With the reinforcements from Fujita and the others, the situation on the battlefield took a turn for the better.
“Fire! Fire to your heart’s content!”
Bullets were being fired relentlessly.
The weapons from the civilized world were gradually damaging the outer shell of Alpha.
“Eat this, big Ant!”
“Die, big Ant!”
The Touka’s were also providing assistance with exquisite timing.
The flame bullets and the earth shells fired by the twins contained a significant amount of power.
(Amazing…)
That was what Nishino thought.
After all, Alpha, who almost decimated them single-handedly, was constantly forced to be on the defensive.
However, they had no time to relax.
“Rikka, can you still move?”
“Course.”
Behind Rikka, Goshogawara and Shibata were also waiting for instructions.
While they had been battered hard, their eyes had yet to lose their lights.
With the appearance of Fujita and his companions, they had regained their fighting spirit.
“Oh, how nice it is to be young. This old man here is jealous.”
“Huh? Fujita-san!?”
When did he come over here?
Nishino was startled by Fujita who spoke up suddenly from behind.
“Don’t surprise us like that…”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sur— Ouch! Who was it that just hit my head?”
“It was me.”
“Shimizu-chan…”
“Really, you vanished and completely lost contact with us… Do you realize how worried we were?”
Shimizu rushed up to Fujita with tears at the corners of her eyes, indicating how truly concerned she was about his well-being.
“C-close. Shimizu-chan… too close. I’ll tell you all about it later so…”
“You better! I’ll make sure you tell us the full story… geez.”
“I get it. I get it. So stop being teary…”
Nishino smirked at the appearance of Fujita who was trying his best to comfort Shimizu.
It was only then that he felt like Fujita had returned safe and sound.
“When will you end this farce?”
Nishino became tense when he heard the voice of Touka Igarashi, the Student Council President whom he was the most wary of.
She was glaring at Fujita while giving off a tremendous sense of intimidation.
“Touka-chan… Isn’t that a bit too harsh?”
“…Fujita Souichiro-san , didn’t I request you to call me Igarashi?”
“That’s not how you should be talking to ad… no, never mind. Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine if you understand. Our priority should be in defeating that thing. I don’t care who you flirt with or how you go about doing it, but please consider the time and occasion.”
“…Yes.”
“Aha, Ichiro is lame.”
“Nahaha, Ichiro isn’t cool.”
“Don’t try to fan the fire, you two!…Goodness, I wonder from whom you two inherited your personalities.”
Nishino felt discomfort listening in on their conversations.
(Not brainwashed…?)
Having been put under her “Enchantment” once, he knew that the people under her influence would behave differently from normal.
However, that wasn’t the case with Fujita.
What was going on?
“Well, Nishino-kun.”
Touka turned around to face Nishino.
“What do you want?”
“No need to be so vigilant. For now, I’m not planning on doing anything to you.”
“…”
There was no way he could trust her after being told like that.
Touka, perhaps understanding his inner turmoil, giggled abruptly.
“The Self Defense Force members are currently aggroing the monster, but we lack a decisive attack. If we are to slay her for sure, we would need to close-in on her and attack directly.”
Although the Self Defense Force’s attacks were effective, they weren’t enough to fatally injure their opponent.
As such, they had to land a decisive blow in close quarters.
“I’m thinking of creating a gap for Aisaka-san to slice her. What do you think?”
“…I agree.”
With all the support from the rear and Rikka being in her maximum-berserk state, she would be able to deal a sufficiently fatal injury on Alpha.
The problem now was how they would create such a gap.
“I already have a plan in mind, but if I’m being honest, I want to have another card up our sleeves just in case. I’d like to ask that of you… can you do it?”
Nishino laughed at Touka who asked in a provocative tone.
“I’ll show you that I can.”
And so their final strategy commenced.
“Hey, nee-chan, can you still go on?”
“Of course, my little brother! I can fire another hundred shots!”
“Wow, nee-chan is so great!”
A boy and a girl were running around on the battlefield.
Thanks to their tiny frames, they were able to weave through the gaps in the rubble and launch accurate attacks.
Their attacks weren’t enough to critically harm Alpha, but they were enough to stall her.
“Both of you!”
