by Aneko Yusagi
Wow, Formation Two! It really looked much stronger than before. Now she would be even more reliable in battle!
“Tiger Break!” Fohl’s fist rammed into the Phoenix’s abdomen.
“Here I go!” Atla stabbed with her hand.
“Don’t forget about me! Gravity Sword!” Not wanting to be left behind, Ren also unleashed a skill, leaping onto the Phoenix and stabbing it multiple times in the head.
Wow. It was like slicing butter. Ren’s slashes looked to be causing some pretty serious trauma to the Phoenix.
“Okay! I’ll do what I can to help out. Woof!” With that, Keel chased in nimbly behind Ren and also started stabbing away. Keel was getting pretty strong too, from the look of things. This was a far cry from the danger she’d faced when that Spirit Tortoise familiar had defeated her.
I’d known everyone was getting stronger, but it was nice to see the evidence playing out before my eyes.
The Phoenix, however, had not only an animal part, like the Spirit Tortoise, but also seemed to comprise an elemental, spectral part. Each time it was injured, fire welled up from the wound and it vanished as though healed.
“Dammit! It’s got vitality in spades!” Ren complained. Even if a wound was cut, it quickly sealed back up, preventing a deeper injury from being caused.
This was really going to be a problem . . . but at least from the look of it, we were causing damage at the same time. Just as we had simulated, the low-altitude one was using an attack-focused suicide strategy, uncaring of whether it ended up blowing up or not.
However, we’d been prepared for whatever the Phoenix might unleash. So we weren’t taking much damage from both the breath and all the wing flapping. It was also very nice to seemingly not have to worry about the low-altitude one using anything as annoying as the Spirit Tortoise’s SP-absorbing attack.
However, we couldn’t be sure exactly what it might try to use on us. It might still have some attacks we hadn’t seen yet too.
As though on command, the Phoenix gave a high-pitched shriek and the halo on its back started to glow brighter.
“Woah!” I exclaimed. Pain flowed across my skin as though it were burning. The mural hadn’t shown anything like this! What was it? Some kind of special counter only used by the enhanced Phoenix? “Everyone, are you okay?” I checked.
“I’m fine!” Raphtalia confirmed.
“Me too!” Ren chimed in. It seemed that I’d taken the brunt of the attack, keeping it from affecting anyone else. Glad to hear it.
As I held onto the Phoenix to keep it from flying too high, I checked in on the high-altitude one. Motoyasu, Itsuki, Rishia, Sadeena and Shildina, and the queen were all launching their attacks toward it.
“Brionac!” Motoyasu threw a spear of light toward the Phoenix.
“Bird Hunting!” Itsuki’s arrow divided into multiple shafts, all striking the Phoenix at once.
“Tornado Arrow!” Rishia’s arrow created a tornado that held her target in place.
“Cooperative Magic! Image of Gale and Thunder Gods!” Sadeena shouted, while Shildina cast “Intense Collective Ritual Magic! Rain Storm!” The two sisters were leading the charge, striking with cooperative magic that combined lightning with tornadoes.
Just from a visual appraisal, it definitely looked like we were doing less damage to the high-altitude one than the one down here.
Then I had a thought. What were Filo and Motoyasu’s retinue of three doing? As soon as I pondered it, however, I also remembered. They were cooperating with the filolial unit and fighting over there with them. As well as Gaelion, other dragon knights and soldiers mounted on other flying monsters—I wanted to say griffons—were all fighting the good fight up there, but we were clearly doing too much damage to the low-altitude one.
At this rate, it wasn’t going to be easy to kill them both at the same time.
“Everyone, try and hold back a little, otherwise we’ll defeat this one first! We need to match up the timing as much as possible!”
“I know!” Ren returned.
“Okay!” Raphtalia managed. While keeping the front lines aware of the issue, I carefully maintained Air Strike Shield and Second Shield while keeping the low-altitude Phoenix pinned down.
“Ah?! Master Naofumi, the Phoenix is healing itself!” Atla warned me.
