/
Would the magically made stone tunnel disappear even if the caster lost consciousness? – No, if it did, there would be no magical structures. Virginia and Ophelia, as well as the Frontier Knight, fainted. While I replaced the magazine of the PSS suppressed pistol, I slowly moved to the position where the gate of the labyrinth was visible.
That leaves the four Sasanqua members.
“No scent of blood.”
“I guess he sees no point in killing. Since the labyrinth has been conquered, I guess it can no longer consume corpses.”
“Arrogant.”
“But, Sasanqua isn’t that easy!”
I knew it…
From the time I heard that Ophelia was moving with Sasanqua, I had a feeling that I would run into them one way or another. It wasn’t just because I chose the “Jonah” avatar costume. Even if I was the famous “black mask Shaft”, or the acquaintance “Schwartz”, I would still run across them.
“Malinda, we’re counting on you. Miche, Ru, don’t stand in front, surround him.”
“Leave it to me!”
“Nyaa!”
“Copy that.”
Malinda-san stood in front of me with a large shield and Frau-san behind her. Miche and Ru slowly moved outward on my left and right. Same as the first move the Frontier Knights tried to take――but this time they can’t afford to launch a first strike on the side. The strong presence that Malinda exuded took my eyes in.
Is it some sort of skill? Or is it magic?
Magical interference-type attacks do not work for me, who is a Manuke. Except for the attack magic that embodies flames and water by magic,  it shouldn’t work on me at all. However, magic was not simple, and had a lot of freedom ―― it would be arrogant of me to believe that I’m completely immune to it, just like Ruu said.
“So troublesome.”
Perhaps hearing my muttering, Malinda-san opened her mouth.
“Your opponent is here!”
The handle of the double-edged ax in her hand was struck against the large shield, and Malinda-san barked even more. I knew it, my focus was being forcefully directed to the tank that is the shield of the party. But that’s fine.
To destroy the teamwork of the adventurer party, you have two choices: crush the support role first, or crush the tank role. After that, taking them down one by one should be a cinch.
Although I was able to subdue the labyrinth, it was never easy along the way. Considering the future exploration of the labyrinth, it would be a joke if I could not break through the defense of Malinda-san, who is an A-rank adventurer.
Pulling out the grenade ax from my waist, I took a shooting position and pulled the trigger. The ax was loaded with smoke grenade bullets this time. Malinda-san responded to the action of pulling out a melee weapon, holding a double-edged ax in a half-body position, but the moment she saw the grenade ejected with a strange sound when the ax head was pointed――she immediately hid behind the large shield.
She’s wary of getting shot. But, that’s within my expectation――the grenade, which landed right in front of the shield, started expelling white smoke. I quickly jumped into the billowing smoke.
“Malinda!”
Frau-san’s voice could be heard coming from the back. Right as my field vision was filled with white smoke, I turned FLIR mode on――despite being surrounded by thick white smoke, Malinda-san remained calm and kept her shield up all the time.
It’s awkward to challenge the Great Shield from the front―― so I moved in from the right and swung down the grenade ax with the intention of cutting off Malinda-san’s left hand. However, despite being wrapped in white smoke and not being able to see this figure, Malinda sensed my attack and skillfully manipulated the large shield with minimal movement to defend herself.
“Hmm――”
“Not so easy!”
She counterattacked with an ax swing――but I was able to dodge it by making use of the recoil from hitting her shield, plus a backward slide jump.
The attack didn’t stop there. There’s a dot on the radar that approached my location inside the white smoke at high speed――it was already right behind me when I heard the muttering.
“Sword draw――《Mikazuki》!”
Ruu had released her skill without me realizing――
“Kuh――”
The moment I landed, I immediately followed with a high jump to leap over Ruu-san――the sword flash that was supposed to cut my back ended up slashing empty air. While spinning in the air, I took another grenade pod hidden in my fur cloak and reloaded my axe――this one was a live bullet, but splash damage aimed at your feet――aiming at a range attack. But the moment I thought I was in a position to launch the grenade while still in midair――Miche-san’s dagger was already upon me.
“Gotcha-nya! 《Serpent Pierce》!”
