CH 62

Chapter 62: Highest-Tier Part 3

Ms. Lotte who went ahead of me dodged the claws and kicked up the paw that whiffed the air.

The Fenrir let out a short grunt of pain and dropped its jaws wide open to let out another roar.

“GRUUUUUU, GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!”

A Fenrir’s roar is said to awaken the deepest, most primal fears within a personーーor so it’s said.

I felt my body tense as its voice hit me.

…...but Ms. Lotte, as a show of her defiance, raised her singing voice to match it and seemed unaffected entirely.

Realizing that it did nothing to Ms. Lotte, the Fenrir dove to take a bite out of her, but Ms. Lotte dodged to the side and sent a fist into the side of its face.

Losing its patience at being embarrassed by something so much smaller with short arms and legs, the Fenrir seems to be going into a panicked frenzy with faster attacks…….but all of it only grazed the air or was parried and countered by Ms. Lotte.

And just because she had such a small body, the power and effectiveness of her attacks did not match her size at all.

The Fenrir gave Ms. Lotte a huge opening, and her jump kick to its side made a 10 meter (30 ft) body easily fly through the air.

Henry: “Ms. Lotte, I’m here!”

Charlotte: “You’re late, Henry～!”

And around that time, I finally arrived at the scene.

Henry: “Do you think that kick injured it some?”

Charlotte: “No～pe, in your dreams. It purposefully jumped into the air to reduce the damage.”

Yeah, I thought so.

The Fenrir gets up with still plenty of energy left.

Charlotte: “How long till Cyril’s ready with her spell?” Henry: “......probably around 7 or 8 minutes.”

With that much time, Cyril should have enough power to do some serious damage to this guy.

But against a Highest-Tier, asking for that much time is asking for death. If you submit a Quest to the Guild to ask someone to stop a Highest-Tier for 10 minutes, they would slap you across your face with a smile for the nonsense.

Charlotte: “Well, then we have our work cut out for us.”

Henry: “Yes.”

Ms. Lotte takes a few steps forward, and I ready my spear.

………..yeah, I know it looks bad to have someone who looks so young stand ahead of you, but with Ms. Lotte, I would get in the way standing as Vanguard.

Okay, so what will the Fenrir doーー?

And as I watched where he stood, a wind began to swirl around the Fenrir.

It wasn’t a normal wind. You could hear something crackling inside and shards of ice swirled around with the winds.

“......GRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAHHH!!”

As the Fenrir roared, the wind suddenly came blasting our wayーーAND IT’S FREEZING!!

With my [Physical Enhancement] through circulating Magic Power and Ms. Lotte’s support, I should be pretty strong against the cold, but my body temperature instantly dropped. My hair began to turn into icicles, and I couldn’t move my body….

Henry: “[Fire] {Ignis} + [Fire] {Ignis}!”

Before I’m completely frozen, I cast two layers of Fire Magic upon myself.

You can manipulate [Fire] {Ignis} to help you survive in arctic temperatures.

…..but this is one nasty spell. The spacious field instantly turned into a world of ice.

ーーthere were some Snow Wolves looking to sneak attack Ms. Lotte and I, but now laid on the ground frozen to death. These Demonic Creatures who were born in [Ice] Magic Territory can’t even handle this.

Henry: “Ms. Lotte….” Charlotte: “Hm? What’s wrong?” Henry: “...........no, it’s nothing.”

It’s not like I understand everything Ms. Lotte can do.

For a moment, I thought about how Ms. Lotte can’t use Magecrafting and is only able to sing [The Rainbow Battle March] right now……...but it hasn’t left her vulnerable or susceptible at all. She looked perfectly fine. Her reply was incorporated into the song so the Spell effects continued.

On a closer observation, I see a thin light envelope around Ms. Lotte’s body, and this is probably serving as some sort of field of protection…….I think. I have no idea how that thing even works.

But regardless, she’s still able to fight…...and as long as I’m throwing resources to survive in this arctic climate, then my movements will also be affected. In comparison, the Fenrir looks like it was meant exactly for this kind of environment, and is livelier than before.

…….it’s my first time going against a Fenrir, but it’s one of those ridiculously strong type of Highest-Tiers.

