Manowa

An object that was like an arrow was fired. It directly hit Naoki"s chest. However, Naoki was wearing armor made of dragon scales. The armor Kazane purchased with a large amount of money to keep Naoki safe certainly boasted of a high level of defense. Therefore, that arrow-like object didn"t pierce Naoki, but naturally, its force wasn"t eliminated.

Naoki was blown away by the impact and fell to the ground ten meters away.

「Naokiiii?」

Kazane screamed, but she sensed an immediate second shot coming, so she turned her gaze to the forest as she repelled it with Material Shield.

(Archer?!)

Kazane tutted.

Currently, the monkeys had already been annihilated. Jinrai, Yuuko-nee, and Yumika were dealing with the last remaining Ashigaru. However, Kazane judged that the rear guard would be fired at as it was, so she used『Information Link』to instruct them to go heal Naoki while simultaneously having the Black Metal Minos go to guard them.

If possible, Kazane wanted to treat Naoki herself, but it didn"t seem likely she would have the leeway to do so. From the start, Louise was much better at healing than attacking (though that hadn"t had much chance to shine, since they received few injuries), and Kazane judged that she had no choice but to leave it to her as she looked toward the forest.

And they came out. Three Odan.o.bunaga Blades came out of the forest. And Kazane"s『Dog"s Sense of Smell』sensed two Odan.o.bunaga Archers inside the forest.

Then two arrows flew towards Kazane as she was looking toward the forest, but Kazane once again repelled them with Material Shield. Since she knew where the arrows would come from with『Intuition』, she could repel them using Material Shield.

(But if we try to fight the Blades, the Archers would be troublesome?)

「Ok, we"ll leave the Blades to Jinrai-san, Yumika, and Tatsuyoshi-kun Dragoon. The Berserk Ogre and the Power will beat the Archers with me!!」

Kazane"s『Dash』had changed into『High Dash』from defeating the Odan.o.bunaga Ashigaru earlier,  and she activated it. Not only was it faster than Dash, it also increased mobility, so movements like U-turns and fine movements were possible even at high speeds. Wind blew like a storm out of the Berserk Ogre"s back feathers as he ran alongside her at high speed. Tiara"s Flame Power was also flying alongside Kazane and the Berserk Ogre.

And when the Odanoubnaga Blades tried to attack the approaching three people,

「Leave it to us.」

「We"re your opponents!」

Those attacks were prevented by Jinrai riding Yuuko-nee and G.o.d Wolf Transformed Yumika. The silver wolves and Tatsuyoshi-kun Dragoon hadn"t caught up yet, but they would soon join them.

However, even now, the true main force hadn"t arrived. For that reason, they had to defeat the Odan.o.bunagas in front of them as quickly as possible. They didn"t only need to defeat them. They were in a race against time.

********

And while Kazane and the others were fighting on the front line, Naoki was moaning while lying on the ground in a hole away from that front. That hole was a trench dug by the Black Metal Minos to defend against the arrows. The Black Metal Minos who dug it had already returned to the battlefield.

「Gu, uu...」

Louise was using the superior healing spell High Heal from beside the collapsed Naoki. When they took off his armor and looked at the damage, it seemed it was less than they had feared. The dragon scale armor certainly didn"t eliminate all of the shock. However, it wasn"t penetrated, and it dampened the force. It was a blow from a superior monster. Normally, his body should have burst open.

「Is Naoki okay?」

Emily asked anxiously, and Louise nodded with a smile.

「As expected from Black Rock Dragon scales. They were really troublesome when we fought it, but they"re quite reliable now that we"re using them ourselves. It"s all thanks to Kazane.」

Naoki"s dragon scale equipment was given to him by Kazane. If he hadn"t had that, he definitely would have died.

