CH 175.1

Chapter 175.1: The First Ambush Plan

After walking through the cave for a while, we arrived at the boss room. Though the entrance of the cave looked like some sort of temple, the area after looked just like a normal cave. Just a spacious boss room without a wall and door.

We’re currently hiding in the corner (to the right) just before the boss room. Mei-chan, the vanguard, was equipped with halberd for blitzkrieg. I had entrusted her with the task of planning the timing of our ambush.

Mei-chan used her hand mirror to observe the situation in the boss room.

From my position, I had no idea whether her hand mirror reflected their figures. But when they picked up the boss’s core, their laughter reverberated throughout the cave.

And just as I was wondering when she’d signal me, Mei-chan rushed in right away.

Swish―― CLANK!!!

It was the sound of the stone gripped in Mei-chan’s hand thrown into the boss room.

It would undoubtedly attract everyone’s attention when there was a sound after the boss battle. It was simple psychology. Even in the infiltration-type game, this kind of trick could be used to distract the other party.

I doubt those two would react like those stupid AIs in the game, but at least we managed to distract their line of sight.

「Fuuuu—」

Mei-chan’s figure vanished like an illusion, leaving behind only a sharp exhalation.

「Let’s go!」

That was our cue, Rems and I stepped into the boss room.

A giant crab with a violet shell was tumbling over in the middle of the spacious boss room. So this guy was the boss, eh. It was huge, had four pairs of arms, there was something like transparent crystals growing on its shell, and it looked like it could use sorcery too but… this guy had already been dismantled.

The dead boss, or rather, there was no value in the boss after its core had been stripped off. What I should worry about was the due that defeated this fella.

The first one was Ooyama Daisuke. He looked quite surprised at the ambush.

The other was our main target, Sugino Takashi. He was carrying his mace that was used to defeat the boss and looked equally surprised but―― Too slow.

「HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

The berserker, with the jet-black halberd, raised high overhead, closed in faster than Sugino could react with his mace.

「U, GUWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!?」

WE DID IT! The jet-black axe blade tore through Sugino’s body.

As expected of Mei-chan. It was a direct hit since the guard didn’t make it in time and, her attack broke through the infamous defense of the heavy knight. The axe blade tore through Sugino’s upper half.

+++

Blood sprayed from his wound, it was clearly a fatal wound. Though he avoided an instant death due to the toughness of the heavy warrior, it was still a critical hit.

「TAKAAAAAAAAAAA!」

「Ku… Do-Don’t worry about me, Dai-chan! Do it!」

Sugino held his ground and shouted loudly despite the fact that the upper half of his body was drenched in blood. And then, though he failed to raise his mace in time to defend himself from Mei-chan’s death blow, he could still grasp it with both hands.

This guy hasn’t given up, eh? No, what he said to Ooyama just now worried me more. I had a bad feeling about this.

「REEEEEEEEEEM!」

「GUGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

From the very beginning, we planned to kill Ooyama after Sugino. Rem-Dark Knight raised her great sword overhead, slashing toward Ooyama――

「How dare you… DO THAT TO TAKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! 『IGNIS WALL DEFENCE』!」

At that moment, a giant firewall stood in front of Rem-Dark Knight.

「GUGA!」

That wall was huge to the point that even Rem-Dark Knight hesitated to cross over it. But she did a good job by stopping since that firewall might have inflicted a great amount of damage on her.

But, this is bad,

「Mei-chan!」

「Fufu, kukuku… Momokawa-kun, you should start to worry about yourself before her you know.」

That voice was definitely Sugino’s. I couldn’t see the situation over there due to that blazing firewall.

But still, the way he spoke, it was as if he wasn’t injured at all.

「Sugino! Dammit, so it’s just a shallow cut.」

「As if I’m gonna die from something like this.」

「Kotaro-kun, leave this guy to me! I am definitely going to kill him this time!」

「Ooh, that’s scary. It’s hard to believe, but you’re Futaba-san, aren’t you? You accomplished a grueling diet to the point of becoming an unrecognizable beauty, eh? I’m sorry for saying this, but I’ve zero interest in women, your beauty won’t work on me at all.」

For the time being, Mei-chan seemed to want to continue the fight against Sugino. But from the way Sugino spoke, it sounded like he had already healed the wound he had received from Mei-chan’s surprise attack.

If that was the case, then it’s an all-out one-on-one battle to the death. I had wanted to avoid this situation at all costs, but it really couldn’t be helped.

「Don’t force yourself, Mei-chan. We’ll do something about this after I cro――」

「Heh, you fool! Ain’t gonna let you do that!」

Ooyama rushed toward me from behind the firewall, his voice shrill with rage.

What’s the meaning of this? I assumed they’d try to kill Mei-chan first by ganging up on her and trapping her in the firewall.

「How dare you look down upon me, MOMOKAWAAAAAAA! YER FU*KER AIN’T PREPARED AT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL!」

「… You mean, fight like a man?」

「A nice guess for a trap like you. Yes, it’s just as you say. Momokawa, your opponent is ME!」

With a snappy voice, Ooyama assumed a karate stance.

I guess there was no other option but to engage in a one-on-one duel. It turned into a completely unexpected situation but… I had Rem by my side. Since Ooyama was by himself, I had the upper hand.

「Rem, let’s beat him up!」

「Come at me… I’m ready!」

===

「Why…」

「Why, eh?」

Meiko, with her back to the raging firewall, was up against Sugino, who remained composed despite being drenched in his own blood on his upper half.

Sugino had already taken a defensive stance with his mace, leaving no room for her to exploit. Even she was hesitant to inadvertently step into his range.

For a while after that, both sides silently glared at each other, without stirring from their positions. It was at this moment that Meiko noticed something.

First, the wound she inflicted had already recovered. It hadn’t healed perfectly since there was still a crooked scar left behind. Judging by that and the trace of blood, she was certain that the Sugino she had attacked a while ago was real. After all, no matter how she looked at it, there was no way a heavy warrior would have a skill with a similar effect as Kotaro’s 『Twin Shadow』.

Since that was the case, the one she had ambushed just now was definitely the real Sugino and yet, he had recovered right in the next moment. Thus, she concluded that he might have some sort of self-regeneration skill like the high zombie boss from the previous area. She thought that he might have a skill similar to that but then, Meiko arrived at another possibility.

「No way, 『Droplet of Life』」

「Uhm, do you also have the same thing? Man, so you got an extremely rare item too, eh.」

It seems that her guess was correct.

『Droplet of Life』 was an emergency regeneration item she got in the palace area filled with living armor when she was still with Souma Yuuto. Though it was a disposable item whose effect was to instantly heal fatal wounds… it was an item that could literally turn the tide of battle.

Meiko was silently smacking her lips.

「Ooh, that’s terrifying killing intent. Quite a beautiful face you’ve got there.」

「If you give up obediently, I’ll at least let you die painlessly but…」

「For a gentle and timid Futaba-san to be able to say that, just what kind of experience you―― WHOOPS!」

Meiko was swinging down her halberd while closing in on Sugino.

「Guh, such power!」

Yet, Sugino managed to catch that heavy blow with the mace in his hands. But that wasn’t the end of the attack.

「Fu~, HAAAAAAAA!」

「Moreover, this speed!」