Everyone's jaw dropped open as they stared at Hajime. Hajime's face cramped up and
he shook his head in denial.
"I most definitely did not."
"I decided long ago that the only man I would consider being with would be one who
is stronger than me… However, there was no one like that in my village… That was my
first time… being held down and humiliated… and then you did that to my butt… You
were so rough. I can no longer get married… so you must take responsibility for this."
Tio gazed up at Hajime with moist eyes, her hands still squeezing her ass. The knights
looked at him with a mixture of fear and disgust. Disgust because he'd clearly raped
this poor woman, and fear because he'd been so violent with her ass.
Even Aiko, who knew the truth of the situation, was looking at Hajime reproachfully.
Even Yue and Shea averted their gazes, as if saying "Well, that was a bit much." Hajime
had found himself surrounded by enemies before the battle even began.
"D-Don't you have a mission you need to finish? Isn't that why you left your village in
the first place?" Desperate, Hajime tried to plead his way out of the situation.
"Indeed. But fear not. My investigation shall be made even easier if I travel with you.
Truly, it would be killing two birds with one stone… I'm sure your travels will grow
stressful at times. Would it not be wonderful to have someone to vent those
frustrations on whenever you need to? You can be as rough as you like. Is this not a
wonderful deal for you, my master?"
"I can't possibly see how having a pervert join my party would be wonderful in any
way." Tio clung desperately to Hajime, but he flung her away. That earned him the
wrath of the knights, the disdain of Yuka and the girls, the jealousy of the boys, and a
lecture from Aiko about not engaging in illicit sexual relationships. However, for some
reason, Will was looking up at Hajime in awe.
Around the time Hajime was growing tired of this farce, he sensed movement on the
horizon and quickly grew serious.
"…They're here." Hajime turned toward the mountains and looked off into the distance.
They weren't visible to the naked eye yet, but Hajime's demon eye was receiving their
images from his drones.
The horde of monsters was large enough to bury the earth. There were Bulltaurs,
other humanoid monsters, massive black wolves three to four meters large, six-legged
lizards, pythons with needles growing from their backs, praying mantis-like things
with scythes for arms, spiders with tentacles growing out of their engorged torsos,
white serpents with horns growing from their heads— Even through a video feed,
Hajime could tell.
The army was massive. They kicked up a tornado of dust as they passed, and
swallowed up the ground before them like a wriggling black tidal wave. Their
murderous red-black eyes glinted in the black mass, a sea of corrupted rubies. There
were even more than he'd initially seen at the mountain. At a guess, there seemed to
be around fifty to sixty thousand in total.
Worse, the sky was filled with flying monsters as well. They looked like a flock of
pteranodons. They were smaller than the wyverns Hajime had fought, but the dark
red miasma oozing from their bodies spelled trouble. He was certain they were
stronger than the Hyverias he'd seen in the Reisen Gorge.
Among the dozens of pteranodons, one of them was clearly bigger than the rest. And
while it was hard to make out, there seemed to be a human-shaped figure riding it.
That's probably the kid. I know Aiko doesn't want to admit it, but chances are he's
Yukitoshi Shimizu.
"Hajime."
"Hajime-san."
Yue and Shea tensed up, guessing from Hajime's sudden change in mood that the
enemy was coming. He nodded to them before turning back to Aiko and the others,
who were looking around nervously.
"They're here. And there's more than I expected. They'll be at the city in thirty minutes.
There's a little under sixty thousand of them. There's a lot of different kinds, too."
Their faces paled when they heard there were even more than they'd initially
expected. They exchanged uneasy glances. Hajime jumped to the top of the wall and
turned back to them, a fearless smile on his face.
"Don't look so worried, Sensei. A couple thousand more's no big deal. Anyway, like we
planned, you guys man the wall in case anything slips past. Though you probably won't
have to fight." He spoke as casually as if he were on a picnic. Aiko squinted at his
radiant confidence and responded to him in a worried tone.
"Okay… I know I'm in no position to say this since I'm the one who asked this of you,
but please… stay safe…"
"Should we really leave it all to him?" "It's still not too late to evacuate." The knights
muttered amongst each other, then began heading back to alert the town.
Aiko and the students turned to follow after them. They'd only gone a few steps when
Yuka stopped. She was staring at the ground, a conflicted expression on her face.
Atsushi and the others stopped too when they saw Yuka wasn't following. Confused,
they called out to her. However, Yuka didn't respond. Instead, she steeled her resolve
and turned toward Hajime and the oncoming horde of monsters.
"U-Umm! Nagumo!" She stuttered a bit, but still yelled as loud as she could. Hajime
turned around, raising an eyebrow in mild surprise. He had thought she'd left with
Aiko and the others. Yue and Shea turned around as well. Hajime silently waited for
her to continue. Yuka hesitated for a few seconds, but then she found her courage
again and glared sharply at Hajime.
"Th-Thank you! Thank you for saving me back then!" Yuka had finally managed to put
her feelings into words. Her expression, her tone, and even the loudness of her voice
made it sound like she was trying to pick a fight, but it was clear from her gaze that
her gratitude was sincere.
Hajime tilted his head in confusion. He tried to figure out what he was being thanked
for and came to the conclusion that it must have been saving her from Tio's breath.
Though that was mostly just a side effect of the fact that he'd had to protect Will. It
took him a second to even think of it since back then they hadn't even registered in his
mind, nor had he really been conscious of the fact that he'd protected them too.
Yuka noticed that Hajime seemed to be thinking of the wrong thing, and hurriedly
added to her statement.
"Umm, thanks for saving me yesterday too, but… I was talking about that time in the
labyrinth, when you saved me from that Traum Soldier, and then stopped the
Behemoth for all of us."
"…Oh. You mean that time you were about to get your skull split open… I forgot that
was you, Sonobe."
"Umm, could you please not… describe it so graphically? It's a kind of traumatic
experience for me." She covered her head, memories of that day coming back to her.
Hajime stared at her expressionlessly, his head still tilted to one side.
"And?"
