Chapter 284: The Grand Battle between Monsters (1/2)

Chapter 284: The Grand Battle between Monsters

TL: Had to at least finish the fight, so here it is. ????

One of the clear weak points of the body, the head.

Moreover, he was pierced right in between his brows, and yet, he counterattacked in a matter of seconds.

This is already an enemy that I can’t consider a human as I fight him.

Seeing Aznoval taking out the arrow from his head, I was convinced of this.

“Because this is the first time I have been pierced here by someone who aimed at that location, I can tell that your aim is frightening. It hurts, and it is scary.” (Aznoval)

…Pain and fear.

Is that what someone feels when they get an arrow pierced into their brain?

That’s something a person would normally only experience once before dying right after.

Right now, I am not even minding my burned skin and the pain I was feeling from the pieces of metal that were pierced in me.

I have already healed from those after all.

I could only laugh.

About a lot of things.

“…”

Unless he is using some sort of skill, I have the upperhand in speed; and with that speed, I move around him as I rain arrows at him.

And at times, I would jump on footholds I create in midair and make the pattern more difficult to read.

He showed no movement. But I won’t feel relieved.

In the time he is not moving, I think of a way incapacitate him.

Tomoe and Mio are here.

My cards are limited.

I could emergency summon the two of them as a last resort, but it is not necessary yet.

Now then, a way to increase the power even more.

The field of vision has been bad all this time, so I left Sakai in perception to catch the movements of my opponent. On top of that, when I increase the power, the rapid-fire speed decreases without fail.

Even if I create space between us with Bridd, the power increase limit is around 55% only.

It would be fine if that was enough power to create damage on the level of shaving off his flesh. If that’s not the case, I have to go for the next move.

I can’t kill him, he is tough, and his heart won’t break.

He does regenerate, but the damage is still going through.

In other words, I can spread his pieces of flesh all around and have the gallery decide the end of the battle.

He can regenerate in time, but he shouldn’t be able to regenerate instantly.

And that greatsword, even though it exploded, the moment I took my distance, it had already regenerated as well.

So the weapon takes after his master huh.

I really have met the worst weapon and user, seriously.

“Then, let’s do it.” (Makoto)

A mutter of confirmation leaked out from my mouth.

I reduced the amount of arrows I shot, and in exchange, I increased the strength of each shot.

Head, chest, waist, arms, legs; while confirming every difference between the reactions and his way of dealing with it, I readjust the power as I go.

The instances are: moving, defending, receiving it, and evading.

I prioritize the places where he chose to evade -mainly on the vitals- and concentrated on the aim of it, but the moment the arrow comes in contact with his skin, he grabbed it or deftly broke it with his greatsword.

It looks like he hated when his movements are stopped, even if it is only for a few seconds.

Even if it reaches the point of making contact, if he goes blocking them in such a way, I can’t do anything about it.

The time I need to make my arrows do further than that, the opening it would create, that in itself is a luxury I can’t obtain unless I make a direct hit to his vitals.

The wounds I have that are still hurting even now are because of that Overdrive skill; maybe I should mimic that and have my arrows explode?

There’s the demerit that it would take more time to shoot, and the number of arrows will decrease once again.

…No problem.

Waiting-and-seeing without hitting the target is a poor move.

If I manage to hit him, I might be able to get time to aim and shoot his vitals. Once that hits as well, I can connect it with exploding arrows and sniping.

The return is big and the increased risk is low.

It has been decided.

“It looks like you have gotten serious after the ‘Sword Spirit, Rampaging Overdrive’, but you have become incredibly difficult to deal with now. Well then, this is quite troubling.” (Aznoval)

I wonder. It doesn’t sound like you think that way though.

No matter if he was actually honest about that, his tone of voice made one think he was telling the truth there.

Even when his movements have been sealed, there were no words of surrender from him.

The attacks that are not hitting directly deal practically no damage to him, and even with a direct hit of the arrows and Bridds, that damage regenerates after only a few seconds.

That’s not the recovery speed of a normal person.

Maybe it is the benefit of his job called Squire, or it might be the effect of a special equipment.

He evades, defends, and when there’s no choice to, he receives the attacks.

