EPISODE 222: Hiiro’s Exclusive Search Method
(Hiiro’s POV)
With ruffled yellow hair tied in a red bandana. Eyes that leave a striking impression, a face which gives a friendly vibe caught my eyes.
But the thing that took his interest more is his condition.
“You, you can fly?”
That’s what I like to hear from him, or so. I was sure I hit him at that time. I intended to catch him at the exact moment while he’s still in the air.
But the instant the sword hit, that spirit’s presence vanished from that place. He evaded instantly, as if he was using some kind of booster.
Therefore I came with the opinion that he can move to the sky freely.
“Nope, I can’t do those things you know?”
“…………”
“I merely jumped out to begin with”
“……jumped?”
“Really. I just felt like it”
He made a big jump in the sky as he said so. I traced him with my eyes, not getting him away from my sights. As he was about to reach the ground,
BOFU!
Then, Tenn’s feet s.h.i.+ne faintly, and jumped again to the sky from that place. Everytime he is about to fall he moves his feet in the air many times, and rises to the air again.
“That’s too convenient!”
I see. This is why he was able to move at that timing. This guy can’t fly in the sky. Instead he can jump in the air. It’s just as he said.
“……is that some kind of magical enchantment being stored on your feet, then discharged instantaneously……? Or, conjuring a small explosion of magical power……?”
I unintentionally let out my bad habit of a.n.a.lyzing an unknown ent.i.ty. Looking at Hiiro, who has his hand supporting his chin, Tenn tilts his neck and went down the ground.
“O～ii, can we continue?”
Tenn’s words brought me back to my senses. Then pointing my sword to the opponent for the second time, I took a stance once again.
“I see. This is getting more of a pain in the a.s.s than I thought”
Another opening has vanished in my opponent. On the other hand, I can’t even use magic here. Though there are some countermeasures, their effects are all weak.
Moreover, I can’t grasp the ability of my opponent that has taken that form. If I were to put it, it’s very different from when he was still a monkey…… or rather, an overwhelming difference of power is gus.h.i.+ng out in my opponent right now. He’s like an absurd existence.
Though he’s not giving his full power yet, I can already feel the pressure way above the one I felt when I was battling with s.h.i.+s.h.i.+raiga.
While thinking how to catch him off-guard, Tenn disappeared in my scope.
“!?”
Being taken aback, I felt hostility from behind, and crouched down in an instant. The sound of something cutting the air ran above my head, and feeling a bad premonition I escaped from the spot immediately.
“I missed～, but that was only a greeting so you can avoid it easily”
Though his face sticking out his tongue annoys the h.e.l.l out of me, there is no time for me to be angry right now. That was a tremendous movement. It’s a simple movement but I couldn’t even see a thing, and made me completely taken by surprise. Though I was able to avoid it because I felt the bloodl.u.s.t, my whole body became cold, as if dousing cold water to a hot body.
(Furthermore he was not in full power yet…… that movement, added to this Magic Nullifying Existence…… you’ve got to be kidding me)
I thought s.h.i.+s.h.i.+raiga was fast enough, but this Tenn was even faster. Of course, I didn’t fall behind in my Peerless Mode back then, but sticking with nothing but my physical strength, frankly speaking, I can only barely catch up.
(is this the difference of the human model?)
It is incomparable from the time he was a monkey. Every movement, every attack of him makes my spine s.h.i.+ver. I have to make a breakthrough in one way or other or I’ll be dead.
“hey”
Though calling him out of the blue made him raise his guard, his wariness subsided when he saw his opponent with his hands behind his head, smiling with a loose face.
“You can manage Red Qi, can you? But from what I see, you can’t seem to use it well”
“……who knows? Are you provoking me to let my guard down?”
“Hmmm～ so you can do it to an extent, from what I can sense of you～”
He has seen through me. Having suddenly remembered, I put an unpleasant expression in my face. That reminds me, my opponent right now is an All-Seeing-Race. With this, there are no more cards available for me anymore.
“Hmmmm～………………Oh well. If you can master Red Qi then you might be able to match me, but this is fine for now”
“…………Wha?”
