Chapter 11 (1/2)
Volume 1
CH 14
Slucky had already finished all his duties by devouring Barkas’ bisected head, so I put him away for the time being .
Though the【Magical Beast’s Egg Blade]made a ton of noise when ejecting monsters, it was surprisingly quiet when doing the opposite; its petals silently enveloped the slime much in the same manner as would a carnivorous plant’s .
But then it happened; we were attacked .
「Minnalis!」
「!?」
11 different projectiles suddenly flew towards us .
（Can I even make it in time!?）
Our attackers had caught us completely off guard and seized the initiative
I immediately focused on the battle at hand and kicked myself into gear . My sharpened senses allowed me to determine that the objects flying towards us were throwing spears . Their tips were coated with a strange purple liquid, one I could only presume to be poison . 7 of the 11 were aimed at Minnalis, and the remaining 4 at me .
Minnalis managed to react to the attack, but would only be able to defend herself at best . She normally might have been able to do more than just that, but that was because the swords she usually practiced with were much easier to handle than the blunt weapon she’d used to crush Dot’s head .
The number of goblin-like creations in our vicinity totalled to 16 . The 5 that hadn’t thrown their spears had quickly charged towards us to follow up their companions’ ranged attacks .
I was able to take in all that information in an instant, but just taking it in was by no means equivalent to processing or reacting to it . It was an issue that resulted from me retaining my processing speed, but no longer having a body with the specs to match it . The discrepancy forced me to realize that I wouldn’t be able to get away with holding back .
There were only 16 of them . I wouldn’t need to worry about being able to fight for a longer, sustained period of time .
Knowing that, I swiftly formed the【Soulblade of Origin]in my right hand, and the【Holy Sword of Vengeance]in my left while pouring as much mana as I could into all four of my limbs and surroundings . The former was for power, whereas the latter allowed me to get a better grasp of what was going on around me .
I undid the subconscious limiter that my brain placed on my body and kicked off at my absolute maximum speed while ignoring the fact that my muscles almost seemed to creak under the strain .
It all happened in an instant; the actions I pulled off and decisions I made ate up a cumulative span of less than a second . The feat was one that that demonstrated the fact that I truly deserved the title that claimed that I’d reached the Zenith of Technical Mastery, and that the fancy SSS I had decorating my status plate wasn’t just for show . As far as finesse went, I was literally the best of the best .
（It looks like she’ll be able to ward off the 2 coming straight at her . I should focus my efforts on handling the other 9 instead . ）
The combination of the Haste skill and my magically reinforced legs allowed me to accelerate at a rate faster than my agility stat otherwise allowed .
I ignored the spears aimed towards me . They were accurately thrown so that they would’ve been unavoidable under any sort of normal circumstances . In other words, I didn’t need to mind them . The speed at which I moved immediately disqualified them from from doing any harm .
（Well, that’s four less I have to deal with . ）
I wasn’t capable of maintaining my acceleration for anything beyond a fraction of a second . I’d snap my own limbs if I accidentally exerted too much force .
I cut up the three closest spears with the【Holy Sword of Vengeance]deflecting the final one
moving towards her right hand side by hitting it right on the tip with the【Soulblade of Origin . ]
（Just three more . ）
The spear I deflected spun out and collided with the remaining spears and caused a series of chain reactions that caused them to lose the forces that propelled them .
My timing had been perfect; I managed to turn all incoming projectiles into nonfactors right as the five monsters that’d been rushing us leapt out of the bushes and revealed themselves .
（Perfect . Looks like they’re Red Caps . ）
Red Caps were a relatively small breed of goblin . They were known for two things . The first was the fact that their heads were red, and seemed to resemble hats . Apparently, this wasn’t an inborn trait, but rather one that resulted from the creatures rubbing their prey’s blood all over their skulls immediately following a successful hunt . The goblin subspecies’ second defining feature was that its members were good at coordinating with one another .
I span around on one foot and turned towards the two that’d appeared around Minnalis back right side and accelerated once more .
「Gah!」
「Gi!」
I let go of both my swords and grabbed the approaching goblins by their red, hat-like heads before using Sky Step to jump just shy of two meters into the air . I then whipped both Redcaps towards Minnalis’ left and caused them to be impaled upon their comrades’ spears, an act that immediately caused said comrades to stop in their tracks .
14 enemies remained; 11 were still in hiding, 1 was right by me, and 2 were frozen in place by Minnalis .
The two blades I let go of just a second earlier basically hadn’t moved, so I once again grabbed both and moved towards the Red Cap that happened to be right by me .
（Tsk . I’m only barely able to keep this up even though I’ve been keeping myself as under control as possible . ）
My body was screaming despite only having been pushed to its limits for less than 5 seconds . I was walking a thin line, a tightrope, as outputting even the slightest bit more power could potentially lead to self-harm .
