Chapter 64 - Sentinel (2)

"It's porcelain!"

With a shout full of resentment and shame, Rei activated Azurail.

She quickly put distance while shaking her hand, which must be throbbing quite badly.

"Rei? Why are you here?"

Elowen's narrow eyes, which usually gave off an aloof atmosphere, grew twice their normal size.

An entirely unexpected intrusion.

For Elowen, before feeling joy or relief, her brain might well freeze from bewilderment.

Meanwhile, we descended into the plaza, drawing the Sentinel's attention and splitting its aggro.

The Sentinel swung its halberd to block our approach before briefly stopping in its tracks.

Four sudden intruders.

It seemed to be calculating whether to prioritize its original target or eliminate the interferers first.

As Rei joined our side, I calmly shared what I knew about the Sentinel.

"It only feels like porcelain, the material's completely different. Think harder than steel."

"Couldn't you have mentioned that earlier?"

"Why are you blaming me? Isn't it your fault for jumping in before I could properly explain?"

Rei promptly shut her mouth.

Now wasn’t the time for a conversation anyway. 

The Sentinel had prioritized us as targets.

"Fall back!"

Luke stepped forward.

Raising the shield from his back, aura erupted across his entire body like flames.

Fast.

Despite starting from a complete stop, its acceleration was terrifyingly quick.

Living up to its reputation as one of the Second Floor's strongest monsters.

The Sentinel before us demonstrated frightening output despite being only third among five ranks.

A clash ensued.

BOOM! SCREECH—!!

Spine-chilling friction sound scraped across the plaza as Luke's shield caught the descending halberd.

A downward strike that brought lightning to mind.

Luke magnificently caught a blow that I doubted even Rei, let alone Leaf or I could withstand.

The vanguard fulfilled his role faithfully.

Now, it was the rear guard's turn.

"Undine!"

Leaf called her spirit, I raised Leraje's mana to maximum output, and Rei shot forward like a bullet.

But the Sentinel's defense was absurdly solid.

Leaf's Water Jet and my Magic Bullets were blocked by its mana field, and Rei's fist, which could pierce mana fields, couldn't even crack its porcelain-like surface.

Another clear bell-like ring erased the intense metallic clash with a pure resonance unfitting for the desperate combat situation.

So the mana field blocks magical attacks, while the porcelain surface acts as armor, blocking physical attacks.

Ridiculous defense.

Unlike other creatures, it doesn't have weak points like eyes or mouth membranes.

The eyes on the Sentinel's bisque doll-like face were completely closed.

With eyes closed, there was no chance of an open mouth either.

"Luke, doesn't this thing have any weak points!"

"None! The skin's all ceramic! As far as I know, hnngh, you gotta break through with brute force!"

Pure DPS?

Against that defense?

It's real nasty ain’t it?

"Damn... even breaking the mana field means nothing then."

"No, attack the moment the mana field tears," Rei shouted as if my words made no sense.

"Huh? Argentooth isn't ranged! It only works on contact!"

"Don't worry. We've done this before."

"...You're going to use it?"

"No choice, right?"

Never thought I could hide it forever.

It would come out eventually.

If so, hesitating to use it when needed would be foolish.

"First let's try breaking through with Water Jet, if that fails I'll try stopping its movement with Exhaustion."

"...Yes!"

At that point, Leaf recalled Aerial.

Her short response carried strong determination to pour all her mana into Undine for maximum output ultra-high-pressure water cannon to blow a nice hole in the Sentinel.

"Counting on you."

"Right."

Just before starting.

A voice transmitted through mana resonance rather than ears.

[Wait!]

Flame communication magic.

Despite its usefulness, it was surprisingly particular about its caster, so none of us three had learned it yet.

Obviously the martial artist Luke wouldn't know it.

Though martial artists had a technique for sending signals through aura waves like passing messages, it couldn't transmit clear voices like flame communication.

Then naturally the one left is...

"Elowen?"

Quite skilled, as expected of an Elf.

[I'll bind its feet. Don't use it.]

Seems she noticed what we were planning when I touched Rei's shoulder.

Bind its feet?

I get she's using spirit magic, but aren’t they on strike?

Did she somehow persuade them?

[Trust me. This time it's definitely possible.]

Flame communication filled us with some kind of certainty.

Rei wore a puzzled expression and looked at my face half-doubtfully, suggesting she'd received it too.

After a moment's consideration.

I removed my hand from Rei's shoulder.

