Chapter 28: Bandit Extermination (3)
Translator: ShiroiKaze/Soyokaze Translations
Happy Mother’s Day! Sorry about this being late, I was trying to post earlier but it looks like I ssed sothing up. Then I went out with family for the day. Anywho, here’s the chapter!
A/N: The fighting ends here
This entire chapter is in Alec’s point of view.
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“That surprised . You defeated Prokel?”
“Yeah, and I’m even more surprised that you caught up already. You’ve got so unusually fast legs.”
“It’s because I get daily exercise.”
Ivan caught up to alone? So the other guys in the rear didn’t have enough stamina?
Bringing my bloodied sword into a stance, I prepare for his attack.
—This guy doesn’t look like he’d be able to find Marle, so I can take so comfort in that.
“You’re gonna fight to the bitter end?”
“If I ran, would you let go?”
“Well no, I have no intention of letting you live.”
Then I have no choice but to fight.
I have no confidence that I’ll manage against a heavily armored opponent with this long sword, but… if I run, then Marle will probably be found by our other pursuers.
If they all get here, will I be able to hold out?
“… Nope, if that happens I won’t be able to survive.”
“Ah?”
“Talking to myself. Shall we then?”
“Yeah!”
The two-handed war hamr Ivan is carrying has a small attack area. And he has plate armor covering his whole body.
Diving in next to him and attacking the gaps in his armor is the only way I can…!
I lower my posture and jump straight towards him.
Ivan just stands there waiting, then swings his hamr’s head straight down in front of him.
I can’t deflect such a heavy attack like I did with Prokel’s. Making use of my agility, I strongly kick my left leg sideways, and successfully slide over to his flank.
“Got ya!”
Gagya, goes the sound of the collision.
However, the full body thrust to his side was stopped with a sound I didn’t want to hear.
“How many hits has that sword taken? The edge has gone dull.”
“Shut it! And why do you have chain mail on too? There’s only so much heavy armor you should be wearing!”
To think he had mail on under his plate armor. That’s the kind of heavy equipnt used for jousting.
—This guy ran all that way under such weight? What a monster.
Fwoom, while we were having our exchange, the war hamr swings towards .
I lower my head, and when I let it pass by, his sent his knee flying at —the blood in my right eye made react late.
Instantly I guarded my face with my left arm, but with his equipnt, his legs themselves may as well be blunt weapons.
A horrible thud sound. And then with a crack, the sound of sothing jarring, as my left arm drops.
—Shit, that even reached my bones?
I don’t have anything past the elbow on that side anyway, so my fighting power hasn’t fallen, but I still use it for balance.
So now I won’t be able to fine tune my movents…?
However, because of Ivan sending his knee out, his body continued moving, and he left himself wide open.
If my blade is too dull to get through, then I’ll just have to put my whole body into running him through!
“DaryaAAaah!”
Rising into my next attack, I aid my sword at the gap under his side. If I aim for a killing blow against this armor, then I won’t be able to do any damage.
Ivan read the attack and, twisting his arm, received the thrust with the plate armor part of his arm.
While that happened, I dodged to Ivan’s back side to prevent his war hamr’s counter attack.
The effective area of a two-handed war hamr’s attack is small, but the range is surprisingly long. If I disengage, then Ivan will end up taking the initiative.
I have to fight at this distance or else…
“HNGH!”
“Uwah?!”
After Ivan got himself fired up, amazingly he ca at with a backwards body blow.
Clumsily toppling over in the face of the unexpected attack, his back strikes . The attack halts my breathing.
And then he followed the attack with his war hamr!
GOOM! Went the hamr head as it went into the ground. I barely rolled out of the way in ti.
He even made a small crater… that was close.
“-Cough-, is your whole body a weapon? You bastard…”
“I’ve just got a lot more battle experience.”
Because of my rolling away, I’ve taken so distance from him again.
“In that case… I’ll just have to keep charging back in!”
Taking a stance, I once again step into his war hamr’s attack zone.
This ti it’s a side swipe. I just have to lower my head and… when I let it pass, he sent flying with a shoulder charge.
With my stance broken, he makes a follow-up attack again. I won’t be able to dodge from this posture, so inevitably I’ll have to block it with my sword.
Clang went the dull collision sound, as the sword shattered.
“It’s over, boy!”
“Not yet it isn’t!”
Seeing his opportunity with my sword broken, he imdiately assaults .
Aiming at Ivan’s face, I threw my broken sword as a counter.
When he reflexively protected his face, I saw my chance and, charging into his chest, this ti I was the one giving a body blow.
Except with the overwhelming difference in weight, he didn’t even budge an inch… restoring my posture, I circled around behind Ivan.
—Just as I planned.
When Ivan turned around, what he saw was picking up the fallen Prokel’s sword.
Shorter than a long sword, I took it in a reverse grip, and once again gave him a body blow.
Bracing his legs, Ivan prepared for the attack. And to those legs—
“GUOOooooh?!”
I clung onto his leg,and stabbed the sword into the back of his knee.
With a slice I could feel flesh tearing. Just as I thought, it looks like he’s not wearing chain armor on his lower half. Ivan slowly collapses, falling over.
Continuing to push the attack, I aid at his unarmored head and… the mont I went to stab him with the sword, a familiar ball of light entered my field of vision.
And then there was a flash.
“AGHAAaaaaah!!!”
A [Light arrow] is sent into my broken left arm. Following its trajectory to its origin, Baram was there.
I suppose I’m lucky that it’s weaker than Yuuri’s… if it was her, then it would have gone through my arm.
Rather than pain, I could feel my thoughts clearing, but all I could think was that it doesn’t matter anymore. Is this what it ans to run away from reality?
“Heeh, hii… you little brat… giving us such a hard ti.”
