Cocytus, armed with his halberd, made an appearance. He didn't even bother looking at me; he was slowly walking straight towards Reinhard-knight, who did the same thing. Well then, time to return the favor. Let's see how you feel about getting ganged up on.
"Grasp Heart!"
I shouted, aiming the single-target spell at Reinhard-knight. The spell worked, but he merely flinched then glared. Almost like he built up the resistance towards it, that was impossible; I didn't see him do anything out of the ordinary other than closing his eyes now and then or glancing at the sheathed sword on his waist.
I couldn't determine how his abilities worked, but a battle of attrition was unacceptable and not ideal to implement as a strategy against him. Cocytus immediately made his move as Reinhard-knight flinched from the spell.
Cocytus swung his sword at point-blank range, but he missed, and it struck the tiled floor instead. An explosive burst of hard, spiked ice formed on the floor, piercing several shelves and destroying a pillar.
A complete melee miss from close range.
Cocytus was about to strike again, but Reinhard-knight swiftly kicked Cocytus away with a roundhouse kick. Cocytus crashed against a pillar that had a banner with various types of fruits on it. Ainz-sama told me those banners meant a discount sale.
I lowered my position, now hovering a few meters above the ground.
Reinhard-knight's leg was frozen, but he ignored it. The freezing effect was one of Cocytus' passives; any melee strikes against him have a chance to induce a frozen effect on a random limb of his opponent. For a high-level opponent, it was merely an annoyance.
That ethereal summon then grabbed me from below, shadowy sludge pooling beneath his upper torso, clinging to my clothes and legs. I wondered where this thing went, it merely went into hiding. A punch then struck my head, it was from that ant shadow.
"Always with the headshots! I am immune to critical hits!"
Both of them combined were hardly a difficulty. They were mere distractions compared to Reinhard-knight and Sung-bastard.
I quickly pulled out a club from my inventory. "Iron Club Staff."
I first whacked that ethereal summon; the force was so hard that it let go of my limbs and then sank beneath that shadow sludge. That shadow ant then unleashed a barrage of machine-gun-speed punches, but my resistances, passives, and stats made it difficult for it to deal any damage, despite my vulnerability to bludgeoning attacks.
I managed to whack it away, sending it flying, its shadowy carapace breaking and falling off as it landed somewhere very far away. Sung-bastard had many powerful shadows, but most of them were focused on protecting those three weak humans; they were effectively fighting with one hand on their backs.
Reinhard-knight then turned around, grabbed the hiding black-haired boy, and tossed him straight towards his group. That black-haired boy was surprised, screaming from the sudden flight, but he harmlessly landed on the tiled floor. It was like gravity slowed his descent, and the air kept him safe.
"You have a lot of tricks up your sleeves, huh?" I muttered, gauging his answers.
"You'd be surprised."
Reinhard-knight answered as Cocytus then shot forward. Reinhard-knight blocked the vertical slice from the halberd with his bare hands. His hands and face were coated in ice. He gripped the sharp axe blade, the ice on his hands were stained with a crimson hue reminiscent of blood.
"Why would he catch the blade when he can just dodge it? Now, Cocytus had the advantage."
Cocytus, having the advantage of four limbs, used his two free arms to start punching Reinhard from below. However, Cocytus's rapid barehanded attacks were missing every strike. I carefully watched it; it was as if the space around Reinhard-knight was inaccessible.
"Boosted Maximized Penetrated Magic: Hell Flame!"
A seventh-tier spell, boosted by one level, with maximum damage that penetrated defenses, extremely lethal, and it clings to the target. It was an anti-synergy with Cocytus' frost passives, but I want to see how Reinhard-knight handles sustained damage.
A small and fast fiery mote then flew out of my index finger as it struck Reinhard-knight. The space around Reinhard-knight didn't stop the small flame. Any magic cast with a penetration meta-magic will suffice against him, that is, if he doesn't bother dodging or swatting it away.
Reinhard-knight's figure burst into flames. The fire was so massive that it set several shelves ablaze and darkened the white ceiling above with soot. Reinhard-knight screamed in pain as he staggered.
Cocytus stepped back and then glanced at me. I could sense his displeasure, as an honorable warrior, but he was not in a position to protest. This was a probing attack, and he didn't want to disappoint my father.
I could see the worried glances from Reinhard-knight's allies. Albedo, seeing a split-second opening from that Sung-bastard's worried glance, punched him in the stomach.
Sung-bastard spewed out a lot of blood. His form was already severely battered and bruised; meanwhile, Albedo's full plate armor lacked a helmet and armored bracers. Her armor was chinked and scratched. That Sung-bastard actually managed to chip away at Albedo's rock-solid defenses.
I turned my head at the flaming figure in front of me. He was handling the flames well, but I couldn't quite capitalize on it; I needed to reserve my mana. Cocytus couldn't quite capitalize on it, either; he was a melee fighter, and he couldn't even hit Reinhard-knight.
Cocytus produced a dagger from his inventory and threw it at Reinhard-knight. The dagger missed his scorching figure, then flew back at Cocytus, who then swatted the dagger away.
"Quite the predicament, you are in, Reinhard van Astrea. I may yet consider your surrender, considering your losing situation." I said with regal flair, striking a pose as I pointed at the flaming figure, my body arched backward so I could gaze up at the distant ceiling.
My father must be so proud of me.
"A losing situation? Who decided that?" Reinhard-knight muttered as the torrential fire died out earlier than calculated. The smoke slowly dissipated as Reinhard-knight's form slowly revealed.
He took a step forward; his clothes were gone, burned away, but his skin remained pristinely undamaged, revealing a well-toned figure. Cocytus charged forward, but Reinhard was impossibly swift; he disarmed Cocytus, dropping the halberd.
Reinhard-knight then picked up the halberd and kicked Cocytus away again. This time, his figure didn't coalesce into ice. He was merely pristine. He spun the large halberd with ease, despite its size and weight.
Then, fully naked, he held it with both arms, wielding it like a spear.
"I see it now. There was a similar super-tier spell: as long as a battle continued, the caster would steadily grow stronger, gaining increased stats and resistances."
"A useless spell since most duels or PVPs wouldn't last that long. It was somewhat useful in PVE, however."
A horrible thing to realize just now, and it seemed like the effects were permanent; it wouldn't disappear after this fight, it would persist.
"Ainz-sama, we need to kill this man as soon as possible."