by Aneko Yusagi
“What the hell?!”
“We were too late!”
Sadeena quickly switched to her therianthrope form and began to rapidly recite an incantation.
“Raphtalia!”
Raphtalia leapt out of the crumbling house and brandished her katana. She was still halfway undressed, and her miko outfit was spotted with ash. I heard a metallic sound echo out and something went flying toward Raphtalia! I squinted to get a better look. It looked like a kunai or some kind of iron spike. And then a group of people appeared from out of nowhere and attacked Raphtalia.
“Ugh . . .”
Raphtalia parried and then counterattacked, but her attack was dodged by a hair’s breadth.
“Prepare yourself!” the enemy shouted.
Fortunately, Raphtalia was slightly more skilled than her opponents, so she was able to dodge all of their attacks. What kind of weapons were they using? Was that a kodachi? One of the enemies blocked Raphtalia’s katana and locked blades with her. Immediately after, another enemy took advantage of the opening, appearing from behind and attacking. But Raphtalia swiftly drew her other katana and blocked the attack. She could dual-wield.
“Brave Blade! Crossing Mists!”
Raphtalia forced a skill off and tried to slice through the enemy, but her katana stopped just short of making contact and sparks shot into the air. Her opponents were pretty strong.
“Haaah!”
“Not so fast!”
Raphtalia used her illusion magic to confuse the attacker and then dodged the attack. She’d only changed her position ever so slightly, so it had appeared really dangerous. The enemies had managed to unleash such a fierce chain of attacks in the mere moments it had taken us to approach.
They must have been some seriously skilled fighters. Raphtalia had a vassal weapon! Levels were capped at 100 in this world. Even if Raphtalia’s stats were reduced by the effects of a curse, I was sure she wouldn’t be outclassed by someone of that level. She was at least that strong.
“Air Strike Shield! Second Shield! Shooting Star Shield!”
Raphtalia had only been able to focus on protecting herself. I hurried to the front to take over defense.
“Drifa Thunderbolt!”
Sadeena finished her incantation and thunderbolts rained down on the surrounding area, revealing several more enemies that seemed to have been hiding.
What was this? They appeared to be killer whale therianthropes and a rabbit therianthropes. They were wearing what looked like ninja outfits, and they had me, Raphtalia, and Sadeena surrounded.
“Who the hell are these people?” I asked.
Did that mean demi-humans and therianthropes had attacked Raphtalia? Siltvelt and Shieldfreeden were the demi-human countries. But if they’d been from there, I wouldn’t have expected them to be this hostile once I showed up.
“Are those enemies?!”
“Oh no! The house is on fire! We restored that house with bubba!”
“Kwa?!”
Ren, Keel, the other slaves, and even the monsters all started to make a lot of noise.
“Fehhh! Mr. Itsuki! Let’s join the fight!”
“Okay.”
Rishia and Itsuki showed up too, of course.
“What’s going on?!”
“What in the world happened here?”
Even Fohl and Atla were surprised by the unexpected state of affairs. The enemy showed no sign of retreating, despite our rapid increase in numbers. They were exchanging glances silently.
“Daughter of the one who abandoned his inheritance of the seat of the Heavenly Emperor! You have made your intentions clear to us! We will do everything in our power to thwart your claim to the seat! Prepare yourself!”
“What?!”
What was that supposed to mean? I looked over at Raphtalia.
“What are you talking about? I have absolutely no idea!” she exclaimed.
“Little Naofumi, little Raphtalia, it’s too late. They won’t listen to us.”
Sadeena narrowed her eyes. She was radiating an aura of murderous intent as she pointed her harpoon at the group of ninja-looking enemies that had suddenly appeared.
What was going on? There were several killer whale therianthropes that looked a lot like Sadeena mixed in among them. I suddenly remembered what Sadeena had said recently. I got a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“What do you mean?” I asked her.
“Listen, little Naofumi. Those clothes that you had little Raphtalia put on—that you keep calling a miko outfit—are primarily what caused this. You understand, right?”
