[V8C26] It Seems He Thought That a Show of Confidence Would Lead to the People He Saved Feeling More Relieved
Translated by Jodas 8: The Witch of the BoundaryOtto, mage of the Protection Office, cut through the centipede’s legs with a magic sword. But only cutting off a few of its legs was doubtful to do any significant damage to the creature.
(…Now I’m in a bit of a pickle.)
With the appearance of the giant centipede Monster, the human side had been pushed on the back foot.
No matter how low its intelligence was, just the sheer size of this creature was enough to pose a threat. Simply by moving around, it could crush humans underfoot and destroy buildings.
On top of that, in this centipede’s case, the shell covering its back was extremely tough. Even if you landed a direct attack, it would be almost unaffected. Even stabbing through the gaps in that shell wouldn’t deal a critical blow.
“How sad… Ah, how sad… What is Frederik doing, I wonder… If he’s taking a nap, I’ll make sure he never wakes up…”
While sobbing dramatically, Helena said some disconcerting things.
The water under her control stretched out like a rope and ensnared the centipede’s body.
Even without her Ancient Magical Artifact, ‘Eurydice, the Cackling Foam,’ Helena was more than talented enough as a mage. However, she was a bad match for this enemy. She simply didn’t have the firepower to deal with it.
As it stood, they had a few on site who could use decently powerful fire and lightning magic. Both the Wedge Tower mages and the Lange warriors were capable fighters.
Nevertheless, the fact remained that they didn’t have enough firepower.
(At this rate, the centipede is going to get to the base of the mountain…!)
Somewhere on the centipede’s body — most likely on its stomach — there was probably a crystal shard embedded. He didn’t understand the logic, but Monsters with those implanted would be able to leave the Crystal Territory in exchange for being weakened.
One might assume that it would be as simple as destroying that crystal shard then, but the stomach of a giant centipede crawling on the ground wasn’t the kind of thing you could simply check under.
(With a giant body like this, there’s no way Frederik hasn’t noticed it by now. Yet he hasn’t shown up at all… Things have gotta be pretty bad.)
He had to deal with it by himself here and now — But Oliver wasn’t young enough to take the lead on things like this anymore.
“But if you don’t put your all into it, you’ll never win against large Monsters.’
The one to say those words to him before taking the lead on such a mission was always his classmate, Klaus Möbius.
(…Good grief.)
Oliver steeled himself and jumped onto the centipede’s back, aiming to stab through a gap in its shell. He stabbed quite deep into it, but this was still not enough to deal a critical blow.
Regardless, Otto made a second incantation, causing flame mana to flow through his sword. This seemed to be much more effective, and the centipede started to flail wildly.
‘Like I’ll be thrown off that easily!’ Otto grabbed tightly to the hilt of his sword, continuing to pump flame mana into it.
“Mr. Otto!”
Helena screamed.
‘What? What’s wrong?’ Otto looked up only to feel a presence behind himself and turn around.
It was a mantis Monster. This massive mantis, bigger than a grown man, swung its scythe-like hands down at Otto’s neck.
Otto immediately let go of his sword and evaded, falling to the ground and tumbling to a stop.
“Damn… My sword…!”
His sword was still stabbed into that thing’s back, but the flame magic had been cut off.
‘What’s my next move?’ As he thought that…
“Pop… Popo…”
He heard a strange voice, very unlike an incantation. At the same time, a young man jumped out from the bushes, wielding a large axe.
A young man with dark skin and black hair: the Extermination Office’s Rikard Oks.
His large axe cut deep into the centipede’s body. While emotionlessly muttering “Po, po,” Rikard once again swung the axe.
There were many varieties of magic sword arts, and among them, the magecraft Rikard used to make his axe temporarily heavier in order to increase its striking power was considered exceedingly difficult to use.
Yet that technique was highly effective against tough, massive Monsters like this one.
“Pop…po…”
Rikard delicately avoided the armored portions as he cut deep into the centipede. Then as well, for whatever reason, he continued to chant “Po…popo.”
It was a strange rhythm interrupted by his breathing, so it was hard to make out, but could he be… singing?
Once he sliced off the centipede’s head, Rikard bowed his head towards them.
“…After receiving your request for support, I’ve come running from the Oks Village. Rikard Oks, of the Extermination Office, at your service.”
He knew already, but this young man really was quite polite.
That said, what was all this ‘Poppo’ business up to this point?
