by Ao Jyumonji
“Merry!”
Reacting to his warning, Merry twisted in time to avoid the Thunder Sword Dolphin.
“Ohm, rel, ect, el vel, darsh!”
Shihoru used Shadow Echo. Three shadow elementals flew towards the Tori-san. It was relatively close range.
They’d hit. No, the Tori-san had blocked two with his Mirror Shield. But one got him in the face.
The Tori-san’s head shot back like he’d been punched. Merry jabbed at his Mirror Shield with her short staff and made him back away even more. However, she couldn’t just focus on the Tori-san.
Merry and Yume had each been keeping a Pansuke busy. With the Tori-san getting involved on top of that, they were having trouble dealing with them. Even if Anna-san joined in, it would be too little, too late, and Shihoru wasn’t able to handle close combat. Haruhiro himself was already keeping two Pansukes busy with Swat.
Do I have Mimorin move back? he wondered. Or do I take someone off the front line and send them to help? Decide. Right now.
“Kuzaku, go to the back!”
“’Kay!” Kuzaku began to fall back immediately.
Kuzaku had probably been hopelessly worried about Merry. It would be easier for him if he was by her side, no doubt. Now, how to fill the hole he left?
Ranta was fully occupied dealing with the Tori-san in front, while Kikkawa was handling a number of enemies, too. Mimorin only had the one Pansuke for now. If Haruhiro took that one and freed up Mimorin...
Focus. I need to focus. Focus, focus.
The hydra.
It’s close.
It’s gotten pretty close. Maybe not? I dunno. But... it feels kinda close.
“Whoa!” Tokimune was hanging from his sword, which had been stabbed into the white giant close to its waist, and it looked like he was close to being shaken off.
What the heck is he doing? Though, white giants have pretty hard bodies. I guess it’s impressive that he managed to stab it in there, huh?
This is no good. Calm. I have to stay calm. Swat, Swat.
“Haaaaaze!” Tada screamed.
Tada swung his warhammer up on the diagonal, slamming it into the white giant’s left shin. The white giant’s massive body shook. The left shin. Come to think of it, Tada was stubbornly focused on hitting that one spot. He was serious. Tada really meant to fell the white giant. Together with Tokimune, it might actually be possible.
If they had had more time, those two might have taken care of the six-meter class white giant. In that instant, something must have happened, but Haruhiro wasn’t entirely sure. Or rather, why had what happened happened? And was it even possible?
He doubted his eyes.
The six-meter class white giant’s head had just suddenly exploded, after all. Like a watermelon being smashed with a stick. It wasn’t that unusual to see a watermelon get smashed, but this was a white giant’s head. Wasn’t it strange for it burst like that, with its contents scattering all over the place? It was weird, wasn’t it? Or was Haruhiro the one who was weird for thinking that way?
“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?!” Tada roared. “That was my prey! Who did that?!”
That’s right. It couldn’t possibly be a natural phenomenon, so someone must have done it. Was it magic? Who did it?
It didn’t take long for the answer to that to become clear.
“Ohhhhh?!” Ranta leapt backwards.
Yeah, I can’t blame him for being surprised.
The Tori-san’s head was gone.
An ax. It was an ax. Held by a short, stocky figure. The thick-bearded dwarf had closed in on the Tori-san from behind and decapitated him with his ax.
No way, Haruhiro thought. It shouldn’t be possible to cut through their ponchos. Does that not apply to that dwarf—to Branken?
“Gwahahahaaaaaah!” Branken let out a throaty and unsettling laugh as he went around cutting cultists cleanly in two one after another with the terrifying ax he held. He cut through them easily.
This is a kind of simple thing to question, but is that ax light? It looks kind of heavy, you know? How can Branken swing around an ax that’s bigger than he is so easily? Because he’s crazily strong? Is that how it works?
Haruhiro had been distracted by Branken, so it took some time to notice, but he wasn’t the only one who had come. Not far away, there was a large woman swinging around a massive sword, and, of course, cutting down cultists one after another, completely ignoring the blade-resisting property of their ponchos. That was Kayo.
