Asfi rushed through the enemies while Sona covered her sides with her arrows. Keaks was also present to help and assisted her using throwing stones. A few seconds later, Asfi reached the leader of the suicide bombers and cut his neck.
Although that didn't do much as they are already crazy in the first place to follow these commands, Asfi moved towards the masked tamer that is controlling the plant monsters which he has been calling Violas.
"You should have just let yourself get eaten by the Violas..." The masked tamer muttered to no one in particular, "Kill her." With his command, ten Viola tails came out of the ground and aimed to pierce her.
"!!!?" Asfi immediately dodged to the side, "Guh..." But due to this, she was also trapped between the rocks and would have no way to dodge the incoming mouth of Viola, "You move well, Adventurer. Or should I say, Perseus? Nevertheless, die."
But instead of panic, Asfi only sighed and touched her sandals, "Talaria."
Asfi then soared high up, dodging the multitude of Violas, "What!?" The mask tamer exclaimed.
Even the suicide bombers had to stop their movements to witness this ridiculous sight of a human flying, "Is she flying... in the air...!?"
Talaria. A magic item created by Perseus, Asfi Al Andromeda. Each sandal has two wings that enable the wielder to fly. It has been kept secret because of its ability, "You've made me use this. I'll have to kill you perfectly now."
She then threw a bag worth of explosive potions towards the monsters on the ground, "Crap!!!" Keaks, who was the nearest, had to find cover and ducked down to avoid friendly fire.
A series of explosions erupted among the monsters along with raging fire, killing most of them. And using the sound and clouds of dust her explosion created as cover, Asfi flew towards the tamer's back and aimed her short sword towards his chest.
The tamer felt her movements and turned around, however, "Too slow!" Asfi already arrived and plunged her sword and the tamer is already too late to dodge.
But that didn't go as she expected as the tamer didn't need to dodge in the first place. The tamer grabbed her sword with his bare hand and it only managed to make his hand bleed a little, "What...!?"
Asfi tried to pull out her sword, however, 'It won't move!' The grip was so strong, she had no choice but to abandon her sword.
Even so, "Take this!" She's already too late as the tamer grabbed the collar of her clothes using his other free hand and threw her towards the ground, "Gah!?"
'What strength! I have to keep my distance.' Asfi immediately tried to get away, "Where did he go!?" Nonetheless, the tamer already disappeared from his spot when she recovered her footing.
The tamer reappeared behind her and whispered to Asfi, "You forgot something." Before stabbing the sword he got from Asfi on her back and piercing through her stomach, "!!!?"
"Asfi!!!" Shouted by her comrades and tried to cut through the crowd, however, they failed to do so.
"I know full well how tough Adventurers are. You'd normally recover easily from this..." Not satisfied, the tamer twisted the sword, twisting her inside, "AHHH!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!" And it resulted in unbearable pain for Asfi that tears came out of her eyes.
"Don't touch Asfi-san!" Keaks came out of his hiding spot, "With you dirty hands!" He planned to throw a distraction, but the tamer already saw through it and just slapped away his small smoke bomb, "You're going to die first, then. Violas."
A single tail came out of the ground near Keaks, but since he's currently airborne, he doesn't have a way to dodge and would be killed in an instant, "Keaks!!!"
However, the grim future they were expecting didn't happen as a giant snake made out of water came and swept Keaks up using its mouth, stealing him from the jaws of death, "What!?" The tamer was once again shocked.
But before he could make sense of what's happening, a blade aiming for his neck and a Warhammer aiming for his chest suddenly came in and he had to drop Asfi to jump back fast enough to dodge those silent but deadly attacks that aimed at his vitals.
Not letting him recover, Aika rushed towards him while Koneko took care of Asfi. Coming in front of him, Aika immediately executed one of her techniques, 'Nadegiri (Clean Sweep)!' and slashed horizontally towards his neck as it seems to be his weak point considering the Mana gathering around it is weaker than the rest.
Yet, the tamer was able to use both of his arms to block her blade. The same move that cut the Goliath's leg off only cut the tamer's arm bone-deep, "Seriously?" Aika couldn't help but smile wryly as she retreated.
The tamer put down his arms and everyone can see that the wound on it already started healing and closing, "What's this? Where did you come from? I didn't know that there are Adventurers like you."
"Hooh... Are you saying that you know every Adventurer in the city?" Aika asked while maintaining her stance. She chose to entertain him since she can already feel Yoruichi's Reiatsu-Ki closely coming in.
"I at least knew of everyone remarkable. It's the least I can do to destroy that shitty place." The tamer replied as he started walking towards Aika.
Sona arrived using her water serpent and took care of Asfi in Koneko's place, "What a collection of weird magic." The tamer commented as he observed the water serpent and recalled Aika's sudden reappearance in front of him.
"Be careful." Sona reminded the two that took a stance against the tamer. Sona had to get away with Asfi as she couldn't help much in regards to close combat, 'I should ramp up my close combat training.' She thought while riding away.
A few seconds later, the tamer versus Aika and Koneko clash began. While the tamer was doing his best to catch the two, Aika and Koneko played it safe by only counter-attacking and evading using their Flash Step.
The tamer didn't know what's going on anymore as they can both apparently use the same magic and the weird thing is, he can't hear any chant as it activated abruptly without any sign.
Sona arrived at the place where the Hermes Familia is still battling the Violas and suicide bombers, "Asfi!!!" They came welcoming their comrade who almost died, "Thank you... Thank you very much... We don't know how we could thank you enough. Without you guys, Keaks and Asfi probably would have met their end... And maybe including us." Lulune came crying.
However, she was only greeted by Sona's angry expression, "Don't leave your position! We're not out of danger yet! Use a defensive formation and take advantage of the remaining magic stones by luring those monsters towards those bombers! Keaks-san, make sure that nobody comes near this place! Meryl, don't use any magic for now! Same for you, Nelly-san, don't use those magic swords yet! They could be our lifeline later!" A stream of command came out from her.
Due to the pressure she's giving off, the Hermes Familia were compelled to follow, "Y-yes Ma'am!"
"But we can't keep this up. We have to escape before our supplies and stamina are depleted." Nelly asked what concerns her.
"Don't worry, reinforcements are coming."
"Reinforcements?"
"Yes."
What came to everyone's mind is the Sword Princess who hasn't shown herself, "Okay!" Nelly nodded with renewed motivation.
While the Hermes Familia were keeping the enemies at bay, Sona used this chance to heal Asfi.
Asfi already gathered her bearings as the pain slowly disappeared, "What about your companions?"
"They are going to be fine." Sona answered, 'But honestly, they are probably using their everything just to predict that guy's movement as their only choice is to dodge. A single mistake would be costly.' She thought.
The situation continued for a few more minutes, and the tamer's patience was already running thin, "Damn you all!" He planned to smash the ground so that his opponents' movements could be sealed.
However, before he could do so, the wall not by the Hermes Familia exploded into pieces, revealing several figures beyond it, "Huh? Who are you guys!?"
"Hmm? Vanargand?" The tamer muttered as he looked towards their direction.
"Ey, ey, ey. Just a bit of a distraction and you already lost your awareness?" A voice of a girl then suddenly resounded on top of him before a knife was thrust in his mouth, "Gah! KAH!!!"
The tamer thrashed wildly to throw off the woman stepping on his head. The woman, on the other hand, only effortlessly jumped away and arrived beside Aika and Koneko, "Hey, good work out there~!"
"Yoruichi!" Both of them shouted in happiness.
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Words:
28th00: I can't help but feel that if Medusa meets Asfi, she's going to have the trippiest experience…
Goyya: Their meeting is still far in the future.