Chương 288: Chapter 271. Regrouping and Thinking

" Hit them harder? Really!? That's your brilliant idea? I could've said that." Sarah seemed to put a bit too much faith in the idea that I would come up with some grand scheme, but from what I've seen, that really is the best option." Well, it just seems like the best thing we could do, I mean, you guys have seen it for yourselves after all. You 3 are both stronger than I am, and you were able to take out bigger chunks than me. My cut was more or less like a scrape on a rock compared to you 3.

So, I think we need to hit them really hard in order to defeat them, like punching through wood or bricks in a Martial Arts Demonstration. And if all else fails, I have 1 other idea."" What? Hit them really hard together?" I nodded to Princess Alice's guess." I think if we attack one of them at the same time in the same place, we might be able to do more damage than before. The real question is how we takedown one so we can help each other with the others. Any ideas?" 3 shaking heads followed my question.

Well, seems like I'm going to need to make something happen... It's not like I have no idea about how I could do it, but actually setting up the conditions... Maybe it's possible?" I think I could destroy one of them, but it's going to cost me a decent amount of mana... Maybe I should just go for it regardless?"" I'm not so sure you should, Darling. You'll need every bit of your mana once we finally make it to him. Wait, you said they were made of plants, right?"" Yes.""

What if I try using the Underworld Goddess's mana?"" To try and kill the plants themselves? Well... I guess they must be alive... How much mana will it take to Enchant all of our weapons?"" I should be evened out at around 40% if I were to put a number to it. It's worth a shot, don't you think?"" Yes, but we're not sure if it would actually work or not. How about you enchant yourself and Princess Alic- Oof!" Pain! I received an elbow to my ribs, but instead of one of the enemies it's Sarah's elbow." What?"

Instead of answering, she pointed towards Princess Alice... She's pouting..." Haahh... Okay. Alice, can you Enchant yourself, Anna, and Alice's weapons with the Underworld Goddess's Mana and Sarah and I will try out brute force. If your idea works, we can retreat and Enchant everyone's weapons and take them out like that. Sound like an idea?" With the removal of her Formal Title, Alice returned to a somewhat serious, but happy expression. Does it really matter during battle to feel close to your teammates?

Maybe it does and I'm just overthinking it? I decided to push ahead, since we still had to deal with our enemies, I'll have to deal with things like how Alice would like to be called later." Yes, we can try that, but I would just like to Enchant everyone's weapons."" It's better that we prove it can work first before we use all of that mana, Anna." Sarah backed me up without me needing to say anything. I'd like to do it Anna's way, but if it doesn't work, then we need to be ready to deal with it.

The best way to do that, is if Anna isn't severely depleted from Enchanting us. If she was, she'd only be able to go so far with us going forward, I'm able to do it only because of Paladin's Recovery, it keeps me going even though I'm actively using certain Spells, it still causes my mana to deplete, but I gain some back over time, even when I'm actively fighting." Okay, I'll get to Enchanting then." While Anna looked a bit disappointed, she began to Enchant her daggers and Princess Alice's swords."

So, do you have any idea for us, My Love?" Sarah asked if I was thinking of some kind of combination for us to fight together, like Princess Alice and Anna were technically going to be doing. While I have some, I can't really do it right now. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation." For now, we need to fight each of them 1 to 1 for now. I want you to really brute force your enemy. I'm going to try something... A bit different."" What are you going to do?

You know how we feel about you trying something crazy."" Relax, I'm not going to let myself be stabbed or exposed to some virus. I'm going to chuck my opponent through a Portal and out another that's high in the sky, I want to see if he'll crash and break apart. They're heavy after all, heavy things tend to hit the ground hard, you know?"" How much mana will that take?"" I'm not sure, worse comes to worse, I think around 10% it'll drop to around 25%, but I should still be good against the God of jackasses.""

And how do you know that exactly?" Sarah was being awfully pushy on this." I don't, but to reach him, I... We're going to need to take risks. Even with my ability to control the Holy Flames, Angela said that I had a "chance" She didn't say it was a sure-fire way to win."" You shouldn't have to shoulder all of the risk!"

