"I changed into a fluid which viscosity increases under stre…"
"I know what a dilatant is! Give me a moment!"
The younger girl mumbled, out of breath, and tired to continue running, but the black-haired one pulled away while hurriedly rummaging through her bag.
"Bi-em! Help me a little! The potion I made for Tsar when he was cleaning up!"
"???"
Mira bit her lips, clearly flustered, and ended up scoffing at her fae while Bernadette watched her with a bewildered expression.
Exactly how was a cleaning potion supposed to help them in this situation?
It was obvious that they should get away and join with capable allies to stand a chance against that monstrosity.
For hel's sake, it was a deofolized human!
A walking catastrophe!
Depending on the strength of the deofol the human sold their soul to, they could even be considered on par with natural disasters like floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes, and would take at least a platoon of mages to take care of!
"One is enough. Thank you."
While Bernadette was distracted, Mira got her hands on what she was looking for and patted her fae's side.
"Here."
"?"
She then reached her hand to the side and pushed an orange-sized potion bottle in the younger girl's hands.
"Make sure the contents come in contact with that thing before it figures out a way to break free."
"..."
Mira instructed without bothering to confirm with Bernadette whether it was something with her capabilities, or if she even had an inkling of an idea of how to proceed, leaving the younger girl wide-eyed.
Nonetheless, after merely a second, Bernadette already took out the cork and without any chant, she swirled her hand above the bottle.
In response to her motion, the potion inside stirred and floated out.
Bernadette closed and opened her hand, and the liquid expanded, spreading out into a thin mist.
She waved her hand towards the trap, and the mist floated and covered it before slowly infusing into it.
Bernadette made it look easy, but someone with any knowledge about mana control would realize that the mastery required for her to complete the process so efficiently was basically a small-scale version of what Rotsard Vallhall did to the Great Barrier right before the previous finals.
"He wasn't joking…"
"What? Who wasn't? About what?"
Mira breathed out and said under her breath grumpily, causing Bernadette to flinch and look around as if expecting another ambush… even starting to consider that Mira might have been trying to lull her into a false sense of security.
"My Tsar. When he mentioned you, he couldn't stop praising you. He said that what your sister has in terms of organisation, general skills, and stubbornness, you have towards magic. That and then some."
"Wait. I don't follow. Why was he even mentioning me?"
But Mira's answer quickly dispersed those suspicions and replaced them with confusion.
Bernadette couldn't help herself and glanced outside where the frozen barrier stood tall…
"He…"
*WHAM*
Mira intended to answer, but just as she opened her mouth, Bernadette's trap expanded and turned solid…!
*WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM*
*CRACK*
The series of hits from the inside became so powerful that the dilatant began losing its properties as a liquid and actually started crumbling, shooting debris that turned back to goo after hitting the walls and the floor…!
"Th-that's the opposite of what I thought it would try…!"
"Here!"
Bernadette backed off and shivered, but Mira already took something out of her bag.
"!!!"
It was another orange-sized bottle with the exact-same liquid as before that the younger girl barely managed to catch, taken by surprise.
"Use a water spear and infuse it with this. Shoot it at that thing the moment it comes out. Water spear or water crescent, whatever you're more confident with."
The black-haired girl instructed before the younger one could react.
"..."
Bernadette frowned and sent the older girl a grumpy look after noticing quite the hefty amount of condescending tone in her voice.
*WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM*
"Original spell."
As the monstrosity was close to breaking out of its prison, the younger girl said in a cold voice, opening the bottle with an unknown potion, pointing it at the trap, and pulling it back.
Instead of the potion slashing on the floor, the liquid stayed suspended in the air, creating a thin, straight line by Benradette's side.
"Drill Needle Lance."
*wrrrRRIIIII*
She chanted, and the line of liquid suddenly clouded as it vibrated, letting out a shrilling sound that increased in intensity until reaching a point of causing one's ears to ring.
*WHAM* *WHAM* *CRACK*
*whoosh*
With another couple of hits, the monstrosity broke out of the trap, emerging as a literal ball of spikes, akin to an iron hedgehog… and Bernadette did not wait or hesitate and launched her spell at it with a flick of a wrist.
"YOU LITTLE BITCH! I HAD NOTHING AGAINST Y…!"
*WRRRRR*
Once the spike retracted, showing off the monstrosity within, it began to shout, only to get struck by the spell square in the chest.
"Useless! There's nothing that you can d… OOOUGHAAAAAAGHAGAHGAGHAGGAH!?"
At first, the doeofolized human mocked the shrilling spell, keeping its shape against its torso, only to suddenly let out a bloodcurdling scream as the liquid spear sipped ever so slightly into its body.
"YHOU…! YHOU BITCH!"
The monstrosity squealed, moved its hands trying to either grab and pull out or snap off the spell, but the moment it did touch it…
*SPLASH* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr* *wrr*
…it burst apart into numerous tiny needles, of which all spread out all over its body and began drilling into it on their own…!