THE LONG-AWAITED MOMENT

While wiping the flowing blood on her cheeks, Mel whispered―

「Chief… How many of our men can still fight?」

The chief of guard corps who's standing next to her answered her question. With her long sword on the other hand, she silently walked towards her while catching her breath.

「A… About that… Except for the Magic Unit and the President, everyone was defeated. Only a handful of my men that's left, including me. The rest of the guards were carried away by the rescue unit…」

「It did us pretty badly. But… the enemy wasn't affected at all.」

Saying those words, Mel looked at the t.i.tan Ogre ahead of her. There's no wounds on its body. In order to defeat this ogre, they must break the nucleus of its heart. She knows that―

「d.a.m.n it… Its muscles are so thick that no blade could penetrate through it… He's not your usual t.i.tan Ogre…」

Groaned one of the guards nearby. An ordinary t.i.tan Ogre already have the characteristic trait of a strong body. However, this fight shouldn't be that difficult and its skin wasn't that hard enough for a close-ranged job cla.s.s' with a sword to not cause even a wound.

「The magic beast was strengthened by the miasma. It can't be helped.」

The current body of the t.i.tan Ogre that's in front of them isn't the usual one. A great sword nor even the enchanted blade, any physical attack was easily deflected and, in a flash, they were all driven away. And then―

「Oh…！【Ice Evil Blast】……！！」

Mercilessly aiming towards them, ice bullets floated above the t.i.tan Ogre. The ice bullets was smaller in size but doubled in numbers. Once aimed at them, their weapons broke down. Such ice bullets penetrated through the debris of the infrastructures without a stop.

「『Piercing Flame Spear』（Combo Blaze Lance）！」

In an instant, Mel fired more than a dozen spears of fire. It's a high-level flame magic. The body of a t.i.tan Ogre was easily pierced, and the burning spear shot down several ice bullets. Then several spears rushed forward towards the body of the t.i.tan Ogre.

Once it crashed on the t.i.tan Ogre's body, it immediately fell down.

「As expected, The President's high magic skill isn't a laughing matter…！」

「Really… so strong. At this rate of destruction, it won't just end with a scratch.」

The spears of flames pierced through the Ogres chest; however, despite being wounded―

In a single breath, its body regenerated quickly. The same thing happens when being attack by magic or physical attacks using swords. They have done this repeatedly, over and over again. When the guard corps uses magic, it would barely wound the ogre's skin. Even when they do a barrage of attacks, the enemy's regenerative speed gets the best of them and they start all over again.

「Oh…！」

Countless lump of ice floated above it following its growl, as if the previous attack was simply nothing. The size of the ice was bigger than before.

「Oh no… Its quickly prepping for the next attack!」

「Unbelievable, despite bombarding its body with various attacks, it can still retaliate with a powerful magic attack!」

That's right. The enemy's attack may hit them, but their attack doesn't affect the enemy. There isn't enough power to fight…

(I'm certainly not cutout for such kind of situation.)

During the war with the evil G.o.d, there were other combatants alongside Mel so if she meets an opponent that she isn't compatible with, she would have them switch with her.

(I can't do that now.)

Although she asked for help, she didn't know when reinforcements would arrive. She will have things done with the current man power she has. At present, everything they've done are repet.i.tive attacks but it can be also said that they have succeeded in stalling it.

(Although I can't exact a proper defensive stance from our opponent with our current manpower, at least we have successfully attract its attention!)

They have secured some time but they don't know how long this will last. Until now, they've tried to keep their status quo in the battlefield but they're still in the corner. There's no visible color of fatigue in their faces but all of the men she have right now were tired.

(The guards have little to no experience in dealing with the magic of the evil G.o.d.)

That can only be said true since the war with the evil G.o.d has ended over several decades ago. And Mel is pretty tired, too.

(I've left the front lines for many years, that must have made my fighting skills has gone dull…)

She has done lots of works by doing magic experiments and researches. An example of this is the protection magic she learned since she became the president of the university. But to pay for this, the duration of time since she left the battlefield may have dwindled her abilities than how she used to be. She then wondered how the rescue operation were doing. She has yet to receive any reports of its completion. Until then, it's still necessary that they hold their ground here. It was a very dire situation.

