Chapter 374: Allied Force vs. Oración Seis (Part 2)
"I can hear it, you know."
At the exact moment Sorano launched her attack, Cobra darted out of the attack range of Erza's hovering swords.
Bang!
Sorano's light beam slammed into the swords Erza had embedded into the ground, completely missing Cobra.
"He can actually read our attack trajectories," Erza said, thoroughly shocked.
Swish!
Racer, having already taken down the four Blue Pegasus mages, suddenly appeared right behind Erza. She instantly noticed him, whirling around and crossing her twin swords just in time to block Racer's kick.
"Requip: Flight Armor!" Erza requipped mid-air, wielding twin swords as she unleashed a rapid flurry of slashes at Racer.
"So fast. Speed is a wonderful thing, indeed." Racer darted left and right, evading every single strike; Erza failed to land even a single blow.
"Haa!" Erza let out a shout, exhaling sharply as the speed of her twin swords increased even further.
Racer was nearly clipped by one of her blades. He hastily leaped backward, saying, "Such incredible speed. I almost couldn't keep up. But... can you go even faster? Gear Shift: Red Zone!"
Racer bent forward, and a magic circle unfurled beneath his feet. The green circle shifted to a deep red. In a flash, he materialized right in front of Erza.
"What?! He got even faster!" Erza hastily crossed her swords in front of her to block Racer's kick.
Swish!
In another flash, Racer appeared directly behind her. Erza desperately twisted around, barely managing to block his next kick.
"Naive. Did you really think I'd go all out from the start against low-level trash?" Racer taunted as he continuously circled and attacked her.
Erza didn't reply, focusing entirely on wielding her twin swords to block Racer's relentless assault.
Nearby, Cobra had just been about to step in and help Racer attack Erza, but his ears suddenly twitched. He immediately grabbed his giant snake and leaped to the side.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Countless ice falcons smashed into the exact spot he had just been standing, scattering a flurry of ice shards. Simultaneously, a beam of light blasted toward Cobra the moment he landed. Without a hint of panic, he leaped away once more, effortlessly evading the light beam.
"I can hear it, you know. Your every move." Cobra, having landed safely, looked at Ultear and Sorano.
"This guy can't just hear our thoughts, he can hear our attack movements and trajectories too," Sorano stated with utmost seriousness.
"That's right, I can hear everything, you know. What are you going to do?" Cobra wore an expression of complete confidence; even if they figured out his magic, what could they possibly do about it?
"Hmph, we're being underestimated," Sorano grumbled, highly displeased.
"But his magic is definitely troublesome." Although Ultear was equally irritated at being looked down upon, she seriously began contemplating a strategy to deal with him.
"I can hear all of your plans, you know. It's useless." Hearing the various countermeasures Ultear and Sorano were forming in their minds, Cobra chuckled.
"If that's how it is, let's just launch a wide-range attack! Small Angels!" Sorano pointed at Cobra, and a massive swarm of tiny angels materialized around her before rapidly charging at him.
"Ice-Make: Rose Crown!" Ultear slammed her right fist into her left palm. Her magic power surged, and freezing waves of cold air radiated from her body as a magic circle expanded in front of her.
In an instant, the ground stretching from Ultear all the way to Cobra's feet froze solid. Then, thorny ice vines blooming with frozen roses erupted from the ice, whipping violently toward Cobra.
"I can hear it, you know." Facing the simultaneous incoming attacks, Cobra didn't panic in the slightest. Moving with rapid precision, he effortlessly dodged every single strike from both of them.
"Tch, our attack frequency isn't high enough." Seeing her attacks miss, Sorano temporarily ceased her assault. Ultear did the same. However, the ice covering the ground remained, constantly emitting waves of freezing air.
"Damn it!" Natsu and Gray scrambled up from the ground. Natsu instantly spotted Midnight, who was sitting on the floating carpet with his head down, fast asleep.
Natsu's fury erupted instantly. "What the hell are you sleeping for, you bastard?!"
Taking a deep breath, he brought both fists up to his mouth and unleashed a massive, roaring torrent of flames directly at Midnight. "Wake up, you bastard!"
The torrent of flames surged toward Midnight, but just as it was about to hit him, it suddenly veered sharply to the side, cleanly bypassing the sleeping man before erupting out behind him.
"What was that just now? The magic missed?" Natsu ceased his attack, staring in shock at Midnight, who was still sound asleep on the carpet.
"Ice-Make: Lances!" Seeing this, Gray thrust both hands forward, launching dozens of ice lances directly at Midnight.
Just like Natsu's flames, the ice lances swerved around the sleeping Midnight, embedding themselves harmlessly into the ground behind him.
