Manowa Chapter 263

Yumika's group confronted the three Odan.o.bunaga Blades. It was lucky for Yumika that during the battle's course of events, Jinrai and Black Metal Minos took on two, leaving the remaining one to herself and Tatsuyos.h.i.+-kun Dragoon. Yumika sensed that she would have difficulty fighting against two at once.

『UnIFy tHe cOuNnnNNTrYyyYY!!!』

Before her eyes, Tatsuyos.h.i.+-kun Dragoon's bardiche and the Odan.o.bunaga Blade collided, scattering sparks. Tatsuyos.h.i.+-kun Dragoon was forced into a fully defensive battle by the attacks of the Odan.o.bunaga Blade. However, from the start, the exoskeleton of Dragoon was made of Black Rock Dragon bones and scales, and the interior was reinforced with Indestructible Curtains and the like, so in fact, it had the highest defense in the party. Therefore, Dragoon didn't receive any damage, and it was sufficiently useful as a decoy for Yumika and the silver wolves. The Blade's attacks were increasing in force, enough to make Tatsuyos.h.i.+-kun Dragoon sink into the ground. However, there was no way the surrounding Demon Wolves would let the Blade's offensive continue unimpeded.

『AooOOOOOOON!!!』

Together with the three howls, silver bullets attacked the Odan.o.bunaga Blade.

The Demon Wolf's rus.h.i.+ng attack『Black Bullet』had transformed into『Silver Bullet』, and there were now three wolves using it. The intense rushes from three directions destroyed the Blade's posture, and Yumika didn't miss that gap.

「Tsueeei!!」

『UnIfY THe nAtIOn BY fOrCE!!』

Yumika's blow precisely pierced the joint of the Odan.o.bunaga Blade's right arm, causing its giant blade-like claw to fly through the air. The Blade's left claw was small, so it should have lost most of its combat power. However, the Odan.o.bunaga Blade was completely undisturbed and rushed toward Yumika.

「Ku!?」

Yumika was fl.u.s.tered by that and wasn't in time. She tried to dodge with the spear technique『Weeping Willow』, but she didn't avoid being sliced. Yumika's fresh blood splattered on the ground.

「b.a.s.t.a.r.d!」

Yumika's injured left arm dangled as she thrust her spear at its head with her right arm. She loaded all the power she could into the vibrating spear attack『Shake』and instantly destroyed it. As might be expected, the Blade immediately collapsed on its back after its head was destroyed.

「... I did it.」

Then weariness filled Yumika's body, but she endured. When she looked, her master Jinrai had just defeated his second Blade, so they had achieved victory. However, as expected, Jinrai looked similarly fatigued.

Yumika had a large amount of experience fighting monsters, but she wasn't experienced at fighting an opponent so close to her own strength. A different kind of fatigue from what she felt during the Demon Wolf subjugation attacked Yumika.

(Ahーgeez, I'm tired)

Yumika grumbled in her mind as she looked toward where Kazane's group was fighting in the forest.

She had heard not long ago through Information Link that Tiara's summoned knight was defeated. One Archer had been killed, and it seemed Kazane was currently wearing down the last one with the Berserk Ogre. Unlike usual, they were noticeably fatigued and injured, but this was as expected. Then a line of sweat ran down Yumika's forehead as she sensed the pressure approaching from the depths of the forest. Yumika tightly clenched her spear as she resolved herself to fight the foe that would soon appear.

********

And near the entrance to the forest, another battle was heading to its conclusion.

「GUNooOOOO!!」

The Berserk Ogre's club crashed into the Odan.o.bunaga Archer and sent it flying. This Odun.o.bunaga Archer was a monster that transformed the claws on both of its arms into a bow. Its arrows were made from hardened saliva, and those arrows would be held by its mouth when it shot. However, when it had noticed that Kazane's Material s.h.i.+eld was blocking all of its arrows, it had immediately transformed the claws on both of its arms into two sword-like claws.

However, at the present point, only this Archer was alive. The other Odan.o.bunaga Archer and Tiara's Flame Power had simultaneously killed each other. While its entire body was being torn to pieces, the Flame Power had burned away the insides of the Archer and killed it. Kazane and the Berserk Ogre were in the process of cornering the remaining one.

