VRMMO no Shien Shokunin ～Top player no Shikakenin～ - Chapter 87

Our opponent for the semifinal match, Licht, was standing before us with his back straightened.

He had a handsome face like that of an idol and he had his mouth tightly shut, he gave a different impression compared to how the BBS portrayed him.

His hair was fairly long for a guy and even his blue hair would feel out of place in real life, however, it still suited him.

Nevertheless, he hasn’t been moving at all for quite a while…this person, don’t tell me that…

「Just how long are you going to stay nervous for! You little!」

「「!?」」 (Hind and Yumir)

Out of nowhere, Rose, the maiden next to him kicked him in the buttocks with all her might.

「It hurts!! Why are you kicking me, Rose!?」 (Licht)

「Shut up! Because you don’t get your act together, I’m getting mocked too because I’m next to you!」 (Rose)

「Eh, is that true?」 (Licht)

「Yeah it is! You are so thickheaded!」 (Rose)

Ignoring us, or rather, they were having this kind of exchange ignoring their surroundings making us feel quite bewildered.

I wonder if this was done to relieve the guy from his nervousness, while it looked like they were having a fight on the surface, in fact, for some reason I could only see it as them flirting in public.

「Say, Hind.

「For some reason, I’m getting filled with these emotions of wanting to cut them right now without having to wait for the signal for the match to start.」 (Yumir)

「What a coincidence, I’m feeling the same thing.

「However, shall we wait for a bit longer? We wouldn’t be able to show our faces if we were to be disqualified because of that.」 (Hind)

We looked over their noisy conversation while our mood turned sour.

Only the Emperor, whose eyes were always filled with enthusiasm, was waiting for the time to pass as fast as possible.

What are we going to do about this? With this cold atmosphere filling the venue…well, even like this, the girls in the guest seats are still cheering for Licht though.

Having finally resolved their dispute, Licht awkwardly shifted his gaze towards us.

「–Ah, you are done? We have been ready for a while now.」 (Hind)

「M-My apologies, it seems like we have made you wait…your Highness, we are done.」 (Licht)

He seemed earnest and it didn’t look like he meant any ill will.

The Emperor nodded and coughed loudly to set order in the venue.

『In that case, second match of the semifinals, Licht and Rose vs Yumir and Hind…begin!!』 (Emperor)

For us, when we are against two vanguards, the important factor is for us to not get too far away from each other.

Even though Yumir’s reflexes are good, it’s impossible for her to keep stopping two opponents at the same time in a match.

There might have been opponents whose blood rose to their head and aimed exclusively at Yumir, but we shouldn’t hope for that kind of thing having reached the semifinals.

「Seyah!」

Yumir kept them in check by swinging down her longsword.

I stood right behind her charging up my MP.

Both of them had a small shield and their swords didn’t seem that long either, Yumir was going around taking advantage of the reach of her weapon.

「Hyeh!? This intimidating aura is not something you’d think it’s coming from a fellow knight!」 (Rose)

「Rose, on your right!」 (Licht)

「Deeeeeeeeeih!」 (Yumir)

「!!」 (Rose)

While sticking close to her, Yumir wildly lunged towards Rose.

Being unable to block the shock from the impact with her small shield, Rose fell on her back while taking some damage.

Against Licht, who came to support her, Yumir kept that vigour up and released a fierce attack on him too.

Ooh, this is incredible…Yumir’s movements have visibly sharpened since our first match.

If it keeps going like this, I probably won’t receive any attacks for a while.

I’d like to replenish plenty of MP during this time frame.

「Licht!」 (Rose)

「Nuh! You little!」 (Yumir)

Having gotten back up, Rose counterattacked Yumir with her rapier.

Because the distance between them had shortened, Yumir was unable to make use of her advantage in range.

Adding to that, Rose’s attacks were fairly fast, the rhythm that Yumir had built up until now crumbled.

Then, having fixed his stance, Licht paired up with Rose in a pincer attack.

I stopped charging my MP for a moment and stepped forward while ascertaining the proper timing.

「Yumir, retreat for the time being!」 (Hind)

Like that, I stopped Licht’s sword with my staff.

I repelled the sword with all my might and during that brief time, I took some distance along with Yumir…

「Is what we’ll make you think, take thiiiiss!!」 (Yumir)

「Alright, take him out!!」 (Hind)

Immediately after acting as if we were retreating, we turned around and attacked Licht.

I thought it would have been a direct hit due to him having let his guard down because of our words but…

「You guys play so dirty!」 (Rose)

「「Tsk！」」 (Yumir and Hind)

But Rose was already there blocking, after seeing that, we took some distance for real this time.

Even if you deceive the pure Licht, it doesn’t seem to work against her.

「My bad, Rose! You saved me!」 (Licht)

「I-It’s not like I…」 (Rose)

While fidgeting due to Licht’s words of gratitude, Rose’s face turned bright red.

I wish you didn’t turn this scene into some love comedy when it’s not the appropriate place though…

I exchanged glances with Yumir and we made the same evil expression.

「I-It’s not like I, it’s not like I covered you for your sake you hear me!」 (Yumir)

「Don’t get the wrong idea!」 (Hind)

Having heard that, Rose’s face turned bright red for a completely different reason.

