Chapter 353

353 – Siren Trio

Of the sirens swooping towards me, I decide to check the status of the vanguard. I don’t know how intelligent they are, so I can’t say anything about if they might have a formation… But the vanguard siren could simply be the fastest, or the one with the highest level. The fact that the gap between them is widening supports that idea. I should prioritise checking the status of the strongest of them.

I look at the status of the siren as it flies towards me at high speed, its hair dishevelled as it releases a song-like scream.

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Species: Siren

Condition: Normal

Lv: 69/80

HP: 359/359

MP: 288/423

Attack: 287

Defence: 311

Magic: 482

Speed: 550

Rank: B

Characteristic Skills:

[Flight: Lv7] [Automatic HP Recovery: LV3] [Choir: Lv8] [Automatic MP Recovery: Lv5] [Soft Steps: Lv2]

Resistance Skills:

[Magic Resistance: Lv4] [Paralysis Resistance: Lv5] [Petrification Resistance: Lv5] [Instant Death Resistance: Lv3] [Curse Resistance: Lv7] [Confusion Resistance: Lv5] [Illusion Resistance: Lv7] [Poison Resistance: Lv5] [Sleep Resistance: Lv5]

Normal Skills:

[Lullaby: Lv4] [Song of Turmoil: Lv4] [Song of Serenity: Lv4] [Song of Death: Lv6] [Song of Charm: Lv5] [Song of Resentment: Lv7] [Song of Evil Spirits: Lv5] [Song of Entrancement: LV7] [Wind Slash: Lv4]

Title Skills:

[Cunning: Lv5] [Obsessive: Lv6] [Singer of the Farthest Ends: Lv-] [Death Chorus: Lv-]

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Th-that speed… I’m plenty faster, but there’s several of them, and they have many unfamiliar skills. Th-this might be a bit much to leave to Aro and the others just yet. As expected, B ranks are genuinely strong. If it becomes a melee, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to protect them all

Not only are they fast, but there’s several of them. To make matters worse, a lot of their skills sound ominous and are clearly long range. It also seems I’ve finally met another user of [Wind Slash] besides myself.

To put it plainly, [Wind Slash] is strong. The force of its blows aren’t extremely strong, but it has a comparatively high attack power. Once you get used to it, you can fire it indiscriminately, and its range is long. The time it takes to shoot is a beat faster than magic-type skills. It’s ideal for keeping opponents in check and for hunting small fry. Even against opponents of the same rank, depending on the match up, it has potential to end the combat just through continuous fire at long range.

The siren only has about one sixth of the MP pool I have, but it’s by no means a small amount. If anything, sirens are the type to have a lot of MP. But, as expected, fighting the adam must have drained a lot of its MP, and it still hasn’t recovered. They probably won’t be able to fire off [Wind Slashes] unthinkingly, but I have to consider the possibility of rapid-fire shooting as part of their strategy. If they were to shoot at Aro and the others, I’ll have no choice but to protect them.

Anyway, I’ll try taking the initiative. I flap my wings and pour magic power into the wind produced, then release it down the path of my arm. The blade of wind, the [Wind Slash], soars towards on the lead siren.

There is a sudden change in the sirens’ tone. Their three cries overlap, their pitches varying slightly to create a harmony. Contrary to their horrifying appearance, their voices produce a beautiful sound that is truly worthy of being called music.

The [Wind Slash] hits… The moment I think that, with a dizzying lurch, the lead siren splits into two. The two following it also split in two. Three pairs of sirens fly through the air. Wh-what is this? They… They shouldn’t have that skill.

No, that’s not right. I’ve experienced something very similar many times in the Harenae desert. The illusion skill, [Mirage]. Most likely, their [Song of Entrancement] has a similar effect. There’s no way B rank monsters could suddenly double like that. Even I couldn’t fight something like that. One of each of those pairs is just an illusion.

I focus in an attempt to shake off the illusion. But, perhaps because all three of them are using it together, all I achieve is a slight blur, not enough to tell them apart. It’s not as though I can’t distinguish them with [Status Inspection], but as they’re flying in parallel, aiming at just one of them is difficult.

Damn it, this is on top of having to deal with the attacks from all three of them…

The six sirens look down on me with sickening smiles. They seem to be making fun of me…. My bewilderment and impatience must be visible.

