Game’s End Part 2

by Mamare Touno

  His special Samurai taunting skills were inefficient against targets this scattered. Running around and getting the enemy together in one place would be a job all on its own.

  “Leave it to me, Touya! Witness the melody of my glorious magic! Serpent Bolt!”

  As its name hinted, the sheaf of bluish-purple lightning that leapt from Rundelhaus’s staff raced every which way across the field, like ribbons. It was what general theory would have called a bad move: a preemptive strike by a magic user.

  Eight goblins came running from all over the field. That was more than they’d expected, but Minori, who was hanging back at the very end of the line, calmly cast a Damage Interception spell. …Not on Touya, but on Rundelhaus.

  Rundelhaus was enveloped in a light blue, mirrorlike barrier, with his staff at the ready. The first goblin attacked him, and then a second goblin raised its ax high and charged. However, both attacks were blocked by the Damage Interception spell Minori had set.

  Damage Interception spells were one form of the special recovery spell unique to Kannagi. When set on a character in advance, they could protect that character from a certain amount of damage.

  The most famous example was Purification Barrier, but there were several other types, and the one she’d used this time was a spell called Defense of Doctrine Barrier. Its distinguishing feature was its large capacity for absorbing damage. It was a powerful spell that could negate more than four times as much as Purification Barrier could, but naturally its recast time was long, and it wasn’t the sort of skill you could use casually.

  Still…

  Isuzu thought as she threw down a rapid series of notes.

  Minori had made the right call. Thanks to that spell, right now, Rundelhaus’s defense was even higher than Touya’s. On top of that, the goblins had been angered by Rundelhaus’s magic attacks, which had a far longer range than Touya’s attacks, and they were being drawn right out in front of Isuzu and the other Adventurers.

  The moment the goblins were assembled, Touya’s Whirlwind Izuna struck home. Most of the goblins stood paralyzed, as if they’d been disconnected, and then Rundelhaus, Touya and Isuzu dispatched them one by one.

  In the midst of these repeated battles, Isuzu and the others were learning not only basic team plays but irregular ones as well. Irregular plays were, as you’d expect, irregular, and they weren’t tactics that could be used on a regular basis, but in specific situations, they could be used to great effect. You could say the group had acquired more problem-solving techniques.

  That, and this—

  “Well, Mademoiselle Isuzu?! Did you see my magnificent magic?!”

  —were all the result of being yanked around by this dumb young man.

  Isuzu smiled and smacked Rundelhaus’s head.

  That earlier spell had been amazing. The fact that he’d scored an accurate hit even with a range like that one was as much due to Rundelhaus’s training as it was to the spell’s capabilities.

  Everyone was getting stronger. That meant Isuzu couldn’t let herself fall behind, either.

  7

  The confused fight continued.

  The sun was already sinking in the western sky.

  The five of them were the only ones in sight who were continuing to fight with the town in the balance. Minori’s group was an isolated defense corps. Their midnight strikes on the goblins had done significant damage, and the fighting power of the midsized unit that had been dispatched to Choushi was believed to have been nearly wiped out. At the very least, their chain of command had to have been shredded.

  The effect was visible in this sporadic attack as well.

  This wasn’t an organized effort on the goblins’ part. Now that Choushi had been thrown off-balance by the sahuagin attack, they simply wanted to devastate and plunder the village at no risk to themselves.

  Raising rough, repulsive voices, the short little demons attacked out of nowhere. Minori and the others lay in wait for them in the center of the farming road that ran toward the fields in the hill country and kept on defeating them.

  Shrieker Echo, the settable Druid spell Serara used, was proving to be very useful. Setting several of these spells to act as alarms helped Minori’s group cover for their small numbers.

  “Sorry, Minori. Got anything to drink?”

  Minori handed the groaning Touya a third canteen. She’d seen this much coming, and had been prepared. She chanted Instant Heal over Touya, who had plopped down at the base of a tree by the side of the road.

  Resilience was probably at work, since the battle had ended: The scratches on his armor, the ones that weren’t very serious, were mending before her very eyes. So were Touya’s wounds. However, he was so soaked with sweat it was as if he’d poured water over his head, and the sweat wasn’t going anywhere. His body was probably still hot from the long, fierce battle. Maybe that was why his breathing was taking a while to calm down.

  Minori was worried about him, but she didn’t say anything aloud.

  No matter what she said, she wouldn’t be able to get Touya a few days of restful vacation. Besides, Touya probably wouldn’t want something like that. Like Minori, what Touya wanted was this defense operation.

  All Minori could do was hand him a well-wrung-out handkerchief.

  “Thanks.”

  As she nodded, acknowledging Touya’s words, Minori realized that she felt hot as well as she looked around at her companions. Most of them were trying to recover as much mental energy as they possibly could while they caught their breath.

  Minori’s job was field monitor. During this fight, she’d gone one step further and taken over the role of operator for the party as well. Because Minori had taken over Serara’s task of keeping an eye on MP, the speed of Serara’s reactions with regard to recovery and support had risen significantly.

