Chapter 4: Trying Out Ending the War – Part 6

Previous Part | Table of Contents | Next Part

---

Part 6

　Even as it became hard to breath and her legs started to hurt, Rem continued to run.
　Shera, who would be the first to give up in their usual journeys, didn’t make a single complaint, and followed her.
「Haa! Haa! Haa! Here!」
　They went through the deep forest.
　If it was an untrained Human, it was a darkness where even walking would be difficult, but Rem was an Adventurer as well as a Pantherian. She could see in the dark.
　In a place that was slightly open, a rope went across from one branch to another.
　*Posari* The one who placed a wet cloth on it, was the young Kobold girl Feneri.
　──Is she drying laundry?
　Turning around, Feneri tilted her head.
「Kuun?」
　Rem sensed a huge mistake.
　──Without Diablo, our words won’t get through!
　No, to begin with, since they heard that their settlement was being attacked by the reconnaissance team, they came running.
　Was the Caliture unit already driven away?
　However, there were no traces of battle.
　In that case, there might be a settlement in a place different from here.
　Shera placed her hands on both knees, and made a deep breath.
「Thank goodnessー. So they were safe!」
「……No, we……might have committed an outrageous mistake.」
　Rem became vigilant of the surroundings.
　*Vuun* Making a buzzing sound, an insect descended.
　It was like a locust, but a bit different.
　On its small twig like trunk, a small, small 《Slavery Choker》 was fixed on it.
「A Summoned Beast!?」
「Eh? What?」
　Seeing Rem turn pale, Shera made a curious-looking face.
　Feneri also went 「Wafu wafu?」 and was asking something, but she couldn’t understand her words.
　Even so, she made an earnest appeal to her.
「……Look, Feneri, listen to me. The Kobolds in the settlement need to run away, right now. This place, has been found by a Royal Palace Knight.」
「Kuuー?」
「Please understand. You need to run, right away!」
　The sound of undergrowth being stepped on was made.
　Feneri made a puzzled face.
「Uu!?」
「Eh, who’s there!?」
　Shera stepped back, and Rem held a crystal in her hand.
「……Kuh」
　From the forest that was submerged in darkness, the tall figure of a man appeared.

