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Chapter 160.1: The One who He Wanted to Protect
Pilulululu!– The moment I heard that out-of-place electric sound, I heaved a sigh of relief.
「――Hello, Kotaro-kun? It’s done.」
「I see. Thank goodness. What about Sakurai-kun?」
「No problem, I killed him properly.」
Maybe the honor to feel the tinge of sadness upon hearing that news was the privilege of the victor.
「Understood, I’ll be there immediately.」
「Yeah. I’ll be waiting for you on the rooftop.」
I hung up my cellphone after that short exchange.
Our plan this time was for Mei-chan to charge forward by herself towards the sniping point of Sakurai-kun, his base. In short, we just were bulldozing with Mei-chan’s brute force.
I used my clone as a fake shield along with crow Rem and her air force as Mei-chan’s backup. As for me, I ended up waiting in vain near the bridge along with Rem III, Arachne Rem, and Rem I without getting our chance. The moment this plan began, I had no other job other than looking for the timing to let our air force take a flight across the bridge, and praying for Mei-chan’s success with Ruinhilde-sama.
I was the one who prepared the draft for this plan but, I was once again forced to feel the powerlessness of my vocation. Unable to stand in the frontline along with Mei-chan, only being able to prepare a plan and then helplessly watch the situation was really painful.
Perhaps I am really unsuited to become a general. I might have no hesitation to send a complete stranger to the dangerous frontline. But the one I sent to the frontline wasn’t a stranger, it was Mei-chan, my goddess herself.
Anyhow, though it seemed so long, it actually took less than five minutes for Mei-chan to cross the bridge under Sakurai-kun ‘s sniping. And now, I’m glad that it ended well for us, yes, FOR US.
After receiving the word from Mei-chan, I hurriedly left the building that I was using as a hiding place, running toward Sakurai-kun’s base.
Looking at numerous arrows scattered around the bridge made me realize again just how intense the battle that happened between Mei-chan and Sakurai-kun was. Honestly, I shuddered upon thinking that Mei-chan could actually force her way through this rain of arrows.
Since I shared my consciousness with my body double, I also experienced the bridge crossing battle in real-time. My vision kept swaying non-stop due to the intense movements of Mei-chan’s shield though.
In the blink of an eye, I had already crossed the bridge as I was thinking about the battle to cross the bridge from a while ago. Even though I spent a full week formulating the perfect tactic to cross the bridge, normally speaking, it’d only take a few seconds for me to cross the bridge without any interruption from the sniper.
And then, I looked up towards the building that had already turned into the sniper’s base.
「Mei-chan running on the wall of this tall building huh…」
Wow, to think that she just climbed this tall building by running on its wall. This was definitely Mei-chan’s improvisation of our original plan. To be honest, our original plan was for her to enter the building and climb up the stairs all the way to the roof.
I couldn’t hide my shock when I saw her pulling off such an incredible feat with sheer strength, or rather, I almost thought that my eyes must be tricking me. I mean, just what kind of movement type martial arts must she have mastered that allowed her to run on the wall like that.
For a moment, I even thought of asking her to train me to run on the wall like that, but I shook off the foolish idea immediately. I mean, I might be able to achieve the same result by riding on Arachne Rem’s back, but then, that kind of thrill wasn’t for a wimpy character like me.
Thus, let’s just take a proper route to the roof- the stairs.
「Ah, just in case, if there’s a trap in there, III, please go first and check the safety inside.」
「GUGAGA」
Rem III gallantly entered right from the front entra―― PEW!
「… THE HECK!」
Rem III got smashed to bits by huge debris as soon as she went in through the entrance. The building around this area might look like an ancient, weathered building, but for debris to collapse right on top of Rem III at this timing sounded too good to be true.
「I did consider the possibility of him making a trap to hinder our movement, but this is way too much, Sakurai-kun..」
Sakurai-kun should’ve already died and yet, I felt some sort of malice implanted in the traps installed in this building as if to protect Hinagiku-san. It would be uncool of me if I died by a booby trap after we won.
「Sorry Mei-chan, my arrival might be delayed a bit.」
Only after I remade Rem III did I step inside the building.
===
Again, I would have a hard time collecting her remnant if Rem III got destroyed by trap, that’s why I used the more effective 『Skeleton Summon』 as my meat shield, I just needed to sacrifice some of my mana to summon them after all. No matter how vicious the booby traps were, I could press through safely almost without risk by using this tactic.
