Chapter 72: Furtherafter (1/2)

Chapter 72: Furtherafter

“It’s morning huh. You guys really persisted” (Io)

“When cornered, anyone would show power surpassing their limits” (Hibiki)

The surplus-filled words of Io were answered by Hibiki with a reckless shout while dodging attacks.

“That is wrong. Being able to show power surpassing your limits only happens when you have properly grown and trained. You guys are truly skilled warriors. It seems I was misunderstanding the hero a great deal” (Io)

The compliments that came out indifferently from his mouth.

3 meters, from a normal person’s point of view this could be called quite the height. Using this body so agilely, he showed feats that would make first rate martial artists grief.

“Power-type trunk” was quite the misconception. Hibiki felt hatred from the bottom of her heart at the idiot that made such an analysis. These were movements of someone that has polished his body.

A giant that one would normally think would use an axe or stick on his various arms and mindlessly swing them around. The real thing was completely different.

“The attacks don’t hit properly! This guy has a worst disposition than the spider!” (Naval)

Naval’s scream. This is true. The flashes that she has been releasing have not passed properly as attacks after all. Since the beginning, the attacks of her have gotten his arms from different angles a number of times, but not even his skin was scratched. Moreover, he won’t let attacks on the same spot reach. He deftly shifts and with some kind of method, he makes the edge slide off his hardened skin.

“Don’t self-depreciate yourself that way, white woman. Even though it is powerless, it is truly a splendid sword technique” (Io)

“Are you pretending to be a martial arts instructor?! Gu wu wu!!” (Bredda)

Bredda goes to where Naval is and jumps to divert the trajectory of one of his arms’ attack.

“An instructor huh! That sounds nice. People like you that can take my attacks for so long are rare. How about it? Want to come to the demons side? Tto” (Io)

Io uses a step that makes it look like he shifted his body’s direction in an instant to change his position. In the space he was previously in, a something made out of magic power passes by.

“Why are you able to dodge invisible wind?! Can you read the aria?!”

“That’s wrong, wind user. If one knows how much magic power is put in it, one is able to read most of the attacks that come. The place it is aimed at and the place it will activate, your eyes tell me that information” (Io)

This could be called an action brought by his enormous amount of experience. No matter if he says it, there wouldn’t be many who would be able to actually do it.

“I will have you let us move forward once and for all!” (Hibiki)

“!! Nicely done!” (Io)

Because of Hibiki’s sharp charge, Io is somewhat pushed back. But it wasn’t like Hibiki had reached the level of a demon general, it is just that his pre-established settings of her true abilities were beginning to be surpassed, that’s all.

To surpass the estimation of a general with vast amounts of experience is not something a normal person could do, but this was only a slight surprise for him.

A definite feedback is felt from Hibiki’s hands. The feeling of her sword reaching to her bones. Hibiki’s sword was able to slice one of Io’s hands till the middle.

“Oh, admirable. But how do you plan on surpassing the next barrier, hero?” (Io)

“… I can’t take it out?!” (Hibiki)

“If I tighten my muscles, you won’t be able to take out your sword. And so, your movements will stop as well!” (Io)

“!!”

Hibiki understood what would happen after this.

She instantly separates from her sword. This is an action stemming from Hibiki’s trust of her instincts.

A dull sound. This was the first attack she had received in this battle. Moreover, this is the first attack she received since she came to this world that didn’t have a single divine protection from the Goddess.

Hibiki flies like a pebble being kicked off. Chiya runs after her at once.

“Ga-ha!! U… go ho… wu…” (Hibiki)

(It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!) (Hibiki)

Hibiki’s thoughts get dyed in one color. Is this the effect of losing the Goddess’ divine protection? For a moment, Hibiki thought this way.

(Hurts hurts hurts! But! Not having the Goddess’ divine protection doesn’t matter that much! Because I was able to move with not much change. The problem is him, Io. He is just way too strong!) (Hibiki)

Being almost controlled by the sense of pain, she tries to manage, even if for a bit, her reasoning. Think. For now just think. And so, Hibiki, for the sake of returning to her senses, continues to think while squirming.

(Even my bones are broken. What was punched was my stomach huh. To hit the stomach of a woman, how ungentlemanly. It seems there is a need to punish him. Ah, my mouth is filled with the taste of blood. It feels like it is coming from my throat. So lucky there is magic in this world. In normal circumstances I wouldn’t be able to eat food tonight, but with healing magic I can even go for meat. I am lucky) (Hibiki)

With her still disarranged thoughts, she tries to avert her attention from her wounds. It seems that the self-recovery magic that was activated in the moment was steadily showing effects, her pain was slowly softening. Having Chiya’s healing magic on top of it, both spells synergize and accelerate the healing speed.

