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After that intermission, the battle resumed.
Those twelve women serving Aery were the size of small or medium enemies, but rivaled the strength of much bigger ones, keeping Crim’s friends busy for quite some time.
That meant that Crim’s own group would have to endure all of Ba‘al Zəbûl Aery’s attacks on their own for all of that time.

“This will straight out kill me if I try blocking…!”

Aery’s claws left five searing lines on the ground after slashing with them, and right after Crim jumped away from there…raging columns of fire erupted from the clawmarks.

Everything around her had also been consumed by fire, like a scene out of hell itself.

The orbs and Aery herself were constantly setting everything ablaze.
Just standing close was enough to receive ticking heat damage, so Crim’s group could not even fight back properly.

“There’s too many of them!”
“This is no joke…!”

In the rear line, the two spellcasters Frey and Shao, constantly jumped and ducked, dodging the fiery attacks from the four orbs Aery had sent out earlier, which looked like whirlwinds of flying blades of flames.

Amidst the frenzy, the two still managed to complete their chants, launching a simultaneous attack.

“There’s too much fire to do anything here, everyone, I’ll raise your elemental defenses! Fire Resist!”
“It won’t do to fight in an environment that benefits our enemy, Icicle Field!”

Frey’s elemental attribute magic flew out and was absorbed into the other players nearby, while the burning ground was placated by Shao’s field element change spell, freezing all over.

That reduced the ticking fire damage considerably, allowing them to actually focus on fighting back for once.

“Crim, let me help you!”

Shouting that, Lycoris shot at one of the orbs between Crim and Aery, flicking it away in mid-air.

And that…opened a path.

Everything seemed like it was running in slow-motion, and Crim spotted a path between Aery’s fiery claws and the blades and whirlpools of fire from the orbs.
She somehow squeezed through it all, clearly feeling the heat coming from every direction…but still making it to the end.

“I did it! Aery, prepare thyself!!”
*”…?!”*

The girl’s eyes widened in shock as she realized Crim was right in front of her.
But by then, Crim had already spun her whole body to impart as much rotational force to her scythe, the black blade of which swung like a guillotine heading straight for the girl’s neck.

*CLIIIIIIIIIIINK!!*

There was a loud high pitched noise and the blade bounced off.
Now it was Crim’s turn to stare in shock.
She had not been naive enough to believe a critical hit would work, but the stiff unmoving resistance she encountered was far beyond her expectations.
And the reason for that was…

“…Absolute Defense?!”

It was the same barrier they had seen in the fight against Adonis and the rest before, which blocked a certain amount of damage.
And while back then it only existed to block critical hits, here it was deployed as a full armor.
Something also appeared in the corner of Crim’s vision when she struck Aery.

«Absolute Defense»
«8980 / 10000 (0:59)»

The last number also began to count down. It seemed like they had to break through the barrier within that time limit to deal any damage whatsoever.

“That’s bothersome…! Hinagiku, Prez, Suzaku, Sorleon!”
“Right here!”
“We’ll follow you up!”
“I’m here!”
“Count me in!”

The four people she called rushed in to take her place as she jumped back, evading the orbs attacking from every direction as they swung their weapons.

“…Sakura Form, Bachi Form, Blizzard!”

The blade of Hinagiku’s tachi was covered in a thick layer of ice, which shattered into countless sharp fragments that dealt additional damage after her strike.

“…Break alreadyyy! Impulse Drive!”

Kasumi’s crescent blade moved so fast it pushed the flames aside, striking violently and rapidly against the barrier.

“Take this, High Velocity Piercing!”

Suzaku appeared to thrust his red sword multiple times at once, focusing on a singular spot.

“Let’s go, Sword Mastery Art Spiral Shock!”

The sword in Sorleon’s right arm became enveloped in spiraling lightning, which sparked violently as he struck the barrier.

With four very focused attacks all around her, the resistance bar of Aery’s Absolute Defense decreased rapidly, finally shattering and vanishing into nothing.

“Setsuna, match me! Resolution!!”
“As you wish, Assassinatee!!”

Crim swung her greatsword drawing a large moon-like arc in the air, slashing diagonally from Aery’s right shoulder to her left side.
At the same time, Setsuna came out of concealment to mirror the attack on the other side, creating an X pattern on Aery’s body.

This time, the attacks clearly connected, and Aery’s HP bar went down, even if it was a small amount, the difference was clear.
But…that wound that appeared so serious, healed back in an instance without leaving a single trace.

*”…I’m impressed, you dealt with that faster than I anticipated. Maybe I underestimated you, Spirit of the Night, just a little.”*
“Thanks for the compliment. Although I don’t feel like I accomplished anything…!”
*”That should be no surprise, I’m strong.”*

Aery appeared proud of herself as she said that, nonchalantly waving her hand and setting the surroundings ablaze again.
Realizing they would be burnt to a crisp if they remained there, Crim and the rest quickly began to retreat, as Aery raised her palm at them.

*”Still, it’s admirable that you managed to harm me in this way. So here’s a little reward for you.”*
“…I don’t like the sound of that, everyone, turn..?!”
*”…Dark Prominence, The Lance.”*

For the first time, and for a very brief moment, she appeared to chant something.
It was so quick that it was over before Crim could warn her companions, and in just that time…

…the girl amassed all the flames in the palm of her hand into a condensed ball, which looked like a small sun.
It then stretched out in an instant, turning into a sharp spear.
Even more flames joined it after that, making it glow a blinding white.

Then…just like a breaking vessel, all the flames within burst out, extending many meters around her, swallowing the place where Crim and the rest had been standing earlier.