I asked him again of his conclusion earlier.
“Hmm～ You see, I didn’t expect that you will drive me to use this form. And as there is no point in competing with you in this either……”
As Tenn said so, his body blurs slightly. I focused my eyes hard, but in an instant,
HYUNHYUNHYUNHYUNHYUN!
A series of Tenns filled up the surroundings and multiplied one after the other. I watched my surroundings while maintaining caution, but their numbers became too many to count.
“I can see through you, gla.s.ses b.a.s.t.a.r.d”
“What did you say?”
I said it in order to probe him but he doesn’t seem to budge either.
“There is only one original body. Try to win this. But you have only one attack available. Can you do it? Show me what you’ve got”
I observed without moving from my place. However, I can’t tell the difference between the genuine article and the imitation.
“oioi, you are thinking that there are fakes in them, am I right? Wrong, wrong. All of them are real at the very least”
“……!?”
“All of them……are real!?”
With that power out of the standards, I almost yelled it out. Just thinking when they all attack makes me s.h.i.+ver. I may knock down several copies, but defeating all of them is indeed impossible in this situation.
“The one I’m talking about is the original body, in other words, the original! By the way, we won’t move from here, so get on with it already! Oh, I don’t have the intentions to do it long so…… you only have ten minutes!”
He said so, with an irritating smile resembling his monkey form a while ago. Even those who are in the air became stationary, as if they are floating, completely stopped in the air. Well, I don’t have the time to wonder about such things.
(the original body……where is it?)
I cannot tell the difference at all. I can only attack once. If I miss, Tenn won’t recognize me. Even if that monkey won’t accept me, I don’t mind it at all, but I’ll end up being made fun of.
If Lilyn were to find this out, she’ll make a fool of me certainly.
I put up strength in my clenched hand and looked around once again.
(Fine……I’ll make sure to win this game by all means)
While it’s good to aim to win by all means, I can’t think of a great plan with this time pa.s.sing.
“Ora ora, what’s the matter now～”
A monkey b.a.s.t.a.r.d lands in the vicinity, but there’s also some in the air as well as on the ground, so it’s truly irritating.
I can attack only once. Finding just one person from the midst of the enormous crowd is very difficult.
Even if I move and check them one by one won’t get me anywhere. His face shows a smile of sense of superiority, but I calmed my mind and observed all of the Tenns.
However, I can’t see the difference between all of them……
(What a difficult ordeal you have given me……)
Even if I strain my eyes to death, I can’t notice a single thing.
“Eight minutes left～”
Time pa.s.ses by at every moment. If this continues, then distinguis.h.i.+ng the original one from the rest won’t be possible. Though I can easily do it if I were to use magic, after coming here, I can’t do but only praise the value of the magic I’ve taken for granted.
Even if I move around and verified each of the Tenns, I won’t be able to judge their differences.
“Six minutes left～”
It gradually took my patience. I made my eyes look sharper on their every movement, but still there is no use.
(3rd Person POV)
“Master! Don’t give up desuzoo～！”
“Nn……Hiiro can do it”
Nikki and Camus’ cheers reaches towards my back. But no matter how much they cheer, the time just pa.s.ses by because he couldn’t do anything.
“Ara, if you can’t handle such trial satisfactorily, then you won’t be able to make a contract with a spirit even more”
A voice filled with thorns stung my back. Moving my sight, it was the princess that was being teased a while ago, sneering at me.
“Niña-sama, though grandfather somewhat favors him for some reason, I think you’re overestimating him too much”
“Four minutes～”
In addition to the cheeky remarks of the princess, Tenn overlaps it with his countdown while pulling a grin. If I were to explode here, I’ll end up being treated as the immature one. So even though it’s irritating, I gave priority to the challenge that I must do for now.
“Mumumu! Princess underestimates master way too much desuzoo!”
“Eh? Wh-what?”
Nikki shouting all of a sudden made the princess exclaim in surprise.
“Hiiro……not a fool”
Camus too, retorts, causing her to show a state of confusion.
