Chapter 157: Breaking Out
Chapter 157: Breaking Out
(Yu An Xue’s Perspective)
I crouched down near the door, pressing my ear against the cold metal. “Sis…one is right behind…this door…”
My long-lost sister, Yu An Yan, nodded and arched her arm back, in preparation for a mighty swing of her axe. Our plan here was to take down one of the two monsters outside by surprise, then pincer attack the other. In order for this to happen, the monster we were surprising had to be right in front of the door.
I looked at my sister, and gave her a countdown using hand gestures.
3…2…1!
An Yan swung her axe with all of her strength and I ducked out of the way right before it struck the door.
CRASH!
The force of the axe tore the door from its hinges, and slammed into the monster lurking behind it. Not letting the other monster even react, I quickly followed-up and thrust my Sword of Water and Ice – Frozen Fear – directly through both the door and the monster’s tough hide, going into the monster’s heart. After grinding the sword for a little to make sure the monster was as dead as one could possibly be, I pulled my weapon back out and leapt off the dead monster’s body.
“GRAHHH!” the other monster screamed in anger, having finally came to its senses.
It tried to grab me with its giant hand, but I nimbly dodged out of the way and landed in front of it while my sister circled around behind, forming the perfect pincer attacked. So far, everything was going according to plan. The only unknown factor now, is whether or not the two of us would be able to defeat this monster…
“An Xue! Aim for its heart! That’s its weak spot!” my sister yelled, before jumping up and cleaving the air in front of her with her Axe of Fire.
The monster was startled, and quickly avoided being near-decapitated by blocking her attack with its hand. The fire plus the sheer sharpness and power of the weapon itself managed to leave a deep wound on the monster’s hand.
However, we weren’t quite done yet. I also leapt up from the ground, and aimed directly for the creature’s heart with my sword. But unfortunately, the monster’s other hand was still free, and it backhanded me into the wall.
“Ngh!” I groaned, falling to the floor.
“An Xue! Are you okay?!” my sister asked, landing back on the ground.
“Yes…I’m…fine,” I replied, struggling to my feet.
“Tch…” my sister grumbled. “I can injure it, but I can’t damage any of its vitals. Its hide is too thick. And wait…no way, its healing itself?!”
I looked at where my sister was pointing, and indeed, the wound she had just inflicted on the monster was already bubbling and beginning to close.
This is troublesome…if there were more of us, we could constantly attack him to prevent him from healing up, but with just two…
“Sis…we have to kill it…in one strike.”
“Yeah…I know. Your sword is better at precision, so you aim for the heart. I’ll find a way to somehow get both of its hands to concentrate on me…” my sister muttered.
Then, suddenly, something came into my mind. “Sis…! Remember…what we discovered…? About these weapons…”
“Hm…?” An Yan tilted her head in confusion.
“We can…change its weight!”
Back when we first received these two of the Six Divine Weapons from principal Song, we had experimented with them a little. One of the key features we discovered back then was that we could manipulate the weight of the weapon to our liking. I assumed this was one of the special attributes only the Six Divine Weapons have, for ease of use. I doubted I would be even able to hold my Frozen Fear if it had been its original weight, much less An Yan’s axe.
If we apply that here…we can increase the power of our weapons using gravity!
“Oh! You’re righ- woah!” my sister exclaimed, before getting interrupted by the monster who had picked up the door we broke down just now and threw it at my sister. She jumped out of the way narrowly, and wiped her forehead in relief.
“Grr…” the monster growled in frustration.
“Okay, An Xue! I’ll empower my axe by increasing its weight! Be ready for an opening!”
“…Mm!” I nodded, and brandished my sword.
*****
(Yu An Yan’s Perspective)
“Level One Sky Magic – Flight!” I chanted, and soared upwards, levitating in mid-air.
“RAHHH!” the monster roared, in an attempt to intimidate me.
But…you aren’t scary at all compared to when Xuan Kai when he pushed us away, heh.