The concentration he has to be able to decide all of those in an instant is also a threat.

All of those points lumped together make up his unbelievable defensive power.

It is so unbelievable that I can even believe the stories about him plunging into magma to stop an eruption.

It is funny how I can easily picture him plunging into fire or lava.

And…this is not the behaviour of someone that has lost all cards he can play.

In other words…he still has something up his sleeve.

A slight risk has been born.

Should I not hurry the fight and wait until he has shown all his cards before making my move?

No…time is currently in Aznoval’s favor.

My wounds don’t heal completely, and his wounds do.

If I could cut off all his attacks with my Magic Armor, I would have been able to push this into a battle of attrition, but this opponent can easily destroy my Magic Armor with that weapon of his.

I have now understood that this kind of opponents exist, so I should train my defensive power more.

Right now, his anti-magic specialized equipment and abilities are making him the worst kind of opponent I can have.

It is a pretty rare case, but I should come up with countermeasures so that it doesn’t turn into something as troublesome as now.

I can eliminate the pain I feel by utilizing the anesthesia I used on Rokuya-san.

Right now I can still endure it, so I haven’t used it though.

The problem is the bleeding.

They were severe enough that I can’t completely stop it, and on top of that, I can’t feel signs of it stopping naturally.

I can’t tell well how the bleeding in my neck is doing. A part of my coat is torn off and the inner part that was apparently knit with the hair of the Gorgons was exposed around the waist; I think somewhere around there is bleeding internally.

It must have been because of the explosion.

It can’t be helped huh.

Let’s go with no changes in my decision.

“…So you are finally making your move huh.” (Aznoval)

I feel I heard such mutter from the knight that was hardening his defenses like a turtle.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“No way, is Azu planning on continuing the fight? After using ‘the Nameless one that must not be spoken of’, he shouldn’t have any other cards left.” (Rokuya)

“…Right. I totally thought he would call off the fight after that.” (Haku)

“Even using the ‘Sword Spirit, Rampaging’ that he rarely uses to continue fighting, it is not like him to do that.” (Ginebia)

“He normally treasures that child quite a lot after all.” (Hitsuna)

Rokuya, Haku, Ginebia, and Hitsuna; all of them saw that moment and had their eyes wide open.

And then, they were bewildered by how the fight resumed with Makoto’s atmosphere changing.

By the way, what Hitsuna-san said about ‘that child’ referred to Aznoval’s sword.

“The last time I saw the ‘Sword Spirit, Rampaging’ was…ah, at the time with Doma.” (Rokuya)

“I wasn’t there at that time, so this would be…my second time seeing it?” (Haku)

“In my case, it was also at the time with Doma.” (Ginebia)

“Same.” (Hitsuna)

Rokuya, Ginebia, and Hitsuna let out a heavy sigh as they mention their memory about Doma.

‘Pffft’

A laugh of Tomoe mixed in when Hitsuna ended talking, probably because she took a peek at that memory of theirs.

“He injured Waka-sama….. I see, so these men that are supposedly the ancestors of the adventurers are all… seriously… ufufufu. I see, I see…” (Mio)

“Calm down. In the first place, Waka was aware that he would be getting injured when he accepted. If he by some chance calls us, we will crush them without mercy, but if he hasn’t, keep your mouth zipped. This is a battle that Waka has acknowledged.” (Tomoe)

“…Hmph, I know. Leaving aside the acknowledging and all that stuff, seeing it actually occurring before my eyes still stings my heart, so I can’t help it.” (Mio)

“That’s fine then. I am saying this just in case but, just because Waka is not watching doesn’t mean you can do something to Rokuya, okay?” (Tomoe)

“Whatever might you be talking about?” (Mio)

“…I have been asked this of Waka-ja.” (Tomoe)

“Ugh…r-really?” (Mio)

“Really-ja. If you really want to do it, you will have to ask Waka-ja na.” (Tomoe)

“Uuuh, then I will endure it. I will properly ask him-desu wa.” (Mio)

“…So you are actually going to ask him. You are not going to give up? Good grief.” (Tomoe)

Tomoe holds her head after those words of Mio, and then looks at Rokuya.