Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 4

by Ryo Shirakome

  This was one of the Yaegashi-style’s signature moves, Vacuum Slash. A technique where the wielder held the sword in its scabbard until the last moment, building up as much force as possible. Then, they released that force all at once.

  True to its name, Shizuku’s sword moved so fast that it felt as if it was cutting through air itself. There was a single silver flash, and the Chimera’s tail was severed at the base.

  “Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” The Chimera roared in pain and turned to slash at Shizuku. However, its paws passed through thin air. Shizuku had already circled around to the other side. This time she sliced through both of the Chimera’s wings.

  “Ngh!” She was whittling down its strength with shallow, speedy attacks. However, Shizuku didn’t seem happy about that at all, probably because her attacks weren’t connecting as well as she’d wanted. In truth, she’d been hoping to cut through the Chimera’s torso with her first slash, but the tail had gotten in her way, so she’d been forced to change targets. Her second attack was also supposed to have been fatal, but the Chimera had managed to twist out of the way in time, resulting in only its wings being chopped off.

  The Chimera wasn’t able to keep up with Shizuku’s speed, but it still managed to react fast enough to avoid lethal blows, so not only was it able to erase its presence, it also possessed an agility that was close to Shizuku’s. This was the hardest foe they’d faced yet. Shizuku had planned on finishing this Chimera off quickly and going back to help her comrades, but it seemed that wasn’t going to be happening.

  Her next series of attacks all failed to kill the Chimera as well, instead only inflicting shallow wounds. Worse, the Chimera was starting to get used to Shizuku’s speed. Shizuku could feel panic welling up within her. Plus, that wasn’t even the worst part.

  “Kraaaaaaw!” The Chimera in front of Shizuku was enveloped in dark red light. The murky mana swirled around its wounds, healing them instantly.

  Kaori had long since dropped her Divine Veil, as it wasn’t helping too much. And even if she hadn’t, it wasn’t strong enough to heal wounds like this instantly. Still wary of the Chimera, Shizuku turned to the direction of the screech she’d heard.

  There was a white, two-headed raven perched on the demon’s shoulder. One of the raven’s heads was looking right at the Chimera in front of Shizuku.

  “She’s got monsters who can heal, too!?” It had taken everything Shizuku had to even injure the Chimera, and now all that hard work was undone in an instant. Her chances of victory had been slim to begin with, but with the raven’s healing there was no hope at all. Shizuku screamed at the unfairness of it all.

  A quick look around the battlefield told her that the rest of her comrades were in similarly dire straits.

  Kouki had managed to land a fatal blow on the Super Bulltaur that he’d been fighting, but the raven’s second head had instantly turned to heal it before the Super Bulltaur died. Its healing powers were fearsome enough that it could bring allies back even from the brink of death.

  Ryutarou and Nagayama were struggling as well. Ryutarou had managed to beat the other Super Bulltaur to a pulp by smashing its stomach and breaking its limbs, but before he could land a finishing blow the raven had turned to heal it as well. Nagayama had dealt quite a bit of damage to the one menacing the rearguard, but that was also healed back to perfect condition. The situation was looking rather dire for the hero’s party...

  “Looks like you’re having a hard time. How about it? Feel like joining our side yet? If you give up now, I might still be willing to let you.” The demon folded her arms and watched as Kouki and the other struggled to keep the monsters at bay. Her cold stare made it clear that she already knew what his answer was going to be, though. And, of course, Kouki didn’t defy expectations.

  “Like hell we will! Your petty threats won’t work on us! Just you watch, we’ll beat you and your monster army! Take this— Limit Break!” He angrily swatted back the Super Bulltaur’s mace and activated his most powerful skill.

  Limit Break continually drained his mana, but in exchange it tripled all of his stats. However, the skill literally pushed his body past its limits, so he couldn’t maintain it for long. Furthermore, it left him drained and exhausted once the skill was over. He’d be lucky to have even half his original strength left once the skill wore off. Though this skill was his trump card, it came with dire consequences that needed to be taken into consideration.

  Kouki had activated it here because he knew he needed to kill these monsters fast, or his party’s morale would drop. The strength of the monsters, as well as the raven’s healing had left him with few other options.