  In exchange, this meant that Minori was single-handedly performing the roles of paying attention to their surroundings and to her friends’ condition; in other words, to battle information. At first glance, it looked as though she was slightly removed from the combat, but the burden of the role was a large one.

  I’m still not that good, though…

  As Minori took mental notes on the difference between her companions’ remaining MP, she checked their degree of recovery. During battle, Minori grasped the trends in her companions’ MP in 5 percent increments. Using that information and the shifts in the battle, she estimated consumption and “read” the battle, piecing together the future five or ten seconds in advance. She couldn’t trust her accuracy yet, but it was a fact that this forecasting ability was helping them avoid unnecessary MP consumption.

  They were defending a base in this continuous battle. Unlike normal dungeon expeditions, they were never able to let their guard down, and Minori’s combat management abilities were constantly being refined.

  Minori’s own assessment of her control was that it was like a child’s game compared to what Shiroe did, but if Naotsugu had heard those words, he would probably have been speechless.

  Five percent increments meant making predictions about the frequency of other players’ magic use on a concrete level, such as “She should be able to cast two more midsized recovery spells.” That was far beyond the insight that most adventurers around level 30 could hope for based on what they were shown regarding other players’ statuses. No one in the party had realized it yet, not even Minori herself, but she had quietly begun to develop a talent.

  “Listen, everyone. During that last battle, Marielle contacted us.”

  Collecting herself, Minori made her report.

  Because she was controlling the battle, Minori often went on standby, hanging back as a reserve. While she choked back the spells she wanted to cast in rapid succession, she monitored their surroundings.

  Thanks to that, she’d noticed the telechat.

  “According to Marielle, a special unit is on its way here from Akiba by ship. She said it should be here this evening.”

 
“Evening? It’s already almost evening…”

  “You’re right.”

  “Hmm. Maybe they’re running a little late?”

  Minori thought hard. The summer sky was still bright, but as far as the hour was concerned, it was already late in the afternoon. It would have been fine to call the time evening.

  “From what I heard, they’ll arrive by ship and come ashore. If they get reinforcements at the coast, alternates will come out to us as well, so… If we hang on for three more hours at the very longest…”

  Isuzu and Serara’s faces brightened. From Rundelhaus’s and Touya’s expressions, they seemed to be steeling themselves, as if they were determined not to get careless, even now. Still, it was true that they had relaxed slightly, as if a weight had been lifted from their shoulders.

  During a battle that had lasted about half a day, they’d defeated nearly thirty goblins.

  The total number wasn’t all that large, but the combat was very stressful. They had a wide range to cover, and there was no telling where the goblins would attack; it felt as though they were playing whack-a-mole with only the Shrieker Echoes to rely on, and there were no opportunities to relax.

  As sensors, the Shrieker Echoes were convenient, but they weren’t perfect. On the contrary: They were incredibly worried that something might get through the holes in the net and make it to the village. As a matter of fact, there had been cases where a few Goblins had slipped through and headed for the village, and Minori and the others had had to hastily go back and subdue them.

  As they fought, they were patrolling the area around the village out of consideration for the distance they’d have to travel to defend the center of Choushi if something broke through their line of defense, and in that sense, they weren’t able to push up that line of defense.

  It was fortunate that the Goblins had lost their chain of command. If they’d had a good commander, they probably would have used disturbance tactics like burning the field. Minori’s group had been apprehensive about this, but so far, they’d managed to hold out somehow.

  “You’re right. When the ship arrives, people will come out to us, too.”

  Serara nodded in agreement.

  It was clear that the root of their current distress was the way this double-fronted operation dispersed their forces. At present, when no large magical beasts had been sent into combat, neither goblins nor sahuagins were all that tough as individual enemies.

  “Not much longer now. Let’s all get out there and do our best.”

  On that note, Touya stood up energetically.

  The afternoon wind was still as hot as if it had been sautéed in a frying pan, but the news that reinforcements would arrive if they hung on just a little longer was enough to bring life back to their faces.

  It happened about fifteen minutes after they’d started patrolling again.

  Minori and the others had hoped the time would pass without incident, but of course their hopes were betrayed.

  Behind them, from the village’s wide avenue, they heard an enormous crash. When the party turned back, wondering how they’d managed to let something make it that far in, they came face-to-face with a squad of goblins radiating an aura of violence, accompanied by two Dire Wolves.

  8

  The turn the fight had taken put them at an overwhelming disadvantage.

  “Not gonna happen!!”

  Touya charged again, blocking a Dire Wolf that had been about to leap at Isuzu. However, inevitably, the charge freed up the Hobgoblin he’d been holding back.

  The repeated battles had exhausted nearly all of the members’ big techniques with long recast times. Although they had MP reserves, courtesy of Isuzu the Bard, that alone wasn’t enough decisive power to let them break out of the situation.

  The Hobgoblin was holding a big hammer with both hands. Taking a full swing with it as if it were a baseball bat, the goblin slammed it right into Touya’s defenseless side.

  It won’t be enough!

  With a smashing sound you’d never hear in baseball, the attack crashed into Purification Barrier. The single-player barrier shone light blue, and the weird noise—as if thick glass were shattering all at once—was wearing away at its durability.

