Slucky had already finished all his duties by devouring Barkasâ bisected head, so I put him away for the time being.
Though theăMagical Beastâs Egg Bladeămade a ton of noise when ejecting monsters, it was surprisingly quiet when doing the opposite; its petals silently enveloped the slime much in the same manner as would a carnivorous plantâs.
But then it happened; we were attacked.
ăMinnalis!ă
ă!?ă
11 different projectiles suddenly flew towards us.
ïŒCan I even make it in time!?ïŒ
Our attackers had caught us completely off guard and seized the initiative
I immediately focused on the battle at hand and kicked myself into gear. My sharpened senses allowed me to determine that the objects flying towards us were throwing spears. Their tips were coated with a strange purple liquid, one I could only presume to be poison. 7 of the 11 were aimed at Minnalis, and the remaining 4 at me.
Minnalis managed to react to the attack, but would only be able to defend herself at best. She normally might have been able to do more than just that, but that was because the swords she usually practiced with were much easier to handle than the blunt weapon sheâd used to crush Dotâs head.
The number of goblin-like creations in our vicinity totalled to 16. The 5 that hadnât thrown their spears had quickly charged towards us to follow up their companionsâ ranged attacks.
I was able to take in all that information in an instant, but just taking it in was by no means equivalent to processing or reacting to it. It was an issue that resulted from me retaining my processing speed, but no longer having a body with the specs to match it. The discrepancy forced me to realize that I wouldnât be able to get away with holding back.
There were only 16 of them. I wouldnât need to worry about being able to fight for a longer, sustained period of time.
Knowing that, I swiftly formed theăSoulblade of Originăin my right hand, and theăHoly Sword of Vengeanceăin my left while pouring as much mana as I could into all four of my limbs and surroundings. The former was for power, whereas the latter allowed me to get a better grasp of what was going on around me.
I undid the subconscious limiter that my brain placed on my body and kicked off at my absolute maximum speed while ignoring the fact that my muscles almost seemed to creak under the strain.
It all happened in an instant; the actions I pulled off and decisions I made ate up a cumulative span of less than a second. The feat was one that that demonstrated the fact that I truly deserved the title that claimed that Iâd reached the Zenith of Technical Mastery, and that the fancy SSS I had decorating my status plate wasnât just for show. As far as finesse went, I was literally the best of the best.
ïŒIt looks like sheâll be able to ward off the 2 coming straight at her. I should focus my efforts on handling the other 9 instead. ïŒ
The combination of the Haste skill and my magically reinforced legs allowed me to accelerate at a rate faster than my agility stat otherwise allowed.
I ignored the spears aimed towards me. They were accurately thrown so that they wouldâve been unavoidable under any sort of normal circumstances. In other words, I didnât need to mind them. The speed at which I moved immediately disqualified them from from doing any harm.
ïŒWell, thatâs four less I have to deal with. ïŒ
I wasnât capable of maintaining my acceleration for anything beyond a fraction of a second. Iâd snap my own limbs if I accidentally exerted too much force.
I cut up the three closest spears with theăHoly Sword of Vengeanceădeflecting the final one
moving towards her right hand side by hitting it right on the tip with theăSoulblade of Origin. ă
ïŒJust three more. ïŒ
The spear I deflected spun out and collided with the remaining spears and caused a series of chain reactions that caused them to lose the forces that propelled them.
My timing had been perfect; I managed to turn all incoming projectiles into nonfactors right as the five monsters thatâd been rushing us leapt out of the bushes and revealed themselves.
ïŒPerfect. Looks like theyâre Red Caps. ïŒ
Red Caps were a relatively small breed of goblin. They were known for two things. The first was the fact that their heads were red, and seemed to resemble hats. Apparently, this wasnât an inborn trait, but rather one that resulted from the creatures rubbing their preyâs blood all over their skulls immediately following a successful hunt. The goblin subspeciesâ second defining feature was that its members were good at coordinating with one another.