“Bu-but this is as you can see! With this little time, how will he find a way to break through in this situation?”
It is what as she said. Therefore I can’t talk back.
Muu～ Still, master will do something about it!”
“He can……Hiiro’s that person”
“Uu……”
The princess steps back in defeat to the pressure emitted by the two.
“N-no matter what you say, his situation is quite severe. This is a trial to make a contract with a Spirit, you know? Even though he’s a person from a different world, what’s impossible is impossible”
With puffed-up cheeks, the two people opposed her, but instead of hearing the words of the princess, Hiiro focused his consciousness on the other matter.
(……Trial to make a contract with a spirit…huh. A spirit……)
Hiiro repeated the princess’ words in his mind, put the sword gently and stood still.
“Hou” Hoozuki who is watching Hiiro’s state suddenly exclaimed as if saying “well done!”
“Princess”
“What?”
Hoozuki calling her suddenly made her ask in reflex.
“Haven’t I always told you?”
“……Eh?”
“As long as you don’t give up, you will definitely see the light”
The princess kept silent to those words, and pouts in displeasure. But that expression immediately broke when she saw Hiiro with a serious face. As for the reason, it is because an unbelievable amount of magical power oozes out of him.
“Wha-what’s with this magic power……!”
The amount of Magic power their thoughts is being released by Hiiro’s body, covering the entire barrier.
“Hohoho, It seems that he’s harboring a power even beyond our imaginations”
The amount of magic power is so surprising that they all unintentionally gulped. And because the magic power pa.s.sed though and surrounded the whole barrier, it is outside its influence… can Tenn be able to withstand this magical pressure?
“How far will he keep on growing?”
Niña beside them uttered a cry in surprise. Hiiro’s growth rate became an existence immeasurable for them.
“Y-yeah, surely his magic power is enormous, but how will he distinguish the original body with this……Ah!?”
“So you have noticed too, princess”
Then she was able to understand clearly why Hoozuki expects much from this man.
“Eeeh, but this is too reckless!”
“Hohoho, what an interesting lad”
Traces of despise can no longer be felt from the princess’ eyes. Keeping silent, she only focused her attention on what will be the outcome of Hiiro’s action with her very own eyes.
(Tenn’s POV)
“Uu, what an incredible magic power!”
Tenn who was in the middle of the maelstrom was caught and was suffocating in the midst of pure magical power gus.h.i.+ng out like a fountain.
(No way, this amount magic power even surpa.s.sed the Spirits!)
In terms of of magic power capacity, Spirits won’t lose compared to other races. Rather, for them whose entire existence is made up of magic power itself, this is not an exaggeration. As it is their predominant point, they took pride in their enormous amount of magic power……but in the end, this man emitting such a great amount of magic power exceeded our expectations
（Moreover, the great amount of magic power is breaking away my Mind Control. This is bad～)
(TN NOTE: Mind control is 心許(こころもと) in raws. Not sure if this is correct)
While thinking this, I turned my eyes on the perpetrator discharging his magic power. No matter how much magic power being released, it doesn’t matter if you are unable to control it perfectly.
But from what I see, he is not only releasing magic power, but also investigating each of the bodies by wrapping them of this.
No matter how much you divide and separate the distribution of magic power, the core which produces magic will always reside in the original body.
But because this magic power which enveloped the bodies is a.n.a.lyzing them carefully, the original body will be found in no time. The “core” that produces magic. The thing that forms the spirit’s soul.
That is what the clones are lacking. Hiiro who became aware of that is examining the bodies by freely operating his magic as it is.
However, to do this, one must have precise control of their magic power, and if he keeps on releasing this great amount, it won’t be strange if he depletes his reserves early.
Though his thinking is quite correct, his method is too reckless.
(If this continues I’m going to lose big time!)
Though he didn’t intend to move normally and inspect them as what I expected, I declared to him that I won’t move from the spot.
His magic power hasn’t spread in all the members yet. It hasn’t even reached the original one either. Will he be able to maintain this release of magic power, or will it run out midway?
(Hehe, this is exciting! Let’s see how this one will come out!)
