Chapter 280: Blurry Goalpost
———Fiss———
<9: 05 AM>
I feel numb. In what felt like less than a second as everyone was shouting and ducking down, it felt like I was close to actually dying despite not even getting grazed by whatever attack that was. I don’t think I was even close to getting hit based on how those lines of light were moving, but the chills I got from it are hard to describe.
All the buildings in the vicinity were torn to shreds like they were made of sand. All I’m seeing within the area are piles of rubble surrounding us. All the intact buildings are something far in the distance, barely visible through the collapsed buildings all stacked up on top of each other.
*Dash* *Clash*
Next second she had already begun moving again and targeted a nearby combatant, and almost just as quickly the others began joining in as well, resuming the previous game plan everyone seemed to collectively have without needing to communicate to each other.
Something about it does feel different though. The previous jumping seemed effective and she was enduring punishment for a good while, but now it looks like she is navigating around her opponents much more smoothly than before despite the damage being dealt.
Also, her dress that was destroyed is already back. I don’t even know how she can find a replacement so soon.
I really have no idea if anything is even being done to her with so much happening in only a few minutes. I’m pretty sure we’re not even half an hour in and it already feels like too much is happening.
*Punch* *CRASH*
I think I saw Lynda get punched straight in the gut and sent flying into that center building, but the speed at which the victim was launched makes it hard for me to discern what even happened.
And talking about victims, more than a dozen people were killed from that storm of light. It all happened so suddenly it’s hard to believe it caused that much damage.
*Slash* *Strike* *Bash* *Slam* *Punch*
She began dismantling the ground trying to pin her down with a lot of precision, many of them were badly injured but somewhat managed to quickly flee the battlefield to recover. I don’t really know how they can quickly recover from some of those injuries. Some of them almost look like a giant hole was torn into their bodies. I don’t think I have the guts to fight someone who can do so much damage with zero hesitation. I don’t care if we can all recover from this just fine in the end, this is still terrifying.
This isn’t even mentioning how the fight continuing leads to a massive amount of collateral damage that is completely unthinkable. Everyone seems to not notice that they’re crashing and ramming into buildings as they keep fighting.
*Swing* *Parry* *Thrust* *Evade* *Blast* *Swat*
A sword being parried, a spear being avoided, a spell being swatted away like a mere inconvenience. She moves around and keeps deflecting attacks, countering each offensive approach, and yet she hadn’t slowed down after all this time. Just what the hell is she?
*Grab* *Spin* *Slam*
She grabbed someone’s head and spun around before slamming them right into the ground with so much force the ground shakes and the victim immediately dies. I honestly don’t think I have a chance even getting a cheap shot in, unfortunately.
*Wrap* *Swing* *Spin* *Throw*
Another one gets thrown high into the sky with those light threads. It honestly looks like she can just spam that ability with zero problem. No build-up no nothing.
*Strike* *Slash*
It looks like only the same people are the ones who get some good hits in and flinch her for even a little bit. They must be the heavy-hitters that everyone seems to be talking about. I still don’t see where that guy with black furry limbs went. Maybe I lost sight of him sometime ago? Maybe he was among the people who were fighting her and just needed some time to recover.
“What are you doing standing around like an idiot?” Wha-!? What is she doing focusing on me instead!? “You seem to lack the drive.”
*Swing* *Parry* *Swat*
When someone else tried to take the advantage of her sudden interest in me, he was quickly swatted aside like nothing.
*Swing* *Block* *Crash*
“Aguah!?” I managed to block her attack with my spear in time, but she still sent me flying right into a nearby pile of rubble. Why me!?
“How boring.” She remarked before pointing her scythe at me. Am I really being taken out so suddenly just like this?
*Punch* *Bang*
Someone punched her in the side before she could pull the trigger, so the bullet from the scythe thankfully managed to miss me, but that was insanely close. The bullet size is massive and would’ve probably turned me into a donut…
*Swing* *Evade* *Swing* *Evade*
Two people jumped her at once with quite a good synergy with each other. A blonde guy and a snake lady using two swords.
Compared to the others they seem to have a much better time keeping her pinned down and making sure she’s kept busy. Despite the difference in weapons being used, those two seem to be doing a lot just fine.
*Punch* *Slash* *Grab* *Slam*
They got one opening, a punch into two swords connecting with her torso, and then being grabbed and slammed into the ground, losing the grip on her main weapon.
*Shine* *Weave* **Leap**
Before those two could continue with their combo, multiple threads of light manifested out of the ground and caused the two to jump away. The mousegirl stood up and summoned her scythe back to her side.
