"R-Rina onee-sama, the 3rd fortress is being attacked!"
A panicked voice of Akemi resounded on the ventilated corridor as she saw the allies on 3rd Fort scrambling for so reason.
She could see mbers of that fortress grouping together for formations, or so rushing to the Ballistas. But a majority of her confusion was due to the no sight—more like, «Dragon's Miniature Garden» was not reflecting any enemy.
"I see that. What exactly is happening, huh? —«Guild Connect»! 3rd Fortress staff, do you copy my voice? What's situation—"
Rina promptly focused on her telepathy communication skill, and she was imdiately connected to designated personnel on 3rd Fortress.
"E-Ekatrina-san?!"
"Yes, it's . I can see you're under attack by soone. However, the opponent isn't being reflected in the «Dragon's Miniature Garden», so I would like to have a report about the situation? Who exactly is the opponent?"
"T-the opponent is... that G-Gracious smile!"
"G-Gracious Smile?!"
It appeared the personnel on 3rd Fortress—a girl, was caught in so situation so the reply ca back in a fragnted voice. The only thing Rina could make out was «Gracious Smile»."
"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK BY THE GRACIOUS SMILING MACHOS SQUAAAAD!!"
However the reply instead had Rina almost stumble forward. *Ahem* Oh wait, the situation was urgent to call for any reaction right now.
"P-please be specific! How many opponents are you facing?!"
"It's three! E-err, it's one Celestine, and two Machos! We're also under attack by sudden shower of giant light swords—"
Huh, was there supposed to be more Celestine? Rina almost was about to ask so, but she barely stopped herself, and sorted the details.
The giant, light swords needed no explanation. It must be Her Highness Lana. Her Highness is targeting two bases at once!
It was a shock for Rina.
"So it's Celestine-san, and Machos-san squad? However «Brawny Warrior» shouldn't be able to use any skill or magic... It must be the skill of Celestine-san! I never knew about it!"
It didn't take Rina much to figure out who could've led the situation.
And she was so right.
It was the extending effect of Celestine's unique skill «A Mont of Respite for Everyone», which was 'it invalidates all the negative effects.'
The key point was 'negative.' Negative effect comprises invalidating debuffs, but the effect went beyond that. If not so, the effect could have been clearly spelled as 'Negate Debuffs.'
To put it in short, the negative effect also includes 'being caught in the enemy's detection skill, or traced by pursuers.' And Rina capture the presence of people through her job's skill «Human Observation». In all this ti, she had always thought Celestie's unique skill was all about debuff invalidation.
After making their retreat in the east, having been repelled by reinforcent in 4th Fortress, they should've moved to the 3rd Fortress, and jumped on a two-pronged assault along with Zephyr's team.
"There's nothing to fret about. The 3rd Fortress has also been strengthened twice. It would take them so ti before they can actually take it down. I will have a portion of reinforcent from 1st Fortress. Please keep them at bay until then!"
Rina swiftly sorted the situation, and passed her command. She had anticipated such a situation, so her reaction was imdiate.
It was anyone's guess that 4th Fortress would be on the opponent’s radar given the damage it sustained, and they could use this advantage to tread their way toward the 3rd Fortress.
Albeit, it was a risky gamble. If Rina moved the entire force, she could have another reinforcent close up from behind, and catch the attackers in pincer.
Of course, the number of attackers were below her expectation, but anyway, the situation was easily manageable with reinforcent. They could catch them in pincer attack by having 1st Fortress mbers take a route from the south.
Rina's voice was calm as she instructed.
They only needed to hold until reinforcent was here, and they could regain the reign of battle on their hands. And if they play their cards well, they could even bring down Her Highness Lana, one of the pillars of Class-1.
Perhaps Zephyr had expected they would try to call in reinforcents, and hence had planned a surprise attack on 3rd Fortress and force them to direct their reinforcent there instead.
As long as they could weather this avalanche, maybe the battlefield situation might see a change in their favour. The bubbles of expectation brew inside Rina.
—However next appeared an unexpected variable she hadn't accounted for.
"!! Protect Rina-sam! «Flow Shield»!"