I swung the axe in my hands, Flaming Dance, several times to get momentum. Then, I suddenly deactivated my flight magic, and fell towards the monster’s head at full speed.
No…not enough!
I increased the weight of the axe, to the point where I couldn’t resist the gravity at all. But that, in this case, was good. The monster brought a hand again to defend against my attack, sparing the other one for my sister. But my attack this time around wasn’t the same as my earlier one.
With the far increased weight of my axe, the creature couldn’t stop my attack with just one hand anymore. The flaming metal burned through the monster’s hand, and it screamed in agony.
“GRAHHH!”
It quickly stumbled backwards to get away from my flaming axe, but that caused it to go off-balance. I tumbled to the ground with a roll as I lightened Flaming Dance once more, and yelled towards my sister.
“An Xue, now!”
“…Right!” she leapt up into the air, and since the monster was still struggling to regain its balance with its back to her, it had no way of defending against this attack.
An Xue’s sword hit its mark, and the creature’s entire body, to my surprise, completely turned to ice. After a short delay, it shattered, bright blue crystals flying everywhere. I raised an arm in front of my face for protection, but surprisingly enough the small ice particles didn’t hurt at all. Instead, they melted away immediately upon contact with me.
I slowly removed my arm so I could see again, and gazed in wonder at my sister standing in victory, eyes closed and an aura of ice around her.
“Wow…” I gasped in amazement.
An Xue took a deep breath, then dematerialized her weapon. That was another ability we discovered during experimentations. We didn’t have any Space Lockets or anything of the sort, but we found that we could call upon the weapon at will, and when we didn’t need it, we could easily dematerialize it. Where it went exactly, however, I didn’t know.
I mimicked An Xue and also dematerialized my axe. Then, she turned around and smiled at me. I gave a grin and a thumbs-up back, and hurried over to her.
“Amazing, An Xue! What was that?” I asked, eager for more info on that hell of a special attack.
She shook her head. “I’m not sure, either…but maybe…it’s something that automatically triggers…on final blows?”
“Ooh, do you think my Flaming Dance has something similar too?”
“Most…likely,” she replied. “This is…the first time we are using these…in actual battle.”
“That’s true…oh, I want to go kill another monster now!” I exclaimed giddily.
An Xue smiled, then sighed. “Sis…”
I shook my head. “Yeah, yeah…don’t worry, I won’t actually do it. Just this one gave both of us enough trouble. And we made quite the ruckus…so we should probably get out of here now before any more of those monsters come.”
An Xue nodded. “Mm.”
I sank into thought for a few moments, then spoke. “Alright, let’s go to the safe zone for now. Hopefully, the other girls…and Xuan Kai are there.”
“Xuan…Kai…” An Xue murmured sadly, and I added another thing to the list of reasons why I’m going to slap him when I see him again.
Having our destination decided, I took a few steps, but then stopped. “Um…I know I said that, but where do we go, exactly?”
“…Sis, are you…lost?”
“H-Hey! M-My sense of direction has always been bad, okay?!”
An Xue sighed, then smiled faintly. “…Can’t you just use Flight?”
“…”
“…”
“…U-Um, I didn’t forget I could just do that! You saw nothing!” I exclaimed. “A-An Xue, I swear, if you tell anyone else about this, especially Xuan Kai…”
My sister gave a soft laugh, which was rare. “No…promises.”
AHHH, DAMN IT! That was a blunder…I should’ve thought things through…
Faced with this embarrassment, I quickly muttered a chant and activated Flight. Taking An Xue in my arms, we flew directly upwards, and soared across the night sky.
Then, suddenly, I spotted something in the distance, in the direction of the school. “Hm…? What’s that…? An Xue, do you see it? Those sparks of color over there.”
An Xue followed where I was pointing with her eyes, and narrowed her gaze. “I see it…there are also…explosions…if you listen closely…”
I blinked. “No way…are they fighting monsters over there?!”
An Xue gave a firm nod. “Let’s…check it out.”