56 Chapter 56: Tactical Withdrawal (2/2)
Cecilia didn't seem to recognize the name, but Alicia certainly did. She nodded.
”Yeah, this spirit definitely shares characteristics with the berserker class.”
This might sound like we were stating the obvious, and I could already see the readers screaming about this dialogue being ”filler”, but it was important, especially as it contributed the strategy we came up with. Obviously, combating a berserker who had lost all sanity and reason would require different methods than if we were fighting a cunning, quiet one.
”How troublesome.” Cecilia grimaced. ”Berserkers are extremely difficult to deal with – they are usually entirely unpredictable, they don't care about their lives or wellbeing. In other words, this Hades will be utterly focused on killing us, undistracted by anything else. We'll have to stay on our guard. Worse, it'll take a lot more to kill him because he evidently doesn't feel any pain, so he'll be able to shrug off a single lethal injury or two.”
”Can we even hurt him?” Alicia asked timidly. She had a point. Our ranged attacks had thus far proved futile, and Cecilia's close combat attacks had yet to put a single scratch on him despite her claim that they were getting through. Well, she was forcing him to the defensive and causing him to parry and block her sword with his scythe, so that was an optimistic sign.
Unfortunately, we no longer had the luxury to engage in strategic debate because Hades once again leaped forward and bore down on her like a hurricane.
Cecilia found herself shoved back by Hades' attacks as he renewed his onslaught once again. Gritting her teeth, she parried blow after blow, inevitably giving ground as Hades pressed on with his barrage of slashes and strikes. The guy was amazingly fast for someone his size, and coupled with his raw strength, he was overwhelming even a skilled and talented swordswoman like Cecilia.
”Alicia! Richard! Please keep up the support!”
We were probably just wasting magical energy, but neither of us had a choice. I unleashed another volley of arrows that blew up the space around Cecilia and Hades, each projectile possessing enough power to raze a house. But every direct hit against Hades merely dissipated harmlessly against his dark, tattooed skin.
Alicia was also bombarding him from afar, her magic bullets slamming into his iron-hard flesh and detonating with the force of grenades, but for all her shooting, she might as well be throwing sand at the giant berserker.
He really can't feel any pain, can he?
Cecilia exchanged another furious blow with Hades. She desperately fended off Hades' slashes and countered with ripostes and strikes of her own, which Hades avoided just barely. Unlike Alicia's and my projectiles, it seemed that Hades actually feared Cecilia's melee attacks. Once again, I wondered about the significance of that.
Is his ability or enchantment specific against ranged spells?
I let loose another couple of shots, which merely vanished into nothingness against the goliath's shadowy bulk. I observed my attacks, as well as Alicia's – her bullets pounding mercilessly against Hades' face and chest – noting that they were not so much as ineffective as they were being nullified upon contact.
What the hell was with that monster's defensive ability?
I glanced at Selina, but she remained some distance away from us, leaving the murderous task to her summoned spirit. She had no intention of interfering – probably because she no need to.
”Ah!”
Cecilia was flung away as Hades overpowered her with a single brutal slash, knocking her sword out of her hands and sending her flying in the direction of the graveyard. He bent his knees, getting ready to jump, but I fired a single bolt of energy, the arrow-shaped destruction detonating against him and actually causing him to stagger for once.
Not done yet, I covered for Cecilia by jumping in front of her, distracting Hades with more of my arrows. Dancing around to evade his deadly scythe, I lured him away from the prone swordswoman, continuing to hurl more explosive projectiles against the raging berserker. He took the bait and swung his scythe at me, but I quickly dove to the side, maintaining a good distance between us. Hades tried to close the distance with a single bound, but I responded with a leap of my own. Soaring high into the air directly above Hades, I prepared my bow.
The berserk goliath turned his head up after he landed, almost as if he was watching me curiously.
I smiled grimly. That's right, you bastard. Look over here. It'll be the last thing you'll ever see.
”Betelgeuse!”
I unleashed an azure rain of arrows down below, thousands, no tens of thousands of arrows pouring down from the heavens (or from Orion, to be more accurate) and enveloping Hades in a series of explosions. Even as the gargantuan figure vanished beneath countless azure detonations, I mercilessly continued my bombardment of infinite arrows, the rain of deadly projectiles turning into a blizzard of destruction that razed the entire landscape below.
The last time I used this technique, it worked. Sort of. I was hoping to replicate the effect, slowly chipping away at Hades' defenses.
As my barrage of arrows faded, I landed a distance away from the devastation, panting from the strenuous use of magical energy. However, I was forced to bring Orion up to defend myself when a silver streak of light flashed from inside the smoke, slashing into me and hurtling me away.
”Gah!”
I crashed into a tree and felt the trunk break under the impact, falling onto the grass under a shower of splinters and wood. Getting up dizzily, I watched in horror as Hades lumbered out of the smoke, completely unscathed.
Even with the devastation all around him – the entire landscape resembled a pockmarked surface of the moon, littered with countless craters and broken stone, each hole a deadly consequence of suffering a hit from one of my arrows – Hades didn't seem to have taken any damage at all.
And that was after receiving one of my most powerful attacks…
”No way…impossible…”
I couldn't believe my eyes. Grimacing as I tried to get up, I felt a trickle of blood escape my mouth.
”Ignore the small fries, Hades. Their attacks can't hurt you anyway.” Selina instructed, bored.
Hades turned and faced Cecilia, who raised her sword determinedly. She lunged forward, forcing the giant to dodge as her sword thrust right at his head. The tip of her blade actually scratched his cheek, drawing blood, and the giant whirled around to swing his scythe in a counterattack that Cecilia dodged. Breathing heavily, Cecilia retaliated with another strike of her own, only for Hades to easily parry it and knock her off. The bigger warrior pursued a retreating Cecilia, who could only focus on defense.
My eyes widened when I realized that Cecilia was actually running away.