[V5.5C4] The Strongest Man
Translated by Jodas 5.5: Tales of the PastTree branches bore down on Frederik and the others. The moment those made contact with the bubbles Helena summoned, they exploded with a loud Bang!
Other bubbles swallowed the flying fragments of wood, exploding promptly afterwards.
It seemed that this Ancient Magical Artifact’s bubbles had the trait of enveloping mana-coated objects and exploding.
Since a Monster’s remains are filled with mana, the bubbles will swallow those up, further amplifying the destructive power. How terrifying.
The branches of a tree Monster were nothing like the branches of a normal tree. They were filled with mana and incredibly tough. Frederik knew how hard it was to cut through them.
…Yet those branches were being reduced to dust as if they were nothing.
The man who advised Helena to ‘let off some steam,’ Frederik Lange, made a sour face and groaned.
“……You call that ‘some’ steam?”
“You were the one who told her to do it, Frederik. Please try to take at least some responsibility.”
“No way.”
“Well, I’m not taking it.”
Once again, a branch exploded. That explosion ignited a chain reaction with one bubble going off after another. It seemed that chain reactions could make the bubbles even more fearsome.
It was fortunate that their enemy was a tree Monster. If it were a Monster that resembled a human or an animal, bits of flesh would be flying everywhere.
(…From now on, I’ll leave everything involving Helena to Röhm instead.)
Frederik swore to his heart to make it all someone else’s problem.
Then, he noticed something. Some of the bubbles were coming towards him.
“Hold on, are you trying to get us wrapped up in this, too?”
In place of a response, ‘Eurydice, the Cackling Foam’ let out a shrill snicker.
Helena was sobbing. As she cried, she hunched over and her body convulsed with laughter.
“Hehe, hehehe, Ah, how sad…… Aha, I’m so sad… To think that I have to hunt Monsters in such a dirty place! Ah, I want to take a bath… I want to sleep under a cozy blanket… I’m so sad, you know? I’m so, so sad…”
“KYAHAHA, GYAHAHAHAH! DIEDIEDIE! KYA, HA, HA, HA!!”
He now understood very well the reason why Helena had been sent to the Wedge Tower.
That thing was awfully crude to be a Saint’s Ancient Magical Artifact… As he considered that thought, a piece of a Monster came flying towards him.
Chasing that piece, a bubble approached as well.
“Hey, I’m getting a bad feeling about this.”
“…Me too.”
The bubble soaked up the Monster remains and exploded with a Bang! Right next to Frederik.
At the same time, Frederik and Rikard broke into a sprint to get as far away from Helena as they could.
“That stupid Saint, she’s going totally berserk!”
“Looks to me like she’s just letting off some steam.”
“Look, I regret saying that, okay?”
Maybe he should get away using flight magic. But it would be harder for him to build up speed if he was carrying Rikard, and he had a feeling the bubbles would be drawn by the mana output of his flight magic.
Fortunately, the bubbles themselves didn’t move very quickly, but they were too slow to start running. They’d already been surrounded by bubbles on all sides.
This was the worst case scenario. Frederik gritted his teeth when suddenly he heard a voice overhead.
“Both of you, get down!”
Along with the voice came a hail of lightning from the sky.
The lighting raining down split into fine arcs that were enveloped in each of the bubbles surrounding Frederik.
Bang! Bang! The bubbles exploded one after another, but it wasn’t quite loud enough for him to feel the need to cover his ears.
(I see, if they envelop low-power attacks, the bubbles’ power will also decrease.)
Pressed against the ground, Frederik twisted his upper body to get a view of the sky.
Using flight magic to hover, with a sword in his hand, was a large blond man — One of Frederik’s seniors, the mage Haydn.
Haydn landed near to Frederik, then flicked a hand, summoning a small arrow of lightning.
That arrow of lightning zig-zagged in the gaps between the bubbles before hitting Helena square in the back.
Electrocuted, Helena’s body shook violently before collapsing on the ground.
It was merely a low-power lighting arrow, but it was controlled with a whole different level of precision and speed. As expected of a true powerhouse whose strength rivaled the Hundred-Eyes Witch, Anneliese Röhm.
Just as Helena collapsed, ‘Eurydice, the Cackling Foam’ fell silent. The surrounding bubbles soundlessly popped and disappeared.
Helena’s threat had subsided… but the fact remained that they were in grave danger.
The tree Monster regrew its damaged limbs and once again went on the offensive.
To set Frederik at ease, Haydn spoke forcefully.
“It’s alright, the strongest man has come to help us.”
‘I know he can’t be talking about Dammer, then.’ Frederik thought something rude.
The Monster’s branches creaked and stretched towards them with increasing speed.
Despite being a plant, he could feel a clear intent to kill coming from it. It would kill humans and use them as fertilizer. The same sort of obsession towards humans that a man-eating Monster would show.
Without a weapon imbued with mana, it would be impossible to sever these branches. Frederik and Rikard started to chant, but Haydn shook his head. Their incantations would be unnecessary.
