In less than an instant, the Amazonian guards were obliterated, completely overwhelmed by the galloping throng of male aggressors and their accompanying deep-bellied battle cry.
“Finn! You’re here!”
“Apologies for our late arrival, Riveria. What’s the current status?”
Finn and Riveria convened atop the roof of a nearby building, Meren’s citizens mistaking the group for emissaries from Orario and welcoming them with buoyant cheers.
“Aiz and the others have been brought to a standstill farther down the road…As for Tione and Tiona…” Riveria began, filling Finn in on the rest of the situation.
Finn responded promptly, tossing out orders to Gareth and the rest of the troops following along on the road below. “Gareth! Take Raul and the others and head toward the western border of the city!”
“The west? The devil’s goin’ down over there?” Gareth asked in confusion.
“Tiona, Loki, and the others were last seen headed in that direction. Where’s Bete?”
“Knowin’ him, he’s already tearin’ things up at the pier!”
“Perfect. We’ll leave that to him, then!”
“And what of us?” Riveria this time.
Finn glanced up at the question, turning his gaze toward the high elf next to him. He tossed her the long silver staff he’d been carrying—her Magna Alfs—and she responded with a nod.
“As for us, we’ll—”
“Hrrggggrraaaaaaaaaghhhh!!”
“Ngh!!”
Silver sword met twin axes in a flurrying whirlwind of strikes.
With every incoming barrage, Aiz deftly knocked away the two bludgeons and retaliated with the wild flash of her blade, but no matter the angle of her sword, the fully armored giant of a woman always just barely managed to fend off her onslaught.
Phryne flinched beneath her visor. This wasn’t some giant battle-ax she was up against—this was nothing but a single sword. But then why was her armor already covered in scratches? Why was the duel leaning in Aiz’s favor?
Because she was the Sword Princess, that’s why. And it didn’t matter that their levels were now the same or that her wind magic had been sealed.
The temporary strength Phryne had gained for this duel was no match for the swordsmanship Aiz had perfected through hours upon hours of rigorous training. Aiz’s technique and tactical prowess were simply too great for Phryne’s own abilities to catch up.
“Youuuuuuuuuu…annoying biiiiiiiitch!” the giant woman wailed, putting everything she had into a single massive diagonal strike of her ax.
With blinding speed, Aiz sidestepped the incoming attack in all its overflowing, rage-induced power. Time came screeching to a halt as the Sword Princess retaliated with a spinning cut, so fast Phryne couldn’t even register the movement.
“Ruuuuuuuuuaaaaaaaarrrrrrgggghhh!!”
The tempestuous horizontal strike collided with Phryne’s torso, slicing across the armor with a magnificent flurry of sparks.
“Gnnnggraah…!! You…you scratched ittttt! My beautiful armorrrrrrrrr!!”
—It…It only nicked it!
Aiz looked on in dismay at the superficial mark her attack had made on the armor’s surface. She’d put everything she had into that hit, yet she’d still failed to fell the beast. And it wasn’t that Phryne’s reaction time had simply been too fast, either. It was for the same reason she’d already let so many other good opportunities during this fight pass her by—both literally and figuratively, her weapon just didn’t cut it.
The sword she was using was not her own but a substitute, and her opponent’s suit of armor was easily top grade. It put her at a distinct disadvantage, especially with their levels already so close.
Aiz glanced down at the blade of her sword, covered with nicks and chips. She had no idea how many more of Phryne’s attacks the metal could take. As blood and light particles oozed their way out of the neat gash in Phryne’s armor, Aiz turned to the woman with a sharp glare, the inklings of anxiety working their way up under her collar.
Then, suddenly.
“!!”
“!”
Her reinforcements arrived.
With a raging howl, the slew of Loki Familia men threw themselves at the surrounding circle of Amazons. Narfi and the other lower-level familia members, barely hanging on by that point, could only look on in speechless wonder as the sudden blitz stole their opponents from them.