Kazane's tonfas were made of Black Rock Dragon horn, and the Berserk Ogre's club also had protruding Black Rock Dragon claws. When they hit, they easily caused damage. And Kazane wasn't doing anything rash like her combo against the As.h.i.+garu earlier. She had decided to reliably corner and defeat it without receiving any damage. But they didn't have any more time. The pressure from the forest was imminently approaching.

「GUooOOOO!!」

As if to say he was completely unconcerned with Kazane's expectation, the Berserk Ogre rushed at the Archer with abnormal speed. The Berserk Ogre's entire body had defensive power equivalent to Black Rock Dragon scales. Trifling attacks didn't perturb him at all, so he could do rash kamikaze attacks. Learning Boost was a big plus for the Berserk Ogre. And Kazane also launched additional attacks to match the Berserk Ogre's attack.

With the rus.h.i.+ng power from her Skill『Boost』combined with『Fire Boost』and『Air Jump』, Kazane could now engage in aerial combat.

For the Odan.o.bunaga Archer, it was a completely unknown attack. Kazane remained in the air and launched successive attacks without landing. She had the tonfas along with her kicks now, so she had twice the number of limbs to attack with.

「Uuryaa!!」

And Kazane's fifth combo kick sent the Archer flying. She didn't overchase to continue the combo. She had the Berserk Ogre with her. He swung his club and attacked the weakened Archer, further destroying its carapace. The Archer also cut the Berserk Ogre to counter, but the wound was shallow. The Berserk Ogre acted like he didn't even notice.

The cognitive synchronization from『Information Link』being completely unleashed made their combo attacks astonis.h.i.+ngly effective. He was hard to please, but now that the Berserk Ogre could use Boost with his wings, he was a good partner for Kazane's high speed combat style. With its posture destroyed, the Odan.o.bunaga Archer was. .h.i.t by the Berserk Ogre's downward swing and immediately crashed into the ground.

「And to make doubly sure, Skill・Fireball!!」

Kazane released a ma.s.s of fire from her palm and directly hit the Archer that had tumbled to the ground. The Skill she had obtained from defeating a Dragon Bear thoroughly burned the Archer's entire body through the cracks in its sh.e.l.l.

(Oof, nasty)

It didn't just hit and cause damage; it seemed the fire would continue to burn and cover the enemy's entire body. It was a useful Skill that increased the types of Breath she could use when she was using Dragonization. In addition, Tatsuo had also inherited it.

She obtained the『Two-sword Style』Skill from the Archer. Its name was Archer, but it seemed its main Skill was『Two-sword Style』. This time, she had also obtained『Monkey's Strong Arm』from an Eliminator Monkey and the advanced version of『Dash』called『High Dash』from the Odan.o.bunaga As.h.i.+garu. As might be expected, there were many powerful Skills available from high ranking monsters.

(But a『Two-sword Style』Skill? I wish I could give it to Naoki)

Kazane thought, but since she couldn't do that, she wondered if she could steadily teach it to him through training. Giving it the name Odan.o.bunaga Style seemed pretty cool.

Thus, Kazane and the others had finally brought down all the monsters that had attacked them so far, but Kazane knew that there were still enemies left. She could sense approaching anger coming from the depths of the forest. Those indications told her that everything up until now had been nothing but the opening performance.

The reason there were time differences between the appearances of the different Odan.o.bunaga types was because they had different movement speeds.

Simply put, the monsters had misjudged Kazane and the others. They didn't think their subordinate monsters would be killed by creatures that dwelled outside the forest. Keep the prey from fleeing with the Eliminator Monkeys and As.h.i.+garus, bring them down with the Archers and Blades, then eat the prey themselves. That was their plan. But they were already too late.

The Queen was in a fit of rage due to her children being killed, and her mate, the King Odan.o.bunaga, was similarly angry. To the degree that even without seeing their figures, everyone there could sense them.

Then true monsters appeared.

Giant insects had rushed out of the forest.

The Odan.o.bunaga Queen's figure was the most different from a human being's. Her head resembled a person wearing a white mask, but she had an extra pair of b.r.e.a.s.t.s and six legs, with everything past her abdomen resembling an insect tail. Her total length was over 4 meters.

