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「Well, there’s still that fight left…」

Mira said, looking at Isenfald and the spirit chimera still entangled in combat. They were hundreds of meters away, but the intense fight could still be clearly felt. Mira and the Valkyrie Sisters did not have their hands too busy now, but the battle was not over yet.

「Aww…I really don’t want to go there…」

Christina voiced her first and honest thoughts about it. They were obviously met with a reprimand from Alfina.

Though everyone felt the same way as her. The fight they saw was like an impenetrable area overtaken by an absolute ruler trying to contain the chaotic whims of nature. It was such a horrifying scene that even the Valkyrie Sisters were hesitant to approach it.

As far as the fight itself was concerned, things were tipped in Isenfald’s favor. If they continued fighting, it was unlikely he would lose. But that was the issue. While he would not lose, it was hard to say whether he could win, or at least anytime soon.

That was something that worried Mira the most, as she had received the Spirit King’s blessing and could see an unusual type of spiritual energy inside the spirit chimera. That energy diminished every time Isenfald attacked. When the chimera closed its wounds, or regenerated a lost limb, some of it was spent. But she also knew that all the spent energy so far was merely the tip of the iceberg.

(Maybe I should tell him to just use his Dragon Breath…or not, it might be too dangerous.)

Put into simple terms, the spirit chimera’s HP was an order of magnitude off, making it extremely resilient. At the rate they were going, it would take an entire day at minimum to defeat it. But Isenfald’s Dragon Breath could accelerate that, so she thought of ordering him to do it, but she quickly shot that idea down.

There was one reason why. It was simply too powerful. That attack would be able to blow the chimera apart in just one attack, or maybe two. That introduced one problem. It did not matter much in the past when it was just a game, but it could prove fatal now that this was reality.

「I hate the idea of being buried alive.」

The destruction would be excessive, and while the spirit chimera would be defeated, the ceiling would also give out. That included the entire base collapsing into itself, with Sero still in it, and maybe even the follow up troops from the Fifty Bells.

(Hmm…maybe if he does just a small breath it’ll work though.)

Maybe using limited bursts of short breaths would be better than a purely physical fight. It seemed like the chimera was using something similar to skills already, so a Dragon Breath would not be too bad. Thinking that, Mira utilized the special connection between summoner and summon to contact Isenfald, to ask if he could use a limited Dragon Breath.

『A limited one? There’s nothing I can’t do, Mother.』

That was a promising response.

『Ohh, nice. Alright then…how about you use your weakest Dragon Breath for starters!』
『Understood, Mother!』

She decided to start that way and see how it would play out. It sounded like a good idea, but moment after giving the order, all color drained from Mira’s stunned face.
Isenfald obeyed Mira’s order, lowering the strength of his Dragon Breath as much as he could. Once it happened, there was a blinding flash which blasted away the chimera’s upper body, disintegrating it, followed by an intense rumbling that made one think the end of the world had arrived.

Everything in front of Isenfald’s open mouth, including the wall, was cleanly gouged out. A short time later, a powerful shock wave that violently shook Mira’s body passed by her.

That powerful gust carried her up into the air, her face still spasming from the shock. The Valkyrie Sisters were unable to stand the shock wave either, being sent flying just like Mira. But they had a lot of combat experience, so Alfina quickly landed on her feet and rushed to catch Mira in her arms. Meanwhile Christina twisted and turned her body in mid-air like a gymnast, making a series of impressive movements before landing perfectly, though no one seemed to notice.

(That… that’s a bit too dangerous…)

Mira thought as she stared at the battlefield that looked even more ruined than before.

She could see the energy contained inside the spirit chimera had decreased by a decent amount, but she also knew that was the only time they could use that attack. Even though that was the weakest Dragon Breath, it had been more powerful than expected, and the underground base would cave in if it was repeated.

Another reason for that miscalculation on Mira’s part, was that the Dragon Breath’s baseline damage had increased since the last time Mira saw it in action. Her son had grown up a lot.

「How are things looking, Master?」
「That attack did quite some damage, but it’ll still take roughly half a day now. If we all help out, it could be even faster, though…」

A large chunk of the chimera’s energy had been dispersed by the Dragon Breath, if they forced it to spend the rest on both healing and more attacks, they could shorten the fight by a couple hours. But Mira was seeing a strange light now.

(What am I seeing..?)

There were shapeless spirits floating in the air. Looking more closely, she noticed that every time the chimera was hurt, spirits would leak out from the wounds. Because of the large quantity of spirits detached through the Dragon Breath, their presence had become much more noticeable for Mira.

The remnants of spirits trapped inside the chimera were being released. Mira watched them with sorrow, floating aimlessly, and she also had a growing desire to help them.

And then she heard a voice inside her head.

『Do you wish to save my kin?』

She had heard it before, a powerful and solemn voice, but filled with kindness. She replied that she wanted to, without hesitating. Then the mark of the Spirit King’s Divine Protection that spanned all of her body began glowing, while she learned the method to rescue the spirits as if she was recalling a long lost memory, which was a rather odd feeling in of itself.

She was filled with emotion, her head being filled with information in a very surreal way, and she took a forward while muttering 「I see now.」

「Master, why do you look like that..?」
「It’s quite a striking appearance, wouldn’t you agree? It seems the Spirit King is lending us a hand, though the conditions are a bit tricky. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to make you work a bit harder.」

It was a bizarre sight, her body covered in glowing marks from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes, as if she was undertaking some ritual. But the waves of energy emitted from that light felt sacred, so rather than being surprised, the Valkyrie Sisters were invigorated seeing their master ascending to new heights.