Chapter 17.2

Chapter 17.2

「What did ye even do back there?」

As they were on break, Douga examined the particulars on the wall as he asked Haruna with a very grave face. The fragment that had surely collided with the wall was nowhere to be seen, and the only record of something actually happening was just the large fissure. As it was but a mere fragment, it had apparently been ground into dust with the impact of the crash.

「All I did was flick some shard with my finger.」

She said, taking out a shard of similar shape and size and showing it to Douga. As to why she had such a thing in the first place, it was because she had picked it up in the inner courtyard in anticipation of actually using magic.

「So that is what brought this on…」

「By the way, this is what it’s like if you flick it like normal.」

She said, flicking it at a different point than the previous. The launched shard let out a dry, light whooshing sound as it hit the wall, rebounding off of it and falling to the floor. She didn’t even put much effort into it, and yet there was still quite the force exerted. It would likely hurt a bit if it were to directly hit the skin. Be as that may, as long as it didn’t directly hit the eyes, it certainly wasn’t enough power to lead to any big injuries.

「So that’s what happens to these things…」

「Yeah, pretty terrifying to think that the speed is 100 times the usual amount. I didn’t even know that she had these in the first place.」

Julius chimed in with an awed tone when Douga groaned.

「It was a lot flashier than I expected, so I was surprised, but thinking about it, they increase in speed by 100, so that would apply to being thrown as well. Pretty simple logic.」

「Leavin’ aside whether it’s simple logic or not, even at 50 times more in the air, the kinetic energy’d be at 2,500 times more. With its power amplified that much, it’d probably sink into the wall.」

Haruna nodded at what Hiroshi said. If all of the conditions besides speed were the same, the kinetic energy would become proportionately raised to the second power. Even with a small stone being flung and increasing things a hundred times in terms of the theory of relativity, it would probably be harmless in terms of pure Newton physics.

With just that amount of speed, if you flicked a stone it would of course significantly impact your fingers, so if she did not strengthen your body prior to the impact, it probably would have crushed Haruna’s fingers into a fine powder. Therefore, it was preposterous to even think of someone raising the speed so high while not lightening the knockback at all on the body.

「Yeah, I think all I got from that was that it isn’t feasible to use this.」

「Mhm. And as expected, it only lasted about 3 seconds in real-time.」

「Of course there’s the body, but if you also aren’t extremely quick-witted or skilled with close-combat weapons, the weapon itself could break as soon as you even hit them once with it.」

Everyone found themselves nodding at Tatsuya’s observation. No one could deny that she was strong, but they also couldn’t deny that it might not even be worth it.

「Well, weapons are generally metallic, so other than the weapons like the rapier that originally had durability issues, I’m pretty sure that a hundred times more wouldn’t be nothin’. They ain’t gonna break that easily as long as nothing more crazy than that happens.」

「So doesn’t that basically mean a side-effect emerges from that fission?」

「Well, yeah, ya got me there…」

Hiroshi found himself groaning in response to Makoto’s comment. The whole thing was just difficult to use in every way.

「Haru, can I ask you something?」

「What?」

「How does it feel when you use it?」

「Everything around me moves so slowly, as if halting all movement, while I can move as per usual. Although it kind of all ends when I move…」

Mio nodded in comprehension at Haruna’s answer. If someone were to have a good idea of how to use it, it would be powerful, but this spell was just so full of hazards.

「I just had a thought, if you want to hear.」

「What might that be?」

「If it were Hiroshi, maybe he could last about ten seconds in real time?」

Layotte’s said something rather scary, but everyone other than Hiroshi was surprisingly agreeable with this statement.

「Now just hold yer horses! We just saw how dangerous this whole thing is now yer just jumpin’ to the next guinea pig?!」

「But hey, if you use that then your issue with inadequate firepower will be resolved just like that!」

「But if I’m gonna go into hypermode like that I need to last at least 3 minutes or else it’s pretty useless!」

Even when he frantically tried to reject this idea, he was outnumbered and shut down by everyone there other than Haruna. In a sense, Haruna may have been even more opposed to the idea than Hiroshi, having experienced it herself, but before she could say anything they had made their verdict and left her unable to really argue against that logic.

