58 Chapter 58: Battle in the Graveyard (1/2)
Even though I obeyed Alicia's suggestion, as we raced into the cemetery it became evident that offering our support wasn't going to be easy.
The moment Hades sent Cecilia flying into the graveyard, he pretty much neutralized whatever supporting fire we could offer. Unlike the open space of the park where we fought earlier, countless tombstones obscured our vision. Even though the noise of battle echoed deafening throughout the cemetery, we could hardly see the two figures locked in combat.
Worse, the towering tombstones were in the way, blocking our shots and reducing our accuracy and vision. We were much likelier to hit a tombstone than to strike the partially hidden Hades. Despite his immense size, he was still all but concealed by the larger and more numerous tombstones that stood over their burial mounds, like silent sentinels watching over the sleep of the dead.
A sleep that was about to be broken from the sheer violence and savagery of combat between a high-ranked combat mage and a legendary spirit.
As Alicia and I made our way deeper in, it occurred to me that the reason why Hades swatted Cecilia into the cemetery was precisely so that we couldn't assist her with ranged support. In a way, that realization was chilling, as it meant that Hades was far from the mindless berserker we assumed him to be, capable of formulating his own tactics…
I stopped in mid-thought suddenly. No, that made no sense. All this while, Hades had basically ignored Alicia's and my ranged attacks, treating them as mere nuisances not worthy of his attention. Why would he suddenly seek refuge in the graveyard?
The answer was right before my eyes. And judging from Alicia's amazed gasp, it seemed that she had come to the same realization too. As the both of us sprinted into the graveyard in hopes that we would make it in time and be of some assistance, I saw that my worries were completely unfounded.
Cecilia…Cecilia was fighting evenly with Hades in the middle of the cemetery. Hades tried to attack her, but his large frame and huge, unwieldy scythe were impeded by the surrounding tombstones. While he mowed down the gravestones mercilessly and effortlessly with his scythe, rendering them little more than stony fragments that pelted the ground like soft rain, his movements were hampered by the new obstacles, his speed hindered by a second or two by the tombstones that got in the way of each of his strike.
And those seconds made all the difference in a battle.
Cecilia was running about, using the tombstones as cover, weaving in and out of Hades' barrage and capitalizing on the precious seconds the gravestones and stony statues bought her. This time, the tables had turned, and Cecilia had reversed the situation. In this terrain, she had the advantage, her smaller size and greater speed and agility allowing her to traverse the cemetery easily and counterattack at her own pace. For each failed slash, Hades received grievous wounds from Cecilia's sword, which carved swathes of blood through his black, tattooed body.
The obsidian giant was being wounded. I felt hope flare up inside me as I watched the amazing battle before my eyes. We could actually win this!
”I see…”
Beside me, Alicia slowly smiled and nodded, as if she understood something.
”I always thought it was weird. Why did Cecilia take that last attack deliberately? She could easily dodge them, but she decided to just receive them head-on.”
I glanced at Alicia, and she continued to explain.
”It wasn't that Cecilia slowed down or was injured. She was deliberately leading that giant into the cemetery all along!”
”She probably realized how…uh, grave the situation had become,” I remarked. Alicia raised an eyebrow, but she giggled a little.
Then she shook her head and turned serious.
”I suspected as much. Fighting that monster without cover would be suicide. That was why Cecilia lured him to the graveyard, so that she can take advantage of the terrain to fight him on her terms. Of course, this means that she can't expect any long-ranged support, but the opponent is a monster that can even nullify our projectiles. Support was meaningless from the start.”
I gnashed my teeth in frustration, feeling the exact same bitterness that I heard in Alicia's explanation. It didn't feel good to be useless in battle.
”…”
Still, I couldn't help but be awed by the spectacle unfolding before us. Cecilia and Hades clashed furiously, with the former avoiding any direct confrontation with the latter and focused only on whittling his health down with each strike. Of course, Hades' wounds closed up and healed within a minute, but Cecilia would mark him with more wounds as the battle dragged on, each injury more grievous than the previous one.
Bam!
A swing from Hades reduced a single proud, majestic tombstone into rubble. Cecilia disappeared from his view, darting behind a row of gravestones. Growling, Hades spun around to track her movements, but even his keen senses couldn't keep her within view as she simply blended in with the shadows.
Despite that, Hades remained undaunted. He was still a superlative warrior with decades of experience. Even centuries, if Cecilia's speculation about his origins was to be believed.
”!”
Hades abruptly swung around when he sensed movement behind him, his scythe smashing apart another tombstone and obliterating it. As debris rained down on the caked soil and grass, Hades slowly turned about and saw that he had missed.
But his instincts had been spot on. That was indeed an attack launched by Alicia.
Blood dripped from a gash that Alicia had torn open from his chest to hip. It was deep, the bleeding profuse, but Hades seemed to take notice of it. He didn't have to, as the bleeding clotted within seconds, and the deep injury began to mend itself. Instead, he was more interested in his opponent.
Alicia stood some distance away, between two tombstones, her sword raised. Hades snarled, and lunged at her.