Chapter 48
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「《Complete Strengthening+》」
As soon as Ashley finishes her first self-strengthening, the sword of the sword saint facing her is swung.
For a moment, she falls under the illusion of being cut apart along with her shield.
Therefore, instead of receiving the blow with her shield, she deflects it, using that momentum to step back and gain some distance.
「《Divine Guardian》」
It is a unique skill of the Holy Knight that allows them to exhibit twice their normal ability when protecting themselves or allies, or when the individual takes evasive action.
What Ashley must do is simple.
Eliminate the opponents in front of her and keep them away from the 《Sword of Affirmation》.
Eris’s oncoming attacks are a relentless onslaught from all directions.
Only by double-casting skills is Ashley barely able to evade her attacks.
Yet everything hangs by a thread.
Facing the sword saint’s fiery onslaught alone is like walking on thin ice, and there are still two more waiting behind her.
「《My Body is a Living Shield》」
The next skill she uses is one that doubles her defense in exchange for losing 20% of her attack power. With the effect of this skill, she is finally able to withstand Eris’s flurry of attacks head-on instead of deflecting them.
Ashley grunts as she receives Eris’s sword, but exhales sharply and thrusts her shield forward, blasting her back to the entrance of the cave.
「Eris, what are you doing?」
The saint sighs.
Her attitude, as if to say 「Why aren’t you finishing off the opponent when you can?」 grates on Ashley’s nerves.
「《Exalt in Agony》」
Ashley stacks another skill on top.
It is a skill that doubles defense in exchange for doubling the sense of pain during battle.
And at this point, it becomes a quadruple-casting of skills.
Quadruple-casting skills or higher is expected to have a tremendous effect, but the backlash is said to be too great for the user to come out unscathed.
But—
「I don’t care what happens to me!
What’s the matter! You two over there, don’t just stand there gawking, come at me!」
Ashley has a firm resolve.
And for Ashley, a Holy Knight specialized in protection, there is only one way to defeat them all at once.
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「We’ve been ordered by the Hero not to hurt you too much, so I can’t use intense magic.」
The mage—she must be the infamous Angelica—spoke up, taking Ashley’s provocation as a cue.
「Well then, let’s start from around here, shall we?」
Her tone was as casual as deciding on a lunch menu.
「《Water Spear》」
It was her signature magic that ultra-compressed beginner-level water magic, fixed the tip into a spiral spear shape, and unleashed it.
The power could be summed up in one word: intense.
Gyaaah!—The sensation of the shield being gouged—this is—no good—Ashley immediately switched to deflecting.
She tilted her shield to kill the momentum of the water spear, but—the water spear still pierced the ceiling of the cave and burrowed inside like a rock drill.
Ashley noticed that she was breaking out in a cold sweat at the power of Angelica’s magic.
But there was no time to stop.
The sword saint was back on the front line. It happened in an instant. Eris slashed upward from below, making it difficult to see where the sword was coming from.
Unable to block in time with her shield, Ashley chose to evade.
「It must be painful, Holy Knight Ashley.」
A trickle of blood flowed from Ashley’s arm.
「No one will blame you if you hand over the sword here.」
For Ashley, being blamed or not was a trivial matter.
「Rather, you may be praised for contributing to clearing the dungeon.」
For Ashley, being praised is not the essence of things.
What mattered most to her was protecting the peace.
Ensuring that the people living in could live in peace was her top priority.
For that, she would gladly accept .
「Praise, you say—? I don’t need such things.」
Yes, she had no need for such things.
「You’re a stubborn one, aren’t you?」
The saint exhaled and said,
「I can’t go easy on you, you know?」 as her smile vanished.
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The sword saint’s onslaught became more skillful, targeting the blind spots of the shield.
On top of that,
「《Water Spear》 doesn’t work, huh? Hmm. Then how about this. 《Aqua Rain》」
The mage Angelica fired off her favorite magic—compressing water over a wide area to create countless needles.
「Ugh, urgh…」
The Hero’s party members were overwhelming.
Even though she was protected by holy armor, Ashley was already covered in wounds from the countless water needles and the sword saint’s fierce attacks.
Each one had the same level of fighting power as herself, and it was a one-on-three battle no less.
The outcome was practically decided from the start.
「Guuuuuh—」
Avoiding only the fatal wounds and somehow enduring the intensifying onslaught, Ashley couldn’t hold back her agonized voice.
However—even so, she did not give up the fight.
She continued to pull in her thin, steep, single path to victory.
And then the time came.
Ashley somehow gained distance from her opponents and exhaled.
She made up her mind.
「《Fools Fixate on Fleeting Hours》!!」
By using this skill, her physical abilities triple for twelve minutes. However, if she exceeds twelve minutes, her abilities decrease to the point where she can no longer continue fighting—
Ashley’s resolve—it was a determination as a Holy Knight that disregarded her own body, a resolution to protect the sword no matter what, even if it meant using a skill considered taboo.
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