  Blinding white light wreathed his body. The Super Bulltaur charged again, completely unperturbed.

  “Light of judgment, smite mine enemies— Holy Blade!” Kouki ducked under the Super Bulltaur’s attack and swung his light-infused sword up from below.

  He’d done a similar attack a few minutes before, but it had only managed to wound the Super Bulltaur back then, not kill it. However, his stats were tripled now. And so, he cut through the Super Bulltaur like it was butter.

  A second later the two halves of the Super Bulltaur’s body thudded to the ground. Kouki used the momentum of his swing to rush forward, directly at the demon woman.

  There was nothing left protecting her from him. Skilled at magic though they may be, Kouki doubted this demon could do anything to stop him now. He’d cut down the two-headed raven and that would end the battle. At least, that’s what everyone thought would happen. Just then—

  “Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

  “Wha—!?” The space around Kouki warped in five different spots. Five invisible Chimeras let out a ferocious howl and charged at him. Kouki wheeled about in surprise as they closed in on him from all sides.

  He ducked under the attack coming at him from the front while cutting down the Chimera to his right. He trusted his holy armor to protect him from the Chimeras to his left and rear.

  It succeeded, but just barely. The one on the left cuffed him on the shoulder, sending him careening into yet another Chimera. The right one raised its paws and slammed them down on his shoulders, forcing Kouki to his knees.

  “Ngh!” Gritting his teeth, Kouki grunted in pain. The Chimera’s fangs bore down on him, and he just barely managed to keep them at bay with his sword.

  The claws digging into his shoulders limited Kouki’s movements, and despite being in Limit Break, he couldn’t squeeze out enough strength to break free.

  “Sanctified flowers, pave the path to victory— Plenary Blessing! Radiant Prison!” Kaori cast her spells the moment she saw Kouki get hit.

  Plenary Blessing was a single-target intermediate rank recovery spell. It was a more potent form of an earlier spell she’d cast, Holy Blessing. Just healing Kouki would have been pointless though, as the Chimera had him pinned and would just hit him again.

  That was why she’d also cast the intermediate rank light spell, Radiant Prison. As its name suggested, Radiant Prison sealed its target in a cage of light. Her target was Kouki. Bars of light rose up around him, pushing the Chimera away.

  With the Chimera removed, Plenary Blessing was able to heal Kouki without interruption.

  At the same time, Suzu and a few other members of the rearguard fired off a barrage of spells at the remaining Chimeras near Kouki. They’d managed to gain enough of a respite against their own opponents to unleash a single volley. However, as Kaori’s Divine Veil wasn’t covering them anymore, they had had a hard time aiming their spells. Due to that, and the distance between them, their volley wasn’t as effective as they’d hoped.

  Still, it bought the front line enough time to regroup. Fully recovered, Kouki raised his sword high and cast one of his strongest spells.

  “Astral Unleash!” Four shockwaves of light exploded out from Kouki’s blade. This was his favorite technique. The Chimeras sensed danger and quickly tried to leap out of the way. However, Kaori wasn’t going to let that
happen.

  “Divine Shackles!” Now it was her turn to show off her most prized spell. Chains of light rose up around the Chimeras’ feet, wrapping around their legs, necks, and torsos. With their strength, the Chimeras could easily break free, but Kaori had still succeeded in stopping them for a few seconds.

  Those few seconds were all it took for Kouki’s shockwaves to reach the Chimeras and make mincemeat out of them. Kouki turned around and pointed his sword at the demon.

  “Sorry, but if this is the best you’ve got, it’s nowhere near good enough. There’s nothing left protecting you now!” The demon stared at Kouki with an incredulous expression on her face. “If you have me on the defensive, why waste your time stating the obvious? You should’ve just gone straight for the attack,” it seemed to say.

  Kouki found it infuriating that even after being pressed so far, the demon still seemed so composed.

  He’d taken out all of her Chimeras and Super Bulltaurs. Part of why he was so annoyed was because everything she’d hit them with until now had been surprise attacks.

  That coward! All she ever does is use petty tricks and sneak attacks, while she watches safely from behind her monsters!