(The arrow he was shot with also isn"t a normal size. So that"s the Odan.o.bunaga species... rather, an attack from a Dark Forest monster)

Even during the long time she had lived as an adventurer, Louise had never entered the Dark Forest. Simply entering that place was equivalent to suicide. She had heard that from Jinrai, who had explored near the entrance two times and learned that the hard way. It was a place still out of reach of human hands.

「s.h.i.t, if I could also partic.i.p.ate...」

Lyle seemed vexed as he looked at the battlefield. Lyle wasn"t judged capable enough as yet for direct combat against that cla.s.s. Lyle probably couldn"t properly fight alone even against an Ashigaru. Against a Blade, there was the risk of being chopped to pieces in an instant. Tatsuo also watching from beside him seemed to feel the same as he cried Kuwaa.

「Lyle, please don"t be negligent in watching the surroundings. We don"t know for certain that there"s no ambush troops.」

Tiara called out to Lyle while operating the Flame Power. If they were attacked in this trench, even by any surviving Eliminator Monkeys, they would definitely die. Lyle obediently nodded after she spoke and kept vigilant.

Tiara"s face was drenched with sweat. Although the Flame Power was already strong enough to be counted as part of the main force, it was undeniable that the master Tiara lacked combat experience as offense. The enemy was so strong that even a small amount of damage would undo the summoning, so she was mentally exhausted.

Chloe had an uneasy expression as she looked out of the trench while wiping Tiara"s sweat with a handkerchief.

「I wonder how it"s going?」

「The monkeys have probably been annihilated. The three monsters Kazane called Odan.o.bunaga Ashigaru have been defeated, and we"re now fighting with sword using and arrow shooting types.」

Chloe was only talking to herself, but Tiara was simultaneously fighting on the frontline while sitting with them, and she sincerely answered. Tiara was a.s.signed to the Archer opponents. Kazane was defending against the arrow attacks, but Odan.o.bunaga Archers were even strong in close combat. The arrow-like claws they had been holding in both hands had transformed into swords, and they had started attacking them with their two swords.

And according to Kazane, it seemed the Odan.o.bunagas were vulnerable to fire, so her Flame Power was a good match against them. In fact, they were hatefully screaming things like『HoNnō-JiーhELpー』, so that was probably certain, but the crucial flame wouldn"t cause damage unless it went through their sh.e.l.l.

「AAAAAH!!?」

And at that moment, Tiara screamed and collapsed.

「What"s wrong!?」

Chloe was surprised and supported Tiara, who was about to fall over, but it seemed Tiara wasn"t conscious. Louise called out to the fl.u.s.tered Chloe.

「Chloe, calm down. I think her summoned knight was killed. She had the feedback at its highest, so it can"t be helped. Have her comfortably lie down for now.」

After Louise spoke, Chloe nodded as she spread an Indestructible Cloak and laid Tiara on top of it.

「Strange. According to Jinrai-kun, this was supposed to be a desirable job that didn"t require us to be either too relaxed or too tense.」

Louise smiled bitterly at the situation completely becoming a major battle. Chloe made an apologetic expression, but Louise replied「Well, a different party would have definitely been completely annihilated, so this could be considered lucky.」Chloe would have been the one to guide that hypothetical other party, so she definitely would have been killed with them. Thinking that way, this wasn"t a bad thing. As long as they could return alive.

********

A tremendous sound rang out as the ground was pulverized. That was the power of the blow from Black Metal Minos" two-handed sword. After preparing the trench for the rear guard, Black Metal Minos had returned to the front line, and it was now fighting an Odan.o.bunaga Blade.

That Minotaur made of stone was 4 meters tall from the start, and it was one size bigger now that it was armored. There was no way its blow wouldn"t be powerful. But the Odan.o.bunaga Blade avoided it. Then it cut Black Metal Minos with its own huge blade-like right claw. However, Black Metal Minos was covered with armor, so the Blade"s attack was dulled. If it were a normal Stone Minotaur, it would have been blown away by even that one armed blow, but now it had enough defense to endure it.