For the time being, Otto went to retrieve his sword, then spoke to Rikard.
“Seriously, you saved us. We were in a real tough spot there……By the way, was that calling you did earlier some kind of Oks Family Monster-Hunting tradition?”
“No, it’s…”
Rikard shook his head, then spoke with an embarrassed attitude.
“I just thought that maybe I should try singing while I make my appearance to put on a show of confidence…”
Suddenly Helena covered her face with both hands and fell to her knees.
“Ah, how foolish can you be… That’s the behavior of a lunatic murderer… To imagine that the Saint’s classmate is the type of lunatic man who sings a song while he swings an axe around… Ah, how sad am I to have such a dumbass for a classmate…”
“…It didn’t work, huh. Poppo…”
“And he’s tone-deaf too… How sad…”
After cleaving through the Arachne with the talons on her feet, Tia jumped backwards to avoid a her webbing, opening the distance between her and the Arachne.
The Arachne had been slashed all over, with bodily fluids pouring out from every corner of her body.
Meanwhile, Tia was just about uninjured. Who was winning would be clear as day to anyone who watched.
Tia leveled a cold gaze at the Arachne and spoke.
“If you run back to the Crystal Territory, you might survive.”
Not that she had any plans of letting her run away. But Tia found it strange that this Arachne showed no indication of trying to run.
The Arachne’s torn-up body shook as she laughed.
“Ho, ho… What use is living on like that? It’s not just us Arachnes; all Monsters are headed for exinction.”
Tia found her words odd.
Tia had assumed that, now that these Arachnes could further afield out thanks to the crystals, they had come out to fish for prey.
But she felt a different sense of urgency from the Arachne’s words.
It was like she spoke as if the continued existence of Monsters in their entirety relied on this one attack.
“It’s the same for you Harpies, is it not? I’d heard there was a large-scale extermination a few years ago, and just about all of you were killed.”
(…Eh?)
The color drained from all throughout Tia’s body.
A large-scale extermination a few years back? Tia had never heard of such a thing. That meant it must have happened after Tia was captured.
Who was it that exterminated the Harpies? Did she even have to ask? It was obvious.
—The mages of the Wedge Tower.
Tia’s thoughts seized up.
(Sis and the others… are dead? They’re not there anymore?)
She really liked all of her fellow Harpies. They were her flock; her treasured comrades. She wanted to go back home to them. That was the only reason why Tia had been searching so hard for a way to fly.
Tia herself had decided to use the Wedge Tower in order to obtain a means of flying. Tia wore a human skin of her own volition and approached humanity.
(What do I do…?)
She liked her fellow Apprentices who she’d met at the Wedge Tower.
She really liked the other members of Hütter’s class. She didn’t want them to die.
(What do I do…?)
Hütter had taught her to think of an answer to questions like ‘what do I do?’ on her own.
But the way she was now, Tia couldn’t find any answers to that question.
(Who was it? Who was the one who killed my comrades…!?)
Thinking hard to try and at least pick someone to direct her anger towards, Tia trembled at the answer.
Harpies were a flying species. Who was it that was best suited for exterminating them? Tia knew the answer immediately.
As Tia fell silent, the Arachne spoke to her.
“You know, Harpy. It’s the Wall. If we can bring down that accursed Western Wall, then we could live outside in freedom. We could go find a new home, somewhere where the mana density is thick enough.”
“……”
“This is a battle for the very existence of us Monsters. Are you saying you’re still going to take the humans’ side?”
“……”
Tia was forced to make a choice.
Would she stand on the side of Monsters, or stand on the side of humans?
While the Monster in human skin fretted over her answer, she felt a stinging pain all over her body. The candy’s effects had worn out.
Her wings and talons absorbed themselves beneath her human skin. While gritting her teeth in pain, Tia reached to pull out another candy… but her hand stopped.
A spider web was stuck to her arm.
(Crap!)
Pulled by the web, Tia’s body floated into the air. She wanted to cut through it with her talons, but Tia’s feet had already reverted to the bare feet of a young girl.
At the same time, another web wrapped tightly around Tia’s neck. It pulled tight with force in an instant.
“Gyueeeehhh!!”
Like a bird being slaughtered, Tia screamed as her body spasmed.
(I don’t have any way to cut through these webs. This is bad!)
Then, Tia’s ears picked up some footsteps. That sound was…
“Tia, are you okay—!?”
Oliver jumped out from the bushes, holding a spear.