A second before it reached her however, something blocked its path.
A strange metal cross suddenly appeared, with a sixty centimeter by forty centimeter round shield attached to its center. The round shield blocked the wolf’s path, preventing it from biting down on Shea.
“Fweh!? Wh-What the heck is this thing?” The wolf angrily tried to bite and claw its way past the shield, but the light crimson object didn’t even budge. A second later, there was a deafening boom, and wolf’s jaw was blown off.
“Graaaaaaah!” As the wolf writhed in pain, the cross suddenly floated above its head and with a second boom, blew its head off.
There was another series of booms, and Drucken suddenly felt a little lighter. Shea turned around to see two more floating crosses. They had shot the wolf through the head and stomach.
“Don’t let your guard down, Shea. A few of these monsters are clearly on a different level than the others. They don’t seem to be either brainwashed or following any other monsters’ orders. I’ll lend you three of my cross bits. Get the group of leaders over there. Yue said she can only hold the frontline for another five minutes.” Hajime sent her a telepathic message to explain the situation. Shea quickly snapped out of her stupor and regained her focus. She touched the choker on her neck, which she refused to call a collar, and telepathically replied.
“Roger! Thanks for the save. You really helped me out back there!”
“Yeah, just be careful.”
“...Fufu. You’ve started acting a lot nicer to me recently, Hajime-san. Just a little more and you’ll be head over heels for me!”
Shea cut off the telepathic link before saying that last bit aloud. She smiled softly to herself as she looked at the mechanical protectors Hajime had sent her way. Her motivation renewed, she charged toward the remaining leaders, keeping an eye out for any more of those wolf monsters.
“Sheesh, that girl’s always getting herself into trouble...” Hajime muttered to himself as he mowed down another wave of monsters. There were four crosses floating next to him as well.
These were the omni-directional, gravity-controlled weapons he’d created, cross bits. They functioned on the same principle as his Ornises, but these were designed for offense. They were each equipped with a rifle and shotgun, and he controlled them with the seven spirit stones embedded into a bracelet he was wearing. He had enchanted their outer coating with Diamond Skin, and with a command from his spirit stone, they could be transformed into powerful shields on a moment’s notice.
His gun-fu, combined with the barrage from his cross bits, made him an unapproachable storm of death. He’d already downed forty leaders, and because his Intimidation was on full blast, many of the monsters had begun to flee.
“Hm? Isn’t that...” At the edge of his vision, Hajime saw someone yelling wildly at the fleeing monsters. It looked suspiciously like a person’s head, so Hajime used Farsight to get a clearer image of what it was. It was unmistakably a human head, covered by a black robe.
Shimizu was yelling at his retreating army like a child throwing a temper tantrum. Seeing as it was having no effect, he raised up his artifact, a staff, and began chanting. Hajime naturally had no reason to let him finish, so he blew the staff out of Shimizu’s hands with a well-placed shot from Donner. The force of the shot sent Shimizu reeling back into his hole.
Hajime wasn’t sure if it was Shimizu’s doing or not, but a number of black wolves chose that moment to leap out from the crowd and try to take him down. Their strength and coordination was far greater than that of the regular monsters. They reminded Hajime of the Twin-Tailed Wolves he’d fought in the abyss. He guessed their strength was about on the same level too. They didn’t have the ability to manipulate lightning like the Twin-Tailed Wolves did, but judging by how they sometimes managed to dodge Hajime’s attacks with impeccable timing, he surmised their special magic had to be Foresight. And their coordination was superb... In other words, they matched up to the strength of the weakest monsters in the abyss. Even that was an impressive feat, though.
Could they be from further out than the second mountain range? But even if that’s the case... is Shimizu really working alone here? Hajime put those thoughts in the back of his mind. Right now, he needed to focus on the enemy in front of him. And so, he switched his attention from the monster leaders to the twelve black wolves leaping at him.
