"Nraao!"
"...tsk…!"
Blanid's contracted fae joined in with a beam of light and this time, while the deofolized human still managed to dodge, although a sleeve of his was caught in the beam and burnt and he outwardly expressed annoyance, which was far greater reaction than before.
"Polaris! Keep it up!"
"Nrao!"
The disguised girl caught that detail and commanded, her fae responding with a spirited growl.
"Do you think I will make it easy for you!?"
"!"
Their actions weren't without a response… The former Oliver Berdon's furious growl was still ringing through the air while the deofolized human charged at Blanid, clearly trying to close the distance and engage in a close-quarters fight.
With how he parried and dodged every single attack, it was natural to realize that he wanted to quickly get rid of the only actual threat, the golden bear cub hanging from Banid's shoulder!
After the enlightenment, the disguised girl hurriedly jumped away, doing her best to keep the distance between herself and the charging enemy. Her contracted fae's attacks were still somewhat hitting their target, barely missing, but even their accuracy was getting lower the closer the defolized human was!
The distance and Polaris itself were surely the vital advantages that Blanid had to keep at all cost!
"How do you like this, filthy commoner!?"
"!!!"
Oliver Berdon called out with a nasty grin and threw two burgundy objects at once, but while Polaris immediately destroyed the first, and one of Blanid's ephemeral blades cut through the other, the third one had also been launched using the brief window…!
With more power, much faster, more like a proper spell than anything a human should be able to pull off with their strength alone.
*THUNG*
Yet Blanid reacted to it using Cladbolg's shadow, only not by cutting through it, but actually deflecting it back at the deofolized human with the broad side of the weapon!
*POOOF*
"Gu-gugh! Tha-ghugh! That's a commoner for you! Waving a sword like a damn stick! Ptfu!"
Oiver Berdon smacked the fruit-sized object just like he would swat away Blanid's ephemeral blades, but while the blades would be deflected, the object burst open, unleashing a cloud of fine dust-like powder for him to breathe in and choke on before spitting to the side.
"Nrao!"
"I know! That must be full of gedwyld! Powder…? No… That's more like puffball's spores!"
Polaris growled in unease, and Blanid nodded, gritting her teeth while watching the cloud of spores spread out.
The existence of that kind of attack in the deofolized human's arsenal changed the whole flow of the battle. Suddenly, closing the distance to finish it with Caladbolg's shadow stopped being the best option and changed into grave danger.
"...!?"
That made Blanid reconsider her situation and look at other details...
The deofolized human dodged the shockwave from Caladbog's shadow with ease and only had a harder time with Polaris's spells, yet its own attack got it…? Did it let its guard down because the burgundy spore sack was much less threatening to it or…?
"Don't think that you got me, trash!"
"NRAO!"
"!"
Former Oliver Berdon scowled, seeing its opponent distracted, and called out as it charged her, and Blanid was only able to react to that because of her contracted fae's desperate warning!
"Tsk! I will get rid of that stinky bear first!"
While its initial attack failed, Oliver Berdon kept close to Blanid, so she easily heard its scoff and tensed up as she noticed another burgundy spore sack in its hand!
How many did it actually have!?
Did it grow it out from its body, or were they created with mana, or possibly came from a different place?
Polaris's warnings weren't necessary as Blanid's own intuition was screaming at her, keeping her alert. Those spores were gravely dangerous, while Blanid might stand a chance, although even that was most likely an overestimation of herself on her part, a baby fae like Polaris would die after getting directly exposed to that amount of gedwyld pollution!
"Polaris, get out of here!"
Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Blanid commanded while doing her best to keep the distance between the two of them and the deofolized human.
"Nrao? Nrao!"
"I know, but I will figure something out! As long as he has those spore sacks, you're the one in the biggest danger!"
The golden bear cub growled in protest, but its master would not budge.
Risking losing Polaris… it was a possibility worse than death in a way…!
"GO!"
Former Oliver Berdan had to barely move his hand for Blanid to let out an urgent howl while sending all of her ephemeral blades and sword shockwaves just to allow Polaris to despawn.
All of the attacks send fromer Oliver's way would have taken out one of Rotsard's ice puppets, and yet the deofolized human strange body movements allowed it to not simply dodge out of the way of the shockwaves but also deflect all of the ephemeral blades while doing so!
"Pfft! Prioritizing a fae over securing a win? Pathetic~!"
Oliver Berdon even had enough of a leeway to mock the disguised girl's decision!
"Hah! Maybe if you did the same, you wouldn't lose to Rotsard so miserably!"
"You son of a whore!"
A snappy response left Blanid's mouth before she even properly formed it as a thought, she didn't decide yet to attempt enraging the deofolized human as a tactic, but she sure ended up on that path now, whether she wanted it or not!
"...~"
"?"
Despite acting all enraged and launching itself at the disguised girl and forcing her to dodge and flee hastily, there was something off about the doefolized human's actions.
Something that Blanid noticed but couldn't quite figure out what bothered her about it.
Blanid was dodging for only a few seconds, and yet her body was already strained to its limits just for keeping the precious distance.
…why did it stop using the spores, though…?
The deofolized human wasn't attempting to lead Blanid into the existing spore cloud, nor was it throwing out more of the burgundy projectiles.
Was it just trying to preserve them in case Polaris returned? Were they precious items with limited quantity? It would make sense to use them sparingly if they were its only lifeline against the baby fae's light attribute attacks!
After all, only Polaris's ranged attacks were posing any danger to…
"!!!"
"Did you realize how fucked you are?!"
Suddenly, Blanid's eyes widened as the realization of what was bothering her, while former Oliver Berdon misunderstood her reaction and laughed triumphantly.
That's right, the deofolized human laughed, which only made Blanid grit her teeth as she was giving in her all to stay away…
But…
Was it the correct choice?
Was the former Oliver Berdon completely blinded by rage or riding the high of bloodlust?
Even though he had enough judgement to not use all weapons at his disposal and only hold onto them threateningly?
Such a contradiction… it couldn't be just a coincidence, could it?
Or maybe he was just underestimating her?
No…
The deofolized human wasn't using the spore sack in its hand because it wasn't enraged. It was calmly ACTING as if it was enraged!
So, maybe the spore sacs were actually something in limited quantity, and it was holding onto it, in case Polaris would return?
"?"
Wait... But if the doeofolized human was wary about the fae enough to keep a limited-quantity resource just in case, why wasn't it bothered about the chance...?
She had to think! Properly analyze the situation, the fight, Oiver Berdon's actions…!
He was supposedly only harmed by Polaris's spells, but he didn't care that she was out of his sight.
And it was keeping up an act like that because, even though the spores were its best chance against Blanid and Polaris, the ranged attacks were never a threat!
Because, if Polaris's spells were the only means at Blanid's disposal capable of harming former Oliver Berdon, why in the world was he so reckless? For someone so incredibly skilled, why in the world wasn't he bothered about the possibility of Polaris materializing somewhere outside his immediate range, like the rooftop of either of the dormitories and striking him down from his blindspot?
Former Oliver Berdon wasn't worried about ranged attacks because he knew they couldn't actually harm him in the first place! At least not ones that Polaris was capable of at the moment!
It only wanted Blanid to THINK that it was so that she would keep him at a distance herself…
Safely out of Caladbolg's shadow's reach!
It was all just a ruse to get Blanid to keep her distance!
Since the beginning, Caladbogl's shadow WAS the winning condition!
After all…
THAT SWORD WAS CHEATING!