And Jinrai didn"t miss the gap created by the Odan.o.bunaga Blade slashing down with great force.

「Foolish!」

So saying, Jinrai entrusted the power to Yuuko-nee"s rush and thrust his spear at its joint, then twisted to instantly destroy its left arm.

「Tch」

「GiNyaA!?」

At the same time, a sword pierced Yuuko-nee"s body. A different Odan.o.bunaga Blade had kamikaze attacked Jinrai. Jinrai had promptly tried to defend with the spear in his other hand, but he was unable to completely prevent it, so Yuuko-nee was damaged in exchange.

「Nyanyanyaa!」

But Yuuko-nee didn"t succ.u.mb. While still pierced, she threw a fireball at the Odan.o.bunaga Blade"s face with her tail.

『HeLpーーーーーー!!!!』

The sticky flame clung to the face of the Odan.o.bunaga, which was vulnerable to fire, and the Blade screamed in pain as it tumbled to the ground.

And to make doubly sure, Yuuko-nee sliced the Odan.o.bunaga Blade with the claws on both her forelimbs. The sh.e.l.l of an Odan.o.bunaga was hard, but it had bad compatibility with Yuuko-nee"s flame claws. Flames spouted from the parts that were sliced, causing the Blade to tumble even further, and Black Metal Minos swung and smashed it with one blow.

「Yuuko-nee, are you okay?」

「Nyaa」

Yuuko-nee had a pained expression, but she was saying「I"m fine」with her response. It seemed she had covered the wound with the adhesive material she used to make her fireb.a.l.l.s sticky.

But a moment of carelessness was fatal against the enemy before them. The Blade that had attacked it earlier instantly stood before Black Metal Minos,

『DeCeIVeD, AkEcHiIIIII!!!』

And it collapsed together with the dreadful roar of the monster. The Odan.o.bunaga Blade that had its left arm destroyed by Jinrai earlier bisected Black Metal Minos from the front.

「You"re quite capable.」

That blow was splendid. He never expected that the more than 4 meter tall giant could be so beautifully cut in half. (So these are superior monsters from the Dark Forest?) Jinrai thought, his blood boiling.

As for his disciple...

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Summoning Fighter

t.i.tle: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner, Rea King

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Draghorn Tonfa x2, Dragonscale Breastplate, Drake Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Sylphyn Skirt, Plasma Pants, Dragon Eating Ogre King"s Greaves, Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, Magic Acc.u.mulator, White Magic Acc.u.mulator, Rainbow Necklace, Rainbow Dragon Ring

Level : 34

Health: 138

Magic Power: 275+420

Strength: 60+20

Agility: 61+14

Endurance: 34

Wisdom : 67

Dexterity : 43

Spell : 『Fly』『Torch』『Fire』『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』『Golden Dusk「Dragon Exclusive」』『Mirror Shield』

Skill : 『Kick Devil』『Warrior"s Memory: Lv2』『Night Vision』『Crushing Blow』『Dog"s Sense of Smell: Lv2』『Golem Maker: Lv3』『Rush』『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』『Air Jump: Lv2』『Killing Leg: Lv3』『Fear Voice』『Invisible』『Tiger Eye』『Wall Walking』『Intuition』『Cheat Death』『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield: Lv2』『Information Link: Lv2』『Optical Camouflage』『High Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Hand Placement』『Thunder Chariot: Lv2』『St.u.r.dier Teeth: Lv2「Dragon」』『Crystallization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Fabricated Coercion』『Stone Minotaur: Lv2』『Mega Beam: Lv2』『s.p.a.ce Expansion』『Pseudo-Silver Creation』『Poison Claw』『Fireball「Dragon」』『Cuticle「Dragon」』『Arms Creation: Black Flame』『Ingredient Connoisseur』『Dragon Pheromone「Dragon」』『Boost』『Monkey"s Strong Arm』

Yumika:「Naoki, survival confirmed!」

Kazane:「Thank goodness!!!」