Part 7 (1/2)

54.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Alice.

”Looks like we'l have to fight here. Prioritize not falling over everything else!”

However, I didn't hear any immediate reply from the integrity knight. Upon taking a brief glance below, I saw nothing show up on Alice's pale face, standing out in the twilight, except astonishment. How could it be, why are those-that murmur reached my ears via the updraft.

Why was the integrity knight, who should have known everything about the Axiom Church, this shocked? I knew nothing more than hearsay, but the highest minister, Administrator, apparently had a predisposition towards vigilance to an eccentric extent. It wouldn't very much of a surprise for her to deploy guardians to repel intruders forcibly climbing the walls, not gaining enough calm of mind by simply setting the upper portion of the tower as an area beyond flight.

That guardian-a monster that resembled the ”gargoyles”

that frequently appeared in games of the real world, if ignoring its head, grasped the terrace's edge with its clawed hands, then expel ed air from its circular mouth with a loud ”bushuu”. I noticed the gargoyles on the left and right of the first one that began moving were changing in body color as well, making me s.h.i.+ver. If those were to be stationed across all four sides of the cathedral's outer walls, it wouldn't be strange if their total numbers exceed a hundred.

”Dammit...!”

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Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Alice.

After turning my body while cursing, I brandished my sword with my back leaned onto the wall, which already made me lose much of my balance. Well, my foothold was only a single, thin metal rod. I had no experience of fighting in such conditions, even when considering my old SAO days.

What do we do-I heard the flapping noise of wings without even given the time to ponder on that thought. I looked up and there the gargoyle hovering with the dark blue skies as its backdrop was, glaring at me with the round eyebal s attached to the sides of its long and narrow head.

The monster was large beyond expectations, likely close to two meters, from head to toe. In addition, its tail with a length close to its body was languidly stretching out from behind its waist.

”Bushaa!!”

I stared fixedly at the gargoyle that let out a bizarre voice like steam escaping a valve and closed in with a backwards nose dive. Fortunately, it didn't seem to possess long range attack potential, so its attack should be any of its four clawed limbs.

Right, left, up, or down- ”-Uoohh!?”

What soared this way while growling like a whip was its tail with the tip sharpened to a knife-like point. Caught completely unguarded, I screamed while twisting my head. The sharp

56.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Alice.

pointed end made a shallow tear in my cheek, but I somehow avoided a direct hit.

However, with my balance lost from that excessive motion, my body lurched atop the piton.

Targeting me, desperately trying to brace myself, the gargoyle still hovering before my eyes thrust its tail forth continuously.

I supported my body with my left hand and guarded the tail attacks with the sword in my right, but it took my al just to raise it as a s.h.i.+eld's subst.i.tute. I didn't have the composure to swing my sword and sever the tail at al .

”Kuh...”

I concluded this was no situation to hesitate and took my left hand off the wall, then pulled out one of the pitons stuffed in my belt. While making a mental image of the throwing skill's motion I trained back in SAO, I threw it with the gargoyle's core as my target.

I hadn't put that much strength into it, but it appeared the piton made from Alice's gauntlet possessed quite a high priority as the short javelin drew a golden arc in the dim light, stabbing deep into the gargoyle's abdomen.

”Bus.h.i.+!”

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Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Alice.

58.