Ossan Saikyō Chapter 9 Part 07
After confirming that the monster was no longer nearby, we stepped out of the cave.
The four of us headed toward the monster, while Kaim's group made for Tolson.
They were supposed to request reinforcements once they reached town, though I doubted that would be necessary.
Perhaps sensing our movements, the monster began to move as well.
With loud rustling noises, it advanced toward us.
“Fray, use『Halo』. Sphenia, I want your opening attack to be magic as well. Rani, cut off as many of its arms as you can.
…
I'll block any magic aimed at Fray and Sphenia, but once you get the chance, hide behind the rocks and focus on support.”
“Yes, Soushi-sama.”
“Got it!”
“Understood. I'll also use the《White Heron Bow》when the opportunity arises.”
Its presence drew nearer.
The footsteps grew louder.
Then the grotesque monster emerged from behind the rocks ahead.
“What the heck is that!? It's disgusting!”
Rani shouted.
At the same time, I heard Freynil quietly murmur,
“It really is... a Devil...”
“No matter what it is, it'll still feel pain if you hit it. Let's go.”
Without changing formation, we steadily advanced.
The monster also approached slowly, as though sizing us up.
About 50 meters separated us.
Gii... Gii... Gah!
The monster let out its metallic screech.
Its 3 expressionless faces turned toward us, and all 3 mouths opened at once.
“Fray!”
“Yes!『Halo』!”
Brilliant light enveloped the area.
For a moment, the monster seemed to recoil from the light.
But the next instant it shrieked-
Gyaaah!
Its entire body stiffened.
“It didn't work!? No... it feels like the effect of «Divine Glory» was erased!?”
Fray shouted, something she almost never did.
This was the first time «Divine Glory» had ever failed.
“So it has resistance. Sphenia!”
“Yes! «Flame Bolt»!”
A blazing spear shot from Sphenia's short staff and struck the monster's body.
It groaned and staggered.
The attack had definitely done damage.
Just as I was about to have the two rear guards move behind cover, the monster opened its mouths again.
Stone spears erupted from all three mouths.
I intercepted the barrage with my mace.
Thanks to my counterattack oriented skills, I could keep up even with its rapid fire magic.
“«Dual Sacred Ray»!”
“«Wind Cutter»!”
Two beams of holy light pierced one of the heads, while an invisible blade slammed into its face.
Only shallow wounds appeared on the surface, but its spellcasting halted for a brief moment.
The attacks were definitely having some effect.
Sphenia had switched to wind magic because the monster's attacks appeared to be『Earth』attribute magic.
“I'm going in!”
Seeing the barrage stop, Rani rushed forward.
She slashed at one of the front arms.
Clang!
A metallic sound rang out, nothing like the sound of cutting flesh.
Rani immediately sprang away.
“Its skin and bones are ridiculously hard!”
Looking closely, she'd managed to cut halfway through the arm, but hadn't severed it.
The arm was only about as thick as a utility pole, yet even Rani, with【Sever】, couldn't cut it off in a single strike.
Its defenses were absurd.
“You two, get behind the rocks. Looks like I'll have to smash it myself.”
(E/N: It's clobberin' time!)
“Please be careful.”
“We'll support you where we can.”
Once I confirmed Freynil and Sphenia had taken cover, I charged toward the monster.
Rani continued dodging the arms crashing down from above while repeatedly attacking them.
But even then, she couldn't cut one off.
Seeing me approach, the monster unleashed another barrage of stone spears.
I smashed some aside with my mace and blocked others with my shield as I advanced, but the relentless barrage made it difficult to close the distance.
Then, for just an instant, the barrage stopped.
An arrow had embedded itself in one of the monster's heads.
The《White Heron Bow's》『Paralysis』effect.
Apparently, that still worked.
I burst forward in a full sprint and swung my mace sideways into the nearest arm.
It felt like striking a solid steel beam.
A moment later, the arm crumpled from the elbow down and was torn completely away.
Gyaaaah!
Is that a scream?