Charlotte: “.......it’s coming, Henry～!”

Henry: “Understood!”

The Fenrir crouches down.

In the next instant, he flies like those rumored bullets into the air, and Ms. Lotte jumps towards it to meet it in mid-air.

<<<<>>>>

We alternate and switch positions, and the Fenrir and Ms. Lotte continue to clash and spar.

…….Ms. Lotte has the advantage right now. She’s landing her blows accurately, and the Fenrir is slowly accumulating damage.

On the other hand, the Fenrir isn’t the only one taking damage. It was able to give Ms. Lotte a few wounds as well. I have tried to support and cover her in the interim, but the Fenrir’s speed made it almost impossible to barge in on the fight.

After countless clashes, the Fenrir is pushed back and….

Henry: “ーーSEYAH!”

As the Fenrir tried to change directions, I was able to thrust my spear in that exact moment when his guard was down.

“!! GRRAAH!”

The Fenrir bent its body in an exaggerated fashion to dodge my attack.

It probably still remembers my first attack when I split and multiplied my spear into many copies.

But I didn’t use the Nyoiten Spear’s clone ability here.

Charlotte: “GOT……...YOU!”

Because it moved more than it needed to, the Fenrir moved before Ms. Lotte in an unguarded state. With her full might, Ms. Lotte buried a deadly punch into the Fenrir’s side, and the Fenrir threw up blood.

“GRRRRRRRRRrrrrrr”

Henry: “So scary….”

And the Fenrir who got sacked pretty hard is now glaring intensely at me.

…….the Nyoiten Spear’s ability to be able to split into clones is a powerful ability, but what’s really handy is the fact that I can initiate that by just thinking about it. In other words, I can do it after the fact or even refrain whenever I want to.

To not split it when they expect it. And if they think I won’t do it again, I multiply and attack with multiple spears.

…….it’s a fairly effective bluff against other human beings, and higher intelligence entities overall.

It must have felt offended by my trick, and instead of Ms. Lotte who is standing before it, it turns its attention to me.

Henry: “C’mon then.”

I ready my spear before me and taunt it by raising my voice.

“GAAAAHH!!”

I engage with the Fenrir who draws nearer to me.

I deflect its nightmarishly deadly blow of its claw with my spear with my life on the line.

…….it’s too fast and extremely heavy. I barely deflected the blow, and my body seems to be screaming in agony from the pressure. I can’t even dream of countering this.

But if it’s directing its attention at me, then Ms. Lotte is free to move.

And as I predicted, Ms. Lotte was preparing to deliver another solid blow as the glowing light around her increased and approached the Fenrir but….

“Guo、ガ、oluulo■ooO！” {untranslated text}

The Fenrir raises a bone chilling sound with its beast vocal chords.

……….and it might have spoken some sort of words of power as blades of ice appeared by the dozens and flew and danced towards Ms. Lotte.

Henry: “Ms. Lotte!”

But even though she was faced with dozens of blades, she took no damage. She dodged most, and broke some with the back of her hand quickly and accurately.

……...but she was inevitably stopped in her tracks.

Being freed of Ms. Lotte, the Fenrir eyes me with ferocity.

Henry: “～～～!!”

I pray that I’ll be able to make it in time as I reach to grab something from my pouch.

ーーwith jaws gaping wide, the Fenrir charges straight at me.

But before it could reach me, I felt the item I wanted, and I hurtled it towards the Fenrir’s nostrils.

“?!?!?!?!?!?!?”

It’s a specially made stink bomb. It will deliver an impact and the chemical reactions that occur inside give off an unpleasant odor.

Humans would wretch with a sniff of this, so even if it’s a Highest-Tier, this would be abhorring to a Wolf-like creature with incredible senses of smell.

……...and it definitely worked. It stopped its attempt to chew me to pieces, but it still tried to ignore the smell and turned its attention to me once more.

Now, even more determined than before, the Fenrir runs straight at me with burning hatred in its eyes.

Instantly, I determine that clashing with the giant beast is not an option.

Henry: “DAAAAAーーーNGIT!!”

I hurriedly jumped to the side.