I had a pretty good idea of what Sadeena was getting at, judging from how she was reacting. I had no idea how in the world that outfit would lead to getting ambushed, but going by what she had told me, I assumed it had something to do with Raphtalia’s birth.
“Those clothes have special meaning in little Raphtalia’s case.”
“I can tell that much. I want to know the reason why.”
“Is that a holder of a spirit implement? Permission to draw weapons of judgment granted! And you! Take care of the water dragon’s former miko priestess!” shouted one of the enemies.
“Yes, sir!”
There were a bunch of clicking sounds and . . . What were those? The enemies drew strange weapons that were enshrouded in energy resembling pale flame. The enemies readied themselves to attack.
“I guess we don’t have time for explanations. We’ll just have to fight them off for now,” I said.
The group of killer whales that looked like Sadeena sprang into action. Before Sadeena could even move, they lunged at her at full speed and thrust their staffs at her, sending her flying through the air. The thrusts must have been incredibly powerful, because Sadeena was thrown high into the air, toward the cliff. The enemies leapt at her and latched on to her body in what appeared to be a suicide attack. They all went tumbling together over the cliff and down into the ocean.
“Sadeena!” Raphtalia screamed.
As if in response to her screams, the enemies raised their weapons high into the air.
“Haaaaah!”
The first attacker swung a maul, and I stepped forward to block it. He was really quick. Almost as quick as Sadeena was when we fought her in Zeltoble, after she’d become serious. I needed to watch out for defense rating attacks and defense ignoring attacks. But I didn’t know if the enemy could use either, so I decided to block the attack with Shooting Star Shield. There was a loud cracking sound, and the maul smashed through the barrier as easy as if it had been the crisp outer layer of a chocolate-dipped cone.
Was this a joke? Could it really be possible to destroy my Shooting Star Shield so effortlessly? I could have understood if it had been the Demon Dragon or another hero, but these were just normal people, as far as I could tell. Something seemed a bit different about the way it had been destroyed too. I wasn’t sure how to describe it. It had just kind of dissolved, like the barrier had been nullified.
“Ugh!”
I blocked the enemy’s sideways swing with my shield, and I felt the massive impact pass through the shield and into my arm.
I hadn’t taken any damage. It hadn’t been a defense rating or defense ignoring attack. And yet it had easily smashed through my Shooting Star Shield. On top of that, I had the Demon Dragon Shield equipped and the counterattack effect hadn’t activated. The accessory I had attached to my shield recently didn’t react either. None of my effects were functioning.
“Mr. Naofumi!”
Another enemy attacked Raphtalia behind me. Damn it!
“Dritte Shield!”
I summoned my third shield to protect her.
“It’s no use.”
The enemy that had attacked Raphtalia was using a sword-breaker dagger. As expected, the enemy sliced through the shield that I had summoned with ease.
I had learned the Way of the Dragon Vein, and I could feel that I was becoming more and more sensitive toward magic recently. Surely
I would be able to tell whether my stats had been reduced by magic. I took a quick look at my stats, just to make sure. There didn’t seem to be any kind of debuff magic at play. Did that mean the enemy had surpassed my defense with pure brute force? But our stats were higher than theirs.
“We have to protect bubba!”
“Wait! Be careful!” I shouted.
Keel and the others paid no heed to my warning and rushed into the fray. Was I going to end up with dead villagers on my hands?! The thought flashed across my mind, but they were actually coordinating and maneuvering rather well. Their guard was tight. In that case, I would just cast Zweite Aura to reduce the damage they may take.
There seemed to be some highly skilled fighters mixed in among the enemies, but we had them outnumbered and they seemed to be struggling. But there was a different problem. Keel and the others were fighting back with weapons that had no edge.
“Naofumi! Ugh . . .”
Ren, Rishia, and Itsuki tried to join us, but the enemies blocked their path.