I couldn’t dodge――
Since I was in the shooting position, I couldn’t use the grenade ax to defend myself. But my left hand was free――
“Nya?!”
CBS was deployed moments before I could get hit――now that I’ve assimilated with the power suit, I don’t even need to press the button on my left hand anymore. I deployed the CBS only for an instance, enough to block the attack, before turning it off. As I fell down after the clash with Miche-san, trusting the trajectory shown on my vision, I pulled the trigger on the grenade ax on my right hand while striking the cat girl’s face with my left palm.
“Miー!”
Ruu-san called out to Miche-san, but her voice was soon drowned by the noise of the grenade explosion. If I remember correctly, those two were indeed pretty close. However, as much as I felt sorry for them, I would’ve died if I were a moment too slow. Miche-san was not knocked out by my palm strike. Blood trickled from her mouth, but otherwise, she’s still glaring at me with her beast-like eyes.
Both of us landed back in the throne room.
As soon as I was hit on the floor, Miche-san moved to take her distance, but on the contrary, I grabbed her by the back of the head with my left hand from behind and hugged her.
“Funya?!”
Miche-san made a strange voice, but I ignored it. Letting go of the grenade ax and pulling out the PSS suppressed pistol, I fired it under her belly where her bare skin is visible.
Every time the trigger was pulled, Miche-san’s hips would jerk. Even though it was a simulated bullet, the shock of shooting through her lower abdomen at a close distance still caused her to spit out an unvoiced gasp and blood. Although she tried to free herself from me, I simply put more effort into hugging her to not let her escape.
I kept pulling the trigger until Miche-san stopped resisting――PSS can only load 7 bullets in its mags, but it and the palm strike to her chin earlier were enough to make Miche-san faint.
“Kill.”
Pushing Miche-san’s slumping body away from me, I looked forward――then immediately jumped away from my position to dodge the dagger thrown by Ruu-san.
The dagger that was stuck in the throne room was a black double-edged blade that looked like a kunai. I guess even a swordsman keeps one or two ranged weapons on their person … I reloaded the PSS and returned it to the holster――at the same time, I reached around my back and pulled out the H&K UMP45. I also didn’t forget to replace the live ammo with simulated ammo.
“Ruu, it’s the black cane! Malinda, take front!”
“Okay!”
“What about Mi?”
“Her chest is still moving, she’s alive.”
The moment she saw the UMP45, Frau-san immediately barked out instructions―― Malinda-san quickly moved in to cover Ruu-san who was still glaring at me. Perhaps it’s due to Frau-san’s support magic, but Malinda-san’s great shield was coated with floating water, while her double-headed ax with whirling wind.
“I heard you call yourself Jonah, ey? Let’s have another go!”
Malinda-san’s confident smile was dazzling indeed. I guess the watery coat increases the shield’s defense? And that whirling wind, not only increases attack power, it also seems to increase range. If I were to challenge all that directly, I’d just end up tilting the balance against myself――
“This is bad…”
Did Malinda-san hear my muttering? She had a slightly funny expression on her face, but as soon as I took out the tubular object from the pouch on my waist, her face turned tense. I had no intention of exchanging words with them. I have no intention of fighting until one of them dies.
I pulled out the pin, and tossed the tubular object.
“The smoke screen again!”
A special grenade was thrown to explode at that delicate distance, which is a little too much to repel with a double-headed ax. but if she were to hide behind the great shield, she’ll lose sight of my next movement for a moment. The M84 flash bang, which had never been shown to the four, exploded with a dazzling flash and explosive sound that covered the throne room. Under the echo of the deafening sound, I could hear Malinda-san’s roar.
With the M84’s explosion temporarily paralyzing her sight and hearing, I raised the UMP45 and aimed at Malinda-san.
At the moment when M84 exploded, I saw the water clinging to the large shield spread like a barrier and move to prevent flashes and explosions. It seemed as if it had taken defensive actions automatically, apart from Malinda-san’s intention. However, the sound pressure of the M84 that exploded in front of me is not something that can be prevented by a wall of water. The sound pressure generated was even louder than the explosion sound emitted by a jet engine.
The water shield was distorted like a wave――and collapsed.
