‘Now trickling in are our reinforcements. This is the moment of truth!’
We had been slowly withdrawing and we ended up at D4.
The chokepoint here is a great location to defend, but the battle is far from easy.
There were different kinds of enemies now too.
Dimensional Skeleton
Dimensional Vanguard
Dimensional Archer
Our mages and archers now had to switch their focus on different enemies.
The Vanguards wield spears, outputting more damage while giving up less opportunities to be attacked.
The Archers were able to hit our ranged attackers too.
The situation continued to be dire.
Still, we weren’t completely overwhelmed, and backup was slowly popping up.
We were able to hold the line thanks to that.
“If you’ve finished recovering your MP, then keep firing those skills. Keep an eye on your status, especially archers and mages!”
A party leader called out loud. Their party were always on the defense, much like us.
Archers and mages were critical to holding the line because of their wide area attacks.
I bet they found Yamikage real awkward, but it is what it is. Her Drain is simply too useful to tell her not to use it.
But that’s all she does!
In any case, it’s a matter of time before our defensive line falls.
A few of people on our side had already fallen victim to the enemies and they were forced to teleport back.
D4 might just be the last standing defense.
If we lose our position here, there’ll be no guarantee of being able to turn this around.
“Kizuna. Let us make plans before they land a decisive blow on us.”
“I was just thinking of the same thing, though I’m not sure what exactly we should do.”
“Then why don’t I push the enemy vanguard back?”
“That’s too risky.”
“It really isn’t. I should be able to pull it off since I can spam my skills.”
She has a point. The rest of our forces are low on MP.
The reason why Yamikage can keep using Circle Drain is purely because she’s a Spirit.
Most of our magic casters have fallen back to recover.
Of course, they only burnt up all their MP so that we could recover some Energy ourselves.
I looked over at Shouko and saw just how determined she was.
… I don’t think any of them would be as willing to volunteer to put their lives on the line.
“We might potentially lose all our Energy, y’know?”
“I have prepared myself for whatever potential consequences.”
“Alright, then I’m coming with you.”
“You are?”
“Remember what I said about straying from my path?”
“Yes?”
“Well, let me add to that. I’ll be correcting you too if you ever make a bad decision.”
Shouko looked exasperated.
She probably didn’t expect to get that sort of reply, so she must be having mixed feelings.
“You’d be nuts to charge into the horde alone.”
“… perhaps. Then, let us attack the enemy together.”
With a smile on her face, she stepped forward together with me.
“We’re a pair of Spirits here. We’ll make full use of our racial traits to charge in and scatter the enemy vanguard.”
“What?! You two have a death wish!”
“That or just pretend like we’re a pair of really tough tanks!”
I dismissed the worried voice over chat and ran in with my Cetus Longsword.
A lot of them must have looked down on us Spirits.
Sure, we might normally seem weak, but this was where we shine.
This was what I can do right now, and I was going to do it.
“Shouko, you’ll have to charge up your fan, right? I’ll buy you some time. We’ll probably do okay by chaining up our attacks. You should use something with a huge area of effect.”
“Okay. Be prepared to see what damage I can do!”
“Alright! Speed Gutting!”
Seeing how many of them are over there, we probably won’t get away with just a scratch.
The archers were already firing upon us.
But we’re Spirits. We’re number one in HP and skill spamming.
“I shall engage the enemies. Wild Dance, the Third: Cherry Blossoms! Recharge!”
She had already been charging up her fan as we headed towards the enemies.
In an instant, her skill takes down 10 enemies at once as their comrades crawled over the corpses.
“Cleaver! Cleaver! Cleaver!”
A red graphical effect unleashed as I successively cleaved through the enemies.
Given how cleavers are meant to chop through bone, the skill was very effective against Dimensional Skeletons.
Be that as it may, I still need more than one Cleaver to slay a skeleton.
“Cleaver! Cleaver! Cleaver! Cleaver!”
The momentum from each activation of the skill spun me faster and faster, eliminating any defenseless moments that I had.
