Chapter 17 (1/2)

The Battle in Front of the Temple

The plan was this: When the downpour of arrows lightens up, the Horned Bear Kou, who has the best defense out of everyone in the attack force, is to make his way up the hillside path that leads to the ruins of the shrine He is to then scout any suspicious-looking places for any traps and aht be set up

TLN: “Horned Bear” was previously translated as “Hornbear”

「Can you do it?」

「Vroar!」『Leave it to me!』

Equipped with a wide shi+eld and a battleaxe that a human would normally need two hands to wield, Kou the Horned Bear made his way up the hillside path Arrows continued to rain froe even to the parts of its body that the armor did not cover, so Kou held the shi+eld up above his head and continued up the path without a problem

In addition, the stars in the sky and a little ht in the area No et Kou was, the Horned Bear was not carrying a torch and difficult to make out in the darkness, so the aim of the archers was off After a while, as if the enemy sensed that their arroere useless, the downpour ceased

As Kou climbed the pitch-black hillside road, he searched for the “suspicious places” that Gawiik had assigned him to find

TLN: “Gawiik” was previously named “Gaviik”

『Ah, there’s a trap here Let’s break it – Hyah!』

A trap designed to restrain the target was hidden ingeniously beneath the grass; Kou destroyed it with his battleaxe He continued up the path, using his weapon to destroy the traps in places where the dirt bulged unnaturally or where the grass was strangely woven

He occasionally stepped on and triggered a trap, but they were traps designed for huets; they had little to no effect on the Horned Bear

Fro around the hillside path was visible, occasionally stopping to do soroup had no idea that their traps were being disarmed

With the attack force waiting behind him at the bottom of the hill, Kou continued to climb the hill Suddenly, he ran into an invisible wall

『Huh? What’s this?』

He turned around and observed his surroundings, but he didn’t see anything particularly out of the ordinary Other than the countless traps that were on the path behind hirassy area About twenty metres ahead, the ruins were visible, buried in the cliffs There was no light and not a single person to be seen But for soo any further

『Ah, could this be a Barrier?』

He eed his head froh the Barrier Just a ht or person to be seen, but through the Barrier he noooden barricade in front of the ruins, lined with torches and countless silhouettes of bandits were lying in wait behind it

A bandit a it would be dangerous to go any further, he decided to fall back and report the situation to everyone else

The large shadow that had been cli side to side up the hillside path suddenly turned back and retreated Seeing this, the bandits hidden behind the Barrier whispered a if their ah

「Wasn’t that a Horned Bear?」

「There’s no way a Horned Bear would be equipped eapons and armor」

「No, it could a new kind of summoned beast」

The Magician leading the bandits warned theic tools to deal with the bandits A Sorcerer that freely uses Gole the enemy while they make their move in the open area It was likely that they were a very capable opponent

「It seems the attack force they sent this time isn’t just the town militia」

「Thissome money in this area」

While the bandits were having this conversation

Having received Kou’s scouting inforical Barrier with an ambush set up behind it, the attack force i Both the town ainst a reckless frontal attack

「Seeing as the Barrier conceals the whole area around the ruins, they undoubtedly have quite a skilled Spiritualist with them」

「I’m sure their plan is a surprise attack while we’re defenseless in front of the Barrier」

「And the purpose of the traps on the path was to break our formation and cause confusion e retreat from their attack」

「It’s pretty scary to think ould have happened if we’d tried to attack into that」

In any case, the first thing that needed to be done was reician or Sorcerer to interfere with theput into the Barrier to destroy it, unless the Barrier was ridiculously powerful However, it ithout saying that breaking the Barrier this ould require more power than the amount needed to maintain it

A Spiritualist would be able to destroy the Barrier by directly countering it, rather than interfering with its ical poould be needed

「The problem is, we don’t have a Spiritualist in our attack force」

「If we ician, we should be able to destroy the Barrier, but it’s too dangerous」

If they moved to destroy the Barrier, it was certain that the enemy would move to attack them However, they would not knohen, where fro the Sorcerers in alone was out of the question But that did not mean it would be any safer to send them in with an escort

There was the option of going forward in a defensive for him while he destroys the Barrier, but their ht see this and take the chance to wipe out the whole squad in one move

