Chapter 80
As the difficulty rose, the archers’ arrows became faster and more powerful, and the spirit mages were becoming harder to approach.
On top of that, the spirit mages were even casting healing on the archers.
“Come to think of it, weren’t those knights of the First Emperor—aren’t they monsters from the other world? Why are they using spirits? Monsters shouldn’t be using spirits.”
I watched that scene closely.
Conclusion?
I don’t know.
Well, since when did I start playing the game with my brain?
Thinking is for my brother. Or for strategists like Yeniel or Sian.
Thankfully I had Strategy Guide No. 2—no, Sian.
I called Sian quickly.
“Sir Sian. Sir Sian. Umm, those monsters’ clothes look a bit different.”
Sian’s icy sky-blue eyes examined the First Emperor’s knight monsters.
“Clothes? I don’t really know.”
Contrary to my expectations, Sian answered, slightly flustered.
Maybe his eyesight is bad. No wonder I thought Sian wore glasses.
Or maybe I’m the abnormal one for being able to see those tiny monsters from this distance.
“Can’t you see? Um, over there—those monsters whose clothes are different are helping the ones shooting arrows.”
“Wait. Are you saying a monster is ‘helping’ another monster?”
“Yes! Over there, they’re even making arrows.”
“They’re making arrows? There’s no way magic could do that… Those—aren’t they spirit mages?”
Finally some sense.
Sian at last recognized the spirit mages and his face hardened.
“How monsters from the Other World came to use spirits… This is dangerous. I don’t know what to do. They are going against the natural order.”
“If Sir Sian helps April, April can do the same,” I said softly and prettily.
I thought about it and there really wasn’t another way.
If I’d had my brother who plays games with his head, it might have been different.
The crown prince’s remark that the first hero had been a mage came to mind and I blinked. Now is not the time.
“Just push through with our bodies. We can’t help it.”
When have I ever lived strategically anyway.
More than that, Sian doesn’t seem very useful when it comes to really necessary situations.
There was a reason the crown prince specifically picked Yeniel up on the second floor of the temple. Really.
I looked at Sian the way you look for a first-aid kit.
“When I’m with Sian, it feels like I’m the one always guiding him. No. Hey. Do something. They buff the dealers over there, you know.”
I urged Sian with my eyes.
“Yes?”
“…Because I lost my trait, I can only summon intermediate spirits, so they won’t be eaten by the monsters. But, by chance, Lady April’s words are correct. I can attach spirits to Lady April.”
“Wow, amazing. Then can April cut through them?”
I asked innocently.
Sian relaxed only when the tip of my axe-spear was aimed at the monsters and not at him.
“Yes.”
Sian said softly.
It was already too late to go back to how things were.
“I will attach a metal spirit around Lady April to protect against metal, and a wind spirit to her limbs to speed her movement, my lady. If things get dangerous, return…”
“Yes?”
I turned back in confusion as I was about to go out.
“No. If they hear I said that, they wouldn’t like it very much.”
What did he mean by that.
“April, I’m going out.”
I went right back into the arrow rain.
‘Should I chip away at their HP a little?’
[Total HP 19.2%]
Being grazed by one arrow surprisingly reduced my total HP by 10%.
[Total HP 9.2%]
A line my brother once said to me flashed through my mind.
“Huh? You died. Why did you die? You touch and you die?”
That was when I was much younger—when I lived at Grandma’s house.
When my brother first begged me to play a horror game for him, he sat down in my place and said that.
I didn’t like games much.
To be honest, I wanted to do sports like fencing, but my parents didn’t allow it.
They had passed down good motor skills and peripheral vision to me, but still.
The last time I saw my parents was the day I told Grandma I wanted to do sports.
They both had cold, decadent expressions.
They said if I wanted to do sports, pay for it yourself; we won’t support it, and left.
Apparently both of them had been promising young athletes once. Then they met each other and their lives were ruined.
It was an adult story I didn’t listen to in detail, and I thought my brother was my only family, so I didn’t pay much attention.
“Why did you get hit? If you get hit you die!”
“Then how would you know how much it hurts if you don’t get hit?”
Pattern recognition is essential. I dodged and ran away to avoid getting hit, and I didn’t understand my brother who died so pointlessly.
“Don’t judge after getting hit! In terrifying games, you have to avoid getting hit at all costs. Not a single hit.”
“That’s more cool,” he also said.
That became a creed in my head.
When I chose to deliberately get hit by the devil, I felt the crowd pressing in.
If you’re told not to get hit, then don’t get hit.
I concentrated on the situation in front of me.
The combat experience I gained fighting Yurel shouted to me. The arrow rain was unavoidable.
But it looked like I could parry the arrows with my axe-spear.
If I just blocked with the blade, though, the arrows wouldn’t be shot above my head but straight into my body, turning me into Swiss cheese.
If I sliced them, there would be physical friction.
But not the slightest gap could be allowed.
So I made the insane decision to slash the arrowheads with the axe-spear.
Wouldn’t it be enough to just see and dodge everything?
Sian’s attached spirits gave a bit of help to my movements.
I felt the metal spirit near the axe-spear. I sensed its presence.
I ran forward. I struck the arrowheads with the blade of my axe-spear and aimed at the spirit mages.
Archers? If the spirit mages fell, the archers were nothing.
It sounded impossible, but when your life is on the line, that movement became possible.
Thwack—!
Gritting my teeth, I sliced at the spirit mages and hurled the axe-spear.
I gambled, thinking I could kill all the spirit-mage monsters at once.
If I failed, I would die.
And then I realized I had succeeded.