  “I don’t recall ever saying this was my best.”

  “Your bluffs won’t work on me!”

  “You’ll see for yourselves whether it’s a bluff or not. Now that I’ve seen how strong you heretical apostles are, I have no use for you anymore.”

  “What do you—”

  “Kyaaaaaa!”

  The demon irritably flicked a strand of hair out of her eyes. At the same time, Kouki heard a scream behind him.

  The sight that greeted him as he turned around was the stuff of nightmares. Five more Super Bulltaurs and Chimeras had suddenly sprouted up from nowhere. Worse, new monsters had popped up too. Black four-eyed wolves and black cats with tentacles sprouting from their backs menaced the rest of the party. One of the cats slammed its tentacles into Nomura’s flank as he watched.

  “Kentarou! Dammit, you’ll pay for that!”

  “Ayako, pull yourself together! Heal him!”

  Endou quickly launched an attack on the cat’s tentacles the moment he saw Nomura go down. He angrily slashed down with his daggers.

  Meanwhile, Yoshino started yelling at the dumbfounded Tsuji to start healing her comrade. Yoshino’s rebuke brought Tsuji back to her senses, and she began casting healing spells on both Endou and the collapsed Nomura.

  “What!? There were still that many monsters left!?” Kouki’s jaw dropped open in surprise.

  “The Chimera’s special ability is Camouflage. It can hide itself and anything it touches. That kid over there even tried to warn you about it. Though, even he wasn’t able to figure out just how many monsters I had hidden here. Now then, I suppose it’s time for the final curtain call!”

  “Ah!?”

  The students were being pushed back by the sudden onslaught of monsters. Kouki dashed back to try and help his comrades. Now that the secret was out, the demon had no reason to hide her forces. More and more monsters started dispelling their Camouflage, and joined the fray. Dozens of wolves and cats appeared from the space behind the demon and charged.

  “Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Before he could make it back to his allies, Kouki found himself surrounded by a wall of tentacles.

  He swung his sword in a giant circle, cutting down the tentacles. One of the cats jumped at his face, and he swung down at it. Since it was mid-leap, he was sure it wouldn’t be able to dodge out of the way.

  “I’ll start with you!” Kouki roared. However, the cat jumped aside in mid-air, and Kouki’s sword swung harmlessly through the air. This went far beyond Kouki’s expectations. It then leaped forward again, its wickedly sharp claws headed straight for Kouki’s neck.

  He barely managed to duck his head out of the way in time, but in doing so he ruined his stance, and was unable to defend against the four-eyed wolf that came at him from behind. Thanks to his armor and Limit Break skill, the wolf’s tackle didn’t do any real damage to him. Instead, it sent him flying backward to his comrades. Which, fortunately, he’d been trying to do in the first place.

  The horde of insanely powerful monsters surrounded Kouki and his comrades.

  It was only thanks to Kaori and Tsuji’s nonstop healing that all of the students were still alive. The front line was still barely holding, but as it was, they had no way out of this predicament.

  Kouki tried to cut down their numbers while his Limit Break was still active, but the monsters came at him in formations of five and employed hit and run tactics. They weren’t letting him get a decisive blow in.

  Even Shizuku’s speed had been sealed. The agile cats worked together with the wolves, who possessed the special magic Foresight, to keep up with her even when she was using No Tempo. Though she managed to get a few cuts in anyway, none of them were fatal.

  “Crap... This is really bad!”

  “Fuck! What are we supposed to do!?”

  Despair started to color the students’ faces as they continued fighting. The final nail in the coffin was when the demon herself joined the battle.

  “O great golden-eyed drake, slumbering deep beneath the earth, lord of all creation, your curse pierces through even the blackest darkness. Bring forth an everlasting seal of darkness, from which nothing escapes. Fear, despair, anguish, swallow it all and leave emptiness in your wake. All will fall before your stern visage. Destroy your enemies and return them to the earth— Dark Gaol!” As she finished chanting, a swirling gray ball of mana gathered into her hand and flew across the room to where Kouki and the others were.

  It didn’t travel all that fast. Every one of the students was a high enough level that they could have dodged it. However, when Nomura saw it his face paled. He was barely conscious thanks to that earlier attack, but he knew he had to warn his friends. Coughing up blood, he shouted a warning to his comrades.