I wouldn’t have had to resort to this had I any more mana . I would’ve been able to pull out what one could actually call a trump card . But I couldn’t . Toying around with Barkas’ group had eaten up too much magical energy, so I instead ended up with a cheap knock off . I would’ve lost the ability to move had I not done a series of fine adjustments on the fly . Naturally, my method wasn’t perfect, so a dull pain had began coursing through my body as recompense .
It looked like tomorrow would be a day in which I suffered from muscle pains .
I was in a bad mood . These goblins had just happened to come along right when I was about to bask in the afterglow of a job well done .
I formed a cross with my blades as I slashed the red cap in order to vent my frustrations .
「Goshujin-sama!」
「Get rid of the two you see over there . I’ll take care of the ones still in hiding . 」
The two Red Caps that Minnalis had by her had already failed their ambush, so I saw no reason for her to not be able to handle them now that it had come down to a head on fight . Thus, I dove into the forest without awaiting her answer .
None of the 11 remaining Red Caps had yet to move, they were still in their original positions as they had yet to figure out how to cope with the status quo .
I dispelled the【Holy Sword of Vengeance]and used my now free right hand to pull a pair of throwing knives out from within the Round Squirrel Pouch and promptly threw both at the two goblins to my right .
Several trees stood between the Red caps and I, so I wasn’t able to aim at their vitals . However, I did still manage to give both relatively deep injuries, as the knives stabbed one in the arm and the other in the leg .
「Gyaruaaaa!?」
「Gyuruuu!?」
The fast acting poison Minnalis had applied to the knives ahead of time caused both to scream in pain; they were doomed to die some time within the next 10 minutes, even if I simply left them be .
I threw the【Soulblade of Origin]straight into another one’s heart and listened to its death throes before putting it away and pulling out another set of Soulblades . 【Flame Spider’s Leg Blade]was good in close combat, so I took it in my right and the【Emerald Crystal Blade]in my left .
I span in a counterclockwise direction and weaved through the trees in order to slaughter all remaining Red Caps . They were incapable of resisting me; I slit their throats, gouged their necks from behind, dug their brains out from within their eye sockets, and smashed their heads by slamming them into nearby tree trunks .
I swapped the【Emerald Crystal Blade]back out for the【Soulblade of Origin]and used it to overkill the Red Caps that tried to pull a fast one on me by hiding themselves within the bushes, cut most the remaining ones down, and even finally skewered the one trying to use its allies as meatshields as it attempted to escape .
「It looks like you’re the last . 」
「Gyaruaaaaaa!」
「Shut up . 」
The last came at me suicidally, but I easily split it in half and brought an end to the Red Cap’s assault as a whole .
☆
「Argghh, my arms hurt . I’m tired and sleepy . I don’t wanna move . I wanna go home . I wanna dive into my bed and roll around in it . 」
I voiced my body’s desires and threw a bit of a tantrum .
I was still in a good mood because of what we did to Barkas and his companions . My flesh and blood body, however, failed to reflect my emotional status . It was in all sorts of pain as a result of me pushing myself harder than need be . I was also intoxicated as a result of using too much mana at once, and thus, I was unable to think with as much reason as I otherwise could’ve . I’d already drank an MP potion in order to restore my cognitive abilities, but it had yet to kick in .
「Why didn’t I realize that I could’ve just stopped going full throttle the moment I knocked all their spears away?」
Tomorrow was going to be a bad day . My muscles were going to ache, and both my joints and bones were going to be groaning in agony all day . I was completely exhausted despite only having exerted myself for a few seconds .
I mean, I went all out and stuff, but I hadn’t been serious, which in turn meant that it was possible for this pain of mine to get even worse than it was right now .
「Ugh, we should stop by a pharmacy and pick up some pain killers . Er, wait, I should be able to heal myself with the【Emerald Heartblade]once I get a bit more of my MP back . Man, it looks like MP’s going to be one of the things that holds me back the most . I should get the Meditation skill as soon as possible . It’ll he- wait . 」
（Aw crap . It looks like I started talking to myself again . That’s a habit I really need to shake . ）
I shook my head; I couldn’t believe myself . I’d already slipped up and started talking to myself again even though it’d only been a few days since Minnalis had warned me about me having a bad habit of going off and monologuing .
（I guess I better grab what I need to prove that we killed these Red Caps… Ugh… I really don’t want to . There’s like 16 of them . Bringing all these back would make us really stand out . ）
Red Caps were pretty weak by themselves, but there was no way for a pair of brand new adventurers to defeat 16 of them . That was just way the hell out of scope .
We’d probably be able to bring back two or three without issue, as all that would do is cause people to assume that we happened to have trained ourselves up a bit before becoming adventurers . It wouldn’t make them suspect us to be anything more than just people with potential .