Ossan Saikyō Chapter 13 Part 15
After informing the Great Shrine Head Maiden that we would deal with the newly appeared powerful Devil, we left the Grand Spirit Shrine and headed southwest through the city.
It seemed the Devils had suddenly appeared from the mountains southwest of the Capital. The powerful individual in question had also descended from the mountains, broken through the defensive line around the outskirts of the Capital, and was apparently heading straight toward us.
We were now running through the city with Shizuna at the front. Apparently, the individual was accompanied by numerous small Devils, so we had asked Karma and rest of〈Drunken Tiger〉to come along and help deal with them.
“Soushi-sama, I sense a very unpleasant and powerful presence. It feels about twice as powerful as the ‘Devils’ from before. There is only one strong presence, but there are also more than 20 smaller ones around it.”
Freynil, running beside me, spoke.
“That matches the information we received. Is it getting closer?”
“Yes, at an incredible speed. About as fast as the carriages we were riding in.”
“That’s quite fast.”
50 kilometers per hour was extremely fast for a monster. And if that Devil was a large one, its threat level would increase dramatically. Just having something like that rampage through the city would cause tremendous damage.
“Soushi-dono, there seems to be smoke rising over there.”
Shizuna, who was ahead of us, pointed, and I could indeed see smoke rising.
No, it wasn’t just smoke. Various things, such as boards and roof tiles, seemed to be flying through the air as well. The Devil must have been rampaging through the city while destroying buildings.
“At this rate, we’ll collide head-on.”
“That’s fine. I’ll stop it with everything I have. Everyone else, take care of the smaller ones around it. Even though they’re small, they’re probably quite powerful monsters, so be careful. Fray, use『Halo』. While I’m fighting, Sphenia, take charge and command others.”
“Leave it to me. After using『Halo』, I’ll also put up a defensive『Barrier』.”
“I’ll move around protecting Fray, Sphenia, and Shizuna, so Soushi, focus on the big one.”
“Understood. Leave the rest of the instructions to me. Soushi-san, concentrate on the large one.”
“If they can keep up at this speed, there is also a possibility that the smaller ones are flying types. We should be careful.”
Freynil, Rani, Sphenia, and Mariane answered. As expected, everyone knew their roles well.
“Karma, I’d like you and your party to handle the smaller monsters as well.”
“Are you sure you can handle the big one by yourself?”
“It depends on the opponent, but if it has a physical attribute, there won’t be a problem.”
“Well, after seeing yesterday’s battle, I suppose that was a foolish question. I’m looking forward to seeing what you can do.”
I nodded at the tiger-beastkin beauty as she grinned.
We emerged onto a somewhat wider street.
About 300 meters ahead, I could see a pink object charging toward us at full speed. It was about the size of a large trailer.
“What the hell is that!?”
It was bizarre enough that Karma shouted in surprise.
Its main body looked as though around 20 enormous human bodies had been crushed together and tightly compressed into a cylindrical shape. Countless human legs protruded from the lower half of the body, kicking against the ground as it ran.
At the end of the cylinder was a single enormous human head, glaring straight ahead with an expressionless face. Only the face had an oddly black sheen to it, giving it the appearance of being extremely hard.
Floating around it were around 20 monsters, each about 2 meters long. They had human bodies with 2 heads, and 4 limbs resembling bat wings instead of arms and legs. Their form was utterly incomprehensible.
“There’s a good chance they’ll fire magic from their mouths. Be careful!”
I warned them, remembering our previous battle, then moved ahead by myself. I readied《Indomitable Bastion》and firmly planted both feet on the ground.
“Everyone, stay away from me. I’ll draw their attacks with my skill!”
When I activated【Provoke】, the face of the rampaging giant Devil locked onto me and it accelerated toward me. The smaller demons around it also began moving in my direction.
“『Halo』, coming right up!”
Freynil activated【Divine Magic】from a distance. The area was enveloped in light for an instant, slowing the smaller demons. The large demon also appeared to slow down momentarily, but it quickly seemed to regain its top speed.
“Soushi-sama, it didn’t have much effect on the large one!”
“It’s fine.”
