Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Inglis, 12 years old (12)

「Inglis, from what little I’ve seen, I can tell that you’re strong. So much that I find it hard to believe that you’re such a cute girl… That’s why, it may be immature of me but I’ll come at you full force. Haaa!」

Leon clapped thunderously with the thorny iron gauntlets donned on his hands, a high grade Artifact. Holy Knights would only partner up with a Hyrule Menace when they were facing off against the strongest Magic Stone Beast. Otherwise, they typically used high grade Artifacts.

When it came to high grade Artifacts, things weren’t as straightforward as simple physical combat, they could be able to manifest special phenomenons. These phenomenons, or Gifts, were predetermined for each artifact. The Artifact Leon possessed had the effect of producing and manipulating lightning beasts.

The number and the strength of the summoned lightning beasts differed from one user to another. And if Leon, a Special Grade Rune bearer, the Holy Knight, put all of his power into it, then…

The Artifact produced a small sphere of light that immediately struck the ground. Then, the moment it hit the ground, it turned into the same kind of lightning beasts from before, only it was now numbered in the twenties, if not thirties. And those lightning beasts instantaneously encircled Inglis. It was rather blinding to stare at the sight of the lightning beasts.

「Two of you, come with me! The rest, attack the girl!」

Said Leon as he dashed towards Eris, with two of the lightning beasts in tow Eris gripped her twin swords, preparing herself for his attack.

Even if Eris and Leon were equal in terms of individual strength, she was at a disadvantage in terms of number. Leon had no intention of killing Eris. However, in saying that, it was still unknown if a Hyrule Menace like her could die in the same sense as humans could. Of course, it was still completely possible for her to be neutralized and taken away. That was what Leon was aiming for.

I’ll have you stop there! Inglis thought to herself, whilst the rest of the lightning beasts were inching towards her.

GRRRRrr!! GRAAAAH!!! GROOOO!!

First of all, she had to break through the encirclement. Quite interesting! As I would expect from a Gift handled by a Holy Knight.

「Haah!」

Inglis plunged herself into the nearest one and tried to hit it with her fist. She envisioned that the lightning beast wouldn’t have enough time to respond to her approach. But, before she could even hit it, a sword suddenly appeared from thin air and cut the beast into two. That sword was one of Eris’ twin swords.

「GYooo!?」

Along with what sounded like a shriek, the monster’s body released a dazzling light followed by an explosion.

I wonder if it’s releasing the same attack as the one that Eris took earlier.

As Inglis was in the middle of delivering a punch, she could only barely avoid the explosion in time. She was only exposed to the lightning burst for just a short while but her body was already starting to feel numb from the small impact. She was certain that If she had received a direct hit, the damage she suffered wouldn’t be as small as this.

「Watch out! The stronger you hit them, the bigger their explosion! You can’t attack them carelessly!」

Eris called out to Inglis, warning her of the lightning beasts.

「Okay! I understand!」

But, really, what’s with that technique? She could kill a lightning beast from that far of a distance? Could Hyrule Menaces also manifest Gift or something similar when they were in human form? That was a technique she didn’t display in the previous bout. How unfair. Inglis thought to herself.

「Please have a bout with me next time using that technique!」 「I refuse! I’m not a battle crazed freak like you!」

Inglis’ proposal was shot down quickly. Anyway, Eris had given her a plan to cope with the beasts. If Inglis hit one of them with a melee attack, she would suffer a significant degree of injury if she couldn’t evade the self-destruction that came afterwards. In other words, she should attack the beasts from a distance to avoid getting the explosion, was what Eris was trying to say.

「Either way. Thank you very much for the warning, Ms. Eris. I’ll use it as a reference!」 「Fufu. Even though you can’t use that technique repeatedly, you used it so you could teach Inglis the rope. I knew it, no matter how much you run your mouth, you like taking care of others. They have a word for people like you, you know?」 「Shut up!」 「So it’s like that. Please hang on, I’ll come for you!」

Inglis clenched both of her fists and focused her mind.

「HAAAaahh!」

Light covered Inglis’ entire body She condensed ether into waves and clad it around her.

Eris and Leon couldn’t comprehend what was really happening since they were unable to sense ether. All they could see was a brilliant light enveloping her body, so they weren’t too impressed. However, to the better of their knowledge——

The now-ether-enveloped Inglis made a beeline towards the nearest beast and lunged in. Her speed was godly compared to just now. Riding the momentum, she bent her leg and delivered a full roundhouse kick.

「GYOOooooo!!」

The beast shrieked, indicating that it received quite a lot of damage.

「Wh — That idiot!! Just when I told…!」

An explosion came afterwards, overpowering Eris’ shout. Inglis was completely caught within the explosion, however, she didn’t even suffer a scratch from it. Not a twitch. Not even a wince. She was completely safe and sound.

「Eeh…!? Wh-, what hap——!?」 「Just what kind of logic…!?」

Both Eris and Leon haphazardly stopped their fight.