1251: Apollonius's Rampage

Dozens of swords flew at Apollonius, and he had no way to evade them.

The countless blades impaled his body. That said, he had already proved he was no ordinary man.

「Well done, I say…!」

He didn’t even need a barrier; his body was simply that durable. The tips of the magic swords may have pierced his flesh, but none went through completely.

Apollonius quickly recovered and unleashed flames from his entire body, causing the magic swords to melt away and disappear.

「This is nowhere near enough to take me down! URAAAAAH!」

『Damn!』

I reflexively teleported us high into the air. Apollonius had released an even more powerful inferno.

It seems he was taking the “just obliterate the entire area if your enemy keeps dodging you” strategy. The other Hero Zombies had already retreated out of range in anticipation of this.

They must have known what Apollonius was after.

Amanda swiftly swung her whip to extinguish the flames and create a path for retreat. Forrund, however, got engulfed in flames. He didn’t make it in time to escape Apollonius’s charge.

I could hear metallic clanging sounds from behind the roaring flames. Forrund and Apollonius seemed to be battling it out inside there.

We stood in front of the swirling blaze that covered an area of about thirty meters. Yet before it subsided, Forrund got flung out with blood gushing from his abdomen.

「Forrund!」

『Wait, Fran!』

「!」

Fran was about to rush to Forrund’s aid, but a killing intent suddenly appeared from behind. Apollonius had teleported right behind us, and I couldn’t tell when!

We turned to see Apollonius with his halberd raised. What’s more, his weapon had grown even more deadly. The flames entwined around the halberd gave it a similar glow to molten lava.

I reflexively put up another layer of barriers behind Fran, combining it with hers to make it more sturdy.

Yet Apollonius easily sliced through the layered barriers. Nevertheless, the slight pause allowed Fran to narrowly evade the swing.

「Kuh!」

「Not enough I see!」

Fran took some burns from the fiery halberd after we failed to detect his teleport. However, Apollonius was unsatisfied at the fact that his best attack on a distracted opponent got evaded.

As such, both sides grunted in discontent.

However, Fran’s pause lasted only a moment. She activated Black Lightning Roll to move behind Apollonius and pay back the favor.

The divine slash tore through Apollonius’s barrier and inflicted a deep cut onto his arm. But at the same time, Apollonius thrust the butt end of his halberd backward in an attempt to counter us.

Fran leaped back to evade and created some distance.

「…So that can’t get you either! You’re too fast!」

Apollonius was growing increasingly frustrated. Despite having the clear advantage in pure power, he lacked the ability to finish off the apparently weak girl in front of him.

Or rather, not being able to inflict major damage at all. It must be gnawing at him.

Apollonius took his gear up another notch, releasing flames from his entire body again. This allowed him to accelerate himself for tricky movements. His speed and power seemed to be pushing the limits of what he could actually control.

Together with Forrund, we crossed blades with Apollonius. Meanwhile, Amanda returned to holding back Begareth and Zinga. She’s a real lifesaver.

Even without any words from Fran, Amanda knew that the disruptive long-range attackers needed to be dealt with. The speed and sharpness of her whip strikes had almost exceeded our range of perception.

We had fought Amanda during the martial arts tournament, but she was practically a different person compared to back then. I knew why too, this must be due to her title.

Amanda’s “Guardian of Children” title grants her power when protecting children and imposes negative effects when fighting against children. The title itself may even be revoked in extreme circumstances.

The martial arts tournament wasn’t a battle to the death, so it was okay for her to fight a child like Fran. However, Amanda’s abilities should have been significantly reduced. I don’t remember seeing any change in her stats, but I believe she must have had some sort of debuff in effect.

On the other hand, the current Amanda was utilizing her Guardian of Children power to its fullest. She was currently fighting to protect Fran, as well as all the children of Alessa.

「Hah! There’s no way I’ll let anyone hurt Fran-chan while I’m here!」

「Shit! I can’t get past that damn whip!」

「Argh! It’s too fast to dodge!」

Amanda had completely subdued the two former Red Knight Captains. This must be her true strength.

Thanks to her efforts, our opponents were now limited to Apollonius, Rob, Lucard, and Violetta. That said, we were still outnumbered.

And all of them were formidable opponents that we couldn’t afford to underestimate.

「Lucard! Let’s do this!」

「Take this!」

And they just proved it. Violetta and Lucard, who had seemed quiet up until now, suddenly invoked a combination of flame magic and storm magic. They must have been casting in secret.

The flames created by Violetta were propelled by Lucard’s wind to surround us.

Said spells ended up hitting Apollonius too, but he simply laughed merrily while covered in flames. The man went directly for us without any attempt at defending himself.

「Fuhahaha! Now things are getting fun! Try this!」

「!」

『Crap!』

Apollonius transformed his body into flames, just like Izario! He had been hiding this ability the entire time!

It’s already too late to dodge or cast a spell!

The flame transformation allowed Apollonius to evade Fran’s blade and unleashed a full-force strike of his own. His halberd’s blade swept across Fran’s abdomen.

Fran was left with a deep wound and many scorched organs. The heat had carbonized a portion of her lungs, as black smoke poured from her mouth.

「Cough…」

『Fran!』

I cast healing magic while teleporting us further back for more time to heal. But Apollonius was already right in front of us after we teleported.

「Can’t run from me, missy!」

Our teleport didn’t do a thing! Dammit!

There’s no way to run. At this point, Potential Release is my only remaining――

The moment I had resolved myself, someone jumped in between Fran and Apollonius. The red-headed figure took the halberd being swung down on Fran in her place.

「What the hell is going on here?!」

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