The enemy was invisible behind the barrier so if they attacked fro the attacks would belike roll a huge boulder down the hill as they marched up, they would take heavy casualties

「Well, even if they don’t do a large-scale attack like that, it’d be si to cover our Sorcerers」

If the attack force had a few more people, it would have been possible for them to accept that there would be some casualties, and spread out to secure the area However, they had too few Sorcerers capable of dealing with the Barrier and they could not risk losing them

「Now then, what shall we do?」

Captain Gaweek and Vice-Captain Mandel deliberated on the task at hand The leader of the group of adventurers suggested that it ht be better to fall back for now and come back with roups voiced their agreeestion However, the townout the mission

「If we let theht escape!」

「Even if you say that, if it’s impossible it’s impossible, so we don’t have a choice」

「And doing so about that impossibility is your job, isn’t it?!」

「It’s too dangerous」

As the discussion entered a staleroup, Lef, proposed a confir the Barrier that required only a few reliable roup other than Gawiik’s group left their seats to discuss it a themselves

「So, thisabout is Kou’s Amulet?」

「 Yes If we use the power of his Ale person to break the Barrier easily alone」

The method proposed by Lef was to use her ical power tuned for Barrier-breaking into the Spiritualist’s Ay into a suitable weapon and using that weapon to cut through the Barrier

「But doesn’t that ht next to the Barrier?」

「Couldn’t we iical power into a bow and pierce the Barrier from afar with arrows?」

Karen, a fairly skilled ested a possible safe way to do it, but Lef shook her head

「You need to have control over theIt’s impossible to do with arrows」

「Hmm」

「If only Kou could use ic」

「Vroar?」

TLN: This last sound is made by Kou

Kou, who had been watching over theof the squad members seated in a circle, suddenly raised his head There are Monsters known to use ic-like powers, but it is unheard of for a Horned Bear to use such powers

But judging froured that all the problems would be solved if he could just use Lef’s staff, so he tried asking

「Controlling ical power, how do you do it?」

「 You have to perceive the waveforical power, channel it to the end of the staff, feel its strengths and weaknesses, and adjust the width of its waveform」

Lef provided a detailed answer to the question written on Kou’s paper What an honest ht the squad members as they smiled wryly Even if he understood how to use the staff, Kou would have to be soical power to be able to gather ical power to a specific point, tune it to have special properties and then imbue it into another object

「 To be able to iht ic」

While saying that, Lef deht in her hand This was a basic skill that anyher, Kou extended his paw Karen stood close to his side and advised hiather it with your heart~』

The power of the Gods that fills the air Breathing this source of creation that exists in all things into your body, and focusing it, passing it through your soul, visualizing spiritual signposts and purifying it – Lef’s explanation of how to ical poas too complicated, and Kou did not really understand it However, Kou could purify ical power

『Ah, if I do that it gathers up So that means if I do this to that, it becomes this shape』

A bright light illuht appeared in the pale paw The members of Gawiik’s squad were astonished, but quickly looked around cautiously The nearbycuriously to see as happening

「Ugh! Get rid of the light, you’ll give away our position to the enemy!」

「Vroar」『My bad』

They were far enough froain, but the light was probably bright enough for the bandits to see

「You can use ic?」

「Vroar –」

Kou produced a note saying “I only just remembered”, then explained that he just i that Kou can purify ht be possible for hi and imbue it into a weapon

「Hmm Can you do it, Kou?」

「Vroar, vroar」『I’ll give it a try』

Borrowing Lef’s ical power tuned for Barrier-breaking in the Spiritualist’s Ahout his battleaxe He had previously seen Karen iic into her arrows that time at the lake, so he used that as a reference

「Vroaroar –」『I’m done –』

「Lef, how is it?」

「 It’s perfect」

Noric, he ical power clearly in his head to control it to wrap around the weapon Producing an iical power is wrapped coaps is difficult even for skilled Magicians However, Kou, who can directly see and control ical power, produced a perfect imbuement

With a way to break the Barrier, the attack force made its plans with Gawiik’s squad at the center The townofficer even temporarily handed leadershi+p over to Gawiik to make this plan succeed

And so the Horned Bear Kou stood in front of the Barrier oncethe staff’s power to iical power

「Oi look, it’s the same one from before 」