I face the creature before me and pull out my swords. The creature looks like a T-Rex that has reddish-brown scales, a large jaw with sharp teeth, but its arms aren't tiny like typical T-Rexes. There's nothing in this field of debris that would help us fight. No places to hide, just an open field filled with pants and unconscious bodies.
"Guys I don't have a plan for this one," I tell them.
"That just makes the plan the default plan: hit it really hard," Nazuko says.
"Yeah, but we are down a Ryder so we have to hit it really hard, but up close," I respond.
"Charge my allies, prepare your pants!" Manchester yells while charging at the dino.
Remi summons her wolf and sends it into battle. We all start to charge after the crazy guy with pants on his head. The dino charges in our direction. Manchester launches the first attack by sending all the pants on the floor in the dinosaur's direction to immobilize its legs. The large creature trips and falls flat on its face.
Nazuko and I jump on its head and we both stab it in the eyes with our swords. It roars and shakes the both of us off as Remi's wolf proceeds to bite its neck dragging it to the ground again. It moves its tail erratically and knocks us all back.
I feel like my ribs are slightly bruised again. I swear if they get broken again I might need to commission stronger armor. I'm probably at around half stamina at this point since casting that tornado spell consumed a vast amount of my energy.
"Dang this thing is tough, why won't it just die already?" I complain.
Suddenly I see lightning rush past me and shocks the T-Rex making it stumble off balance.
"Don't complain, just fight. If you are the hero, then you'll have to fight a lot more opponents who are stronger than this," Scylla orders.
"Yeah our fights when we train are more intensive than this," Lilith claims.
The dino swipes its tail and sends a bunch of debris in our direction. Lilith puts up a shield to defend us while Azura gives us heals mid battle. In this short period I take the time to look through my pocket dimension for things that can help us.
There's mostly medicinal items like potions, stuff to help maintain our gear. I see a few scrolls, books, some of which I can feel a strong magical aura being exuded from them. I pull out a white scroll that has an image of an angel throwing a spear on it. There's also an incantation near the bottom.
"Hey Azura, why did we buy this thing again?" I question as I stare at the strange image.
"Oh a scroll. Those let you use a type of magic that you haven't trained with before, but it's a one time use only. It will disintegrate as soon as you cast that incantation. I was saving those for crucial situations, but I think this counts as one. Try it out if you still have energy left," she suggests.
I think this will take pretty much all of my remaining strength, but here goes. I put away my swords, hold out the scroll and start chanting the words at the bottom.
"Punish my enemy
And judge them for their sins
Holy Light enlighten us
And bring down heaven's wrath
Divine Retribution!"
Suddenly I see light brighten up the area around us and start to form into what looks like 50 angels holding spears. It looks like they came down from heaven and for some weird reason I can hear the sound of church bells ringing. The angels of light hurl their spears at the T-Rex skewering it as the spears pierce its flesh.
It roars in pain and tries to bite some of the nearby angels but it can't reach. It's forced to lie there helpless as it continues to be pelted with spears made of solid light. The blood from its wound starts to flood the ground and soaks our boots except for Manchester who's not wearing any boots, so his feet are soaked in blood instead.
"This is what that beast deserves for not wearing pants," Manchester claims, overlooking the carnage.
"Wait, but it's not even human. Can it even wear pants?" Scylla questions.
"Nonsense my friend. All beings should wear pants, be it human, monster, or otherwise," he answers.
After exhausting the rest of my strength I fall to the floor now immobilized similar to the state Ryder's in right now. The scroll I just used starts to disintegrate leaving nothing but ashes.
"Okay guys, I'm going to lie here for a bit, you got this," I tell them while giving a thumbs up with my face in the dirt.
"Alright we will finish it somehow, just lie there and keep looking sexy," Nazuko says, giving a thumbs up gesture of her own.
"Wait what!" I gasp.
"Nothing!" Nazuko says while grinning.
The angels and spears of light start to fade from the dino's body leaving it bleeding with like 50 puncture wounds, but it's still standing.
"Why is it still alive? Does anyone still have some sort of trump card that they're hiding because that would be extremely helpful at the moment," Remi asserts.
"Hmmm, it seems it has come to this," Manchester says while scratching his nose.
"It's come to what?" Azura asks.
"I didn't want it to come to this, but I'll deal with the peasant pants for the moment. The more pants I have in my possession the stronger I will become. Allies bring me all of the pants on this battlefield, " Manchester orders.
"I would really question his power at the moment, but it seems we don't have many alternative plans. I'll keep it distracted while you guys go collect the pants," Lilith states.
"Yeah I'd advise you don't think too hard about it and just do it," I add.
I see them all rush around the field collecting pants for Manchester while Lilith is fending off the T-Rex all by herself. They bring them back and Manchester collects all the pants and they all fuse into one very large pair of pants. It also looks like Manchester's body is growing even more big and buff to fit the newly enhanced pants.
"It's not enough my friends, I need a few more pants," Manchester says in a deep burly voice.
"Umm, how about a shirt?" Nazuko suggests.
"No! You fool, it must only be pants, hurry now, for I am almost at my ultimate form," Manchester claims while his body continues to grow.
"Okay, okay here take mine. Also I better get these back or else," Nazuko threatens while taking off her pants.
"Yes, more pants!"
"Come on you three take off your pants we have no choice," Scylla says while stripping off her leggings.
"Do we have to, this just feels so indecent," Remi complains.
"Yes, I promise you'll get them back," Scylla affirms.
"Ugh, fine, Will you better not look or else I'll kill you," Remi says looking at me begrudgingly.