“Ren! Or Itsuki! Give us some backup!”
“Understood!”
“Naofumi, do your best to withstand this!”
Ren and Itsuki both fired off their skills.
“Hundred Swords!”
“Arrow Rain!”
When they did, I shoved the enemies away and held my shield up into the air.
“Shooting Star Shield!”
I generated a barrier and buckled down to protect Raphtalia and the others from Ren’s and Itsuki’s backup attacks.
“Ugh . . .”
The enemies that had been surrounding me groaned, and then went on to bat Ren’s and Itsuki’s skills out of the air with their weapons. Just what the hell were those weapons?! What was with these enemies?! Bastards!
“Why are you attacking us?!” Ren screamed angrily.
He was slicing at the enemies, but his attacks were too weak. No. His stats were clearly higher, because he did seem to be overpowering them slightly. But it was like the enemies were wearing chainmail or something. Even if Ren’s sword made contact, it was like he couldn’t surpass their defense.
“What’s with these guys?!”
“Lea———Spider Net!”
S’yne suddenly appeared and cast her spiderweb of thread over the area. The enemies were caught off guard by the surprise attack and got tangled up in the thread, slowing their movements. That would prove to be a mistake.
“Here I go! Brave Blade! Crossing Mists!”
“Hiyaaa!”
“Let’s do this, Mr. Itsuki!”
“Okay.”
All of our best fighters took advantage of the brief opening and attacked.
“Ugh . . . But we will not back down!” shouted one of the enemies.
“Their armor is ridiculously tough!”
“Yes.”
Raphtalia, Ren, and Itsuki just barely managed to cut through the enemies’ armor and chainmail, but none of them had even come close to causing a fatal wound.
The enemies’ skilled coordination and polished movements seemed almost supernatural, and they were what made their attacks so efficient. Our stats might have been higher than theirs, but they outdid us when it came to technique.
“Ugh . . .”
“Request for permission to employ the sakura stones of destiny!” yelled one of the fighters.
“We didn’t bring any for this operation! Be prepared to die an honorable death if you must!” replied another.
“Yes, sir!”
It sounded like they had another secret weapon. But now wasn’t the time to worry about that!
“You’re not welcome here!” Atla exclaimed.
She caught one of the enemies off guard and punched him in the chest.
“Ugh!”
Huh? Atla’s attack destroyed the enemy’s armor. But Ren and Itsuki were complaining about being unable to breach the enemies’ defenses. Raphtalia’s, Ren’s, and Itsuki’s attacks hadn’t been very effective. And my skill had been destroyed effortlessly. What was the common denominator?
Was it that we were all heroes?
But this wasn’t the time for pondering. We needed to do something and we needed to do it quick. Our enemies were incredibly skillful. S’yne’s web of threads had already been cut to pieces and rendered ineffective. Was there no way to finish this quickly?
“Raphtalia!”
It was sink or swim! I looked at Raphtalia and signaled with my eyes for her to begin focusing her mind. She nodded. I turned my back to her and began to recite an incantation while continuing to guard against the attacks of the enemies in front of us.
We’d just have to play it by ear and hope this worked. We were going to use illusion magic—Raphtalia’s specialty—to try to confuse the enemies. The puzzle pieces appeared, floating, in front of my eyes.
“Can you do this, Raphtalia?”
“I’ll try my best!”
The spell I’d cast as the base for our magic wasn’t an aura spell. It was a guard spell. It was a type of support magic that I’d learned a long time ago, but I stopped using it once I learned the aura spells. Being that it was her first time casting cooperative magic, Raphtalia seemed slightly unsure of herself. But she must have caught on faster than I had, because it was going pretty well for a couple of amateurs.
“Power of two, lend your strength to confuse the enemy with an illusion! Re-spin the threads of fate, and turn their defeat into a victory!”
Nice! The incantation was going well. There was something about it. It felt like we were able to combine our power more quickly than when I cast cooperative magic with Sadeena. Of course, the fact that I’d cast such a low-level spell probably had something to do with it. Whatever, we had to try!
