Myria clashed against Ardena repeatedly, her water whip sword always striking relentlessly from unpredictable angles. It was almost as if she was attacking with the full force of a whirlpool, so intense was the spiraling torrents of raging water that I could hardly see anything but liquid blurs that cut through flesh and metal alike.
Yet, Ardena was able to match her blow for blow. She stood her ground, making use of her incredible speed and reflexes to weave through the water whips and flip or twist her body to avoid sudden lances or the snaking slices. Those she couldn't evade, she simply cut through with her legendary treasure sword, the gleaming Dainsleif proof against all witchery.
Cartwheeling over another series of strikes, she cleaved another water whip apart before slamming both feet on the ground. Getting close to a surprised Myria, she grabbed her sword with both hands and swung it, only to alter the trajectory of her blazing blade at the last second to deflect a deadly arrow that was surging toward her forehead.
Ardena scowled and glanced at me, but I didn't see true anger. Just annoyance at being unable to deliver a decisive blow. That delay had bought Myria enough time to withdraw to safety, and she countered with a lashing horde of whipping strikes that forced the elvish Sword Saint back. Ardena dodged and parried, yielding ground to prevent deadly blows, yet she had to parry another particularly powerful shot from me, the arrow detonating like an artillery shell this time and spraying her with azure embers.
This time, she had no choice but to block them directly because even I had chosen to fire singular but much more powerful arrows instead of relying on sheer volume of shots like earlier. I had recognized my error, thinking that her feeble defense would make her vulnerable to any of my arrows, but it appeared that only the more powerful ones could hurt her.
Despite her slim frame, Ardena was still an Earth ranked swordswoman. Clearly no ordinary arrow could decisively hurt her.
She recovered quickly, dodging another of my arrows, and then swung her sword at Myria, who was caught off guard by her opponent's incredible speed. Fortunately, one of my arrows sizzled by Ardena's face, stalling her advance and forcing her to duck, and Myria quickly pulled away while leaving a parting shot that lashed at her assailant, but the elf simply deflected the snaking watery blade with her blazing sword.
The difference between them was clear. Though both girls were evenly skilled, Ardena was faster and stronger because of her higher cultivation realm. She wasn't the elven enclaves' strongest swordswoman for nothing. She had more experience than Myria, even though the Atlantean princess's talent couldn't be underestimated.
I wondered how old Ardena was. She was an elf, so it was possible that she was centuries old despite that youthful appearance. If that was the case, she had an unimaginable amount of combat experience that Myria couldn't hope to surpass.
Fortunately, this wasn't a one-on-one duel. While Myria fought desperately, I supported her from range, raining down powerful arrows to deflect Ardena's strikes or seize an opening to hurt her – or at least force her to block if she didn't want to take a critical hit. Individually, we were no match for Ardena, but working together, we could at least fight on par with the renowned elf swordswoman.
At least for now. But I sensed a shift in the mana around Ardena all of a sudden. Was this the effect of Odin's eye? I found myself more sensitive to the flow of mana than before, allowing me to see spells and techniques slowly manifesting before they were actually fully cast. Alarm rang through me and I shouted a warning to my partner.
"Watch out, Myria! Get back!"
She didn't question me, immediately hurling herself to the side. And right in time too, for a flash of golden blazed from Ardena's Dainsleif and unleashed in a colossal pillar of destructive light to raze the forest ahead of her. Both friend and foe were erased in the indiscriminate fire, disintegrated by the massive blast.
"Good heavens…"
I had also retreated to safety, but as I surveyed the catastrophic result of Ardena's strike, my breath was still taken away by the unbelievable sight. a molten crater was left in the ground, with blackened corpses littered across the clearing. It was truly a strike on the magnitude of apocalyptic destruction.
"Huff…"
Myria stumbled back to her feet after barely avoiding death. She shook her head as she watched Ardena lower her smoking sword, her lips set in a grim line.
"How are we supposed to defeat an enemy like that?"
"We won't win by brute force," I replied. "We can't overpower her in a direct fight. We need a strategy."
"What kind of strategy?" Myria demanded, still shaken from the incredible sight. Ardena was slowly turning her sight toward us, but after unleashing such a massive blast, she probably had a cooldown period. Nonetheless, she was already moving toward us. Myria gritted her teeth. "I can't think of any plan that can defeat her!"
"Never fear," I replied.
"What do you mean by never fear? This isn't the time to be so carefree!"
"I know, I know."
She looked at me incredulously. "Are you…singing?"
"I want to dance with you even if I get hurt."
"Why are you singing Abe Mao's Never Fear when we in such a crisis?!" Myria hollered as she dove to the side to avoid Ardena's slash. I kept her pinned with another volley of arrows, but the elf swordswoman cut them down without flinching. Her back was exposed to Myria, who countered with a barrage of thrusts and strikes, but somehow Ardena avoided them and retaliated with her own sweeping blow that knocked Myria off her feet.
Myria landed on the ground and rolled away. Ardena pursued her, only to skid a stop when a hail of arrows thundered into the space right in front of her. She turned to glance at me, her expression still hollow and unmoved as ever. There was neither exasperation nor amusement on her face, and she was ignoring all irrelevant stuff I was saying.
The same couldn't be said for my partner. She shot me a glare as she made use of the opportunity to withdraw, deflecting another sword strike from Ardena as she escaped. I discouraged the elf's pursuit with another arrow, and while jumping back, Myria continued to complain.
