Defending Bridget Village (4)

Triple casting of Arcane Arrows, triple casting of Mana Bullets, and whenever there was a brief moment of downtime, creating Arcane Blades to throw as daggers to prevent DPS loss before starting the cycle again. The Arcane Shield was continuously replenished whenever it broke.

For Lillith, who had taken the offensive magic route, this was the first time executing such a magic cycle, but the results weren’t bad. Being able to triple cast meant that nearly every single shot of offensive magic could land as a critical hit.

‘Thank god I learned offensive magic.’

If I had been a conventional Lillith limited to only support magic right now, it would have meant Agnes would have had to single-handedly take down that troublesome tentacle bitch. She likely would have run out of mana before clearing all the clustered wraiths and lost the battle.

But the current Agnes was efficiently utilizing her mana while faithfully following the magic cycle I’d described. The overall attack ratio was about 3:7 between me and Agnes.

Of course, since I wasn’t focusing solely on attacks, that ratio didn’t necessarily reflect absolute contribution, but still…

“I’ll kill you… I’ll kill you all…!!”

-Ssssskreeee!!

After whittling down about half of the soul barrier, this time dozens of tentacles sprouted from beneath her skirt and stretched across the floor.

It was obvious that getting caught by even one of those disgusting tentacles would lead to nothing good, so it was time to use the personal weapon I’d hidden under my skirt.

“Miss Ness, keep casting magic without stopping! I’ll handle anything that comes our way!”

“…Got it.”

With that brief reply, Agnes trusted me and continued her magic incantations. Taking a position similar to when I’d protected Liz at the imperial palace, I began cutting down the tentacles flying toward us one by one.

-Sssshhk! Tsssuuuk!

“…Ah, fuck! Goddamn it…!”

It didn’t bother me much when I saw it in the game, but this is seriously fucking disgusting.

Which made blocking these attacks all the more important. If even one got through, these creepy things would slip into mine or Agnes’s clothes.

Having sworn not to accept any man other than Ethan, I obviously couldn’t let that happen-and Agnes, who was smoothly progressing on her pure love route with Antonio, couldn’t have her virginity stolen by this monster either.

‘I’d rather get stabbed or shot than get impaled by this shit…!’

After cutting down dozens of those godawful tentacles, Mel, likely realizing it was pointless, withdrew the ones targeting me and Agnes and began preparing for Phase 2.

Quietly, I conversed with Sey in my mind.

‘Sey. Soon, something will rise from the ground and try to overwhelm Agnes and me.’

‘…Yeah.’

‘You don’t need to warn her. If you see something rising beneath Agnes, use a fierce gust to push her backward.’

‘…What about Lillith?’

‘I can dodge on my own. Just save Agnes.’

‘……Fine.’

Sey made a displeased face, but in this battle, Agnes needed protection more than I did, so there was no choice.

-Sssssk! Sssssssk!

‘Here it comes…’

Sensing the pre-Phase 2 pattern approaching, I prepared a shockwave spell beneath my feet.

-Thud!

‘Now!’

The moment I threw myself aside to dodge the tentacle that shot up from below, aiming to impale me from underneath.

-Thwip!

“Kkhh…!!”

…Well, I only dodged about half of it.

-Whoosh!

“Hhyaaaak?!”

At the same time, Agnes was blown backward by Sey’s gust, showing that the assist had been meaningful.

“…What the hell was that…?”

-Thwip!

“……Thanks.”

‘Hmph.’

Agnes, who had been about to snap at Sey, saw the tentacle rising from where she’d been standing and belatedly expressed her gratitude.

Sey, who had given Agnes a somewhat cold look, returned to me with an expression that said she’d done her part-only to freeze when she saw my leg, half-pierced by a tentacle.

‘Lillith, your leg…’

‘It’s just a scratch. Don’t worry about it.’

‘…You said you could dodge…’

‘I’m not dead, so I did dodge. This much will heal if I see the Saintess.’

‘……’

I could practically feel Sey’s spirit affinity dropping in real time, but there was no helping it. If I hadn’t sacrificed my left leg, the price would have been Agnes’s life.

Agnes, noticing my injury belatedly, gave me an apologetic look as I limped up on one leg.

