Black Grail:
Wide-area group buff magic
Greatly raises all abilities of allies within range, with attack power and attack speed receiving a massive boost (including magic power and casting speed)
...
"Holy shit!"
Some god or other, the moment they saw the effect of the magic Iri had unleashed, lost their voice in a shriek:
"Super-wide-area group buff magic!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Damn it! And it's a goddamn ultra-short incantation too!!"
"Demeter! And you still say you're not cheating!!!!!!!"
Demeter: "..."
The instant Iri's super-wide-area group buff magic with its ultra-short incantation made its appearance, the faces of these gods flushed red on the spot!
Every single one of them looked at Iri as if they wanted to devour her whole.
"If, if this child were ours, then our familia..."
"Super-wide-area group buff magic, and an ultra-short incantation at that, the boost this gives to a team's overall combat strength..."
Loki's throat bobbed as she quietly swallowed.
It wasn't until she caught Demeter's icy gaze that she gave a sheepish laugh and wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth.
"Riveria, what do you say we..."
But before Loki could finish, the royal elf cut her off at once:
"Out of the question."
"Aw..."
On the other side.
Freya, draped in her deep-purple "comforter" cloak, frowned and murmured under her breath:
"Strange... such an ordinary soul."
As she spoke, she took another look at Jeanne and the few others, and the more she looked, the stranger it seemed.
"They're all so ordinary..."
"Could Demeter have done something?"
At that thought, Freya gave her close confidante a long, deep look.
It wasn't only the Goddess of Beauty who found it odd.
Even Astraea and Artemis stared at Demeter in astonishment.
"Say, Demeter, where on earth did you find these children?"
The corner of Demeter's mouth curved up, and her gaze swept, with feigned carelessness, across the two goddesses' chests as she answered with a beaming smile:
"Well, just a bit of luck, that's all."
Astraea and Artemis: "..."
...
"Everyone, go!"
Laurier and Margaret positioned themselves slightly forward, shielding Iri and Aura, the two pure backline Mages, behind them.
"Run wild!"
The wind began to keen.
Airflow coiled around Laurier's body, taking form as invisible battle armor of wind. Her brilliant golden hair whipped fiercely behind her head.
She leaned forward in a lunge, gripping her longsword in the stern opening stance of the "Fool," the tip of the blade locked on the assassin ninja some distance away.
Then she drew a deep breath, tensed her body, and lowered her stance...
"...Hurricane Aria!"
The ground burst with a ring of air pressure, and Laurier's figure shot forward like an arrow off the string, the first to launch the attack!
"Oh? Instead of opening distance from me, you come at me yourself?"
"Interesting. A mere Lv. 1 small fry, no matter how many of you there are..."
"Hm?"
The killer had barely sneered, his words not yet finished, when Laurier's speed startled him and his expression changed!
"Fast!"
A silver flash of sword-light swept past like a crescent arc, the elf girl's vicious upward cut flowing into a swift downward slash, the blade closing in before his eyes in an instant!
The ninja hastily raised his arm, his kunai barely managing to block this unexpected strike. He stared at the sharp-eyed girl before him, his face turning utterly grim.
Laurier let out a cold snort:
"Who do you think you're looking down on?!"
The words still hanging in the air, her sword shifted abruptly, a right-handed upward cut springing from low to high, stabbing straight at the opening in his guard!
Metal rang against metal once more.
But even weakened severely by Jeanne's God's Resolution skill, the depth of a Lv. 4 ninja's true strength was, in the end, not something Laurier could meet head-on on her own.
"Ugh..."
Knocked back several steps by a surge of brute force, Laurier felt the webs of her hands go numb, the longsword nearly flying from her grip.
"A mere Lv. 1... and you dare act so arrogant!"
"Die!"
The ninja's form blurred, flickering like a phantom to a spot right in front of Laurier, his kunai gleaming with deadly cold light as it stabbed straight for her snow-white throat!
Just as it seemed this elf magic swordsman was about to be killed, the killer was startled to discover not a trace of panic on her face.
Her lips moved slightly, breathing out a few words only an enemy this close could make out:
"..."
The ninja's heart lurched!
"...Feast of the Bacchanal Harvest!!!!!!!!"
Something unseen seemed to be churning and roaring madly deep within the earth! Even the crowd of "people" watching the battle some distance off lost their footing in the sudden violent tremor, cries of alarm and curses erupting all at once.
"Wha, what's going on?"
"It's magic! Demeter's child cast magic!"
"Shut up! We're not blind!"
"Whoa! I can't stay up! Somebody grab me!"
"Get off! Don't fall on me!"
"Son of a bitch!"
Amid the chaos, the snow-and-ice-covered bluestone slabs began to groan under the strain. Accompanied by one crisp crack after another, the next moment... one thick, gnarled, dark-brown root after another tore up through the soil!
"Hah!"
The girl let out a clear cry, her ten fingers snapping tight.
Surging magic burst out of her, sending the beautiful red-and-black hunting outfit flapping and snapping.
At the same time, as the magic poured in, those thick, gnarled roots began to grow and entwine madly, heaving the slabs up and crushing them with ease, as if a sleeping ley line had awoken in that instant.
"Sister Jeanne, Laurier, get back!"
Sensing that Aura had begun her assault, the two pulled out without hesitation and retreated at speed.
Almost simultaneously, the ninja, locked down tight by the magic, was completely surrounded by vicious roots surging in from every direction!
"This is... Wood Style?"
The killer's pupils shrank sharply as he stared in horror at the "Birth of a Forest World" bearing down on him.
Aura and the others' coordination gave him little time to react. In that split second between life and death, his hands had already woven a blur of afterimages...
"Body Flicker Technique!"
His figure had only just vanished from the spot when a violent root came crashing down with a roar, shattering the slabs to powder.
But the violent assault didn't stop, instead chasing relentlessly behind him as if it were alive!
The ninja flickered madly across the snowfield, fast enough to leave only blurred afterimages. Yet every time he flashed away, a vicious root followed him like a shadow, boring through the earth right on his heels in a chain of thunderous impacts.
"Damn it, always just a hair short!"
Aura knit her delicate brows, controlling the magic with total concentration.
...