“Shit. That’s a pain,” I muttered. No way Atla would get that wrong. So if we backed off, it started healing. But if we went all-out, we’d definitely end up killing this one first.
It wasn’t going to be easy, but still we could handle it.
Just as I had that thought, I felt an increase in the temperature, spurring me to look at the Phoenix. In the same moment, it simply slipped out of my hand.
The Phoenix had gone and turned into pure fire.
“Everyone, get behind me! Air Strike Shield! Second Shield!” I hurriedly shouted. Was this the attack from the cracked part of the wall that we hadn’t been able to clearly make out?
I placed my shield in front of me and stood ready.
With a shriek, the Phoenix came right at us—a spinning tornado of fire. It was like Filo’s Spiral Strike, It was an attack charging forward while surrounded in flames.
It wasn’t enough to penetrate my defenses, however.
“Everyone okay?” I asked. Perhaps because I took the charge from the low-altitude Phoenix head-on, no one behind me seemed to have taken any damage.
The rain of feathers and combat with the familiars was causing some damage to even the units not on the front line, but none of it was close to being critical.
Then I noticed something was wrong with me. My magic was being drained . . . and I had a bad feeling about what might come next.
The high-altitude Phoenix gave another piercing shriek.
“Shooting Star Shield!” I shouted.
Drawing in a breath, the high-altitude Phoenix then expelled it as a beam, almost like a red laser. The Shooting Star Shield barrier centered around me came up just in time before the beam hit.
With gasps of surprise, Gaelion and the others fighting the high-altitude Phoenix barely managed to get out of the way. Then this breath attack was unleashed upon the ground forces.
With terrible screams, part of an entire unit was blown away like toys.
Damn this fiery turkey! How many more annoying tricks did it have concealed in its feathers?
“It drained my magic! The attack the low-altitude one just used steals away magic from the enemies fighting on the ground and then the high-altitude one unleashes that powerful breath attack!” I explained. The two birds had made one big mistake, however.
The Spirit Tortoise Shell had C magic snatch on it.
Having finished defending the attack, my shield launched a magical missile directly at the low-altitude Phoenix. But with a fizzing sound, it vanished.
It was just further proof that I couldn’t counterattack for shit. It looked like gravity field didn’t work on the Phoenix either.
Then I heard the moans of the injured.
“Immediately provide healing for those who’ve been attacked. All Zweite Heal! If you die, the enemy will take control of you! Rear units, hurry and provide aid!” At the orders I barked, the rear support units rushed forward and started to aid those who had been on the receiving end of the breath attack.
The problem was the stinking absorb attack. It just had to have one of those. The Spirit Tortoise Shell couldn’t nullify MP absorption. The only thing to be happy about was—perhaps because of the Barbarian Armor having absorb resistance (medium)—my magic hadn’t fallen completely to zero. We also couldn’t rule out the existence of SP-absorbing attacks, which would be really nasty.
I could change to the Soul Eater Shield, which would nullify drain completely, but that would leave me with concerns about defense. It would probably still be able to handle whatever the Phoenixes dished out, but I also had the gut feeling that I’d only held out so long because of the Spirit Tortoise Shell.
The
re was no need to rely on the Shield of Wrath here . . . but it was still hard to know which approach to take. That had enhancements on it that really needed to be sealed away. Realizing how dangerous they were, I’d tried to change them but didn’t have the required abilities or level.
The Demon Dragon really had got the last laugh, leaving that little trinket behind.
Huh? The low-altitude Phoenix was healing even more damage. Dammit . . . did using that technique also speed up its healing powers?
I looked up at the high-altitude one.
That one seemed to be taking longer to heal, but it was still a really dangerous situation.
“Finish this off before it can heal!” I ordered. There were general shouts of agreement.
“I’ve got this!” Raphtalia also affirmed, and then the attack started again.
Everyone unleashed their most powerful attacks, visibly beating down the Phoenix. This made the fight with the Spirit Tortoise look like even more of a joke. A lengthy joke, at that. We wanted to be finished here in short order.
As for that one risky attack . . . if it wasn’t too dangerous, I’d just stick it out with the Soul Eater Shield.