(Hiiro’s POV)
This gamble is quite rigged with disadvantages. But I have no other ideas. If I have a little more time, maybe I have thought of something better, but I can’t risk anymore, so I decided with this.
A trial to make a contract with a spirit……with that princess’ words, I remembered what kind of existence the spirits were.
The spirits are magic in itself. It’s existence is magic power in itself. It is not an exaggeration to say that their body is made up of enormous amount of magic power.
And I also remembered that the spirits have a “core” that serves as the nucleus, or the source of their magic powers themselves. It is their unique part, and even if they split themselves like this, only one will exist, and that’s in the original body.
I’m still unsure of this. But this is only what I can think of. Therefore I thought, how am I going to look for the core? And came up with covering the entire barrier with my magic power to be able to check them all.
Magic reacts to magic. Therefore if I release magic power in my body, I judge that it will make a reaction to the “core” of my opponent.
Though this aggressive action makes the heartbeat of the opponent shot up, because it doesn’t make the other party any harm to be considered an attack, I feel relieved in doing this at least.
But this is the first time I did this, so it’s quite hard. Though I have released magic power many times, this one is a complex process of discharging magic in a big surge at once, maintaining it, and then concentrating in manipulating it to examine each magic ent.i.ty.
And my feeling of exhaustion accelerates from that, to the point that I’ll fall down if I let my guard down a little. It was thanks to the large amount of magic power I have that I was able to make it till this point.
(But is this my limit? It’s too slow! I haven’t spread it in the entire whole yet!”
I grit my teeth while sweating like a waterfall. I feel like the weight of my body is gradually getting heavier and heavier as times pa.s.s.
I couldn’t hear Tenn’s countdown anymore. Perhaps because he was fretting in this tactic, too. For that, I’m determined that I’ll surely win with this.
However, I lost my strength in my knees. No, not yet. If I fall here, I won’t be able to stand up anymore. Then it will be over.
(As if something like this……will hold me back!)
I took a deep breath, then
“UOoooooooo!”
I squeezed out my remaining magic power in a burst. Then……
(……found you!)
I opened my eyes in a glare, then approached the target I heavy steps. The opponent’s face gradually enters my view, with a face not grinning anymore like from earlier.
I put power my trembling fist and swung it as hard as I can.
SMACK……
A weak sound strikes the opponent’s cheek. There is hardly no damage, in reverse to their expectations. However, the attack is successful. But as for the target is the real one or not……
The moment I try to confirm it, my both legs have lost its strength. Still, I didn’t separate my sight from the person in front.
“……you’re quite something, human”
The other party’s mouth moved so, and my consciousness drifted to the darkness with a smile.
————————————————————–
Author’s notes:
This time it’s only Two characters.
It was sudden, but I decided that I’ll first count the total votes of the most popular character by the large number of requests.
For the time being, I’ll announce the first place in overall characters, and the first place in the most favorite heroine below.
But this is only because i have time to spare, so only vote once, please!
How to vote
Overall character – Okamura Hiiro
Heroine – Muir
Any format is good as long as it’s understandable, if I can have a message with your impressions, I’ll add it up here!
