Secret Art: Boring A Snake's Lair

Ruru’s dagger, standing between Sobra and danger—stopped my Balmung.

“Get lost. No matter how outstanding your combat skill is, a Level gap of 50 won’t be closed.”

“……..”

Ruru didn’t answer.

Just like when she was in the Hero party, she only looked at me with cold eyes that gave nothing away.

“……..”

Ruru stepped away from me for a moment and produced a slender needle from her bosom.

The needle was so fine that it looked less like an Assassin’s hidden weapon and more like a therapeutic needle used by a masseur.

“And what are you planning to do with that?”

Ruru drove that needle—astonishingly—into her own skull!

“Wh-what!?”

“A—Aaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!”

That was the first time I had ever heard Ruru’s voice.

The pupils vanished from Ruru’s eyes.

Only bloodshot sclera remained, and the blood vessels around her eyes bulged thickly.

There was clearly something abnormal about her.

Her roar felt less like a battle cry and more like a pained effort to endure excruciating agony.

“(What the hell is happening…?)”

“That is a secret art of the Ragiu Tribe—Boring a Snake’s Lair.”

Ekarraat, not participating in the battle, explained from within the shadows.

“By piercing a pressure point until it reaches the brain, it’s a Ragiu Tribe secret that dramatically increases physical abilities temporarily.”

“Aaaaarrrrrhhhhhhh!!!!”

“Tch!”

――Slash!

――Keenn!!

Ruru readied her dagger again and leapt at me.

――Slash!

――Slash, slash, slash!

――Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash!!!!

At a speed too fast to track with the eye, her sword strikes slipped past my Balmung and I was struck by countless cuts.

“(She’s fast…!? A Level gap of 50!? That’s not something physical ability can cover!?)”

“Aaaaarrrrrhhhhhhh!!!!”

But Ruru’s movements shattered my assumptions.

She was faster even than the red-haired Assassin Annise, The Sixth Stigmata I fought before.

Far from reaching Sobra, I was being steadily pushed back.

“(Ekarraat, doesn’t she have any weakness!?)”

“The drawback of Boring a Snake’s Lair is the enormous physical toll that shortens life—you’ll have to endure until Ruru’s body reaches its limit.”

Looking at Ruru’s face, blood tears streamed from her white eyes.

Had the blood vessels in her eyeballs burst?

“Aaaaarrrrrhhhhhhh!!!!”

But Ruru, heedless of it all, continued swinging her dagger.

Using a life-shortening secret art, wracked by pain and crying out in anguish, she kept challenging me despite the overwhelming stat gap.

But Ruru was not being controlled by Sobra’s skill.

She was protecting Sobra by her own will.

What could make her go that far…?

“Freya――strengthen Ruru.”

“~~~~♪”

Sobra, watching from a safe distance, gave an order to the Shadow.

A spherical Spirit-type monster—Freya (Bishop)—sang like a voice, and Ruru’s body glowed faintly.

“Aaaaarrrrrhhhhhhh!!!!”

“She’s gotten even faster!?”

――Thuck! Thuckthuckthuck!!

“Gueh!?”

What the enemy Spirit-type monster Freya used was probably a physical enhancement magic.

It was a follow-up doping applied to a body already strengthened by Boring a Snake’s Lair.

Although wounds inflicted on one being an Undead healed instantly, at this rate there was no prospect of reaching Sobra.

Which meant—my side, disadvantaged by the Shadows’ difference in forces, would eventually be annihilated and my defeat would be decided.

To counter her barrage, I wanted to switch to the Falcon Twin Blades that favor multiple hits, but unfortunately without Vanargand at hand I couldn’t access the armory stored in another dimension.

And since additional summoning of Shadows is banned by the rules, I couldn’t summon only the Shadows’ weapons either.

“Alright—Ogre and Golem, advance as well. Take down Sid’s Shadows.”

Sobra issued the command to the Shadows from his throne.

Trying to block Ruru’s ultra-high-speed slashes as best I could and glancing to the rear, the early phase of the battle had already been decided.

The fight between the pawn infantry—the Orcs—and the Saber Panthers ended in a crushing victory for Sobra’s side, the Saber Panthers.

My Orcs were wiped out.

Sobra’s Saber Panthers still had six remaining, and they began advancing along with the rear major piece, the Rook.

“Tch! Intercept them!”

I, too, issued orders to the remaining major-piece Shadows without conceding.

“(This is bad…!)”

As commander, I was stuck grappling with Ruru and busy parrying strikes, unable to give proper orders.

In contrast, Sobra could observe the battlefield safely from the rear and give precise commands, and his support-type Shadows like the Teleport mage (Barom) and enhancement mage (Freya) were well-stocked.

On top of that, we even lost out in the original overall combat power of battle-type Shadows.

At this rate――we would lose.

“Aaaaarrrrrhhhhhhh!!!!”

――Slash!

Ruru’s dagger gouged out my right ear.

As if limbs of an insect were being ripped off one by one, it foreshadowed a future in which my Shadows would be ravaged.