We knew already that the webbing spat out by the Arachne wasn"t the slightest bit effective against fire.
So the key of this battle was Lucia"s MP.
After she had dropped all the way to nothing, she had managed to garner some back now. It should be at around 40 now. No, she used 5 points to cast the fireball, so it should be at around 35 right now.
We needed to use the MP as effectively as possible. I needed to push Lucia hard until her body reached its limit.
"I"m going up, Senpai!"
Tamaki charged into the blazing fire. It looked dangerous, but in the battle against the legendary Arachne, inside the fire was the safest place.
Of course, that was all under the condition that I had given her a resistance to fire.
Lucia"s body staggered. I gripped the silver-haired girl"s shoulder, supporting her as she nearly collapsed to the ground.
"I"m so…sorry."
Sweat flowed down Lucia"s face like a waterfall. Even after resting earlier, using magic once again was enough to tire her out like this.
Perhaps her body was much weaker than us?
Was it because she was level 14? Or was it because her personal level had jumped up so quickly? Or was it that she was from another world?
I didn"t know the reason. What was sure was that she was devastatingly weak right now.
I hated the idea that "as long as you"re persistent, you can get anything done." If she was so weak, we should change our plans accordingly.
So I needed to draw out a level that was higher than her limit. No matter what, if we didn"t do that we wouldn"t win the battle.
"Senpai, I"ll go and support Tamaki…"
"No, Arisu. Wait here. Mia!"
"Got it. I"ll be right back."
Going after Tamaki, Mia charged into the smoky battlefield.
This time it was Mia"s turn to support Tamaki. Her responsibility was to try her best to seal the legendary Arachne"s movements.
The Arachne soldiers discovered us flying above and let loose a gallery of arrows at us. Standing behind me, Arisu used the handle of her spear to sweep aside the arrows.
Arisu became Lucia and my shield, using her spear to keep bouncing away arrows.
I keep feeling that her strength has surpa.s.sed the generals in the manga version of "Records of the Three Kingdoms". How strong is her active vision?!
But all of this could be explained away with "because it"s part of her skill set".
"Lucia, can you see anything in the area? Don"t let the soldiers get close to the legendary Arachne. In the direction I"m pointing…"
"Yes, I can still…Fire fountain."
As if erecting a barrier between the Arachne soldiers and the legendary Arachne, a wall built from flames shot up from the ground.
This was the level 6 "Fire fountain". In her current state, Lucia could only maintain the fire wall for about three and a half minutes. That was the only time we had to settle our battle with the legendary Arachne.
The legendary Arachne must have noticed our plan to separate it from its companions. Stubbornly, it kept moving away from Tamaki, who was close on its tail, trying to leap out of the way.
It wanted to get over the fire wall and join forces with the Arachne soldiers that were currently engaged with the citizens of light.
But someone saw through this.
"Don"t even think about it. Gravity."
Mia"s gravity magic swatted the legendary Arachne to the ground. As it landed on the ground in a fl.u.s.tered state, Tamaki used all of the strength in her body to chop down on the creature.
But the legendary Arachne blocked the blow with its spear.
Dammit. When it came to manipulating weapons, our opponent had edged ahead of us.
Tamaki was covered in sc.r.a.pe wounds. If this were any other time, Arisu would charge over and heal her. But now she was my guard. Her "Distance healing" couldn"t extend to Tamaki at the moment.
"Senpai, please, let me…"
"No. We need to carry out the plan."
Eyes wide, biting her lip, Arisu glared at me. I looked away from her and focused on the movements of the enemies.
Time was everything. Among all the abilities that the legendary Arachne possessed, the most difficult to deal with was its high jump and the various obstacles that its webbing put up.
If we wanted to defeat the legendary Arachne that was currently on its guard, it wouldn"t be easy.
If Mekishu Grand was a super robot, the legendary Arachne was a lifelike robot.
No, why was I even thinking about super robots…
Anyways, that kind of mechanical motivation was hard to deal with.
We needed a way to divert that thing"s attention and attack while it"s least expecting an attack. There was only one shot.
"Lucia, attack there next."
"Yes. Fire fountain."
After that, I had her cast the spell two more times. Every time she cast it, Lucia became weaker.
But thanks to her sacrifices, we managed to surround the legendary Arachne with fire.
A ring blocked off by the fire was taking shape.
In the ring of fire, Tamaki and the legendary Arachne were engaged in tense battle. Mia kept intervening in the fight, preventing it from landing a decisive blow.
We couldn"t keep this up. But no matter what happened, we didn"t plan to keep it up.
Supporting Lucia with my shoulder, I landed alongside Arisu near the fire wall.
Lucia used her magic to burn up the dry plants nearby. All the plants around us turned into bonfires.
Sparks flew everywhere, splashing onto our faces. Thanks to the protective magic, the hot air wasn"t an issue for me.
"Mia, prepare!"
I shouted through the fire wall at Mia. Mia responded, "Understood!"
A few seconds later–
"Right now."
Mia"s voice came from inside.
I took Arisu"s left hand. Using the last of her strength, Lucia cast a spell.
"Fire teleportation."
This was a level 7 fire spell, allowing the user to teleport from inside a burning flame into another fire.
Every time you rose a level, the distance you were able to teleport increased by ten meters.
Our field of vision immediately changed–
We were inside of the fire wall. Before us was the red-black-skinned legendary Arachne, bigger than all other Arachne.
The legendary Arachne.
The G.o.d-level monster soldier was currently facing away from us.
