Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu Chapter 28

Defense Specialization and Transfer Destination

The light that had covered the vision of the two disappeared.

At the same time, Kaede readied her great shield and prepared for the first attack, but the powerful blow that they had feared never came.

On the contrary, there were no monsters anywhere.

The two checked their surroundings, on guard.

The place was a large circular space.

The walls were covered with glowing blue crystals and the ceiling was vaulted.

Snow was falling from the sky.

Then, some of the crystals on the front wall were sticking out, and there was a large bird’s nest there.

However, the owner of that nest didn’t seem to be there at the moment.

「O-okay… I see. A bird-type boss is definitely coming. I might not be able to use 【Ocean】.」

「What should we do? You want to get closer to the bird’s nest?」

「…be very careful. It’ll probably come at us when we get close.」

The two walked warily towards the bird’s nest.

Five meters away from the bird’s nest.

This was when a roaring sound came from above and something shot into the hall at high speed.

However, the two were on alert and were barely able to jump back and dodge.

Those were pieces of razor-sharp ice.

Following that, a monster bird with wings as white as snow swooped down.

With its glaring eyes, sharp beak and claws, displaying the grace of a strong being, the monster bird landed in the hall.

From the beginning, peace was not an option.

The battle began.

Magic circles unfolded on both sides of the monster bird.

From there, ice shards were shot out, filling their vision.

「【Cover】!」

Kaede lowered her great shield and stood in front of Risa.

This was because if it was hit by these shards, the number of uses of 【Eating Inedibles】 would go to zero in an instant.

「Alright! It’s not piercing!」

Kaede took the shards with her body and neutralized them.

The monster bird seemed to be smarter than normal monsters, and when it realized that its attack wouldn’t get through, it combined the magic circles into one and shot the same ice that had been shot from the sky.

In exchange for the power, an opening appeared.

Risa jumped out at the opportunity.

「Maple!」

「【Cover Move】!」

She forcefully caught up with Risa and was about three meters away from the monster bird.

When she was one step away from the monster bird, it let out a deafening cry.

A pure white magic circle spread over the entire floor of the hall.

「Not good…!」

With a thunderous roar, extremely thick thorns of ice spread out through the ground of the hall. They grew about a meter long and filled the floor.

But not the area around Kaede.

In the midst of the snow smoke dancing down, Kaede repositioned her great shield towards the ground.

「…saved me there! Nice, Maple!」

「Only six more uses of 【Eating Inedibles】 left!」

「O-okay!」

Risa approached the monster bird to jump, kicking the ice spikes away.

Because of the poor footholds, she was unable to stay still anywhere.

The monster bird tried to catch Risa with its claws, its speed rivaling even Risa’s.

「【Super Acceleration】!」

The sudden acceleration delayed the monster bird’s response for just a moment. And that was critical in this rapidly changing battle situation.

「【Cover Move】!」

In an instant, Kaede closed the distance between them, and the great shield she swung devoured its claws, which were about to attack Risa, along with its entire foot.

The monster bird cried out loudly from pain and anger.

However, that action only created more openings.

「【Hydra】」

A three-headed poison dragon gulped down on the monster bird.

Kaede landed on the ice that was dissolved by the trickling down poison, and Risa moved a little further away to see what was going on.

Tremendously cold air emanated from the monster bird, and the poison that covered it was frozen solid.

With a high-pitched crack, it then shattered and fell down with a shimmer.

「The HP bar’s only dropped by ten percent!?」

「No way…!」

It had more HP than the two expected: they had intended to quickly finish it off with Kaede’s attack.

Ignoring the astonishment of the two, the ice spikes that grew from the ground around the monster bird broke into pieces and gathered around it.

And after a few moments, they were launched as bullets.

「【Cover Move】! 【Cover】!」

Kaede, who moved in front of Risa, lowered her great shield and took those deadly bullets.

Red effects flew out from her body.

「Ugh… they’re piercing! 【Meditation】!」

Due to the drawback of 【Cover Move】, the damage was doubled when it went through. With each hit, Kaede’s HP bar decreased by 10 percent.

「【Heal】!」

The method they adopted as a way to deal with the unavoidable piercing attacks was Kaede using 【Meditation】 and Risa repeatedly using 【Heal】 behind her.

With this, she was to endure until there was an opening.

She endured for twenty seconds.

The ice storm stopped, leaving only barren ground.

「Let’s go!」

「Yup!」

The two ran in opposite directions.

Risa was the one the monster bird targeted. The monster bird charged forward at breakneck speed.

「Concentrate!」

She motivated herself and focused on the monster bird.

Together with the charge, ice shards flew in.

But perhaps because it was charging in, there were many gaps between those shards.

It was no problem to dodge those for someone like Risa.

「【Leap】!」

Risa saw through the monster bird’s charge and jumped over its body at the very last moment.

「【Slash】!」

In doing so, she also used 【Status Debuff Attack】 and didn’t forget to inject a paralysis poison as she cut through it.

This paralysis poison could stack up and create an opening, which could be critical.

The decrease in the HP bar was so slight that it was invisible, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t decreasing.

The monster bird turned around and spread its wings to flap them.

Accompanying the ensuing storm, the ice shards, lifted up from the ground, were coming at her erratically.

Risa escaped the area of the storm with a leap, jumping sideways.

「【Hydra】」

As Risa slipped out, the poison dragon closed in on the monster bird.

The monster bird, targeted right after it flapped its wings, was not in a perfect condition to face Kaede’s attack.

One of the three heads of the poison dragon hit its body.

「【Wind Cutter】 【Fire Ball】!」

If an opening presented itself, Risa would turn to attack as well. They had to put out as much damage as possible.

The poison that stuck to it was once again turned into ice and dispelled.

Probably sensing that the poison dragon was a threat, the monster bird rushed at Kaede.

The ice shards had no effect on Kaede, so this move was not a problem for her.

It was closing in on Kaede, who wasn’t trying to avoid the rush.

It swung out its claws, trying to tear Kaede’s body apart.

She swung her great shield out to eat away at the body of the monster bird.

The monster bird recoiled while scattering damage effects flashily.

Kaede swung her great shield out again, using the opportunity to chase after it.

A little red damage effect flew out of Kaede’s body as well.

The monster bird’s attack had slightly pierced through Kaede’s more than 1000 VIT, dealing damage, without a piercing skill.

However, which one had paid the greater price was obvious to anyone.

The HP bar above the monster bird’s head had been reduced to about 70%.

「【Leap】!」

Not missing her chance, Risa jumped on the back of the monster bird that staggered after Kaede’s attack.

「【Ocean】!」

The water started at the monster bird’s back and spread out.

It soaked into the monster bird in an instant.

Risa had already jumped off when the monster bird began to rage with an angry voice.

The monster bird’s speed decreased.

「【Hydra】!」

There was no way that the monster bird, which had lost its speed, would be able to avoid that attack at close range.

Its HP bar decreased further.

「【Double Slash】! 【Fire Ball】!」

Kaede whittled down the monster bird with an attack in close quarters.

Risa looked for an opportunity while injecting paralysis poison in a hit-and-run fashion.

Then, Kaede’s great shield wolfed down the monster bird again.

The monster bird’s claws also cut off half of Kaede’s HP, but it wasn’t fatal.

The monster bird’s HP bar was cut in half.

At that moment.

The monster bird took some distance from the two and stuck its claws deep into the ground.

Its beak opened wide, creating a magic circle that seemed to be twice as large as Kaede and Risa.

The two instinctively sensed the danger after that.

「【Cover Move】! 【Cover】!」

Right after Kaede shouted.

A silvery white laser filled all of their vision.