“Wild Dance, the Second: Bloom!”
Shouko was in favor of quant.i.ty over fully charging her skills.
Because of that, the enemies didn’t die with a single strike.
I followed up on the damaged monsters to slay them.
If one hit’s not enough, then I’ll just hit them again.
“Miss Kizuna! Circle Drain!”
Yamikage hurried towards us in support.
A circle appears beneath the enemy troops. Circle Drain kills a good number of enemies that had been already weakened by our archers and mages.
Behind the freshly killed were yet another cl.u.s.ter of enemies. They’re seemingly never ending.
“… Toggling.”
Right after I used Cleaver again, Sheryl takes attacked an enemy that was targeting me.
Her skill struck and killed three enemies at once who had been damaged by Drain.
“Yamikage, Sheryl…”
“You guys!”
“… didn’t wanna be the odd one out.”
Sheryl was expressionless as ever, but the marine blue gemstone on her chest was shining brightly.
What are you, some kind of rival from a shounen manga? You totally set a death flag there.
But perhaps with us four…
“If things do go south, make sure you run! Cleaver!”
“… I know. Full Harpoon.”
The four us stood alone in a sea of swords, arrows, and magic in action.
I bet some of them are wondering what the heck we’re doing.
But because we’re all together, I was having lots of fun.
We might have abandoned our plans because of Dimension Wave, but I’m sure we can sail across the oceans if it’s the four of us. I’m absolutely sure of it.
Still, only utter fools would charge into a swarm like this if this were a game.
“Egads! We have no retreat!”
“d.a.m.n! Did I just jinx ourselves?”
I looked around us to find that we were completely surrounded.
We’ve slowed down the enemy advance but in turn lost all ways to retreat.
“‘tis as if it were us four against the world.”
“Why did you guys even follow us anyway?”
“I am thy shadow, Miss Kizuna.”
“… oh, what? That’s the character you wrote for yourself?”
“How rude of ye!”
Well, call me simple, but I’m pretty happy with her character.
… I’m not about to stroke her ego though.
“Now then, y’all feelin’ lucky?”
I kept up my attacks while I spoke to them.
Shouko’s got my back, so I can focus whatever’s ahead of me.
It’s like this scene is straight out of a romanticized depiction of war.
Endorphins must be pumping through my brain right about now.
“About what, Kizuna?”
“Wanna make a bet on how many of us will survive?”
“… not much of a bet.”
“Verily.”
“You don’t actually think we’ll all make it out alive, do ya?”
“My bet’s on four.”
“Aye, all of us.”
“Oh, I understand now. In that case, my bet is on all of us as well.”
“What, so it’s just me betting on zero… no, never mind. Let’s get through this together.”
The joke would’ve flew past their heads. Their glares would’ve killed me first though.
Was that their pent-up frustration against me or something?
Well, whatever. I’ll just stop being stupid.
It would’ve been real awkward if I had made that joke anyway.
“I’m not about to these guys steal all our Energy, so let’s kick their a.s.ses!”
“Let’s!”
“Aye, aye!”
“‘kay.”
It’ll suck to lose all of our Energy, but we’ll have fun in the process at least.
It’s not like the only thing in the game is to be the strongest.
Plus, we still have our skills and stuff that can be used as buffer.
And just as I made up my mind to attack…
“Oh, woooow! Maybe I shoulda been a Spirit too!”
Someone called out to us. Someone with a very familiar voice.
“… Tsugumi?”
Blazing a trail through the enemies was my little sister.
Tsugumi†Exceed was her name in game.
Above her pitch-black armor was a circlet on her head and a pair of animal ears peeked out through it.
And then, a great scythe.
Of course she uses one.
But I mean, that’s exactly—
“Sorry I’m late, big bro! Here comes my counter attack! Death Step!”
Four great crashes emanated from her direction.
Then, tens of enemies were slaughtered in a moment.
That’s exactly… that’s exactly what it’s good for: wide area physical attacks.
… I guess it was a good idea I called their bet.
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