Looking at the situation before her, Iri really wanted to hold her forehead and shake her head, but to maintain her image in front of so many people, Iri could only express her current feelings with a bitter smile.
What about the training battle with God-Lord Chains, the current Ninth Seat of Black Scripture? But standing in front of Iri was more than half of the fully armed Black Scripture!
"Uh, what's going on here? If you're just here to observe, why are you all fully armed?" Although Iri already understood what was probably happening, she still pretended to be naive and asked for confirmation.
"This is the Pope's order, I can't do anything about it..." Gelos spread his hands, his expression also very helpless.
"Are we really going to fight this little sister? I feel like I alone would be enough, right?" God-Lord Chains looked Iri up and down as he spoke. This was understandable, as it was his first time meeting Iri.
"I advise you not to underestimate my sister," Unmatched Warrior Mokoredd said, patting God-Lord Chains on the shoulder.
"..." God-Lord Chains did not reply, only nodded with a slightly awkward expression. Gelos must have informed him about Iri being affected by Falling Beauty of a Nation.
The reason Iri was smiling bitterly was not because she was afraid of them. As long as Death Knight didn't personally enter the fray, it wouldn't be a big problem. Even if the entire Black Scripture attacked together, Iri was confident she could defeat them, let alone only six of them!
Iri knew all six of them: the captain, Dark Scripture Jeros, the Fourth Seat Holy Hymn, the Fifth Seat Queen Aesel, the Sixth Seat Unmatched Warrior Mokoredd, the Eighth Seat Giant Shield Wanbi, and the Ninth Seat God-Lord Chains.
This combination was quite perfect: Tank, 'healer,' damage dealer, disruptor, and controller. If it were a real battle, this combination would be no match for Iri.
The problem that gave Iri a headache was how to defeat them without harming their 'lives,' and she probably had to hide some of her less presentable moves, such as the Ruling Spell she had used on them before.
"Huh? What's this for? A training battle? Six against one? You're too despicable!" Before Iri could say anything, Beru jumped out to defend Iri.
"This is the Pope's order, I can't do anything about it," Gelos replied.
"Then count me in! I'll help you, Lady Clementine!" Beru said, then moved closer to Iri, looking eager to join.
"Beru, this is a test given to me by His Holiness the Pope. You can just watch from the side," Iri said, then took a step forward.
Although Beru's offer to help was indeed good, her help would probably only cause trouble. Beru likely didn't even know that these people were from the Black Scripture, the Theocracy's strongest elite unit. Otherwise, with her character, she would have shrunk back immediately.
"Oh... then please be careful, Lady Clementine," Beru could only retreat reluctantly.
With the hindrance gone, only Iri and the six members of the Black Scripture remained on the training ground. Below, Death Knight was still watching, and Iri only hoped she wouldn't interfere. However, Iri didn't know that there were six other people outside the arena secretly observing the battle with magic.
"So, can we begin?" While Iri was contemplating how to incapacitate them all, she moved her satchel-style spatial bag to her lower back and opened it directly. With a motion like stretching, she took out a piece of equipment from the spatial bag behind her.
"Item Transparency activated..." Iri quietly activated a magic scroll hidden in a secret pocket under her cloak. She had bought this Item Transparency scroll a week ago while browsing the Theocracy's Magic Guild, just for fun, and hadn't expected to use it here. This thing should be very effective for surprise attacks.
"Alright, everyone ready? Could you please give the signal?" Gelos turned to look at his team members, who had all taken their positions, then spoke to Beru outside the arena.
"Oh, oh! Then! Begin!" Beru nodded, then clapped her hands forcefully, signaling the start of the battle.
Iri quickly scanned the Black Scripture's formation. Standing at the very front were Gelos and Unmatched Warrior Mokoredd, while Giant Shield Wanbi was positioned at the very back, protecting Holy Hymn. Queen Aesel stood next to Giant Shield Wanbi, and the remaining God-Lord Chains began to move to Iri's left, starting to swing the chains wrapped around his arms.
What Iri particularly noticed were the chains in God-Lord Chains' hands. In the original work, it was described that he used this to try and capture Shalltear, but was killed by Shalltear's counterattack.
Moreover, his nickname, God-Lord Chains, clearly indicated that his main fighting style revolved around these chains.
Ainz had said that the most crucial part of PvP was information. Of these six, except for Dark Scripture Jeros, their fighting styles were basically obvious just from their titles, which was essentially giving free information to the opponent.
