"This is..."
Elise reached out and stared in surprise at the strands of hair that weighed no more than a few grams.
Even she had failed to understand what had happened in that brief instant.
Alfia's latest attack had truly exceeded her expectations.
"How was that, little girl?"
Seeing the effect of her attack, Alfia revealed a provocative smile.
"Even if Zald and I together have no way to defeat you, we can still accomplish a few insignificant little things. For example..."
"Cutting off all your hair!"
Alfia had already tested it just now. Her sound magic could threaten Elise, but only if that barrier was absent!
In truth, there were many details that left Alfia puzzled.
Sound magic was still sound at its core. Elise had not blocked ordinary sound.
Voices posed no problem, so why had sound-based magic been stopped?
Or could Elise choose what sounds to block on her own?
Although Alfia could not determine the answer, several ideas had already occurred to her.
She was a member of the Hera Familia, after all, and her combat experience was extraordinarily rich. The fact that she had identified a weakness in Elise within such a short span of time proved that much.
The Hera Familia had once stood at the forefront of Dungeon exploration. Whenever they ventured into newly discovered floors, they encountered countless unknown monsters, making quick judgment in battle absolutely essential.
Even among them, Alfia had been exceptional.
"Although the previous attack appeared to be a sound wave coming from the front, all of that was merely a decoy, wasn't it?"
"The real attack... was vibration?"
That was right. Sound was born from vibration, and as a user of sound magic, Alfia naturally understood that principle.
Different sounds possessed different vibrational frequencies.
That was precisely what Alfia had seized upon!
Although it sounded extremely difficult to control, Alfia had forcibly accomplished it through her extraordinary precision.
Using sound magic, she generated vibrations at different frequencies around Elise. Then, under cover of that seemingly powerful casual attack, she caused those vibrations to erupt directly within Elise's hair.
That was how several strands of Elise's hair had been severed...
Had Alfia truly intended to kill Elise, she could have made the vibration act directly on Elise's abdomen. Even if it failed to cut through her, it still would have affected her.
But this was only a trial. There was no need to go that far.
Faced with Alfia's provocation, Elise did not become angry. This had been her own oversight. Getting angry now would only be an impotent tantrum.
"I never expected that even now, you would still try to instruct me... You have my gratitude!"
The purpose of this trial had been decided from the beginning—to provide Elise with the Great Feats needed to level up.
Elise had originally assumed that Alfia and the others would not take this battle too seriously.
It would be like the Great Feud. Although they had utterly crushed one of Orario's great familias, they had still held back to an absurd degree.
But now, Alfia's actions made her message clear. If you want to defeat us, then show us what you're truly capable of!
"Not bad."
Alfia offered a brief evaluation, but in the next second, a wicked smile curved across her lips.
"To tell the truth, Zald and I discussed this possibility before. What should we do if we found ourselves unable to defeat you?"
"We didn't have any ideas at the time, but now..."
"I've decided. We'll shave off all your hair!"
What?
Was she joking?
Wait!
Elise suddenly remembered that she seemed to have offended Alfia when she examined her body earlier.
At the time, Alfia had looked as though she wanted to devour her alive!
"Could this be because of the examination..."
"Shut up!"
The instant Elise opened her mouth, Alfia unhesitatingly launched more than a hundred blades formed from sound waves.
None of them were powerful. Even if they struck a person's body, they would at most leave a faint mark without drawing blood.
But precisely because the attacks were so weak, they could transmit those minute vibrations into Elise's hair and sever it!
Unless Elise chose to block out all sound, she had no way to deal with this technique. Yet losing her hearing in the middle of battle would be extremely dangerous!
"This entire area is already surrounded by my sound waves. The moment you touch one, your hair will cease to exist!"
"Zald, get in there!"
Alfia ordered Zald forward without the slightest courtesy, prompting the middle-aged man to protest.
"Hey, what about my hair?"
"Would it really matter if you went bald? If anything, you'd probably look even stronger that way."
"But a woman's hair is her life!"
"Fine. I'll do as you say..."
Under the pressure radiating from Alfia, Zald could only voluntarily enter the battlefield filled with sound waves.
"As a man, doing something like this to a young girl is truly beneath me, but..."
"Forgive me!"
Even without him saying it, Elise understood. She immediately struck a sparkling pose.
"That's all right. I'll merely take a little revenge on you afterward, Uncle Zald."
Ah!
Although nothing showed on his face, he had indeed been struck by her cuteness in that instant.
Long ago, while cooking, Zald had once imagined what it would be like if Alfia acted cute and called him uncle. Yet now, that fantasy had actually been fulfilled through Elise?
Perhaps this was what people called the tender heart of a hardened warrior?
Or perhaps... even if Zald was called the conscience of the Zeus Familia, he was still a member of the Zeus Familia in the end!
Elise truly could not understand what passed for Zeus' conscience. Whatever it was, it definitely was not the conscience of a normal person.
"Then take this!"
With that, Elise no longer hesitated. Sword in hand, she charged straight toward Zald.
A moment later, a sword dance resembling a storm of fluttering blossoms unfolded before his eyes.
Thud!
Zald swung his sword at Elise without hesitation, but no matter how hard he tried, he could only brush the edge of her clothing.
As the saying went, one step behind meant every step behind. As time passed, Zald's disadvantage gradually became more apparent.
Once Elise truly let loose and accelerated, she was simply too fast. Zald could not keep up with her at all, unless an opportunity presented itself...
"Then I'll create that opportunity!"
Alfia was not merely standing on the sidelines. She used an enormous number of sonic blades to trap Elise and Zald, restricting them to a limited area.
As long as Elise did not want her long golden hair to vanish, she could not recklessly charge outside.
As for Zald, perhaps he did not need to care about those sonic blades at all. Would it really matter if he went bald?
Soon, sonic blades filled the entire space. One hung in the air every short distance.
Not only were they extremely weak, but this was a battlefield!
Those tiny fluctuations would be completely drowned out by the sounds of combat, and they truly left Elise unable to move recklessly.
Zald found himself in the same predicament.
The middle-aged man now had dark lines covering his face, because his hair had already been reduced to a mohawk...
Aside from the strip standing upright in the center, both sides were completely gone!