There were also a mysterious number of cultists dropping like flies, even though they hadn’t been cut. Haruhiro wondered what it could be, but it was arrows. They were being shot through their single eye.
Where are the arrows coming from? he wondered. The west, huh.
They were probably coming from the west. When he looked that way, he spotted him. The beautiful elf boy with his bow at the ready. It was Taro.
The short former mage, Gogh, and the beautiful mage, Miho, stood behind Taro with an air of composure. The spell that had gone off might have been from Gogh. Or perhaps it was Miho’s.
And then...
“Sorry. We’re running late.”
That man walked in. Drawing his sword, it was the former strongest, the man who was an indisputable legend.
“That guy’s got one hell of an aura...” Ranta said with an admiring groan.
He can say that again, Haruhiro thought.
People often talked about someone with a lot of presence having an aura, but this might have been what a real aura looked like.
“Akira-san!” Someone called out his name.
“It’s Akira-san!”
“Akira-san’s here!”
“Akira-san!”
“Woo! Akira-san!”
“We’ve got Akira-san!”
The atmosphere changed in an instant. Akira-san. It was Akira-san. The whole area was dyed in Akira-san’s colors! Enveloped by his aura!
The cultists were going down in a one-sided fight against Branken, Kayo, and Taro, and they were in an utter panic.
Oh, oh? What’s with that four-meter class white giant? It’s turning towards Akira-san, isn’t it?
Akira-san was a big man, but the difference in size between him and the white giant was still greater than that between a child and an adult. Even so—damn, Akira-san was huge. For some reason he looked larger than the white giant.
Well, that’s reckless, thought Haruhiro.
The white giant foolishly took a swing at Akira-san. Naturally, it never stood a chance of hitting. Akira-san turned and evaded it as easily as he might have avoided a butterfly fluttering along, letting the white giant’s right fist fly past him. With a slight movement, somehow he managed to get right behind the white giant.
“And... there!” Akira-san climbed the white giant. He didn’t clamber up it. With the ease of walking up a hill, Akira-san reached the white giant’s shoulders right before their eyes.
Haruhiro was watching it happen, but he couldn’t understand. It might not have been completely vertical, but it had been an incredibly steep angle. Wasn’t it insane that he could climb it like that?
“Rest in peace, okay?” Akira-san buried his sword deep in the white giant’s single eye. In a rather offhanded manner, too. It was like he wanted to say, Hey, at least put up a fight.
Not that it could have heard him if he did say it. It was too late for that.
The white giant collapsed.
Just before the white giant’s back touched the ground, Akira-san flipped into the air and came down with a graceful landing.
“Well, doesn’t that just beat all.” Tokimune laughed in amazement. “He’s in a whole other dimension from us, huh?”
It really is another dimension, Haruhiro agreed. There’s that much of a difference between us?
“Yeah, so what?!” Tada pushed up his glasses with his left index finger, then rushed over and swung his warhammer down at the nearest Tori-san. “I’ll make a new dimension of my own!
”
The Tori-san’s head and the Mirror Shield he attempted to defend himself with were both crushed, and he collapsed to the ground.
“Yahoo!” Kikkawa jumped for joy. “Not just another dimension, but a new one, huh?!”
With those words as their signal—no, that was definitely not what it was—the volunteer soldiers began their counterattack. It was no simple counterattack, though. It was a violent onslaught, a massive counteroffensive.
After all, the absolutely legendary team of Akira-san, Branken, Kayo, Taro, Gogh, and Miho were mowing down cultists and white giants like they were cutting weeds. It was less clear with the white giants, but the cultists did seem to come equipped with emotions, and it looked like shock and panic were included. The cultists were looking ready to flee. The volunteer soldiers, emboldened by Akira-san’s arrival, moved as one to attack them.
The Pansukes’ spears broke one after another. The Tori-sans’ Thunder Sword Dolphins weren’t so scary when everyone rushed them at once. Their weapons were battered from their hands, and their Mirror Shields were trampled. The four- and six-meter class white giants were felled one after another.
Haruhiro and the others finished off a number of cultists, too. Especially Ranta and Kikkawa, who got carried away and ran wild.