I span around on one foot and turned towards the two thatâd appeared around Minnalis back right side and accelerated once more.
ăGah!ă
ăGi!ă
I let go of both my swords and grabbed the approaching goblins by their red, hat-like heads before using Sky Step to jump just shy of two meters into the air. I then whipped both Redcaps towards Minnalisâ left and caused them to be impaled upon their comradesâ spears, an act that immediately caused said comrades to stop in their tracks.
14 enemies remained; 11 were still in hiding, 1 was right by me, and 2 were frozen in place by Minnalis.
The two blades I let go of just a second earlier basically hadnât moved, so I once again grabbed both and moved towards the Red Cap that happened to be right by me.
ïŒTsk. Iâm only barely able to keep this up even though Iâve been keeping myself as under control as possible. ïŒ
My body was screaming despite only having been pushed to its limits for less than 5 seconds. I was walking a thin line, a tightrope, as outputting even the slightest bit more power could potentially lead to self-harm.
I wouldnât have had to resort to this had I any more mana. I wouldâve been able to pull out what one could actually call a trump card. But I couldnât. Toying around with Barkasâ group had eaten up too much magical energy, so I instead ended up with a cheap knock off. I wouldâve lost the ability to move had I not done a series of fine adjustments on the fly. Naturally, my method wasnât perfect, so a dull pain had began coursing through my body as recompense.
It looked like tomorrow would be a day in which I suffered from muscle pains.
I was in a bad mood. These goblins had just happened to come along right when I was about to bask in the afterglow of a job well done.
I formed a cross with my blades as I slashed the red cap in order to vent my frustrations.
ăGoshujin-sama!ă
ăGet rid of the two you see over there. Iâll take care of the ones still in hiding. ă
The two Red Caps that Minnalis had by her had already failed their ambush, so I saw no reason for her to not be able to handle them now that it had come down to a head on fight. Thus, I dove into the forest without awaiting her answer.
None of the 11 remaining Red Caps had yet to move, they were still in their original positions as they had yet to figure out how to cope with the status quo.
I dispelled theăHoly Sword of Vengeanceăand used my now free right hand to pull a pair of throwing knives out from within the Round Squirrel Pouch and promptly threw both at the two goblins to my right.
Several trees stood between the Red caps and I, so I wasnât able to aim at their vitals. However, I did still manage to give both relatively deep injuries, as the knives stabbed one in the arm and the other in the leg.
ăGyaruaaaa!?ă
ăGyuruuu!?ă
The fast acting poison Minnalis had applied to the knives ahead of time caused both to scream in pain; they were doomed to die some time within the next 10 minutes, even if I simply left them be.
I threw theăSoulblade of Originăstraight into another oneâs heart and listened to its death throes before putting it away and pulling out another set of Soulblades. ăFlame Spiderâs Leg Bladeăwas good in close combat, so I took it in my right and theăEmerald Crystal Bladeăin my left.
I span in a counterclockwise direction and weaved through the trees in order to slaughter all remaining Red Caps. They were incapable of resisting me; I slit their throats, gouged their necks from behind, dug their brains out from within their eye sockets, and smashed their heads by slamming them into nearby tree trunks.
I swapped theăEmerald Crystal Bladeăback out for theăSoulblade of Originăand used it to overkill the Red Caps that tried to pull a fast one on me by hiding themselves within the bushes, cut most the remaining ones down, and even finally skewered the one trying to use its allies as meatshields as it attempted to escape.
ăIt looks like youâre the last. ă
ăGyaruaaaaaa!ă
ăShut up. ă
The last came at me suicidally, but I easily split it in half and brought an end to the Red Capâs assault as a whole.
â
ăArgghh, my arms hurt. Iâm tired and sleepy. I donât wanna move. I wanna go home. I wanna dive into my bed and roll around in it. ă
I voiced my bodyâs desires and threw a bit of a tantrum.
