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Let alone the underground escape route, Freya"s full power magic even pierced the castle above ground, making a path.
Using the spiral staircase I made with alchemy magic, we ran up to the surface.
The black knights made by the Dioral king rush on us.
Among them, there"s a high chance of black knights that can make black knights being there.
If one of us becomes a black knight, it will be the end of us. I should be cautious.
A rain of arrows and magic comes pouring down.
“I"ll run at the lead. Kureha, you protect Freya and Ellen. Setsuna, you can protect yourself right?" (Kearuga)
"Alright. I won"t let them touch Freya and Ellen." (Kureha)
"Nn. Setsuna"s fine too." (Setsuna)
Although Freya is an outstanding cannon, her self-defence ability is still low.
Because of her training with Setsuna every morning, she finally reached an average soldier"s level, but even so, cutting through this carnage would be difficult for her.
"Goshujin-sama, you will protect Guren." (Guren)
"I know!" (Kearuga)
In her kitsune cub appearance, Guren raises a cry close to my ear.
If I lose her, we won"t be able to defeat the black knights.
The arrows and magic fired by the enemy landed one after the other in our surroundings.
Among them, I just deal with the arrows and magic that do hit.
I efficiently knock them down by clearing away the arrows and using superior attribute magic against the magic.
Because I used【Imitation Heal】on Freya"s ability to use all four attributes, I can do these kinds of feats.
Since I"m in the front, I nullified most of the attacks so Setsuna and the others in the back can have an easier time.
After running through the arrows and magic, I see a crowd of black knights pulling out their swords.
"Guren!" (Kearuga)
"Okay!" (Guren)
Guren"s flames cover my sword.
We can"t avoid using mana here. Without using the【Limit Breakthrough (Limit Break)】I experimented with before, I use 【Transformation Heal】 to change my status to emphasize on offensive power, which is risky as my defence becomes thin.
That being said, I"m over level 200. If the enemies aren"t of a hero cla.s.s, I won"t take that much damage even with my offensive power emphasizing status.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" (Kearuga)
I sweep sideways with my sword, mowing down the five black knights at the front in one go. Then, their torsos all get blown away.
I take another step forward, blowing away the black knights behind them just like the ones in front.
Because I used the sword damaged by Guren"s flames violently, it broke.
"What a fragile sword." (Kearuga)
"Like I said, that"s because goshujinsama"s way of using the sword is rough!" (Guren)
I pick up five swords from the ground and use alchemy magic.
By crudely melting the sword blades and combining them together, I make a single sword blade.
What I made, is a thick, gigantic, heavy and durable sword.
Because it was made quickly, the sharpness isn"t that great, but with this, it shouldn"t break even if I use it violently.
With my current status, even this heavyweight sword isn"t a problem.
I charge and thrust after confirming that Guren covered it in flames, entering the centre of the enemies while blowing away the enemies along the way.
Then, I rotate with my sword out, cutting everything around me.
A countless amount of enemy bodies flutter in the air.
My sword isn"t broken. Alright, it"s just as I thought.
This can do it.
"You don"t even care about enemy or ally huh." (Kearuga)
I thought they wouldn"t use arrows and magic if I charged into their crowd, but it seems I was naive.
Probably because their allies are immortal or they"re just protecting their simple order to eliminate the enemy, they use arrows and magic, regardless of friendly fire.
Once that happens, the black knights at the vanguard will obviously be dragged into it too.
Blocking it with my heavyweight sword is troublesome, but it"s not like I won"t be able to deal with it. I advance forward while blocking.
Chills run across my spine.
With the【Sword Saint"s】ability【All-seeing】, I sense an enemy attack.
It"s an ability that can instantly understand everything that comes in my sword range.
Normally, I would have instantly reacted, but… it was too fast. With my sword range of around 2.5 metres, I can usually deal with a normal attack immediately.
However, noticing this attack at 2.5 metres was too late. It was so fast that it leaves sound behind in the dust.
All I could do was duck my body so that it would miss my vitals.
I get blown away by taking a blunt impact.
The attack that got me was a lead bullet. It pierced me while making my body all messed up, but the terrible, sharp pain running through me was healed by【Automatic Recovery (Auto Heal)】.
The knowledge inside me is telling me that this is a rifle.
A weapon that only just started being made in a country far to the west. According to my knowledge, although its power is amazing, its range, precision and rapid fire speed fall behind arrows, so it still isn"t being used regularly.
It isn"t even heard of in the Dioral Kingdom.
In other words, there"s a high possibility the person that used it to attack me is a person from another country.
Immediately after I stand up and jump ahead, the place I was lying down on was destroyed.
I carefully examine where the shooter shot from.
【All-seeing】can even infer which angle the attack came from. Although I couldn"t block the attack, I did find out their whereabouts.
I find an enemy two hundred metres ahead on high ground.
A man with long hair and haggard cheeks has a long cylinder at the ready. That"s the rifle, huh.
I cut away the bullet he fires with a trigger, with my sword. No matter how many times faster it is than sound, I can deal with it as long as there"s enough distance.
"A losing hero huh. I really don"t want to become an existence that even stands in the way of others after losing." (Kearuga)
By using【Jade Eye】, I confirmed that he"s the hero of the【Rifle】, Lestorl Stalife. (Tl Note: Don’t ask why he can see this guy’s status but not the others)
He"s one of the heroes that lost to the Dioral king.
