“Tch! 「Light…”
“Too slow!”
Frost Pain that sliced in from the side knocked away Iguvua’s finger.
“Ugh!”
“A warrior has reached you, magic caster! I will let you know your spells are useless now!”
The legendary mages aside, magic casters who were in melee range could be stopped from casting their spells.
Even a powerful undead magic caster like Iguvua was no exception.
Zaryusu narrowed his eyes, he felt something was off. It felt strange when Zaryusu slashed at Iguvua, he must have some defence against physical weapons.
But he wasn’t invulnerable. That’s right, if he had resistance against damage, Zaryusu just needed to deal more damage.
What he needed to do was to keep on slashing.
Talk was simple, but doing that would be hard. Zaryusu knew that too. But that was the only thing Zaryusu who was a mere warrior could do.
“Don’t look down on me, lizardman!”
Three arrows of light suddenly flew towards Zaryusu from Iguvua’s body. The arrows of light that appeared without any preparatory actions or signs made Zaryusu block them with his sword on reflex, but the magic arrows went through the weapon and hit Zaryusu’s body, inflicting dull pain.
This was ‘Silent Magic: Magic Arrow’. Silent Magic didn’t require any preparatory actions, so it could not be disrupted from being casted. Not only that, Magic Arrow was also a type of spell that could not be evaded, so Zaryusu couldn’t dodge it either.
Zaryusu gritted his teeth and cleaved at Iguvua with Frost Pain.
“Ughh! Critters! You are just a mere lizardman!”
Magic Arrow might be undodgeable, but its damage output was low too. For someone who had gone through tough training like Zaryusu, he was not so weak as to be rendered unable to fight from this bit of magic damage.
Magic Arrows struck Zaryusu once again, the pain pierced through his heart and will. Zaryusu endured the excruciating pain and struck back.
After several exchanges, Zaryusu’s movements became dull. The sharp pain prevented him from making agile movements, which was contrasted by the undead who knew no pain.
Iguvua and Zaryusu who understood this point made entirely different expressions.
The weak fall and the strong prevail, that was the natural law of the world. The result of the one on one duel between the two was obvious. But it was also a fact that the unity of the weak gave them a chance to fight on par with the strong.
“「Middle Cure Wounds」!”
Zaryusu’s pain disappeared with this voice and he regained his vitality once again.
The calm Iguvua was angered by the healing spell that came from the back and shouted:
“Damn lizardmen!”
Zaryusu was fighting together with companions he trusts. Crusch, Zenberu and—
“Rororo… I will not lose!”
“Imbecile… How could I, a creation of the Supreme Being lose?! How foolish!”
Iguvua glared at the three lizardmen with his venomous eyes. He didn’t use any summoning magic as the undead he had summoned earlier were still around. As long as those undead were still around, he could not raise new ones. Hence, Iguvua continued casting Silent Magic: Magic Arrow while Zaryusu slashed away at Iguvua’s body— this monotonous fight kept repeating.
It felt as though this battle would never end.
In that case, the duty of breaking this stalemate rests on the ones behind them. When one side receives reinforcement, the match will be settled in an instant.
Both Zaryusu and Iguvua were sure about that.
Enduring the pain of the lightning attack coursing through her body, Crusch pulled through and casted ‘3rd Tier Summon Beast’.
With a ‘dong’, a giant crab about 150cm big appeared— a crab with a large right claw.
It appeared as if it had been waiting under the wetlands the entire time, but it was actually a nature beast summoned by ‘3rd Tier Summon Beast’.
The nature beast advanced to Zenberu’s side and hammered the Skeleton Warrior with its oversized claw.
Zenberu who received unexpected reinforcement smiled. For Zenberu who had to endure the attack coming from all sides and protect Crusch, he was glad to receive help.
“Hey! Strange crab! I will leave those two over there to you!”
The crab who acknowledged its duty, the giant crab— Snap Grasp, waved its smaller claw and moved towards the Skeleton Warriors.
How should I put this… The situation might be serious… but the two of them are so alike.
Crusch thought about something she shouldn’t be thinking about at such a moment and smiled. But she stopped her smile immediately and surveyed the battle, regulating her breathing with deep breaths.
She had been casting defence buff and healing magic on Rororo when they charged here. She had also casted support buffs on Zenberu, overextending herself.
The consecutive use of spells and the summoning magic on top of that had exhausted Crusch, she couldn’t even stand steadily at this point.
She didn’t even have the energy to spare to heal herself. Analyzing calmly, Crusch concluded that her worth as a combatant was depreciating and healing herself would be a waste of mana.
Even so, it would make Zaryusu and Zenberu who were fighting in the frontlines uneasy if she was to fall. Blood dripped from the corner of Crusch's lips as she bit the inside of her mouth to keep herself conscious.
“「Middle Cure Wounds」!”
The healing spell flew towards Zaryusu who was locked in melee combat with Iguvua.
Her legs lost strength and her vision wavered. She could feel the sensation of water all over her skin.
Crusch couldn’t understand what was happening, why and when did she fall into the mud.
But she understood immediately that she didn’t suffer new wounds, so she probably blacked out momentarily.
Crusch was relieved, not because she was still alive, but because she could still fight.
She didn’t force herself to stand. No, she didn’t have the energy to do so, so she decided to conserve her strength.
In her blurry field of vision, she could see Zaryusu and Zenberu fighting. The back of her companions during their short time together. Zenberu who was fighting the four skeleton warriors and Zaryusu who was enduring Iguvua’s magic attacks were covered with wounds.
Crusch adjusted her breathing and casted her spell.
“「Middle Cure Wounds」!”
She cured Zenberu’s injuries.
“「Middle Cure Wounds」!”
She healed Zaryusu’s wounds.
“Huff, huff…”
Crusch panted hard.
But her breathing was still rugged, she felt the air wasn’t coming in even though she was breathing so hard.
This was probably the symptoms of mana exhaustion. She felt tremors of violent headache. Even so, Crusch worked hard to open her eyes.
They had sacrificed so much for this battle, how could she be the first to retire from the field.
Crusch used all her effort to open her eyes and chanted.
“「Middle Cure Wounds」!”
Zenberu bashed the skull of a Skeleton Warrior with his clenched fist. The sensation of him making a slight dent turned into the feeling of the skull shattering. And so, he killed off a Skeleton Warrior.
“That’s the second one. Huff… Hah.”
He expelled the air from his body in an attempt to push the fatigue out along with it, and glared at the remaining Skeleton Warriors. The crab summoned by Crusch was nowhere to be found. Zenberu only managed to defeat the other two thanks to it fending off two enemies.
He only hung on because of Crusch’s support.