Chapter 80: Alice Is Used to That Kind of Gaze

-Boom!! Rumble-rumble!!!

-Shing!

-Kwaaang!!

<You're good at running away, maiden! You seem to have a talent for delaying tactics!>

"Thanks for dressing up stalling for time like that!"

<The fighting styles and circumstances of the countless dimensions are all bound to differ. What could be more foolish than coming to another dimension and complaining that things do not conform to my principles?>

"Says the monster invading other dimensions... Ngh!"

<Ha-ha! How amusing. As expected, fighting a contractee is far more entertaining than beheading executioners who obediently stick out their necks and wait. Even more so when that contractee uses wondrous techniques I've never seen before to delight my eyes.>

-Kaang!

"She's incredible too. How many minutes has she been doing that?"

[It's been 40 minutes since the Dullahan transformed into that red form presumed to be its combat mode. Including the time before that, she's been facing it alone for about an hour.]

"She's really something. She held Leviathan off by herself for three hours, too. Even if she's S-rank, can she really have that much magical power? Maybe her tiny body makes her fuel-efficient."

[A smaller frame does reduce the magical power consumed by body-enhancement magic, but the efficiency gain is not dramatic. It appears to be purely a testament to Miss Alice's abilities. She has always been extraordinary.]

"Exactly. Isn't it amazing that someone who doesn't even appear on TV is still maintaining that much magical power? Is she siphoning it off somewhere?"

[“Magical-power embezzlement”... What an interesting concept. Do you mean taking magical power from other magical girls or mascots? A mascot would prevent theft, so that would be impossible, but transferring power between magical girls is not impossible if both parties consent. The question is who could transfer as much magical power as Miss Alice possesses. It would normally take about a hundred magical girls.]

"I was joking, so don't take it so seriously, Jewelry!"

[It's Jewel E.]

"Just let it slide!"

-Kuuuung!

[Emerald Castle-False Wall]

<Kraaaaaaaaaaa!!!>

Thanks to Alice drawing the attention of the most troublesome one, we had time to deal with the other Abyssals.

Clearly, the MVP of the Leviathan raid hadn't lost her touch, no matter how much time had passed.

'That said, we shouldn't expect her to put on the same performance as back then.'

Leviathan had been a very good match for Alice. More precisely, it had been a good opponent for her to stall.

All S-rank magical girls possessed at least some movement magic that allowed them to fly. But flying was not as easy as it sounded, and maintaining one's balance while using other magic was difficult enough. Controlling all of that while dodging an Abyssal's attacks was an entirely different matter from simply flying a long distance.

More than anything, there was that absurd teleportation technique that let her appear in another space in the blink of an eye, without any warning or preparatory movement. That technique was truly insane.

What kind of technique was that? Every magical girl used different types of magic with different efficiencies according to her own magical system, but was that even possible? She could bring nearby objects and people along if necessary, and when moving alone, she could teleport elsewhere without any preparation or incantation—even while upside down, with the world flipped over as she desperately dodged?

'I want to learn it too!'

[Would someone who creates a castle and fights inside it really be able to learn teleportation? That kind of magic is something Miss Alice can use at 100% because she can fight regardless of the surrounding terrain.]

'But still!'

<Kraaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!>

"Got it! Now!"

[They say other people's possessions always look bigger. Perhaps Miss Alice covets Miss Emerald's magic even more.]

"Maybe I do!"

-Charrarararak!!!

-Kwak!!

The A-rank Abyssal that had slammed into the false wall was caught by a wall that transformed into a hand made of emerald.

My unique magic and ultimate move, Emerald Castle, was exactly what its name suggested: a technique that spread a barrier around me and created a castle of emerald. Since the castle was made of gemstones, it naturally provoked Abyssals, whose instinct was to destroy anything positive to humans. The barrier itself was also imbued with illusion magic by default, making it highly effective at drawing nearby Abyssals in, but...

-Kwang!!

<Kraaaaa!!!>

<Kwooooo!!!>

"Okay! Strike!"

[One horn has pierced the other's scales. It was an effective attack.]

"How could I be bad at this after doing it for years?!"

The slight drawback was that this magic consumed so many calculations and so much magical power that it made casting any other large-scale magic besides the spell controlling the castle difficult.

The Abyssals caught around the castle were three A-ranks and seven B-ranks. With that many held down, the other fronts should have had much more breathing room, but... we couldn't let our guard down.

The appearance of an S-rank Abyssal was a disaster in itself. Fortunately—truly fortunately—this time Alice had managed to keep it occupied the moment the S-rank appeared. It was a miraculous situation, but there was no room to relax.