"Ah Umm… well… you see…" Yuka started stammering again, but then she took a deep
breath to compose herself.
"I won't waste this life you saved! Maybe you don't really think anything of it, Nagumo,
but I'll still treasure this life you gave me!" It was the same thing she'd felt when she'd
first resolved to stand back up again. It was only because Hajime, who'd been laughed
at as worthless, had given his life for them that everyone else was still alive. In the end
they'd found out he hadn't actually died at all, but Yuka's feelings hadn't changed.
He'd still risked everything to save them. He'd put his life on the line for the sake of his
classmates. She wasn't going to waste that life he'd saved. Even if she was so weak she
couldn't even compare to Hajime's pinky finger. Even if the events in the labyrinth still
gave her nightmares. Even if she couldn't be of any use in the battle to come. Even then,
she'd keep trying.
Atsushi and the others all turned to Hajime and nodded solemnly as well. Their
feelings were the same.
Hajime's response was just two simple words.
"I see." Then, he looked back to the monsters in the distance.
Yuka couldn't even tell if he'd accepted her thanks, or if her resolve had meant
anything at all to him. She simply stood there dumbly, unsure of what to do. Eventually,
she turned around and began heading back to Nana and the others.
Hajime felt stares from both sides. He glanced both ways and saw Yue and Shea smiling
at him. After how harsh Hajime's life had been since coming here, they were overjoyed
to see this kind of warmth around him for once. They were also proud of how he'd
done something that had left a positive impact on so many people.
Hajime scratched his head awkwardly and looked over his shoulder to say one last
thing to Yuka.
"Hey, Sonobe."
"Y-Yes?" She hadn't been expecting him to say anything more and was so surprised that
she jumped a few inches into the air. Everyone else was surprised too, though not to
the same extent.
"You've got guts. I could tell even back then." Despite having nearly been cut literally
in two seconds ago, Yuka had still rushed to save the rest of her classmates without a
second thought. And even now, despite the trauma she'd suffered, she still kept
fighting. Hajime really meant it when he said she had guts.
"U-Umm…" Yuka stammered, unsure how to respond. She couldn't figure out where
Hajime was trying to go with his words. However, his next sentence cleared that up.
"A girl like you won't die so easily."
"...…" Yuka stared silently at Hajime.
"Well, probably not, anyway," he added, ruining the moment. Yue and Shea gave him
exasperated looks, but they were still smiling. To a bystander, Hajime's words
probably seemed frivolous.
However, to Yuka they meant far more. They served to wipe away the dark sludge that
had been gathering in the corners of her mind. And not just her. Atsushi and the other
students had also first felt the fear of death when they'd seen Hajime fall. Hearing "You
won't die," from the guy who'd actually almost experienced death carried far more
weight than usual.
"…Thanks." Yuka's voice was barely more than a whisper, quiet enough to be carried
away by the wind. She smiled at Hajime's back before turning around and rejoining
her friends. The other students all looked at her, unsure of what to say. Before they
could say anything though, David shouted at them to hurry along. The students all
responded with a cheerful "Roger!" and ran after him. They all looked somehow more
energetic than before.
The only people left with Hajime now were Will and Tio. Aside from Yue and Shea, of
course. It was obvious they had something they wanted to say as well, but they'd kept
quiet until Yuka had finished.
Will dithered for a few seconds, unsure of whether he should say what he was thinking
or not, but then he realized there wasn't any time left. He shook his head, mumbled
something to Tio, and then bowed to Hajime before hurrying to join Aiko and the
students.
Hajime tilted his head in confusion, so Tio smiled and explained.
"He said that if I survive this battle he'll forgive me for the deaths of his adventurer
friends… And so, I humbly request that you let me assist you. My mana has mostly
recovered, and even without transforming my flames and gales are quite powerful."
The Holy Church looked down on dragonmen as subhuman and placed them in the
same category as beastmen, but they were actually more like monsters in that they
could directly manipulate mana. Sure, they weren't like Yue, who could control all
elements effortlessly without the need for chants or magic circles, but they could still
at least use the magic they had an aptitude in without chants or circles.
Tio flashed her ample cleavage at Hajime in an attempt to convince him. He wordlessly
pulled out one of his magic stone rings and flung it to her. She looked at it, puzzled,
before realizing that it was a mana reservoir crafted from Divinity Stone.
"Master… to think you would propose to me before a battle… I… Of course my reply
is—"
"Hell no. I'm lending that to you so you can be our turret. You better give it back when
we're done here. What the hell made you think I would ever propose to you?"
"…I see. So this is what they call a dark past." Inwardly cringing at the fact that she'd
once made the same joke as a pervert, Yue slumped her shoulders.
Hajime did his best to ignore Tio, who had completely tuned out Hajime's words and
was grinning at the ring in her hands. Finally, the demon army crested the horizon and
grew visible to the naked eye. Soldiers gathered on the walls carrying bows, or papers
with magic circles engraved on them. The battle would soon be upon them.
Before long the earth rumbled from the pounding of tens of thousands of feet. A
massive cloud of dust followed in the wake of the monster army, which was now close
enough that their howls could be heard by the men on the wall. Some of them clasped
their hands in prayer, while others looked on, pale-faced.
Hajime stepped forward. He transmuted a pedestal for himself, then turned to address
the townsfolk. He didn't care too much for assuaging the crowd's fears, but he wanted
to avoid letting a panicked riot break out as that might have result in friendly fire.
Everyone's gazes naturally focused on the white-haired boy glaring down at them,
seemingly ignoring the horde at his back. Once he was sure he had everyone's
attention, Hajime sucked in a huge breath and spoke in a booming voice.
"Listen up, brave men of Ur! Our victory is assured!" The citizens looked at each other
in confusion. Hajime ignored them and continued, his voice full of confidence.
"Why? Because we have a goddess on our side! Men, never forget that the great
fertility goddess Aiko-sama stands with us!" The people suddenly started whispering
excitedly to their neighbors. Aiko, who had been guiding people from the rear as per
her guards' instructions, suddenly turned around.