Soon one, two, three, the Berbera fell one by one, no match against these new enemies.
“What the hellllllllllll?! What’sssssss going on—?!”
But the Berbera weren’t the only ones. A similar shadow quickly overtook the thunderstruck Phryne. Gray curls dancing, the werewolf leaped toward her like a starved animal, thirsty for blood.
“Gyyyyyyaaah?!”
There was a brilliant flash as the kick connected with her armor.
Phryne barely managed to defend herself, bringing an ax down just in time, but the sheer force of the kick still sent her careening backward and forming deep grooves in the dirt with her heels.
“Yo, Aiz.”
“Mister Bete…!”
Bete turned his gaze toward Aiz with an incredulous look, and Aiz herself was taken aback.
“I thought you were supposed to be goin’ up against that Kali Familia whatsit! But this is just that nasty frog from Ishtar Familia.”
It didn’t take long for Aiz to realize that Loki must have been the one to call in the cavalry. A bit shamefaced, she quickly filled in Bete on the current situation.
“I don’t understand…a single bit of what you just told me, aside from the fact that these cows are keepin’ us from Tiona and Tione,” Bete started, face darkening as he spoke. He could tell that the normally emotionless girl was desperately trying to string together her words in a way that made sense. “Aiz, you go on ahead.”
“What?”
“Y’gotta save those numbskull Amazons, don’tcha? They’ll do a lot better with your help than mine anyway,” Bete continued almost languidly, ignoring the way Aiz’s brows rose in surprise. “I’ll take care of things here.” The red glint of Phryne’s armor reflected in his amber eyes.
“B-but she’s as strong as a Level Six! And…and my magic, it was sealed, so going up against her alone would be—”
“Awww, shut the hell up, would ya?” The werewolf cut her off with an irate growl, already a Level 6 himself. “Only a little longer now…” he hissed, looking up. “Only a little longer, and I’ll become stronger than even you…at least without that wind of yours.”
“!”
Confused, Aiz, too, turned her gaze upward to the night sky. To the clouds drifting among all that inky blue and the moonlight just starting to peek through the veil.
Taking her Desperate from him, she nodded.
She ran out of there as fast as she could.
“Stop right there, Sword Princessssssss!”
“You’re not going anywhere!”
“?!”
Enraged, Phryne made to follow the swordswoman, only to find her path cut short by a werewolf. She brought her axes up to fend off the incoming kick, revealing her monstrous tongue. “Donnnnnnnnn’t mess with me, Vanargand! I know youuuuuuuu can’t get enough of me, but I doooooooon’t have time for this!!” Her face was already the same color as her crimson armor.
“You smokin’ somethin’, froggy?” Bete spat out, not even trying to disguise his disgust.
Whether or not she knew of the rage surging through the werewolf’s entire body, Phryne let out a grand peal of laughter.
“Hee-hee-hee!! I’ll warn you! I’mmmmmm a great deal stronger now, after chasing that sssssssorry girl! You think I care that you leveled up? You’re nothing but a dog with itssssssss tail between its legs!”
The air around Bete froze with a crack.<
br />
“Yer gonna regret those words…”
A dangerous glint appeared in his eyes.
Almost as if in response to his call, the clouds parted to reveal the light of the moon.
“Hee-hee…hee…?” Phryne’s echoing laugh came to an abrupt halt.
The scene outside her visor was…changing.
Golden light flooded the once-dark pier, sending faint tremors up and down Bete’s body, and the werewolf’s shadow trembled ever so slightly against the ground.
And then the pupils of his amber eyes suddenly turned to slits that split the irises right down the middle, almost like some kind of feral beast’s.
“N-no way…”
He stood with the moon at his back, his canines enlarged and sharpened, and his gray hair practically standing on end.
Phryne could only stare in horror as the shadow on the ground warped into a terrifying, crazed wolf.
“Nhag loy! Korru jhi roojeh!”
“Negrub fuu Kali?!”
