<815 - Newbie Welcome (14)>
On the way to meet Velvet.
Just as I was contemplating taking a detour for the first outing in a while, a flash of light flickered at my feet.
“Agassi…!”
“Ann…!”
In the brief moment where even the scream couldn’t fully escape, the flash exploded with enough power to vaporize a human.
[Auto Barrier]
Of course, it was no match for an experienced veteran player entering their second year, who had combined high-level functions with their function work to deal with.
“Wow, a landmine!”
“…It feels like us worrying ended up being a loss.”
“When did you master Auto Barrier?”
Well, I’m not quite sure. If I were to consider the timing, it’s pretty recent.
“Once automatic and mana studies exceed 1200, and mana barrier and situational awareness exceed 600, and you possess precision, focus, and detection functions, you can combine them to set up Auto Barrier. It felt like it worked just recently!”
“That would be after the Foundation Workshop Battle. Could we consider it the last gift from the Director?”
“Hmm, since my Papa increased those functions, I think that would be fine to say!”
The dutiful daughter who lost both Papas overnight worried that this was a heartfelt gift left by Papa; such a rich reward! If I had known Papa’s gift (inheritance) would be this sweet, I should have made about a hundred more Papas.
“Can Jonnas and Reap do something like this?”
Jonnas expanded metal to create a defensive coffin-like shape around himself and then smoothly released the protective state like melted water.
“I can perform this metal defense technique.”
“Wow. What about Reap?”
“Impossible. So please take good care of me, Jonnas.”
Naturally, Reap approached and clung to Jonnas’ back!
It was visible how Reap’s flat chest pressed against Jonnas’ solid back. Neither Reap’s posture of supporting her toned thighs with her hands nor the way she hung onto Jonnas’ nape showed any sign of bashfulness or hesitation.
“Tch. Something feels off.”
“?”
“?”
“Nothing at all. Now, let’s hurry up!”
Thump thump thump.
With the sound of landmines exploding, the cozy picnic continued.
*
Creamfield presented a new strategy to defeat Velvet Bellett.
“It’s foolish to try and compete with Velvet directly in a battle. We will engage in a thorough delaying battle while avoiding direct combat.”
“What’s the plan?”
“Velvet’s giant attack has prerequisites. The further the ability is deployed from herself, the larger the scale, the more severe the mana consumption becomes. Therefore, she has no choice but to come to the front lines. The traps that operate during this process are precisely landmines.”
“!!”
“It may not work against the enemies of the Foundation, the enemies of humanity, the beings from hundred-dimensional realms, but Velvet is not a million-strong army; she is a single entity that ends when killed.”
Creamfield Rozepasta’s insight was correct.
After a buried landmine turned one Velvet faction student into a near cripple, the Velvet faction had no choice but to advance using large-scale bombardment or precise mana scans that tore the ground apart.
Yet that too fell within the realm of what Creamfield predicted regarding Velvet faction’s countermeasures.
“Add a ‘movement’ function to the mana landmines. If we make all their detection abilities useless, the only method left for Velvet’s team to advance will be large-scale bombardment.”
Even those with overwhelming power wouldn’t be able to keep up with the mana consumption required if they had to repeatedly push forward without any capability to sense the attacks.
The number of competent individuals is small, and their mana is finite, so they had successfully unbalanced the elite Velvet faction.
“The support troops from the Foundation consisting of the Butler and Maid are currently removing the landmines. It’s expected that the mana consumption for the Velvet faction will be significantly lower than anticipated.”
“Oknodie. Unlike Velvet, the Dark Princess is much more troublesome. They will mix in different strategies to counteract.”
Creamfield combined mana projectiles with landmines.
“Self-destruct landmine projectiles. Make it so they use all their power to fend off the landmines coming from the air without any energy left for detection.”
The support from the Foundation’s butlers and maids faced landmines that couldn’t be sensed.
They forced the enhanced auxiliary force with developed senses to exhaust the enemy entirely.
“The enemies have started resisting with ingredients and toys.”
“That’s actually great news. This will cause the barrier surrounding Velvet to consume strength and gradually loosen that thick wall.”
“Is that really?!”
In Creamfield’s cold eyes, intelligence sparkled.
“We will break through the Velvet faction’s barrier in one strike and approach Velvet; as she exhausts her strength, we will assassinate her.”
One shouldn’t search for the breakthrough of this war in a defensive battle.
No fortress can stop Velvet, but the barrier of humans surrounding her could be her very grave.
The main weakness of giant techniques is they cannot be used in densely crowded places.
“If the allies that should help are actually creating limits on the power output to use their abilities, and can’t effectively push back the enemies, I wonder what kind of expression Velvet will have when facing her end.”
“Wow!”
“I will trust only the peerless strategist, Creamfield!”
“I have been keeping an eye on the strength of the Rozepasta family for a long time. Indeed, they have inherited the will of their ancestors who squeezed the tough flesh of demon realm folk into smooth pasta.”
“A strategy that embodies the extreme of the function that wraps around Velvet and kills her; if the ancestors of the Rozepasta family in the Netherworld see the prowess of the grown-up Creamfield, they will surely be satisfied!”
The strength to toy with the formidable ones with those that haven’t even reached the peak.
Creamfield’s intelligence holds the potential to kill Velvet Bellett; maybe she has truly achieved it.