I was still in a good mood because of what we did to Barkas and his companions. My flesh and blood body, however, failed to reflect my emotional status. It was in all sorts of pain as a result of me pushing myself harder than need be. I was also intoxicated as a result of using too much mana at once, and thus, I was unable to think with as much reason as I otherwise couldâve. Iâd already drank an MP potion in order to restore my cognitive abilities, but it had yet to kick in.
ăWhy didnât I realize that I couldâve just stopped going full throttle the moment I knocked all their spears away?ă
Tomorrow was going to be a bad day. My muscles were going to ache, and both my joints and bones were going to be groaning in agony all day. I was completely exhausted despite only having exerted myself for a few seconds.
I mean, I went all out and stuff, but I hadnât been serious, which in turn meant that it was possible for this pain of mine to get even worse than it was right now.
ăUgh, we should stop by a pharmacy and pick up some pain killers. Er, wait, I should be able to heal myself with theăEmerald Heartbladeăonce I get a bit more of my MP back. Man, it looks like MPâs going to be one of the things that holds me back the most. I should get the Meditation skill as soon as possible. Itâll he- wait. ă
ïŒAw crap. It looks like I started talking to myself again. Thatâs a habit I really need to shake. ïŒ
I shook my head; I couldnât believe myself. Iâd already slipped up and started talking to myself again even though itâd only been a few days since Minnalis had warned me about me having a bad habit of going off and monologuing.
ïŒI guess I better grab what I need to prove that we killed these Red Caps⊠Ugh⊠I really donât want to. Thereâs like 16 of them. Bringing all these back would make us really stand out. ïŒ
Red Caps were pretty weak by themselves, but there was no way for a pair of brand new adventurers to defeat 16 of them. That was just way the hell out of scope.
Weâd probably be able to bring back two or three without issue, as all that would do is cause people to assume that we happened to have trained ourselves up a bit before becoming adventurers. It wouldnât make them suspect us to be anything more than just people with potential.
ïŒPlus, it wasnât like we were in any sort of financial distress. We had all the money we needed, the extra bit weâd get from the guild by showing them that we defeated a group of Red Caps this big wouldnât be worth the attention weâd get. And if Minnalis asks, Iâll just insist that I didnât just not want to bother. ïŒ
Minnalis had all the money management skills of a Japanese housewife, so I purposefully thought up an excuse thatâd work to convince her. I even considered that she might tell me I couldâve just picked them up and saved them for later, and came up an excuse for that scenario too. Specifically, I decided Iâd tell her that I just hadnât thought of doing so at the time.
With that in mind, I grabbed the two nearest Red Caps and retrieved the body parts thatâd allowed me to prove I killed them before heading back in Minnalisâ direction.
ăHuh?ă
ăâŠă
I saw strange sight upon my return to clearing Minnalis was situated in.
ăHey Minnalis, what exactly are you doing?ă
Minnalis was, for some odd reason, sitting in seiza right in the clearingâs centre. The Red Caps she and I defeated lay nearby, but she was paying them no mind. It looked like sheâd managed to handle the last two by effectively shredding their flesh to bits.
Her rabbit ears, which normally swayed to and fro, had instead fallen flat on her head.
I couldnât exactly what she was saying to herself, but I managed to catch the word âbehindâ among a few others. She seemed to be feeling a bit under the weather.
ăN-Nothing important, just reflecting on the fact that I accidentally let us get attacked despite being responsible for keeping watch over our surroundings because I was having a bit too much funâŠă
ăOh, right, that. That sounds like a huge pain, so save it for when we get back to the inn. I just want to dive right into bed right about now. ă
ăY-Youâre not going to scold me?ă
ăWhy would I? I only just barely noticed them because so Iâm just as responsible as you are. Iâll be doing a bit of reflection myself later. ă
ăYouâre not going to throw me away? Are you really going to let me stay as both your slave and accomplice, Goshujin-sama?ă
ăHuh? Why are you even considering that? Sure you messed up, but your mishap wasnât bad enough to cause any real damage. Besides, I was already aware that you werenât already skilled going into this whole accomplice thing, and decided to go through with it anyway, so Iâm not going to throw you away because of a small mistake or two â not that the Holy Sword of Vengeance would allow me to do so in the first place. ă
To be honest, Minnalis looked like sheâd wanted me to scold her, but I couldnât be bothered because I was way too exhausted, so I decided to just shelve the idea for the time being.
