VRMMO no Shien Shokunin ～Top Player no Shikakenin～

Albert showed agitation once he saw Philia being knocked out, however, he calmed down immediately and took some distance from Yumir.

Has he still not recovered his vision completely…?

「Yumir, pressure him!」 (Hind)

「Got it!」 (Yumir)

He doesn’t have any methods to heal himself.

If we can shave off some of his HP now, we’ll be at an advantage!

「Deaaaah!!」 (Yumir)

「Nuh!」 (Albert)

With the same vigor she defeated Philia-chan with, Yumir attacked incessantly.

But the damage was too shallow, with his superhuman reflexes, Albert only received a bit of damage from each hit.

Is this guy a monster…? No, I should believe in Yumir and do what I have to do.

I used all my buffs. After having all our stats increased, I healed myself and Yumir and she went back on the offensive.

After that, I held my position and charged my MP up.

「Now you’ve done it…!」 (Albert)

Along with a voice that would make you shudder, the greatsword flashed at a speed that you wouldn’t think was possible.

Yumir took great damage and was blown away towards me.

Immediately after, he gave chase and swung his sword down. The sound of something being crushed resounded throughout the stage.

Yumir dodged it by jumping sideways and I had already retreated the moment Yumir took damage in order to not get involved.

To begin with, this stage was a breakable object…? It’s the first time I’ve seen it happening.

Since his movements are back to the usual, it seems like Albert has fully recovered his sight.

「For you to avoid a hit to your vitals, that was a nice reaction. However!!」 (Albert)

「Hind! Heal me please!」 (Yumir)

「I’m already on it!」 (Hind)

Just before they started fighting again, I cast 『Healing Plus』 on her.

Yumir recovered a big chunk of her HP and the small portion needed to reach full HP was supplemented by 『Healing』.

Right after, the longsword and greatsword clashed.

1 time, 2 times, each time they exchanged blows the surrounding air trembled.

Thus, about five minutes have passed since the fight turned into a two versus one.

This has already turned into the longest fight of the tournament, but the winner was still not decided.

Albert’s 『Fatal Slash』 and Yumir’s 『Heavy Slash』 were released at the same time.

「Uoooh!!」 (Albert)

「Haaah!!」 (Yumir)

The attacks were released along with a war cry and sparks flew as Yumir’s sword was overcome by Albert’s strength.

Following that, she was ruthlessly slashed from the shoulders down.

As a result, Albert took no damage and Yumir was down to 50% HP.

「Damn you!」 (Yumir)

「Having trouble…?」 (Albert)

The fight had turned into a battle of attrition that we are good at.

However, if it keeps going like this, it’ll end up with us being defeated because I’ll be unable to cycle through 『Revives』.

She’s already been revived four times right after dying, Yumir has been able to somehow endure during the long CD for the 2nd and 3rd times but…

「Got you!」 (Albert)

「!!」 (Yumir)

Albert had gradually gotten used to Yumir’s movements, so the times she’s been getting hit has increased.

Even though Yumir’s movements had grown even sharper due to her unrelenting concentration, the physical specs of Albert were out of this world.

She had already used 『Burst Edge』 twice, but unfortunately, both of them had missed.

Obviously, the second 『Shining』 had also missed, he avoided it by guarding his eyes with his arm.

Even then, we had managed to drop his HP to around half by piling up small hits, however, it hasn’t decreased for a long time now.

Isn’t there a way to deal with this situation…?

No, I should focus on healing before thinking of that. Yumir’s remaining HP is at around 30% now.

Since 『Healing Plus』 is on CD, let’s place a 『Area Heal』 carefully.

「Damn it, even though they are both wearing heavy equipment they are moving really fast…there!」 (Hind)

Being somehow able to endure until the casting finished, Yumir’s HP was back to full while she continued fighting.

However, is this girl so focused that she hasn’t noticed the magic circle at her feet?

She hasn’t looked away from Albert at all.

The arena is also unusually silent…they are all holding their breaths while looking at both of them fighting.

I want to get her a win somehow but…

「We won’t lose…! Like hell we are going to lose! We are winning! We are going to win!」 (Yumir)

「!!」 (Hind)

The shout that seemed to come out from deep inside Yumir surprised me.

…I want to get her a win? That’s wrong, right?

How long am I going to look at this fight with cold eyes as if it didn’t concern me?

That this is just a game or the fact that we don’t lose anything even if we lose…those are just excuses.

I also want to win. With both of our strength, against this man.

「In that case, guess there’s only one thing for me to do.」 (Hind)

I muttered that to fire myself up and looked towards the seat where Riizu was sitting at.

I mean, she did plead to me quite strongly to never use this skill after all.

Strangely enough, even from this distance, I could clearly see the facial expression of my little sister.