"So long as the great Aiko-sama stands with us, we cannot lose! She was sent to
mankind by the heavens in order to lead us to victory and prosperity. And I am her
sword and shield, an avatar born from her desire to protect the people! Behold! This
is the strength of one who has received the goddess' divine blessing, the strength of
the holy sword!" Hajime pulled Schlagen out of his Treasure Trove, then placed it on
its stand to stabilize it. He kneeled, carefully aligned his scope with one of the
pteranodon's that had gone ahead of the herd. The townspeople watched with bated
breath.
Crimson sparks began running down Schlagen's barrel. Within seconds the barrel was
coated in a veil of scarlet, giving it a suitably ominous appearance. Then—
Schlagen proved its fearsome appearance wasn't just for show.
Bang! The thunderous noise gave the onlookers a huge start. A single red streak blazed
through the sky. It raced toward the pteranodon faster than the eye could follow.
Like a spear thrust unleashed from god himself.
The pteranodon never stood a chance. There wasn't even time for it to dodge. A bullet
faster than sound, powerful enough to pierce through the toughest steel, and coated
with a diamond-hard full metal jacket, ripped through the pteranodon flying a few
kilometers away. The shockwave was so powerful that it shredded the nearby
pteranodons' wings, sending them hurtling to the ground below.
Hajime continued firing shot after shot without pause. The sky was filled with streaks
of death, each one obliterating another pteranodon. He purposely avoided the huge
one carrying the robed figure, but made sure the shockwave of his nearby bullets sent
them flying back.
The massive pteranodon lost one of its wings to the shockwave, and spun to the
ground with a piercing shriek. The robed figure atop it was flung off and flailed wildly
as he hurtled to the ground.
Hajime wouldn't have an opportunity to let Aiko meet with the robed boy until after
he'd cleared out the monster army, so for now he'd made sure he wouldn't be able to
escape. Aiko would probably be horrified if she learned one of her precious students
had fallen, but Hajime had only promised to bring him back alive, not unharmed. And
since he'd fired from such a huge distance, he doubted Aiko had even seen.
In the span of a few seconds, Hajime had annihilated the monsters' aerial corps. Then,
he rested Schlagen on his shoulder and calmly turned to the gathered citizens. Their
jaws were hanging open in shock. However, Hajime merely grinned fearlessly.
"All hail Aiko-sama!" He raised his arms up triumphantly, extolling Aiko's greatness. A
second later…
"All hail Aiko-sama! All hail Aiko-sama! All hail Aiko-sama! All hail Aiko-sama!"
"All hail our goddess! All hail our goddess! All hail our goddess! All hail our goddess!"
In the eyes of the people of Ur, Aiko had become a goddess not just in name, but in
truth. The citizens were no longer afraid. Each and every one of them looked at Aiko
with eyes full of hope and worship.
Aiko blushed with embarrassment and started trembling. She looked up at Hajime and
mouthed, "Just what do you think you're doing!" Hajime, however, just shrugged
nonchalantly and turned back to the oncoming army.
He'd had his reasons for hyping Aiko up so much. Firstly, to increase Aiko's influence
so that she would be more useful when the Holy Church and Heiligh turned against
him. He had no doubt that they would feel threatened by his overwhelming might, and
seek either to use him or to bury him. And at that time, Aiko would surely turn against
them for his sake, like she had before for her traumatized students.
And with this incident, her fame as a holy goddess would spread. Even without Hajime
promoting her any more, rumors would spread. Thus, Aiko would soon be more than
just a useful tool for the Holy Church, she'd be the common people's idol. Neither the
Holy Church nor the king would be able to move against her for fear of inciting revolt.
Furthermore, her leverage over the nobles and clergy would be massively increased.
Secondly, this way the townspeople wouldn't be afraid of him for displaying godlike
strength. They'd believe he was some kind of soldier sent by their goddess, turning
their fear and suspicion into relief and trust. So, even when the Holy Church turned
against him, he knew there'd be people willing to help him all the same… Hopefully.
Thirdly, as it was his teacher who had convinced him to do this, he wanted her to share
in the responsibility of what she'd started.
Lastly, and most importantly, this had been the only way he could think of to avoid
starting a full-scale panic. It was possible there might have been better solutions, but
there wasn't enough time to think. He had no doubt she'd scold him for this later, but
this benefited Aiko too. Not only that, but this was a direct consequence of her own
actions… or at the very least, that was how he was going to put it to her before making
his escape and leaving her to deal with the aftermath.
The townsfolk's cheers were almost loud enough to drown out the roars of the
oncoming monsters. Hajime could feel Aiko glaring angrily at him, while David
remarked "What do you know, the brat gets it after all." He ignored them all and
returned Schlagen to his Treasure Trove, pulling out two massive gatling guns,
Metzeleis, in its place. Then, he put one on each shoulder and stepped forward.
To his right was Yue, and to his left, Shea. For this fight, he'd lent her his rocket
launcher, Orkan. To Shea's left was Tio, who was still enamored by the ring Hajime had
given her.
The army hadn't slowed at all when Hajime had shot down the pteranodons, and it
was closing in rapidly. Four people stood against an onslaught of sixty thousand— It
was so ludicrous that it didn't seem real.
Hajime glanced over at Yue. She looked up at him and nodded. He then turned to Shea.
She too, nodded confidently, her bunny ears standing at attention. Finally, he… ignored
Tio.
A faint smile played on his lips as he stared at the oncoming horde. He then casually
spoke the words that marked the beginning of a grand slaughter.
"Let's get to it, then."
What the fuck… What the fuck is going on!? The black-robed boy, Yukitoshi Shimizu,
huddled in the far back of the monster army. He'd hurriedly dug himself a makeshift
trench and hidden behind as many defensive barriers as he could muster. The earlier
annihilation of his pteranodons and the current rout of his army had left him cowering
in fear.
True, the sudden shock had left him speechless, but he was still cursing profusely in
his mind.
As Aiko had suspected, the mastermind behind this monster army was indeed her
missing student.