*Throw* *Spin*
“Huh!?” In a move I don’t quite understand, she threw out her scythe and for some reason it’s staying in the air and spinning at really high speed, looking like a disc of death and kicking up dust can cause the area to be windy just by its current form. Meanwhile both of her hands are tangled up in those threads, extending and looking more like dangerous whips despite being a bunch of thin ropes if I’m being generous.
“Focus or die.” She muttered as she seemed ready to go on the offensive.
*Dash* *Swing* *Evade* *Spin* *Evade* *Punch*
She ran towards the blonde guy swinging those light whips at him that he chose to try to avoid instead of confronting directly. He then almost gets hit by the scythe flying towards him at his speed like a dangerous frisbee, which distracted him just enough for the mousegirl to land a clean on him, causing him to greatly stagger.
*Dash* *Swing* *Parry* *Clash*
The snake lady then ran in to try to rescue her partner, and was stopped by those threads that had formed into twin blades attached to her hands like gloves, and the two exchanged blows while the blonde man had to retreat due to the spinning scythe still homing in on him.
*Clash* *Clang* *Block* *Slice*
“Are you for real!?” Eventually the snake lady managed to cause those twin swords made of silks to break, but that only made the mousegirl retreat and recreate another pair nearly instantly. She is obviously not happy out her hard work being undone so easily.
*Sizz* *Clash* *Clang*
The snake lady then lit her swords on fire and ran in to continue the offense.
I think I see a few people tagging in for that blonde guy and repel the scythe away.
I see one person with a sword and shield, another with some lizard-like features, and a normal looking guy that I think I saw confronting her not even that long ago.
*Clash* *Evade* *Block*
Four against one. She recalled the scythe to her side and defaulted back to using it alongside one hand wrapped in those mystical threads. The power behind the strike of each person is hard to discern, but the speed at which they’re moving and all the rubble and debris they kicked up as the fight escalate and they began to erratically move around the place, bouncing around like gravity is only a suggestion, as if the fall can’t kill you.
*Punch* *Crash*
She got a nasty left hook on one of them while both were in the air, sending him directly downward and eating the broken pavement.
*Swing* *Block* *Swing* *Block*
She then focuses her attention on the one with a shield, pressuring him and keeping him on his toes for a bit before the other two that are still in good condition chase her away.
*Bang* *Block* *Bang* *Block*
She then started using her scythe like a gun again and began firing shots at the three, with the shield guy blocking them and allowing the other two to have the time to build up speed and rush in and close the distance.
As for that unarmed guy… I don’t know where he went, but he’s still alive since the number of the participants didn’t go down.
“Hey. Get out of the area already.” Someone behind me said.
“What?” I muttered in confusion. I know I wasn’t really doing anything, but running away is a bit too embarrassing at this point, right?
He then pointed at the intact building quite far away… Is that someone charging up an attack?
“You don’t want to get in the way of that, move already!” He said, looking ready to drag me off by force.
“Okay! Okay!” I hastily replied before going along with him while the fight still kept going.
The sight of the battle gets harder to discern since I moved far out of the area and saw some people also spectating, and some are lying on the ground, clearly hurt and needing time to recover.
I don’t really see any of my classmates around here. I know most of them were eliminated quite early, but I swear there were some alive this morning… Let me check the current status of the participants… Huh? When did they all die!? Am I seriously the only one left right now?
*Blast*
Before I had any more time to process that fact, a massive beam of light was launched towards the danger zone. The insane heat I felt from sensing that attack is… quite terrifying.
“Damn it. Did she miss?” Someone asked in frustration. Did that not do it?
I see a few more people running towards the battlefield. I’m kinda curious as to what happened, but I really haven’t had a good track record so far either. It’s not like I have much I do anyway…
“You okay there?” A familiar voice rang out.
“Lynda? You’re okay?” That punch she took looks like it could break all the bones in her body, how had she recovered already?
“Sorta. Not really something a sufficient amount of magic can’t fix.” She said, not sounding particularly proud of it. “That damn Emmie. We’re really still not close to finishing it.”
“Is she invincible or something? Why is she getting stronger instead of weaker?” It really doesn’t make any sense.
“That’s not it. It’s simply that she was playing around during the start, and now she’s really ramping up her offense. It doesn’t matter if you lowered her power by a tenth, she can still demonstrate half of it just fine.” She explained. “We’re making progress. If she went all out right at the beginning we would genuinely have zero chance. We’re trying to take advantage of that.”
“That’s nuts.” I don’t think that kind of approach would ever make sense. I guess when you outstatted everyone so badly you can have the luxury to be less serious.
“Anyway. I need to go and help. Looks like they’re moving locations a bit. Might end up destroying a few more buildings.” She said before running off to join the fight.
…It’s still hard to believe everything I’m seeing today, or yesterday… or still today, I guess. I don’t even know what to make of all of this once it’s over.