「Master, is really right… I should have trained, more and more.」

Mel grins to herself. Time has pa.s.sed since the war with the evil G.o.d. During those time, she trained herself as much as she could but still, have yet to overcome the flaws and those things that she is not good at. However―

「Some of my students are still here… I can't be irresponsible and leave them to become its food.」

All this time, those thought filled her mind. And also―

「I have yet to show my master how much I have grown. I'm not going to die here, I won't!」

They can still fight. They can still maintain this maginot line. That's right. Even though this has become a battle of attrition, in the midst of this battle, they have observed and a.n.a.lyzed its magic—the two invisible magic bullets. Then they strike its strong body. Each correspondence is also well done. If they can earn them some time, then they can escape. If they can make time for all the students to evacuate, then this will be a success.

While thinking of this―

「Its coming again!」

「I know!」

The t.i.tan Ogre rushed towards Mel. Seeing this, Mel and the guard corps splits ways. After splitting into different directions, the t.i.tan Ogre wasn't able to react right.

「Oh…！」

Along with a roar, the magic beast narrowed the distance between them and fired ice bullet to Mel's direction.

(For the magic beast to combine combat with ice bullet—!)

Its a kind of attack combination in which the attacker shots a barrage of ice bullet, it rushes onto its opponent that's under the rain of ice magic and attack them with its arms.

The guards tried to work against it, but—　

「(Combo Blaze Lance) 」

Mel quickly produced falning spears and shot down ice bullets. Afterwards, her sight cleared up and saw the rus.h.i.+ng Ogre that's swinging its arm.

(… At this distance, I won't be able to hit that arm.)

She took a step back as an insurance, this was so she can avoid its arm. That's what she thought as she do so, but at that moment—

「……【Evil Crystal Mace】……！」

The t.i.tan Ogre evoked a kind of magic that she had never seen in the battles before. The result of the magic appeared immediately—In the hand of the t.i.tan Ogre appears a large ice mace.

「This guy！So its still hiding some other magic skills of the evil G.o.d—」

「Guo—！！」

Before she could finish her words, the t.i.tan Ogre struck her arm sideways. She was about to stretch her arms when the huge ice mace hit her.

「【Magic Barrier】！」

At the moment she was about to be hit, Mel unleashed the magic she has stored in her hair and defended herself with all her might. As a result—

「Ack……！」

With a dull sound, Mel was blown away. However—

「Not… yet…！！」

Blood spills from Mel's mouth , but she remained conscious. Its all thanks to her barrier that her body can still move. She can still fight—those were her thoughts, however—

「【Evil Crystal Blast】！」

The t.i.tan Ogre wasn't able to pierce through the defense of her hair and deflected the barrage of ice bullets. However, she hasn't successfully stopped the successive attacks. (I may have avoided the first attack but—) However, it would be too late to erect the next barrier for the next blow. She needed a few more seconds.

「President—!」The guard corps shouted as they run towards Mel, however, they won't be able to get to her in time. She will be receiving this blow, thinking of this, her body went rigid.

「As I thought… Its indeed hard to imitate master. Everyone… I can't protect everyone.」

She felt a sense of regret, overlooking at the t.i.tan Ogre who was about to shoot ice magic across her. Mel gritted her teeth as she welcome the pain that may fill up all parts of her body that were already starting to experience the heat and the pain.It was at that moment—

「That's not true, Mel. —【Weapon, defend us.】!」

A staff dropped behind Mel and stood upright the ground. The blocks of ice that's about to hit her were smashed into pieces as it touches the staff.

「Eh? 」

And the direction in which the staff flew down to ground and now stoor—

「You have done well. Actually, you've done a good job to get this far. You're not an imitation of me, you know—because I, too have things I couldn't do.」

「Ah—」

(The man I was longing for.)

「Master… Eisen…」

The master that she was longing to meet is now standing right in front of her.

T/N: Won't be updating much due to school and part time works. Have a nice Friday (*´∀`*)えへへ