Chapter 143

There’s a line this chapter that mentions “seven misfortunes and eight pains”. After some research I found out that it refers to Yamanaka Yukimori but since I’m too lazy to try to explain everything I’ll just copy-paste and excerpt so you know what the line meant.

“There is a famous anecdote of Yukimori praying under a crescent moon, vowing to endure “Seven Misfortunes and Eight Pains” (a Buddhist term of hardship) in exchange for realizing his desire to revive the Amago clan.”

Enjoy the chapter.

The base of our strategy this time around is to fight while riding on our horses and give priority to not getting surrounded.

In a certain way, you could say their plan to aim at Tobi’s horse from the start was good.

「Dorya!」 (Hind)

「!!」

By ramming my Grado Turk into the other person, his horse was blown away.

This is quite fun…! It felt like I was riding a heavy tank.

This shows just how much of a difference there is between a Grado Turk and a normal horse.

「Take this as an extra!」(Tobi)

Then, towards the horse that had fallen over, Tobi threw kunais at it.

These ones gave a status ailment called 『Deadly Poison』. They were smeared with highly concentrated poison.

The horse was on the verge of death and since the opponent didn’t have enough time to heal it, it disappeared.

Like this, we kept getting rid of their mobility.

Anyway, we didn’t stop and just kept going forward.

If we get closer to them, they’ll try to avoid having friendly fire and will not use long range attacks.

「Hahaha! Look at this difference in mobility! Do your best to try to catch me!」(Yumir)

Yumir slashed at the opponent’s horse when they passed by each other with her longsword.

The most important fact for this strategy is the system of 「If the HP of your mount is gone, it’ll get transferred to the nearest stable」.

If you heal the mount, it’s possible for them to remain, but since corpses don’t remain, it’s not possible to revive them.

Using this fact, we kept sending their horses towards the stables.

Common horses have really low HP so a single attack from Yumir is able to kill them.

And the reason we can say we’ll win even with our limited number is because of these Grado Turks.

This high HP that won’t make them stop even if they were to get hit by a few arrows-…whops!

「!?」(Hind)

「Whoa! Grado Turks are the best!」(Tobi)

「Yeah! Ending like this when it’s only two of us, I can’t stop smiling!」(Yumir)

This speed makes them able to dodge even the magical attacks of the enemies. As you’d expect from the reward for winning the tournament.

Yumir and I (though Tobi was also riding with us) were going around the enemy camp aiming at their horses.

The members with rental horses were focused on evading and defending themselves, their priority was to obstruct the people that started casting.

At the beginning, this strategy was going well but…the opponents gradually started to compose themselves…

「-Adah, dah!? Hind-dono, the Grado Turks are starting to get hit by long distance attacks–buh!」(Tobi)

「That hurts! Tsk, I guess the opponents have started to get used to our speed…we are falling back!」(Hind)

「Understood!」(Tobi)

Yumir should still be fine for now, but the Grado Turk we were riding was in critical condition.

I poured one of the crafted intermediate potions on the Grado Turk and began casting 『Healing Plus』.

Tobi threw a bo-hiya towards the horses that were chasing us, furthermore, he started throwing kunais since they had low CD.

I was somehow able to finish casting and the Grado Turk’s HP was back to full.

The opponent’s horses were reduced to about half their numbers so the fight had started to get easier but…

「!」(Hind)

「Nuoh!?」(Tobi)

As if aiming at the moment I was thinking of something else, a guy jumped from his horse towards us while wielding a dagger.

I tried to raise my staff in a panic, but I won’t make it in time! Just when I was readying myself to take some damage, a voice could be heard.

「Hind-kun!」(Selene)

A powerful arrow came flying and hit the enemy’s body dead center.

Wielding a crossbow that was smaller than what she used normally, Selene-san came over to get us, who were withdrawing and started to run parallel to us.

I…I thought that was going to give me a heart attack…

「Selene-dono! Our savior!」(Tobi)

「Thank you very much, Selene-san! That timing was just perfect! Love you!」(Hind)

「L-Love…!?」(Selene)

Selene-san turned bright red.

Even though we were in the middle of a battle, she started to fidget, then I realized what I just blurted out and started to panic.

「…It was a spur of the moment thing right? It just happened right? That’s the case right? It was not as if he was saying his true feelings right? Ah, I should think that it was some sort of suspension bridge effect because he was saved when he was in a pinch-」(Riizu)

「Hiiii!? Riizu-dono, where did you come from!?」(Tobi)

Suddenly, grumblings could be heard from just behind us.

Chills started to crawl up my spine and I started to shiver. Then I looked towards Riizu, who was looking at me with a dark expression.

「Y-Yeah. I-It was just a spur of a moment thing and I got excited…I’m sorry, Selene-san.」(Hind)

「Y-Yes. I don’t…mind? Yes…」(Selene)

While saying that, Selene-san looked slightly disappointed.

I’m really sorry…on the other hand, light returned to Riizu’s eyes and she smiled sweetly.

「Be careful, OK? Hind-san.」(Riizu)

「M-My bad…those weren’t words that I should have said half-heartedly…」(Hind)

「That’s right. Leaving that aside, I’ll definitely be the one that comes to rescue Hind-san next time.」(Riizu)

As soon as my life was saved, I was assaulted by fear that it would take years off my life you know?…Though it was my own fault.