Wh-what are they saying…?
Lefiya thought back in one of the caverns in the winding sea cave. The Amazons left to guard her had burst into a flurry of anxious activity, and though she had no idea what they were saying, she could hazard a guess in response to their reactions.
Someone’s here? Maybe they came into the cave…At least that’s what it seems like. Why else would they be scuttling about so?
And certainly invaders could mean only one thing—Aiz and the others were on their way.
Lefiya swallowed hard.
I can’t very well sit here and do nothing, then, can I? At the very least, I need to inform them of my location…!
But the question was how, especially with these brutish guards keeping watch.
Even in the current commotion, the four of them had yet to avert their eyes from Lefiya. And Lefiya, well, she had nothing but magic in her arsenal, and if Kali’s words were to be believed, if she even tried to whisper a quick chant, they’d crush her little neck faster than the words could pass her lips…
The mental reminder was enough to make her shake her head in furious refusal.
“…?”
Until, all of a sudden, she realized something.
There was a crack running through the rock face overhead, just high enough that it entered her vision when she tilted her head up. While not wide enough to let a mouse or rat pass, it was just wide enough to let a sliver of moonlight filter through.
—Light? Then…it connects to the world outside—.
With that revelation came an idea, and quite suddenly she knew exactly what she needed to do.
It was a reckless plan. In fact, she might as well have been gambling on the impossible, and it was going to require ample courage. But if she couldn’t even do something as simple as this, certainly she would never amount to anything more than excess baggage for Aiz and the others to carry around—!
With her hands still bound by their chains, her body gave a shiver. She was ready.
I’m a ridiculous magic powerhouse, I’m a ridiculous magic powerhouse, I’m a ridiculous magic powerhouse…
The words Loki had spoken to her back when she’d updated her Status reverberated in her heart like a mantra of courage. Then, gathering every tiny ounce of pure determination she had, she sucked in her breath in one mighty whoosh.
“…?”
The action was enough to draw suspicious glances from every Amazon in the cave. But it was too late.
“—Unleashed pillar of light, limbs of the holy tree!!”
“?!”
Her chant had already begun.
She bellowed it from the top of her lungs, not even bothering to hide it, not resorting to any tricks and simply singing with everything she had.
For a single instant, the Amazonian guards could do nothing but stand there in shock, and during that time, an enormous magic circle formed around Lefiya’s kneeling form. Just as the guards were about to spring into action, the golden light seared into their eyes with a brilliant flash.
—A smoke screen?!
Or at least that was the Amazons’ first thought, but in fact, Lefiya’s intentions were quite different.
No, her goal was to fill up the cave with so much light that it escaped that crack in the rock and lit up the sky—.
“You are the master—”
“Rhu moona!”
“Guh?!”
One of the Amazons leaped toward her, cutting her chant short. Down came the knife, directly toward her throat, but with a yank of her chains, Lefiya somehow managed to block the incoming attack.
Her magic circle was still intact. There was no snuffing it out now. And as Lefiya’s light shone through that crack in the wall, she willed her friends to see it.
Miss Aiz, Miss Aiz, Miss Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiz!!
Her heart cried out desperately for the one she loved, and just as the other Amazons drew near, reaching for her—there was a ground-shaking explosion.
“?!”
The ceiling above them gave way, rocks and shrapnel flying as a lone adventurer came bounding down into the cave. Her call had been answered, and the one who’d shattered rock and stone to save her was none other than—
—Miss Aiz!
She turned her trembling eyes in the direction of her savior and took in the sight of that gorgeous, slender swordswo—Since when did Aiz have muscles like that? And a-a beard?!
“Ye all right, lass?”
It wasn’t Aiz at all but, in fact, Gareth.
Her magic circle went out with a hiss.
“…Not as easy on the eyes as the one ye’re expectin’, am I?”
“That’s—?! N-n-n-no, Mister Gareth! I’m not—, I wasn’t—, s-s-surely you’re just imagining things!!” Lefiya desperately tried to explain, sweat breaking out across her temples.
