Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 6 Page 20

  According to my “Analyze” skill, our levels were almost the same.

  So why couldn’t I reach him?

  I warded off the bastard’s flame attacks with my “Invincible Shield” and used the strength of “Unstoppable Spear” on Arondight to shatter his defensive barriers. However, breaking through the scale-shaped defenses weakened my strikes.

  It was just like the “Gold Scale Barrier” the Golden Boar Lord had in the legends of Yamato the Hero.

  On top of that, even if I did manage to damage him a little, the three floating spheres around him would heal him right away. And if I tried to destroy the spheres first, he could summon a new one while I was crushing another.

  At this rate, things were looking grim.

  Just then, Meriest called out to me with concern.

  “Hayato, don’t try to fight all alone! We’re a team, you know.”

  Shoot. I got carried away there.

  Just as Meriest said, I couldn’t defeat powerful enemies unless I worked together with my friends.

  Fortunately, most of the other monsters were now on the side of the arena near the Shiga Kingdom warriors, who took care of them.

  As an infrequent visitor to the Shiga Kingdom, I never knew how impressive their fighters were. They were doing a great job keeping both themselves and the monsters away from the yellow demon.

  Almost as if someone has the whole thing under control…

  The thought crossed my mind unbidden.

  No, that was ridiculous. Those monsters might be small fry in this situation, but their levels were still in the 40s.

  If anyone here had the ability to do that, I’d want to scout them for our party.

  The magic users in this kingdom seemed just as skilled as the warriors.

  Several Practical Magic users were using Magic Hand to relay the injured people from the audience seats out of the arena.

  It must take dozens of sorcerers to transport people in such a ridiculous way, not to mention years of extreme training. Whoever they were, they definitely had my respect.

  As I contemplated this, someone shot out the wings of a beetle that was trying to attack my party.

  There must be a talented archer here, too, to penetrate the barrier-protected wings of a two-horned beetle. They must have both a powerful bow and skills as high as Weeyari’s to pierce the wings of a flying beetle in a single shot, at that.

  Just how many combat masters are there in this kingdom?

  If I didn’t know better, I’d think they could have defeated the demon lord without even Hero Summoning me.

  Oops, but I guess letting other people do the work would make me a failure as a hero.

  I had to be sure my party and I were the ones who defeated this guy, at least, or I’d bring shame on my Hero title.

  Before charging back into the fray with the yellow freak, I shouted some orders to my party.

  Rusus and Fifi appeared to be having trouble with a centipede demon.

  “Rin! Give Rusus and Fifi some backup!”

  “Understood!”

  Ringrande wasted no time starting to cast Explosion Magic.

  Loleiya’s support magic chant seemed to be almost done.

  “Wee, hold off the two-horned beetles for now. I’ll send Rusus and Fifi to help you as soon as they can.”

  “All right, Hayato. Leave it to me.”

  Come on, Weeyari. I wanted you to say, “Can’t I just bring them all down myself?” I thought archers were supposed to be cooler than this.

  “IS YOUR LITTLE STRATEGY MEETING ALMOST OVER?”

  Tch, I wondered why he wasn’t attacking…

  We’ll make him regret not taking us more seriously.

  “Meri, I’ll buy you some time! Give him the biggest shot you’ve got!”

  “Of course! Don’t do anything too risky, Hayato!”

  If my attacks alone weren’t enough to break through, Meriest and the others could use their war-grade attack magic to bring down his defenses and let me finish him off.

  “HUMAN MAGIC IS SO VERY SLOW.”

  The yellow demon scoffed as his other head howled.

  His attack magic came raining down at me in the form of fierce white flames.

  Using my Holy Shield, enhanced with “Invincible Shield,” I warded off the attacks easily.

  “HOW IMPRESSIVE. YOU MUST HAVE GROWN MUCH STRONGER TO BLOCK MY WHITE INFERNO. HEROES ARE EVER SO INTERESTING.”

