Sai and Beidou found themselves surrounded. Their enemies didn't rush to attack though, as if they were probing the duo's worth.
'They are being cautious. Even the hilichurls.' That realization calmed Sai down a little.
He looked behind at the assembling machine, and noticed that it would still take some time for it to be fully functional. If they were to attack, now was the time.
"Beidou, that machine behind us is really dangerous. You must hurry and deal with the rest of these guys before it's ready. Start with the mages, hurry!"
The woman in question looked at him with the side of her eye, then sighed.
"Haah… I wanted to avoid doing this, but I guess there's no other option…"
"Doing what?"
Beidou grabbed Sai out of a sudden, and carried him in her left shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"W-what-"
"Bear with it for a little."
She summoned her greatsword, wielding it in her right hand, while her left held Sai. In the next moment, Sai felt his hairs stand up. Looking down, he could see bolts of purple lightning coiling around her body like snakes, or rather, oriental dragon-like beings.
A wave of air burst from Beidou, together with her elemental energy. The latter coalesced into more of those dragons, several of them, each as thick as a man's arm. They joined the others from her body and orbited the duo, flying around while baring their fangs barely a meter away.
Even though Sai couldn't really feel elemental energy, at this moment he thought he could see it. It came from Beidou's body in waves, each carrying with it a current of air and purple electricity.
He couldn't help but compare Beidou to Lisa. Beidou's lightning was of a purple color that neared pink. It was quite bright as well, unlike Lisa's, which was closer to a violet or blue. Though they didn't differ by much, someone who had experienced both could easily discern it.
Right now, Beidou's lightning felt quite more deadly than Lisa's, but he couldn't really know for sure who was stronger. Besides, he had an inkling that the witch hadn't shown him much of her powers at all.
He quickly shook off those thoughts for now, just in time to feel Beidou charge at something. She was so fast that Sai felt it was akin to teleportation. He heard a loud cracking noise, but when he tried turning around to see, Beidou jumped again. His head was getting really dizzy.
*Cackle!*
*BOOM!*
*Cackle!*
*Crash!*
*Cackle!*
*Booom!*
Nonetheless, once Beidou attacked the numerous group of hilichurls and slimes, Sai managed to see a little of what was happening.
He noticed a charred corpse on the ground, a weird staff beside it. The body was short and maybe even a little chubby. Despite being completely charred, Sai knew it belonged to an abyss mage. The realization made him shudder.
But it wasn't over yet. Beidou danced with incredible velocity, sending waves of deadly electricity with every strike. It is important to remember that even her normal strikes were extremely deadly: one could only imagine the power she wielded right now.
The distinct laughter of an abyss mage reached Sai's ears at that point. He quickly glanced at it, just in time to see a huge sphere of water flying at them. Before he could warn Beidou, the woman sidestepped it, and brought her greatsword down again.
*BOOOM!*
*Splash!*
*Cackle!!*
As water rained down on them, Beidou finished off the last of the hilichurls.
Sai looked at the charred remains of the at least dozen enemies with dread.
'So powerful!'
For some reason he didn't understand, Sai wasn't being electrocuted or hurt in any way, unlike their foes. It seemed like her ability couldn't, or wouldn't, damage him.
However, since he had time to think all that, it could only mean that Beidou wasn't moving anymore. Had she killed them all?
"Bee-pee-re-rou!"
Sai tried his best to turn in Beidou's shoulders, only to see a big yellow eye staring at them. It was hovering about three meters high in the air. Without waiting another second, it fired at them.
*Pow* *Pow* *Pow* *Pow* *Pow* *Pow* *Pow* *Pow*
Beidou jumped away from the torrent of bullets and ran towards the last standing abyss mage. Sai was being violently flung around, only held there by Beidou's grip.
Something weird happened at that moment. The world suddenly became more… blue. A huge magic circle appeared on the floor, and water started to flow from it. Unbeknownst to Sai, the field magic had the effect of slowing down any enemy inside it, and trap him when it stopped moving.
Beidou was forced to dodge another rain of bullets by jumping backwards. Water bubbles (if they could be called that) stuck to her body like glue, sapping her of her strength. It didn't manage to last long though, because one of the coiling dragons rushed through and burst them with ease.
It managed to do its job, though: Beidou was forced to remain still. It gave the Ruin Hunter enough time for another, even more powerful volley. It shot a laser beam at them with incredible velocity.
Beidou managed to dodge it by side-stepping at the last second, but the beam seemed to be continuous, and it swung at them.
*BOOOOOM!*
The duo was launched almost all the way to the wall, with Beidou managing to redirect the blow using one of the coiling dragons. She stopped their knock-back by thrusting her sword on the floor. One of her legs buckled from the force and she fell on one knee.
But she couldn't hesitate for even a second now. If the beam hit them again, Sai would crash head-first into the tough wall. Even if he survived that, another beam would be following, and would thus certainly end his life.