"Don't worry, I already saw you without your pants on this morning," I tell her.
"What was that!" Lilith yells while still fighting the dino.
"Can confirm, dumb elf girl's undergarments aren't impressive in the slightest. Just plain white panties," Nazuko says, roasting Remi's fashion choices.
"I'm going to beat you two up later when we are back on the airship," Remi swears.
I'm not looking forward to that, that's for sure.
"Azura you too, I won't suffer alone," Remi tells her.
"Sorry, but I'm not wearing any pants, I have a skirt on under this robe," Azura apologizes.
"What! Someone who isn't wearing pants? Are you a fiend?" Manchester questions.
"But I'm a girl and not everyone needs to wear pants," she responds.
"Foolish nonsense, I shall give you a scolding later, but I need just one more pair of pants," he announces.
Everyone proceeds to stare at me who's just lying on the floor.
"Hey, um you could just take Ryder's instead? There's no need to do what you're thinking," I point out.
"Yes, but Ryder's all the way on the ship, you're right here," Remi also points out.
"Don't worry guys I got this," Nazuko yells while jumping in my direction.
"Oh no you don't," Lilith grunts as she proceeds to kick Nazuko so she ends up getting thrown like 20 feet away.
"Come on already no fighting amongst ourselves," Scylla says as she pulls my pants right off me and throws them to Manchester.
"Yes, I can feel my full power! Hraah!," he says as his body stops growing.
I barely manage to turn my head to see the spectacle in front of me. He charges right at the T-Rex and punches it right in the jaw. He then does a push kick that sends it flying just like Nazuko. It gets up, roars and charges at Manchester. It looks like it sunk its teeth into Manchester's arm, but he grabs hold of the creature and suplexes it causing a large shockwave.
He starts to rise while laughing,
"HAA NOT A SCRATCH, A MERE PANTSLESS LIZARD WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO COMPETE WITH A HIGHER BEING SUCH AS I!" he boasts.
"Geez, is it possible to learn this power?" I ponder.
"Not from the knights," Scylla responds in a deadpan tone of voice.
He proceeds to toss the creature like it weighed nothing and it crashes into the whale nearby the city hall building. He finishes the fight by jumping about 100 feet in the air and dive bombs the T-Rex.
The sheer force of his foot causes the monster's skull to be completely crushed making a loud cracking noise that reverberates through the air. As the fight finishes up and all the dust clears we see Manchester's body shrink to normal proportions. Also all of our pants end up flying out from his direction so we all put them back on.
"Finally! It was starting to get cold down there," Remi laments.
Since I can't move, Azura and Lilith end up helping me dress. It's kind of embarrassing to be taken care of like this, but what can I do? I wonder if Ryder is used to this after going all out with his blasts.
Lilith lends me her shoulder so I can stand. We proceed to walk up to the city hall building to see if the last spy is still alive in the basement of the building. I think there's still a chance even though a whale, a dinosaur and a very buff pants wearing man collided into it. We look around the rubble of the building for a bit.
"I swear Manchester if your actions have caused any form of harm to Elisa I'm stripping you of all your pants," Scylla threatens.
Manchester looks like he's feeling the pressure as I can see a drop of sweat coming down from his brow.
"N-Now now there's no need for that I'm sure she's fine," Manchester assures her.
We start to clear away all the rubble and eventually we discover a trapdoor that leads to the basement. We walk down the stairs only to find an empty jail cell, and a hole in the ceiling.
"Oh great where the hell is she," Scylla complains.
"It looks like the impact of the last fight caused a lot of damage to the building here so she probably got out," I suggest.
Suddenly I feel a cold hand touch my neck and I almost scream.
"Hello," a white haired girl says in a monotone voice.
The girl that touches me looks almost like a ghost. She's so pale, and has silver eyes. She wears a crystal gray colored cloak.
"Elisa, it's you!" Scylla exclaims as she runs to embrace the ghost looking girl.
"Yep, I heard a loud thud that broke a hole in the ceiling and I was able to escape. Although I think I could have escaped at any time since the Sonia rangers seem so incompetent. However I knew you guys would come so I've been collecting documents and information on the peasant rebellion when all of a sudden a large dinosaur crashed into the building," she informs.
"Yes I valiantly defeated that beast with the help of the hero of westphalia and his party's pants," Manchester tells her.
"Hi, I'm Will, please tell me you're the capable one in your group and that you don't have any obsessions with clothing," I plead.
"No I'm not a weirdo, plus I only got captured to let Manchester escape," she says while staring at him menacingly.
"Well for the matter, I had faith in her that she would escape. For she is known as the legendary ghost knight, who's performed the most assassinations amongst the imperial knights. She is the most stealthy out of all of us," Manchester tells us.
"Yes and our mission would have gone smoothly if you hadn't chosen to tag along. Especially when you refuse to wear anything but pants. It's no wonder we got caught immediately," Elisa argues.
I can tell Manchester isn't the most stealthy knight ever, but at least he's full of vigor and spirit. No matter where we go in this world I don't think I've met a single party of normal adventurers. Then again, you kind of have to have some level of crazy in you to survive in a world like this.
"I'd like to hear all about that information you've collected, but perhaps it would be best if we have that disclosure back at the headquarters of the eastern front," I strategically decide.
We end up being forced to walk back to the airship since I don't have the energy to open a portal right now.
I think we've managed to accomplish our dangerous, but stupid mission after all. I would love to see the discomforted face of Hume now. Now that I think of it, where was Hume sent to? Hopefully it was a horrible place like the arctic. Either way I've rescued the spies at the cost of destroying an entire fishing village. I really hope no one holds me accountable for this later.