  “Oh no! Taniguchiii! Put up one of your barriers! We have to stop that sphere!”

  “Huh!? O-Okay! Reject all malice and let this be a holy ground that denies thine enemies passage— Hallowed Ground!” Suzu shortened her chant and hurriedly cast a high level light barrier spell. A shimmering dome covered the party. As Hallowed Ground separated a particular area from other areas and not people from people, the monsters within the dome remained.

  Moreover, Hallowed Ground consumed a massive amount of mana. Normally, Suzu reserved this skill for the most dire of circumstances. And Nomura’s desperation had made it clear that demon’s ball was one of those circumstances. That was why she’d picked the strongest spell she knew.

  The swirling gray sphere slammed into the barrier. It possessed a force far greater than its appearance would imply. Suzu gritted her teeth and burned through her mana at a prodigious rate as she struggled to keep the sphere from breaking through.

  At the same time, the monsters’ movements suddenly changed. A group of them broke off and headed for Suzu, almost as if the demon was commanding them.

  “Suzu!”

  “Everyone, protect Taniguchi!” Eri started casting like mad, trying to keep the encroaching Super Bulltaurs at bay. Across from her, Saitou, Yoshiki, Kondou, and Reichi all heard Nomura’s shout and rushed over to cover Suzu.

  So long as Hallowed Ground was active, Suzu couldn’t move. The black cats took advantage of that weakness and nimbly slipped through the gaps in the party’s defenses. Nomura laid his hand against the ground and summoned spikes from the earth, hoping to impale the cats, but they zigzagged through the air, avoiding the spikes, and lashed out at Suzu with their tentacles.

  “Taniguchi!”

  “Aaah!?”

  Nomura called out a warning, but it was too late. The tentacles pierced through Suzu’s stomach, thigh, and right arm. Before she could even scream, the cats swung their tentacles sideways, throwing Suzu to the side.

  She hit the ground so hard the breath was knocked out of her throat. Blood littered the ground
where she lay. As she sucked in a ragged gasp, a searing pain ran through her body.

  “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

  “Suzu-chan!”

  “Suzu!”

  Eri and Kaori called out to Suzu, clearly panicked. Kaori quickly began casting a healing spell, but Suzu’s barrier faded before she could finish.

  “Everyone, get away from that sphere!” Nomura desperately called out to everyone, but this was the same spell that had managed to compete evenly with Suzu’s Hallowed Ground. Nomura’s warning was too little, too late.

  The gray sphere hit the ground without a sound. It broke apart where it landed, smoke expanding from the point of impact.

  Saitou, Kondou, and Nomura all tried to run over to Suzu. The gray smoke enveloped all four of them. The monsters nearby had all leaped out of the way ahead of time, so they weren’t affected.

  The gray smoke expanded out even further, swallowing the rest of the students.

  “Heed my call, O wind— Wind Blast!” Kouki instantly unleashed a gust of wind to blow the smoke out of the room. Magically created smoke like that wouldn’t normally be so easy to dislodge. Still, Kouki was under the effects of his Limit Break, making his magic stronger. He was able to push the smoke out into the hallway, albeit with some difficulty. However, when the smoke cleared, the sight that greeted them was completely unexpected.

  “No way! Suzu!”

  “Nomura-kun!”

  “Saitou! Kondou!”

  The four of them had been turned to stone. Saitou and Kondou had been completely petrified, while Nomura, who had thrown himself above Suzu had only his left half petrified. For her part, Suzu had only had her legs petrified.

  Saitou and Kondou hadn’t even had time to react before the smoke had hit them. Their faces were still frozen in dumbfounded shock. Suzu had fainted from the excruciating pain that had accompanied having her legs petrified.

  Nomura managed to remain conscious, but just barely. He gritted his teeth and groaned as the petrified part of his body seared in pain.

  The reason Nomura had resisted the petrification better than the others was because he was a Geomancer and possessed the highest resistance to earth magic out of all of them. He’d been aware of how dangerous the spell was in the first place because it was an earth spell he’d recognized.