Thanks to a chance encounter he'd had in the mountains, he'd made a promise to wipe
out the city of Ur, along with Aiko and her guards. However, what should have been an
easy victory had quickly turned into a veritable hellscape. Even now, his massive army
was being torn apart like it was nothing.
Tatatatatata! Tatatatatatatatatata! Innumerable red streaks dyed the sky crimson,
each one heralding a death sentence for one of his monsters. Each lance of light
pulverized another monster, regardless of its strength, race, or abilities. Without even
an opportunity to resist, his army was quickly being reduced to a mountain of corpses.
Hajime's guns fired twelve thousand rounds every minute, making him the very
incarnation of death. Worse, every bullet packed such a huge punch that it pierced
through enemy lines, killing dozens.
The pierced monsters were hit so hard that they ignored the laws of motion. Instead
of being blown back, they just exploded into chunks of flesh. The monsters fled wildly
in every direction, scrambling to get out of the line of fire, but Hajime simply fanned
his two Metzeleis out in either direction, letting none escape.
The barrage was so fierce that Hajime was more like a mobile fortress than a person,
and none of the monsters could even get close. They died by the hundreds, leaving
behind heaping mountains of dismembered flesh from which rivers of blood flowed.
To his left, Shea was pulling Orkan's trigger as fast as its mechanisms would allow,
firing missile after missile into the horde. Each missile impacted with an explosion
dozens of meters wide, obliterating anything in its vicinity. Those in the center of the
blast were blown to smithereens instantly, while those unlucky enough to only catch
the shockwave had their bones shattered and their organs crushed, leaving them
writhing in pain. Those behind them trampled the wounded to death in their mindless
rush forward.
Once she ran out of bullets, Shea swapped out with a new launcher from the pile
Hajime had left for her and continued blasting. The missiles fired from this one
worked like napalm, exploding over the monsters' heads and spraying burning hot
flames over the hapless beasts. Like his incendiary grenades, the missiles were packed
with tar extracted from flamrock. The very same one that burned at over 3000 degrees
Celsius. Hellfire rained down on the monsters, searing them until only ashes
remained. And as the screaming monsters flailed about in the moments before their
death, they spread the flames to their neighbors, creating a chain reaction. The
monsters in Shea's area had one of two choices… be blown to pieces or burned to ash.
To Shea's left, Tio was wreaking havoc as well. From her hands she emitted black
beams of light so hot they scorched the air they passed through. It was the same breath
she'd fired on Hajime in her dragon form. It seemed she could use it in human form as
well. Flames powerful enough to test even Hajime's best defenses ripped through the
army, burning straight through rows of enemies.
Tio gradually swept her arms from side to side, mowing down large swathes of
monsters with her black barrage. When it finally stopped, the only things that
remained were deep gouges cut into the earth. However, that single attack had drained
her mana considerably. Tio tottered back and forth, her shoulders heaving. But with a
single kiss of Hajime's ring, her reserves were replenished, and she straightened up
once more.
She'd pulled mana out of the ring Hajime had given her. With a majority of her section
already wiped out, Tio decided to forgo the breath and stuck to spells that consumed
relatively less mana.
"Rise up, O furious gale, imbued with the crimson inferno of hell itself— Purgatory
Blaze!" In order to keep her mana consumption even lower, she went out of her way
to say the chant. A fiery whirlwind appeared in front of her. It was easily big enough
to rank F4 on the Fujita Tornado Scale.
It was dozens of meters wide, and as it advanced it pulled nearby monsters into its
whirling tempest. One after another, monsters were pulled into the rotating inferno of
death. They were only freed after they'd been reduced to ash in the crimson furnace,
and thousands of monsters' worth of ashes sprinkled to the ground like gray snow. Tio
didn't stop until the ground was blanketed in soot.
To Hajime's right, Yue's extermination campaign was even more gruesome. When
Hajime and the others had started, Yue had still had her eyes closed. Sensing that the
right wing was safe, the monsters had all crowded in that direction to begin their
assault. They were packed so close together that it was impeding their charge. Finally,
when they'd closed the distance to within 500 meters of Yue, she opened her eyes. She
muttered a single word. Despite her voice barely being over a whisper, it reverberated
across the battlefield.
"Asura." That was the trigger for her spell. A spell that incorporated the gravity magic
she had inherited from Miledi Reisen, powerful enough to influence the laws of the
universe. It was such a difficult spell to master that even Yue, a vampire princess gifted
with godlike talent in all areas of magic, needed time to build up the mana to cast it.
A sphere of darkness appeared above the monsters, similar to the one she'd
summoned when fighting Tio. However, unlike that sphere, this one started morphing.
It stretched and stretched until it surrounded a section of the monster army on all
sides. Then, once it had blocked out the sunlight and trapped the monsters, it fell.
The simplest way to explain what happened next was that the monsters, and the
ground they were standing on, just vanished. To the people of Ur, who were watching
the battle from the safety of the city, that was certainly what it looked like.
What had actually happened wasn't much more complicated than that. The pitch black
blanket had fallen atop the monsters, crushing them under an immense weight that
had created a crater ten meters deep.
Without even a chance to comprehend what had happened, the army of monsters had
been flattened like pancakes. All that remained was a compressed pile of bodies in the
crater below. In a single stroke, Yue had slaughtered two thousand monsters. Those
unlucky enough to have been caught on the edge of the dome had had their bodies
bisected, entrails and organs spilling from the remaining half of their bodies.
Because of the crater's sudden appearance, the monsters charging in from behind
didn't have time to maneuver, and fell in rank after rank. The charge didn't halt
immediately, and monsters continued falling in for a good few seconds after that.
Within seconds the hole was filled with thousands of monsters, and Yue drew on her
ring for mana, casting another gravity spell. And so, the first batch of corpses were
joined by a second layer of crushed bodies.
The air was thick with the metallic, cloying scent of monster blood. The wind carried
it over to the town, causing a number of people to start throwing up. But still, they
couldn't take their eyes from the overwhelming might Hajime and his party displayed.
Cheers of triumph rang out across the town.