Where had the difficult battle they had been fighting all this time gone to? Haruhiro couldn’t help but think it wasn’t that the enemy were scary, it was the flow of events. With one change in the winds, everything could change dramatically like it just did. That being the case, it was entirely possible they would suddenly be knocked from this position of overwhelming advantage into a disadvantage they couldn’t hope to recover from.
Is this... really okay? Haruhiro couldn’t go with the flow, and he didn’t know what to do with himself because of it. That’s, well, yeah... It’s fine, I guess? I should probably try to go with the flow when things aren’t going so badly.
“I see you’re still all right, Haruhiro-kun,” a voice said.
Haruhiro was shocked to find Akira-san right next to him. Akira-san returned his sword to its sheathe, crossing his arms with a cool look on his face.
“Oh, er, yeah, w-we’re fine, all of us,” Haruhiro stammered. “Well, my party is, at least...”
“We’ve been trying out different things with Soma and his group to see if anything can be done about the giant god.”
“Oh, yeah?” Haruhiro asked. “—And?”
Akira-san shook his head. “Ever since it took up that spot in the middle of the initial hill, it’s hardly moved. That thing is tough.”
“Even for you guys?”
“We’re still volunteer soldiers, just the same as all of you. I’ve merely survived at it much longer than you have. When you’ve lived twice as long, you’re bound to be a little better at things.”
“Is that how it works?”
“Of course it is.” Akira-san smiled and nodded.
This guy had been giving off an aura that put pressure on the whole area just moments ago, but now he looked like just a nice, regular old man. Of course, that wasn’t the case at all.
“I’m just an old man,” Akira-san said. “Because of my old age, I find myself wanting to meddle. —Kuzaku-kun, look at this for a moment.”
Akira-san called out to Kuzaku, then readied his shield and drew his sword. He moved forward, covering half of his body with the shield, and swinging the sword down diagonally at a nearby Pansuke. Even Haruhiro could tell what he was doing. It was the Paladin skill Punishment. But Akira-san deliberately chose to stop his sword halfway and pull it back. The Pansuke was cowering, as if frozen.
“Did you see that? With enough repetition, you’ll be able to do this, too,” Akira-san said.
“Right...” Kuzaku stood bolt-upright and watched closely.
I couldn’t have put it better myself, thought Haruhiro.
Akira-san used Punishment on the Pansuke once again, only this time he let it hit. At least, it was probably Punishment, but it was completely different.
I dunno, it was like it was all one movement.
Defending with his shield, advancing, and swinging down with his sword. The three actions had completely melded together to become one.
Akira-san’s sword cleanly cut through the Pansuke from his left shoulder to his right hip. It looked like when you got to the same level as Branken, Kayo, or Akira-san, the supposedly uncuttable ponchos didn’t even matter. Was this really something they could achieve through repetition? It was hard to accept at face value, but Akira-san didn’t seem like the type to make things up to trick those who were younger and less experienced.
“It’s all about what you build up over time.” Akira-san returned his sword to its sheathe once more. “It’s experience. Feel things for yourself, and build on that. If all you’ve done is learn it, a skill is just a skill and nothing more. True power lies somewhere beyond that. Now, when it comes to how you get a sense for that, really, repetition in the field is the only way.”
“Hmm,” Gogh snorted. “Well, aren’t you sounding self-important.”
The beautiful mage Miho was standing there, too. While the situation was in their favor, it was still a chaotic battle, so why were these people taking it easy as if they were out for a stroll in their own garden?
“Giving lectures doesn’t suit you, Akira-san,” Gogh said. “You’re not even the type to follow theory. The fact that you want to tell the younger folks these things anyway may be proof that you’ve gotten old.”
“Well, yeah,” Akira-san shrugged. “I’m aware of that myself.”
“He’s still young,” Miho said with a giggle.
“Bwuh!” Ranta may have just imagined something strange. “M-Magic!” Shihoru leaned in, clutching her staff tightly. “Wh-What about... magic? Is there a trick to it?”
“I want to know.” Mimorin nodded.