But I couldn’t avoid the Fenrir completely and received a blow from its claws, and I stumbled, bounded, and rolled magnificently onto the ground.

I bounded down hard twice with dull <THUDS> each time.

I could feel warm blood seeping out of my shoulder, and as soon as it touched the air, it froze.

As a Warrior, I try to be as calm and rational by observing the battlefield as a whole at all times but……….this really, REALLY HURTS.

Henry: “Ugh……..”

Charlotte: “Henry, you alive?!”

Ms. Lotte stopped the Fenrir from following up any further, and I raise my undamaged arm her way as a reply.

There’s several bruises from hitting and rolling on the ground, and one shoulder took a claw that went straight through all my armor and is gushing with blood.

Henry: “.........[Strengthen] {Hazac} + [Strengthen] {Hazac} + [Heal] Teol”

I forcefully raise the effect of my [Heal] Spell with Strengthening Magecraft, and stop the bleeding and ease the pain.

…...I had to do this while still holding my [Fire] {Ignis} Spells, so that took a lot out of me.

But I recovered enough to rejoin the fight. …….I’m throwing myself into a world of pain later for fighting while I’m still injured, but I’ll have to count on Ferris to help me with that.

I use my Spear to help me stand up…….

And at that moment, I hear a loud horn-like <PUOOOOOOOHHH!!> sound from Cyril’s group’s direction.

It’s Teo’s Cloudy Plains Style Magecraft - The [Trumpet Charm]. ……...it’s the signal that Cyril’s Spell is ready.

Charlotte: “GREAT! Henry～! We’ll stop it in its tracks and get out of here!”

Henry: “I know, I know!”

Ms. Lotte instantly raises her speed.

It’s not that she wasn’t serious before, but she switched from stalling for time to finishing the fight.

“GRAAAHHH?!”

Charlotte: “Take that and that and that!”

Even from this distance, her movements are so fast that I can only see blurs of her shadows, and the Fenrir cannot hide its shock.

I turn towards the Fenrir and raise my spear.

Henry: “[Strengthen] {Hazac} + [Strengthen] {Hazac} + [Strengthen] {Hazac} + [Restrain] {Katerno} + [Restrain] {Katerno}!!”

I haven’t done this in a while, but I use all five Magecraft slots for Spells. My Magic Reserves and concentration will empty out after this, but I’m going all out at the very end.

“?!?!”

Charlotte: “Oh no you don’t!”

The Fenrir tried to distance itself, but Ms. Lotte came down from on top of it and delivered a crushing blow that drove it back down to the ground.

……...and I was aiming at its legs as it stopped.

Henry: “This is payback for last time!”

I chunk the spear into the air.

I immediately divide the Nyoiten Spear into 4 clones.

I feel the Quintuple-stacked Magecraft instantly quadruple in Magic cost, and I feel my grip on my consciousness loosen but manage to still hold onto it.

As I hoped, the four Nyoiten Spear pierces the Fenrir’s legs, and the Magecraft Restraints initiate and chain it down to the ground.

ーーseeing that, both Ms. Lotte and I depart from the scene as fast as we can.

Out of all my tricks, this is my absolute strongest restraining move.

And thanks to Ms. Lotte, I was able to deliver it in a near-perfect, most ideal form.

……..even so, against a Fenrir, it would only [hold] for maybe 10 seconds.

But that is more than enough for us to evacuate and reach safety.

Cyril: “[LIIIIIIIIIIGHTNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING～]”

Her voice reaches even where I’m laying down as Cyril chants her Spell name.

The Magic Power that was escalating with no limits in the distance begins to take form and consolidates in concentration right above the Fenrir.

……...she told us she could do it, but the distance of this Spell strike is mind-blowingly phenomenal.

Cyril: “[JUDーーGE!! MENT]ーー!!”

The accumulated Magic Power transforms into a GIGANTIC lightning bolt, and strikes the Fenrir - piercing its body.

………...after the light and sound passed…….all that was left was the charred, burnt remains of the Fenrir.

……….it looks like……

Charlotte: “Good! That’s one powerful Spell. Looks like we won.”

Henry: “Yes.”

It was our…...victory.