He spun in a circle, firing Donner and Schlag in all directions to try and shoot down the coordinated pack surrounding him. Sine he knew they’d dodge his initial barrage with Foresight, he used Foresight himself to aim for where he expected them to be after dodging.
Some of them managed to dodge even that though, which surprised him. It seemed that like the Twin-Tailed Wolves, they had a crude form of telepathy that allowed them to exchange information during battle.
In the split second it took Hajime to reload, one of the remaining wolves leaped at him from behind. However, one of his cross bit’s slammed into it from above like a guillotine. Another one tried to use its downed comrade as a stepping stone to leap at Hajime, but he blew it apart with a shotgun blast from his artificial elbow.
The rest tried to surround to Hajime, but with a concentrated burst of fire from the remaining two cross bits, they were forced to abandon the idea. Hajime used Supersonic Step to slide through the opening his cross bits created, firing his twin revolvers behind him as he slipped out of the encirclement.
Two of the wolves tried to chase after him and set up a pincer attack, but Hajime’s cross bits shot them down, so Donner and Schlag claimed the lives of two more.
“Graaaaaah!” Another one of the wolves was hit by one of the monsters that had been blown back, and hurtled toward Hajime. Hajime dodged to the side, killed the monster coming his way, and blew the head off the wolf that was tangled up with it. He then rolled to his feet, only to find a wolf inches from his face, maw open wide. It had picked the perfect time and place to attack. Almost as if it had known where he would be. Anyone watching would have been certain Hajime had been bitten. However, Hajime swayed a little, and the wolf’s teeth clamped down on empty air. He had somehow moved a step back in the span of an instant. He then pressed Schlag into the wolf’s stomach and fired.
The remaining wolves all leaped at him, but for some reason every time they closed in, Hajime would suddenly be in a different spot. And every time, Hajime would shoot them down from point-blank range.
It looked almost as if the wolves were mistiming their own attacks, which in actuality they were. Hajime was using the derivative skill Illusion Waltz to confuse their senses. It was a derivative skill of Hide Presence, which left a decoy presence in the spot Hajime had been standing in for a few seconds while hiding his real presence. Because it looked like he was still there, the wolves couldn’t figure out that he was hiding his presence. Of course, if they had stopped to observe him, they would have seen through the trick. However, it was very difficult to focus on observation while in the middle of a life and death struggle. And because these wolves relied more on their senses than most monsters, his deception was doubly effective.
Plus, he was augmenting his Illusion Waltz with Riftwalk, and using his cross bits at the same time, so wolves, even as strong as the ones in the abyss, would never have a chance to even touch him. And so, in less than a minute, Shimizu’s trump cards had been annihilated without so much as putting a scratch on Hajime.
With the wolves out of the way, Hajime sent his cross bits out to finish off the remaining monster leaders. From the images his other cross bits were sending him, Shea would be done with her side shortly as well. Meanwhile, Yue’s Draconic Thunder was keeping the remaining monsters at bay.
In another two minutes, they had successfully eliminated all of the brainwashed monsters they could find. After he was sure there was no one else left, Hajime sucked in a huge breath and let out a mana-laced roar of epic proportions.
“Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” His voice resounded thr
oughout the battlefield. The sheer pressure of it intimidated the monsters, striking fear into their hearts. The entire army froze for a second. Then, they realized there was no longer anyone ordering them forward, so they slowly began backing away. When no one gave chase, they turned on their heels and fled back to the mountains, all of them making sure to give Hajime a wide berth.
He was like a rock in the middle of a flowing stream, diverting the flow of their retreat around himself. As he watched the retreat, Hajime saw Shimizu try and make a break for it in the chaos. He was riding what was probably the last of the four-eyed wolves.
“What a shame. It’s already too late. If you’d ordered all of your forces to cover your retreat earlier, you might have had a chance.” Hajime got on his knees, took careful aim with Donner, and fired two shots in quick succession.