  Ignoring the demon’s self-important praise, I gave my companions the signal.

  Their targets felled, Rusus and Fifi rushed over to give Weeyari backup.

  “Ringrande, Loleiya, let’s begin the chant.”

  At Meriest’s words, all three of them started invoking a spell with their talismans.

  The talismans have many convenient functions, not least of which is the ability to synchronize chants and increase the power and precision of battle magic.

  And the spell they chose was…a forbidden curse?! And a war-grade forbidden curse, at that?

  I know I said “the biggest shot you’ve got,” but that seemed like overkill to me. It was going to cause some lasting property damage, that was for sure.

  However, nothing short of greater magic would work on this demon. If we wanted to destroy the Cure Balls, his lesser demons, and cause some serious damage, a powerful forbidden curse might be our best shot.

  I felt bad for the locals, but we had no other choice. Hopefully, Ringrande’s grandfather and his men evacuated them quickly.

  Depending on the damage, my name as a hero might get dragged through the mud, but things would go from bad to worse if this freak cut loose. My reputation was nothing compared to human lives.

  “HOW STRANGE INDEED. WHY DO RED AND BLUE NOT APPEAR?”

  The yellow fiend surveyed the arena curiously.

  I blocked his absentminded attacks with my “Invincible Shield.”

  This seemed like a one-in-a-million chance, but I couldn’t afford to separate myself from my party.

  “OH WELL. HERO, YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS TICKLE ME DELIGHTFULLY WITH YOUR ATTACKS, BUT I SHOULD LIKE TO TASTE YOUR FEAR AND DESPAIR SOON.”

  “Hmph, you masochistic freak! Me, afraid of you? I’d like to see you try!”

  “VERY WELL, THEN. I HOPE YOU ENJOY MY LITTLE GIFT.”

  Tch. He was definitely up to something.

  An ominous premonition sent a shiver up my spine.

  I gulped down an Accelerate Potion in preparation for his attack.

  The liquid was bitter, but I drank it all. As it went into effect, the movement around me gradually slowed.

  The effect would last for only a short period of time, and when it wore off, I’d be exhausted, but this seemed like the right time to pull out all the stops.

  A huge summoning circle appeared behind the yellow freak.

  Like I’m going to let you summon something that easily!

  “, Arondight! , Tunas!”

  I invoked the divine incantations of my Holy Sword and Holy Armor.

  With my magic power as the catalyst, the philosopher’s stone that formed the core of my magic armor began producing huge amounts of energy that surged through my body and into my Holy Sword.

  I was ready before the yellow demon’s summoning was finished.

  “Shining Blade!”

  What was the point of a special attack if you didn’t shout it out?

  I swung Arondight at subsonic speed, emitting a powerful blade of light that shot toward the summoning circle.

  Dammit.

  The bastard threw one of his floating Cure Balls into the path of the Shining Blade.

  I fired another one, but this time he blocked it with one of the monster corpses at his feet.

  Despite my best efforts, the summoning was complete.

  “…Are you for real?”

  Floating in the sky was the enormous monster fish, Tovkezerra.

  It was bigger than the gunboats I’d seen in the Saga Empire—meaning
it was over eight hundred feet long?!

  “Th-the giant monster fish?!”

  “No way! You mean that’s the thing the Golden Boar Lord used?”

  “The legendary floating fortress…”

  The three members of my party who weren’t chanting exclaimed in surprise.

  The giant monster fish.

  Despite its somewhat stupid name, the monster was level 97.

  It was just barely within the range of my “Analyze” skill. I wondered if that might be a mistake, but the number was the same no matter how many times I tried it.

  I gave myself a firm slap on the cheek in an attempt to pull myself together and stave off the fear.

  It’d be nice if Meriest’s forbidden curse could finish it off along with the yellow freak, but this wasn’t a “two birds with one stone” situation.