“Watch and learn, you guys.”
Before his eyes, a silver wind blew past.
Something had moved far too fast for him to perceive.
(That’s…)
A man with silver hair swung a longsword with a silver glint.
Those tough branches cleaved off like a hot knife through butter.
The Monster’s branches did not regenerate.
No matter how strong a Monster’s regeneration was, wounds made by that sword would never heal.
—The Ancient Magical Artifact: ‘Ignatius, the Severer.’
The man used no magic.
He did not fight by combining flight magic with physical prowess like Frederik did.
He simply cut the Monster down with pure swordsmanship skills.
With a heavy step, he brought the sword down on his target. Then, with terrifying speed, he proceeded to his next move. Even though swinging a sword downwards in a big arc like he had usually presented an opening as the swordsman recovered, he left no such gaps. Straight from the bottom of his swing, he cut back upwards, proceeding to the next attack.
Haydn spoke with great pride.
“That is the Wedge Tower’s strongest.”
Headmaster Klaus Möbius of the Wedge Tower kicked lightly against the ground as he sliced the target clean in two with his upward strike.
Beside Frederik, Rikard gasped. “Wow….”
Frederik likewise let his mouth hang open as he stared at Möbius’s swordplay.
Möbius swung that heavy longsword around like it was nothing. And he wasn’t being dragged around by the sword; he used it like an extension of his limbs.
(I’d always thought my father was the strongest mage there was in close-quarters combat, but…)
It appeared to him that Möbius’s skills were even greater.
Faster than anyone else, yet with each and every blow hitting like a ton of bricks.
Frederik hoped some day to achieve that level with his spear.
Möbius moved on to slice another Monster in half, then in the shadow of its remains, moved the sword to his other hand and cut down yet one more enemy. He was ambidextrous on top of all that? Frederik was jealous.
He cut down all ten or so Monsters, yet even then Möbius kept his guard up and surveyed their surroundings.
“Our cleanup here is complete. Haydn, take your juniors and leave.”
“Yes, Headmaster.”
Haydn bowed as Möbius shifted his eyes towards Frederik.
This man had a piercing gaze. Age-wise, he might be in his late thirties.
Despite wearing a flowing robe, by observing his calculated movements and stance, Frederik could tell from a glance that his body was immaculately trained.
“Newbies at the Extermination Office, I assume?”
That piercing gaze stared at Frederik and Rikard.
He felt a shiver run down his spine. The intimidating presence of an overwhelming powerhouse almost knocked him off of his feet.
Was he about to scold them for their shameful manner of fighting?
To be honest, if Instructor Lowein witnessed their battle today, he would make sure to give them a thorough beating.
Frederik involuntarily flinched as Möbius spoke to him in a strained tone of voice.
“…I’m glad to see you’ve survived.”
Without giving Frederik the opportunity to react in surprise to those unexpected words, Möbius continued in a low voice.
“Arnim’s squad was wiped out. Dammer managed to link up with them, but even he appears to have suffered heavy injuries.”
“Huh?”
“The Primordial Beast has appeared.”
All of the blood in his body drained to his feet at once.
The Primordial Beast was a Lesser Monster, but one born not from reproduction but the Abyss itself. It enjoyed doing battle with strong opponents, and was said to leave scars on the face of humans it favors.
(…So it’s saying it saw no value in leaving Arnim’s team alive.)
Arnim’s team was composed of many veterans of the Extermination Office. They were a team of reliable professionals. They always took good care of Frederik and the others.
And they’ve been wiped out.
—Those damn Monsters.
His eyes twitched as they turned red.
—In a red, red, red world, the Arachne laughed. It laughed and laughed as it extended a red, red hand…
“How does *** taste, little boy?*”
(I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!)
The same anger he felt when he lost his father; the same hostility filled his body from head to toe.
(Let your anger burn, don’t let the flame of hate die out. If you don’t, you’ll be swallowed by the fear.)
Frederik’s teeth clattered together as a large hand passed through his vision. That large hand that reminded him of his father’s was Möbius’ hand.
“Keep that anger in your heart — I will let you have your revenge in due time.”
Möbius’ hand drew away.
When Frederik regained some of his cool, he looked up at Möbius.
The man’s chiseled face harbored a quiet but intense rage.
This person was just like Frederik.
Those were the eyes of a man who had lost everything — precious friends, dignity, his very livelihood — to Monsters.
“We at the Wedge Tower will never forgive the Monsters who terrorize us. We will eradicate them. Every last one.”
Frederik engraved those words into his heart.
Monsters were creatures of pure evil. They held twisted obsessions with humanity and subjected people to their foul mockery.
They were hideous, cruel, and horrifying in ways that made him nauseous. They were creatures that existed only to cause human suffering.
Therefore, Frederik Lange would never allow a Monster to exist. He’d never forgive them. Only on the day when the last of them was eradicated would he be able to sleep easy.
He bit his lip until it split open and he felt the taste of blood.
This was the taste of his own blood. He knew that, yet he felt like gagging nonetheless.