If it weren’t for the sudden appearance of an irregular who detonated landmines in real time across the battlefield.
“Irregular detected in the inland direction!”
“Destination presumed to be Velvet!”
“All landmines along the route of the irregular targeting Velvet are exploding!”
Creamfield’s face paled.
This was dangerous.
The scope was too wide.
Having expended forces with moving landmines and self-destructing guided mana missiles, the entirety of Velvet’s faction could escape through a new hole.
Once missed, the consumed strength would recover, leaving only the Krimfield faction at a disadvantage due to lost resources.
Even in the underground, for some reason, movement landmines were unable to infiltrate past the paths already traveled.
“Deploy knights immediately. If that route opens, the assassination operation against Velvet will be rendered pointless!”
He didn’t know who the agent crossing the battlefield was.
The unfolding disturbance mana didn’t permit awareness.
That’s why, only after losing two knight squads, he realized.
“What’s inside there… that’s a being on par with Velvet Bellett!!”
“Creamfield! Even mobilizing the legion on the front line can’t stop that! A true competent person must step forward!”
“The moment it makes contact with Velvet, the velvet hunt will essentially fail. What will you do?”
Creamfield Rozepasta.
Only he had to step in directly.
His subordinates noticed this fact.
Everyone looked to him.
At the moment he says that’s too reckless, he knows what happens next.
His subordinates would be disappointed.
The faction members would feel betrayed by Creamfield’s actions, which would abandon the knights and evade the danger.
Some would defect from the faction, and some might even become enemies.
The foundation’s lineage.
The true heir.
That position belongs to the Dark Princess, not Creamfield.
No matter how reckless this challenge may be.
The moment he withdraws is the beginning of the fall for the ambitious Creamfield.
“I will go myself. The elite scholarship students, prepare to deploy together.”
“Yes!”
“It’s an honor to be with you!”
The morale of the battlefield didn’t falter.
In fact, there was even great joy in the fact that they would move together with him, who had annihilated the nobles of the Seoguyeon Main Team with overwhelming force.
Creamfield also tried to reassure himself.
‘As long as I succeed. The emergence of an unpredictable ultra-competent individual is a common variable that can occur in battles. There might just be an ambush from the enemy, just hiding.’
Given the immense power of the Foundation at its zenith, a competent individual at Creamfield’s level can be found anywhere.
Directly under the Foundation is the triple head.
The unfortunate Butler Jonnas.
The top assassination maid Bella.
Survivor of the executive slaughter, Pasible Yep.
The officially acknowledged heir of the Director and the Foundation’s chief scholarship student, Dark Princess Oknodie.
But after today, the world will also witness the birth of a new powerful individual who can stand shoulder to shoulder with their names.
“Velvet faction’s ambush group. Your advance ends here. If you willingly give up joining, you may spare your lives. What stands before you is…”
Creamfield’s voice was abruptly cut off as if it had been sliced.
He realized a throwing dagger came flying into an area tainted red with black darkness, severing the flow of mana.
It was an act that even imprisoned his voice that should have spread around through mana.
The high-level mana control and assassination techniques were immediately apparent.
The opponent had no intention of dialogue.
“Very well. I will have you pay the price for that arrogance.”
As soon as the scoping territory was released, various-sized spells flew in succession.
The spells severing the flow of mana, affixing it in the air, and distorting even the laws.
This was the level of control that a supreme assassination maid had achieved over her suppression techniques.
━━━
[Binding] + [Distortion] + [Disturbance] + [Grab] + [Barrier] + [Return] + [Throw]
7-link area throw spell [Creamfield's Reflection Zone]
━━━
There was absolutely no reason Creamfield wouldn’t be able to replicate such a meager trick.
The counter spells he sent back were frantically intercepted by the subsequent spells flying in.
However, the additional attacks mixed in between finally pierced through the thick dark territory of the opponent, fixing and affixing them.
Territory retracted.
Reality unveiled.
At last, the enemy’s true form revealed was an Agassi, who clapped in awe, eyes gleaming red, alongside a Butler holding an umbrella, and a maid glaring at him in frustration.
Creamfield, who memorized the name and face of the powerful, quickly realized that two members from the Foundation had appeared.
The Butler’s name was Jonnas.
The Agassi’s name was Oknodie.
“That right there, is that how you did it just now?”
No matter how poor I might be, we would be on equal ground with them.
We could certainly stand shoulder to shoulder.
If I pour the lives of my subordinates and followers into it, an equal contest could be established.
In that moment of judgment, Oknodie’s hand swiftly grabbed and hurled something.
Creamfield’s face, which had reflexively unfurled [Creamfield's Reflection Zone], turned cold with rigidness.
Thud!
The counter of the zone didn’t activate.
No, Oknodie’s [Binding] countered Creamfield’s [Binding], and the attack permeated through.
In a mere moment, the technique that contained the essence of his whole life was overtaken completely.
“Where did you practice this incredibly precise Binding? If you were an old school about drill hairstyles, I wouldn’t be surprised, but to demonstrate this level of Binding with a plain-haired girl who has never even wrapped a single hair!!”
Creamfield’s shock was fully justified.
It’s only common sense to be baffled when a technique like water concealment is performed in a dry place, and it’s similarly customary to be astonished when someone showcases the extremes of Binding without a drill hairstyle.
Oknodie made a face as if listening to such strange questions and still provided a proper answer.