I’d given orders to focus on casting magic for fire resistance.
Right. While still keeping the Phoenix locked down, I ate a rucolu fruit to recover my magic. Then I cast All Revolution Aura again, as the first one had run out.
Was there no way to cast a decisive final blow?
Then I had an idea.
“Gaelion!” I called.
“Kwaa?” the dragon answered.
“Take Ren with you and tackle the high-altitude Phoenix,” I commanded.
“Naofumi, are you sure?” Ren asked.
“We’ve got enough firepower down here. I need you to focus your strength on weakening the higher one. If you think you’ve defeated it, direct your skill down here instead,” I told him.
“Sure thing,” he replied. At my orders, Gaelion and Wyndia dropped back down to me. I just hoped this would make things go a little easier.
The healing was a problem, but the high-altitude one just seemed like the tougher of the two. The low-altitude one healed quickly, but it also felt like it didn’t have much life.
Ren rode on Gaelion and went to fight the high-altitude one. It felt like that one was resistant to magic but weak to physical attacks. That had to be the case as it wasn’t really showing any effects from the full-scale magic of attackers like Sadeena, Shildina, and the queen.
That also suggested that the low-altitude one was weak to magic.
As though sensing my very thoughts, a Shadow appeared.
“Hero Iwatani, I have been told to azk you if maybe hitting the one you are fighting with ritual magic would maybe be more effective?” Shadow inquired.
“I was thinking the same thing! Everyone, get away from me! We’re gonna have some ritual magic coming in!” I shouted.
“What about you, Master Naofumi?!” Atla asked. At her question, I looked at Fohl.
“I can take it. Once the magic is finished, start attacking again,” I said.
“But—” Atla started.
“I’ll be fine. Hurry up and get away,” I said.
“Very well,” Raphtalia backed me up. “Atla, let’s go.”
“You’re always like this, aren’t you?” Fohl muttered, obviously not pleased about something. He and Raphtalia retreated with Atla.
Having confirmed that everyone had followed my orders and fallen back, the queen and Sadeena proceeded to launch ritual magic toward both the Phoenix and me.
A typhoon made of water descended from the sky toward me.
I could withstand it, using Shooting Star Shield. The Phoenix gave a pleasing shriek, however. The typhoon was an intense one, only lasting about thirty seconds, but it looked to have done some good damage.
A shame it wasn’t as strong as an attack from Ren, but it had probably done as much damage as a few successive attacks from Raphtalia or Fohl.
Just as I had suspected, the low-altitude one was weak to magic. It shrieked again, turning back into fire and charging right at me once more.
I switched to Soul Eater Shield and took it head-on. Certainly not the easiest attack to take with this approach—and this was with fire resistance magic applied. Just how powerful of an attack was it?!
Once the charge was over, I waited, shoulders heaving, for the healing magic to hit me.
I also checked whether the high-altitude one was going to unleash that powerful breath again . . . but no. It looked like if it was unable to steal any magic, it couldn’t use it.
Some sparks rained down, but nothing else happened.
It didn’t seem to have stopped the healing of the low-altitude Phoenix. That looked to be a separate issue.
Still, we could do this. If we pushed through, we could finish it. We just needed to weaken the high-altitude one some more, adjust the remaining life of them both, and we could win this.
“Come on! Let’s push on through and end this!” I declared. In that same moment—
From far behind us, far too far to see the source, a single shaft of light punched right through one of our targets—the weakened, almost ready-to-die high-altitude Phoenix.
Chapter Fifteen: A Forbidden Flicker
“What the—” We hadn’t reached the point of striking a finishing blow yet, and the low-altitude Phoenix had just been healing itself. So who was doing something so stupid?!
I looked into the direction the light had flown from. It was far behind us, a totally different direction from where the coalition army was set up.
So what the hell was it?! Was it some kind of hidden Phoenix attack? Or maybe . . . But no, it wasn’t the time to worry about that now.
The high-altitude Phoenix gave a fading shriek and then turned into a flickering fire-mist in the sky, as though burning away, leaving only feathers behind.