「Ufufufu……Ochibi-chan and group, good work, on the guidance here♥」

　Shera raised a scream.
　Rem stepped forward so as to cover Feneri. And then, she sharpened her nerves. There was no one else coming?
「……Diablo, what happened to him?」
「Dunno, isn’t he playing around somewhere?」
「That’s a lie!」
「Of course it is. Asking the enemy for information, is the stranger part here.」
　This would be a guess but, he was confined by another enemy strong enough that he couldn’t get away from──is that what they should be thinking?
　She didn’t think that Diablo would lose, but there was no guarantee that he would be coming right away.
　There was a need to buy some time.
　In that case, if they are going to fight, it needs to be as loud as possible.
　If either Feneri or some other Kobold within realizes it, there’s no mistake that they will surely run away.
　From what she saw from his fight with Diablo, the Patriarch Borbos was a considerably strong person.
　However, she didn’t think that he could win against Geibalt.
　What about them as they were now?
「……Shera, please calm down and listen.」
「Y, yeah?」
「……When we fought against him in the 《Demon King’s Labyrinth》, we couldn’t do a single thing to him.」
「Un. What should we do?」
「……However, there is a remarkable difference in our levels when compared to that time. Please recall Sasala’s teachings. We also have the equipment we received from Diablo and Krum.」
「That’s true.」
「……Rather than those days, think about now.」
　Geibalt grinned.
「Have you decided on your strategy?」
「……Come forth, 《Stoneman》!!」
　A gigantic stone statue appeared. There weren’t any eyes or a mouth on its square head, but it gave an intimidating pressure to Geibalt.
　Shera nocked an arrow.
「Let’s do it! With the two of us, let’s protect everyone!」
「Ara, you’re surprisingly going with a frontal attack? Do you think you can win against me with such a strategy?」
　Rem wavered.
　Should they commence with the first strike?
　The ones who wanted to buy as much time as possible, was their side.
　They glared at each other.
　Geibalt made a wry smile.
「Fufu……Thanks, for waiting for me. Finally, it’s become easier for me to breath.」
「Ah.」
　Since he was chasing after Rem’s group, even if he was a Royal Palace Knight, it was at full speed. Racially speaking, Elves and Pantherians were more specialized at running through the forest than Humans, and the opponent was wearing armor, and moreover, he was using a Summoned Beast in order to track them.
　Should they have attacked him incessantly while he was fatigued?
「As usual, it looks like you lack experience when it comes to battles against people.」
「……Kuh! Go forth, 《Stoneman》!!」
「Aren’t you contracted, with anything better? You had best not hold out on anything, since you’ll be killed right away.」
　Shera turned to the sky and fired an arrow.
「Here’s a 《Rain Shot》!」
　The single arrow vanished into the sky.
　After a while, it turned into several arrows and came raining down.
　It was a rain of arrows made through SP.
　*Sui sui* With small steps, Geibalt avoided the arrows that came raining down.
「You should choose your Martial Arts after looking at your opponent, okay? No matter how many of them there are, there’s no way such a slow attack would hit.」
　He took out a rainbow-colored crystal.
　That was a crystal that would summon an exceedingly high ranked Summoned Beast.
「Now then, it’s your debut──《Fafnir》!!」
「!?」
　Rem froze in astonishment.
　Even Shera, she had heard of at least the name before.
　It was the Summoned Beast made out to be the highest rank in the Darkness Attribute!
　《Fafnir》
　From a torrent of whirling magical power, the figure of a deep black snake showed itself. Its length, it went from between 100 to 200 steps.
　Its pair of long and narrow wings that spread out left and right, they were longer than its body.
　It was a winged snake that had a sinister appearance.
　Its scales were black that had a purplish luster, and black smoke came spilling out from its mouth.
　*JYAAAAAAAAAA!* It raised a grating cry.
「Byaahー!?」
　Jumping up in surprise, Feneri escaped into the settlement hole.
　As a result, they were able to convey the danger to the Kobolds. They should be able to understand that the settlement was discovered.
　Geibalt shrugged his shoulders.
「I see……So they live in that sort of hole. Oh my, no wonder we couldn’t find them.」
「We won’t let you chase after them!」
　Shera fired an arrow.
　Geibalt unsheathed the sword on his waist, and cut down the arrow.
　He clicked his tongue.
「You two, it looks like you haven’t leveled up all that much. You shouldn’t be playing hooky! Even though I went and increased my large-type Summoned Beasts like this for the sake of whenever I have to fight that Black Dragon again!」
「……Kuh.」
　They knew that he was strong.
　For Rem and Shera, they took the Master Swordsman’s training, and had their equipment reinforced.
　However, that was completely insufficient.
　Their awareness was different.
　Geibalt was on the verge of being killed by the Large Black Dragon. If not for Lumachina’s miracle, he would have died.
　And yet, he thought of the rematch.
　Moreover, he made preparations in order to win.
　──We’re too different.
　Beside the trembling Rem, Shera drew her bow.
「We weren’t playing hooky! Te～i! 《Hadoudan (Wave Bullet)》^[1]ッ!!」
　An arrow that turned into a gigantic bullet of light flew.
　It made a direct hit on Fafnir’s chin.
　That made it showily bend backwards, and made it raise a screech that resounded through the mountains. Its scales broke, and blood came spilling out.
　Shera spoke sounding disappointed.
「Ahー, it didn’t pierce through.」
　Certainly, it did look like damage got through, but the arrow didn’t pierce it.
