kscans

Chapter 904 - Azure Stars Dancing in a Feast of Flames, Part 1

"—[Rocket]."

True to my word. The moment the blazing giant of a demon let out a roar like a high-pitched earthquake and took a stance to welcome the intruders, my body shot through the air toward its face.

What assaulted me was a heat wave so intense—no, so ferocious—that “of course” was the only way to describe it. I came face to face with its body of roaring flame, an inferno that would undoubtedly inflict damage on even a superhuman avatar just by getting close—and ignored it.

"Hundred—"

Environmental heat slip damage? Too bad, but something like that…

"—Red!"

…is well within the coverage of the ultimate, lawless blessing that contains every support effect imaginable: the personal protective barrier, [Mitama no Hafuri], granted by the three sacred instruments of the Northern “trio.”

Raging flames. Sparks of fire filling the space. A scorching heat wave that kicked up a gale. A pure white luminescence clinging to my avatar quelled it all and protected me.

In other words, there was no problem with me shoving my fist into a ten-meter-tall mass of fire.

Without hesitation, I unleashed my right fist, imbued with a hundred punches by the skill, aiming straight for the face of the vicious [Ifrit, the Fire Demon], which had two goat-like, twisted horns—

—!

"Whoops?"

Contrary to my expectations, I sent it flying with a solid punch.

How surprising. Even though it had a completely human form, I thought there was a chance its body, being a mass of fire, would be immune to physical attacks and my fist would pass right through. I reignited [Rocket].

"[Drei Riesig]!"

With the solid impact still lingering in my right hand, I immediately retreated from the front of the demon, which had recoiled slightly from the blow. Landing in my place was my partner's magic sword, which had been following close behind me.

And then…

"—[Nel Widersch]!"

Knocked off balance by the triple impact of the sand towers, [Ifrit, the Fire Demon] found itself face to face with my partner, who had imbued her thousand-sanded magic sword with a brilliant light enchantment and was executing a move even more merciless than mine.

—, —, —.

Every hit landed. The fact that it showed no particular reaction—was that an inevitable consequence of the stun from my lightning-fast opening salvo, or did it have some other intention?

The Scales were already tipping.

Clad in the blessing of the “trio” just like me, and with her own lawless enhancements on top of that, plus the co-op status boosts from the mutually unlocked [Perdia Eternity] and so on, Sora's avatar was, in terms of specs, not much different from a max-level (Lv. 100) player.

For her to unleash her full power from the get-go and slam a finishing blow head-on—

"Ah, that thing's completely materialized…"

It wouldn't be strange for its massive body to topple backward with a ground-shaking thud.

I see. I was starting to understand, just a little.

I reignited [Rocket] a third time. After a little “detour,” I headed toward…

"Alright, that's what it looks like."

""We can't say for sure yet…""

…my allies, who had been observing the first act. As I was naturally snatched from the air and Sora-san settled obediently in my arms, I put her down and offered a single comment, to which two voices replied in unison.

"To take that much of an assault head-on and receive only minimal damage… even a magic sword with both physical and magical properties didn't seem to do much… It's unnerving that it just calmly took all of that," Shoh observed.

"The physical judgment went through. However, it's strange that neither Haru's punches nor Sora-san's magic sword made a direct hit. Every one of them seemed to impact the space just before making contact with the main body," Ren added.

And so followed the accurate analysis of Shoh and Ren.

Every point was something both Sora and I had already thought of, but the fact that they had followed the entire sequence with their eyes and hadn't missed a single key detail was, as expected, impressive—and then…

The ground rumbled again.

"Haru."

"Yeah."

Above the giant's head, seven HP bars were displayed.

The fact that it wasn't a dedicated oversized gauge probably meant it wasn't quite at the Over-Raid class, but there was no doubt it would be a troublesome opponent.

After all, it had taken that furious barrage of attacks head-on and only lost a sliver of its first HP bar. Including the fact that my fists and Sora's sword had impacted the space in front of its flames, there was definitely some kind of gimmick at play.

It was getting up with slow, deliberate movements, as if to say, heave-ho, which, just as Shoh had said, was unnerving.

So, what to do now? Deciding that was the role entrusted to me, the current leader.

"…Sayaka-san, please continue to maintain the barrier. From the feel of it up close, melee combat seems impossible without it, so please defend it at all costs."

"Yes, I understand."

"Shoh, focus on guarding Sayaka-san. If anything happens, I need you to intercept."

"Understood."

"Ren, I want to try and find an attack that works. I'll cover you, so please move to the front."

"Understood."

"Gen-san."

"Yeah, leave it to me."

"I haven't said anything yet. For now, please pummel it from the rear. If you think the back line is in danger, fall back and defend with Shoh."

"Leave it to me."

And so, I wracked my brain and gave my orders.

Fortunately, everyone responded with a simple acknowledgement…

"…"

"Wh-what is it…?"

"Well, I was just wondering… what do you think?"

"…Jeez, you're the leader right now, Haru!"

I can't help it! I've got one of the best commanders I know standing right next to me. Of course I'm going to feel anxious and glance her way.

If something comes up, just tell me. Don't hesitate.

Well now… Hey, you took your sweet time getting up, didn't you?

The rumbling stopped. I looked up to see the towering figure of the demon looking down on us. Had it already forgotten being sent flying so unceremoniously, or was it looking down on us tiny humans with amusement?

I didn't know… and because I didn't know…

"Alright, let's fight for real!"

…we'd just have to find out by beating it from one end to the other.