「We’ll start out by solidifying the space and changing the color, so use that for the target.」

「Yeah, target. Not vague at all…」

Hiroshi made a puzzled face as he looked at the “target” that Layotte had identified. Suddenly, there was an odd black mass about the size of a human enshrined in the area that Layotte directed him to.

「Flexibility and firmness are just right. I’d say it works well.」

「Yeah, but is that really the issue…?」

Mio had touched the target prepared by Layotte all over, expressing her odd impressions.

「But wait, are ya gonna be okay with your current mana, Haruna-san?」

「It’s been replenished a good amount. Honestly, I don’t even think I needed to heal right now in the first place.」

「Is that right…」

Hiroshi began to quickly clear away obstacles from their objective. Unlike some types of offensive magic, the healing, support, obstacle, and day-to-day magic had rigid magic consumption that matched their skill level. In regards to the magic that she had learned this time, other than the already overall taxing support skill Over Accelerate, the regenerative Return Heal had worse cost performance than Healing of the Goddesses, so it didn’t seem like even a Level 5 mana potion would pose a threat with its amount of regeneration. The reason why the amount of mana that Haruna had was inflating each time she learned new magic was probably because she was still quite good to go.

「Yeah, I really don’t think I want to use that on other people.」

There was also the fact that Hiroshi didn’t want to, and Haruna herself even displayed a reluctance to use such dangerous magic. Like Hiroshi, she was stubborn too, but Hiroshi was more of running to his own safety whereas Haruna was rejecting the idea because she was thinking of other people, so Hiroshi ended up looking a bit lousy as a result.

「But we’ve already come this far.」

「Haruna, the fact that sort of magic exists means that eventually there will be someone who you need to use it against. I know that you don’t feel right about this, but sometimes there are things that have to be done ahead of time.」

Haruna simply would not bring herself to go through with this, so Layotte and Makoto chided her. Makoto’s words held weight, as she had fought in the front lines with numerous throngs of enemies, even when they were playing the game. After all, Makoto knew what kinds of people needed to have Hiroshi and his arguably extreme defense and resistance. More precisely, one of the reasons why their capture of Purgatory had ended abruptly in the middle was that they lacked the proper endurance of a tank. Of course it was near impossible to think of a partner who needed this much support magic, but even if it had nothing to do with the main quests, Purgatory had still yet to be explored all the way to the end, despite allowing people to enter and exit as they pleased. Who even knew what was liable to come out at them?

To add to that, even the second main quest’s mid-boss was far stronger than the boss of your average dungeon. Even Purgatory, which was classified as a regular dungeon, was constantly causing even the most dedicated shut-ins of the highest caliber to repeatedly run out of time or get all wiped out due to a lack of resources, so you really could not be ready enough for what kind of fiends the bosses past the fourth main quest were like. So when they thought of the possibility that they very well might have to end up facing such opponents in real life, there was no reason to abandon the magic that they had gone to such lengths to obtain.

「Hiro, hurry up and ready yourself.」

「Yeah whatever, don’t act like ya wouldn’t try ‘n get out of it too…」

Everyone uncomfortably looked the other way when Hiroshi desperately retorted. True, they could never bring themselves to say that they wouldn’t feel scared about becoming experimental subjects after seeing ruptured blood vessels all over Haruna after moving but an inch. While it was true that she hadn’t yet known what it was going to be like, the fact that Haruna had stepped forward despite recognizing the potential risk truly impressed them on how gallant and gutsy of a woman she was.

「Anyhow, I gotta do it too so hurry up and prepare yourselves, you two.」

「What!? We’re still doing it!?」

Haruna let out a loud voice when Makoto said that. It was way too unbelievable for her to suddenly say that despite having averted her eyes from Hiroshi.