His aim was perfect. Sensing danger, the wolf quickly leaped to the side and dodged the first shot, causing the second to strike it directly in the femur. Without a leg to stand on, the wolf collapsed to the ground, throwing Shimizu off. With how high his stats were, the fall didn’t cause any real damage to Shimizu, so he instantly got back up. He ran over to the wolf and started yelling something. When it didn’t respond, he kicked it in the head.
He was probably trying to get it back on its feet so he could escape. From the looks of it, he was already in the grips of hysteria. Realizing it wasn’t responded, he placed his hand on its head and started chanting something, most likely a spell to forcibly make it stand.
But Hajime didn’t give him the chance. He fired another bullet at its head, putting the wolf out of its misery. Shimizu was sent sprawling from the force of the bullet. He got up again, and began running on his own two feet, mixing in with the horde of monsters fleeing north.
Hajime pulled out Steiff, then raced after Shimizu. The boy turned around when he heard an unfamiliar sound, and did a double take when he saw a motorcycle, something that shouldn’t belong in this world, barreling toward him. He started running even faster, trying in vain to outstrip the bike.
“What the hell! What the hell is going on! This can’t be happening! I’m supposed to be the hero— Gweh!?” He started spewing a stream of curses, but one whack from Hajime’s prosthetic arm shut him up. Shimizu faceplanted into the ground and slid a few meters before coming to an unceremonious stop.
“Now then, I wonder what Sensei’ll do with you? And depending on how things go... with me.” Hajime mumbled to himself as he tied Shimizu up with wire from his artificial arm and started driving him back to the city. Clouds of dust still hung over the devastated plains, which were covered in a sea of blood and flesh. Hajime drove Steiff through the carnage while dragging Shimizu along. He was well and truly defeated now.
For Yukitoshi Shimizu, being spirited away to another world had always been his dream. He knew it wasn’t possible in reality, so he’d spent his free time reading light novels about being summoned to another world and daydreaming about his own adventures. He’d had countless fantasies about saving the world and winning himself a harem of girls.
Every inch of Shimizu’s room was covered with posters of cute anime girls, and he had a display rack for all of his figures, many of which were in suggestive poses. His bookshelf was packed with manga, light novels, art books, and visual novels of all kinds. Those that didn’t fit in his bookshelf were stacked up in corners of his room.
Yukitoshi Shimizu was an otaku through and through. However, none of his classmates knew that. He did a perfect job of hiding his hobbies. The reason was obvious. He’d seen how his class had treated Hajime. He wasn’t brave enough to be open about his hobbies when he knew it would get him bullied.
In his own words, he was just some minor NPC in his own class. He had no close friends, so he simply spent most of his time in school reading quietly at his desk. He’d reply briefly if spoken to, but never initiated conversations on his own. Because of how much he’d been bullied in middle school, he’d grown into a shy and withdrawn young man. It had gotten so bad that he’d stopped coming to school, choosing to shut himself up at home. From there, it was inevitable that he would drown himself in books, games, and anime.
His parents had, of course, been worried about him, but as he slipped deeper and deeper down the otaku hole, his brothers started treating him like a nuisance. Soon enough, Shimizu felt unwanted even in his own house.
Though he never let it show, the constant bullying warped his personality. He began to harbor a desire to lord over other people. That desire manifested itself in the games he played, as well as the fantasies he had.
That was why when Shimizu had finally been summoned to another world for real, he’d been overjoyed. Even when Aiko had been yelling at Ishtar to send them back, or when Kouki had been rousing the students to fight for the people, Shimizu had been lost in his own thoughts, thinking of how he would finally get to the become the hero he’d always dreamed of. Though he was elated at first, he soon began to grow discontent with his new otherworldly life. He came to realize that reality was very different from the fantasies he’d always had. First of all, while Shimizu did have overpowered cheat abilities, so did his other classmates. And the supposed hero wasn’t even him, but Kouki. Because of that, he was still no more than a minor NPC in the eyes of his classmates, and the girls all flocked to Kouki.