  I had to protect Meriest and the other casters from the freak’s attacks, so the only option we had left to fight off that giant fish was the Jules Verne’s main battery.

  I was concerned about the damage it might cause to our surroundings, but it would probably still be better than another war-grade forbidden curse.

  “We won’t back down, no matter what we’re fighting!”

  I struck an exaggerated pose and shouted instructions to my frightened comrades.

  “Wee, Rusus, Fifi! Summon the Jules Verne!”

  I’d hidden the precious ship in another dimension to protect it, but now wasn’t the time to worry about things like that.

  Sorry, Emperor. I might not be able to keep my promise to bring the ship back unharmed.

  “I’m giving permission to use the main battery. Take the Jules Verne’s master key with you.”

  I took the glowing blue key out of my Inventory and tossed it to Weeyari.

  While I was at it, I pulled out a healing potion to cure my body of the exhaustion brought on by the Accelerate Potion.

  “YES, YES. THAT IS THE FEAR I WANT TO SEE.”

  Enjoy it while you can, yellow freak. As soon as Ringrande and the others finish their chant, it’s all over for you.

  I drank the potion in one gulp and looked up at the sky.

  For some reason, the giant fish was staring fixedly at one corner of the arena, ignoring the rest of us.

  Well, that worked for me. Maybe the yellow demon had failed to control his summon.

  “HMM. A DASH OF HOPE MIXED WITH THE FEAR RATHER RUINS IT.”

  Hope? That’s easy. I just have to think about something fun.

  Once this battle was over, I’d go pay a sympathy visit to the orphanage—maybe they’d let us take a bath together or a nap or something. Anything was possible.

  All right! My heart’s full of hope now. We can do this!

  “As long as I’m the hero, there will always be hope.”

  “HOW ABSURD.”

  The yellow demon scoffed at my determination and pointed to the sky.

  The shadows over the arena began to block out the sun.

  I didn’t notice.

  The summoning circle the giant monster fish had emerged from was still floating in the sky.

  I should have realized what that meant.

  The summoning circle wasn’t finished. More enormous fish appeared, one after another. Including the first one, there were a total of seven.

  So this is how I die, huh?

  Hey, Miss Parion…

  This world of yours is way too hard.

  Nanashi the Hero

  Satou here. Hardships often come up out of nowhere, but I think it can go very differently depending on whether you rise to the challenge or just accept it as part of life.

  While the hero battled the yellow demon, I set about rescuing people and defeating the small-fry monsters.

  Observing the seats from the spire overlooking the arena, I noticed that Miss Karina and the other nobles hadn’t escaped yet.

  The Wings of Freedom terrorists and the lesser hell demons had been taken care of, but removing the debris from the exit was proving harder than expected.

  I jumped from the spire to the seats, approaching under cover of shadows.

  A thorn-shaped monster was silently swooping down toward the nobles.

  “Everyone, a monster is approaching from above.”

  A young woman with pink hair spoke up next to Miss Karina.

  The magic users and knights around them hurried to counterattack, but it didn’t look like they were going to make it in time.

  I didn’t want anyone else to get injured, so I grabbed some rubble and flung it at the demon to throw him off course.

  The monster crashed into the ground harmlessly a little ways away from the nobles in a plume of dust and rocks.

  Miss Karina and the shield-bearing knights warded off the flying debris, and as a result, nobody was hurt.

  “Thank you, miss.”

  “O-oh, don’t mention it.”

  Miss Karina turned bright red when the pink-haired girl thanked her.

  Hey, she might just manage to make a friend after all. Maybe it would even turn into a yuri situation.

  No other monsters were approaching, so I checked the state of the blocked passage on my 3-D map and used Magic Hand to start clearing away the obstacles.

  So far, I’d only used Magic Hand for things like pranks and making those chain necklaces, but being able to control a hundred and twenty at once meant I could actually accomplish some heavy lifting with it.