The two-handed shield user, Tomoyo, suddenly scread. She hastily covered Rina behind her shield, and went as far to invoke skill.
Rina was perplexed by the changes.
"!!"
And the fog of confusion had just engulfed everyone when sothing suddenly flew toward Rina—but struck the shield square which had been protecting her, and a crisp 'Clang!' echo reverberated in the area.
"A sniper!?"
"Get everyone on alert mode!"
Apparently Tomoya had noticed an attack—this ti, it was a bullet, so not Lana, but most likely a sniper—incoming from a distance.
"Sniper isn't reflected in «Dragon's Miniature Garden»... it must be Shizu-san's «Magic Bullet»! —«Far-Sight»!"
Rina had seen the sa attack and the style, and imdiately linked up the identity of the sniper. And sure enough, with the help of distance view skill, she caught sight of the familiar Maid standing atop «Northwest Mountain», alone.
As a matter of fact, since the topic of invisible enemies—a.k.a opponent not reflecting on «Dragon's Miniature Garden»—was still hot, she needed no second guess who could act beyond her range.
As soon as affird Shizus's silhouette, she fired off her skill she had prepared.
" A challenge? Bring it on! «Hyper Canon»!"
Rina replied with her own counter-attack.
Since Shizu was beyond the boundary of their square, the effect was minimal, but the giant cannon was good enough to pin down her movent. Shizu imdiately took action to dodge it.
However, in the next mont, Rina and the people around realised Shizu was just bait to divert their attention.
They suddenly heard shrieks reverberating in the corridor.
"W-Who is this girl!?"
"How is she so fast?! Tsk, I can't catch up with her!"
"Wait—rgh?! When did she slashed !?"
It wasn't the first shriek of the day they had heard. but the fact that they could hear so close was the problem. They'd been on the corridor on the top of the fortress, and there's no way screams should be appearing from around the place!
"I-I see a black shadow!"
Soon, all they saw was a black shadow rushing across the scene. The shadow appeared like black lightning flashing across the scene, uncaptured by anyone.
The shadow should have snuck inside when Rina's attention had been taken by Shizu, hence she missed the enemy icon on «Dragon's Miniature Garden». And now, the shadow bolted in her direction, the twin daggers gleaming in cold light as the shadow activated a skill.
"—Hn, found you. —«64 Force»!"
Rina's eyes nearly jumped out of her eye socket from the surprise she felt when she realised who that black shadow was.
"Karua-san??!"
The shadow—Karua had infiltrated the fortress to take down the leader!
She closes the distance from one end of the corridor to Rina's spot in a flash, slips past Tomoyo and unleashes her skill toward Rina.
"I-I am still here!"
Just as everyone had been paralysed by the sudden situation, and the situation looked grim, Nagi of Class-5 jumped on the scene by herself.
It was in light of this situation she had been appointed as guard for Rina, specifically due to the high-ranking job she had—«Raven». It was a job with expertise in spycraft. And with the help of her skill «Presence Alert», she had already seen through Karua's true motive.
However, Karua had closed the distance faster than she had anticipated so it ans she couldn't hide Rina with her «A Tree is Better Hidden in Forest» skill, and neither it was the perfect mont to use long range attack and lowers her probability, the effect of «Hiding in the Shade of A Rock».
The situation had gone 0 to 180 so fast she lost the chance to use her moves, so she erased the sound of her footsteps, and swiftly crossed the gap between her and Rina with her skill «Serene like Lake, Silent like a Wing». She put herself in front of Rina to cover her.
"—Hn!"
"Arrgh, kyaaa—!"
"N-Nagi-san!!"
"Hurry up and barrier, Kaji!!"
"—!! «Enhanced Barrier»!"
"! Hnn? A failure..."
Realising her sneak attack had failed, Karua backflipped and opened the distance between them. anwhile, Nagi received heavy damage for the price to keep Rina safe, and was eliminated.
Karua's montum only stopped when «Barrier Master» Kajmal pitched a barrier, protecting a comrade behind a protective screen, and that required good enough ti to break! It was a narrow escape.
Rina keenly felt the situation, and looked at Karua, the unexpected elent she hadn't expected to see.
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