Carrera was fighting an evenly matched battle against Zeth, the chief insectoid.
Zeth was a qualified opponent, but by no means one Carrera couldn’t beat. In fact, she was enjoying this battle now that she knew it was just the kind of tough challenge she liked. So she showed off a few of her recently acquired skills. Her Golden Gun and blade—the same battle style Lieutenant Kondo preferred—also suited Carrera just fine. Her moves with them were so natural and effortless, one couldn’t be blamed for assuming she had employed this weapon set for years and years.
In addition, Carrera was used to fighting insectors. Normally, this foe would be giving her trouble; instead, she wasn’t losing a single step to him. Zeth, after all, was quite similar to someone Carrera already knew quite well—from his physique to the exoskeleton covering his whole body. Their fighting styles were completely different, but the quality of their strikes and the overpowering presence that made everyone else cower were dead ringers for Zegion, a person Carrera recognized as her ally and rival.
Zeth’s existence points were, in fact, mind-boggling. His score was well above Carrera’s and a good three times where Zegion stood. But in terms of the threat they posed, Carrera felt Zegion still had the edge. She had fought him many times, and that was why she could stay a step ahead of Zeth’s thought process, even though she had never met him before.
At this point, Carrera wasn’t imposing any limitations on herself, either. Diablo had come up with this goofball rule that she couldn’t target any part of Zegion created with Rimuru’s cells, but that didn’t apply to Zeth. That was what allowed Carrera to go all out here. There was an obstacle to this at the start—an obstacle by the name of Piriod—but Esprit and her friends had done everything in their power to get rid of that for her. It was a commendable effort, especially given how mismatched they were.
And yeah, if my friends are putting in that kind of effort, I can’t look like a lazy bum around them!
In a way, then, Carrera was enjoying this fight to the death with Zeth. It was helping her work out all her seething emotions.
A blade aimed at a gap in Zeth’s armor made its way into his body tissue. At the same time as this dance-like blade strike, a bullet from close range smashed through Zeth’s compound eye. Bit by bit, the battle was tilting in Carrera’s favor.
“Ha-ha-ha! This is so fun!”
“Tsk… A demon like you, with all these little tricks…”
“You’re pretty good, but not as good as Zegion.”
“What?”
“Zegion’s my officially sanctioned rival, but fighting him is nothing like this. We’ve sometimes fought for days at a time, but I’ve never managed to inflict a single wound on him.”
That was the truth. Even without Diablo’s nonsensical rules, Zegion’s strength was extraordinary. By contrast, Zeth was hardly weak, but Carrera had landed repeated attacks on him. If they kept fighting like this, Carrera was convinced she’d win.
“So what?” Zeth asked.
“What I’m saying is you’re weaker than him.”
“Ha. Then let me show you everything I can do.”
Carrera’s words were more than enough to hurt Zeth’s pride. Converting his anger into energy, Zeth focused all his murderous rage on Carrera. That look alone could kill anyone ranked below an A; the sheer pressure was so violent it might’ve fatally wounded even a high-level magic-born. But Carrera brushed it off like it was nothing. Then, as if to pay him back, she drummed up her own magic force, working her aura up before sending it Zeth’s way.
The twin auras collided, forming a gigantic vortex over the battlefield. Anyone who touched it was caught up in the intense waves of magic force, at the cost of their life. The Milim forces were aware of this danger, which was why none of Carrera’s allies were near her. They were all fine, but since there were still swarms of insectors covering the battlefield, this whirlpool in the air did a lot to whittle down their numbers.
Zeth took a step forward. Carrera confronted him. His fist tore into Carrera’s cheek, just as her sword sliced through a gap in his exoskeleton. Zeth executed a kick that’d kill a high-ranked magic-born in one blow. Carrera, unfazed, thrust her Golden Gun into his chest and fired away. The bullet, fired at point-blank range, gouged its way through Zeth’s exoskeleton, creating a hole—but then Zeth’s kick, which looked like it had missed, swung back down at Carrera’s head.
“Hngh!”
She noticed it in the nick of time, just barely covering her head. But that wasn’t enough, and she took the blow on her shoulder instead.
“Almost had you,” Zeth said.
“Look at me, making a mistake. How embarrassing.”
Carrera’s left shoulder was shattered, but that intrepid smile was still on her lips. She had hoped to defeat him without taking any damage, so this was a disappointment for her, but she still didn’t think she’d lose. After several hours of fighting, Carrera recognized all of Zeth’s habits. But even so, Zeth’s power was the real deal—if Carrera wasn’t careful, she’d be the loser. It was up to her to gradually pile on the damage and ensure her own victory.
So she stared Zeth down with her sneering, imposing look. Her military uniform was torn at the shoulder, revealing the snow-white skin below. The blood had already stopped, and she was completely healed, like she had never been hurt in the first place. The same was true of Zeth; everything Carrera did to him had healed as well. For transcendent beings like the two of them, nonlethal damage was pretty meaningless. What counted in battle was how efficiently you could exhaust your opponent; any side who let fatigue slow them down was at a major disadvantage. Carrera had started this fight with a large-scale move, which meant her stamina was lagging behind Zeth’s. That was what made her consider a more measured approach.
Hee-hee-hee… I’ve got a grasp of this guy Zeth’s skills now. He’s good, but I’m still gonna win, aren’t I?
The way she saw it, there was no need to overexert herself any longer. But despite how assured she was about her victory, she suddenly began to notice a change in the atmosphere.
Huh? This presence…what is it? Lady Milim was looking out for something like this, so I let her keep an eye out, but…
Carrera had been fighting so freely because she knew Milim was still on standby. That was why she was late to notice…or maybe that wasn’t the only reason. Another was that Zeth was so powerful, Carrera didn’t really have the free time to worry about her surroundings—a situation he had intentionally created.
“Heh-heh-heh… So you noticed?” he remarked. “Yes, you are strong. I admit that, but we will be the winners here. This is not a duel… It is war.”
“What?” Carrera frowned, displeased.
Zeth didn’t care. He raised his right hand and pointed in a certain direction.
“Look,” he said.
Carrera instead used Magic Sense to probe the area. Then she learned what Zeth meant.
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