1051: Indecision

Marle, who was now some kind of ice ogre monster, rushed after Fran. Though she was completely berserk, her mastery of magic only improved.

She could invoke several spells at the same time without any chanting. Moreover, her physical and defensive abilities were also enhanced.

「GAAAAAH!」

「Mrgh!」

『Whoa!』

Marle’s arm suddenly extended out like a chameleon’s tongue, reaching for Fran at ultra high speed.

Fran dodged the arm at the last instant, but it suddenly changed direction. The long arm bent and swung around like a whip, cleaving huge swathes of space.

Despite apparently being made of ice, Marle’s arm seemed incredibly flexible.

Such an attack would normally be very dangerous, but Fran knew how to deal with whips. After all, she’s spent all that time practicing with one of the world’s greatest whipmasters in the Demon Wolf Plains.

『We’ve gotta thank Amanda again!』

「Nn.」

Despite Marle’s complicated arm movements, Fran completely avoided all of them.

However, her aggressiveness exceeded our expectations. The thrashing arm of ice released a strong burst of mana, before suddenly self-destructing on us.

The surface of the sea got covered in a forest of reverse icicles growing toward the sky, with a white fog covering the area.

Although our barrier prevented any serious damage, Fran’s left arm got frostbite from making contact with the mist. It had managed to inflict internal freezing.

I cast a healing spell as well as flame magic to melt the ice.

『She just sacrificed her own arm to deal damage to us.』

（That was close. I might have frozen to death without your barrier.）

『Fran, Marle is… still coming after us!』

「Nn!」

I sensed Marle’s presence rushing toward us. When she burst through the wall of cold fog, both of her arms were still intact.

And she used them to swing a greatsword of ice down on Fran’s head.

「GAAH!」

「Shh!」

Though her speed and senses seem to have improved, it wasn’t enough to outpace Fran in close combat.

「Seya!」

Fran calmly parried the greatsword and slammed me into Marle’s right arm. Our fire Elemental Sword clashed with Marle’s ice for a moment, generating a cloud of steam.

It seems Marle could conduct mana through her cloak of ice, enhancing her armor with pinpoint accuracy.

But that’s not enough to stop me.

She only managed to dull the power of our slash, but only by a little. I still cut through Marle’s arm as if it was made of soft tofu.

As the severed arm flew away from her body, I saw it dissolve away into mana.

（She really is just growing them back!）

『It looked to me like she needed to absorb some seawater.』

Right after Marle sucked up some of the surrounding seawater, her severed arm instantly regenerated.

It seems Marle’s body was now completely made of ice. We could still see her original face, but perhaps the rest of her body was entirely inhuman.

『Hmm, might be tough to beat her above the ocean then.』

（…Nn.）

It seems Fran still can’t resolve herself. I never thought anything could get her this upset… Same age, same gender, illegal slave. The combination of these factors must be what is getting to her.

I’m sure Fran realizes by now that it’s no longer possible to save Marle. And that if she doesn’t defeat the girl, both we and the town behind us will be in danger.

I could feel Fran’s hands gripping me tightly, and how she was trying her best to make up her mind.

But Fran still couldn’t resolve herself to kill Marle, only able to grit her teeth and glare back. It wouldn’t be so difficult to win if the current Fran took the fight seriously. Even so, Fran found herself unable to step over that line.

Guess it can’t be helped.

I can buy her a little more time.

『Fran, maybe we can lure Marle into attacking the other ships?』

（?）

『I’m pretty sure those wards have a function for deciding what can be let through.』

If they didn’t, anyone returning to the ship might find themselves locked out, and it’d be hard to fire the ship’s cannons through the ward too.

Therefore, there’s a high chance it has a built-in function for distinguishing friend from foe. If so, would Marle be able to pass through?

Since Marle was onboard the Water Dragon Battleship, she should be able to pass through the wards freely, right? Then what would happen if we led her to the midst of the ward-protected fleet in her current berserk state?

（I see!）

『I think it’s worth a try.』

（Okay!）

Fran nodded immediately and flew backwards away from Marle.

『Urushi! We’re gonna lead Marle to the center of the fleet! Watch out!』

（Woof!）

「GAAAAAH!」

Like I thought, Marle’s completely insane now. She started chasing us in a straight line as soon as we ran.

And she was blasting ice magic all the while.

All without any regard to where she was aiming. The ice bullets we dodged pierced the flank of a nearby enemy ship.

This didn’t do much damage to such a large vessel, but it’s good to know Marle doesn’t care about friendly fire.

If we can bait her into unleashing more powerful spells, we might be able to inflict heavy damage on the enemy fleet.

『Head for the Water Dragon Battleship!』

「Nn!」

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