"Tiona! Tione!"
When the amazoness twins were both blasted away by another pair of amazonesses and crashed to the ground, coughing up blood from their severe injuries, Ais, who was being tangled up by Phryne, felt her heart jolt.
"Where do you think you’re looking, ugly freak!"
Phryne’s ugly roar came flying at Ais at once as her massive body charged forward like a war chariot, and the battle axe swung down toward Ais, the howling wind making her long golden hair whip violently.
*Clang!*
Ais immediately gathered her strength and struck back hard, knocking away the axe blow with tremendous force amid a spray of sparks.
"Get out of the way!"
Stimulated by the sight of her companions lying on the ground and spitting blood, Ais erupted, turning the silver sword in her hand into a storm of flashing strikes, slashing again and again at Phryne’s enormous body.
*Clang!* *Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!*
In an instant, sparks burst nonstop as Phryne’s full-body armor was battered by a torrential assault, making her entire body shudder violently. If not for the set of armor she wore, Phryne would have been dismembered long ago in this storm of slashes.
"Dammit!"
Carrying her rage, Phryne swung her battle axe down, smashing the ground beneath Ais’s feet into rubble.
Ais, however, had leapt up a moment earlier and avoided the wide, heavy axe strike, then brought Desperate down again, forcing Phryne back.
Evidently, this battle situation was the same as the one on Tiona and Tione’s side, only with the roles reversed, as the one holding the absolute advantage was no longer Phryne, but Ais.
Truth be told, this was only natural.
Back when Ais had just advanced to Level 5, she had already been able to defeat Phryne cleanly, let alone now that she had reached Level 6.
Phryne was indeed strong and had once crushed Ais before she had fully grown, and she herself was the captain of the Ishtar Familia, a major familia in Orario. Her level was Level 5, making her a genuine First-Class Adventurer, but a Level 5 facing a Level 6—there was no need to think about how that would end.
Yes, those capable of overturning a level gap were not nonexistent, as Riezel was the clearest example, but Phryne was definitely not one of them.
As a result, under Ais’s storm-like slashes, Phryne could not even block, let alone respond, and could only endure head-on, using her massive body and armor to offset the terrifying sword flashes.
However, this outcome was absolutely not what Phryne wanted.
"Don’t get so cocky, ugly freak!"
Phryne’s eyes were bloodshot as she let out a furious roar, and her face beneath the helmet visor twisted.
"Aisha! Bring Haruhime out!"
Phryne shouted toward the group of berberas surrounding the members of Loki Familia.
"Tch..."
Holding a massive blade and fighting a Level 3 from the Loki Familia, a tall berbera named Aisha subtly clicked her tongue, then turned her head and called out toward the passage in front of the stairs.
"Sharay!"
At her loud shout, a berbera holding a staff appeared at the passageway, pushing a cage forward.
Many people saw what was inside that cage.
"A renard...?"
After Lefiya slashed out with her silver short sword and unleashed a sheet of flames to drive back several Level 4 amazonesses, she saw what was inside the cage.
It was unmistakably a female renard with fox ears and a fox tail.
She was dressed in a hooded kimono that covered her face, looking like a princess of noble birth from the Far East, her entire body exuding an indescribable, highly noble aura.
Yet this noble, kimono-clad renard princess was locked inside a cage, kneeling quietly within it.
"..."
In silence, she seemed to lift her head slightly and, through the veil, looked upon the bloody battle unfolding below.
Her lips moved a few times as if she wanted to say something, but she soon gave up, sadness surfacing on the face beneath the veil.
A renard princess who lamented the state of the universe and pitied the fate of mankind, who disliked conflict and had no wish to help others harm one another, ultimately let her moving lips release a murmur of submission to fate.
"Grow."
She began to chant magic.
"That power and that vessel. Breadth of wealth and breadth of wishes. Until the bell tolls, bring forth glory and illusion."
"Grow."
"Confine divine offerings within this body. This golden light bestowed from above. Into the hammer and into the ground, may it bestow good fortune upon you."
"Grow."
Like a hymn sung in crystalline tones, the renard chanted a miracle-awakening magic, causing magical energy to coalesce into a mist-like nebula that drifted above Phryne’s head.
Seeing this scene, setting aside the Kali Familia’s amazonesses, the members of the Loki Familia all reacted violently.
"I-Isn’t that—?!"
Led by Lefiya, the group once again widened their eyes.
"No!"