I’ll ask a friend personally, and when I felt that I finished hearing everything, I will announce the result! How about a week later～
As for the characters that came out so far:
Okamura Hiiro (The unique cheat of a main character)
Muir (First heroine, with a little yandere disposition)
Arnold (Lolicon Old Man)
Lilyn (Tsundere Loli n.o.ble girl)
Silva (ubiquitous and elusive hentai butler)
Shamoe (Clumsy maid who always panics)
Nikki (The stupid and cute pupil of Hiiro)
Mikadzuchi (former demon who’s fond of Hiiro)
Aoyama Dais.h.i.+ (Ikemen Harem Creator Hero)
Suzumiya Chika (Tsundere sporty queen)
Minamoto Shuri (Yamato Nades.h.i.+ko Type)
Akamori s.h.i.+n.o.bu (Cheerful girl with a Kansai accent)
Rudolf (Foolish King of the Human Country)
Lilith (The first princess of the Human Country)
Maris (Queen of the Human Country)
Well Kimble (Commanding officer of the Human Country)
Dennis (Minister of the Human Country)
Maricris Bluenote (The fortunetelling hag who taught magic to Hiiro. Real name is Alicia)
Nisu (The child in the village Hiiro visited for the first time)
Brey (father of Nisu, Village mayor)
Panisu (The old weapons dealer which gave Tsuranuki [Piercer] to Hiiro)
Mick (The old man in the general goods store who was knocked off his feet by the robber)
Tsungari (One of the Harios Brothers who was cut down by Hiiro)
Tsuru Debu (One of the Harios Brothers who was. .h.i.t by Heat Word Magic of Hiiro)
Eveam (Present Demon Lord whose head is a flower garden)
Aquinas (Cruel Rank One. Strongest Demon)
Marione (Cruel Rank Two. Moustache Baron)
Tekkil (Cruel Rank Three. The Masquerading spy)
Ornorth (Cruel Rank Four. Werewolf who is lacking in literary talent)
Shublarz (Cruel Rank Fifth. Voluptous Beauty)
Greyald (Cruel Rank Six, Nimble guy who always finds most things troublesome)
Kiria 05 (Former aide of Eveam)
Kiria 03 (Battle specialized model. Slightly stupid)
Kiria 02 (The super wicked tongue type)
Musun (Master chef of the Demon Country)
Rushbelle (Head Commander of the Demon Corps, let to the nose by Yuhito)
Havreed (Slender Captain of the Demon Army)
Eunice (Captain of the Demon Army who is formerly blindfolded and looks good in China Dress)
Judom Lankars (Reliable Guild Master)
Max (The Bearman friend of Arnold and as fat as a pig)
Leowald (Present Beast King, Battle Maniac)
Regulus (Wise first Prince of the Beast Country)
Lenion (Impertinent Second Prince of the Beast Country)
Kuclear (The first Princess of the Beast Country and somehow attracted to Hiiro?)
Mimir (Second Princess of the Beast Country, Hiiro nicknamed as Blue Ribbon and also likes Hiiro)
Blansa (Beast Country’s Queen)
Barid (One of the Three Beast Warriors, Birdman)
Crouch (One of the Three Beast Warriors, nicknamed Nyan-girl. A girl pained by the urge to make Hiiro hers)
Putis (One of the Three Beast Warriors, enigmatic costume-wearing girl)
Raras.h.i.+k (Combat Genius who invented the Binding Techniques, a Drinking Loli-baba and nicknamed Chibi-usagi)
Raiv (Arnold’s elder sister, Head Maid and Cigarette Lover)
Yuhito (Raras.h.i.+k’s Research Maniac Elder Brother)
Niniaho (Fairy Queen)
Orun (Noisy Red-haired Sprite)
Camus (Young chief of the Asura Tribe and faithful subordinate of Hiiro. His girl power is stronger than anyone)
Jinu (Camus’ a.s.sistant, nicknamed topknot guy by Hiiro)
s.h.i.+van (Old friend of Lilyn and Camus’ grandfather)
Rigund (Father of Camus, transformed into a demon causing his death)
Potnis (Head Priest of the Ordine Main Temple)
Avoros (Pevious Demon Lord and elder brother of Eveam, a beautiful shota)
Iraora (Former Cruel who killed Greyald)
Hiyomi (Avoros’ companion who harmed Camus’ father)
Kainavi (Tried to kill Hiiro, but is counterattacked by Lilyn and Camus)
Kokurou (Beastman with a dreadful past)
Hoozuki (Spirit King and a huge white snake)
Hime (Spirit, a tsundere miko girl. Normally a small white snake)
Tenn (Spirit, a naughty monkey rascal)
Yukiouza (Spirit of Raras.h.i.+k with the form of a snow rabbit)
s.h.i.+s.h.i.+raiga (Spirit of Leowald with the form of a lion. Normally a small ginger cat.
So have you picked already? Perhaps, there’s too many, but what do you feel is the best character? Please only choose one overall best character and best heroine per person!!!