「Well yeah, of course. Mio and I are about the same in terms of endurance, so I gotta confirm how we’d do at this line. Even if she has to experience it in the future, I definitely can’t just force such a dangerous thing on Mio all of a sudden.」

「Mako, you’re so cool…」

「…Wow, so this is what it feels like to be left out…」

When Makoto suddenly said something manly, Mio gave her a gaze of admiration while Hiroshi felt a strange sense of defeat. People of the female persuasion can truly make decisions when they have to.

「Hiro, before you show any more of your lousy side, it would be best to just get on it dude.」

「Hey Bro, just cuz I’m outta the loop doesn’t mean whatever ya say goes…」

Fed up with Tatsuya’s words, especially since he wasn’t even participating in this experiment, Hiroshi cut in. That being said, he couldn’t deny that Tatsuya had said something very true. It was impossible for a Japanese who had no air resistance to complain any further.

「Alright…Haruna-san, let’s just get this over…」

「A-Are you sure…?」

「I can’t keep throwin’ some tantrum here…」

Not exactly ready, but resigned to his fate, Hiroshi readied his newly-acquired pole axe and powerlessly answered Haruna. After hearing that, Haruna made a mildly apologetic face as she cast Increase Endurance before activating the long-awaited technique.

「Over-Accelerate!」

At the same time as the activation of the magic, Hiroshi’s form grew hazy and the gaudy sound of something being crushed continued without ceasing. The target they had set up had been beaten up in the first second, pulverized in precisely five seconds.

「Welp, this is as far as I go…」

Hiroshi grumbled with a tired demeanor, releasing the spell right after the target was crushed to bits. Having said that, unlike Haruna, there was no indication that his body was worn out. He was standing firmly on his own feet and had an exasperating amount of firmness.

「But really tho, I’m super lucky that the person enchanted has a release switch too…」

「You couldn’t hold out a bit longer?」

「Well hey, this is pretty much whatcha get in actual usage…」

Hiroshi gave a supplemental explanation to Makoto, who still couldn’t get her head around what had just happened.

「Honestly, if ya mean up till I end up falling then yeah, a mite more, but usin’ potions ‘n return heals everyday ain’t gonna work well in the long run. I mean c’mon, continuin’ battle like this even now is pretty sketchy.」

「…I see. It certainly would be silly to not leave some remaining energy.」

「You got the picture, yup.」

He replied, examining the pole axe that had been thoroughly pulverized in an instant. As the target had been fairly hard, it was a little too much for a weapon that had not had any sort of enchantment cast on it.

「Welp, gotta hammer this sucker back in.」

Looking at the strangely twisted hilt of his specialized weapon, he grumbled in a dejected manner. He said hammer back in, but maybe it was actually better to just melt it and make it all over again. Although it would be inferior to something he personally made himself, this story of an arguably first-rate item being turned into scrap metal within just one day would probably live on in infamy.

「And that’s not even anything close to a bad weapon, but wow, it had a short lifespan.」

「Yeah, I think there should’ve been a better way…」

Hiroshi replied to Julius’s impressions while slightly holding his head. In all honesty, it was very possible that if the weapon were not a highly prized specialty (even the hilt was metal) that had been used by one of Douga’s contemporaries (retiring last year), it would have bent out of shape with the first hit.

「Lay, the target’s a mite too hard. It’d be a drag to have another one go plunk, so do me a favor ‘n make it thirty percent softer.」

「Okay.」

Responding to Hiroshi’s request, he left the resistance as it was while dropping the hardness by 30% on the newly made target.

「Hiroshi-kun, are you sure you’ll be fine without healing?」

「I made sure to halt the spell before it went too far, so takin’ a little break is all I need.」

「Mm, okay.」

Haruna was truly relieved once she confirmed that unlike her, he had not had any issues.

「So, Haruna. Mana count?」

「Wait a bit longer. It’ll still be a bit difficult for Return Heal.」

「Understood.」

Makoto waited a bit longer for the charge after hearing Haruna’s personal report. It was best to have as much insurance as possible.