While still being unsteady, Hibiki stands up after a short while.

“At that instant you let go of your sword and, even if imperfect, you were even able to put out a barrier huh. I shot that one with the expectations of making you mincemeat though. Truly well done. You have genius-level sense” (Io)

“How will you compensate if I end up unable to bear a child? And also, mincemeat you say, how gore. Don’t joke around!” (Hibiki)

“What a lively girl. Have your sword back. It may be a pointless thing for you to do but, how about trying to look for a better sword?” (Io)

Hibiki receives the sword that was thrown out. Of course, the sword wound in his arm was nowhere to be found anymore.

“… When tomorrow comes, I will listen to your advice” (Hibiki)

As usual, the words that showed no sense of tension were somehow returned with impudent talk.

“If you guys live to see tomorrow, you will have a place to return. Those two premises are impossible” (Io)

“?!”

The demon general’s nonchalant words. However, pointing out their place to return, Hibiki and the others uniformly open their eyes wide.

“Oh, so you get surprised as expected. Right now a detached force is advancing to Limia” (Io)

“Don’t mess around! There is no way the capital will fall with a single unit!” (Bredda)

Bredda is the first one to object. For the demon race to defy with one unit, there is no way Limia Kingdom would fall so easily. Knowing that the fires of war were approaching his birth place, his appearance clearly changed.

“You are right. The scale is around two thousand. In normal circumstances, this is not a force that can be used to attack a major power’s capital” (Io)

In Io’s words one could feel pity. He sighs. While affirming Bredda’s words, the latter half stirred up anxiety.

“What did you do?” (Wudi)

For Wudi, whose family is in the capital, these words felt like someone pouring cold water on him while sleeping. For him who wants his family as far as possible from this war, something that should not happen at any cost is about to happen.

“Magician huh. Well, it’s just that I have reliable reinforcements that’s all. A power that can even overwhelm me is accompanying me” (Io)

“Is the demon army a jack-in-the-box? If there are people like you crawling all around, the hyumans would have been annihilated a long time ago” (Hibiki)

Hibiki’s sarcasm. But her words didn’t show any composure.

“Hero. That’s just how desperate we are. Now, let’s close the curtains of this act. I will not forget you guys’ bravery. Driving away the spider with only 5 and being hyumans to top. The fact that all of you came out alive tells that your strength is the real thing. There was a time when my best friend and I tried to make it retreat, but I ended up letting him die. A blunder of the young me, I truly regret it” (Io)

“?!”

He doesn’t answer Hibiki’s words, he just declares the finale of this fight. Also, the driving away of the calamity spider that worked as an emotional support for Hibiki and the others, Io points out that this wasn’t an experience they alone had achieved.

It seems there was quite the effect. A clear unrest spreads in the hero’s party. Words that hinted Limia’s ambush and that he had repelled the spider. There is no way Limia’s hero and her party would not get shaken from this.

(… I am thoroughly naïve. If I do an effort of 10, I will certainly get a 10. Thinking that, I came. I am putting my life on the line here. I should have tried my best by 100, 1,000, 10,000 times! I should have done that!) (Hibiki)

What can she do in this despairing situation?

Defeating Io and saving the capital. As expected, she could clearly declare this; that it is totally impossible.

Not enough. The power needed is absolutely not enough. For Hibiki, this was the frustration she was originally looking for. This was the step after desperate effort that Hibiki longed for. Therefore, obtaining this, her answer was obvious. No good.

Having sweat on her cheeks and hair over her face was simply irritating for her. The girl that tried her best and still lost. That was exactly the wish Hibiki had, but the girl began to understand what comes after in that path.

That’s right. The reality of what will happen after a hero loses. The girl, Otonashi Hibiki, began to understand the reality of her existence being a center of hope. Her defeat is not limited to only herself anymore.

At times, there are fights in the battlefield that one simply cannot lose. Being raised in a peaceful land, Hibiki, who had thought this was just a fight in a different world, began to see the reality in it. That she couldn’t continue thinking as she has until now.

A feeling of defeat that was not on the level of when she was defeated by the black spider was now enveloping Hibiki. For the time being, the whole party was still in a condition that can still fight. But the fact that they don’t feel they can win, slowly breaks their heart.

“!!”

Far.

At a distant place.

In the direction where the Limia capital is in.

A golden light of giant magic power proportions splits apart the clouds and pierces the ground.

Of course, this was a happening that occurred in a faraway place. This was a phenomenon that one could see with their eyes, but to estimate the amount of magic power that light had was something Hibiki and the others couldn’t do from their location.