Published at 30th of August 2022 06:54:51 AM

679 A Certain Girl and the Diversion (side: Miria)

The operation to attack Saint Jornes has begun. Those participating are me, Meltisan, and eight warrior priests lead by Sirius-san, making a total of ten people.

Five of us have already split away to approach the angel statue from opposite side. The group me and Meltisan are in is tasked with approaching Jornes from the front and attracting her attention. Then, Sirius-sans group will attack from her blind spot.

Although, the only one who will actually attack will be Sirius-san. The other four are only going with him to clear the way. Theyll protect him from the monsters, so he can focus on Jornes.

Sirius-sans bow skill is [Dragonshot]. It coats the arrow in dragon-shaped light, and flies straight towards the target.

It takes a lot of mana, and he needs time to prepare it. However, the attack power and penetration gained is worth it. Sirius-san explained earlier that its good for dealing damage against targets with high defence or high [Physical Resistance].

If the [Dragonshot] connects and we can confirm that it did damage, then well have learned that its possible to kill Jornes. Well probably then want to retreat, but we can take that information to other groups to recruit them, then draw up a plan to kill her. Weve taken into account the possibility that provoking her could make the situation worse, but the current status quo is too hopeless not to risk it.

With Meltisan taking the lead, the five of us are approaching Jornes. The beauty that the streets held just days ago has vanished as a result of the monsters rampaging, being replaced with rubble and broken statues.

Do you think thisll work? Meltisan?

No idea. But it should give us some information.

Meltisan replies, looking up at Jornes.

Sirius-samas [Dragonshot] might just make her to come down and start actively attacking. Once that happens, well

One of the warrior priests, Raddsan, says.

Raddsan is a short middle-aged man, and Ive seen him rebuked for his timity by the other warrior priests several times now. Hes easy to get along with, so Ive talked with him a lot over these past four days.

Hey! Dont say something thatll bring down morale! We factored in the danger! We know it could backfire!

Having angered one of the other of the warrior priests, Raddsan bows his head down repeatedly in apology.

But, to be honest, I think theres a good chance hes correct in his assessment. I didnt want to object too strongly, because otherwise I would have ended up sending Meltisan to her death by herself.

Its very optimistic to think Yornes could be defeated by human hands. She has the rainbow attack magic she used at the start, so if she decided to start using it, wed have no chance. Right now shes just floating, but if she starts freely flying around, then itll be almost impossible to hit her. On top of that, if we manage to gather enough forces to try and kill her, all she has to do is make that black rain fall again and well be forced to retreat.

But, if we choose to be pessimistic, then were already doomed. In order to have the best chance of survival, we have to act on the premise that Jornes can be defeated. As the warrior priest said, we had all already factored in the risk of it backfiring when we agreed to the plan.

Were still too far away. Mine and Mirias attacks wont reach from here.

Meltia frowns, looking up at Yornes. She doesnt seem to be paying any notice to our presence, not having even glanced at us.

Dont worry about it. Heh, even our bows wont reach at this angle. We arent Sirius-sama, after all.

Raddsan says jokingly. The other two warrior priests glare at him, and he scratches his head. Meltisan also fixes him with a cold glare.

Sorry. I thought the mood was a bit too dark But, yeah, its not a problem. Our role is simply to attract her attention. We dont need to be accurate. Ill call out to her with [Telepathy]. Lets each do what we can, okay? Remember, we dont need to hit her, just get her attention.

The way you said it aside Youre right, I guess.

Meltisan nods towards Raddsan.

Once weve gotten close enough to the angel statue, we begin.

Saint Jornes-sama! Why are you doing this? We dont understand! Have we committed some sin? Please, say something! I dont want to die without at least knowing why!

Raddsan calls out with [Telepathy] as planned. But Jornes doesnt show any response at all. The arrows shot by the other warrior priests pass by below her feet.

[Lucent Luna]!

Meltisan holds her sword aloft and shouts. The sunlight touching the blade shoots out as ten orbs of light. However, they only reach as high as the statues abdomen. Of course, Jornes doesnt respond to this either.

It was never really a long range skill.

The [Fire Sphere] I shoot skims past her side. She still takes no notice.

Both [Telepathy] and arrows failed. Shes just not showing any interest in us.

Raddsan shrugs his shoulders.

My [Presence Perception] is picking up on monsters coming this way. This could get bad.

One of the warrior priests reports bitterly.

The fact that shes ignoring us so thoroughly makes me think she probably wont dodge Sirius-sans arrow. If anything, its good shes so oblivious. If she were to notice and move out of the way, risking our lives would have been completely pointless.

Ugh If only there was something that would draw her attention. Shes from thousands of years ago, so I have no idea what interests her

Hmm I was thinking earlier that it looked like she was waiting for someone. Maybe shell show interest if you bait her with that in somehow.

Raddsan claps his hands and grins.

I see, not a bad idea. I just need to act like I know what shes after.

Raddsan looks up at Jornes.

Jornes-sama, the person youre waiting for is already here! How about giving them a greeting! You got the entire Holy City involved to invite them here, after all!

Jornes twitches and looks down at us. Then, my [Water Ball] bursts against her feet, drenching her legs.

I hit!

I figured it wouldnt do damage either way, so I switched to using weaker magic. Rather than fire, getting her wet would probably do more to draw her attention.

Jornes frowns at us.

I look at Sirus-sans group on the opposite side. An arrow point pokes up from up from the rubble, trained on Jornes back.