ăYou know, I think that the lack of MP is just getting to you in a different way than usual. Here, have another potion. ă
ă*Drinking sounds*ă
I shoved an MP potion in Minnalisâ mouth. The action was a bit too sudden, and caught her completely off guard. The combination of her moistened eyes and the blue liquid leaking out the side of her mouth made her look a bit erotic. That in itself was something that normally wouldâve gotten my heart pounding, but I was currently too tired to bother.
As the moment, I wanted nothing more than to find myself a futon to crawl into. However, I was unable to entertain the thought as I realized that I couldnât just fall asleep in the middle of the forest of all places, so I decided to just force Minnalis back to the inn.
ăAlright, get up. Letâs start heading back. ă
ăOh, alright. ă
And so, we finally got a move on.
ăI know we planned elsewise, but letâs just tell the guild that we ended up getting seperated from that one noble kid that was supposed to be with us because we werenât able to maintain full control over a combat situation or something. ă
The original plan was for us to spray his surroundings with a poison that wouldnât harm him, but would keep monsters away while also having him hallucinate in a state of unconsciousness so we could go and pick him up later. However, heâd pissed us off, and so, weâd gone and done something else instead. As of right now, Iâd say he was currently probably off rotting somewhere with his body half liquified. I was pretty confident in the poison we had him ingest, as it was one that would feel on his mana in order to fuel a process that would eat away at his body and cause it to decompose.
ăRightâŠă
ăOh come on, cheer up. Weâve still got things to do and places to be. Weâre only going to be getting busier from here on out, so sharpen up. ă
ăAh! Wha! Okay!ă
I pat Minnalis on the head in an attempt to convince her to switch up her thoughts and direct her focus elsewhere.
ăYou donât have the time to be feeling down about a mistake this minor. Barkas and his clowns only served to function as the opening act, and weâve finally got our first main dish coming up ahead. ă
I wasnât sure if it was because I was still under the influence, or simply tired, but I wasnât able to maintain full control over my own emotions.
The smile Iâd been holding back finally showed itself on my face.
ăJust imagining it is getting my blood pumped despite my exhaustion. Iâd thought that killing Barkas would at least curb my appetite, but it wasnât nearly enough. ă
ăâŠă
My eyes narrowed as my lips curved themselves upwards.
ăIâve been pretty high strung ever since we got here. I donât mind you feeling down or wanting to reflect on your mistakes, but I want you to switch gears as quickly as you can. Isnât getting stuck thinking yourself in circles just a waste of an opportunity? We might as well spend all our time thinking about how we can best get revenge on Yuumis while weâre here. Save all that self reflection for when weâre done. ă
â
ăAnd⊠I think that just about sums it up. ă
We reported in to the guild not too long after arriving back in Elmia.
We told the buffed up, male receptionist that we were ambushed by a pair of Red Caps right around when the mage excused himself to âdo his business,â and that we only managed managed to survive the ordeal because we heard the mage scream. His surprised shout had allowed us to take up arms and defeat the Red Caps as they attempted to abmush us. We also stated that we immediately retreated because we didnât think it was safe for us to stay in the vicinity much longer.
ăWe heard the mage scream again right around when we were finishing up, so I donât think he made itâŠ. ă
ăI see⊠Though it is rather unfortunate that you couldnât help him, I do think you two made the right choice. Red Caps specialize in grouping up and planning ambushes, you may have lost your lives had you tried to save him. ă
Naturally, we hadnât said a word about Barkas or his crew.
