—Warriors of the Hazama village"s point of view—
The battle"s situation has reached its worst.
The objective of the villagers was to setup a defensive base against the "Abandoned Castle" on the other side of the forest. The high-ranking demon residing over there —the "Black Knight" —has been leading the mamono into organized actions, not just endangering the village, but all the villagers who enter the forest.
Consideration to creating a defensive base in the forest started one month ago. We contemplated all sorts of schemes until deciding upon making fences and pitfalls. Then by building a hut behind it, we can create a simple base. With our strength as oni, we can dig deep holes through night. Such a task is not hard. It was one we"d quickly finish.
However, we were discovered by the enemy in the middle of our work. While we were digging the pitfalls, the black armored soldiers attacked us. Escape was possible, but if we did, they would become able to advance on the village.
The enemy is “Black Soldier” and “Black Goblin” with numbers no less than 40. Not only is it double our own, it is not a number that we can fight. Once we inflict some damage, we planned on escaping—
[…These guys… are tough.]
The male oni stares at his broken long sword with reproach.
They easily overwhelmed the fence. The pitfalls— was still nothing more than a dry moat in progress. It did nothing to stall the mamono Moreover, the long battle has begun to take its toll one everyone"s weapons.
“How about your club?”
“Look for yourself, it snapped in two. Well, I"m not unable to fight.”
The oni villager shrugs while holding half of a club in his hands.
“Lizette-sama would be able to jab at their eyes and mouths.”
“We oni are brutes. That"s impossible for us.”
The oni man beside me laughs ironically.
[We spent too much time here. The village is short on hands…]
[Lizette and Haruka aare still there. Those two will come up with something.]
[Yeah….]
Bunn!
A oni man swings his club. With a dull sound, an armored soldier is blown away. At the same time, the remains of the club breaks. With a curse, the oni tosses aside his club and readies his fist.
[Tell the Oni…]
The blown away soldier stands back up. Its shield is dented, but the damaged isn"t significant. More than a dozen other “Black Soldiers” and “Black Goblins” form a line and slowly approach.
They are trying to surround villagers from their three sides, the front, right, and left.
[This forest is our territory.]
A "Black soldier"s" eyes shine red from within their helmets as they speak:
[All of you will die here. The survivors should shut themselves within their village until this forest is overrun by our brethren.]
[After that, we will exterminate the oni.]
[This is the desire of the Black Knight, Mettherat-sama.]
[Don"t say something so idiotic! We all live in this forest!]
[You really think the villagers will be able to live like that!?]
[We need to clear the fields after this! You think we"ll let you stop us?!]
The villagers raise their weapons overhead and shout.
[The era of your happiness has ended.]
The black warriors speak.
[We "Black Demons" will replace the demi-humans as the neighbor of the humans. Fighting against humans will be more fun. Without order, there is no chaos. We shall enjoy having something to destroy.]
[….Saying something so selfish.]
The oni clasped their weapons tightly. We are already surrounded. There is an opening behind us— our only escape is to return to the village. Except, the soldiers forming their back ranks are all wielding bows. It"s possible they"ll start releasing arrows on us the second we turn around.
We know that, but most of our weapons are broken or bent and have become useless. We"ll have no choice but to fight bare hand if we stay. We need to break through the siege and return to the village. After that, we can fight by relying on the village walls.
The oni men looked at each other and nod.
[You can"t escape.]
A black armored soldier is laughing.
[Despair, that is what we of the “clan of darkness"…]
[Shut up! You think there"s anyone who wants to hear anything you say?]
Then a voice comes from above—
The next moment—
[GYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!]
A sharp scream rings out. A long sword strikes down directly from above and splits the armored soldier in half.
[As expected from…."Super hard," Shomnii-sama"s sword.]
A girl lands while laughing, her silver hair waving behind her. She came down from the sky and cut the black soldier in half with that momentum.
[Even when armored soldiers are slain, it doesn"t even get chipped. If it"s like this, then the battles can go one for much longer.]
The girl standing at the backs of the mamono holds out her long sword. The villagers stare with their eyes wide open. She can"t be in such a place. The battle was too sudden for the oni to send a message to the village. Even if one had been sent - reinforcements shouldnt be able to arrive so fast.
"Hazama Village"s" strongest "Dragon Blood" girl is supposed to be in the village.