The large demon was already right in front of me.
I filled my entire being with all of my physical enhancement skills,【Stability】,【Steadfast】,【Diamond Body】,【Adamant】, and【Steel Core】, and faced the rampaging aberrant trailer.
“RAAAAH!”
(E/N: TESTOSTERONE!!!!)
At the instant of impact, I roared and thrust my entire body forward together with my orichalcum shield.
CRAAAACK!!
It was a sound unlike anything I had ever heard from an impact, not metal, not wood, and certainly not something made of flesh.
The tremendous impact was unlike anything I had ever experienced before, so violent that it felt as though my entire body might be torn apart.
Yet despite receiving that destructive force, my body did not move even a single centimeter backward.
However, the enormous mass of energy remaining in the aberrant giant still tried to push its immense body forward.
The result was simple. The large Devil's head was crushed between its own massive body and my orichalcum shield.
Spattering highly viscous liquid, flesh, and skin, the aberrant “trailer” spun halfway through the air around its crushed head.
The large Devil fell onto its back with a ground-shaking impact, yet its countless legs still clawed uselessly at the air.
I turned around and began smashing the grotesque giant to pieces with my mace one section at a time.
After I destroyed about half of it, its movements stopped, and the rampaging demon began to dissolve into black particles.
“Stopping something that humongous really is something else! Leave the rest of the trash to us!”
Karma shouted as she swung her greatsword. A crescent-shaped arc of light shot from the tip of the blade and sliced one of the smaller Devils flying through the air in two.
Rani was also using【Vault】and【Airstride】to slash down the smaller Devils in midair.
The smaller Devils were spitting stone spears from their mouths, but Freynil’s『Barrier』seemed to be stopping them.
Freynil, Sphenia, and Shizuna fired magic from behind the cover of the『Barrier』, steadily taking down the Devils one by one.
When a smaller Devil tried to circle around us, Mariane first afflicted it with『Immobilize』using her throwing darts, then leaped at it with【Vault】and slashed it down.
I focused on drawing their attacks with【Provoke】. The stone spears spat out by the Devils simply shattered against the surface of《Indomitable Bastion》.
Before long, the group of Devils had been completely wiped out.
“Soushi-sama, are you injured?”
With Freynil at the front, the members of〈Saul's Guidance〉gathered around me.
“No problem. Is everyone else all right?”
“I got hit a little, but I’m fine.”
“As expected, Fray’s『Barrier』is extremely powerful as a defensive wall. The backline is fine.”
Rani and Sphenia answered, and Shizuna nodded.
“Indeed.”
Mariane came walking over after picking up a large magic stone lying in the street. It was a sinister, brilliantly colored magic stone about the size of a large watermelon.
“That large ‘Devil’ was a type we had never seen reported before. If not for you, Soushi-san, the city would have suffered enormous damage.”
“Stopping something like that would have been difficult. I managed because I had this shield though...”
“No, no. The fact that you, Soushi, can use that shield in the first place is what’s strange. Don’t forget that.”
Karma came over with her greatsword resting on her shoulder. She looked as though she was slightly wryly amused by my comment.
“So that’s the ‘Devil’ everyone’s been talking about. The thought of something that creepy starting to appear is enough to give me the heebie-jeebies.”
“Indeed. It seems they’re difficult to defeat unless you’re of high-rank.”
“I was surprised by how much tougher it was than it looked. You might have some trouble unless you’re B-Rank or higher. Now I understand why the Noble Lords have recently started recruiting high-rank adventurers so aggressively.”
“It’s having that much of an impact? That’s going to be troublesome.”
Come to think of it, if monsters like these began attacking cities, the Lords throughout the country would certainly have their hands full. Perhaps it was only natural for nobles who were quick to pick up on such things to start scouting high-rank adventurers.
〈Saul's Guidance〉had the King’s backing, so people probably wouldn’t approach us so easily, but there was no doubt this would have a considerable impact on the adventurer community.
For someone like me, who only wanted to make a living as an adventurer, it looked like things were about to become rather troublesome.
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E/N:
All that testosterone… I'm erec- I mean I'm pumped! 😅😅😅
Stay tuned!
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