David and his knights were staring dumbfounded as they watched the carnage unfold.
Yuka, Atsushi, and the other students felt conflicted when they realized just how big
the gap was between their power and Hajime's.
At first they'd been pumped to help him defend the town, but they soon realized they
were just like the townspeople, simply being protected. And by the same kid who
they'd all bullied for being "worthless." There were a lot of complicated feelings
bottled up there.
Aiko was simply praying. For Hajime and his friends' safety. At the same time, she
finally realized the full implications of what she'd suggested. Seeing the merciless
slaughter before her, it felt like her naive heart was being pummeled by a
sledgehammer of all the contradictions she'd averted her gaze from.
Around the time the horde of monsters had thinned enough that people could see the
northern horizon between gaps in their lines, Tio collapsed. She'd used up all of her
own mana, along with the mana stored in the ring Hajime had given her.
"Ngh, it seems this is as far as I go. My apologies… I cannot muster a single fireball
more." Tio fell to the ground face-down, but mustered all of her strength to look up at
Hajime. Her face was deathly pale as she apologized. It was obvious she'd used up
everything she had.
"…That's good enough. For a pervert, you're pretty strong. Leave the rest to us and
rest."
"You're so kind, Master… I was certain you would insult me, and yet… Though,
sprinkling a few compliments in between insults is certainly enticing… Can I expect
even harsher treatment from now on?"
"Go to sleep and never wake up." Tio's exhausted body tingled with excitement.
Despite being white as a sheet, her expression was ecstatic. Hajime shook his head in
disgust, then turned back to the hugely diminished swarm of monsters.
There couldn't have been more than eight to nine thousand left. The army had been
well and truly decimated.
And yet, the monsters continued charging mindlessly. Or rather, a portion of the
monsters were still mindlessly commanding the remnants to charge. Most of the
monsters had completely lost the will to fight, but they still dutifully followed their
leaders' orders to charge. It had taken their numbers to be thinned this much for
Hajime to notice.
In her initial explanation, Tio had speculated that the robed boy had only brainwashed
the leaders of each monster race's respective tribes, and had them control their clans.
From the looks of it, her hypothesis had been correct. That was a very efficient way of
gathering troops.
Even someone with overpowered skills like Yukitoshi, who had been able to
brainwash a dragonman like Tio, wouldn't have been able to gather so many monsters
in such a short time. That meant the fastest way to bring this to an end was to simply
cut down all of the leaders, whose movements had already been dulled by the fact that
they were brainwashed. With their commanders gone, the monsters would return to
following their instincts and flee in the face of Hajime's devastating might.
Hajime looked down at his two Metzeleis. Both of them were smoking from the barrel.
It was clear the cooling system was starting to fail. If he pushed them any harder,
they'd overheat. They were more or less at their limit.
Of course he could always repair them later, but as complex as their machinery was, it
would take time. It wasn't exactly something he could do on the spot. It seemed
smarter to just change tactics and weapons.
"Yue, how much mana do you have left?"
"…Mmm, about two rings worth. Gravity magic takes more than I thought. I need more
practice."
"You already took down 20 thousand on your own, I'd say you're doing pretty well. I'm
gonna try and pinpoint specific targets from now on, so just back me up."
"Okay." Yue managed to grasp the entire situation from Hajime's brief explanation and
nodded. They really were perfectly in sync. Satisfied, Hajime turned to Shea.
"Shea, can you tell them apart?"
"Yep. There's the controlled ones that feel like Tio did, and then the scaredy-cat ones,
right?"
"Scaredy… Yeah, pretty much that. The controlled ones are probably the leaders of
each unit. If we can just get those, the rest of the monsters'll flee."
"Oh, good. I was starting to run out of bullets, so I wouldn't be able to keep this up
much longer anyway!"
"Y-Yeah… Is it just me, or have you gotten a lot more fierce recently?"
"Of course I have. Who do you think I've been hanging around all this time?" Shea
grinned at Hajime, who smiled somewhat kindly back. But there was no time for
sentimentality on the battlefield. Hajime quickly put his Metzeleis back into his
Treasure Trove and pulled out Donner and Schlag. At the same time, Shea threw down
her Orkan and unslung Drucken.
There were about a hundred leaders left. Their manipulator was probably worried
about losing control of the few remaining monsters he had left, so he'd kept them near
the back.
With Tio down for the count, and both Hajime and Shea's heavy weaponry no longer
in play, the monsters finally saw their chance. They charged forth with renewed vigor.
In order to open a path for the duo, Yue cast another one of her spells.
"Draconic Thunder." Dark clouds appeared in what had been a clear sky seconds
before, crackling with electricity. Seconds later, a dragon composed of lightning
descended from the heavens with a thunderous roar. It swept across the monster army
vanguard, its gaping maw vaporizing anything unfortunate enough to be caught in its
path. The monsters faltered, their charge broken.
"Let's go, Shea!"
"Aye aye, sir!"
Hajime and Shea dashed through the gap. Hajime sped forward with Supersonic Step,
firing Donner and Schlag nonstop. His bullets weaved through waves of monsters,
finding the smallest gaps until they arrived at their intended targets, the monsters'
leaders. Each bullet accurately struck a vital point, killing the monsters instantly.
The monsters in the vanguard couldn't understand why their leaders were dying one
after another, so they started to panic. Around the same time, a shadow suddenly
appeared above one of the monsters. It looked up, and saw a girl with rabbit ears
hurtling toward it, a massive warhammer in her hands.
She used its head as a launchpad, and jumped further into the horde of monsters. Shea
repeated that action a few times, skipping from monster to monster, until finally she
jumped off the last one with enough force to crush it, and used gravity magic to lighten
her body. When she reached the peak of her leap, she multiplied her weight
exponentially and dove toward the ground. She was heading straight for where a
clump of monster leaders were huddling together. Using the recoil from Drucken's
shotgun blasts to accelerate herself even further, Shea hit the ground at breakneck
speed. She transferred all of that kinetic energy into her hammer and swung down.