The other hero should be here too.
Unlike the time with the hero of the【Axe】, if they"re planning to crush us instead of stalling for time, they"ll probably send as much power as they can.
See look, she"s here.
The black knights make a path.
Sprinting through that path, a girl with a leopard-like toned body with no waste sticks out her spear.
I repel it with my sword.
That was a heavy blow. The girl doesn"t get agitated even though her spear was repelled, and thrusts consecutively, making use of the spear"s longness.
The spear that I should have dodged, grew longer than I could see, lightly piercing my arm and making it bleed.
Because of some kind of trick, I can"t just evade by going backwards.
While exchanging blows, I somehow get near her. Spear users are weak against people that come too near them. It would take time bringing back their long spears, and they need time to knock away the enemy.
However, something impossible happened. The spear shortened, allowing her to intercept my attack.
I click my tongue and jump to the side.
A spear that can freely change length is troublesome. It"s hard to make a chance where I can counterattack.
There, the hero of the【Rifle"s】snipe came in, but I just barely dodged it.
This is troublesome.
Going against both heroes and black knights at the same time is difficult.
Although the hero of the【Rifle】is aiming at me for now, if he changes his aim to Freya or Ellen, I"m not sure if I would be able to protect them.
So, I have no choice but to risk it here.
"Freya, in ten seconds, fire ice magic to the direction I point at and make it as thick as possible." (Kearuga)
"Understood!" (Freya)
"Kureha, Setsuna. At the same time as Freya"s magic, I"ll make a path. In that time, run through it while holding Freya and Ellen. Ellen should know the destination." (Kearuga)
"… So that"s how it is. Alright." (Kureha)
"Kearugsama, Setsuna want to be with you, but will obey if it"s an order." (Setsuna)
"Don"t worry, I will take command while we go off on our own." (Ellen)
While defending against the【Rifle】and【Spear】heroes" fierce attacks, I start preparing to make a path. I heighten my magic and change my ability allocation.
Freya finishes casting her magic.
"Rank seven freezing magic… 【Eternal Ice Prison】!" (Freya)
The ground the hero of the【Rifle】is on freezes over, blocking his firing sight.
The hero of the【Rifle】just barely dodged it, and only his right arm is frozen. Although it didn"t kill him, that should stop his attacks for a while.
During that time, I"ll make a path.
I purposely take the hero of the【Spear"s】attack and make it miss my vitals, stopping it with my muscles.
If it"s hard to block, then I won"t block. For that sake, I made my status emphasise on defence.
I take a step forward and cut at her, and she lets go of her spear to jump backwards. Because the sword made from five swords was too heavy, a follow-up attack won"t make it in time. I drop my sword, further shorten the distance and fling her with an overhead throw far behind Freya and the others. (TL Note: Confused about this because there"s no reason why he would throw her, but I don"t see anything else he would throw.)
The irritating girl disappears from my vision. Now I can fire my technique.
I pick up the sword again and charge it with mana.
Then, I hurl it with all my power. The large sword charged with mana sent enemies flying while drawing an arc.
A path was made from the place the sword pa.s.sed through.
Since we had climbed quite far up the spiral staircase, the sword pierce the end of the spiral staircase.
We run up the path with all their might.
The spear that was stuck in me started struggling, and pulled out, returning to its owner.
I"ve confirmed it. This spear is a【Divine Treasure Arms】.
With the spear in hand, the hero of the【Spear 】chases us far from the back.
The hero of the【Rifle】is on the verge of destroying the ice magic Freya made by shooting at it.
Although we"re at the top of the spiral staircase, both【Spear】and【Rifle】heroes are able to chase after us.
It would be fine if it"s just me, but shaking them off while holding Freya and Ellen is impossible.
So, I"ll have Setsuna and the others go ahead while I kill the【Spear】and【Rifle】heroes.
The distribution of our fighting power isn"t desirable, but I"m not confident that I can protect Freya and Ellen while fighting against【Rifle】.
And if I have Freya and Ellen go ahead, Kureha and Setsuna need to go as escorts.
"Guren, cover all of these in flames." (Kearuga)
"This is a big discount! So, don"t die." (Guren)
Guren covers the long sword stuck on the wall and the six random swords I picked up on the ground in flames. I pull out the sword stuck in the wall and stick the rest on the ground.
This is my weapon stock. The reason I made this stock is to let Guren go with Kureha and the others.
I throw Guren in her kitsune cub state to Ellen. Ellen holds Guren tightly and runs.
Setsuna and the others disappear from my vision. I look at the bottom of the spiral staircase.
"The road is closed from here." (Kearuga)
As if reacting to my words, the hero of the【Rifle】snipes me.
I repel his irritating bullet.
It"s a battle of time from here.
I"ll kill the【Spear】and【Rifle】heroes, and then join up with Setsuna and the others.
Then, we"ll reach the Rainara room, to destroy the annoying spell ritual device.
TL Note: Considering this hero of the rifle is literally the hero of the gun, I was thinking of changing Bullet"s name to the hero of the cannon (since it can also be read that way), but by making it the hero of the rifle instead of the hero of the gun, I can still use hero of the gun for Bullet heh. Anyways, I saw a new cover at the bottom of this chapter and clicked on it, to see a PV for this novel, which actually looks and sounds decent.