In contrast, while the King Odan.o.bunaga had a large build around three meters in length, he was human shaped. His wings hung down like a cape, and his entire body looked like it was covered with jet black plate mail. His claws looked like large j.a.panese swords.

『RoUTiNeLY DePIcTeD aS fEmALeーーーーー!!』

『s.e.xyYYーーーーー!!』

And those cries that seemed to resound from the bottom of h.e.l.l non-metaphorically shook the surroundings.

「Monsters.」

Jinrai noticed at a glance. Those were in a domain that humans couldn't reach. A gulp resounded from Yumika beside him. Yumika perceived from the pressure on her body that their『potential』was close to the Black Rock Dragon they had previously encountered.

「Master, those are dangerous.」

「Just like Kazane said, there was still more to come, but... these are true residents of the Dark Forest?」

Jinrai chuckled to himself.

(I might have become extremely conceited simply from beating Rynox once)

Jinrai was self-aware that he was several steps stronger than he was during his heyday. Despite that, he felt a chill when he looked at these current enemies.

His instinct as a living thing was issuing a danger signal. Don't be conceited... know your place in the world... it felt like he was being told that. Therefore, Jinrai smiled ferociously, baring his fangs at the enemy called fear.

「Let's go, Yumikaaa!!!」

「Yes, master!!」

Starting with Jinrai's encouraging shout, teacher and student ran together.

Kazane would also pull out her trump card to match the two's suicidal attack.

Up until now was as expected. Although their fighting power had fallen, they could still go on.

The problem was lasting time. He was configured for defensive power over attack power. He was certainly strong, and she could say with pride that he could defeat any enemy given enough time. However, if the true power of the Odan.o.bunaga were demonstrated, could he actually defeat them within the time limit? Honestly speaking, Kazane believed it would be impossible for him alone. Therefore, she resolved herself to leave that success or failure to the Plus Alpha that was themselves and raised her hand to the sky.

「Come, Sieg!」

In response to her voice, Kazane's ring emitted light, from which a man emerged.

He was a tall warrior with luxurious armor and long fluttering silver hair. Kazane's strongest guardian existence had once again emerged in this world.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Summoning Fighter

t.i.tle: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner, Rea King

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Draghorn Tonfa x2, Dragonscale Breastplate, Drake Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Sylphyn Skirt, Plasma Pants, Dragon Eating Ogre King's Greaves, Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, Magic Acc.u.mulator, White Magic Acc.u.mulator, Rainbow Necklace, Rainbow Dragon Ring

Level : 35

Health: 142

Magic Power: 298+420

Strength: 63+20

Agility: 64+14

Endurance: 37

Wisdom : 70

Dexterity : 45

Spell : 『Fly』『Torch』『Fire』『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』『Golden Dusk「Dragon Exclusive」』『Mirror s.h.i.+eld』

Skill : 『Kick Devil』『Warrior's Memory: Lv2』『Night Vision』『Crus.h.i.+ng Blow』『Dog's Sense of Smell: Lv2』『Golem Maker: Lv3』『Rush』『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』『Air Jump: Lv2』『Killing Leg: Lv3』『Fear Voice』『Invisible』『Tiger Eye』『Wall Walking』『Intuition』『Cheat Death』『Nimble』『Charge』『Material s.h.i.+eld: Lv2』『Information Link: Lv2』『Optical Camouflage』『High Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Hand Placement』『Thunder Chariot: Lv2』『St.u.r.dier Teeth: Lv2「Dragon」』『Crystallization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Fabricated Coercion』『Stone Minotaur: Lv2』『Mega Beam: Lv2』『s.p.a.ce Expansion』『Pseudo-Silver Creation』『Poison Claw』『Fireball「Dragon」』『Cuticle「Dragon」』『Arms Creation: Black Flame』『Ingredient Connoisseur』『Dragon Pheromone「Dragon」』『Boost』『Monkey's Strong Arm』『Two-sword Style』

Yumika:「Hey, Kazane. What did they say with those cries?」

Kazane:「Don't think of anything unnecessary while fighting. Do you want to die?」

Yumika:「Eh? Sorry...」