「Ah, you’re late, Kotaro-kun, a minute more and I would’ve gone down looking for you.」
「Uhm, some traps in the building are blocking my way after a―― Wait, what about you, Mei-chan!? Look, you’re in a worse situation than me!」
Her thigh, shoulder, and abdomen were shot by arrows. The silver lining was the fact that she avoided vital areas, but it didn’t change the fact that the other parts of her body were hit by the arrows. As a result, it was as if she was bathed in blood.
I understood when observing the battle to cross the bridge that she definitely wouldn’t come out unscathed, but upon a closer look, I realized again that “unscathed” was an understatement.
「Ah, you mean these arrows? it’s okay, I already used your ointment to close the wound.」
It seems she did all the first aid treatment from plucking out the arrows and applying the ointment to close the wound by herself while I was disabling the traps on the way up. Upon closer look, I found some bloodstained arrows rolling around on the ground beside her.
「No, but it’s still dangerous and painful to do that alone.」
「Uhm, not that painful since I drank the painkiller and the antidote has been working properly too. Moreover, despite the amount of bleeding, I’m still fine thanks to my 『Increase of Blood』.」
We’d already factored the possibility of Sakurai-kun using a poisoned arrow in our plan. In general, poisoned arrows and fire arrows were cliches in every game. Incidentally, I had also included the possibility of him having an ability to enchant his arrow with magic such as lightning or ice, but we got lucky that he didn’t have those.
Anyhow, considering the possibility of Sakurai-kun in the possession of poisoned arrows, Mei-chan’s superb physical ability alone wouldn’t be enough to resist his attack. Thus, I made Mei-chan drink a lot of antidote made from blue flowers beforehand to counter the poisoned arrow.
In addition, I’m really glad that the 『Painkiller』 was working properly and allowed her to suppress the pain from being shot with an arrow.
「Even so, please don’t overexert your body and rest for the rest of the day.」
「Uhm, thanks. But let’s find Hinagiku-san first.」
「Yeah.」
It seems she was bedridden due to a serious injury, but she was still alive for sure. There was nothing wrong with being overly cautious since who knows what kind of counterattack she would’ve prepared with her vocation. Seeing that we had already killed Sakurai Touya, we had no choice but to kill her too.
Upon looking around, I found Sakurai-kun’s decapitated head in one corner of the rooftop and his headless body right next to it. The reason his eyes closed peacefully might be because Mei-chan closed his eyes for him.
I wouldn’t have any idea about what he felt if he died in a battle against a monster, but as the perpetrator of his death, when I saw his fresh corpse like this, I… nonono, let’s stop thinking about that. The current me had no right to feel that kind of sentiment. Though Mei-chan was the one who killed him in the battle, the one who planned for his death was me. In short, that ghastly headless corpse was what I wished to see.
「Let’s go.」
I left the rooftop along with Mei-chan to go looking for Hinagiku-san inside the building. Since the other party was already gravely wounded, I expected that there would be no battle, so Mei-chan wouldn’t get her turn. But just in case, I asked her to raise her vigilance.
Leading us, as counter-traps, were two summoned skeletons followed by Rem I. Mei-chan and I were placed between Rem I and Rem III. Since Arachne Rem’s body was far too big to pass through the corridor of this building, she was on standby at the entrance of this building.
「I think, she’s on the top floor, closest to the roof.」
Since Sakurai-kun was glaring at anyone who passed the bridge from the rooftop, he most likely spent the majority of the day on the rooftop. If that was the case, he most likely placed Hinagiku-san within his reach.
In addition, monsters who want to attack them must come from the first floor. Naturally, that’s excluding the possibility of specter-type monsters who could appear out of nowhere. Considering the fact that he chose the rooftop as his sniping location, he should’ve prepared a living place on the top floor which was the easiest to access from the rooftop.
「Yeah, no doubt about it. There’s no trap around here and you can find the traces of people living around this floor.」
Only this floor was strangely clean and clear. In addition, there was some sort of workshop or warehouse in one of the corners, things such as monster’s materials and lumbers were scattered around that corner. To put it simply, those scattered materials and lumber screamed that someone had been living in this place.