Chapter 131: Sometimes I Still Use Words from the Old World

Chapter 131: Sometimes I Still Use Words from the Old World

“You think you can win by getting close to my body? Quite clever, but did you think I was stupid enough not to prepare countermeasures for that?”

As he spoke, the “Puppeteer” retracted his strings while emerging from the ground to strike at me. For my part, the impact of his previous blow had left me gasping on my knees. But before I could even take a second breath, countless magical strings erupted from the ground beneath me. Had I been even slightly less vigilant, they might have already sliced me to ribbons.

“Oh? Still hanging in there?”

The young man continued his relentless assault while expressing his surprise. In that instant, I had to marshal a great deal of mental energy just to create a temporary shield. Though it could temporarily block those deadly strings, being hastily made meant it wouldn’t last long. The pain was also distracting me, making it even harder to maintain.

Gradually, long cracks began appearing in the ice wall amid the harsh impacts of the “puppet strings” before me. Though it hadn’t been penetrated yet, I didn’t think I could keep this up much longer. My head was throbbing, and my knees were about to give out. At this rate, I’d either pass out from mental exhaustion or expose a weakness for him to exploit.

The Puppeteer’s string attacks continued without mercy, and through the ice shield, I could see him manipulating his strings with both hands.

What could I do? How many hits from those strings could this Mithril armor withstand, and with just a tiny bit of spirit power left, could I possibly defeat him?

Faced with this direct threat to my life, I had to make a quick decision… But just before I could decide on anything, the intense barrage against my ice shield suddenly ceased.

“Kuro??”

“Ga… ha…”

It was Kuro, swinging her katana with flickering lightning as she continuously deflected the string attacks. Though initially confident in his strings’ power, even the Puppeteer was caught off guard by the scene before him, and thankfully, it temporarily slowed the pace of battle.

“Kanna-shi… are you alright?”

“Yeah, thanks, but how can you face him alone?”

“We’ll talk about that later, please fall back…”

Fall back? I’m not some useless guy who hides behind women.

Having gained a moment to collect myself, I immediately created ice shields around Kuro’s vulnerable points and pulled us both back to a safe distance.

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“Well done, but you won’t escape that easily…”

Though still surprised, the Puppeteer seemed to have regained his composure and increased the speed of his attacks. At this rate, even if we turned tail and ran, we’d be hard-pressed to escape unscathed.

“WIND BLADE!!!”

A blade of wind flew against our retreat path, targeting the advancing strings at high speed. Though it couldn’t repel all of them, the wind blade managed to neutralize most of the danger from this attack.

There was no need to guess who had launched it.

“Nice work, Faima…”

“Worry about yourself first and run…”

Faima had taken advantage of the time we’d bought to cast her attack magic. The way she did it was pretty cool—exactly what I’d imagined I’d be able to do when I came to this world.

“Attacking from behind? Looks like the number of targets I need to eliminate has increased.”

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What Faima had just created in the air was a massive wind spear. Not only was it aesthetically impressive, but the amount of magical energy radiating from it and the destructive power of the compressed wind within were terrifying for a mage whose attributes weren’t purely offensive like her.

For my part, I quickly pulled Kuro away from the danger zone. Meanwhile, Faima continued pouring magic power into the wind spear, increasing its size.

“Now… TEMPEST SPEAR!!!”

With a wave of her hand, the entire wind spear shot forward. The Puppeteer showed a moment of confusion, clicking his tongue before gathering his puppet strings to form a barrier against the spear that was approaching at frightening speed.

After an intense struggle, the wind spear finally dissipated. The ground around was kicked up in clouds of dust from the massive amount of released air.

Unfortunately, the wall of puppet strings remained intact. While the ground in front and on both sides had been completely swept clean, it and the person hiding behind it seemed completely unharmed. Faima’s magical spear had been completely blocked.

“Oh? That had some effect. It seems the mage girl is the strongest among you three?”

“You could’ve warned us before attacking!”

“Eh? Kanna, why are you lying there?”

“Because of your magic, what else?”

Though not enough to tear up the ground, that wind was just enough to blow me away as I was running back. I’d been thrown backward, rolling like a ball before coming to a stop at Faima’s feet. By the way, Kuro’s “stats” were higher, so she could “normally” move to Faima’s position.

“That hurt like hell…”

“Are you okay, Kanna-shi?”

“You’re so weak, just like a woman.”

While making a tsukkomi comment, I took Kuro’s hand and was pulled up.

“By the way, why are you suddenly here, Kuro?”

“Faima sent me word about your situation, so I rushed back. Glad I made it in time.”

Kuro gave a relieved smile as if she’d just shed a burden from her mind, then turned her sword and sharp gaze toward the enemy before all three of us.