  With strength equivalent to about sixty grown men combined, my Magic Hands had no trouble with the ton of rubble.

  At any rate, as far as I could tell, I was the only person who could transport this much at a time. The magic users working on the rubble could only move about a sack of rice’s worth.

  “Wh-what?!”

  “Whose magic is that?”

  Naturally, the people working on clearing it started raising a fuss, but I ignored them and kept removing the blockage.

  They, too, seemed more worried about protecting the nobles than figuring out who was helping them. Once I’d removed a big enough chunk, they quickly got everyone to safety, Miss Karina and Orion included.

  As the evacuation of the audience members was just about finished, I searched for anyone else who needed rescuing or any warriors I could assist.

  “Waaaah!”

  Hearing a child’s cry, I saw a familiar-looking spearman battling a beetle monster with his cross-shaped spear. It looked like the monster’s horn had stabbed the man while he was trying to protect the boy.

  Worse yet, the scream had drawn the attention of the smaller insect monsters buzzing around the arena, and now a group of cricket-like creatures was closing in on the pair.

  “Daddy!”

  “Golao!”

  The child was crying for help, but the father was already on his last leg.

  Oops, I shouldn’t waste time just watching.

  I used Toss Stone from the magic menu.

  Stone spears sprouted from below the audience seats, impaling the crickets one after another. The monsters wriggled and flailed, but they couldn’t attack the child from that position.

  The innumerable spikes pierced the beetle the spearman was fighting, too, and crushed its horn.

  “Whoever you are, thank you for your help!”

  The spearman finished off the beetle with his cross-shaped spear. Then his knees buckled, weak from the blood loss.

  “Daddy!”

  Staying in the shadows, I used the healing spell I’d just learned on the spearman, then lifted him and his son, Golao, out of the arena with Magic Hand and deposited them safely outside.

  Conveniently, this spell had a pretty wide range.

  The boy’s screams as he was lifted into the air pained my heart, but their well-being was my top priority.

  Aside from the warriors still fighting the monsters in the seats, there was still a handful of civilians here and there.

  The civilians weren’t the only ones whose lives could be in danger, so I use
d Magic Hand to lift them to safety like I had with the father and son.

  At first, the other warriors were alarmed by the shouts of the people being lifted into the air, but by the time the battle was over, nobody paid them any mind. Humans could really adjust to anything.

  While I was at it, I moved some of the monsters so they couldn’t reach the warriors.

  “Whoa, the monsters are floating around in midair!”

  “Tch, damn mages. That’s a big help and all, but I wish they’d tell us what they’re going to do first!”

  Some of the fighters complained, but they didn’t seem to mind as much as they claimed.

  With the people evacuated and the battlefield rearranged, it was time to move on to dispatching with the weaker monsters.

  In total, there were seventy-six monsters without an opponent. I fired Remote Arrow in sets of five to take them out quickly.

  Now that they were used to the screaming of the evacuees, the fighters didn’t even attempt to figure out who was defeating all the extra monsters.

  That did make things easier for me, but I couldn’t help feeling a little silly after all the trouble I went through to keep myself hidden.

  Before long, the coast was clear in the audience seats, so I turned my attention back to the main battle in the center of the arena.

  The hero and friends were struggling more than I expected, but they were still persisting in their fight against the yellow demon.

  However, because of a certain unwelcome intruder, the rearguard of the hero’s party seemed to be having a hard time using their attack magic effectively.

  “Foul creature! How dare thee deflect the attack of my Holy Sword?!”

  “Your Highness, behind you!”

  “Graaah!”

  By “unwelcome intruder,” I meant Prince Sharorik.

  Despite the huge difference in their levels, the prince had evidently been flinging himself at the yellow demon undeterred this whole time.

  A lizard-shaped demon knocked the prince and his young knight aside dramatically, but their lives didn’t appear to be in any danger. I ignored them for the time being.