But Gareth saw right through her all the same. “Sorry, lass. I know I can never be Aiz,” he muttered with a sigh before reshouldering his Grand Ax.
“Gha-gha reem?!”
The flabbergasted Amazons stood rooted to their spots at this new development, then quickly readied their weapons and began to move. The tense cry had clearly been some kind of command, because one of them shot forward, straight at Gareth.
In response, Gareth readied his own arm, balling his free hand into a fist to promptly bash the incoming body out of the way.
“”
BAM!! The Amazon went flying, and the cave shook with noise as she collided with the far rock wall. She wasn’t getting up after that.
Once again, time seemed to slow to a crawl, neither Lefiya nor the Amazons saying a word.
“Reminds me of the first time I met those two ragamuffins.” Gareth laughed before tossing aside his ax. The day played out in his head like it was yesterday—when he’d sent Tiona flying just like this not more than five years ago—and the giant dwarf warrior turned to face his remaining opponents. “Ye seem pretty confident in yer skills, don’t ye, lassies?” he said, cracking his knuckles with a popping sound that echoed off the walls. “But yer still green.”
Then he laughed an uproarious, fearless laugh.
“?!”
Something stirred inside the Amazons. They might not have had any idea what the dwarf was saying, but they did know one thing—he was making fun of them, and almost in sync, the whole lot of them came charging at Gareth at once.
What happened next was enough to drain the color from Lefiya’s face—Gareth’s fist sent each of the incoming Amazons flying into the wall one after another.
The moon glimmered in the blue sky overhead.
The clouds had all but disappeared, and its golden light poured down on the ground below.
And beneath that watching gaze, in the middle of Meren’s trade pier, clash after clash of a raging battle echoed throughout the docks. Again and again the clamorous percussion of metal on metal punctuated the air.
“Grrrrraaaaaaaggggghhh…!!” Phryne belted out, her voice hoarse and her face expo
sed to the night breeze. Her fat arms, short legs, and even her round torso engulfed in shimmering particles of light had been laid bare. At her feet, the crimson pieces of her armor lay like bloody shrapnel, still glinting in the moonlight. Nearly all the reinforced plating had been torn off. The full-body suit of armor she’d been so proud of was nothing short of decimated.
Thanks to a certain werewolf.
“This is…this is innnnnnsane! How can you…be even more powerful than…than the Sword Princesssssss…?!” She ground her teeth, and her ghastly, froggy face had become all the more ghastly once it was stained with blood and vehemence.
Across from her, the werewolf stood in stark contrast, backlit by the light of the moon as a heavy globule of drool leaked down from between his lips. The pieces of her strewn armor crackled under his feet like mere crushed pebbles.
Phryne’s bulbous eyes dilated before the glare of his silvery metal boots.
“Hr-hrrrrrrruuuuuuuuaaaaaaAAAAAAARRRRGHHHHHH!!”
With a roar that split the air, she charged forward, ax flying.
She put everything she had behind that strike, barreling toward the wolf and still surrounded by light particles, and he responded in kind, moving at a near impossible speed to meet her with an accelerating kick of his own. They collided.
“”
Her ax met the same fate as her armor.
As the broken fragments scattered in slow motion, the particles around her fizzled into nothing.
“M-my time rannnnnnnn out—?!”
But before she could so much as lament her life’s choices, Bete’s metal boots were streaking toward her face. Her expression froze in horror, the word “Wait!” stuck between her lips, but even if she’d been able to get it out, it wouldn’t have stopped the charging wolf, and with a kick that made the very air groan, the heels of those silvery boots hit her head-on.
“GUUUUWWOOOOOOOOOOOOUGH!!”
It was a direct hit that sent her rotund body sailing through the air, obliterating every object it encountered along the way. She flew all the way past the docks, plunging into the waters of Lolog Lake beyond.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 6 Page 25