  Damage Interception spells were a special type of recovery spell that was set in advance and negated a certain amount of damage. They could completely negate all damage, provided the damage was below the amount they could absorb. However, if it was over their threshold, they would fall away, no matter how long they were supposed to last.

  As she saw the light of the barrier spidering like glass, Minori knew instinctively that it wasn’t fully canceling the damage.

  “Four Quarters Prayer!!”

  Immediately, Minori cast her emergency Damage Interception spell. As befitted a spell in the Emergency category, it was extremely effective: On top of costing almost no MP, it was quick to chant, and it protected all of Minori’s companions in the area with a defense that was nearly as strong as Purification Barrier.

  However, the situation wouldn’t be resolved that easily.

  …And now I can’t use that one again.

  Minori bit her lip. Her face was pale.

  As the name indicated, emergency spells were meant to get players through emergencies. Their recast times were long, and she wouldn’t be able to use the same spell again for twenty-four hours.

  “Stop! Sto-o-op!!”

  Serara activated Willow Spirits. As though drawn by a spell, vines that had been clinging to the wall of a nearby warehouse wrapped around the Dire Wolf. The Dire Wolf gave an irritated bellow, then dug its claws into the ground and began to struggle, trying to work itself free of its bonds.

  This was the third time Serara had used it. With the Dire Wolf’s huge body and matching strength, it would be able to tear plant bindings to shreds. But was the restraint pointless? No: Because Serara had managed to check at least one of the Dire Wolves with this spell, if even for only a short time, Touya and the rest of the group were able to concentrate on the other enemies.

  However, since Serara was occupied with the Dire Wolf, this also meant that Minori had to handle recovery spells, the area Serara was in charge of.

  “I told you! It ain’t gonna happen!”

  Touya brought down his raised katana with all his might.

  It wasn’t a technique or anything, just a brute-force strike, but it sent one goblin flying, and a Hobgoblin who’d been in its path got pulled in as well.

  The Hobgoblin used its superior build to shove the Goblin out of the way, then started toward Touya again.

  Hobgoblins were a goblin subspecies. That said, although they were a subspecies, their abilities were higher than those of their parent race. For instance, goblins banded together and lived in groups, but even the most diplomatic couldn’t have called their lives “well-ordered.” Recently they’d just happened to crown a king and they had formed a plunder army, too, but the reality was that they were a tribal society, a chaotic and violent demihuman species that stole others’ property.

  And compared to the orcs (another wicked type of demihuman that lived in the south), who preferred military organization and nation building, the goblin race was lawless.

  Yet while Hobgoblins had inherited the goblin temperament, they also had a strong desire to subdue others, which the regular goblins did not have. They were often more intelligent than goblins, too, and they mastered the weapons they took from humans.

  This Hobgoblin was quite a formidable enemy: It was awkwardly wearing pieces of plate armor, probably stolen from some knight, and it used a metal sledgehammer. Its level might have been as high as 30. To be honest, at this point, that enemy alone could easily have been a bit too much for Minori’s group.

  That Hobgoblin was accompanied by two Dire Wolves and four goblins. Minori and the others were managing to oppose them right now only because they knew the topography of the village’s main avenue, because they’d taken up a position where they couldn�
��t be surrounded and were protecting the rear rank as they fought, and because they’d polished their teamwork during their recent special training. Minori’s group had clearly gotten involved in a fight that was beyond what they could handle.

  “Touya, switch! Pin down the wolf and the boss!”

  However, determination that surpassed actual strength wouldn’t last long. The battle was wavering on a precarious balance. In that case, they needed to take a gamble that would make maximum use of the benefits of the emergency spell she’d cast.

  Making up her mind, Minori dashed out onto the front line.

  Four Quarters Prayer had deployed Purification Barrier–class damage interception over all party members, and it had thirty-two seconds left. Minori may have been healer, but even she should be able to hold out against the goblins’ attacks during those thirty-two seconds.

  She’d made up her mind and leapt, but her legs were shaking, and the strength seemed about to drain out of them. The summer road, with its clouds of dust, felt soft and fluffy to her, as if it were made of cushions. Still, in an attempt to shake off the feeling of unreality, Minori unleashed a front kick at the closest goblin from an altitude that wasn’t at all ladylike.

  “Understood! Let’s go, Mademoiselle Isuzu!!”

  “Roger that, Rudy!”

  As if they’d just woken up, yells of support rose from the rear ranks. Just hearing the first verse of Rundelhaus’s chant told Minori that they’d accurately read her intent.

  The goblin leapt at her, laughing maniacally, and Minori took its attack from a defensive stance. Relying on her own Damage Interception spell, she evaded only the attacks that were aimed at her vital spots, letting the hardened areas of her leather armor handle the rest. She wasn’t dodging: Whenever an attack flew at her, she’d jump into its path, stopping it with her body before the weapon came down completely.

  I’m scared! I’m scared! I’m scared— But!!

  Watching his sister act as though she’d gone insane out of the corner of his eye, Touya did the exact same thing against the higher-level enemies: the Hobgoblin and the Dire Wolf.