"Uryaaaaaaaaaa!" Drucken slammed into the ground with the force of a meteorite. The
ground trembled, as if an earthquake had just occurred, and massive shockwaves
spread out from the point of impact.
The Bulltaur that had been struck directly by the hammer was crushed to a pulp,
chunks of its flesh flying in every direction. After a long flight, they fell to the ground.
All that awaited them now was a slow decomposition and a return to the earth from
which they came. The monsters that had been nearby suffered a similar fate. Nearby
rocks and boulders had been sent flying from the force of Drucken's impact, and they
blew through the nearby monsters, shredding them.
Shea hefted Drucken out of the ground and dashed for another group of leaders.
Naturally, the monsters weren't just going to stay idle and let Shea have her way with
them. They crowded around her, hoping to overwhelm her with numbers.
"You're going to need more than that!" Shea pressed a lever, extending Drucken's
handle by a good meter, and then used Drucken's shotgun recoil to start spinning like
a top. The massive hammer, backed by centrifugal force, sent the monsters flying.
No Bulltaur was spared her wrath. A single dainty-looking girl was knocking monsters
around like ping pong balls with a hammer several times her size. It was completely
surreal.
Shea completed one full rotation, reset her stance, and started heading to the next
group of leaders once more. But before she got very far, her sensitive ears picked up
the sound of something rapidly approaching from her right. She calmly swung
Drucken around, turning with her swing.
"Grrrrrrrr!"
"Wha—!?"
However, the four-eyed black wolf that had come charging at Shea had predicted her
attack and stopped just in time to avoid getting blasted away by Drucken.
Normally, monsters would charge the moment they saw an opening. Shea had
expected this wolf to be no different, and so focused her body strengthening on her
leg, aiming a kick at the wolf's head. However, it acted contrary to expectations.
"Huh? Wawawah!" Instead of charging at Shea, the wolf leaped at Drucken, wrapped
its powerful jaws around it, and tried to pin it to the ground. Though of course, with
how much she'd strengthened her body, a mere wolf's strength was nothing to Shea.
That being said, its movements had been so unexpected that it still succeeded in
confusing Shea for a moment, which was all the time it needed. With perfect timing,
another wolf leaped at Shea from behind, jaws open wide. Shea quickly undid the body
strengthening around her leg, then applied it around her entire body. This way, she'd
be ready for the coming attack.
A second before it reached her however, something blocked its path.
A strange metal cross suddenly appeared, with a sixty centimeter by forty centimeter
round shield attached to its center. The round shield blocked the wolf's path,
preventing it from biting down on Shea.
"Fweh!? Wh-What the heck is this thing?" The wolf angrily tried to bite and claw its
way past the shield, but the light crimson object didn't even budge. A second later,
there was a deafening boom, and wolf's jaw was blown off.
"Graaaaaaah!" As the wolf writhed in pain, the cross suddenly floated above its head
and with a second boom, blew its head off.
There was another series of booms, and Drucken suddenly felt a little lighter. Shea
turned around to see two more floating crosses. They had shot the wolf through the
head and stomach.
"Don't let your guard down, Shea. A few of these monsters are clearly on a different
level than the others. They don't seem to be either brainwashed or following any other
monsters' orders. I'll lend you three of my cross bits. Get the group of leaders over
there. Yue said she can only hold the frontline for another five minutes." Hajime sent
her a telepathic message to explain the situation. Shea quickly snapped out of her
stupor and regained her focus. She touched the choker on her neck, which she refused
to call a collar, and telepathically replied.
"Roger! Thanks for the save. You really helped me out back there!"
"Yeah, just be careful."
"…Fufu. You've started acting a lot nicer to me recently, Hajime-san. Just a little more
and you'll be head over heels for me!"
Shea cut off the telepathic link before saying that last bit aloud. She smiled softly to
herself as she looked at the mechanical protectors Hajime had sent her way. Her
motivation renewed, she charged toward the remaining leaders, keeping an eye out
for any more of those wolf monsters.
"Sheesh, that girl's always getting herself into trouble…" Hajime muttered to himself
as he mowed down another wave of monsters. There were four crosses floating next
to him as well.
These were the omni-directional, gravity-controlled weapons he'd created, cross bits.
They functioned on the same principle as his Ornises, but these were designed for
offense. They were each equipped with a rifle and shotgun, and he controlled them
with the seven spirit stones embedded into a bracelet he was wearing. He had
enchanted their outer coating with Diamond Skin, and with a command from his spirit
stone, they could be transformed into powerful shields on a moment's notice.
His gun-fu, combined with the barrage from his cross bits, made him an
unapproachable storm of death. He'd already downed forty leaders, and because his
Intimidation was on full blast, many of the monsters had begun to flee.
"Hm? Isn't that…" At the edge of his vision, Hajime saw someone yelling wildly at the
fleeing monsters. It looked suspiciously like a person's head, so Hajime used Farsight
to get a clearer image of what it was. It was unmistakably a human head, covered by a
black robe.
Shimizu was yelling at his retreating army like a child throwing a temper tantrum.
Seeing as it was having no effect, he raised up his artifact, a staff, and began chanting.
Hajime naturally had no reason to let him finish, so he blew the staff out of Shimizu's
hands with a well-placed shot from Donner. The force of the shot sent Shimizu reeling
back into his hole.
Hajime wasn't sure if it was Shimizu's doing or not, but a number of black wolves chose
that moment to leap out from the crowd and try to take him down. Their strength and
coordination was far greater than that of the regular monsters. They reminded Hajime
of the Twin-Tailed Wolves he'd fought in the abyss. He guessed their strength was
about on the same level too. They didn't have the ability to manipulate lightning like
the Twin-Tailed Wolves did, but judging by how they sometimes managed to dodge
Hajime's attacks with impeccable timing, he surmised their special magic had to be
Foresight. And their coordination was superb… In other words, they matched up to
the strength of the weakest monsters in the abyss. Even that was an impressive feat,
though.