At that moment, two more beams of holy light struck its face, followed by a volley of arrows.
Using the opening, I blew off a second arm.
The monster's body, suspended 5 meters above the ground, lurched violently.
Then I noticed Rani had leapt onto its back and was driving her sword into it.
Or rather, trying to.
The blade wouldn't sink in easily, so she repeatedly hacked at its back.
One of the monster's heads suddenly turned toward Rani.
Magic fired at point blank range would be dangerous.
“Rani!”
Hearing my shout, Rani immediately kicked away from its back and leapt into the air.
A stone spear shot through the exact spot where she'd been standing only a heartbeat before.
She used【Airstride】 to gain even more distance before landing safely.
Now down to 6 arms, the monster regained its balance and swung one arm down at me.
I deflected it with my shield and countered with a crushing blow from my mace.
Another arm was torn away and sent flying, throwing the monster off balance once more.
This was my chance to finish it.
I unleashed【Shockwave】at full power directly into the monster's heads above me.
The invisible force released from my monstrous mace shattered its lower jaw and robbed it of consciousness.
Its body lost all strength and crashed heavily to the ground.
Up close, each head was about the size of a large barrel.
Standing before one of them, I raised my mace high overhead.
The monster opened its eyes.
For the first time, its statue like face seemed to twist.
Is that fear it's showing?
Without the slightest hesitation, I brought my mace crashing down onto its skull.
(E/N: Lord have mercy on this blasphemous bast*rd 🤣!)
◇◆◇
After blowing apart all 3 heads, the monster finally stopped moving.
Strangely, its corpse immediately began dissolving from the extremities into countless black particles that scattered into the air and vanished.
All that remained was a single sinister magic stone about the size of a large watermelon.
“Soushi-sama, are you alright?”
“Yeah. I'm fine.”
When I gently patted Freynil on the head after she ran over, she hugged me in relief.
Her body trembled slightly.
Perhaps she truly believed the creature had been a Devil.
“That was one unbelievable monster. Its bones were so hard that even I couldn't cut off a single arm.”
“You did well, Rani. That monster was just abnormal.”
“Even with【Sever】, it barely worked. It must have been an incredibly high ranking monster. Even Fray's『Halo』didn't work.”
As she spoke, Rani stared intently at the remaining magic stone.
Sphenia looked at it as well before lightly shaking her head and turning toward me.
“My magic and arrows didn't seem very effective either. I've never encountered a monster like that, even among C-Rank monsters.”
“Then was it B-Rank or higher? It didn't seem that strong to me...”
I judged it that way because I remembered the B-Rank Headless Adept from the undead castle.
There was no way I could keep up with that thing's movements.
Compared to that, this monster was simply durable.
It hadn't felt overwhelmingly dangerous.
At my words, Sphenia looked at me with mild exasperation.
“No. That barrage of «Stone Javelins» alone made it extremely dangerous. If even【Sever】and【Pierce】are ineffective, and magic can't deal meaningful damage either, then most adventurers would simply be attacked without being able to fight back.
…
Without your mace, no adventurer around here could have handled it.”
“Exactly. Even something that tough went down in one hit. Soushi, you really need to realize just how abnormal you are.”
“Yeah... I suppose you're right.”
Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that someone like Crimson Anatolia would have sliced off all its arms without much effort.
If I had to rank it, somewhere between the upper end of C-Rank and the lower end of B-Rank felt about right.
“Soushi-sama, shall we head back and rest? I don't want to stay here any longer.”
“Yeah, sorry. Let's go.”
In any case, the mission was over.
After collecting the magic stone, we followed Freynil's suggestion and returned to the town of Tolson.
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E/N:
Just imagining an Arachne with biblically horrific features, a chimera with 3 human upper bodies with bald heads; dead, emotionless faces staring with hollow eyes (almost similar to SCP-096), creeping around, almost in a drunk stupor… Hell naw, brothers and sisters, if you see it, even if in your dreams… Running won't cut it!
Goosebumps!
Stay tuned!
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