What Should I Do?
Alt-nii is in danger!
There is no more leeway to think about a strategy. There is no more time to think about consequences of my next actions. After all, my big brother's future is at the stake here.
If I haven't yet mastered powerful combat magic spells, if my magic attacks' power output is not yet at a strong level... then there's only one answer.
The one thing that I'm good at.
Or the one thing that I was good at.
Though it has been years since I last practiced it... at least I know that I'm more confident with my combat skills in terms of that.
"Ice sword," I muttered, as cold breeze started to flow from my right hand. I formed a firm grasp on my right hand—grabbing the forming ice sword.
Of course, I've adjusted the size so that it would be good for my current body to use.
As soon as the ice sword was fully formed, I dashed forward and quickly closed my gap from that crazy lady and—
With all the power I have, I jumped up. With my current power and height, I only managed to jump as high as her lower back, but it should be good enough.
Using all the power that my arms have, I grasped the handle of the ice sword with both of my hands, and swung it forward.
"Aaaaaah!!"
The crazy woman seemed to be very surprised by my ambush, as the ice sword successfully sliced through her clothes and slightly injured her back. More than anything, I'm sure she's surprised by the cold sensation that she suddenly felt at the same time as the sensation of pain. After all, there wasn't only laceration on her back, but a small portion of her back was covered by the ice!
It's as if I was using a sword imbued with ice attribute, and the effect of freezing the enemy. In other words, a magic sword that's quite pricey and hard to get.
Magic is convenient. I wonder if there are people who specialized in using magic to form some weapons and then used the weapons in a close-ranged combat?
Simultaneously as she screamed, she also dropped Alt-nii.
With a thud, Alt-nii landed safely on the floor—the impact must be quite painful, but Alt-nii seemed not to mind it and opened his eyes in surprise.
"Lyra, why are you here? Didn't I tell you to run?!" Alt-nii asked in disbelief.
"I couldn't run while leaving you in the hands of the enemies, Alt-nii!" I quickly grabbed Alt-nii by hand and was about to run outside with him when—
"What the hell are you useless men doing?! CAPTURE THEM!" The woman who's knelt down and is grabbing her injured back shouted. Her voice clearly indicated her anger. She... seems to be using some kind of ointment to heal her wounds...
At her commands, the two men who were crouching down are forcing themselves to stand up. They seem to get used to the sensation of pain they felt—or that they have gotten over it by now.
I stopped my track as all my paths are blocked by them.
"Lyra," Alt-nii whispered softly in my ears.
"Let's fight together."
I slightly nodded at his suggestion.
When the two men are rushing off towards us, we are already prepared to fight back. Alt-nii is handling the man to the right, while I'm handling the man to the left.
The man I'm fighting is using two knives and his agile movements to fight me.
Meanwhile, the man Alt-nii's fighting seems to be using a short sword.
Wait—Alt-nii's dagger is over there, what will he do?!
But I wasn't given any chance to worry about Alt-nii, as the man in front of me is aggressively trying to attack me.
...I am just a four-year-old child, but you're this aggressive?!
I was quite exasperated, to be honest. Their enemies are only small children, yet they showed no mercy and attacked aggressively.
Of course, I managed to block and dodge each slash. I guess I'm still accustomed to my old fighting habit—but my body isn't all that trained... yet. I think I will surely strain my muscles after this excessive use of them, but let's think about that minor consequence later on.
I'm trying to recall the Grabberton's fighting style that I have learned in the past with some of my own style added into it.
We are mainly focused on attacking with force rather than speed—but that's exactly why we are trained in blocking enemies that depend on speed. However, I have more advantages with my current condition, especially the ability to use magic.
When my enemy is using both of his knives to attack, that's my cue! I blocked the two knives with my ice sword and imbued it with more mana—causing it to emit a colder breeze that froze the knives.
Normally, I should be blocking the two knives and identified a weak spot quickly, then I should force my body to that direction and powerfully hit it with my sword—yup, a sudden movement to get closer to the enemy's weak spot and strike it at once. It is kind of a suicidal move that I developed for not really caring on what would happen to me.
After all, if I am not careful enough and if the enemy is clever enough, the enemy could also strike me the moment I threw my body at their direction. It was like a bet on who would succeed with the attack, and which side could injure their enemies more severe. Injury? Hah! What mattered the most was if I could win the battle anyway. Any wound would worth the victory, and if I was severely injured because of my rash style, then it would only mean that I was fated to die as a warrior, or during a match. Quite a cool death, to be honest.
This rash trick I mentioned was my own improvisation added to the Grabberton swordsmanship style I used to use in battles.
But now, the situation is different. More or less, I should probably develop a style where I could fight with less injury—so that my life won't be in danger. So that I won't cause my family to be worried.
Lucky I could use magic.
The man was surprised because the ice quickly traveled to his hands. As he wanted to drop the knives so that he could fight with other means, I quickly slashed my ice sword towards his legs, causing him to drop into his knees—which have already started to freeze.
With this, he isn't too far away from my reach and I quickly performed another slash to his body—after taking some distance, as I only intended to freeze him, causing him to be immobilized. I don't intend to be a murderer at the age of 4 if possible.
After making sure that he was immobilized, I quickly turned my gaze towards Alt-nii.
He was erecting magical barriers in order to defend himself from the enemy's attack!! He seems to be having trouble to keep it up, so he hasn't had the time to cast an offensive spell. He has been going full defensive all this time!
But the man's movement seemed to be slowing down, and Alt-nii quickly—
"Disappear!"
--shouted while lightly touching the man's blade from his barrier, causing a pitch black area to appear from the tip of his hand, slowly devouring the man's blade into nothingness. Of course, the man was surprised, but he was quick to react and submissively let his blade to disappear.
And this is where trouble comes.
Okay, Trouble is my nickname for the troublesome crazy lady-leader.
Trouble seemed to mutter something as electric sparks started to fly at Alt-nii's direction—she's casting magic!!
The electric spark hit Alt-nii's barrier, causing Alt-nii's attention to be divided as he glanced towards Trouble who's ambushing him.
...could it be that they were aiming at Alt-nii all along?
"Alt-nii, careful! Switch!"
As the man started to switch his battling style and formed a fire ball that's directed to Alt-nii when he wasn't looking, I dashed forward and positioned myself between them, and blocked the man's flame in exchange. The flame managed to cause my ice sword to be melted.
"Lyra!"
Alt-nii turned over at me, and I shouted.
"Alt-nii, just go and fight the lady-boss, I will block him!"
Alt-nii didn't say anything else and quickly faced his opponent.
Though we are fully aware that the man I'm facing is specialized in fire magic that naturally can win over my ice magic, the fact that Alt-nii didn't protest also indicated that we considered Miss Trouble as the most dangerous out of the two, and that it would be better for Alt-nii's Void magic to be used to fight against her.
As for how I could fare against this fire user... We'll see!