Chapter 233: Unfinished Business (P1)
Mirian’s direct question caused a very clear memory to strike the minds of everyone present in the room.
It was inevitable for the party to think of the tense occasion when Ophelia teleported alongside Ivis. Both women had arrived at this exact same place suddenly and without prior warning.
The main stage of their first real confrontation with a demon king. The atmosphere back then was heavy with murderous intent and a palpable hostility.
Even though at that moment everyone was considered a dangerous enemy, the situation was very different now. None of those present ever even imagined that something like this would be possible in the future.
It seemed crazy to think about the drastic change things had taken in such a short time.
Now, Ivis was standing on that same gray stone floor, sharing the exact same air as them peacefully. She was simply there, in front of Ryan’s party.
Ivis was giving general knowledge lessons about her own power with complete tranquility.
Ryan observed the scene in silence for a few seconds, detailing the dragon woman’s relaxed posture. Seeing that Ivis remained in a complete and heavy silence in the face of the archer’s doubt, Ryan moved.
He decided to take a few slow steps forward, shortening the distance a bit. He also felt a great curiosity to know more about that specific power.
Ryan wanted to understand the exact nature of the skill that Ivis mastered so easily.
"You are not obligated to say it in front of us," Ryan began with a calm tone of voice, making it clear that it was not an order. "But even I feel a lot of curiosity to know more about your power. When I mentioned that you used anti-magic, you said it wasn’t that." Ryan stared right into her eyes, hoping she would be willing to share her secret.
"So, does it work in a very different way?" Ryan asked, stopping a couple of meters away from the imposing woman.
Ivis remained motionless in her spot without changing her relaxed posture. She kept her arms crossed under her chest, looking completely unbothered by her ally’s doubt.
With her piercing eyes with vertical pupils, Ivis scanned each of those present in silence. She evaluated the atmosphere of the immense room, noticing the girls’ attention on her.
Ivis took her time before deciding whether to give an answer to Ryan’s question or not. Realizing that everyone was still expectant and waiting for an explanation, Ivis gave in.
"It is not anti-magic," Ivis said with a firm and clear voice. She shook her head at the old assumption Ryan had made. "I cannot use something like that, my element does not work that way."
Ivis slowly and controllably lowered the arms she had crossed over her chest. "I would be more inclined to simply call it, interrupting skills," she added naturally. Ivis gave a much more direct and accurate name to her own complex defensive technique.
Mirian reacted almost immediately upon hearing that short explanation. "Interrupting?" The archer questioned, taking a quick step forward to face the dragon woman.
Her tone of voice showed an evident contained frustration that she could no longer hide from the others.
"Exactly how did you do it?" Mirian asked, furrowing her brow with a lot of annoyance. The archer clenched the fists at her sides tightly, feeling the anger grow in her chest.
"You didn’t even move a centimeter from your spot in that fight. And my arrows simply disappeared in mid-air before touching you," she complained.
It was a memory that hurt her pride as a high-level ranged combatant. She had put all her effort and concentration into that frontal attack against Ivis. Despite having such precision in her hands and considerable destructive power, she failed.
The final result of her rapid attacks was completely disappointing to her. Her best shots simply disappeared into thin air without leaving any trace of impact.
All her effort vanished out of nowhere, just as simple vapor would disappear in the face of heat.
Ivis let out a soft, tired sigh upon hearing the insistent complaints of the yellow-haired archer.
She crossed her arms again for a brief second, observing the annoyance on Mirian’s face. Then, Ivis decided that the best way to explain it was with a visual example.
Ivis lowered her hands very calmly and placed them right in front of her body. She extended them forward, keeping them at chest level so everyone could pay attention.
Then, she slowly separated them toward the sides of her torso.
She did it with a smooth motion, as if she were drawing a wide margin in her own mind. Ivis marked an invisible perimeter in the empty space of the large room.
"The basic principle I used to interrupt your skills is not complicated to understand. It is exactly the same method I use to hear from a great distance," she explained.
"When I connect the natural humidity of the environment to my own body, my senses expand."
Ivis looked Mirian straight in the eyes to make sure she was paying attention.
"Thanks to that invisible water network, I can detect many things around me. I can detect your voices, your exact physical movements, and the flows of mana."
She stopped her hands completely in mid-air after opening her arms. In doing so, she marked the immense invisible limit of her perception area before the party.
"Therefore, any enemy skill that enters within my sensory field, which by the way, is a fairly wide field. I can attack it directly from its origin and disintegrate it completely." Ivis explained with total seriousness, lowering her arms to her sides and returning to her relaxed posture.
"And I can do all of that without even moving from my spot. Of course, there are certain logical limitations according to the density of the enemy’s power," Ivis stated. Her firm words resonated in the silent, cold room of the sky dungeon.
Ivis looked Mirian up and down with an expression of clear superiority.
"But at least for S-rank heroines like yourselves, it doesn’t represent any real problem for my control. That way, I avoid the immense hassle of having to unnecessarily dodge attacks during fights." Ivis maintained her firm posture in front of them, showing great confidence.
Mirian listened to the entire long explanation from beginning to end in complete, tense silence. She didn’t dare say a single word to interrupt Ivis’s account.
Mirian stared fixedly at the dragon woman, evaluating every detail of the enemy skill. The archer’s expression showed a clear mixture of deep astonishment and pure anger at the same time. On one hand, the method was undeniably effective and surprising.
But on the other hand, the tremendous ease with which Ivis nullified her effort was a heavy blow. Probably, the raw realization that she wasn’t even able to touch Ivis with any of her best attacks was the root of her anger.
It was something that bothered her deeply and hurt her pride as an expert warrior.