarnak running to meet her head on. She was aware that since it was a physical attack then it wouldn’t have worked against him because of his 『Shield』 Skill, but her attempt just now was not a complete waste.

If Sarnak moves even an inch forward, his throat id going to be ripped apart by his own power. Yueloi tried to provoke him to take such action by running towards him, but Sarnak stopped himself at the last possible second.

「Then how about this?!」

With her free right hand she created another spear and aimed it at his solar plexus, forcing him to take a few steps back.

「If you won’t proceed forward, then I’ll just stab you!」

Yueloi lets go of the spears and creates two more of them. The ones she let go of didn’t disappear and stay in the air, becoming a wall that’s preventing Sarnak from making any attempts at going past her.

「Tch!」

Sarnak stopped and created more fire. Yueloi holds the spear in front of her and receives it head on. As long as she knows that those flames won’t work against her armor, it was nothing more but a fancy smokescreen. Is he going to run away, or is he going to try and close the distance between them? Yueloi’s guess was the former, so that he could try to regroup with Aur and Folio, allowing them to strike her with everything they got. At the current moment that seemed like the most effective strategy for them. If he gets closer to her, he’s just going to end up being stabbed to death.

The spears Yueloi creates can change their size to some extent. So if he thinks that he can avoid being hurt by an oversized, three-meter spear by getting close to her, then he’s going to pay the price for his foolishness in blood.

「Wha…?!」

But the tip of her spear has been effortlessly grabbed. Breaking through the detonated flames, Sarnak appeared right before Yueloi.

Even though it doesn’t have a blade, it’s a Skill-made weapon that tears flesh and pierces bones with the lightest touch. Of course, if he grabs such a thing he’s going to get hurt, and hurt he got. The blood that overflows from Sarnak’s hand flows down the spear.

「Don’t underestimate me!」

Yuweloi immediately releases her hand from the spear and produces a short spear from both hands. It’s not one or two either. Ten spears floated in front of her and were fired at Sarnak like arrows. The true identity of the spears created by Yuweloi is the Skill called 『Spear Throwing』, but despite its name the spears don’t need to be thrown by the user himself.

But right before they were about to hit Sarnak, the bounced off of the air in front of him as if the were stopped by an invisible wall.

「Wha….!」

Did he have another defensive Skill that he was hiding up until now? She was confused, so she tried to increase the distant between them, but she wasn’t able t do it. It was as if her armor has been affixed to something.

「I’ve got you now!」

In the meantime, Sarnak himself managed to slip through the rain of spears and grabbed Yueloi’s arm. As she was well aware, his 『Steel Shield』 nullified the forces of everything that came into contact with it. In other words, now that she was grabbed by him, she won’t be able to escape.

It’s blood, Yueloi noticed. His body does not accept any elements from the outside. But how broad was the definition of his 「body」, exactly?

Strictly speaking, 『Steel Shield’s』 power protects the natural body of the user. That’s why even his clothes aren’t scratched. It is generally accepted that the perception of Skill users influences the way their Skills work. Using that principle as a basis, Sarnak must have somehow extended the awareness of his own blood.

Therefore, objects covered with his blood would also be unable to move. The 『Steel Shield』 blocked even the movement of blood, so Sarnak intentionally hurt himself with a spear and splashed his blood at Yueloi to seal her movements.

Blood is also a part of your body. Even if it flows out, applying the power of Skills to it does not seem all that impossible. However, the fact that he came to that idea was surprising. At least Yueloi has never thought of such a method.

「Kuh…!」

She has to release the armor and leave immidiately. But just before Yueloi decided to take off her armor, a blast broke out.

「I won’t let you …!」

From the other hand that wasn’t holding Yuweloi’s arm, flames were fired in quick succession. If she releases the armor to escape now, she will be immediately struck by them. On the other hand, if she continues to be hit by flames at such a close range, she will not be able to keep her armor.

In that case…

「How about this?!」

Yueloi creates an innumerable amount of spears to covers the entirety of Sarnak’s body from every direction, top to bottom.

「If you move even a little now, the spears are all going to turn you into a pincushion! Can you keep that offensive of yours in this situation?!」

Releasing the flames does not require any specific action. But once he get pierced by so many blades that he won’t be able to move at all, it will not matter.

「Well, shame on you then.」

Yueloi definitely saw that Sarnak’s smile was the one of a madman.

「I have already experienced a situation where I couldn’t move even a finger!」

The sound of burning water. When she heard it, it was already too late for her to run. The vaporizing water began to burst all around Sarnak, sending the spears that floated around him in all directions. Yueloi was directly hit with their impact, and was blown away.

「Fuuu … Damn … I feel like I’ve barely managed to do anything …」

After confirming that the armor wrapping Yuweloi had disappeared, Sarnak leaned against the wall while frowning at his throbbing and aching palm. With the disappearance of the armor, he felt as if he was about to faint.

「But…. I did it, general.」

He was aware that Yueloi was superior to him in every aspect. Without the blood strategy granted to him by Aur and the Skill he Borrowed from Folio, he would have never seized victory on his own. Aur himself estimated that even with those things, the chances of him winning were still around fifty-fifty, but he managed to fulfill the task he was given in the best way possible.

「I have done my part, so don’t you dare messing up on your end, you hear me?!」

Sarnak muttered, looking up at the ceiling sprawling above his head.

「Aur!」

Froro screamed happily. Bran opened her eyes in surprise, seeing the man who was now standing before her.

「How did you get in here?」

She asked him silently. When and how did he do that? Why did he suddenly appeared in a room that was supposed to be completely cut off from the rest of the Middle Layer?

「And here I was thinking you already knew what my ability allows me to do.」

That’s right, thought Bran, breathless. Aur can manipulate the 『Mother’s Wall』. Its ability is not limited to walls, but even works on the of ceilings and floors. Bran imagined it as “「just changing the shape of the room」, but if you could make a hole…

Guards could do nothing about it if he were to create a hole from the lower, floor and ascend using a ladder or whatever else… or turn the ceiling into a staircase leading straight into the sealed room.

「Now…」

Aur said to the stunned Bran.

「…. Give Froro back to me.」