Could they be from further out than the second mountain range? But even if that's the
case… is Shimizu really working alone here? Hajime put those thoughts in the back of
his mind. Right now, he needed to focus on the enemy in front of him. And so, he
switched his attention from the monster leaders to the twelve black wolves leaping at
him.
He spun in a circle, firing Donner and Schlag in all directions to try and shoot down
the coordinated pack surrounding him. Sine he knew they'd dodge his initial barrage
with Foresight, he used Foresight himself to aim for where he expected them to be
after dodging.
Some of them managed to dodge even that though, which surprised him. It seemed
that like the Twin-Tailed Wolves, they had a crude form of telepathy that allowed them
to exchange information during battle.
In the split second it took Hajime to reload, one of the remaining wolves leaped at him
from behind. However, one of his cross bit's slammed into it from above like a
guillotine. Another one tried to use its downed comrade as a stepping stone to leap at
Hajime, but he blew it apart with a shotgun blast from his artificial elbow.
The rest tried to surround to Hajime, but with a concentrated burst of fire from the
remaining two cross bits, they were forced to abandon the idea. Hajime used
Supersonic Step to slide through the opening his cross bits created, firing his twin
revolvers behind him as he slipped out of the encirclement.
Two of the wolves tried to chase after him and set up a pincer attack, but Hajime's
cross bits shot them down, so Donner and Schlag claimed the lives of two more.
"Graaaaaah!" Another one of the wolves was hit by one of the monsters that had been
blown back, and hurtled toward Hajime. Hajime dodged to the side, killed the monster
coming his way, and blew the head off the wolf that was tangled up with it. He then
rolled to his feet, only to find a wolf inches from his face, maw open wide. It had picked
the perfect time and place to attack. Almost as if it had known where he would be.
Anyone watching would have been certain Hajime had been bitten. However, Hajime
swayed a little, and the wolf's teeth clamped down on empty air. He had somehow
moved a step back in the span of an instant. He then pressed Schlag into the wolf's
stomach and fired.
The remaining wolves all leaped at him, but for some reason every time they closed
in, Hajime would suddenly be in a different spot. And every time, Hajime would shoot
them down from point-blank range.
It looked almost as if the wolves were mistiming their own attacks, which in actuality
they were. Hajime was using the derivative skill Illusion Waltz to confuse their senses.
It was a derivative skill of Hide Presence, which left a decoy presence in the spot
Hajime had been standing in for a few seconds while hiding his real presence. Because
it looked like he was still there, the wolves couldn't figure out that he was hiding his
presence. Of course, if they had stopped to observe him, they would have seen through
the trick. However, it was very difficult to focus on observation while in the middle of
a life and death struggle. And because these wolves relied more on their senses than
most monsters, his deception was doubly effective.
Plus, he was augmenting his Illusion Waltz with Riftwalk, and using his cross bits at
the same time, so wolves, even as strong as the ones in the abyss, would never have a
chance to even touch him. And so, in less than a minute, Shimizu's trump cards had
been annihilated without so much as putting a scratch on Hajime.
With the wolves out of the way, Hajime sent his cross bits out to finish off the
remaining monster leaders. From the images his other cross bits were sending him,
Shea would be done with her side shortly as well. Meanwhile, Yue's Draconic Thunder
was keeping the remaining monsters at bay.
In another two minutes, they had successfully eliminated all of the brainwashed
monsters they could find. After he was sure there was no one else left, Hajime sucked
in a huge breath and let out a mana-laced roar of epic proportions.
"Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" His voice resounded throughout the
battlefield. The sheer pressure of it intimidated the monsters, striking fear into their
hearts. The entire army froze for a second. Then, they realized there was no longer
anyone ordering them forward, so they slowly began backing away. When no one gave
chase, they turned on their heels and fled back to the mountains, all of them making
sure to give Hajime a wide berth.
He was like a rock in the middle of a flowing stream, diverting the flow of their retreat
around himself. As he watched the retreat, Hajime saw Shimizu try and make a break
for it in the chaos. He was riding what was probably the last of the four-eyed wolves.
"What a shame. It's already too late. If you'd ordered all of your forces to cover your
retreat earlier, you might have had a chance." Hajime got on his knees, took careful aim
with Donner, and fired two shots in quick succession.
His aim was perfect. Sensing danger, the wolf quickly leaped to the side and dodged
the first shot, causing the second to strike it directly in the femur. Without a leg to
stand on, the wolf collapsed to the ground, throwing Shimizu off. With how high his
stats were, the fall didn't cause any real damage to Shimizu, so he instantly got back
up. He ran over to the wolf and started yelling something. When it didn't respond, he
kicked it in the head.
He was probably trying to get it back on its feet so he could escape. From the looks of
it, he was already in the grips of hysteria. Realizing it wasn't responded, he placed his
hand on its head and started chanting something, most likely a spell to forcibly make
it stand.
But Hajime didn't give him the chance. He fired another bullet at its head, putting the
wolf out of its misery. Shimizu was sent sprawling from the force of the bullet. He got
up again, and began running on his own two feet, mixing in with the horde of monsters
fleeing north.
Hajime pulled out Steiff, then raced after Shimizu. The boy turned around when he
heard an unfamiliar sound, and did a double take when he saw a motorcycle,
something that shouldn't belong in this world, barreling toward him. He started
running even faster, trying in vain to outstrip the bike.
"What the hell! What the hell is going on! This can't be happening! I'm supposed to be
the hero— Gweh!?" He started spewing a stream of curses, but one whack from
Hajime's prosthetic arm shut him up. Shimizu faceplanted into the ground and slid a
few meters before coming to an unceremonious stop.
"Now then, I wonder what Sensei'll do with you? And depending on how things go…
with me." Hajime mumbled to himself as he tied Shimizu up with wire from his
artificial arm and started driving him back to the city. Clouds of dust still hung over
the devastated plains, which were covered in a sea of blood and flesh. Hajime drove
Steiff through the carnage while dragging Shimizu along. He was well and truly
defeated now.