“Hey, wait.” Anna-san looked around restlessly. “Is it okay to jabber?! There still lots and lots of enemies around, yeah?!”
“Well, time to do a little work, then,” Gogh said with a look to Shihoru and Mimorin. “I’ll answer your question while I’m at it, too. You’re only at the start line for magic once you’ve properly learned all the elemental sigils that you can pay for the guild to teach you. From there, it’s up to you. —Miho.”
“Right.”
“We’re doing it.”
Gogh and Miho walked away. Akira-san followed after them without a sound. If any enemies attacked the two of them, Akira-san would cut them down immediately.
The three soon came to a stop. They were looking towards the eight-meter class white giant.
Gogh and Miho began tracing what looked like elemental sigils with the tips of their staves.
“De, he, lu, en, ba, zea, ruv, dag, na, mitoh, la, we, swa, va.”
“Ne, ve, lu, shia, rass, fe, de, ge, hi, mina, sheh, kweh, du, il.”
“I’ve never seen that before,” Shihoru whispered.
It was true. Haruhiro hadn’t seen elemental sigils like these before, and it was an unfamiliar chant. It felt like, maybe, the intonation was different from the incantations Shihoru or Mimorin used, too?
The eight-meter class, seeming to have noticed Gogh and Miho, looked down at them. Right after it did, there was a resounding thuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun, a sound that seemed both high- and low-pitch, and its head was blasted off.
“...One shot.” Merry’s jaw dropped.
“Meow...” Yume blinked repeatedly.
“And, well, there’re countless points I could cover, but...” Gogh spun around to face them, brushing his hair back behind his ear with an artistic flair. “Even after changing jobs to become a priest, I was able to manage this much with enough study. Though, I couldn’t have done what we just did on my own. We set loose an elemental, then activated an alternate power. They won’t teach you this stuff at the guild. You have to study it for yourself, make discoveries, and refine your skills. ...Whew, I’m beat.”
&nbs
p; Gogh suddenly hung his head and pressed a hand to his forehead. He looked like he might slump to the ground at any second.
“Oh, my.” Miho narrowed her eyes and covered her mouth with her hands.
“We’re both getting old.” Akira-san offered Gogh some support. “Though, in your case, your body was weak to begin with.”
“...Oh, shut up,” Gogh grumbled. Leave me alone.””
“Honeeeeeeeey...!” Kayo rushed over, leaving a fine mist of blood in her wake. “What’s wrong?! Are you okay?! Honey?! I’ll never forgive you if you die before me!”
“Dad?! Did something happen to you, Dad?! Don’t die!” Taro also rushed over, his face contorted with anguish.
“Listen! I’m not gonna die that easily!” Gogh shouted at them, but the sound of it was mostly covered by the thunderous crash from the eight-meter class white giant falling hard to the ground.
To think the eight-meter class white giant that had been such a problem would be killed so easily.
The volunteer soldiers let out a cheer.
“Gwah, hah, hah, hah, hah!” With a terrifying laugh, Branken pointed his ax towards the other problem. “Now, it’s your turn! Get ready to die!”
Haruhiro tried to swallow his spit, but his mouth was dry, so his Adam’s apple just moved meaninglessly.
The hydra must have sensed something, too, because it stayed put where it was, its tentacles writhing. No, not just writhing. Its tentacles spread out wide, like it was trying to make its already huge body look even bigger.
“Well now.” Akira-san walked away from Gogh and drew his sword. “First, let’s see what it’s capable of.”
Iron Knuckle. The Berserkers. Orion. They were all among the foremost volunteer soldiers, and yet they didn’t move, or couldn’t move. Akira-san, Kayo, and Branken were the only ones approaching the hydra.
The five tentacles all lashed out at them at once. Three at Akira-san, and one each at Kayo and Branken.
They’re fast. Even at that size, they’re that fast?
To Haruhiro’s eyes, it looked like they were moving at a speed similar to a person swinging a sword. There’s no dodging that, he thought for a moment.
But Akira-san took just two quick steps, Kayo pressed forward, and Branken rolled to the side, each of them avoiding the tentacles in their own way.