ăAre you really sure that you encountered a group of Red Caps that close to the forestâs edge thoughâŠ?ă
ăWeâre sure. I think this should work as proof that we beat them, right?ă
I placed the body parts that served as proof of subjugation on the counter alongside several proofs from some of the goblin weâd defeated.
The receptionist examined all the proofs with a serious look on his face.
ăIt looks like you were right. This really is a piece off a Redcapâs head. Most Redcaps tend to stay around the base of the mountain, but smaller groups of 4-5 have been spotted near the forestâs entrance before. ă
ăOh, okay. ă
ïŒHuhâŠ? Iâm pretty sure what we ran into wasnât exactly what youâd be able to call a small group. ïŒ
After all, weâd encountered a whole 16 of them.
Monsters were known to occasionally stray from the forest from time to time, but, the ones we ran into didnât really seem like lost strays that happened to wander outside their usual territory.
ïŒOh, right. Didnât the demons start attacking coming and attacking people my first time through too? I could swear it happened right before Elmia got slammed by that massive army of undead. ïŒ
I recalled the time I visited Elmia prior to getting reset and remembered that Iâd actually saved the city from a large group of the undead.
The reason that attack occurred was because of a demon gone rogue. It brainwashed a group of villagers and forced the local army to annihilate them. The mass killing had caused a buildup of negative magical energy, which unbeknownst to Elmiaâs citizens, began taking over the corpses of monsters. These possessed monsters killed their still living counterparts, which bolstered their numbers. Having the cycle repeat itself over and over ultimately gave rise to an army.
I happened to recall that village in particular because itâd served as one of the places I hid in after having the world turned against me. The state it was in was nothing short of terrible. The land was stained with negative emotions and magical energy. It had degraded to such an extent that all that remained of its agricultural were a few, delicate purple and yellow flowers blooming amongst the rubble that made up the villageâs remains.
ïŒBack then, we were able to completely plow through all the undead because I was there alongside Yuumis, that bitch of a princess, Kars, the head knight, and a party of A ranked adventurers. I wonder how thingsâll turn out this time aroundâŠïŒ
That said, the undead army wouldnât be attacking for another two months.
There also wasnât any guarantee that Elmia would even last that long, as they were slated to be attacked not once but twice. In 10 days time, the city would be attacked by horde of Goblins, Red Caps, and boars. It would have to survive that onslaught if it even wished to consider the possibility of surviving the undead invasion. The only reason the city managed to survive the first of the two onslaughts the first time around was because there had, once again, just so happened to be an A ranked party in town.
Surviving the onslaught was what convinced the city to send people to scout the forest, which in turn provided them enough information to prepare themselves for the undead invasion to come. That is, they only discovered the impending danger because they had ordered investigations in the first incidentâs aftermath. The Red Cap group Minnalis and I encountered was actually most likely an early sign of the chaos to come.
The receptionist finished checking over all the details he needed to and traded our proofs for cash as I got myself lost in thought.
ăThere wonât be any added bonuses for the Redcaps because they havenât been designated for subjugation. Youâll only be getting the standard fee. The goblins, however, are, so youâll be getting paid extra for those. ă
We were given a bunch of coins.
ăYou two must be as skilled as most E ranked adventurers if you were able to remain unscathed despite encountering two Red Caps. The number may not sound impressive, but it really is. Weâll be able to raise your ranks if you just complete a few more requests for us, so keep it up, alright?ă
ăSure thing, will do. ă
ăOh and, one more thing. Barkas, Dot, and Terry may be a full fledged D ranked party, but they arenât what we would call known for being well behaved. Itâd be best for you to avoid getting involved with them if you can. Weâre aware that you made a bet with them, but it should no longer count as valid given the circumstances. I suggest you just head on home and let us handle the aftermath. ă
ăWeâd really appreciate that. Thanks. ă
I responded to the guildâs receptionist in a rather grim tone of voice.
Minnalis and I both then politely thanked the buff, veteran adventurer before turning around and leaving.
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