Chapter 218: 15-year-old Inglis and the Evil Hyrule Menace (23)
Chapter 218: 15-year-old Inglis and the Evil Hyrule Menace (23)
Inglis let herself fall straight to the ground, activating «Ether Shell» right before she landed. If she just leaped and landed with her bare flesh and blood, she might have sustained some serious injuries from the fall. However, the altitude of the Flygear Carrier had already been lowered to a certain extent by Liselotte, therefore going down with her elevated physical strength like this should pose no problem.
If anything, since she landed on a thick sheet of snow, a lot of snow was getting into her clothes, making her feel the cold on her skin.
「I’m sorry for the wait, Miss Tiffany. Now, let us continue!」
Inglis called out, but there was no response. There were traces of Tiffany’s crash on the ground nearby, the person herself was nowhere to be seen.
「——? Where are you hiding?」
Yoink!
Something grabbed Inglis’ feet. Then, she was lifted upside down just like that.
「Hyaau?!」
Inglis involuntarily held up the hem of her dress that almost rolled down. And since she did it so naturally, she realized her conduct and felt ashamed of it.
That may have been natural for a girl to do, but was it okay for her to do such a conduct that was natural for girls? Just how close has she become a woman? And she just had to do it in the middle of a battle too!
「Oh dear. You’re surprisingly shy, aren’t you? Considering how brash you had been!」
It was Tiffany who lifted Inglis upside down. It seemed that she had been lying face down within the heaps of snow before.
「No, well, I wasn’t ashamed of being lifted in itself, but being embarrassed of it that I’m ashamed of……It’s complicated, you see…」
「I see. I don’t quite understand, but next, please feel the pain instead, okay?!」
Tiffany held both of Inglis’ legs on her sides and swung her around in a circle. For someone who has a tremendously pretty face, her strength was colossal. In terms of raw muscle strength, she might even be stronger than Eris, Ripple, Cystia, or any other Hyrule Menaces.
「Hyaaaaah!」
Then, with the momentum of their centrifugal force, she threw Inglis into the nearby woods.
「……!」
Inglis’ body flew away at a furious pace. In a blink of an eye, she already knocked down several thin trees that stood on her trajectory, each time it brought her quite the pain and shock. This is…excellent!
Finally, she saw a considerably thick tree in her path. That tree actually would serve her quite good. It would make a nice foothold for her. The thin ones wouldn’t be able to withstand the momentum, they’d just break instead.
Inglis flipped herself around and put her feet on the trunk of the huge tree. There was a creaking sound from the impact, but it managed to catch Inglis’ momentum.
「Haaaah!」
She kicked the trunk as hard as she could, flipped over, and launched herself towards Tiffany instead! However, Tiffany herself also jumped in after Inglis
「?!」
「Hyaaaah!」
She didn’t hold a weapon either, empty-handed just like Inglis.
「That’s what I want!」
Their fists released a loud roar as they collided. Inglis’ arm felt a bit numb. How nice.
「……Inconceivable.」
「? What’s the matter?」
「How could you, a Runeless, and not even a Hyrule Menace, have so much strength in you. You seemed to be using mana before, but now I can’t even sense mana from you.」
「Well, I trained.」
「……Which means you won’t give an answer. I suppose I will have to force it out of you, then!」
「Yes! I love being forced!」
「Fufu. Isn’t that one peculiar preference!」
Tiffany pulled her fist back and unleashed her other fist. It was a powerful blow with perfect momentum and sharpness. However, it wasn’t something Inglis couldn’t do something about. Inglis guarded against it with her left arm and counterattacked with a right kick to the abdomen, but Tiffany’s reaction speed didn’t lose to Inglis’ either. Her left arm moved in response, but instead of defending against Inglis’ kick, she slammed her fist to Inglis’ stomach.
Inglis’ kick hit Tiffany’s flank while Tiffany’s fist went into Inglis’ stomach from the front.
「Kgh!」
「Kgh!!」
However, neither of them would stop over something that trivial. They immediately struck another blow. This time, their fists punched each other on their respective flanks.
「Haaaaaahh!!」
「Hyaaaaahh!!」
A series of fist blows hit each other’s bodies. Their last kicks also hit their respective bodies true. The impact blew each other away, temporarily separating them.
「I see…Quite an interesting fighting style!」
Inglis had experience fighting other Hyrule Menaces, namely Eris and Ripple, she also fought Cystia too once, but Tiffany was not like any other. The other Hyrule Menaces’ attacks were powerful, true, but Inglis could evade or deflect them.
On the other hand, Tiffany’s attacks gripped onto Inglis. And the reason for that is because Tiffany had no intention of evading or deflecting Inglis’ attacks.
Usually, in a fight, one would try to evade or deflect their opponent’s attack and deliver a counter once they succeed. Obviously the other Hyrule Menaces delivered their fights like so, and so did Yua.
Yua, in particular, was skilled at attacking without letting her opponent know her movements. She specialized in delivering a blow without receiving a blow.
Tiffany was nothing like that. She ignored any and all attacks from her opponent and launched her own attacks without even taking a defensive stance. She completely abandoned defense and specialized herself in delivering as many blows as possible. It is true that, if you perceive your opponent’s movement to attack as an opening, it’s easy to deliver a hit as they unleash a blow at you.
However, in exchange, that means you will receive their attack at full force each time you hit them, so you need to be durable enough to not fall before your opponent. Hyrule Menaces are superhuman beings whose physical abilities and endurance are way beyond what’s normal, but is Tiffany really that confident in her endurance?
Either way, it is quite a crude strategy that doesn’t match Tiffany’s dainty and elegant appearance whatsoever.