“You guys don’t exercise enough… thanks to you I was in a real pinch. Hurry and heal !”
“Heheh… you should treat us a little better… let rest for a second.”
Baram and Mac were out of breath as they rushed on to the scene. They use attack spells and healing spells.
Mac really is very skilled. Unlike Bella, he’s using healing magic from a distance.
Baram is watching my position, and it looks like he’s molding enough magic power to send a spell towards at any ti.
—Ahh, this really is it.
I can’t co up with any brilliant plan for this.
But if Marle stays hidden, then at least she should be safe. Since I took down Prokel.
“A-Alec!”
“… Hey, hey.”
“Ah, so there’s another rodent over there?”
It looks like even those thoughts were in vain, as she called out in worry for .
Ahh, jeez…
“—So I can’t even give up?”
I prepare myself for the end. Yeah, I had already prepared myself, but… that was different, and I renewed my preparedness to at least let Marle get away.
And for that, I have to take everyone in front of down by any ans necessary.
I halt my trembling legs, and stand firm.
I ignore the burning pain from my left arm.
I stare at my enemies through the blood in my right eye.
“OK, ready for one last battle…?”
“… You’ve got guts, boy. I won’t be so negligent this ti.”
Baram and Mac falter in the face of my bloodlust. Opposite them, Ivan looks like he’s amused.
Like I thought, this guy’s a battle maniac too.
“I know this sounds a bit absurd, but this is our job. Forgive us.”
“As if. Co over here already so I can kill you.”
Actually I can’t take a step forward.
Ivan charges forward with a roar. I can let him break my left shoulder, and if I can hit his throat as a counter… then I can use Ivan’s body as a shield, and sohow get past the magic…
As if he read my intentions, Ivan switched to a side attack in a flash. Just how cool-headed is this guy?!
But if that’s the case, then if I can move forward just one step and at least dodge the hamr’s head…!
And then, turned away by sothing, the war hamr bounced back.
I didn’t even take that step forward to dodge a fatal blow.
A wind spear flew, and just barely skimd past . Is that what knocked the hamr away?
“Alec!”
“Master?!”
I called out. And a great sword flew towards .
—I see, you made it just in ti.
I grab the handle of the great sword with my right hand. It’s light. This thing has [Weight reduction] on it.
Ivan was stopped by the sudden movent, but he soon recovered his stance, moving forward with his attack. However—
“… You’re out of luck. I’m not the sa now, alright?”
He once again makes a side attack with his war hamr.
Using his inertia and my wrists, I rotate the great sword, and slice both his wrists away from below.
Throwing all that mass and montum into the picture, even his armor couldn’t stop it, and the war hamr danced through the air.
“… Ah?”
Suddenly without wrists, Ivan raised his voice in shock.
Next I converted the upward slashing montum to a sideways movent. Following through, I brought the blade to his neck.
Shink, sounded out as I felt flesh and bone being crushed.
Sending my enemy’s head flying, I turn my attention towards Baram.
However, with trendous speed and ferocity, as if a storm passed through, I saw my Master mowing down the enemies over there.
Baram and Mac couldn’t even react before they were taken down. He probably used [Body reinforcent].
“Haha, just what I’d expect… Master.”
I… guess the relief and sense of accomplishnt drained ? Just like that I lost consciousness, it seems.
~*~
When I ca to, I was resting on miss Bella’s lap, and Marle was taking care of .
Master is giving so kind of fishy look.
“You’re quite popular, aren’t you Alec?”
“Nonono, that’s not what’s happening!”
The blood on my head was wiped off, and the wounds on my body are closing up.
There’s still a pretty stiff feeling left, so it doesn’t look like I’m back in top form, but this is plenty.
“Miss Bella, thank you very much for the treatnt.”
“The pleasure is mine. It’s an honor to be able to treat “The One-Ard Heavy Swordsman”.”
“Urgh, please don’t call that! Seriously! Wait, did you tell her, Master?”
“You showed her when you used a great sword with one hand. Of course she’d figure it out.”
Now that he ntions it… in this world where healers are precious few, having one arm isn’t unusual… but I’m probably the only one who uses a great sword with that one arm.
“Right, Master. The Vultures—“
“They betrayed us, right?”
“Eh?”
“We beat down all the bandits on our end. At the end of the [Teleporter] there was no trace of battle, and instead there were the footprints of an imdiate retreat. And the bandits weren’t chasing those. Then you were being attacked by our companions. It’s the obvious conclusion.”
“Then mister Elric is…”
“Yuuri is chasing after him. Well, there shouldn’t be any problems.”
Uhh, this is Yuuri we’re talking about, you know? I’m worried.
“Based on the faces I see here, Elric is fleeing with Arim then?”
“Yeah, while we were being attacked, Arim ran away with him. Imdiately after that is when Prokel cut .”
“Thanks to that, it was easy to follow after you though.”
“Give a break, it really hurt!”
I gave Master a wry look. Marle is clinging on to where that wound is.
… It hurts just a bit.
“Anyway, we left Jack and Oreas with the carriage. If you can walk, then we should hurry back.”
“Right, Marle are you alright? Can you stand?”
“Yesh, I’m jush fine!”
She subtly fumbled her reply. I’m relieved that she seems well.
I’ve at least recovered enough that I can walk. Let’s hurry and et up with the others.
“I captured these other two alive. Hey, if you run away I’ll kill you, got it?”
“I-I said I get it already…”
“There’s no way we can run from soone with that kinda speed!”
When Master uses [Body reinforcent], he’s a monster who can run 100 ters in under 4 seconds after all… I’m sure that would be terrifying.
In any case… we were saved by a hair’s breadth.
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Yuuri: “You know I’m the protagonist, right?”
Alec: “Hey, don’t look at …”
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