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Chapter 194.2: Public Service
Since the first inspection, around the time when Yamata no Orochi fired its breath attack, I realized that no one could survive its direct attack.
Fortunately, that guy’s breath had an extremely low hit rate, lowering the chances of someone getting hit directly, but still, that overwhelming firepower that could literally change the terrain was no joke. Other than Souma-kun, Tendou-kun, and Mei-chan, our strongest vanguard, no one among the rest of us could emerge unscathed from the direct hit(its breath). Me aside, not even Kenzaki Asuna and the Totem Pole Trio could survive that direct hit.
Meaning that currently, no one could fight as a vanguard to assist our strongest trio.
「That’s why I think we should make a trench for everyone to take shelter during dangerous moments.」
「Since it’s just a roughly dug-out trench, can it really protect someone from that dangerous-looking beam?」
「It should as long as it isn’t a direct hit right from the front. According to previous observations, even when that guy was spitting flame or thunder, it didn’t have a big impact on the soil.」
Though Orochi’s beam had an overwhelming amount of magical power in it, its penetration power didn’t seem to be that great. But when we’re closing in on it, the danger would increase to a whole different level since they would rampage while firing all kinds of elements such as ice, thunder, flame, shockwave, and among others that had an even more dangerous range of attack than the beam.
Nevertheless, even those various elemental attacks only passed over our heads if we were to hide in the trench. I had managed to deduce the pattern of each elemental attack, which was spread like a shockwave while I was being carried by Mei-chan.
「Appearancewise, it might look unreliable, but still, the trench is a solid defense, or should I say that we’re using the ground itself as our shield, which raises the degree of our safety.」
「Hu~mph, as expected of Momokawa, you’ve been considering several possibilities.」
That was the only way for me, someone lacking physical strength, to survive this far. After all, I had to use everything that was at my disposal. Despite my continuous prayers for new cheat skills; the path of a shaman was a tough one.
「And then, I want you to make a bunker right next to the trench.」
「What the heck is that?」
「Something like a snow hut for children to play with but made of concrete, I want you to build a solid one.」
Class Rep, Randou-san, and Shimokawa were spellcasters who could use their spells to attack from a long distance. And their common weakness was their overwhelming lack of physical defense. Naturally, that weakness was compensated by their magic barrier to block a physical attack, but ultimately the one with the vanguard-type vocation such as a swordsman or warrior had a sturdier body.
「Look, building a bunker would be equivalent to enabling the spellcaster to use their long-range attack from a safe place, right?」
「I see now.」
It had yet to be tested if such a feat was possible. But still, we should at least build a bunker that could withstand a direct hit from a breath attack.
「Anyhow, the terrain around the boss’ lair is our enemy’s home ground. That’s why we’ve to dig trenches, build bunkers, and employ all kinds of methods to change the terrain to our advantage.」
It was not like our enemy could move from its lair.
Since our enemy couldn’t move from its lair, we could use everything around the lair to our advantage. Using raid strategy from fictional games would only backfire on us, we had to be realistic.
That’s why we were going to transform that fella’s home ground into our home ground. And Randou Kyokou’s 『Geomancer』 power was vital for that.
「We aren’t in hurry, let’s do it carefully, step by step.」
「Ye~h.」
Thus began, Randou-san’s digging duty, the so-called public service.
===
「Oi, it’s time to go back.」
When the sun dipped into the west, Tendou-kun, who had just smashed one of Yamata no Orochi’s heads, called out to us who were still busy with the construction job to go back.
Come to think of it, it was easy to tell the day and night since we were outdoors.
「Okay, let’s go back.」
Naah, Randou-san who stretched her body looked like a middle-aged man right now. Though she didn’t spend that much magical power thanks to her gargantuan amount of magical power, it seemed to focus on using her skill repeatedly consumed a lot of mental strength. This might be a good chance to train her magic too.
In fact, while the amount was insignificant, Randou-san’s digging art, 『Terra Shield』 became more efficient for digging. At this rate, we might be able to finish a round of trench of a considerable depth in the next few days.
「Thanks for the hard work. I’m going to stay in this place.」
「Eh, that’s seriously overtime, Momokawa.」
「Well, this one is my offshoot after all.」
Since I only had to share our vision, I could leave my offshoot right here in this place. There was no need to share my senses since the offshoot was basically hidden, but I still had to do this.
However, I definitely didn’t wish to restore our sense’s sharing after a rain. I didn’t want to wake up and find myself covered in mud after all. It couldn’t be helped, this process was necessary to gain proficiency.
「Now that you remind me about it, you are right.」
「Yeah, that’s why don’t worry about me and go back to the base right away. The hunt seems to be going really well, so expect a lot of delicious dishes.」
The hunting team had already returned with their harvest. And just as I had expected, Souma-kun brought back the best game. At this rate, he should as well change his job to 『Hunter』, right?
「Well then, see you again tomorrow.」
The real me had been waiting in the school tower and yet I was seeing off Randou-san who rode on Alfa and Tendou-kun who was on foot. After they left, only my 『Twin Shadow』 remained in this place.
「Well then, let’s observe the night ecology of the boss too.」
I mean, if the boss slept at night too, wouldn’t we be able to use that chance to attack at their weakest moment? Though I didn’t think it would be that easy, we might’ve to change our plan if the boss turned out to be weaker at night.
Yamata no Orochi aside, there were those troublesome gargoyle corps too.
And speaking of gargoyles, I had one of their corpses by my side, turned into a revenant. This would be put beside me, who was in charge of observation duty. In case a stray gargoyle suddenly attacked me during my night watch duty, it could protect me, or escort me to escape to a safe place.
Though Rem would be overloaded if we included Rem the 4th, Minotaur, there was nothing wrong with preparing a good vessel for her.
Preparing my spare body before Yamata no Orochi’s subjugation operation aside, perhaps I would have to prepare a lot of spare bodies for Rem in various places to prevent the worst scenario.
Now that we had gotten an excellent hunter called Souma-kun by our side, I could use him to gather as many minogorillas and living armors as possible. Mass-produced Rem-The Dark Knight wasn’t a pipe dream anymore.
「Uhm, when that happens, I should raise Rem’s processing ability again.」
Thus, I entered a ditch that was too shallow to be called a trench with gargoyle Rem by my side, and looked down at the sunset in the direction of Yamata no Orochi’s nest.
「… Oh dammit, I can’t see anything since it’s too dark here.」
Thus, as soon as night descended, I realized that I couldn’t observe anything due to the darkness just by relying on my own eyes as there was absolutely no light at all.