Chapter 195.1: The Mechanical Prowler (Part 1)
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「It's been a while since I employed this strategy.」
Muttering that to herself, Mira summoned two Dark Knights next to her and instantly turned them into Dark Lords.
Meanwhile the first Dark Lord charged at the Prowler, but received so much damage that it quickly shattered. While Dark Lords were specialized in dealing damage, they also had thinner armor. Compared to the Prowler's strength, they were like paper, making it dangerous to get too close.
Having destroyed the closest obstacle, the Prowler focused on Mira.
The Prowler seemed to be prioritizing any target that was heading into the boss room ahead, so it only took Mira seriously now.
「Hmm, it's becoming increasingly aggravated... The shields are currently holding up, but I don't know for how long...」
Loud metallic clangs rang time and time again while red sparks scattered around endlessly while the Prowler hacked away at the Holy Lords' shields blocking his path.
Even though the Prowler mostly swung wildly when attacking, each swing still packed a punch, time and time again. While the Holy Lords were resisting so far, they were still low level summons and would eventually crumble under the Prowler's pressure.
Or at least they would if they kept being attacked like that.
The Prowler seemed to have no other ideas other than to relentlessly slash at the Holy Lords' shields.
Then countless black blades materialized all around the Prowler, and even in the gaps between the two Holy Lords, swinging all at the same time.
The Prowler was so focused on the Holy Lords' shields that it could not react to the black blades on time, taking some considerable damage. But any further attacks all missed as the Prowler moved away to dodge.
This was Mira's favorite strategy, which had an almost disgusting rate of success. She would trap her prey in a corridor with Holy Lords before cornering it with Dark Lords from behind. No enemy could destroy or push back the Holy Lords without much effort, so once they were caught there was no escape.
Though during the game days, when there were wars between player countries and she had to defend fortifications, other players would often call her strategy foul play and unfair. Which was rather understandable.
「It's refusing to get closer now...」
The Prowler retreated five meters and refused to get closer. It seemed to have noticed the range of Mira's partially summoned black blades, and now only watched carefully from afar.
It did not have any range attacks either, so its only option was to get close again if it wanted to deal damage. After a short delay, it rushed ahead to attack again.
Lowering its stance, it quickly accelerated and struck the white shields with a lot of momentum, sending more sparks flying around. That attack was more powerful than the previous ones, being the Prowler's strongest attack, and leaving a deep gash in the Holy Lords' thick shield.
Its next movements were impressive as well, as it quickly began to retreat and squirm to avoid getting hit by the many black blades that swung at it, managing to escape with only superficial cuts.
In a matter of seconds it was out of harm's way again. It understood that as long as the black blades existed, it could not get closer without being at a disadvantage, so the fight continued as a series of quick attacks and retreats.
That was exactly how some of the players Mira faced off against before acted too.
As the Prowler jumped back, a group of six black arms took hold of all of its limbs as soon as it landed, holding it still before a hand swung a holy sword down on it.
Everything had been timed perfectly and the attack landed squarely on the Prowler, causing a loud metallic clang from the impact.
「Hmm, I may be tooting my own horn a little, but this is a really good combination.」
Everything had worked in sync, and using the Holy Sword Sanctia to conclude the attack was just the cherry on top. Mira had been trying to lure the Prowler into a situation that made that possible from the start, and now just looked at it, making jarring metallic screeches.
Mira was not talented enough to use Sanctia herself, but if she had a Dark Knight wield it, she could get plenty of use from the sword's power. And as a Holy Sword, even when partially summoned it unleashed plenty of destruction.
「Welp, I guess it's still a bit flawed considering I can't use this repeatedly.」
That was Mira's conclusion after analyzing how everything went. Partial summoning consumed little mana, but as Sanctia was a Holy Sword, working with her cost a large amount of mana. Mira could not use Sanctia as a proper sword when called through partial summoning though, which was a good compromise considering that it only cost the same as a regular summon that way.
On top of that, partial summoning had the benefit of being a surprise attack, and the power of Sanctia brought the entire combination into something Mira could actually use in real combat.
She made sure to remember all the results she witnessed so far, smiling at the fruits of her experiments.
(Now then, Soul Howl is...)
Mira turned around to see how Soul Howl was doing. But she almost instantly turned back when she heard what sounded like countless metallic dishes being strewn about.
「What happened?」
When she looked at the Prowler, she saw how it lunged at a Holy Lord again, scattering sparks everywhere while slightly pushing it back.
「I see...so it was just like an exoskeleton.」
In the blink of an eye, the Prowler peeked through the space that opened between the Holy Lords. Now the enemy finally looked the way she recalled it, a humanoid robot made with ancient technology, and based to look like some fantastical super hero. Behind it there were many metallic plates lying on the ground, which were what the holy sword had cut through.
Black blades fell on that thinner body again, but as the Prowler had abandoned its powerful exoskeleton it was far more agile now, twisting its body as it quickly escaped all the attacks heading its way.
The Prowler jumped back to safety again, which Mira anticipated by placing more partially summoned arms around there, but her enemy just did a somersault back, evading the trap. It truly looked like it was some sort of super hero.
「So it gains a lot of speed once the outer shell is gone. That's a bit of a cliche, but also not something I appreciate right now.」
Mira muttered to herself while thinking back to a mecha anime she watched many years ago. The Prowler's exoskeleton offered plenty of safety, but now that it was rendered useless, the Prowler had discarded it to gain more agility. That newly gained speed allowed the enemy to dash around the corridor like a fish that had just been released into water. It looked even more lively than when the exoskeleton was intact.