I then bowed to never say another thoughtless remark even if my life was in danger.

While we were talking, we never stopped moving and we used the wide field to continue our retreat.

「Muh, Yumir is going too deep…」(Hind)

「Leave it to me!」(Selene)

While saying that, she loaded another bolt and accurately hit the horse of the person that was chasing behind Yumir.

「Oh!? Secchan, that really helps!」(Yumir)

Selene-san might be the person that’s standing out the most in this group fight.

All the bolts she’s shooting are proving to be effective.

Maybe she realized that she was in a bad position from the attack just now, Yumir rushed through the enemies and started to come over here.

「Senpai, save me. Help.」(Siesta)

「…!?」(Hind)

A frail voice could be heard from somewhere.

I started to look around me and Tobi pointed towards a certain place.

「Ah! Hind-dono, the members of Baby Bird are in trouble!」(Tobi)

It might be because their horses were gone, Siesta-chan, who had raised her voice was casting magic while standing behind Lycoris-chan.

Cineraria-chan was shooting arrows towards the enemies’ horses to keep them in check.

While going around in circles around the members of Baby Birds, the PKs who were riding on horses were slowly closing in.

「You two, go support Yumir!」(Hind)

「Got it!」(Riizu)

「Understood!」(Selene)

「…Tobi!」(Hind)

「Yeah!」(Tobi)

Since most of his throwable items were on CD, Tobi placed his hands on my shoulders to support himself and did a somersault.

He easily switched places with me and went to the front and took the reins of the horse, then rushed towards the members of Baby Bird.

While obstructing the enemies with the 『Grado Turk』, I pierced the enemies’ horses with kunais as they came back up from CD.

Thanks to the enemies being distracted, Siesta-chan was able to finish casting 『Heavens Ray』 and blew the enemies away.

「Ooh! Hind-dono, your throwing accuracy is so high! Not bad!」(Tobi)

「I’m always throwing spells around while you guys are moving all over the place. I can do at least this much.」(Hind)

「Ooh, senpai is so cool. I might fall in love with you all over again.」

Having converged with Siesta-chan, she made a gesture as if she was poking me with her elbow.

Though she wasn’t reaching at all because we were riding on a horse.

Looking relieved, Lycoris-chan and Cineraria-chan took a breath and came towards us and bowed.

「「Thank you very much!」」

「Don’t try too hard and support us from a bit further behind. If enemies come, be sure to call us over.」(Hind)

「「Yes!」」

Like this, we kept supporting each other. However, it was gradually becoming a situation where we couldn’t get past the difference in numbers.

Though, if we were to gain the upper hand 『Night’s Edge』 would begin to retreat. You could say that would be good but…

Yumir, who was moving around energetically, didn’t have any choice but to act as an escort for the members of Baby Bird who had lost their horses and we had to gradually move back as a group like the first time.

「Hind-san, at this rate…!」(Riizu)

「Kuh, are they not here yet!? Mitsuyoshi-san and the others reinforcements!」(Hind)

Our party was at its limits, the moment I shouted that…

…Arrows, stones, fire, water, wind, earth, darkness, light rained from the sky.

There’s no penalties for preemptively attacking orange named people.

They were  better in terms of quality and quantity compared to 『Night’s Edge』, the planned long range attacks rained incessantly on top of the enemy ranks.

「Kept you waiting! …Don’t let anyone get away! Forward!」(Mitsuyoshi)

「「「Yeaaah!!」」」

With Mitsuyoshi-san’s order, the armored players simultaneously charged forward.

Due to the abrupt reinforcements, 『Night’s Edge』 shrank back and stopped their movements.

「…! Drive them away! Beat them up!」

From within their ranks, one person finally raised his voice.

As if the shackles that bound him came undone with his voice, he started to run away in the direction opposite of 『Town of Canaris』 we came from, towards 『Port Notos』.

However, he immediately froze again.

Having split into two groups, the members of the 『Japanese Style Guild “Rin”』 cut the PK guilds escape route from the 『Port Notos』 side.

「Kukuku…I wonder where were you planning to go?」

Along with those words, the one that stepped forward was a young man wearing a helmet with antlers in the form of a crescent moon.

I don’t know who he’s trying to imitate with that…ah, that military commander of the seven misfortunes and eight pains.

Carrying a spear on his shoulder, he calmly led the Japanese style forces towards us.

「Alright, people, let’s join the party! Divine punishment to the outlaws!」

「「「Divine punishment!」」」

「They sure are getting into it, Mitsuyoshi-san and co…looks like they are having fun.」(Hind)

「We are going too, Hind!」(Yumir)

「Me too! Vengeance for my rental horse! Divine punishment!」(Tobi)

「Tobi-kun is also getting into it.」(Selene)

Having reached this point, fortunately we had decreased the number of horses on their side.

The PKs practically couldn’t escape and were caught, resisting was their only option left.

Furthermore, their numbers should have been about the same but…the strength of the 『Japanese Style Guild “Rin”』 was on another level…

There were some that tried to escape by jumping into the sea but having been surrounded, 『Night’s Edge』 was annihilated after a few minutes.