Ais, who also recognized the magic instantly, had her transparent golden eyes widen slightly as she immediately recalled its origin.
She clearly remembered Riezel saying that he had obtained this overpowered magic in the Entertainment District, and the Entertainment District was the Ishtar Familia’s territory.
Clearly, the familia to which the original master of that overpowered magic belonged was precisely the Ishtar Familia.
Now that the rightful owner of the magic had appeared, Ais knew very well what would happen next.
"Uchide no Kozuchi."
Sure enough, when the familiar magic name was chanted, the mist-like nebula floating above Phryne’s head struck downward, hitting her head and turning into particles of light that enveloped her entire body.
"GAAAAAAAHHH—!!!"
Wrapped in glowing particles, Phryne let out a violent roar as her presence surged, before finally breaking free from Ais’s storm of slashes and slamming toward her like a rampaging bull.
"!!!"
Sensing that Phryne’s charging momentum had suddenly skyrocketed and that her speed was now on an entirely different level, Ais did not dare to be careless and hastily raised Desperate to block the incoming battle axe.
*DING!*
Amid a bell-like, deafening metallic sound, the battle axe crashed down onto Desperate, which Ais had raised in haste, cracking the ground beneath her feet and caving it in.
’So heavy!’
As the tremendous force carried by the axe slammed directly into Ais, it sent a shock through her entire body. Her knees bent involuntarily, her posture sank, and a fleeting look of strain crossed her exquisitely goddess-like face.
"HAHAHAHA!"
Phryne immediately burst out laughing.
"THAT’S IT!"
"THAT’S EXACTLY IT!"
"THIS IS THE LOOK OF PAIN I WANTED TO SEE ON YOUR FACE!"
Her voice overflowing with satisfaction, Phryne roared as if she had finally taken her revenge.
"IT’S NOT OVER YET! I’LL TEAR YOU APART INTO SCRAAAAAPPP!!!"
With her strength skyrocketing, Phryne launched a frenzied onslaught against Ais with wide, heavy attacks almost completely lacking in technique, consisting of nothing more than repeatedly swinging the battle axe at Ais’s body and relentlessly smashing down on the swordswoman as she held up her sword to block.
*Clang!* *Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!*
*Clang!* *Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!*
Amid the series of brutal impacts that made hearts seize, Phryne roared as she relentlessly locked onto Ais’s figure.
Wielding a battle axe in each hand, Phryne truly became a rampaging bull, hacking at Ais again and again. Each strike shook the ground and cracked the floor, while Ais was forced to retreat repeatedly, beaten into a purely defensive position and unable to do anything to Phryne for the time being.
Her strength, her speed, her movements, her presence—none of them could be compared to Phryne’s from before.
Ais was now completely certain that Phryne was effectively equivalent to a Level 6, which indicated that the miraculous level-boosting magic had, this time, appeared on the enemy’s side.
Relying on the level-boosting magic, Phryne caught up to Ais and even erupted with violence that surpassed her, pressing Ais down completely.
"WHAT’S WRONG, SWORD PRINCESS?!"
"AREN’T YOU USUALLY PRETTY ARROGANT?! DON’T YOU ALWAYS PUT ON SOME BIG SHOW?!"
"ORARIO’S STRONGEST SWORDSWOMAN?! A PRINCESS WHOSE BEAUTY RIVALS A GODDESS?!"
"BULLSHIT!"
"HOW COULD SOME STINKING BRAT LIKE YOU, SOME UGLY FREAK, SOME DEAD DOLL, EVER BE STRONGER OR MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN MEEEEEEE!!!"
Roaring like this, Phryne pressed her advantage without mercy, as if she truly intended to chop Ais into pieces. Her attacks showed no restraint, even more ruthless, more violent, and more vicious than those of Argana and Bache.
"JUST DIE ALREADY, YOU UGLY FREAK!"
"ONCE YOU’RE DEAD, NOBODY’S GONNA DARE SAY YOU’RE PRETTIER THAN ME!"
"I’M GONNA SMASH YOUR FACE! SMASH IT! SMASH IT! SMASH IT, SMASH IT, SMASH IT!"
As if possessed, Phryne howled and charged at Ais, swinging another massive slash.
*Clang!*
With nowhere left to retreat, Ais could only choose to block by raising Desperate in one hand, bracing it with the other, and meeting the violently descending battle axe head-on, barely holding it back.
