CH 340

「Well then…」

Said Black Mask as he touched Inglis’ shoulder. The Ether surrounding Black Mask’s body had been adjusted to match the same wavelength and hue as Inglis’. As a result, Inglis could sense that his Ether was permeating her body, replenishing her depleted reserves of Ether at a rapid pace.

In a matter of moments, Inglis’ Ether was restored to a nearly perfect state. Despite Black Mask’s assertion that he was not in top form, Inglis regained almost all of her strength after receiving his Ether. This suggested that the magnitude of Inglis’ Ether was not on par with Black Mask’s, but rather significantly less.1

The disparity in strength between the two wasn’t solely determined by the quantity of Ether or the determination to keep fighting. What Inglis learned from this experience was that she still had much to improve upon and could benefit from having an opponent to strive towards.

「Hm. This will be enough…」

Said Black Mask as the Ether’s radiance dissipated from his body.

「How impressive. Even though you claimed to not be in top condition, you’ve filled me up almost completely.」

「I wouldn’t get my hopes up if I were you. I’m near my limit and won’t be able to supply you with Ether again.」

「Of course, I understand. Thank you very much! I will repay this debt on another battlefield!」

「Hm. If that’s the case, I would greatly appreciate it if you refrained from attacking me on the battlefield, even just once.」

「What?! But that’s…」

But that’s just boring. She was hoping to seize the opportunity to demonstrate how much she had improved and continue honing her skills in the process as a way of repaying him.

「I’ll leave it up to you. Good luck!」

Black Mask then turned on his heels and leaped high into the air, moving away from Inglis. Although there were a few things she wanted to discuss, given the circumstances, it was inevitable.

At present, Inglis needed to concentrate on the Prisma. Her top priority was to break out of being cornered by the ray of light. To achieve this, she would employ the power she had just received!

「Ether Strike!」

Shouted Inglis as a massive ball of luminous Ether took shape before her. With a deafening roar, the Ether Strike pushed back the rays unleashed by the Prisma, forcing it to retreat.

「All right!」

Cheered Inglis as she was freed from being cornered. Without delay, she ran right behind the advancing Ether Strike.

Using this momentum, she would push forward and force her way through!

Behind her lay the city of Arlman, where not everyone had managed to evacuate. Countless Magic Stone Beasts still roamed the city, and battles were raging all around.

The casualties would be catastrophic if the ray of light landed within the city, and Inglis was determined to prevent that from happening! She pushed back against the Prisma with all her might, determined to snuff out the threat.

However, Prisma was not willing to give up. In addition to the beams from its eyes, it now unleashed the same rays of light from both hands as well.

As a result, the Ether Strike was now being pushed back, and both the light rays and the Ether Strike were hurtling towards Inglis.

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「?! It’s being pushed back?!」

She wouldn’t expect any less from a further evolved Prisma, everything it did exceeded Inglis’ imagination. She never expected her Ether Strike would be pushed back so easily!

「Let’s try this instead!?!」

Inglis altered the wavelength of the ether enveloping her body, now opposing the wavelength of the incoming Ether Strike. This technique was similar to using the Ether Reflector, which allowed her to manipulate Ether and reflect Ether Strike as desired.

「HAAaaaahhh!!」

With a battle cry, Inglis swung her dragonscale sword and struck the incoming light bullet. The sword pressure was imbued with ether of the opposite wavelengths, which repelled the light bullet and pushed it back. Inglis closed the gap between them in an instant and struck the light bullet again. With each strike, her Ether Strike inched closer towards the Prisma.

Inglis propelled the Ether Strike forward, striking it repeatedly as it moved to the Prisma. She struck it again and again, refusing to give up. Inglis was determined to find other ways to overcome the Prisma, as simply relying on Ether Strike wasn’t enough.

Inglis quickly closed the distance she lost after being pushed away, steadily approaching the Prisma. However, the Ether Strike lost all of its power after successfully offsetting the Prisma’s ray of light.

「——!」

In an instant, Inglis redirected her sword and struck the ground with tremendous force, creating a massive crater that sent a cloud of dust billowing into the air. It was a strategic move to create a smoke screen and conceal herself within the haze.

Inglis emerged from the dust cloud on the right side of the Prisma and swiftly made her way toward its rear. Due to her position, she couldn’t risk letting any stray attacks hit the city behind her. Inglis had no choice but to face and deflect any incoming attacks. Evading was not an option.

In order to escape from that vulnerable position, Inglis knew that she had to move quickly. However, despite her Ether Armor’s full speed, she couldn’t get behind the Prisma yet.

Inglis locked eyes with the Prisma, knowing that its gaze was also a means of attack. Suddenly, a ray of light shot out from its eye, aimed directly at her.

「Even its reaction speed has increased, I see!」

Before it evolved, the Prisma was always one step behind Inglis when she moved at her full speed. However, now that it has evolved, it can track Inglis’ precise movements with its eyes, and the ray of light follows accordingly.

In addition, rays of light were now coming towards Inglis from the direction she was heading, as if the Prisma was anticipating her movements. These rays of light seemed to be emanating from the Prisma’s fingers.

Inglis swiftly made a sharp turn, narrowly avoiding the incoming attack. While still in motion, she plunged her dragonscale sword into the ground, using the momentum to raise a cloud of dust that obscured her from view.

She did this to prevent the Prisma from blocking her again. She was aware that stopping or analyzing the movements for even a moment would result in her getting hit directly and suffering significant damage.

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The rays of light that missed Inglis were incredibly destructive, leaving deep ruts in the ground and even blowing away entire mountain peaks and hillsides. Despite this, Inglis continued to evade them, relying on her paper-thin defense to stay safe

「Fufu… the tension is truly different… Fufufufu…」

The words escaped her mouth. She couldn’t even imagine what kind of expression she was wearing, but it must be one oh-so-graceful, beautiful, and flowery smile.

First and foremost, I want to say that there are so many ill-worded sentences in this chapter alone that I feel the need to rework and, at times, rewrite them in order to make the series much more enjoyable. However, it is simply against my standard to take such a huge translation liberty as, personally, it feels disrespectful to the author and cheating the readers of what is theirs to experience. I write this note mainly to clear my own conscience.2