56 Chapter 56: Tactical Withdrawal (1/2)
Clang! Wham!
In contrast to Alicia and my fruitless ranged support, Cecilia was actually fighting evenly with Hades, her sword clashing fervently against his scythe. She made use of her smaller stature to weave in and out of Hades' wide swings and large attacks, dodging his slashes and countering with sharp thrusts and stabs of her own. Hades was skilled enough to see those attacks coming, and would always step back in time to evade them.
Moreover, his raw strength was giving him the edge in this battle.
With a bellow, Hades knocked Cecilia off her feet with a powerful slash, causing her to stagger back.
”Cecilia!” Alicia cried out in panic.
Fortunately, the Crowley Academy representatives' captain realized that her situation was pretty grim. Her guard had just been destroyed, and Hades was now bearing down on her, eager to seize the opportunity to scythe her down once and for all.
Whoosh!
My Orion's Belt exploded in Hades' face, followed by explosive magical bolts from Alicia's guns. The goliath roared as he stumbled back, blinded by the smoke and steam. With a grateful nod in our direction, Cecilia quickly withdrew to restore her defensive stance.
We kept up our bombardment, forcing Hades to stay on his toes as we peppered him with our magical projectiles. Cecilia, seizing the opening we bought her, ran through the rain of devastation to strike the faltering enemy. To his credit, Hades shrugged off our onslaught to focus on the immediate threat before him, deflecting Cecilia's strike and countering with a vicious slash.
Cecilia whirled around and answered with a riposte that almost tore through Hades' ribs had he not slide his body out of the way in time. Stomping forward, Hades swung his scythe down like a cudgel, as if to crush Cecilia with its sheer weight and mass, but she sidestepped the attack and allowed the crescent-shaped blade to bury itself in the ground.
Several more detonations stung Hades' face and chest as Alicia and I fired at him relentlessly. Hades stumbled, seeming to hesitate for just a second before he began to pull out his scythe – but that single second was more than enough.
Cecilia jumped atop Hades' scythe, preventing him from retrieving his weapon, and quickly seized the chance to attack with a lethal thrust toward his heart. If that landed, it didn't matter how good his regenerative ability was – he would die from that.
If it landed, that is.
To our amazement, Hades willingly relinquished his hold on his scythe, letting go of the thick shaft and doing a cartwheel to avoid Cecilia's sword. Moving with astound agility that belied his massive size, the giant delivered a flurry of kicks and punches that forced Cecilia into the defensive. Despite slamming his fists and feet against Cecilia's sharp blade, the goliath's iron-hard skin seemed impervious to metal. His barrage of physical attacks hurled the stunned Cecilia back through sheer force alone, the swordswoman barely able to keep up with his speed.
”Guuh…!”
Cecilia slid back a few meters, her hands still trembling violently from the impact of parrying those blows with her sword. Panting, she studied Hades, who had now retrieved his scythe now that there was no longer any impediment.
”He must be based off the legend of a warrior of great renown in the past,” Cecilia repeated her speculation from earlier, clearly impressed and astonished. ”Even in the grip of madness, his skills have not been blunted.”
”I would say his berserk mode actually gives him mad skillz,” I muttered, earning an annoyed glance from Alicia. Sorry, no matter how bleak the situation seemed, I couldn't resist throwing that joke out. ”We should be careful.”
”That's true,” Cecilia conceded reluctantly. ”We won't get away with simply being hurt if we underestimate the enemy.”
Except that you're the only one underestimating our enemy…
Suppressing the snide remark, I sent another huge arrow into his temple, the missile detonating against the side of his head with the force of a tank shell. Despite the violent explosion, my arrow had no effect at all.
Hades merely stood there without budging, completely unaffected by the direct hit. Clicking my tongue, I shook my head in disbelief as I watched his unscathed features.
”He's almost like an elemental force of nature, the very embodiment of madness itself.”
”Like I said, isn't he getting stronger?” Alicia's voice quivered a little. ”Our attacks are having less effects as time goes on. It's like he's getting immune to our spells.”
”That can't be good,” I muttered as a chill ran down my spine. If what Alicia observed was correct, then our situation was growing increasingly grim.
”My attacks are still getting through,” Cecilia informed us coolly. Oh, there was that, of course. Perhaps Hades' ability only worked against ranged spells?
Was it even an ability to begin with?
”You're the one who is most familiar with summoned spirits, Richard.” Alicia turned to me, her expression anxious. ”What do you think?”
”I don't know,” I replied, a hint of frustration creeping into my voice as I studied Hades. ”He's different from any other summoned spirit I've encountered. Unlike Angelica, this Hades guy has been silent the entire time. Usually contracted spirits are sentient, and Hades gives off the vibe that he's a contracted spirit and not a soul beast.”
”What's the difference?” Alicia asked, unfamiliar with the subject.
”Contracted spirits are created by establishing a contract with an already-existing spirit – you probably know the difference between spirits and monsters, and how they are hypothesized to come from different dimensions, right? Soul beasts, in contrast, are aspects of your soul, created and formed entirely from your imagination before you cast a complex spell to manifest them in reality. In contrast, contracted spirits can be summoned immediately as long as you have the contract in place.”
”So you believe this Hades is a contracted spirit,” Cecilia noted tersely. ”Are there any special characteristics or abilities that I should keep in mind regarding him?”
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”If you were to put it in human terms, I would classify him as a berserker. Much like Theodore Hammond…”