Chapter 142: Best Tactic (2/2)

”I said the same trick won't work twice,” Mae's voice echoed and a pair of slit eyes pierced through the darkness. A scaly tail wrapped around Allan, giving him no chance to react, and constraining his movements. At the same time, the void dome was dispelled and Rakna's group was presented with the sight of Mae, who had turned back into a lamia, coiled around the blond with her tail as their faces were just a few centimeters away from touching.

”How will you get out of this one?” She asked with a sensual tone and Allan almost gulped from the proximity but the sea of snakes slowly encircling him as well as the giant ones aiming their spells at him sobered him up.

Allan gathered his cool and returned a smirk of his own. ”Who knows… what about you? You can't get through my defense without your snakes' spells, but you can't let yourself be hit by them just to hold me down in place, can you?”

”Why not? I'm not the one at risk of dying for good,” she replied and the giant snakes increased the energy output of their spells.

”Is that so?” Allan sneered and the two fell silent. On one side, the wind magic was about to be cast and ravage the place and on the other, the brawler's gloves were sneakily glowing, ready for the opportunity to be used. ”But I think you may get more than what you've bargained for.”

Mae's eyes flashed with a peculiar light before a certain sweet feeling raised in her chest. ”I could say the same to you,” she countered.

Rakna watched them from a distance with a cocked eyebrow. For some reason, he had the feeling that something was going to happen but he just couldn't put his finger on what.

That's when it happened. Mae suddenly smirked wider than ever before and in a blur, she leaned forward and planted her lips on Allan's.

”Huh?!” ”Eh?!” ”Hm?!” The three spectating girls all had their reactions. Pronos and Tyran were a bit confused, however.

Rakna blinked dumbfoundedly. ”Did she just…” His voice died down as he saw Allan respond to the kiss on his own. ”…they're just making out at this point.”

”{…why am I not surprised?}” Higure uttered in genuine confusion. ”{Well, the sexual tension was indeed strong...}”

”{Hoho! So, this is what they call love at first sight! It's my first time seeing it,}” Fray said.

”I'd call it… passion at first sight but that's fine too.”

Meanwhile, Mae backed away after a full minute and happily licked her lips clean with her slightly elongated and forked tongue; just like a snake. ”That was nice…” She whispered to the dazed blond and grinned. ”I really hope you survive this one,” she then said and the snakes released their spells.

”OH, YOU-!” Allan shouted and they were both shrouded by two destructive cyclones of wind. The onlookers shielded their eyes from the wafts of wind and the large debris that were broken apart from the castle's floor.

Rakna casually erected a GHB with extreme ease and controlled it mentally, making it fly right and left to catch the debris before they could even get close to him; something that only a perception freak like him could do. He wasn't too worried about his friend since he had seen a few interesting elements in his status earlier. Moreover, the necklace from the Skulking Angel would reduce the magical damage.

When the aftermath was terminated, there was a large crater in the middle of the Dungeon and all the summoned snakes were gone without a trace.

In the center of the depression, Allan groaned and stood up as he cleared the dust and debris on top of him. Mae had turned into particles after the Dungeon recognized her defeat.

”That crazy girl,” he muttered but without any sort of resentment in his tone. ”If I didn't have that spell, I would have been done for,” he added and the completion notification sounded. After they were all teleported out of the Dungeon again, everyone looked at him weirdly.

”What? Why are you looking at me like that?” He blurted out. He already knew why but even he felt quite embarrassed about it. He didn't need them to stare at him on top of that.

”…to be fair, it was a nice tactic to kiss you and lower your guard so you wouldn't escape her grip before she could complete her spells,” Rakna suddenly commented. ”In a sense, she did win this battle even if you were the one to survive.”

Allan snorted. ”Yeah, right. An awesome tactic that was,” he uttered, his voice oozing with sarcasm.

”By the way, how did you come out of that last attack without injuries?” Evelyn inquired. ”There was barely a scratch on you except a bit of dust and a few rubbles.”

”Ah, that. It's a void spell. Basically, it's something I can use whilst immobile and I can pretty much resist 99% of the damage coming my way with it. But it takes a lot of mana and it has a half-a-day cooldown. So, I won't be able to use it again until tomorrow,” he said and scratched his head. ”How annoying. It was my trump card.”

”Well, you'll just have to learn more in the future to make sure you have something else to rely on other than that one. For now, let's enter one last time. Cheer up; we're on our way to meet your newest girlfriend for the third time,” Rakna quipped as he opened the gate of the castle again.

”Who the hell are you calling my girlfriend?!”

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When they reached the final floor in the fiendish difficulty, Mae once again welcomed them from her throne, in her human form. She grinned at Allan who self-consciously evaded her eyes. She giggled at his behavior and stood up.

”This time,” she spoke up. ”I wondered if you could be the one I fight,” she said whilst pointing at Rakna with a serious face.

Allan scowled at her. ”What? You got bored of fighting me?”

She smiled and shook her head. ”No, I just… don't want to kill you.”

”…” He blinked in surprise.

Rakna hummed. ”I see. You are probably compelled by the System to fight, right? There is no way you are allowed to simply give the victory to Hosts because of personal sentiments.”

”You're correct. In this difficulty, my full strength is unsealed. Only you can fight me without risk to your life,” she said solemnly and Allan looked at her with mixed feelings.

”As expected, women are weird as heck …” He mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear and the lamia smiled in amusement.

”You're a hundred years too early to even start deciphering a maiden's heart,” she laughed and he rolled his eyes. ”So? Are you ready?” She turned back to Rakna.

The therian shrugged and his scarf moved on its own into his hand and turned into a Guandao in the blink of an eye. ”If that's what you want. I'll warn you though, I'm not gentle.”

”I wouldn't have it any other way,” she retorted and without waiting further, opened her eyes wide and triggered her petrifying ability. Allan had been able to nullify it with his magic but that didn't apply to Rakna. Unless he also had a method to resist it. 'There's no way, right?' She thought nervously and her eyes crossed with Rakna's. Then… nothing happened.

”Really?” She said in a defeated tone. ”Why are you people all resistant to my strongest ability?”

Rakna snorted and whirled Sonata. ”Your ability can bypass aura but at the end of the day, it's just a sort of DNA altering trick at its fundamental. This means that it can be interfered with as long as the composition of my body isn't something you can affect.”

”Then that means…”

”Yes,” Rakna nodded impassively as a cold mist finally began to erupt from his body. His hair and fur whitened as his Cold Star Reinforcement started visually displaying its effects. ”Do you think you can turn a star into stone?”

Mae's eyebrow twitched. ”A star, huh? Were you that confident? What if it hadn't worked?”

”Well, in that case, there would be the antidotes generously given by your Dungeon. I would have not minded fighting with my eyes closed anyway.”

She snickered. ”Of course.”

”Now focus,” Rakna declared and gripped his polearm tighter as he took a prowling stance. ”I won't hold back. Try to keep up for more than a minute.”