"Look, I know you're a fan of the anime adaptation of Apparently, Disillusioned Adventurers who don't believe in humanity will save the world, and you really love the ending song by Abe Mao, but there's a time and place for everything! And this is not the moment for singing such a cheerful, upbeat song!"
"Should I hum Duel of the Fates then?"
"Just stop singing or humming and focus on the battle! I know you can afford to be relaxed because you're shooting at the target from long range, but I'm bearing the full brunt of her blows! Think about how I'm feeling in this position!"
"Sorry."
Ardena appeared to twitch at Myria's words, and she skidded to a stop, swinging her sword to swat away my arrow. She spun around suddenly ignoring Myria, and leaped toward me. Crackling golden energies ignited along the length of Dainsleif and she blasted another wave of oblivion toward me.
I had already seen the mana coalesce into the beginnings of that technique and was prepared, keeping my bow and leaping to safety before I could be obliterated. I hit the ground in a crouch before hopping once more, feeling the blistering heat on my back as Dainsleif annihilated everything in its path once more.
Myria didn't fail to seize the opportunity to counter while Ardena lowered her guard after making such a big move. She surged forward, thrusting her watery sword right at the elvish Sword Saint's back.
Once more, Ardena shifted her body subtly and twisted around with the minimum of movements, raising her gloved hand to catch Myria's blade. Myria gritted her teeth and morphed her blade, the metallic turning into flowing liquid and fluidly seeping through Ardena's fingers to perforate her face. By now, Ardena had already recomposed herself enough to reform her defensive stance and she ducked her head while bringing her sword up with her other hand, dispersing the water.
Myria then kicked out, planting a foot on one of Ardena's hunched shoulders, and then vaulted herself behind and away before the latter could eviscerate her with a counterstrike. Ardena didn't miss a beat, already whirling around with a follow up attack, the lethal energies flaring up once more along the pristine length of her blade. However, before she could unleash another mana burst, my arrow collided against the blade tempestuously, triggering the volatile energies to detonate prematurely before they could manifest fully. Ardena was wreathed in a golden inferno, her silhouette blazing intimidatingly as she glared at us, her innate magic resistance allowing her to withstand the blowback.
"She's truly a formidable opponent," Myria remarked as she landed gracefully next to me, letting out a weary breath. "Among the very strongest I've ever faced. Her swordsmanship is topnotch, her skills sublime and her reflexes superb. Her strength, speed and mana are all first class. She's probably just a step away from Heaven ranked."
"But she's not invulnerable." I nodded toward the bruises still visible on her body, after having suffered a barrage of her arrows. A trickle of blood ran down her face from a graze, and much of her skin had reddened because of the premature explosion of mana when her Dainsleif backfired after I halted its release with my arrow. "Her defense is comparatively low, and she's nowhere as durable as Sigmund. As long as we can get in one decisive blow, we might be able to defeat her."
"This battle would be a lot easier if we still had Sigmund here with us," Myria grumbled. I shook my head.
"Sigmund has his own task."
"The destruction of the monolith?" Myria raised an eyebrow. "If we fought together, we'll be able to win against Ardena much faster and can proceed straight to the monolith unimpeded."
"No," I replied with another shake of my head. "I mean, Sigmund has his own opponent."
"Huh? What do you mean…?"
I didn't have to reply. An explosion lit up on the other side of the peak of Yggdrasil, almost like a supernova expanding across the forest. Or a second sun briefly flaring up. Myria glanced at the blossoming explosion in shock, fear visible in her blue eyes.
"What was that?!"
"So it has begun, huh?" I muttered, biting my lip anxiously.
"Explain!"
"That was Ricowen," I explained briefly, aware that Ardena had already brushed off the golden embers from the self-immolation of her technique and was resuming her advance toward us. I fired another couple of arrows, and she swatted them away without breaking her pace. Myria clicked her tongue and charged forward to engage, but she wasn't done with the conversation.
"Ricowen? That Earth ranked fire spearman we encountered a few days ago?"
"The very same. Only Sigmund can defeat an enemy of such power and caliber. Compared to him, I'd say we actually have an easier time. Not to take anything away from Ardena because her swordsmanship is clearly topnotch, but…let's put it this way. If she's a nuke capable of obliterating a country with her Dainsleif, then Ricowen is an asteroid that can shatter the whole planet in a single hit with his sun spear."
"So basically, Ardena is Artoria Pendragon level and Sigmund is a Siegfried analogue, but Ricowen is Gilgamesh or Karna class."
I was beginning to suspect that Myria played Fate/Grand Order. I never liked gacha games or mobile games because I found them overly expensive, and role-playing games had never appealed to me – I only watched the anime adaptations because I liked the story – but being an Atlantean princess, Myria clearly had the cash to burn on purchasing whatever Servants she wanted.
"That's a simplistic way of putting it, but…yeah."
I watched as a blue dragon seared through the skies, roaring silently before it collided against a solar flare in an enormous explosion that shook the top of Yggdrasil.
However, as daunting as the scale of the clash between Sigmund and Ricowen was, Myria and I had our own battle to worry about. Taking a deep breath, I notched another arrow to Obsidian Drake and fired it just before Myria closed in on the defending Ardena with her whip-like sword.