*Crack!*
In an instant, the ground beneath Ais’s feet cracked and caved in for the second time, nearly forcing her entire body into the ground under the terrifying force and almost driving her to her knees on the spot.
Even though both of them were now Level 6, STR had never been Ais’s strong suit.
Before leveling up, her STR and END had only reached C-rank.
Forget maxing them out—they had not even reached A or B.
Unfortunately, the same had been true before Level 5.
Every time she leveled up, her STR and END ended up in much the same state as they had been at Level 5.
Phryne, on the other hand, was obvious just from her amazoness giant’s physique alone—she was unquestionably a STR-type First-Class Adventurer.
Consequently, with both at the same level and comparing STR alone, Ais naturally could not match Phryne.
Relying purely on her advantage in STR, Phryne forcibly suppressed Ais and launched a frenzied assault.
’Not good... I won’t be able to hold on!’
Ais’s arms had already begun to go numb.
’I... I have to get to Tiona and Tione... and I still have to get to Riezel!’
Shouting anxiously in her heart, Ais decided to release her true power.
"Awaken..."
Ais finally chanted the magic incantation that only she and Riezel could use, awakening the power of the great spirit within her bloodline.
"Temp—"
However, when Ais began to chant, Phryne was not alarmed but delighted instead.
"You fell for it, Sword Princess! Sharay! Do it!"
As Phryne’s voice fell, the berbera holding the staff and pushing the cage released the magic she had prepared in advance.
Clearly, she had been waiting for this exact moment for a long time, as the magic had already been prepared long ago.
As a result, one moment before Phryne shouted and half a moment before Ais finished chanting, the amazoness named Sharay had already cast her magic.
*Bzzz—!!!*
A sharp, high-frequency vibration instantly swept over Ais and Phryne, enveloping them both.
Ais felt a loud ringing in her ears, and the magical energy that had just been awakened within her body seemed to be startled away, vanishing without a trace.
"A curse!"
Ais exclaimed in shock.
"Heh, that’s right! A curse!"
Phryne immediately confirmed it with extreme smugness.
A curse referred to a power used specifically to hinder enemies, different from magic, and the user of a curse had to pay a certain price to activate effects that ordinary magic could not achieve—a cursed technique that harmed both the enemy and the user.
However, this power, which required a price to activate, also produced astonishing results.
Even high-rank Abnormal Resistance could not negate or block it, and it could only be defended against or removed through limited means.
For example, Airmid Teasanare of the Dian Cecht Familia, known as Dea Saint, possessed the top-tier healing magic Dia Fratel, which had a remove curse effect that other recovery and healing magic did not possess.
Aside from her, those in Orario capable of lifting curses could be counted on one hand.
Now, Ais had been struck by the curse the Ishtar Familia had prepared, and the effect of the curse was obvious—it was a magic sealing, where those afflicted by it could no longer use magic.
Because of this, Ais’s magic had failed to activate.
"Y’know, this curse—Goddess Ishtar actually made it for the Freya Familia. Congrats—you got to taste it first, ugly freak!"
Phryne chuckled smugly.
"How many times do you think I’ve fought you? You really think I wouldn’t figure out some way to deal with your wind?"
"And now that you can’t even use it, you seriously think you’re still a match for me?"
"Huh? You got nothing to say, Sword Princess?!"
Phryne suddenly leapt into the air and brought her axe down in a merciless strike toward the swordswoman whose strongest trump card had been sealed.
"!!!"
Ais, no longer daring to take Phryne’s attacks head-on, sprang away in a sudden leap, narrowly avoiding the direct hit.
*BOOM!*
For the third time, Phryne’s axe slammed into the ground, shattering the floor and sending dust and debris billowing up, engulfing her massive body.
But in the very next moment, her toad-like giant body burst out of the dust cloud.
"DON’T THINK YOU CAN RUUUNNNNNN!!!"
Amid her roar, the female giant charged forward, blowing away rubble and dust, and in the blink of an eye slammed violently into Ais’s body.
*BANG!*
Caught completely off guard by this move, Ais was struck head-on while airborne and unable to adjust her trajectory.
On the spot, the light armor on her body shattered, and her body was flung upward as if tossed into the air, flying high into the ceiling before crashing down heavily.
*Cough!*
Ais ultimately spat out blood, collapsing there and struggling on the ground, unable to stand up for a long while.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 300 Power Stones.]
[Support me and read next Chapters early at: /VALRRR]