"The magic... dodged him?" Gray stared blankly, having watched with his own eyes as his magic curved to avoid the target. His aim certainly wasn't so terrible that he would miss a stationary target. This could only be the effect of the enemy's magic.
But what kind of magic could produce such an effect?
Before Natsu and Gray could ponder this any further, Racer abandoned his skirmish with Erza and appeared right in front of them.
"Stop that. If Midnight wakes up, it'll be terrifying."
Moving even faster than before, Racer zipped around the two of them, launching a relentless barrage of attacks. Natsu and Gray couldn't react at all, let alone block the incoming strikes; they were completely subjected to a one-sided beating. Finally, Racer delivered a powerful kick to each of them, sending them both flying to the ground.
"Damn it!" Natsu and Gray slowly staggered back to their feet. Having taken so many hits, their bodies ached all over, and their combat effectiveness had dropped significantly.
"Oh, you're pretty tough. But you're far too slow, so all you can do is take a beating," Racer noted in surprise, seeing them stand back up.
But he quickly dismissed it. As long as their speed couldn't keep up with his, they were nothing but punching bags. He simultaneously decelerated; maintaining such extreme speed constantly was a massive drain on his magic power.
"You bastard!" Natsu and Gray glared furiously at Racer, holding off on attacking for the moment. Just as he had said, unless they could figure out a way to counter his overwhelming speed, they had no chance of defeating him.
"Haa!" Natsu steadied his breathing, let out a roar, and swung a flame-wreathed fist at Racer.
"I told you, you're too slow," Racer laughed. In a blur of motion, he vanished from in front of Natsu and reappeared directly behind him.
Racer raised his leg to kick Natsu in the back, but the moment his foot made contact, he realized something was wrong and hastily retreated. Looking down at his foot, he saw that his pants were scorched.
"You coated your entire body in extremely high-temperature flames?!" Racer exclaimed in surprise.
At that moment, Natsu's entire body erupted in massive flames. The intense heat distorted the air around him. To withstand the scorching heat radiating from Natsu, Gray involuntarily started emitting freezing air from his own body.
"Now I can finally hit you," Natsu said with a grin.
It turned out that the moment Racer's kick landed, Natsu had expelled a massive burst of high-temperature flames from his entire body. That way, even if Racer managed to hit him, Natsu's flames would hit Racer in return. Although his eyes couldn't keep up with Racer's speed, he had realized from the numerous attacks he'd taken that Racer only relied on physical strikes. As long as his flames could touch him, Natsu could inflict significant damage.
"Oh, that's a pretty good idea you got there, Natsu," Gray chuckled, observing Natsu's tactic.
"Ice-Make: Ice Armor!" Gray encased his entire body in a suit of ice armor. Unlike ordinary armor, this one was covered entirely in razor-sharp ice spikes. If an enemy struck him with a physical attack, they would undoubtedly be impaled.
"Hehe, did you think a trick like that would be enough to counter my speed? How naive! Gear Shift: Red Zone!"
Racer bent forward, and the magic circle expanded beneath his feet once more. The green circle shifted to red, and his speed, which had just decreased, skyrocketed again. Pushing off the ground with immense force, he vanished from Natsu and Gray's sight.
Natsu and Gray frantically focused, keeping their senses on high alert for any movement around them. But no matter how hard they concentrated, they couldn't catch a single glimpse of him.
"You're too slow!"
Racer's voice and figure materialized simultaneously in front of Natsu and Gray. He was holding two head-sized boulders, which he violently hurled directly at them.
Completely unable to react in time, Natsu and Gray were struck by the high-speed projectiles and sent flying backwards.
"Damn it!" Natsu and Gray scrambled back up. Both of their faces were red and bruised from where the boulders had hit them.
"Bastard!" The flames wreathing Natsu's body flared even more violently. The heat was so intense that the surrounding air warped visibly, creating rising thermal currents that shot upwards into the sky.
Gray, meanwhile, manifested an ice helmet that completely covered his head. He was now fully encased in spiked ice armor, with only two clear, crystalline ice visors covering his eyes.
"Too slow!"
Racer's figure flickered continuously around them as he relentlessly hurled high-speed boulders at Natsu and Gray. The two desperately tried to dodge. When they couldn't, the thermal currents and the flames themselves helped Natsu mitigate the damage, while Gray's spiked armor reduced the impact of the boulders to a mere fraction.
After launching a rapid barrage of attacks, Racer noticed he was inflicting very little damage on the duo, so he halted his assault.
Seeing their opponent stop, Natsu and Gray also ceased their movements. Natsu's flames immediately weakened; maintaining such a massive output of fire across his entire body put immense strain on him and rapidly depleted his magic power. Coupled with the numerous hits he had just taken, Natsu was already starting to pant heavily.
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