[By nii-sama"s instructions, Lizette Ryuge is here to help.]
However, the girl before our eyes loudly declares such. There is no way we villagers will mistake her figure. A slender body, silver hair, and a strong will housed withing cherry blossom-colored eyes. Finally, there are the small crystal horns behind her ears.
It"s no doubt she is the girl living in Hazama village, the "Descendant of Dragon King," Lizette Ryuge.
[Lizette-sama….Why are you here?]
The villagers raise their voices.
[Shouldn"t Lizette be defending the village?]
The girl smiles as she looks at the villagers.
[If the people of the village are in danger, matter where they are, Lizette will hurry to their aid. Nii-sama also lent me his wings … Of course, it was Lizette"s first time flying through the sky, so … Lizette held him a bit tightly.]
The girl blushes with those words. Her expression is that of maiden who had fallen in love, one that no villager had never seen before.
[Gigi?!] [How?!]
The mamono behind her raise their voices.
They are trying to form a half-circular formation to surround the villagers. Ryuge landed behind them. The rear guards of mamono are soldiers with bows and arrows and goblins. They have been suddenly infiltrated and are panicking.
It"s not an opportunity that Lizette can overlook.
[The truth is…. Lisette wants to cherish the sword that was strengthened by Shomnii-sama.]
Lisette starts running while holding the sword. The black goblin before her eyes has its bow and quiver swept away along with its torso.
The villagers couldn"t believe what they are seeing. The goblins and the black soldiers should be extremely tough, yet their bodies are being cut apart by Lizette"s sword without difficulty.
[It"s… strong, because it"s a sword given by Lizette"s Nii-sama!]
[GuaaaaAAAA!]
Soldier fall, their poisonous blood spreading across the ground.
[Surround her! Enclosed her!!!!!] [Fight in a group!] [Surround and kill her!]
The mamono scream and surround around Lisette.
But ──
[You"re the one"s surrounded. Don"t you realize that?]
Another voice echoes from above.
[Gugaroga!]
The body of the “Black Soldier” who screamed is blown away.
[Gulgar?] [Gogbat!?]
Nearby “Black Goblins” are caught up by the attack. The soldiers and mamono are blown away altogether. Three bodies slam into trees and roll to the ground. Just the force with which they strike the trees is enough to stop them from getting back up. They intertwine with one another as though they were originally a single creature and do not move anymore.
[Haruka Carmilia, is here! Where are the evil mamono tormenting everyone?]
Next to Lizette stands Haruka wielding a long staff. Her red hair billows as she displays a fearless smile.
[This is my first time using this weapon! I won"t be going easy on any of you! Prepare yourselves for her I come!]
[Fuu….. An oni who can only play around with a stick….GA!?]
The soldier directly receives her swing has its body smashed down. It falls to the ground with its shoulders smashed and spine broken where it stops moving.
[… what is that weapon?]
[… You"re holding the same staff as us. How is it powerful enough to smash their armor?]
The warriors of the oni tribes stare at Lizette and Haruka. They are surrounded by mamono. For them to have come from the village should mean that they would appear behind them. Instead, they plunged down behind the mamono. When did this happen? They should not have been able to run there. Also, what is with their powerful weapons?
[I"m sorry for interrupting your conversation.]
A fluttering sound can be heard.
The oni villagers turned around, and among the trees, find a man dressed in unusual clothes.
A human … maybe. For a moment, I feel like I can see pure white wings on his back. It"s probably because I"m exhausted since he has neither horns nor wings. He has a perfect human figure.
[Why is a human here?] [Who is that?] [A person from the human territory?]
[Lizette and Haruka"s family-no, an acquaintance.]
The man lightly bows his head and then reaches out into the empty sky.
[I come bringing weapons.]
When he acts like he"s pulling something out, a long sword appeared. He does the same action again, and this time, pulls out a staff. He didn"t bring anything with him, but weapons just appear before. A total of 20 long swords and staffs are brought out.
The number of weapons he brings out matches the number of villagers before him
[I"m Kiryou Shouma, I will tell you more about myself later but I"m not your enemy.]
[Where did you come from!?]
[How did you come here!?]
[Where did you take out the weapon!?]
[Are you a human? A merchant!? Or perhaps a high cla.s.s mamono!?]