"Divine Protection... Power Blessing..." As soon as Iri heard Holy Hymn, who was standing in the back row, begin to chant auxiliary magic, she immediately set her primary target on her without thinking.
If they had a Tank blocking her from the start, it meant that Holy Hymn's own defense was the weakest in their team. Besides, in PvP, the 'healer' must always be taken out first!
However, to attack her, there were four people blocking Iri's way, and God-Lord Chains was on her flank, waiting for an opportunity to attack her. Although Iri had secretly equipped a magic ring when she came over, Explosion Magic could be used. But if she used that, the entire training ground would probably be blown up. If she used the Pure Throwing Spear, she was afraid of being recognized as having a connection with Shalltear. So, Iri only had one remaining long-range attack method.
"Ice Blade Generation! Throw!" Iri could only use her Ice Aura to create a not-too-large Ice Cone, and with her brute strength, she hurled it towards Giant Shield Wanbi's face. This attack was simply to test the Tank's durability. If he couldn't even block this, then there was no point in playing.
Gelos and Unmatched Warrior Mokoredd watched the Ice Cone Iri threw without reacting, simply observing it fly towards Giant Shield Wanbi behind them. It seemed they had a lot of confidence in their team's Tank.
Then, Giant Shield Wanbi raised the small shield on his right hand to block the Ice Cone. The Ice Cone shattered upon impact with the shield. Giant Shield Wanbi frowned slightly, a detail Iri noticed.
At the same time, this allowed Iri to see the appearance of the small shield on his right hand. The metal on the shield was as smooth as a mirror, and it truly reflected the surroundings like a mirror.
This reminded Iri of a common RPG game trope: shields that could reflect certain attacks. And just now, when he saw the Ice Cone shatter, he was somewhat surprised. So, that small shield on his right hand should have the function of reflecting or resisting magic, right? Otherwise, he wouldn't have been surprised when the Ice Cone shattered.
After all, the Ice Cone Iri threw was just a simple Ice Cone generated by frozen air, hurled purely by Iri's brute strength, not magic. So, it was normal that it couldn't be reflected.
"Resistance Enhancement... Freedom Blessing..." Holy Hymn continued to brazenly cast auxiliary magic. Gelos and Unmatched Warrior Mokoredd showed no intention of attacking, as if they were waiting for the auxiliary magic to be fully cast.
Queen Aesel also made no moves, simply staring at Iri with a very wary expression. He didn't even cast his Good at summoning spell, probably because he was worried that Iri would use a countermeasure to prevent his summoning, just like last time.
Since the previous Ice Cone could be easily blocked, then using this wouldn't kill Giant Shield Wanbi instantly. Anyway, even if she severely injured him, she could still heal him... so she might as well cripple him directly!
"Pretty impressive, being able to block my magic. Then block another one for me!" She generated another Ice Cone similar to the previous one.
Similarly... she threw it with her brute strength. However, this time, as Iri threw the Ice Cone with her right hand, her left hand also instinctively swung forward, and to conceal her action, after swinging her left hand, Iri naturally struck a rather chuunibyou pose.
This time, Gelos and Unmatched Warrior Mokoredd still didn't intend to bother with the Ice Cone Iri threw. But just as the Ice Cone passed by them, Gelos seemed to notice something.
"Brudo! Be careful! Her magic isn't right!" Gelos turned and shouted, but it was too late. Giant Shield Wanbi's face had already been twisted by something invisible, and the burly man fell down, maintaining his defensive posture with his small shield raised in his right hand. As he fell, Iri's hammer revealed its true form.
Aha! They fell for it, didn't they? That small shield must be specifically for defending against magic, so Iri deliberately hinted that her next attack would also be magic, and then threw both the Ice Cone and the hammer she had previously made transparent.
That unnatural left-hand swing was to throw her hammer. So Giant Shield Wanbi's small shield in his right hand blocked the first Ice Cone, but that was still a small shield, and its defensive area was too small.
So... the transparent hammer aimed at his head... As for why Gelos noticed something was wrong, he must have heard the sound of the hammer cutting through the air as it flew.
"Take down one first! Then the second! Za! Warudo! (The World)" Iri naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity. She raised her hand and snapped her fingers, which made no sound, then activated Self-Time Acceleration. Nine seconds were enough for her to retrieve her beloved hammer and get close to Holy Hymn and Queen Aesel, killing two birds with one stone.
So, in the world of Self-Time Acceleration, which was like time had stopped, Iri dragged her incredibly heavy body and ran over.
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