Earlier, I'd said that Leviathan was a good match for Alice. Its enormous body, which filled the Han River, was large enough that its physical force alone qualified as a natural disaster, but that very size made it easy for Alice to twist around it and run, making it difficult for the massive body to move.

But what about that Dullahan?

It was big. It looked to be about five meters tall, making it roughly two or three times the size of an average person. But for an Abyssal, it was on the smaller side.

Whenever it swung its sword, the surrounding buildings split apart, and Alice, who barely managed to dodge the attacks, visibly staggered from the wind pressure alone.

Unlike Leviathan, it was not an opponent favorable to Alice.

"...I need to get over there and provide support quickly... How are things on the other side? They're getting things under control, right, with Alice holding it down like that?"

[Miss Emerald is holding down almost all of the A- and B-ranks, but as you know, the numbers of lower-ranked Abyssals that appear with an S-rank are beyond imagination.]

"Aah! Then why do they keep swarming in?!"

[As befits filthy creatures of the Abyss, they're probably waiting for an opportunity.]

It wasn't enough to feel reassured simply because the B-ranks and above were on Alice's and my side. There were hundreds of C-rank and lower Abyssals spread out beyond the reach of Alice and me. We needed at least one or two S-rank magical girls here to deal with them, but the only S-rank magical girls currently detected nearby were Alice and me.

Kariel was probably out of the country on another business trip... What on earth was Aia doing, and where?

"Hey!!! Tin can!!! Kariel aside, where are you!!! You live in the Seoul metropolitan area, at least!! Even if you were asleep, an hour should've been plenty..."

[Please do not get angry. The information already coming in through Aia's visual and auditory sensors is already overwhelming the system.]

"...Huh?"

[And protect your eyes. Personally, I recommend closing them for a moment.]

-Wooooong...

Along with Aia's words, the flow of air around me changed.

No—rather than the flow changing, it was the air itself that was trembling...

"This crazy bitch, don't tell me...!"

-Spark!

[Satellite Beam.]

"Hey, you cra...!"

-Kzzzzzzzzzt!!!!!!

<Kuaaak!!!!!>

A gigantic energy beam that fell from high above, from a place invisible to the naked eye, struck the two A-rank Abyssals that had been bunched together by my attack just now.

"Shooting is fine, but tell me before you fire...!"

[They say you should deceive your allies first before deceiving your enemies.]

"You don't know when to use that saying, do you?!"

[There might be an Abyssal with eavesdropping abilities. Emerald is outside its range anyway, so the only risk is that it will take slightly longer to prepare mentally.]

"...Sigh. Whatever. It definitely worked."

Annoying as she was, the title of S-rank number one hadn't come from nowhere.

Those two A-rank Abyssals hit directly by that Satellite Beam had been roasted crisp and were scattering into black smoke.

[Emerald, I recommend that you assist Alice over there. Aia cannot leave this front right now. The moment Aia withdraws, the hundreds of Abyssals will descend on the civilians.]

"Really...? What about switching? You'd be more help in an S-rank raid than I am..."

[It does not appear that we have the time. Switching roles with Emerald would take about five minutes at the very least. Nor does it seem likely that the S-rank Abyssal would let Emerald go while we switched, and Alice's condition could worsen considerably during the process.]

"...Well, if the number one says so... it can't be helped. But you're saying that if I go, we have a chance, right?"

[About 25%.]

"Isn't that kind of iffy?!"

[If you have time to joke, hurry and provide support...! Ngh...!]

-Swish!

<Now I understand, contractee. You were deceiving space, or perhaps the world.>

"Ngh...!"

Alice, now in my line of sight, was in a dire state. Minor wounds—more numerous than I'd seen even against Leviathan—marked various parts of her body in red, and the Abyssal's sword strike just now had cut away an ugly portion of Alice's snow-white hair.

Naturally, she couldn't keep up the concept even at a moment like this, and her face was twisted with strain.

<Your delicate appearance belies a brazen method fit for a swindler.>

"Sh...ut up."

[A-Alice! Just wait a little! I'll finish clearing out the stragglers around here... Ah, no! I'll fire right now...!]

[Are you insane?! I'm barely keeping its aggro right now, so if you're going to attack half-heartedly, just stay put! Unless you want to watch it head toward that castle!]

'...Her condition really is bad.'

If even she was talking like that, the situation couldn't be called good even as a mere courtesy.

This was an opponent we could only attempt to subdue once Alice and I, as well as Aia after she finished clearing that side, had all joined up.

[...Give me ten minutes.]

Before Alice reached her limit, I had to clear things up as quickly as possible too.

If I couldn't even manage that, then people would truly be right that I had earned the title of third-ranked S-rank only because I was a corporate chairman.

...Though, to be fair, that was somewhat true.