"Let's follow her lead for now."

"If she fails..."

"I'll rescue you, don't worry."

Rei, who'd charge ahead for anything we suggested but sent distrust first for Elowen's instructions.

At least her personality is consistent.

Once Rei and I agreed, I told Leaf.

"Elowen will bind its feet. Nothing changes. When Rei makes an opening, we break through."

"...Ah, okay."

What's this?

She seemed to have something to say, lips fidgeting.

But we're in combat now.

Turning from Leaf with sealed lips, I watched Rei's retreating back.

Recalling the magic newly acquired from the Floating Island.

§

Elowen's encounter with the Sentinel was far from pure coincidence.

However, that didn't mean she intended to fight the Sentinel.

Elowen's objective was the very place the Sentinel guarded.

So Elowen researched.

How to remove the Sentinel and search that place.

The resulting plan was the so-called live burial plan.

Its framework was luring the Sentinel to a monster-free plaza she'd scouted, then causing a collapse with her contracted mountain and cave spirit, Oread.

While the power of spirits varied with the contractor's skill, the range was determined by the spirit's inherent power.

Even if the contractor's base power was 10, depending on the spirit, it could output 30 or 50—that was the appeal of spirit magic.

Of course, that was old-school spirit magic that was based purely on the spirit's power, while new-school spirit magic was based on repeated repeated improvements. 

Well, not like it mattered since Elowen was an old-school Spirit Summoner.

The plan was good, but the result was garbage.

Oread's sudden strike started it.

Since Oread had maintained quite an amicable relationship and rarely refused Elowen's requests, this failure was huge.

No, maybe it was impossible from the start since she'd never requested something on the scale of collapsing the ground.

But now Oread was more obedient to Elowen than ever before.

Enough to be certain they'd gladly agree even if asked to collapse the ground again.

Now.

It was possible.

The instant she confirmed Rei kicking off the ground.

Elowen commanded Oread, "Catch it, Oread."

Instead of the pointlessly gentle tone she'd been using to appease Oread, her usual businesslike, emotionless voice flowed softly.

And Oread faithfully executed that instruction.

Squish—

The ground turned swamp-like, sinking beneath the Sentinel's feet.

Balance crumbling.

The halberd's trajectory striking Luke's shield showed deviation.

Luke, a skilled Explorer and combatant, didn't miss that opening, charging forward with his shield raised.

Though the Sentinel's horse lower body made it much larger than humans, it wasn't 4-5 meters tall.

Luke's shield attack staggered the Sentinel.

And Elowen clenched her fist.

"Grab."

The swamp-like ground instantly hardened.

The earth, returned to its original rock state, firmly gripped the Sentinel's legs.

Broken balance, immobilized legs, and shield impact.

As the Sentinel was completely neutralized, Rei's fist tore rather than struck, completely shredding its mana field.

With the translucent mana shell ripped away, its smooth porcelain skin was fully exposed.

A water stream pierced that spot.

CRACK—CRACK—CRACK!!

It sounded like grinding away rather than piercing through.

The water cannon turned the Sentinel's porcelain surface to scattered powder.

Not enough...

The output is lacking.

Just as Elowen quickly pondered alternatives.

Where the water stream subsided, a black bullet's trajectory was drawn.

SLASH! SCREECH!

"Huh?"

Elowen unconsciously exclaimed.

She knew this attack.

She'd seen it several times and was even hit by it during training.

But back then, its power was surprisingly just "pretty heavy" at most.

Yet with just that level of power.

Even though Leaf's Water Jet had dealt considerable damage to the surface, it completely pierced through?

Creeak—

Despite Elowen's shock, time flowed mercilessly.

The Sentinel's body, with a massive hole in front, swayed unsteadily.

With its feet caught in the ground, the Sentinel slumped without falling, completely ceasing movement.

Activity cessation.

Or death.

Three pairs of eyes turned toward the being who silenced one of the Second Floor's strongest monsters in one strike.

Even the person himself was looking down at his hand that fired the Magic Missile.

"This is beyond expectations?"

The magic bestowed from the Floating Island.

Compression Enhancement.

A support magic that established mana compression as a technique.

Actually, it was just a simple support magic that wasn’t particularly amazing.

At best, one would use Compression Enhancement to make their magic defense more sturdy.

But for someone with infinite mana but lacking instant output, it was like a legendary weapon.

This is broken.

Smite.

That was Roman's third magic.