Turning around, they saw their sister Touka sending them some sign signals.
When they understood what she wanted, the two children got even more pumped.
““HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!””
The twins deployed a barrage of earth and flames.
Their occupations were both “Beginner Magicians”, but Shiori controlled the element of fire while Shido controlled that of earth.
“Gyiii!”
Alpha tries to retreat, but at that moment, a bullet from the Self Defense Force pierced her body.
“GYIIIIIII!!”
How irritating.
Alpha passed orders to the remaining Soldier Ants, telling them to hold back the humans with their lives.
““Gyi gyi!””
The Soldier Ants nodded and began to move.
Yet something totally unexpected happened to Alpha.
“Gyi!?”
The Soldier Ants had begun to attack their lord instead.
Igarashi Touka gazed at the situation in satisfaction.
(“Enchantment” – By the time we arrived here, we had put quite a number of them under our control.)
Touka held one hand over her forehead.
Touka’s “Enchantment” had increased in level, so she was able to put monsters under her “Enchantment” as well.
The Ants attacked Alpha one after another under her influence.
“Gyiii… GYIIIIIIIIIIII!”
However, Alpha’s confusion didn’t last long.
She immediately began to cut down the Soldier Ants with her claws.
Since they weren’t useful, she had decided to skill them for their experience.
“Gyii…”
The more troublesome one was the human who was coming close to her.
Only the attacks from the hatchets of the red-eyed human posed a threat to her existence.
“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
The blades of the hatchets were closing in.
However, she still had plenty of time to dodge them.
She planned on landing a counter with her fangs, thereby killing the human.
The moment she planned to do so,
“Summon! Mud Bind Elemental!”
The area around Alpha’s feet transformed into mud in response to Touka’s voice.
It was the effect of “Spirit Summoning”, a skill that accompanied her occupation of “Summoner”.
Although the skill’s offensive abilities fell short of the twins’ magic, it excelled in obstructing the enemies by constructing walls of fire or by transforming the ground into mud.
“Gyi…”
Alpha was not longer able to move from the spot as she had sunken into the mud.
“Rikka-chan! Use this!”
Goshogawara threw the log he had towards the spot in front of Alpha, forming a bridge that floated in the mud.
“Nice, Ha-san!”
Rikka rushed to Alpha by running along the log.
Ha-san was Goshogawara’s nickname.
His full name was Goshogawara Hachiro, so his nickname was Ha-san. It was that simple.
Rikka’s hatchets were almost touching Alpha.
“Gyii…”
In that case, I’ll drag down this human with me.
The moment it thought so—
“‘I forbid you from moving’!”
“…!?”
Nishino’s “Command” sealed Alpha’s movement for a split second.
For the named and evolved Alpha, Nishino’s low-level “Commands” had barely any effect.
However, it was able to make Alpha rigid if only for a moment, which provided the perfect opportunity in this exchange.
“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
With all these external supports, Rikka was able to slash Alpha under her maximum-berserk state, splitting the latter’s body in half.
“——”
Queen Ant Alpha was unable to utter even a scream before she dissipated in a single blow.
A fist-sized magic stone dropped near Rikka’s feet.
At the same time, everyone received announcements about acquiring a huge amount of experience.
“… Is it finally over?”
Cheers rang throughout the Underground Shopping Mall when someone muttered so.
“WE WON! WE WOOOOOOOOON!”
“WE DID IT! WE DID IT!”
“WE ACTUALLY WON!”
Everyone was thrilled and celebrated their victory.
Nishino also slumped down on the spot.
(Huu…. Huuu… We were able to somehow end the battle over at this side.)
They had fulfilled their minimum role.
(I leave the rest to you… Kudou-san.)
As his opponent was that huge Golem, Nishino was certain that their battle would be fiercer.
But why was it?
Nishino couldn’t imagine that man being defeated.
******************
Meanwhile, near the City Hall—
“Nuooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”
“RUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Kiki and I charge forth without any hesitation.
The battles so far have told us about two of Titan’s skill, “Mimicry” and “Golem Creation”.
His raw strength is overwhelming as it is, but he also has these skills to supplement his combat abilities.
(Telling us to subjugate this monster… For real, something is up with the difficulty level.)