For Yukitoshi Shimizu, being spirited away to another world had always been his
dream. He knew it wasn't possible in reality, so he'd spent his free time reading light
novels about being summoned to another world and daydreaming about his own
adventures. He'd had countless fantasies about saving the world and winning himself
a harem of girls.
Every inch of Shimizu's room was covered with posters of cute anime girls, and he had
a display rack for all of his figures, many of which were in suggestive poses. His
bookshelf was packed with manga, light novels, art books, and visual novels of all
kinds. Those that didn't fit in his bookshelf were stacked up in corners of his room.
Yukitoshi Shimizu was an otaku through and through. However, none of his classmates
knew that. He did a perfect job of hiding his hobbies. The reason was obvious. He'd
seen how his class had treated Hajime. He wasn't brave enough to be open about his
hobbies when he knew it would get him bullied.
In his own words, he was just some minor NPC in his own class. He had no close
friends, so he simply spent most of his time in school reading quietly at his desk. He'd
reply briefly if spoken to, but never initiated conversations on his own. Because of how
much he'd been bullied in middle school, he'd grown into a shy and withdrawn young
man. It had gotten so bad that he'd stopped coming to school, choosing to shut himself
up at home. From there, it was inevitable that he would drown himself in books,
games, and anime.
His parents had, of course, been worried about him, but as he slipped deeper and
deeper down the otaku hole, his brothers started treating him like a nuisance. Soon
enough, Shimizu felt unwanted even in his own house.
Though he never let it show, the constant bullying warped his personality. He began
to harbor a desire to lord over other people. That desire manifested itself in the games
he played, as well as the fantasies he had.
That was why when Shimizu had finally been summoned to another world for real,
he'd been overjoyed. Even when Aiko had been yelling at Ishtar to send them back, or
when Kouki had been rousing the students to fight for the people, Shimizu had been
lost in his own thoughts, thinking of how he would finally get to the become the hero
he'd always dreamed of. Though he was elated at first, he soon began to grow
discontent with his new otherworldly life. He came to realize that reality was very
different from the fantasies he'd always had. First of all, while Shimizu did have
overpowered cheat abilities, so did his other classmates. And the supposed hero
wasn't even him, but Kouki. Because of that, he was still no more than a minor NPC in
the eyes of his classmates, and the girls all flocked to Kouki.
It was no different from how it had been in Japan. Even though his biggest wish had
been granted, Shimizu only grew more spiteful and dissatisfied with his life.
How come he wasn't the hero? How come Kouki was the only one getting all the girls?
How come Kouki was the only one getting special treatment? He was certain that if he
were the hero, he could do a better job. He knew that he'd be nicer to everyone if they
came to him… He blamed others for all of his problems, and the egotistic conviction
that only he was special began to eat away at his psyche.
It was then that the first expedition to the Great Orcus Labyrinth happened. Shimizu
saw this expedition as his chance. No one ever noticed him. No one cared if he was
there or not. But if he could show how awesome he was in a fight, his classmates would
have to take notice of him. He didn't even realize how unrealistic his hopes were… but
the events in the labyrinth later forced him to realize the truth.
He wasn't anyone special, the universe wasn't going to bend over backwards to make
him seem special, and if he let his guard down for even a second, he'd die. All his
fantasies were shattered when he found himself surrounded by an army of Traum
Soldiers, with a raging Behemoth at his back.
And when he saw one of his own classmates fall to his "death," his poor heart
shattered.
He'd kept himself going by making excuses and secretly despising everyone around
him, so he was by no means strong-willed. Defeated, he reverted to being a shut-in
when they returned to the palace, but he could no longer turn to anime and video
games to find solace. So instead, he lost himself in books about dark magic, as his
profession was Dark Mage.
Dark magic generally influenced the target's thoughts and perception. In combat, its
main purpose was to debuff enemies. He took to it like a fish to water, and he quickly
grew proficient at creating illusions to disorient foes, interfering with their ability to
cast magic, and even making them hurt themselves in confusion.
In his depressed state of mind, Shimizu came to realize something about the magic he
was practicing. If he mastered dark magic completely, could he not control another
person's mind? The thought brought him great excitement. If he was correct, he could
manipulate anyone to do anything he wanted. Anything. That twisted thought took
root in his mind. From that day, he devoted himself utterly to the study of dark magic.
However, things didn't go as well as he'd hoped. He learned that creatures with high
intelligence, like humans, couldn't be brainwashed unless he spent a day or more
continually casting magic on them. This also required them to not resist at all.
Of course, most people would react if someone tried to cast a spell on them. This
meant he'd need to find a way to put his target to sleep for long periods of time if he
wanted to control them. Trying to hide for hours at a time to cast a spell on someone
was physically and temporally impractical. Furthermore, the risk of being discovered
was far too great, so he'd been forced to give up on brainwashing people.
As he'd been despairing, he'd suddenly remembered the reason they'd been
summoned in the first place was because demons had started taking control of
monsters. Monsters were far more instinctual than humans, who had a much stronger
sense of self, which meant brainwashing them wouldn't be as hard.
In order to confirm his theory, he'd snuck out of the capital every night to experiment
on the weak monsters found in the nearby plains. He'd found that brainwashing them
was far easier than brainwashing a person. Though it was only easy to him because of
how much natural talent he'd already possessed. According to Ishtar, normal humans
would have to spend their whole life to take control of one or two monsters.
Once he was certain of his abilities, Shimizu started craving stronger monsters to place
under his control. However, he would feel embarrassed if he asked to join Kouki's
party now after all this time. As he was worrying about what to do, he heard about
how some of the students were going to form an escort party to guard Aiko. He figured
if he went with them, he'd be able to find some pretty strong monsters during his
travels.
That was why when Aiko and the others had come to Ur, he'd disappeared and headed
to the mountains to make more monster puppets. When he next returned, it would be
at the head of a great monster army, and everyone would finally give him the respect
he deserved.
Originally, even with his outstanding affinity for dark magic, and even if he'd focused
only on the leaders of each tribe, he wouldn't have been able to control more than a
thousand or so. And he wouldn't have been able to control monsters any stronger than
a Bulltaur.