I confirmed the falling scattering of feathers. Okay, this was bad. Real bad.
Our forces casting magic from the rear had just completed large-scale ritual magic. Even though we now knew the low-altitude Phoenix was weak to magic, we couldn’t unleash any on it right now.
Finally snapping back from our surprise, we turned our attention to the low-altitude Phoenix.
With a feeble, dull shriek, the low-altitude Phoenix completely stopped moving.
And then . . . a horrible, unsettling sound rang out.
A little at a time, the Phoenix was starting to swell up. At the same time—as though making a clear declaration that this was the self-destruct—the halo on its back turned into an enclosing sphere that started to protect the Phoenix.
Its wounds also looked to be healing incredibly quickly now, like the vitality of the pair of them was now infused into just one.
Magic and heat started to compress into the Phoenix.
“Attack Support! Everyone, throw everything you’ve got at it! Quickly! We need to take this down as quickly as we can!” I shouted. There was no time to try and evacuate the area. Every second I could see the Phoenix swelling larger and larger.
If we couldn’t kill it before this death balloon popped, a massive-scale self-destruct attack was going to be triggered.
“I’ll cast the debuff magic again! Liberation Down!” Itsuki carefully assessed the situation and cast the status-reducing magic again. That was a big help!
“I’m on it! Shooting Star Sword! Gravity Sword! Hundred Sword!” Ren slashed and sliced.
“Hear me roar, I say! Shooting Star Spear! Brionac! Air Strike Javelin! Second Javelin!” Motoyasu got in on the action.
“As quickly as possible! Shooting Star Bow! Bird Hunting! Spread Arrow!” Itsuki launched his own barrage, all of the other heroes firing off everything they had one after the other.
“Air Strike Throw! Second Throw! Dritte Throw! Tornado Throw!” said Rishia.
“Eight Trigrams Blade of Destiny Successive Strikes! First Formation! Section Formation! Third Formation!”
Raphtalia piled on too.
“Tiger Break!” In went Fohl.
“Spiral Strike! Haikuikku!” Filo raged.
“Master Naofumi!” Atla hastened me on even as she struck at the Phoenix herself.
“Quickly—Scissor Blaze!” S’yne split up her scissors into two separate blades and sliced into the Phoenix as though she was dancing in the air.
Gaelion, now full-sized, also understood the situation. Incanting magic, he unleashed his breath toward the Phoenix!
“High Wing Slash!” With the cooperation of Wyndia, he immediately unleashed blades of wind that caused a tornado that swallowed the Phoenix. We actually lost sight of it! While that was happening, I directed life force at our foe, using Wall and Air Strike Shield to prevent it from escaping from the attacks.
“Everyone, you finished?” I asked.
“A-as best I can,” Raphtalia managed. The entire team had unleashed an exhaustive barrage of attacks. Finally, the dust settled from all of that firepower . . . and the Phoenix appeared, still swelling larger, almost reaching its limit.
This damn bird! Was there no way to finish this thing off?!
I checked whether the energy blast inside the Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield could be unleashed, but it wasn’t even operating. No chance of firing it now.
I stood in front of them all, ready to take the self-destruct on myself to protect them. I then activated the Gather technique created from life force.
If we took this self-destruct attack full-on, there was no chance of anyone surviving it apart from me. The heroes might be able to withstand it, but there was the coalition army and all of the slaves here too.
I couldn’t give up.
In the place where the Phoenix had been, there was a concentrated ball of fire, blazing like a miniature sun. It looked ready to rip apart at any moment, unleashing fires of annihilation to burn away the entire surrounding area. In that moment, far away . . . even in Melromarc, the fire that rose into the sky was visible.
In an instant, the light from the halo passed through all of our bodies. I checked my status to see a resistance down icon . . . Damn this thing! Just how badly did it want to kill us?!
At ground zero of the Phoenix explosion, I defended Raphtalia, of course, and then the heroes, the slaves, and the entire coalition army, from flames trying to decimate the entire vicinity.
