85 Chapter 85: Crush and Crush (1/2)
Alicia continued to bombard me with her magical bullets, the devastating projectiles pounding my Scutum Sobiescianum and slowly chipping away at it. Realizing that I couldn't afford to cower forever, I stepped back and kicked it up.
The summoning had to wait. For now, I had to go on the counteroffensive, or I would have holes blown in my body before I could summon anything.
Devising a plan quickly, I kicked my shield up and used my foot to hurl it toward a surprised Alicia. The spinning Constellation shield sailed through her web of bullets, weathering the blows. Even though each powerful projectile chipped away at its surface and tore out small pieces of metal from its body, Scutum Sobiescianum continued inexorably toward Alicia's position.
She wasn't the only one who could fight at range. I could do it too. The only reason why I didn't summon Orion and resort to a shooting contest with her was because I knew I would lose. Alicia specialized in ranger magic – her aim, accuracy and reflexes in terms of shooting would all be superior to mine.
”!!”
The rapidly spinning shield was too fast, reaching Alicia before she could retreat. She instead chose to dodge by bending her spine backward, just barely evading the deadly projectile. As she did so, I seized the opportunity to close the distance, swinging both my Gemini twin swords down to cleave her into three.
However, Alicia was already prepared for that.
Even as her back was still bent backward, both of her arms snaked out, a pistol still gripped in each hand. The two guns barked furiously, and a couple of bullets arced toward my position in a graceful curve, homing into my location.
”Amazing!” Miranda's eyes widened. Beside her, the Black Roses cheered raucously when they saw the impressive move their goddess pulled off. ”Even from that sort of disadvantageous position, Alicia is still able to execute a double arc shot!”
”Slay him! Long live our goddess!”
Her fans were shrieking with all their might, throwing their hands high up and jumping to their feet as they cheered. Seated away from them, and inside the VIP spectator's box, Vincent Violet, Alicia's father as well as the academy director, watched on in amazement.
”Alicia has already reached this level?” he gasped in awe.
As for me, I had no choice. I didn't have time to charge up my twin swords and cast my ranged spells (Castor and Pollux), so I threw the both of them. The spinning Gemini twin swords also twirled about in a graceful arc and met the incoming bullets, slicing through them.
”Now! Cancer!”
At that moment, I finally completed my summoning spell, having bought myself just barely sufficient time to pull it off.
A gigantic orange and white crab materialized and smashed downward from the heavens, his pincer crashing against Alicia. The leader of the Black Roses quickly dove to the side, rolling away as Cancer pursued her. She brought both her guns up and fired almost pointblank into the enormous crab.
However, her magical projectiles didn't possess enough firepower to penetrate Cancer's sturdy shell. The gigantic crab scuttled about, swinging his pincer to try and grab her. Alicia elegantly jumped atop the swiping pincer, landing gracefully on the balls of her feet, and then flipped above him, still blasting him at close range with both of her guns.
The magical projectiles pinged off Cancer's armored shell, but in return for his impervious defense, the gigantic crab was slow. As he tried to turn around, Alicia had already withdrawn to a large distance, and continued to shoot him from afar.
”This is a new spirit,” she remarked with a frown. I shrugged, and then nodded to my Constellation spirit.
”Cancer, bubble beam!”
Bubbles…well, bubbled out of his mouth, each one as hard as a rock. Like I said, Alicia wasn't the only one capable of ranged attacks. Instinctively, she dodged the incoming bubbles, her eyes widening slightly when she saw several of them smash tiny craters into the ground. She then glanced at the giant crab warily.
”What sort of spell is that?!”
Evidently she hadn't played Pokémon before. Her loss.
”Cancer! Altarf!”
My version of Crab Hammer, but I would rather name my Constellation spirits' attacks after the prominent stars in their constellations. Otherwise Taurus would be using flamethrower instead of Aldebaran, which would just be weird.
The massive pincer smashed the ground to bits, forcing Alicia back. She continued to pummel Cancer with pointblank range shots, but he shrugged them off and continued to pursue them. Clicking her tongue from frustration, Alicia continued to widen the distance between them, retreating to where she thought was a safe location.
Cancer continued to chase after her, scuttling forward on his spindly legs. Alicia took a deep breath, but she halted her firing. I could sense enormous amounts of mana spiraling around her, coalescing into her twin guns.
She was getting ready to cast another spell.
”Crush her with Altarf before she can complete it!” I cried out. Cancer obliged, trying to speed up as quickly as he could. As for me, I was tempted to summon another Constellation spirit, but at that moment I was in the process of casting an ultimate spell of my own and was reluctant to pause that for another less effective summoning spell.