Chapter 160: The Battle Against Pride III (2/2)
Ignoring me, Nanassy walked towards Rana.
Without any chance or means of stopping her, I watched as she drove her machete through the slime and into Rana's abdomen.
「urgh」
「Stop!」
It probably wasn't in response to my yell, but the machete was pulled out.
「Hey elf, call for the other elf」
The wound wasn't that deep. The regeneration point healed it and the wound disappeared without a trace.
「I'll stab deeper next time」
「If you're gonna do this, stab me instead!」
「Dear, I'll be fine. I've trained for this」
「That so?」
Nanassy then pushed her blade under Rana's collarbone.
「mnurgh」
The tip of the machete sank deeper and deeper into her flesh.
「I'm going to snap your collarbone and rip it out. It won't matter one whit if you've trained for this or not. I'll say it one more time. Scream and call for that elf」
「I refuse」
Rana was completely undaunted.
I've made a big mistake.
Torturing someone who can't move. These people aren’t adventurers. They don't have any pride as adventurers.
I've completely misjudged the true nature of my opponents.
「Dear?!」
Though she was the one on the receiving end of the blade, Rana was conversely worried about me. I ignored her and dove into the slime.
There's one thing that I've learned through observation.
These slimes don't offer much resistance when something enters them, but they resist strongly when something tries to get out. They probably have this kind of behavior because they capture their prey by restraining them inside themselves.
That's how it looked to me when the machete was pulled out.
If I'm wrong about this, I'll probably drown. But I'd rather die than be helpless in front of the woman I love.
I strained to open one eye and observed.
There's always a spot somewhere inside slimes where bubbles appear unnaturally. And the colorless and transparent core of these things, which is their weakness, will be in the vicinity of these bubbles.
I've killed more than enough slimes, a byproduct of Rana's cooking, to last me a lifetime. It's not a stretch to say that I'm a specialist in slaying slimes. I never imagined that such a proficiency would ever come in handy. The world sure is a strange place.
I located the bubbles.
From here on out, it's all intuition, but it's intuition based on experience. If I'm a moron who misses at this juncture, I'm better off dead.
I opened my mouth as wide as I could and took a bite out of empty space.
I felt a jelly-like texture between my teeth, and although there was no taste, I bit down.
Right when I was reaching the limit of how long I could hold my breath, the slime burst apart.
「Urgh, koff, koff」
Once the core has been destroyed, slimes revert back to water.
「Hey, you're kidding me」
I ignored the astonished Arcane.
「Hey, you little bitch, get away from Rana」
Nanassy didn’t pull her machete out of Rana. I spat out the water from the slime and steadied my breathing.
「What makes you think I'd listen to you?」
「Before you can stab Rana's vitals, I'll kill ”both of you”」
If I take two steps forward, I can cut Nanassy in two with an iai-draw and then kill Arcane with the return swing.
I'm completely serious.
「If you kill Arcane, I'll kill this elf. And I’ll track down the other elf, even to the ends of the earth, and kill every last person with a drop of her blood in their veins」
「What a strange coincidence. I was about to say the exact same thing to you」
If you hurt Rana any more, I'll kill everyone and everything. Each and every person in my sight, I'll kill.
I’ll cut you all down.
「Na, Nanassy. Calm down for a moment」
The moment I saw Arcane's moronic face and heard his moronic voice, I made my decision.
I'm going to kill.
I lowered my stance and took a preparatory step forward――――――when a gust of wind whipped by.
That gust of wind slammed Nanassy into the wall.
It was Evetta-san, who had moved so fast that I mistook her for a gust of wind.
In her right hand was the blade of the machete that had been plunged into Rana. In her left hand, Nanassy's head.
「Shame on you!」
She swung Nanassy around and slammed her forcefully into the wall again. A loud crash, like two boulders colliding into each other, filled the space.
Evetta-san yelled just as loudly.
「Hurting someone who can't move! And threatening to kill her on top of it!」
She crushed the machete in her hand.
I had thought that it was quite the masterwork weapon, but it got all bent and snapped like it was made of candy.
「You're no adventurer! You're not even human!」
「You're no better. Stop pretending to be human」
Nanassy grabbed Evetta-san's arm and pushed her back.
A red horn glowed brightly on her left chest.
I had thought that it was just a part of her equipment, but could it be that it's the same as Evetta-san's horns? What's more, it looks like it has been broken off.
「Nanassy, that's enough! Stop! Stop, stop!」
「Understood」
When Arcane intervened, she stopped immediately.
What a baffling person.
「Why are you fighting with someone from the Adventurers' Guild?! You'll get us kicked out!」
「That was foolish. I apologize」
「Wrong. Not to me」
Arcane pointed to Evetta-san.
「I don't want to」
「Come on, I'm begging you. Really」
「An opening」
Nanassy and Arcane's pieces of red cloth were snatched away in a flash. Unnoticed by anyone, Ea had also taken the otter beastkin's piece of red cloth.
「Huh?」
I had gotten used to seeing that moronic look on Arcane's face.
「Here you go, Evetta」
Ea handed the pieces of cloth to Evetta-san and the match was settled.
Oh, we've won.
Seriously, complete invisibility is so OP. Also, Evetta just crushed and snapped a masterwork weapon with her bare hand……are you starting to get why her nickname when she was an adventurer was “Pulverizer”? And we’ve finally learned what kind of enemy it is that Souya said he specialized in a few chapters back……
After the funny start, things got serious all of a sudden, huh? Yeah, as you’ve probably realized, things aren’t as simple as they look when it comes to the members of Argancia.
Well, the next chapter is going to be a fun read in a lot of ways, so stay tuned!