“Liss, was that because of me…?”

“Seri can heal this easily, so just focus on dealing with her now. Stop the previous cycle and start triple casting Chain Flame Explosion…”

Agnes reluctantly nodded at my instruction to ignore my injury and focus on the battle, preparing her final spell.

Mel, with about ten barriers left, thankfully began the Phase 2 cutscene performance I’d seen in 『Luminor Academy』 in this world as well.

“…You know, Miss Liss? I was actually born and raised in this village. A true Bridget Village native.”

“Haa, ha, haa…”

“Even though I’m now siding with bandits to kill you all, there was a time when I lived peacefully in this village.”

Pretending to listen to Mel’s story while checking if Agnes was preparing her magic as instructed.

If we didn’t kill her immediately after Phase 2 started, I couldn’t guarantee victory against Mel and the remaining bandits with this party.

“I fell in love, got married, had adorable children. My dream was just to live peacefully in this village forever.”

“……”

“You must be wondering why I was born, why I betrayed the village, why I became the bandits’ lackey to do this. But…”

‘…Oh no.’

Mel suddenly glanced at Agnes and began preparing something. To protect Agnes, who was defenseless while casting, I had to quickly draw Mel’s attention to me.

“You’re not even listening properly while I’m talking…”

“Honestly, I couldn’t give less of a fuck about your sob story about becoming the bandits’ lackey.”

“…What did you just say?”

“Your tragic, heartbreaking tale of being forced to betray the village? I genuinely don’t care at all.”

“……”

The moment I threw out that taunt, Mel withdrew her hatred from Agnes and instantly fixed her gaze on me, her expression hardening.

Agnes’s spell still needed a bit more time, so I had to keep the tentacle bitch’s attention on me as long as possible.

“D-do you even know what I went through…?”

“Let me guess-your parents, husband, and children were all taken by the bandits, you endured every humiliation imaginable, but the villagers didn’t save you while you were being taken. Day after day, you stewed in resentment, but since you couldn’t take it out on the bandits, you redirected your rage toward the defenseless villagers.

Then, by sheer luck, you gained power from demons or some shady monster, became the bandits’ lackey to invade the village, and decided to make the other village women suffer exactly as you did. Am I close?”

“…H-how did you…?”

“It’s just such a cliché story that there was nothing to even speculate about. Victims of Stockholm-er, criminals often emotionally align with their abusers.

Even if you think your story is special because you joined hands with your tormentor out of despair, it’s really just the most basic human psychology.”

“……”

“They say distance makes the heart grow colder. In that sense, the villagers who didn’t save you must have gradually become your enemies in your mind.

Meanwhile, you grew physically-and I mean physically-closer to those disgusting bastards every day, so of course your heart followed.”

“…Y-you fucking bitchhhh…!!!”

‘Got her…!’

Mel completely forgot her anger toward Agnes and directed all her remaining tentacles at me.

With one leg injured, I couldn’t fully dodge, so this time I had to rely on Sey to move.

‘Sey, gust in the opposite direction.’

‘Lillith, in your condition…’

‘Better than dying.’

‘…Fine.’

Hesitating at my injury but ultimately prioritizing my life, Sey used a gust to push me aside.

My body was flung to the ground as I barely avoided the dozens of tentacles flying toward me.

-Thud!

“Kkhh, aaaah…!!”

Unable to stand properly, I had no choice but to take the fall with my body, but even that didn’t fully absorb the impact.

As I screamed from the pain of my injured leg feeling like it was being torn apart, Mel’s tentacles surged toward my defenseless form.

“I’ll kill you…!! I’ll pierce every hole in your body and kill you…!!!”

…Looks like I timed it just right.

Behind the swarm of tentacles rushing at me, dozens of fireballs formed.

The massive cluster of flames, likely fueled by Agnes’s remaining mana, shot toward Mel’s main body all at once.

-Boom! Kaboom! Kwaaaaang!!

“Kyaaaah…!! H-hot…! It’s so hoooot…!!!”

The tentacles writhed in agony just centimeters from my body.

It only took about ten seconds for her body to be completely consumed by flames.

“Haa, god… damn it…”

…Who said Humanities Exploration was an easy class?

I swear, if I ever take this hell course again…