　Geibalt opened his eyes wide.
「Ou……Looks like you can do a bit. To think that you would use 《Hadoudan》. That’s a Martial Art said to be learned at level 90, you know?」
「Ehehe……」
「As a reward, I’ll start by killing you♪」
　*Pachin* Geibalt snapped his fingers.
　Fafnir moved its gigantic wings. Opening its mouth that seemed to split even its body, it came rushing in.
「Kyaaaaaa!」
　Shera was good at attacking, but she was extremely weak when she was the one being attacked.
「Dodge it!」
　Rem used the Stoneman and sent her flying.
「Hyagya!?」
　In the next instant, Fafnir passed by the place that Shera was at. As if becoming a substitute for her, the Stoneman was shaved away.
　Quite easily, its upper half had vanished.
　Turning into a black crystal, it returned to Rem’s hand.
「Kuh……」
「Ah, thanks, Rem.」
「……Leave the thanks for later. Please attack more! Leave the defence to me.」
「Un! Let’s do our best! Here’s a 《Lightning Shoot》!」
　The arrow that Shera fired turned into an arrow tinged with light, and made a direct hit on Fafnir with outrageous speed.
　Once again, she made the enemy bend backwards.
　It was working.
　It seemed that Shera’s attacks were giving it damage.
　Rem and Shera’s strategy was to stay true to the basics.
　Summoned Beasts would stand as the vanguard, and devote themselves to defense and being the decoy. The attacking would be left to Shera, the Archer.
「Come forth, 《Iron Gorilla》 and 《Iron Golem》! Also, 《Rock Wan》, 《Dragonfly》, and 《Saber Tiger》 too!!」
　The enemy is powerful, but there’s only one of it.
　It has wings, but it’s not like it’s flying.
　They simultaneously aimed at the Fafnir.
　Being a gigantic opponent, the attacks made direct hits but……
　As expected, with Summoned Beasts of this level, they couldn’t give it any distinct damage.
　Even so, it shouldn’t be able to ignore them.
　And sure enough──the Fafnir started to aim at the Summoned Beasts first. Iron Gorilla, Iron Golem, Rock Wan, and Dragonfly, they were crushed one after another.
　The Saber Tiger had high evasive power, so it was able to hold out for a while, but in the end, it was crushed.
　During that time, Shera used her powerful arrow Martial Arts, and gave it damage.
　They were doing well. They were properly buying time, and at this rate, the might even defeat the Fafnir.
　Rem’s Summoned Beasts were steadily being defeated but……
　It was a match between whether they or the enemy’s Summoned Beast’s HP would run out first.
　Geibalt nodded.
「You two, you’ve become better than before. I thought that I would be able to overcome you with just Fafnir, but you two are surprisingly good. But, since it would be a pain if the wild animals escaped……It’s about time that I get serious.」
　What he took out from his pouch, was an MP Recovery Potion. After drinking that up, he held up another crystal.
　It was another rainbow-colored crystal.
「I’ll burn you two to death along with those wild animals, with my Majin of Flames! 《Ifrit》!!」
　A Summoned Beast clad in flames appeared.
　It looked as if lava had taken on the form of a person. It had a size that wasn’t all that different from the Spriggan that they had encountered not too long ago. Due to its heat, the surrounding trees started to burn.
　Rem brought out the Summoned Beast that she had left.
「Come forth, 《Aslau》!!」
　It was large and sturdy, and there was a lot of power in a single attack.
　In the end, she believed that such a Summoned Beast was strong.
　Geibalt made a wry face.
「Gufufufu……Once I completely roast you two, using the 《Become Scorching Heat》 Skill, I’ll turn the ones inside of the hole into roasted fox! Or maybe, should I go with Fafnir’s 《Poison Breath》? What should I choose.」
「……Shera, fire at it! Make a concentrated attack!」
「Got it! Here’s a 《Lightning Shoot》 with a 《Sure-Hit》!!」
　She fired an arrow on top of using the Martial Art that would make it absolutely hit.
　The target, was the Magician!
　Up until now, she had been aiming at nothing but the Summoned Beast, but that was for the sake of tempting the opponent to lower their guard.
　Since Geibalt was an excellent Warrior himself, he didn’t use Summoned Beasts as shields all that much. He would either avoid or receive attacks.
　It was there that they had a hand that they could take advantage of.
　She added in her most trusted Summoned Beast to the attack that Shera made with all of her might.
　On top of that, Rem herself also rushed in.
「Teiraaaaa──!!」
　The opponent didn’t dodge.
　All of their attacks would make a direct hit.
　Without a doubt, there was a response. Rem’s fist──it struck his face.
　──We brought him down!?
　However, what had spurted out blood, was the Fafnir. It shrieked, and its gigantic body started to wriggle and rage about.
　Geibalt grinned.
「If you’re also a Summoner, you should at least learn 《Back Passing》, got it?」
「……Wha!?」
「It should be usable once you’re greater than level 100. It’s a magic that makes the Summoned Beast shoulder the damage instead.」
「Something like that is……!?」
　If the opponent is uninjured, this distance is bad! Sensing that, she jumped backwards.
　However, Rem’s abdomen became hot.
　She collapsed to the ground.
「……Gah!? Kahaa!?」
　*Bota bota* A large amount of blood was spilling out. She had been cut by Geibalt’s sword.
　──This is why, it’s no good, to get close to the opponent.
　In the end, she relied on her fists.
　She lost in the amount of knowledge as a Magician.
　Within her receding consciousness, she heard the scream of a young girl.
　──Shera!?
　She saw that she was blown away by the tail of the rampaging Fafnir.
　She crashed into a standing tree, and stopped moving.
「Shera!」

Translator’s Notes:
[1] Original: 波動弾, Read as: はどうだん

---

Previous Part | Table of Contents | Next Part

---