She probably guessed my intentions and her eyes were wavering with a hint of sadness…but eventually, she gave me a small nod.

I got her permission. All that’s left is to…

「Yumir, give me twenty seconds!」 (Hind)

「…!! I got it, leave it to me!」 (Yumir)

When I gave her the instruction to endure for twenty seconds without healing, Yumir replied like that.

The buff from that skill is on another level from normal buffs.

If I’m going to use it, I’ll cast all the physical buffs again!

「I have no idea what you are scheming but…I can already see through your movements. There’s no way for you two to win anymore!」 (Albert)

「Hah, I wonder about that. Don’t go looking down on us that much!」 (Yumir)

Got enough MP, first off I’ll start with 『Attack Up』 and 『Guard Up』 to raise Yumir’s stats.

Then I used 『Shining』 to distract Albert a little bit while I used 『Healing』 to recover my own HP a bit.

『Healing Plus』 just came off CD so I used it to completely recover Yumir’s HP.

And to top it off, I used 『Entrust』 to transfer all my MP to Yumir…

「I’m leaving the rest to you.」 (Hind)

「…!? Hind, what did you just say!? Say it again!」 (Yumir)

I didn’t reply anymore and went onto casting without losing any time.

The MP cost is 0, instead, it will use all of my HP.

At my own feet, a magic circle bigger than the ones for normal skills appeared and a dazzling light was released from it.

『Sacrifice』 was activated and the light that came from my body coiled around Yumir’s and enveloped her in a golden aura.

「N-No way…this light, don’t tell me!?」 (Yumir)

「Don’t look back! Look in front of you! Guh…」 (Hind)

She has no time to be looking at me.

My HP was being reduced at a rapid pace and the usual feeling of having my body being torn apart permeated my body.

Yumir’s profile showed her bitterness but she didn’t turn back and focused on what was in front of her.

…Yes, that’s fine.

「Interesting…if I can’t beat both of you in this state, I won’t be able to say I have taken my revenge for last time’s loss! I won’t do anything underhanded like waiting for the effect to run out! Come at me with all you’ve got!!」 (Albert)

「Here I comeeee!!」 (Yumir)

The hero aura mixed in with the golden aura and the cluster of light danced around Yumir.

With an intensity on a completely different level from before, the fierce sound of their swords clashing resounded throughout the arena.

「Haaaaaaaaaaaah!!」 (Yumir)

「Uuh, guh…! Nuooooooh!!」 (Albert)

That sound quickly turned into another form.

Due to the overwhelming difference in defensive power…after seeing the fact that she was taking below 10% damage even when she took a direct hit from Albert’s sword, Yumir stopped being careful.

She rushed in while taking being damaged for granted and took some of Albert’s HP.

It’s Yumir’s usual offensive style that she used before the finals.

Albert’s HP bar, which had stayed frozen for quite a while, started to show signs of moving again.

「…Ooooooooh!!」 (Albert)

Albert, who saw that he was at a disadvantage, also stopped defending.

He activated 『Berserker Edge』 and took some of Yumir’s HP.

Furthermore, red light enveloped his sword. He had started charging up 『Rampage』, a powerful skill of the Heavy Warrior class.

「Yumi…my body…my voice too, it’s not coming out…」 (Hind)

If Yumir takes that skill head on even in her current state with 『Sacrifice』, she will definitely get knocked out.

However, my warning couldn’t reach her. Rather than that, my view has turned blurry and I can’t see what’s going on properly anymore.

In order to reply to Albert’s actions, Yumir used 『Act of desperation』 and took a thrusting stance to use 『Burst Edge』.

After seeing that last thing, my body crumbled on top of the magic circle. I can’t put any strength into my limbs.

…Wait, please wait.

It’s too soon, just a bit more. Let me hold out until the match is decided at least…

However, my HP bar heartlessly kept going down…and immediately after I heard the familiar sound of an explosion along with the sound of a slash…along with the sound of my surroundings, I was unable to feel anything anymore.

What I felt when I came to was warmth on the back of my head and back and someone’s breathing.

What was there once I slightly opened my eyes was Yumir looking intently at me while looking as if she would cry.

「What’s with that face…? Don’t tell me, did we lose?」 (Hind)

I wonder if my voice is reaching her in the middle of cheers that feel like they would destroy your ears?

As a result, Yumir denied my question by shaking her head like a child.

I see, so it’s not like we lost.

…Uh?

If she’s denying the fact that we lost, doesn’t that mean…!?

After standing up in a panic from my previous position of being hugged by Yumir, I started to look around me.

The first thing that came into view was a greatsword thrust deep into the stage with a multitude of cracks in it, and on the other side of it…

Was the body of the Mercenary Albert, lying face down with his arms and legs stretched out and showing no signs of moving.