It was no different from how it had been in Japan. Even though his biggest wish had been granted, Shimizu only grew more spiteful and dissatisfied with his life.
How come he wasn’t the hero? How come Kouki was the only one getting all the girls? How come Kouki was the only one getting special treatment? He was certain that if he were the hero, he could do a better job. He knew that he’d be nicer to everyone if they came to him... He blamed others for all of his problems, and the egotistic conviction that only he was special began to eat away at his psyche.
It was then that the first expedition to the Great Orcus Labyrinth happened. Shimizu saw this expedition as his chance. No one ever noticed him. No one cared if he was there or not. But if he could show how awesome he was in a fight, his classmates would have to take notice of him. He didn’t even realize how unrealistic his hopes were... but the events in the labyrinth later forced him to realize the truth.
He wasn’t anyone special, the universe wasn’t going to bend over backwards to make him seem special, and if he let his guard down for even a second, he’d die. All his fantasies were shattered when he found himself surrounded by an army of Traum Soldiers, with a raging Behemoth at his back.
And when he saw one of his own classmates fall to his “death,” his poor heart shattered.
He’d kept himself going by making excuses and secretly despising everyone around him, so he was by no means strong-willed. Defeated, he reverted to being a shut-in when they returned to the palace, but he could no longer turn to anime and video games to find solace. So instead, he lost himself in books about dark magic, as his profession was Dark Mage.
Dark magic generally influenced the target’s thoughts and perception. In combat, its main purpose was to debuff enemies. He took to it like a fish to water, and he quickly grew proficient at creating illusions to disorient foes, interfering with their ability to cast magic, and even making them hurt themselves in confusion.
In his depressed state of mind, Shimizu came to realize something about the magic he was practicing. If he mastered dark magic completely, could he not control another person’s mind? The thought brought him great excitement. If he was correct, he could manipulate anyone to do anything he wanted. Anything. That twisted thought took root in his mind. From that day, he devoted himself utterly to the study of dark magic.
However, things didn’t go as well as he’d hoped. He learned that creatures with high intelligence, like humans, couldn’t be brainwashed unless he spent a day or more continually casting magic on them. This also required them to not resist at all.
Of course, most people would react if someone tried to cast a spell on them. This m
eant he’d need to find a way to put his target to sleep for long periods of time if he wanted to control them. Trying to hide for hours at a time to cast a spell on someone was physically and temporally impractical. Furthermore, the risk of being discovered was far too great, so he’d been forced to give up on brainwashing people.
As he’d been despairing, he’d suddenly remembered the reason they’d been summoned in the first place was because demons had started taking control of monsters. Monsters were far more instinctual than humans, who had a much stronger sense of self, which meant brainwashing them wouldn’t be as hard.
In order to confirm his theory, he’d snuck out of the capital every night to experiment on the weak monsters found in the nearby plains. He’d found that brainwashing them was far easier than brainwashing a person. Though it was only easy to him because of how much natural talent he’d already possessed. According to Ishtar, normal humans would have to spend their whole life to take control of one or two monsters.
Once he was certain of his abilities, Shimizu started craving stronger monsters to place under his control. However, he would feel embarrassed if he asked to join Kouki’s party now after all this time. As he was worrying about what to do, he heard about how some of the students were going to form an escort party to guard Aiko. He figured if he went with them, he’d be able to find some pretty strong monsters during his travels.
That was why when Aiko and the others had come to Ur, he’d disappeared and headed to the mountains to make more monster puppets. When he next returned, it would be at the head of a great monster army, and everyone would finally give him the respect he deserved.
Originally, even with his outstanding affinity for dark magic, and even if he’d focused only on the leaders of each tribe, he wouldn’t have been able to control more than a thousand or so. And he wouldn’t have been able to control monsters any stronger than a Bulltaur.
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 3 Page 21
