「Shah!」
「Not good enough!」
「The same goes for you!」
The semi-final between Hilt and Neidhart had changed from the contest of strength at the start to a high-speed exchange.
Neidhart was running so fast that the general audience could not understand what was happening, and he seems to have plenty of control over fine movements as well.
From far away, he closes the distance in an instant to land a blow, then immediately moves away again. You think he’s in front, but then he suddenly slashes from the rear.
He moved throughout the entire stage to attack Hilt from every angle.
However, Hilt was not just taking the hits lying down. Though she was a little slower than Neidhart, she too was moving at high speeds, and was able to use Dimitris style parries to handle the attacks without much damage.
Moreover, she sometimes delivered a counterattack to return damage back to Neidhart.
Neidhart delivered many more than hits to Hilt, but each of her blows had explosive force behind them, inflicting additional damage to Neidhart. Considering this, the two seemed to be close to equal footing.
However, Neidhart’s durability as an insectkin should be superior to Hilt’s. If they continue like this, Hilt would be at a disadvantage.
There was no way that Hilt did not already know this.
Suddenly, Hilt’s movements changed. She abandoned her defensive stance and moved forward.
Did she plan to go on the offensive despite the risk? Neidhart thought so at least, since he thrust his twin swords at Hilt’s unprotected torso and face.
But the swords did not reach her.
「What?」
The twin swords suddenly change their trajectory out of nowhere, as if they had been deflected, and are diverted from Hilt’s body. With his movements disrupted, Neidhart had a slight opening.
Hilt wouldn’t miss that moment, and she threw her fists in rapid succession.
Neidhart instantly swapped from offense to defense and tried to evade, but for some reason he could not fly backward.
「Sei! Sei! Seyaa!」
「Giii! Giii!」
Neidhart’s arms were seemingly held by something invisible. He was motionless, as if pinned in mid-air.
Immediately afterwards, his body was violently blown upwards several times by Hilt’s fists.
His mantis head emitted a high-pitched sound like hard objects being scratched together. The strange noise seemed to be because the fangs of his mouth were scraping against each other.
「Gwah……!」
Adventurers in the crowd were all in confusion at Neidhart’s inexplicable behavior. But we knew what was going on.
『It’s the same technique that Colbert used last year. The Dimitris Style Art, ‘Asura’.』
（That was strong.）
『Moreover, Hilt’s technique is perfectly concealed before activation.』
This technique creates four magical arms, which increases the number of hits you can dish out. It also seemed to have the effect of increasing your physical abilities.
Two of the magic arms had blocked the twin swords, and the other two held onto Neidhart’s arms so that he could not escape.
When Colbert used it, the magic arms were visible, but Hilt’s magic arms were very difficult to detect with the naked eye.
Also unlike Colbert, who needed to charge before hand, Hilt’s technique was activated very quickly. I was unable to see any flow of magic until it was activated.
As a result, even if someone was using magic sensing like me and Neidhart, they could only notice it after it was already used.
If we searched more intensively, we might be able to detect the preliminary movements, but it would be difficult to concentrate on our senses during a fierce battle.
『That’s one we have to be careful of.』
（Nn.）
『So how will Neidhart deal with it?』
Teleporting would definitely be our answer to that.
I was looking forward to how Neidhart dealt with the situation, and to my surprise, he immediately discarded his twin swords. He then concentrated his magic into his arms and broke free from the Asura using brute force, even while he was being hit by a barrage.
It seems that even the magical arms created by a master like Hilt are outmatched by Neidhart’s pure physical strength.
Neidhart moves away from Hilt at once, spewing bodily fluids from his mouth.
「Goh, Gah……!」
Hilt did not follow. Even though he was damaged, it would be difficult for her to catch up with Neidhart when he had Skanda active.
Running away with that speed would make for quite a bother.
Well, it is not that Hilt is just observing her opponent in the meantime. I can see that she is quietly building up her ki and preparing for her next move.
「I felt something strange just now. Is it possible the inside of your body is different from that normal humans?」
「Well, what do…… you think?」
I see. I guess that’s one of the reasons why she didn’t pursue Neidhart, because she sensed the strangeness of his body.
Before we knew it, he had activated his Bugform and transformed his body.
As a result, it seemed that Hilt’s barrage of blows, which were delivered to the human vital spots, were not as effective as they should have been.
「Well, that’s fine. If I destroy you completely, it won’t make a difference.」
Hilt extended her hand straight ahead. Then she closes her open palm.
「Air Grasp.」
「…!?」
Right after Hilt’s mutter…
Neidhart jumps to the side.
It looked like Hilt had fired some kind of attack at him, and he had just barely managed to avoid it.
（Was that Hilt’s attack? The magic was strange.）
『It was probably it was an application of her Asura. She created a magic hand for a instant and remotely attacked with it.』
The name ‘Air Grasp’ suggested that the attack is a kind of crushing attack with a magical hand. It deals damage by crushing the opponent with your grip, and can also hinder their movements.
The alias of Hilt’s master, Dimitris the ‘Immovable’, may be derived from this ability. If he keeps firing a series of moves like the Air Grasp, he can destroy his enemies without moving from the spot.
On the stage right now, Hilt was using both hands to continuously launch her Air Grasps.
Neidhart was handling them by dodging and intercepting them with his own fists. The impressive thing about Neidhart is that he was able to detect all the Air Grasps in advance.
Even I and Fran would have to concentrate very hard to detect the flow of magic. It took an unimaginably keen sense to be able to detect everything in the middle of a battle.
Are his senses strengthened by his Bugform too? That’s very possible.
「You’re really good, aren’t you?」
「And you too, since you keep avoiding me!」
In contrast to the early game, in which Neidhart was on the offensive. This time Hilt’s onslaught continued.
Now I doubt things will end like this, so which of them will make the next move?