The two lead sirens slow down slightly, lining up with the other two pairs before ascending higher. They hover diagonally above me for a moment, then flap their wings hard to release [Wind Slashes]. Each siren shoots a single shot. Including the illusions, six wind slashes rain down on us.

Th-this is bad. No matter how you put it, there’s too many. No, half are illusions, but… Since I don’t know which those are, if I make a mistake, Aro and the others will be hit directly. I need to defend them, but… If this keeps up, the situation will just keep getting worse. Though since I can’t rely on guesswork, I’ve got no choice but to keep protecting them from them all.

At that moment, Aro jumps down from my shoulder.

“Curse magic, [Curse]!”

Three evil-looking lights shoot from her hand and climb into the sky, leaving dark trails in their path. But the lights of [Curse] are weak and slow. It’s clear they won’t hit the sirens. Besides, their [Curse Resistance] is high. Even if it were to hit, I don’t expect it would have much effect. Though I haven’t used curses much, my impression from [Dragon Scale Powder] and [Plague Breath] is that it’s effectively a hard-to-treat, slow-acting poison. I can’t imagine it’s very effective in direct combat.

H-hey Aro, don’t move around so much. They’re seriously dangerous… Hmm? No, Aro has the [Status Condition Nullification] skill that might be characteristic of undead. Illusions aren’t listed with the status conditions, but the resistance skill is properly called [Illusion Resistance]. So can Aro see them clearly?

If so, then that speeds things up. I focus my concentration on only the sirens in the direct trajectory of Aro’s [Curses], and the [Wind Slashes] of those sirens. I stretch my tail out to the treant and shoot a [Wind Slash] at one of the sirens. The sirens tremble in surprise at my unhesitant movements.

Two [Wind Slashes] bear down on me. It’s the [Wind Slash] shot by the lead siren. Perhaps because of the difference in its magic power, it’s far faster than the other two’s.

I thrust my head forwards to receive the [Wind Slash] on the side of my face. Sharp pain runs through me, and my forehead to below my left eyelid is cut open. Blue blood drips into my mouth. Oww… Well, this much is within acceptable limits.

As Aro indicated, the other [Wind Slash] is an illusion, as it breaks apart into bubbles of light just before reaching me, then dissipates.

My [Wind Slash] collides with the siren’s [Wind Slash] middair. But mine has over twice the amount of magic power. My blade of wind completely swallows the siren’s. Then it bursts through the siren’s scattered [Wind Slash] and continues on directly towards the siren’s chest. The siren closes its wings to adopt a defensive posture.

The blade of wind hits the siren.

“AaaAaaaaAAAh!”

It screams. A mixture of feathers and deep red blood splatter through the air.

Bearing a horizontal red cut, the siren opens its wings, the lower half of its wings dangling loosely, revealing a deep red gash in its abdomen. Its eyes open wide, it begins to fall.

The siren right next to the one hit by the [Wind Slash] becomes blurry and fades away. The other sirens’ illusions disappear similarly, returning to just three.

Considering how vigorously they came at me, they still go down in a single [Wind Slash]. They’re too specialised in magic and speed. They need to be tougher to fight me.

Don’t get so full of yourself for defeating an adam. They’re the weakest in A rank… Well, it’s good that I was able to get the jump on them like this, but I doubt it’ll work again. It’s all thanks to Aro.

【1690 experience points have been acquired.】

【Due to the Title Skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 1690 experience points have been acquired.】

【The level of [Ouroboros] has risen from 97 to 98.】

Oh? I levelled up? I guess the basilisk did give me quite a lot of experience. This must have been enough combined with the leftover.

I wonder if they’ll run away now…? But the two remaining sirens show no sign of retreat.

The expressions of the remaining two distort into rage. Simultaneously, the pitch of their voices changes. Before they were singing in a high soprano, but now their pitches are varying wildly to create a dissonance.

A feeling of sickness presses down on me. [Song of Death]… Is not what this is, then? Based on the name, [Song of Death] would probably be a similar skill to [Death].

By overlapping their voices, the strength of their song skills are being raised. It must be the effect of their characteristic skill [Choir] and title skill [Death Chorus]. It seems they know that singing individually, wouldn’t be enough to have an effect on me.

While they’re using [Song of Death], they can’t use any of their status condition skills. It seems they understand that if they were to come at me without a plan, they’d simply die right away.

I thought I’d gain an edge after killing one of them, but… They’ve gotten closer now. With my superior projectile range and speed, I have an advantage at long distances. But what will happen as we enter mid range combat…?