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“Take this… Thunderbolt!”
“That won’t work, Thunder Resist!”

Frey’s lightning attack was rendered useless by the girl knight Ernesta, who used an anti-elemental defensive spell.

Her reaction speed to block spells is awfully fast.

Resist spells were usually not very effective since they had to be cast at the same time as the enemy’s attack, while also having to match the correct element. But somehow since the conflict began until now, she had perfectly blocked everything, while still facing Freya as well.

She’s really strong.

And somehow she was not even breaking a sweat yet.

Meanwhile, Hinagiku was facing Lueger, and even from afar it was clear their fight was on another level, moving so quickly it was hard to follow them. Frey did not even want to think of how many dodges and feints were happening on top of each other there.

Only Hinagiku had the skill necessary to deal with that there, as Frey would not be able to do anything against Lueger.

In a way that also applied to Lycoris. She was against the archer Cheval, who seemed to be just as good at sniping as her, pushing them onto a stalemate where whoever peeked out from their hiding spot would get shot by the other.

So that leaves the two of us, we have to do something to gain an advantage and break them out of their situation.

Frey and Freya were against Ernesta, who had likely added many Points to Repulsion Magic to allow her to block magic from all elements, making her a defensive knight against other mages.

Because of that all of Frey’s attacks were being blocked and he could not deal any damage.

It’s like she’s a crazy anti-mage.

Frey grumbled as he looked at his remaining MP. He was also in a bit of a stalemate, at least until either he ran out of MP, or Ernesta decided to make a move.

Eventually Freya took a wrong step and lost her balance, creating an opening in her defenses. Ernesta made sure to abuse that opening, closing in onto Frey.

Dealing with a lone backliner without anyone defending him was an incredibly easy task for a frontliner. It was only a matter of time before Frey would be struck by Ernesta’s halberd, leaving him as a stain on the ground… Or at least that was what anyone watching the fight would think.

But for some reason…Frey stepped forward.

“Wha-…what?!”

Just as she swung her halberd, Frey appeared in front of him, using his hands clad in leather gloves that were too bulky for a mage to block her weapon.

“…Was it you who did this, healer?!”

Frey did not have the physical strength to accomplish something like that, so he must have received help from somewhere else…like some sort of buff from Freya. But as Ernesta turned to look at Freya, she just smiled smugly like always.

It was clear she was messing around rather than affirming or denying anything, which ticked Ernesta off.

Still, she had the clarity of mind necessary to instantly know she had to jump back and reconsider her approach, but what happened next was something she had not expected at all.

Frey’s arm began to wrap itself around her halberd like a snake, pulling the weapon back. The halberd’s blade was flung into the ground, restraining its movements, and letting Frey move forward and strike Ernesta’s chest with a fist.

“This is payback, Burst..!”

There was an explosive bang! as an outburst of pure energy flew out of his fist, sending her flying back.

That was the starting spell one gained from Destruction Magic, and could only be used with direct contact. While that restricted its range greatly, in return it gained a lot of destructive power.

Still, that was merely a prelude to what was to come. That attack had been born purely from Frey’s abilities.

“Say… Did I ever say I can’t fight from close range!”
“Ghah…”

With swift movements unthinkable of a pure mage, he stepped forward with a firm stance and hit her with a powerful backhand strike. That was Backhand Smash, obtained with 40 points in the Martial Arts Skill. It was quite literally a fighting ability.

Ernesta had not anticipated such an attack at all, as the hit traveled through her breastplate and pushed the air out of her lungs, blocking her movements.

Before the recoil sent her too far, Frey took hold of her breastplate, almost as if supporting her body…

“We’ve never stopped being her…Crim’s rivals!!”
“Okay, I’ll admit that I underestimated you, but..!”

Frey used Burst again.

Ernesta took the hit head on, but she powered through and tried to swing her halberd again, only to be caught off-guard when the blade seemed to just phase through Frey like he was made of mist.

Astral Shift. That was an ability unique to High Elves, making them invulnerable to physical damage for a short time. Frey had used it to avoid Ernesta’s attack, before pushing her down to the ground and stepping on her to stop all her movements.

“I…I lost… I didn’t…know you were hiding something like…that.”
“Hmph, it’s called a surprise attack for something. If you had known about it beforehand and planned for it, I doubt I could’ve won considering your advantage at close quarters.”

With ragged breath, Ernesta struggled to sit on the ground while Frey took hold of her head and began chanting for another magic spell. She no longer had the energy to fight back, so she just sighed and calmly waited for her demise.

Shards of ice sprouted underneath her and began to grow, covering her body. That was Ice Coffin, a Spiritual Magic ability obtained with 70 Points, and with an ice element.

It could only be used if the caster was physically touching the target, and it would instantly execute any target beneath a certain amount of HP.

“Say…has anyone ever told you that you’re a meanie?”
“All the time, as much as I hate it.”

Those were Ernesta’s last words before the ice completely consumed her and turned her into Remain Light.

◇◇◇

“Ernesta!” Reinhard had just recovered enough MP to return to the battlefield when he saw his companion, the female knight Ernesta, be turned into a pile of light particles.

I’m too late to save her, but I can’t let that get to me, there’s more to do.

“Everyone, just hold on a little longer, I’m almost…”
“Hold it, this is as far as you go.”
“Huh…ghah?!”

A sudden strike of lightning hit him in the back, flinging him onto the ground. Soon after dark ropes, the Shadow Magic ability Shadow Bind, restrained all of his movements before he could do anything in the battlefield.

“Reinhard?!”
“Oh, don’t even think of interfering, archer!”
“…Ghah?!”

Cheval instantly switched targets to the sudden intruder, but before he could shoot an arrow, the intruder formed a shadow gun and shot at him, making him fall on his knees.

“This is…Curse and Paralysis..?!”
“Cursed Bullet, a pretty high-level Magic spell. Its paralysis is no joke either.”

Cheval’s face contorted as he tried to fight back the numbness and exhaustion. The one who caused that stepped out from the shadows, explaining it with a calm and fluid voice.

“But damn was that scary, I nearly had a heart attack back there. You took out so many of my men that I thought we wouldn’t be able to make a comeback.”
“You…Shao..?!”
“I have to thank you now though, tiring yourselves out all on your own before I got here.”

It was Shao Xinglou, the leader of Lan Canglong that Reinhard thought he had eliminated not too long before.