"Ah, there they are." Kazuma stopped and pointed at the lizards moving across the plain like little specks.
The Running Lizards were monsters with blue scales and long tails that ran upright. At least, most of them were this color, because leading the pack was a pink Running Lizard. The latter was probably the female.
"Well..." Kazuna said and turned to face the girls. "Here's the plan... They're fast, but we have the right skills to deal with it. I'm going to climb that tree with my bow and arrow and..."
"Wait a minute... can I help you?" I asked.
"And how exactly do you plan to help, Leonard? What do you know how to do?" Kazuma asked.
I put my hand on the hilt of my sword and pulled it slightly, letting the metal glint in the sun. "I'm a swordsman, just like you."
Before I could finish, Megumin leaned forward slightly. "Swordsman? Ah, you must also have a legendary weapon like Kazuma's Chunchunmaru, right?"
Kazuma almost jumped when he heard the name of the sword mentioned. "Megumin, shut up!" He gestured nervously, his face already beginning to blush as he looked away. "That sword isn't called Chunchunmaru!" I tried to hold back my laughter at his obvious discomfort. "So you really call it Chunchunmaru?"
Kazuma snorted and shook his head, clearly frustrated. "NO! It's just... a sword... with no name! Yes! That's its name! Nameless Sword! It doesn't matter now!" He gestured and pointed at the lizards on the plain again. "What matters is that we can't face them hand-to-hand. From a distance, they look small, but in fact, each of these monsters is over six feet tall. They could easily crush us. The only person who could risk fighting at close quarters would be..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Darkness stepped forward and her face took on an expression of... expectation? expectation? "I wouldn't mind facing them head on. Let them all come, one by one, crushing me with their monstrous paws..." Her voice was filled with a kind of bizarre lust, and I quickly understood why she had this reputation for being a masochistic crusader.
Kazuma rubbed his forehead, clearly tired of dealing with Darkness' strange impulses. "Of course you wouldn't mind..." He looked at me, trying to ignore Darkness' earlier comment. "That's why we can't just go ahead and face them head on."
"I see," I agreed and then looked at Megumin, who was standing to the side, staff in hand. "What about her? Does she know any magic that could help us?"
Kazuma let out a dry laugh. "Magic? Yes, she knows how to use magic. Only..."
"Hey!" Megumin shouted, offended. "I'm not useless!"
"I didn't say you were!" Kazuma explained.
"I'm the greatest Blast user this world has ever seen!"
"Yes, of course..." Kazuma rolled his eyes before muttering to me. "She only knows how to use Blast, and after that, she's completely exhausted. She can't do anything else for the rest of the day. Useful, don't you think?"
I smiled slightly, crossing my arms. "Actually, that's perfect."
Kazuma blinked, clearly surprised by my answer. "Perfect? What do you mean, perfect?"
"The Explosion..." I began, watching the distant lizards. "It would be powerful enough to finish them all off in one go, especially if they're hit from afar. If Megumin uses the spell at the right time, we can eliminate the threat in one go."
Megumin smiled broadly, as if I had finally understood her true greatness. "Yes! Leonard understands the essence of what really matters! Explosion solves everything!"
But then her confident smile faltered and she sighed, shaking her head. "But there's a problem... I can't use Blast without a fixed target. And those Running Lizards run too fast. I'd never be able to hit them."
It was true. They were agile, and even with the devastating power of Blast, we needed something else to ensure the attack was accurate.
"Then we need to find a way to immobilize or slow them down," I said, thinking out loud. "Darkness, could you distract them?"
She nodded vigorously, her eyes sparkling at the idea. "Of course! I can put myself on the front line and take whatever it takes!"
Aqua, who until then had been strangely quiet, snapped her fingers as if she had a brilliant idea. "And I'll... huh... support you with my blessings! After all, I'm a goddess, so..."
"Whatever that means..." Kazuma muttered, but was interrupted by Aqua, who puffed out her cheeks in a childish gesture of frustration.
"Tell you what: Aqua, use one of your spells to draw the gang's attention, then Darkness and I will hold off the gang coming towards us while Megumin unleashes a Blast in the rear to thin out their numbers. After that, Kazuma tries to kill the female Runner Caterpillar with his arrows, because she's the reason for all this. What do you think?"
"That might work. It's actually quite similar to a plan I had in mind... But can you stand being in the vanguard together with Darkness, Leonard?"
"Of course I can... Right, guys, if everyone agrees, let's get into position because they're getting closer."
At this point, Aqua raised a hand to the sky and suddenly, like a firework, magic went up and exploded, which could be seen and heard all over the plain. Then the necks of the Running Lizards opened up like an umbrella and they all started running together towards us.
"Hey, monsters! Come at me! Let's see if you can get past me!" Darkness shouted, raising her sword with both hands.
Darkness raised her sword and started running towards the gang without any fear. In fact, there was an almost idiotic grin on her face. Taunting them with shouts.
Kazuma, positioned on a tree branch, pulled the string of his bow until it was completely taut and the arrow was ready to be released.
"Come on, everyone! ♥!!" Darkness shouted.
I, who was running alongside, even frowned, realizing that this sadomasochism was indeed crazy and... surprisingly exciting.
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