I aligned the crosshair to one corner of the great shield and fired in a short burst. Malinda-san hadn’t fallen yet, but she was in no condition to hold the shield properly. My shooting pushed the shield beyond the range of motion of her wrist――causing Malinda-san to let go of the shield, and expose herself.
Then I aligned the crosshair to her left ankle, and fired until Malinda-san was crawling on the floor on all four. Malinda-san was the tank of the party, so fittingly she’s also the most durable. Therefore I aimed for her helmet-less head to quickly put her unconscious――
But behind her, I saw Ruu-san, already in a sword-drawing stance with her eyes closed.
“Sword draw――《Dark Light – Eigen Grau》!”
I pulled the trigger and Ru-san’s single-edged sword flashed almost at the same time. However, while my finger-cutting shot caught Malinda-san’s head, using the delicate Aim adjustment, I directed some of the shots to Ruu-san’s incoming sword. It flew away and only damaged the walls.
“N, no way… ca, can’t see.”
I’ve no idea what you can’t see――but apparently, the M84 was quite effective on Ruu-san. She was able to keep standing by using her sword as a cane, but I immediately shot her to submission. Ruu-san spat out a mixture of blood and gastric juice due to the bullet impacts, before losing consciousness.
With this, only the leader Frau-san was left.
She wasn’t that affected by the M84 explosion. A short moment after the burst of flash and noise, as well as the fall of her two remaining allies, Frau-san canceled the chanting of her support magic and hurriedly switched to a spell with longer chant.
“～～、～～、Summon Guardian Aqua Knight”
At the same time as the magic name was declared――a huge swirling water appeared.
“Never thought I have to use this.”
Frau-san quietly muttered. She wasn’t talking to me. Rather, it seemed like she was thinking out loud unintentionally. The air around swayed as she raised her staff. Whether the magical power was being sent even after the declaration of the magical name, she glared at me with her long wand raised.
“～～、～～～、～～～、～～、Aqua Mist.”
I thought about interrupting the chant, but the swirling water next to Frau-san was worrying. When a large drop fell from the swirling water polo, it began to line up to a humanoid shape――a knight in armor. Yes… One party, one platoon, one knight corps were born and lined up in an orderly manner.
And the fog spilled over them, making it impossible to see even a few meters away.
“It’s exactly as Ophelia said.”
Frau-san’s voice echoes from the other side of the fog. I could hear it from all around me, as if it was an actual echo. The map in sight was not affected, but due to the ever-increasing number of light spots on the water dolls, it was already unclear how Frau-san was moving.
“I’d like to ask you, are there any other undead that use the skill《Arms》? And do you have memories of before becoming undead? An adventure that uses the same skill is my acquaintance. These people, but do you know them?”
…. That’s a fast one, and also a lot. Did she reach this conclusion after watching Jonah’s fighting method? Seeing that she called me an “undead”, I don’t think she realizes that this avatar was just a disguise.
“…you may ask all you like. But, I will have to kill you if you know too much.”
The increasing number of dots on my radar had stopped――about thirty of them more or less. And they’re spreading out within the fog.
“Un――I know you won’t give any answer. That’s alright, I’m done with my preparation here.”
At the same time as that word, the fog that was blocking the view cleared up.
“Oyoy…”
My voice spilled unintentionally――. The knights of the water dolls stood in front of me, and the commander, Frau-san, was standing behind them with dignity.
“Aqua Knights, defeat Jonah and retrieve the great magic stone before he could devour it.”
After saying that command, she left via the gate. When I looked around, I could not find Ophelia and all the other people I had knocked out.
….did she just retreat?
Behind the scenes of trying to get information from me by blocking the view with fog, it seems that she was actually preparing to withdraw. The summoning of these water dolls did not mean that they will attack by numbers. Perhaps the purpose was to occupy me while recovering the incapacitated ally. She ordered the water dolls to retrieve the labyrinth core from me, but do they have the ability to do that?
Well, shall we check it out?
There’s no longer any need for the no-killing rule. I took out the General Electric M134 Minigun loaded with simulated bullets in each hand. A total of twelve barrels began to rotate at high speed, then a roaring sound was heard to announce the final curtain of the Mine labyrinth subjugation.