Seeing that Lardus had drawn his sword, Reiko also drew her Momoka.
"You'll ...... regret it, won't you?"
"Interesting sword."
But even at this stage, Lardus' attitude did not show much seriousness.
"Let's go!"
Lardus suddenly slashed at him. A slash from the top. Reiko took it without danger.
"Well, it seems you can see in the darkness. But it's still a good sword to be able to take my sword so seriously.
Saying this, Lardus instantly jumped back and kept his distance.
"......?"
Reiko felt a sense of discomfort from the slash. And Lardus' movement.
"Next!"
Lardus rushed toward Reiko from his lowered position, aiming at her torso with a side cleave.
Although his movement was fast, Reiko should have been able to react and ...... catch him.
!"
But Lardus and his sword made a strange acceleration in the middle of the move.
"I'm surprised he ...... managed to catch it."
Reiko had received it just in time, just in time indeed. At that moment, the hand that had caught her felt strange again.
Lardus jumped back again and moved away.
Reiko wondered what the discomfort was. It was speed and weight.
A sword has its own weight, its own mass.
It means that the force required to accelerate the sword is different between a light one and a heavy one. Conversely, if the force is the same, the lighter one can move faster.
The discomfort Reiko felt was that the acceleration was unnatural and that the impact of the sword she received was too heavy for its speed.
"But will I be able to catch it next time?"
While Reiko was thinking, Lardus was preparing his next attack. This time he prepared to strike.
Even Reiko would be likely to be wounded by a sword that can fight with a reinforced Momoka. Reiko continues to think.
"It's a good thing I can read the type of attack. ...... No, maybe it's a trap too?"
At that moment, Lardus stepped in. And then came the thrust.
But Reiko is on top of that move. She can avoid it with a margin.
It was supposed to be that way.
!
Reiko's body suddenly became heavy. It is as if her weight has suddenly increased many times.
That's why she couldn't evade in time. Lardus's sword was about to pierce Reiko's left shoulder, which she could not avoid.
"Barrier!"
Reiko activates the barrier at a moment's notice. Lardus' sword stopped on the surface of Reiko's clothes.
It penetrated halfway through the indestructible barrier and was stopped by the threads of the Grand Spider.
"Hmmm...you stopped that one..." he said. ...... admit it. You and your master are our equal!"
Lardus shouted as he jumped back again.
But Reiko did not answer. She was too busy.
"I don't think ...... that this phenomenon is ...... real, but I can only assume that it is ...... real."
The old man, who had been watching Lardus' movements through Reiko's eyes, agreed.
"......You can control the weight, can't you?"
Reiko said. Lardus' eyes widened this time.
"I'm really surprised. I didn't know you could think that far on your own. I'd like to meet the man who made you.
"Then give up!"
Reiko advised him to do so, but Lardus snickered.
"Speak nonsense! We will capture you, break you into pieces, extract information from your control core, and attack you from here.
This is a very demon-like line. But that is a bad move. There is no way that Reiko would tolerate something that could jeopardize Jin.
As for Reiko, her means of attack were limited in this battle.
Reiko kicked the ground as hard as she could. This time, Reiko attacked.
"What!"
But her movements slowed down as soon as she got close to Lardus. Lardus' magic made Reiko .
Reiko's movements were now those of a slightly faster human being. Lardus caught Reiko's Momohana with a slash in the knee with a little time to spare. But...
"What!"
The sword was cut off! She slashed at Momoka with her new feature, the Vibration Sword.
"d*mn!"
But because of his slow sword speed, although the sword was cut, Lardus avoided it unharmed. But his face is plastered with astonishment.
"...... You've easily exceeded my expectations, you know. I didn't want to use it, but I guess it's the only way.
Lardus pulled an eladrite from his pocket.
"<>"
And the magic was released. About 5 meters around Reiko fell into the ground.
"Ugh!"
Reiko barely managed to keep from falling to her knees.
"...... Unbelievable. Everything around you, including yourself, must be hundreds of times heavier now.
Lardus then casts another spell.
"<>!
"......!!!!"
The ground around Reiko, about one meter in circumference, caved in even more. Reiko falls to her knees and her hands.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha! If the weight of the body was multiplied thousands of times, I wouldn't be able to stand up!"
Now, the gravity of several thousand Gs had been applied to about one meter around Reiko, and even the bedrock that made up the ground had begun to collapse into pieces.
Reiko is only able to withstand the force because of the power in her body.
"But how long do you think you can keep up the effort? I don't know what you use as a source of magic, but it won't last forever."
<
The old man encouraged Reiko.
Reiko's source of magic is an ether converter. As long as there is enough free magic element (ether) around her, she can move semi-permanently.
It also has an emergency mana tank. With the boost from this, Reiko can generate 10 times her usual power for a short period of time.
"......Guuuuuuu!"
Reiko gets up with her maximum output. Under her feet is a bedrock compressed by the high gravity. It is crushed by Reiko's weight. Reiko now weighs more than 30 tons, not 30 kilograms.
Reiko, who had applied the maximum amount of reinforcement, hardening, and mana reinforcement to her body, finally stood up and started to walk.
Lardus' face turned pale when he saw her.
"What nonsense!"
And just as she was about to cast another spell, the eladrite in her hand shattered into pieces.
"Oh no!"
Suddenly returning to her original weight, Reiko almost jumped up in reaction for a moment, but she avoided it with her amazing reaction speed. She then leapt at Lardus with her increased strength.
"Here's payback!"
Reiko rushes forward with her maximum power and strikes Lardus with her body. The distance was short, so there was little time for acceleration, and he was lucky to hit Lardus before he reached the speed of sound.
Even so, the impact was so great that Lardus was blown away before he had time to scream.
He hit three stone walls of the house behind him and finally stopped when he hit the back wall. He fell to the floor.
"...... was a tough opponent."
Reiko checked herself and found nothing wrong. Slowly, she walks up to the fallen Lardus.
Since his magic is still alive, she assumes that he is only stunned and plans to use on this occasion. He thought it was too dangerous to take her back as a prisoner of war.
Reiko can use her subconscious at a level of 5 at most, but she should be able to transcribe enough specialized knowledge if she is unconscious and without resistance.
The goal was to be achieved by transferring Lardus' knowledge into the Magi Crystal that she had brought with her for this purpose.
Reiko approaches Lardus.
The next moment, however, she felt a great magical power behind her, and when she turned around, there was...
"...... That Lardus..."
"Well, I guess I got into a bad habit of getting carried away."
Against a dark background, two shadows of what appeared to be demons were standing.