540 – The Mischievous Demon Manoeuvre (side: treant)

The ground wells up in front of Aro-dono, forming into two earthen copies of her.
It’s the [Clay Doll] skill.

Although [Clay Dolls]’s are a bit clumsier, their strength is comparable to Aro-dono herself.
However, it’s still far from enough to fight Aruane head-on.
She must be planning on inflicting damage at a medium distance while using her [Clay Dolls] to throw her off balance.

『Aro-dono… Please wait a second!』

I jump down from her arm and land next to the two clay figures, then quickly touch them with my wings to send mana into them.
The clay figures compress, becoming slightly smaller.
I used my [Gravity Compression] skill to increase the effect of gravity on them, increasing their density and raising their stats… It might not do much against Aruane’s insane strength, but it’s still better than nothing.

As the two clay figures begin to move, I leap backwards to fly into Aro-dono’s enlarged left arm.
The clay dolls run straight towards Aruane.

“Ool-san, Aruane wants you to stay back, okay? It might not matter, but… Aruane would prefer to have a little extra guarantee, since her opponents seem to think they can win.”

Aruane sprints forward, leaving behind the undead man apparently named Ool.
Aro-dono moves to circle around, avoiding Aruane while drawing closer to Ool.

I see, she drew Aruane’s attention to the clay dolls in order to hopefully take out the healer first.
But, can we really afford to fight a protracted battle like that…? I’d thought our only hope was to hit Aruane with everything we have in one go… No, Aro-dono is smarter than me.
She’s probably thinking of something I haven’t yet realised.

“That’s not a bad idea, not a bad idea…”

Aruane quickly closes the distance to the two clay dolls.
They split left and right to flank her.

“But will you make it in time?”

Aruane swings both her arms.
Her long nails of solid blood tear through the clay dolls.
Their neck, arms, and torso are shear apart, and they collapse to the ground.

…It happened in an instant.
The [Gravity Compression] did nothing to slow her down.
Aruane looks back at us.

She’s coming here next! We haven’t got much distance.
Because we were aiming for Ool, we’ve actually gotten slightly closer to her.

『A-Aro-dono! Quickly, make more [Clay Dolls] to intercept her! If she enters close combat, it’ll go the same way as last time!』

“…Believe in me a little longer, treant.”

Aro-dono continues to run towards Ool.

“Ool-san, wait just a second.
Aruane will be there to save you in just a moment, okay?”

Aruane tries to run towards us, but she is pulled back by earthen arms that wrap around her, lifting her into the air.

“Ah… Huh?”

From the broken remains of the clay dolls, countless long arms are stretching.
It seems Aro-dono had prepared the [Rope of Regret] skill inside the [Clay Dolls].

“…This isn’t really an obstacle for Aruane though?”

Aruane easily tears through the arms binding her, ripping apart the remains of a clay doll.
Another earthen arms tries to restrain her, but she quickly cuts through it with her claw.

I-it’s not going to delay her for long! She’ll be here in just a moment…! We need to defeat Ool quickly, then create some more distance.

『I’ll try and get some hits in!』

I use my [Clay Sphere] skill.
A ball of earth floats up, and I immediately enhance it with [Gravity Compression] before shooting it straight towards Ool.
It slams into his jaw.
His neck snaps, and his chin points upwards.

『I-I did it! A clean hit…!』

But, his neck jolts back into place us.
I was certain I broke his neck, and yet he’s already recovered as though it was nothing.
His legs didn’t stop moving for even a second.

『N-no way…!』

“It’s no use.
Aruane’s moving him, you see? As long as Aruane is nearby, no matter how much you break him, Ool-san won’t die.
It’s better if you give up.
Or, should Aruane pull apart your arms and legs and grind them up into candy?”

Aruane has already broken free of the [Rope of Regret], and is running towards us.
A-as I thought, it’s impossible for us to take down the healer first.

It’s unfortunate that we’re not able to stop her from healing, but we haven’t got the leeway to take down Ool while still avoiding Aruane.
In the first place, Aro-dono said her plan was to kill Aruane in one hit so she won’t get a chance to heal.
Did Aruane not move the way she expected, forcing Aro-dono to adapt? If so, we’re an even worse pinch than I thought.

“…It’s okay, treant.
It’s gone as I expected up to now.”

『B-but… If we’re not able to defeat Ool, then there won’t have been any point in coming this dangerously close…!』

“We need a little luck now, but… If Aruane prizes Ool’s abilities as much as I think she does, it should work.”

Aro-dono keeps her eyes locked on Ool as she speaks.
Wh-what does she mean? I can’t follow her reasoning at all.
Does she want to wage psychological war against Aruane?

Aro-dono leaps towards Ool.
W-we’ve already seen that my [Clay Sphere] didn’t work, so what could she possibly be hoping to do?

Although, if it’s going to be close combat, then I suppose I should enhance her defence with [Physical Barrier].
A magical sheen leaves my body and wraps around her.

“U, uu, uah… Oi, gah…”

His eyes unfocused, Ool draws his sword and slashes at Aro-dono.
I fly up out of the way.
Aro-dono swings her swollen left arm to catch his sword.
The blade cuts deep into her hand, but it looks like she was successfully able to stop it.

“U, uuu, uu…”

Ool’s movements suddenly become sluggish.
It seems Aro has used her [Undead Maker] to obstruct Aruane’s [Blood Doll].
Aro-dono quickly cuts behind Ool and wraps him in an embrace.

“Oooooh! Oooooh!”

Ool cries out in pain.
It looks like Aro-dono is using [Mana Drain].

…I see, even if he’s practically immortal and possesses magic, it’s meaningless if he has no mana left.
But..
Aruane is almost here already.
The closer she gets, the stronger Ool is becoming.
Aro-dono doesn’t have the leeway to drain him completely.

“That’s a bit of a problem for Aruane, you see…”

Hearing Aruane’s complaint, I finally realise Aro-dono’s aim.
From Aruane’s perspective, the both of us are almost inconsequential.

There’s no way she’d want to lose her greatest piece of insurance just in order to take us down.
She still has master-dono to fight later.
If she’s serious about helping that wicked Lilixira woman win, then she’ll no doubt rush to try and save as much of Ool’s magic as possible.

Wary of Aro-dono going all-out on attacking her, Aruane had Ool stay nearby.
But while Aruane wanted to fight us while taking on minimal risk, she also needed to avoid wasting mana.
As a result, Aro-dono has successfully manoeuvred Ool as a hostage.
In this match so far, Aro-dono has clearly pulled ahead strategically.

…However, the real battle starts now.
Aro-dono intends to make Aruane jump in defencelessly.

This must be the opportunity to press Aruane that Aro-dono mentioned.
The next clash will decide it.
And… I must be the one to deal the killing blow.