In other words, it was anger.

「What are you even saying!? I didn’t say that you know!?」 (Rose)

「「We were just expressing your feelings for you, got a problem!?」」(Hind and Yumir)

「…!! These guys, they are so infuriating!!」 (Rose)

「R-Rose! Rose! Calm down! You are falling into their pace!」 (Licht)

Ignoring Licht as he was trying to calm down Rose, who was stomping her feet in frustration, I calmly used healing magic on Yumir to restore her HP to full.

Like that, I used buffs on her too and kept casting spells…

「Ah, Licht!! That guy is using magic! Attack him, attack him, hurry up!」 (Rose)

「What!? Let’s go, Rose!!」 (Licht)

They noticed. However, I finished casting 『Attack Up』 on Yumir and then it turned into a four person close quarters fight again.

I only used low cast time spells that were hard to interrupt and only cut in when Yumir was going to get hit by dangerous attacks.

In this match, my role is more of a middle guard.

But I have to say that…these two are quite strong.

Since both of them have shields, their defense is solid, as Mitsuyoshi-san said their coordination is good. Both of their reactions are good so until now, they haven’t shown fatal gaps in their defense yet.

They both look like students though, maybe part of some sport club…? Their movements are quite nimble.

Like that, the match continued with both sides not taking much damage.

It was the complete opposite of Albert’s match, a slow battle of endurance. It was something we were used to.

A long long exchange of attack and defense continued and eventually…

「Even though that True Self is not attacking us at all, why are we the ones being pushed back!?」 (Rose)

「Even though they are so close to each other, they haven’t bumped into each other even once…even without looking, they have a clear understanding of each other’s movements.

「Rose, it’s unfortunate but their coordination seems to be better than our-」 (Licht)

「I won’t accept that! I can’t accept it! I mean, we have worked out together that much! Don’t stop moving, Licht! The match is not over yet!!」 (Rose)

We started to pressure them.

From the middle of the match onwards I only used 『Healing』 for our HP recovery so currently our HP kept decreasing bit by bit, however, they were losing theirs at a much faster pace than we did.

However, looking at them fight side by side with their sword, even if I’m no Tobi, it made me a bit envious.

The action of releasing sword skills mutually that is happening in front of me right now is something that wouldn’t be possible to do with a vanguard and a rearguard.

「…What do you think, Yumir?」 (Hind)

「Nuh? What do you mean, Hind? Hah! Deyah!」 (Yumir)

「The image you had in mind when we first started playing this game, should be something close to their fighting style…whoops! …Or that’s what I was thinking!」 (Hind)

「Something like that…there! It’s such a foolish question! It’s true that I would love to use combination sword skills with you but…seyah! …Our current fight style is the best and strongest! No matter what anyone else says!」 (Yumir)

She sure said something that made me happy.

The battle continued without big changes…having been left with only a bit of HP, Licht and Rose started showing signs of impatience.

Having reached this point, there was only one choice for them to make.

「…Rose, we have no other choice! We are going to use that!」 (Licht)

「…Got it! I believe in you, Licht!」 (Rose)

In other words, they will try to use a powerful skill to turn the tables around.

These two are balanced types…which means that their skill with the highest offensive power is that one.

Both of their MP was reduced drastically and their swords were overflowing with a dazzling light.

The skill called 『Judgement Sword』, was a magic sword skill of the light element that dealt a big amount of hybrid damage.

It had a persisting effect but the effect didn’t last long. In other words, it was a skill similar to the 『Hakkei・Yabu』 that Walter used.

In PvP it was particularly effective against Heavy warriors, but with Yumir’s current HP, she would definitely get knocked out if she took a direct hit.

「Interesting! I’ll take you on!」 (Yumir)

In response, our vanguard here declared that while spreading out both of her arms.

Most likely, Yumir plans to use 『Burst Edge』 on one of them.

…With Yumir’s current level of concentration, would she be able to do something against them even if it’s 2 vs 1?

I was hesitating  thinking that I might have to start casting 『Revive』 as insurance…but I opted for 『Quick』.

Yumir’s aura was still going strong and the sparks and its intensity made the air tremble.

Let’s trust her here and bet everything on her.

If we can’t deal with a situation of this level, we’ll end up facing Albert aniki anyway and won’t be able to win.

「Let’s go, Rose!」 (Licht)

「Yes! We are ending it with this!!」 (Rose)

「Hahaha! Come at me!!」 (Yumir)

The sensation that Yumir had sharpened her senses was transmitted to me through her back.

It was a pincer attack with no way to escape, at the first sign of a gap she could rush towards…Yumir strongly rushed at it and swung her longsword.

The sword slipped through the shield and the torso was stabbed through…then magic power exploded.

Immediately after Rose was violently blown away towards the wall, Licht’s sword approached.

The shining sword grazed Yumir’s head but even with just that, her HP bar decreased to dangerous levels…however, her counter hit Licht directly.

I used 『Quick』 right after Rose was blown away and just now I finished casting 『Entrust』 on Yumir.

The explosion happened again…and Licht’s body was flying following the same trajectory as Rose and stopped moving as he fell on top of her.

The audience that had fallen silent during the exchange of blows burst into loud cheers.