Ameriko fired her shotgun at the praying mantis man, but its pellets did nothing more than create fireworks on the surface of the barrier.
“That’s not gonna work!”
Said the praying mantis man without stopping and with a slight grimace. He ran straight towards Himeno, ready to strike her with his fist.
“A slave sorcerer that chooses close-quarters combat…”
“Himeno!”
“Ameriko, plan D2!”
“O-okay!”
“Sword wielder! Do you think you have time to look away!?”
The praying mantis man furiously swung his fist, and the ground burst, creating a cloud of dust.
“What power…!”
Himeno jumped back, but the praying mantis man kicked the ground and chased her.
“You’re not getting away! Hyaha!”
“Kuh…!”
Beautiful flower petals flew from Himeno’s sleeve.
“That’s not even gonna distract me! Die!”
The ‘invisible fists’ the praying mantis man fired into the air bounced off Himeno’s sword with a glitter. She then twisted her body higher into the air, dodging what appeared to be various spears thrown at her.
“Tch!? You think you’re clever!?”
Himeno spread the flower petals she had hidden in her sleeve with wind magic, revealing her opponent’s attack. This made it possible for her to see its trajectory and dodge them.
“Nice, Himeno!”
“…You should be focusing on me.”
The woman whose body seemed to distort like a mosaic started moving.
She listlessly raised her arms, which peeled two layers from her barrier, and fired them.
Ameriko could see their trajectory thanks to the smokescreen. They rotated rapidly while flying around.
They were about one meter long, easily sliced off tree branches just by touching them, and even brick buildings were cracked.
“A flying box-cutter…”
It was just as Himeno said.
The slave sorcerers all had a standard ‘invincible barrier’, but their characteristics differed.
Shape, range of defense, effect when it was used to attack…
Ameriko’s Remington Arms M870 buckshot did not break the barrier. It lacked piercing power.
The bullets could not reach the praying mantis man or the pink mosaic woman. She needed a stronger weapon and bullets, but decided to bet on Himeno’s plan regardless.
“…You can’t dodge. Maybe I’ll begin with your arms, and then sever the legs? Hihihi… You look like you scream nicely…”
The listless looking woman began to smile, perhaps out of excitement. Her ugly, distorted madness was beginning to shine through.
“So you’re a psychopath too. That’s good to know.”
Ameriko slid her gun barrel to reload, evened her posture, and pulled the trigger without hesitating.
“…Useless.”
Her shot bounced off the thick barrier.
The pink mosaic woman waved her right hand, and with a wooshing sound, an invisible disk-shaped blade was fired towards Ameriko.
“Shoot!”
She fired at the disk in mid-air. With a sharp sound, it changed its trajectory and flew diagonally downwards until it hit a building. It spun for a few seconds longer before vanishing.
“…Marvelous. You’re the first person to deflect my Spinning Human Meat sSicer.”
“…What a terrible name. Just as terrible as your pink head,”
“…Can you not get carried away you uggo!? Uggooo!”
“Your voice is cracking.”
Ameriko reloaded her shotgun, and shot down all the disks that flew towards her.
She calmly fired her shotgun while carefully aiming and predicting her target’s trajectory.
“…!? It can’t be…!”
Ameriko and Himeno’s allies made sure the smoke never disappeared, making the barriers visible.
“…Little to the siiiiide!”
The intensity of the human meat slicers increased.
“Damn it!”
Ameriko missed one, which was after her midsection.
“Daah!”
A warrior with a thick iron shield stepped in, and the impact sent sparks flying.
“We will be your shield!”
More warriors with similar equipment started jumping out from behind buildings to provide cover.
“T-thanks!”
“…I remember that woman. She slayed a lot of citizens and warriors in the fortress city!”
“I didn’t think we were going to be friends anyway.”
Ameriko pointed her shotgun directly in front, and fired on the pink mosaic woman. The impact and its sound put a grimace on her face, but she did not budge.
This barrier was shown to be able to stand firm against the impact of swords and the heat of magic, but it did not block everything. At the very least, it did not block air, sound, or the impact from attacks.
If it did a perfect job blocking everything, the person inside would not be able to breathe.
The heated battle between the praying mantis man and Himeno continued. She pretended all she could do was defend, to lure him into a false sense of security.
The other sorcerer, the dark giant, advanced towards the city as his barrier crushed the ground like an invisible road roller, but the wizards already had a trap ready for him.
“Gugo… Gogo?”
The ground beneath his feet turned into a swamp.
The praying mantis man was fifteen meters away, the dark giant thirty meters, and the pink mosaic woman ten meters.
Their positions were perfect.
“I believe in you Himeno.”
Ameriko ejected the cartridges from her shotgun and reloaded.
She aimed it again at the pink mosaic woman, from atop the shoulder of the warrior shielding her.
“…The result is always going to be the same!”
The barrier around her regenerated, distorting the space around her, and even blurring the pink mosaic woman.
She could replenish her barrier and her human meat slicers as many times as she wanted.
“Really? Then how about this?”
Ameriko pulled the trigger. She was using 12 gauge, 18.4 millimeter caliber… Tear gas.
“…Geh!? Cough!?”
White smoke burst directly in front of her face, and the riot control tear gas round scattered a very painful chemical. The effect on her eyes and respiratory organs put her on the way to being out of commission.
“Iii… Ikyaaah!?”
“Got her!”
Ameriko twisted her body and fired at the praying mantis man, who was running towards Himeno.
“Hngyah!?”
When the white smoke burst in front of the praying mantis man, he lost his balance and plummeted to the ground.
“There’s one for you too!”
Ameriko also fired at the dark giant.
“Ugo… Ooooooh!?”
The man cowered as the ground rumbled.
“T-this…! Cough! Ugh! Uncivilized… Nonsense…!”
Said the pink mosaic woman while holding her eyes and collapsing in agony. She tried to fight the pain and fire her barrier petals, but she aimed in the wrong direction altogether.
Himeno figured out that the invincible barrier did not work if it did not recognize something as an attack.
When she fought Mihirakula, mud and pebbles reached him because much like the ground and air, it did not recognize them as attacks.
“She convinced me that my bullets alone aren’t enough.”
Himeno taught her that brute force was not all there was.
Ameriko summoned a colt government, and approached the pink mosaic woman very quickly with her handgun.
“…It hurts!? How dare…! How gare… Cough cough?”
The mosaic woman stopped. She could not even open her eyes, but felt the cold metal of a gun barrel.
The colt government was pressed against her temporal region, and once someone got that close, the barrier would not work.
“…Wai…”
The trigger was pulled, and her head burst. Two more shots followed, and fresh blood painted the ground on the opposite side.
The pink mosaic woman fell as though the strings of a puppet had been cut.
“Now that I think about it, I never heard your name.”
Ameriko said, sounding not the least bit interested. She looked at the corpse with a cold expression, and fired one more shot.
“Gyaah!? Damn it! It hurts, damn this stupid trick…! This…!”
“All is fair in love and war.”
A cold blade was pressed against the praying mantis man’s throat.
Himeno got within one meter of the man after taking advantage of a momentary gap in his barrier.
“Damn… Y…”
The man never got to finish the sentence, as his head was separated from the rest of his body.
Himeno twisted her body as though she was dancing as she drew her sword. Behind her, blood spurt upwards like a fountain.
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