"!" Sarah shouted at me. I was startled since she rarely does yell, unless we're sparring or she's excited." You're right, I shouldn't. But Anna and I are the best weapons we have. And I'll be damned if I'm going to let you or her head into a fight against a God unprepared."" Bu-"" Sarah. I'm not going to die today. I'm going to live through this, with you and Anna. We're going to kick these guys' asses and we're going to beat a God tonight. Then we're going to head back to Paradise, safe and sound. Grip!"

All of us, I promise." Rub... Rub... I stood up and grabbed Sarah's hand, she seemed to be calming down as I spoke to her. I then pet her head, and this seemed to stabilize her mood." You better not break a promise you make to your Wife." I nodded to her words since I had no intentions of breaking it in the first place. Now that Sarah was in a better place emotionally, I took a look over to our enemies. They were still just standing there, not worrying about anything. I wondered why they were like that.

I mean, we're over here trying to come up with some way to beat them and they're just standing like unmoving statues. Is it because they're just puppets for him? Or are they just guarding the area behind them? Or do they just have no idea how to proceed? They were just born about 10 minutes ago after all. Are they just stunted in their development because they were born hastily? Because we would've destroyed them if he didn't force them out of their eggs earlier?

If that's the case, my idea about a Portal should work fine. I just need to make them fall for it." Okay, we've finished up!" Princess Alice and Anna had walked over to us while I was thinking about what our enemies were doing. Now, with them here, I can ask Anna a question." Anna, have you kept an eye on them since our sides both retreated from each other? Have they moved at all?" Anna nodded her head to my words, so she did keep an eye on them. Now everyone was waiting for her to answer my other question."

No, they've just been standing there, why does that mean something to you?"" Yes, it means it's strange. Think about it, what opponents have you ever fought that just stayed still during battle? It doesn't make sense. At least it doesn't to me." The girls seemed to agree with my words." If that's the case, what are you thinking about with that, Matthew?" Princess Alice asked me a question while also seeming to pay special attention to calling me by my name... Well fake name, but name, nonetheless."

I think they're either guardians or unthinking."" Unthinking?"" Yes, think of it like a Monster, they have certain things they do because of their biology, Black Wolves shed their fur regardless of if they want to. What if they recognize that as a reason for attacking? If not, they don't know what to do. Either that or in literal terms, they're just guardians for the God Of The Blackwoods. That would explain the care he put into making sure that they hatched from their eggs, don't you think?""

Even if that is the case, what does that have to do with anything?" Princess Alice again asked a good question, but Sarah and Anna seemed to understand where I was heading with my thoughts." Well, if they're "unthinking" like I said, we just need to attack them in a way that they wouldn't recognize as an attack, for instance, I want to throw my opponent through one of my Portals and have him fall from high in the sky to see if it breaks into pieces.

If they're unthinking, maybe I can just summon a Portal under them? If they're just guardians though, that makes it harder, but not impossible to harm them. I think we should have this in the back of our minds during the fight, just in case. What do you think?"" I don't think it'll be bad to keep in the back of our minds, it might mean if we retreat again, they might not follow us, but they might then team up on someone since they would be unoccupied. Either way, My Love, I think we need to destroy they quickly."

Sarah seemed to think that there were some advantages, but it was still better to make this quick." While it might not be bad, I think we should rely on our own actions rather than be worried about what they can and can't do, Darling." Anna thinks it's better to focus on ourselves. I guess that would be best after all. Imposing your own will over your opponent is something that all of my teachers in this world, from Crest and Warrick to Ruby have been teaching me."

Well, I think you 2 said it best, either way, we just need to destroy them! If you think you can take advantage of it, Matthew, do it! If not! Find another way to smash them! Now, let's get started!" Princess Alice didn't really care about it. In a way I liked how straightforward she was being. Maybe I was getting too lost in my own head?" Alright, let's get the show on the road I guess!" With my words, the girls nodded. And then we started to march forward.

And our opponents did the same, almost like they were mirroring us.