CH 191.1

Chapter 191.1: Strategic Meeting For Yamata No Orochi Subjugation

「DA-DAMMIIIIIIIIT!」

I shouted on the top of my lungs as Mei-chan carried me like a piece of luggage as we escaped from Yamato No Orochi.

Two hours ago…

We set out from the fairy plaza to confirm that Yamata No Orochi really had to be defeated by all of us.

After walking for around one hour in the dry wasteland, we arrived at a giant valley. Thereon, we walked another hour to arrive at Yamata No Orochi’s nest.

Since we were only here for observation, we would not force ourselves to beat that guy. Or so it was supposed to be, but it turned out there was a horde of gargoyles in the mountain in addition to the kaiju-sized boss monster, Yamata No Orochi. It was by no means a place for carefree observation.

Thus, I entrusted the command to Souma-kun who had the experience to fight this guy and started the attack after a simple role-sharing.

The vanguard who fought directly against Yamata No Orochi’s head was placed in the most precarious situation. Therefore, Souma-kun’s turn came first followed by Tendou-kun. And now, the berserker, Mei-chan was added as the third force.

The 『Hero』 Souma Yuuto, the 『King』Tendou Ryuuichi, and the 『Berserker』 Futaba Meiko. There was no doubt that they were the top three in terms of combat prowess in Classes 2-7. I expected those three to be able to corner Yamata No Orochi and yet… Yamata No Orochi had proven itself as an extremely powerful monster.

Even the combined force of the three had reached the limit with the prolonged battle as they started to lose their stamina.

And just as Souma-kun had said during the meeting, trying to defeat this guy with brute force was impossible.

I mean, trying to accomplish that through a rain of flame, thunder, and beam-like breath was just impossible. Oi, when were you planning to tell us about this fu*king breath attack, dammit!

As we run with our tails tucked between our legs accompanied by a series of giant explosions behind, Mei-chan lifted me up and carried me till we were back at the valley.

「Maaaan, it’s a miracle that no one died in that brutal fight.」

「… Now you understand just how dangerous Yamata No Orochi is right, Momokawa-kun?」

Everyone dragged their feet as we returned to the fairy plaza. For now, we had confirmed that all 18 of us were safe. However, even though it was supposed to be simple scouting, the level was dangerous to the point that it wasn’t strange for any of us to die in that kind of situation.

I guess we had to be extremely prepared to subjugate it with utmost safety measures.

「Yeah, I think everyone has understood the severity of the situation too.」

Yeah, no matter how much I thought about it, this was clearly an impossible challenge.

Generally speaking, when playing a game with such a fu*king gargantuan monster, it had weaker strengths to compensate for its size, and yet, all of that monster’s stats had been maxed. If this was a real game, Yamata No Orochi would become an undefeated boss that was doomed to be scrapped.

Rather, wasn’t this guy a literal raid boss?

「Anyhow, defeating that fella with a frontal attack is impossible.」

Even the trio, the strongest of Classes 2-7, ended up in that state. Yeah, defeating all its eight heads and entering its body to destroy its core hidden deep in that rocky mountain from the front was impossible. I mean, that would be too difficult a job for our strongest trio.

「The crucial part of the plan is how much we can reduce the trio’s burden…」

Currently, only this strongest trio could fight Yamato No Orochi’s head from the front. Therefore, the other vanguard such as a swordsman or knight had to become the trio’s support.

Those with long-range attacks, otherwise known as spellcasters with attack magic, had to get rid of the gargoyles that impeded the trio, but honestly, their role was still far from satisfying.

After all, there were 18 of us. We wouldn’t be able to subjugate the Raid Boss-Yamata No Orochi without proper plans and preparation.

「So, what are we going to do, Momokawa?」

「U~hm, let’s see…」

Once again, everyone gathered for a class meeting. I stood in front of everyone along with Class Rep, receiving their undivided attention as I was asked about our plan.

Even though Mei-chan had just fought a formidable boss monster, she looked at me with sparkling eyes as if she believed that I would come up with the best plan to subjugate Yamato No Orochi.

On the other hand, Souma-kun, who didn’t have a speck of trust in me, was eyeing me as if he were testing me.

Tendou-kun just acted as if this matter wasn’t his business like usual, but I knew that his attention would focus on me once I started talking.