It was focused on Tamaki, jabbing in her direction with its spear.
The moment we appeared, a slight smile appeared on Tamaki"s face. Using all the strength in her body, she landed a blow on the legendary Arachne.
The tip of her sword crossed with the red and black spear, and was bounced back.
Her momentum, although completely reliant on brute force, pushed the legendary Arachne"s body backwards.
But a blow landed like that, using all the strength in her body, left her vulnerable. She was exposed to the legendary Arachne"s metal wires that pierced through her body.
"Ow, that hurts so much…enough of this…but!"
Even though she was pierced through with wires like a porcupine, the loyal girl still laughed without fear…
"Right now, Arisu!"
"Yes, Tamaki!"
From beside me, Tamaki charged out and stabbed towards the legendary Arachne"s exposed backside.
Turning its head to us, the legendary Arachne seemed to register shock. Even so, it twisted its body, trying to escape the attack.
All of this seemed to happen within a moment. The spear in its hand suddenly extended, whereas the other end of the point–the end of the spear that was made from metal–approached Arisu.
So that spear did have this kind of special power!
The legendary Arachne wanted to use the end of its spear to bounce away Arisu"s attack. But Arisu reacted to this immediately. To be exact, she turned the spear in his hand and forced it towards behind the legendary Arachne"s long spear.
The echo of collision echo rang out. Both spears were bounced back, ripped out of their owners" hands, spinning through the air.
"It"s not over yet!"
Arisu extended her hand towards the spear in the air. It seems like she had already prepared herself for this aftermath when she used the attack.
This was why, even if it was only slightly faster, she still made the first move.
What Arisu was reaching for was the legendary Arachne"s red-black silver-handled spear. She wanted to do what Tamaki had done the first time we battled the orc general.
But the legendary Arachne immediately sensed what she was trying to do and opened its mouth wide.
Dammit, the metal wires were coming!
Right now, Arisu was completely unprepared. She would be pierced through with countless wires just like Tamaki…
"Arisu!"
There"s no way I"d let it get away with that. Releasing Lucia, I stood up front and became Arisu"s shield, exposing myself.
The moment the legendary Arachne spat out metal wires, it looked like everything was happening in slow motion. I glimpsed Arisu"s shocked expression and extended my right hand forwards.
"Deflection."
Countless metal wires were bounced back by the shield that I had raised. But all the wires that returned to the legendary Arachne fell soft before they could reach the enemy"s body.
Dammit, this was already a lucky gamble. So it didn"t work!
Hm, it was fine though. I had protected Arisu.
I kicked at the ground and took a few steps back.
And then I looked behind me, at Lucia who was standing up unsteadily on her own two feet.
"Fire bomb."
As if we could reach each other"s minds, Lucia released a level 3 spell that exploded right at the legendary Arachne"s head. The wires it had just spat out also caught on fire.
Its whole body surrounded by flames, it howled.
In that moment, Arisu grabbed the red-black silver-handled spear and charged at it.
She stabbed the pulsating tip of the spear into the legendary Arachne"s open mouth.
The strongest Arachne writhed about, its limbs flailing.
Perhaps feeling that she was in danger, Arisu temporarily backed down.
"Tamaki! Distance healing!"
The legendary Arachne decreased its distance from Arisu.
"Whole body electric shock."
Mia stopped its movements. She had found the opportunity when the unrecovered Tamaki and Arisu had attacked together, and targeted its foot to attack.
The legendary Arachne let out several high-pitched wails. Even though it was struggling in pure pain, it still retaliated with the consciousness that it might die soon. It released metal wires in all directions, forcing Arisu and Tamaki to stay on the defense.
It took that opportunity to leap up.
It leapt high, so very high. All that attack earlier was just a front for its preparations to escape.
But Mia had seen through that as well.
"Gravity."
But right before Mia"s spell worked its magic, the legendary Arachne changed the trajectory of its jump.
"Ahh…"
Mia let out a moan. I immediately realized–
The legendary Arachne spat out webbing that wrapped around a nearby tree, changing its movement forcefully to escape the effects of "Gravity". What a clever move.
Oh no…if this went on, it would land outside of the ring of fire. And now we couldn"t let this thing…
Arisu, Tamaki, and I flew into the air together and saw–
"Ha–!"
The moment it began to land, a shadow of a person descended towards its head.
It was a citizen of light. The man held a sword and stabbed down towards the legendary Arachne"s exposed body.
"How about that, you deserved it!" he shouted.
That face illuminated by the firelight was the same young man that scolded me a few hours ago.
He started laughing, and announced his victory with a wild voice.
"I avenged them!"
He shouted.
"I avenged my wife and my daughter! I did it, I did it, I…!"
The next moment, the man was pierced through and through by the metal wires spat out by the legendary Arachne.
An attack from such close quarters would undoubtedly be fatal. Blood spilled from his mouth…yet a satisfied smile came to his lips.
His attack was careless and badly calculated.
But the few precious seconds of time that he had bought was enough for Arisu and Tamaki to corner the legendary Arachne.
"It"s time, Arisu."
"I know, Tamaki."
The two girls attacked the legendary Arachne from the air. The Arachne with red and black skin was already covered in wounds and had no energy to avoid the attack.
Arisu"s piercing attack stabbed it straight through the heart; Tamaki"s chop sliced off its head.
Blue blood flew everywhere.
The legendary Arachne, so much bigger than all the other ones, fell to the ground and turned into yellow gems.
We had won.
We were moved to the white room again. It seemed like aside from me, everyone else had leveled up.