It"s probably because we"re exhausted from the long battle. We oni surround the human…Shoma, but keep our distance and refrain from reaching out to the weapons.
[….As expected, immediately getting your trust is impossible.]
The male—Shoma holds his forehead. He then shakes his head and gazes up at the sky where he murmurs his thoughts.
[It can"t be helped. I"ll use the same way with the case of the Harpies. "In the of the mutated overlord"——]
Shoma"s hair starts to wave. His pupils narrow into slits and a pearly horn grows from his head.
["The power of the Oni here"— "KiShouKaKuSei".]
[[[—?!]]]
The villagers raise their voices. The man before them transforms into an oni just like them in seconds.
[[[We didn"t think that it was another person!!]]]
[To the proud people of the Oni tribe, listen to the words of the mutated overlord!!]
Shoma takes a firm step forward and cries out.
[I am not your enemy! I"m the last to arrive with Lizette and Haruka. I come baring the same weapons they use!!]
[[[I see!!!]]]
[I ask the warriors here, can you guys— no, can you all still fight?]
The man then turns away for some reason, possibly because of embarra.s.sment. He then continues,
[If you can"t fight, Haruka, Lizette, and I will cover your escape. Take a weapon and run straight to the village. Lizette and Haruka will retrieve me later. If you will fight—-]
[—Of course we"re fighting!?]
An oni shouts out.
[We have already reach this far! We are going to deal with the mamono here!!]
[The healing power of the oni is top-notch! As long as there are weapons, the mamono won"t be such a threat to us!!]
[Lend us your weapons! Onii-chan! I want to help you, Lizette-sama and Haruksama!]
We all roar out at once.
[Understood, then Itoo.]
[You take a rest. Just coming out here is enough. You"re already a savior to the oni.”
The Oni"s—-largest man scratches his head out of embarra.s.sment.
[This is only our first meeting but you had already done this much……. Not even the legendary "Dragon Emperor"-sama would tolerate us this much ….hahaa.]
The oni pick up their weapons and charge. They rush the “Black Soldiers” and “Black Goblins” surrounding them.
—-Shoma Viewpoint—
[My task ends here?]
Then, for some reason, I touch the top of my head. As expected, there is a horn. The same firm objects I felt on the heads of the children head.
[This is "Kishoukakusei"? Like I thought, a horn grows on my head.]
It"s because in my former world, I hadn"t awaken yet.
The effects of “Kishoukakusei” are “Strength increase”, “Regeneration ability increase”, “Super Armor” and “Guard cancel”. I don"t have any confidence towards combat, but it will be enough to survive this place.
[Thanks for carrying Haruka. Harpy!]
I called out to the harpy overhead. A pair are perched on the branch of a nearby tall tree.
[You are safe there. I"ll be keeping guard back here]
[We believe you!] [Thank you for the concern, king!!]
The harpy reply while giving light flaps of their wings. I keep my back to the tree and ready my weapon.
The villagers thrust into the swarm of mamono, brandishing their weapons. The disadvantage they faced before seems like a lie. The swords enchanted with, "Naming Bless" cut through the swords and shields of the "Soldiers" without difficulty. The goblins can"t get close to the villagers. Naturally, they"ll be blown away if hit by their staffs.
Furthermore, the swarm of mamono also have to deal with Lizette and Haruka who attack their rear lines with the same type of weapons.
[The women of the oni tribe! There is no need to rush!]
[Please only attack the mamono who flee that way! If you can afford it, release arrows!!]
Haruka and Lizette yell out while fighitng.
Naturally, no oni women will come. The harpy and I were only able to carry along two others. So, this is a complete bluff, not that the enemy knows that. The fact that Lizette and Haruka appeared in the first place is unexpected for them.
[Guooooooo!?]
Hence, the mamono cry out of fear. They are panicking from the front and back, unable to escape.
[… I don"t think I"m needed here.]
At the moment, my abilities are not suitable for group battles.
This is my first time using “Kishoukakusei”. Providing support from here is for the best. If it becomes necessary, I"ll release the breath from “Ryushoukakusei”]
[Let me know if need ma.s.sive firepower! I can fire out at any time!]
[[[Oooh!!]]]
The villagers replied with loud cries.
For now, I will stand here and guard the back. I stay alert for anything—–well I don"t think something will happen.
Chapter 16>