Thus, I felt overwhelming pressure from all 17 of them with various thoughts in their mind.

Well, their thoughts were trivial matters since I had to do this anyway.

「 There are preparations and steps that we have to accomplish to subjugate Yamato No Orochi.」

「Do you have any plan?」

「Honestly speaking, it’s still a draft. But first, we’ve to decrease the burden of Souma-kun, Tendou-kun, and Mei-chan who act as our main vanguard.」

「Yeah, I also think it’s impossible to defeat it from the front.」

As expected, even Souma-kun wasn’t stupid enough to spout nonsense like 「We just need guts to beat that guy!」, we had to calmly analyze its attack patterns.

「To defeat that guy, we’ve to go into that mountain and destroy that guy’s core, its main body.」

I mean, that fu*king bas*ard seems to be able to regenerate its head forever if we don’t destroy its core. At first, I was skeptical about it, but then I was forced to acknowledge that fact when I saw it with my own eyes.

In fact, even if the number of its regeneration wasn’t infinite, there was no need to confirm it since even one of its heads was enough to give us a really hard time.

「As such, we divide the roles into two— one infiltrate the mountain and destroy the core; two, fight the eight heads.」

If even one of those heads wasn’t occupied, it might go after the one who infiltrated the rocky mountain.

Even without that, the rocky mountain was the very den of gargoyles, making it even more difficult to search and destroy the core.

「But even the three won’t be able to fight all eight heads at once.」

「Uhm, the first thing we have to do is find a way to seal the eight heads. Then, we need to find a way to destroy its core. We won’t be able to subjugate Yamata No Orochi unless we complete these two steps.」

「So, what are we going to do to accomplish the two steps?」

「We’ve to think about that hereon.」

Everyone looked dejected upon hearing my reply. Oi, stop sighing like this is the end of the world.

You think coming up with perfect subjugation plans against that massive-sized monster is that easy!

「To have a perfect subjugation plan, our only recourse is trial and error— this method will take a lot of time. In short, we have no choice but to stay for a long time in this place.」

In short, a cohabitation. We might be lucky enough to land a lucky strike that would instakill Yamata No Orochi, or find a much safer, secret route, which might be as big as an imaginary number.

「In short, we’ve to secure a safe living place in this place before our battle against Yamata No Orochi but then… We’ve another problem, namely securing food in this wasteland.」

「EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!?」

The one who raised a shocked scream was none other than Mei-chan.

「… Why Futaba-san screamed as if this is the end of the world?」

Souma-kun asked quite naturally upon seeing Mei-chan scream that was loud enough to make everyone flinch away from her. As expected of a handsome guy, he was a natural.

「I mean, that means we’re going back to the menu comprising of only nuts and water again ri~ght.」

The fairy plaza in this place was awfully spacious which made me think that it was specially prepared for many people. This size was literally enough for us to have our own private space.

In that part, there were so many fairy nuts and spacious flower fields. It would be enough if it was just for a short-term living place.

But that was a problem. Meat aside, we’re used to luxurious living since a while ago which even allowed us to enjoy sweets, fruits, or honey.  But then, having to go back to a diet that only consisted of walnuts was nothing more than torture. It’s like we were already living in heaven, only to drop straight into hell…

「Oi, we’re going to be screwed if there’s no meat, right?」

「The-There’s gargoyle over there, so we might be able to…」

「Stop, those fellas are clearly inedible.」

It wasn’t just Mei-chan, the Totem Pole Trio who had been following my example of wild cooking were clearly troubled by the prospect of returning to the diet composed of only walnuts again. That’s right, like hell we could fight the boss if we didn’t eat meat filled with meat broth.

「I think we’ve to secure food supply as soon as possible.」

「Hey, we’re in the wasteland you know. Everyone who came here from the teleportation circle won’t be able to go back.」

Souma-kun was right.

At least, I knew that we would have a really hard time finding even a single animal in this wasteland. Will we be able to find a jungle or forest if we keep walking? In the first place, can we reach the limit of this place on foot?

No way, even without Yamata no Orochi, we’re still in huge trouble… Wait, could it be that it was checkmated the moment we arrived in this area!?

「Uhm, excuse me…」