I continued blocking the enemies’ attacks while we were reciting the incantation. All of the training I had done with Atla and Raphtalia lately was paying off now. Atla’s vicious attacks were driven by instinct. These enemies were skilled, but their movements were formulaic, which made them easy to deal with.
We finished fitting the puzzle pieces together to form the magic.
“Dragon Vein! Hear our petition and grant it! As the source of your power, we implore you! Let the true way be revealed once more! Show our enemies an illusion to confuse them!”
“Form is Emptiness!”
The target icon popped up on my screen. The spell was set to cast on everyone that I recognized as an enemy. Without hesitation, I finalized the incantation and cast the spell. There was a loud pop, and the magic that Raphtalia and I had cast took its effect on every single enemy there!
“Haaaa!”
The enemies’ fierce attacks began to miss us, and they began moving in all of the wrong directions. It was hard to tell, but it seemed like our illusions were putting up a good fight.
“Wh . . . what happened?!”
“We cast some cooperative magic. These bastards are going to be full of holes for a bit!”
“It seems that we succeeded in creating sensory confusion with the illusions. But be careful! I’m sure you realize this, but attacking them will cancel the effect. They’ll figure out what’s going on soon!”
“Then what should we do?!”
“The effect won’t last long. In that case . . .”
Raphtalia took a stance that I’d seen her use before.
“It would seem they have some kind of powerful resistance against our weapon skills. I’m sure that Mr. Naofumi and the other heroes have noticed,” she said.
“Yeah.”
“We need your strength too, Ren and Itsuki. We need to make the absolute most of this chance!”
“Got it!”
“Okay.”
“Fehhh . . .”
“Don’t waste this opportunity,” I told them.
I started casting my aura on as many of us as I could, starting with the strongest fighters. It probably took less than a minute. Raphtalia finished recharging her magic power and gave everyone the signal
to attack.
“Shooting Star Sword!”
“Eagle Piercing Shot!”
Ren and Itsuki led the attack, and everyone followed up with their biggest skills and most powerful techniques. Atla delivered a heavy blow to her opponent’s chest with her fist. But the enemy immediately took a defensive stance, perhaps because they sensed Atla’s hostility, or just as a result of combat experience.
“Here I go! Hiyaaaaa!”
The blade of Raphtalia’s katana began to glow and she unleashed something that wasn’t a weapon skill. It was an attack that would extend across the whole area.
“Eight Trigrams Blade of Destiny!”
It was a quick-draw attack with incredible momentum, but everyone must have known it was coming, because we all crouched down and dodged the attack. A trail of light shot out and directly into almost all of the enemies who had been standing there confused. A yin-yang pattern appeared in the air briefly, and then the enemies were all sent flying through the air.
“Gaaaahhhh!”
The surprise attack incapacitated all of the enemies at once.
“An attack that combines magic power and life force, I see. As to be expected of the one that calls herself Mr. Naofumi’s sword. But I won’t lose to you!”
After adding her commentary, Atla climbed up onto one of the fallen enemies and threw her arms into the air to signal our victory. It must have been around that same time. Several massive lightning bolts rained down near the shore and Sadeena burst up out of the water.
“Now, now. If you think that’s all it takes to stop me, you’re gravely mistaken.”
“These people were super strong!”
Keel was poking one of the fallen enemies excitedly with the sheath of her short sword.
“Oh? Did you protect everyone, little Naofumi?”
“I guess you could say that. Actually, it was Raphtalia that finished them off.”
“Yeah! That was amazing.”
“Yes. By the way, our weapons and skills seemed rather ineffective against these people. Are they useless?” asked Itsuki.
He was still behaving as indecisively as ever.
“It’d be nice if we could get one of them to talk,” I said.
I kicked one of the fallen enemies over onto his back. His eyes snapped open and he started to get up, but I stomped him back down to the ground and pinned him there with my foot.
