arc3 · 195-ch195

Chapter 195: Free-for-All ②

While Kokushi Musou's members fought the Lich, the battle between Queens and Ouroboros had already broken out behind them. Asahi was filming the whole thing and sending it to the Dungeon Agency.

"Ora ora ora ora ora!"

Ouroboros's boss swung his giant axe in barrage after barrage at Jim, Queens' leader. Arihara-san filled me in: the boss is Onodake Tetsuzan, an Axeman.

Beyond him, it turned out Hebi — the slim man — was Dokumamushi Tonbo, holder of the Poison Mixer Job; Rai was Raito Kuranohayashiin, the Lightning Mage; Kage, the man dressed in black from head to toe, was Tokoyami Shinobi, Job: Assassin; Hime was Hasumi Mira, holder of the rare Geisha Job; and the lady was Saotome Yuyu, holder of the recovery-type Nurse Job.

And Ken was Ohsaki Daigo, a One-Handed Swordsman — which means that in this short a span of time, Arihara-san had tracked down the identity of every single Ouroboros member. Incredible, Arihara-san.

Jim was stopping every one of Onodake's attacks on his shield. The technique itself was superb — but each block was shoving him back, step by step, under the sheer impact. That's some terrifying attacking power. It has Jim unable to counter at all.

"Don't get too cocky now!"

"I could return those exact words right back to you."

Mikey attacked with blinding speed, but the man called Kage was matching him move for move. As expected of a man with the Assassin Job. Even so, Mikey seemed slightly superior — but the woman called Hime joined in at every key moment, keeping the balance held.

Though — Kage's weapon being daggers I get, but what on earth is Hime's weapon? Folding fans? Looks like they're made of mithril.

"Ahaha, not bad at all, that. Holding even against the likes of us."

This Hime, fighting with masterful control of her fans, apparently has a skill called Charm, according to Arihara-san — so we'd best be careful. Anyone whose mental strength is low enough, she can control just by meeting their eyes, apparently. She used that power to make parties she took a dislike to fight each other, and ended up a wanted woman.

"Drop dead already."

"Kekeke, won't be that easy, sis. If anything, why don't YOU have yourself a nice long taste of my poison, y'hear!"

Vivvi's opponents, meanwhile, were the two men called Hebi and Rai. Hebi had a knife — clearly coated in poison — in hand, hunting for an opening in Vivvi's guard. Distance or no, seeing him dodge the arrows Vivvi fired tells me he's a serious operator.

"Dokumamushi, quit flapping your gums and get in close already. I'll cover you with magic."

On top of that, Rai — Kuranohayashiin — fired off a Lightning Arrow to keep Vivvi pinned down. But Vivvi canceled that lightning arrow out with one of her own. Terrifying, the level of her skill.

Three battlefronts had opened up, and right now every one of them was dead even. I'd been hoping to somehow finish the Lich off during all this... when my detection caught a different monster.

"This is bad!? A Terror's Symbol!? Coming from deeper in!"

I alerted the Kokushi Musou members who'd been backing me up in the fight against the Lich that a Terror's Symbol was headed our way.

"You're sure!? Soraku, Ryuga, Shizuka — we're falling back!"

Shinonome-san ordered the retreat — but directly behind them, Queens and Ouroboros were mid-battle. And Queens, for their part, would pounce on Kokushi Musou given any opening. Getting close to them isn't an option. We pulled back for the moment to Asahi's position — a tiger at the front gate and a wolf at the back door; that's exactly what this is, isn't it.

Deciding to at least take the Lich down while I could, I fired the Wind Bullet Machine Cannon.

"§*∫†∂∮∬∧"

But the opening I'd made by turning toward the Terror's Symbol let the Lich get its Fire Wall chant off. A wall of flame appeared in front of it, and the Wind Bullets were blocked.

GAGAGAGA!

And there was the Terror's Symbol. Appearing on the far side of the Lich, it broke into a dead sprint, dragging the greatsword in its hand. It swept right past beneath the Lich and slashed at the nearest target — Hayate.

Bash!

Hayate, too slow to escape, was wiped out in an instant. Same terrifying speed as ever. I'd half-hoped the Lich and the Terror's Symbol might fight each other — that hope was crushed completely. If anything, they came at us in coordinated vanguard-and-rearguard fashion.

"No help for it! We punch straight through the melee and out the other side! Survival comes before attacking — everyone, prioritize protecting yourselves!"

Going up against the Lich and the Terror's Symbol with just Kokushi Musou and me is flat-out impossible, and it's precisely because he understood that, that Shinonome-san ordered his party to cut through the middle of the Queens–Ouroboros battle and head for the stairs.

With Kitora-san, who still had some strength left, at the front, Kokushi Musou's members plunged into the melee. Asahi followed at the very rear, while Shiden and the freshly resummoned Hayate attacked the Terror's Symbol and the Lich to buy the party time to escape.

BZZT-BZZT-BZZT!

The Terror's Symbol caught the Thunder Bullets Shiden fired on its greatsword. Maybe because lightning is its weakness attribute, we managed to make it flinch a little. At the same time I hit the Lich with Hayate's Magic Machine Cannons. That didn't do much damage either, but it seemed to be enough to stop its movement.

"Ora ora! Outta my way!"

Onodake came leaping out right in front of Kitora-san, still chasing after Jim. With that giant axe swinging around, he nearly barreled into Kitora-san. No — that one was deliberate. He aimed for Kitora-san on purpose. Only by snapping his upper body backward did Kitora-san dodge by a hair.

"Whoa, that was close!"

This time it was Vivvi's arrow flying straight at Kannami-san. Nishikyo-san knocked it out of the air with his spear, and disaster was averted. This mission is way more dangerous than I imagined.

"Everyone, don't look the fan woman in the eye! She has the Charm skill!"

Pointing at the woman called Hime — wearing what I suppose you'd call a Venetian mask, the kind a celebrity might wear to a party — Shinonome-san warned the group. And at the same moment, Mikey's and Dokumamushi's knives came flying in together.

Shinonome-san managed to block that one with an Earth Wall. Somehow, guarding themselves all the while, they made it across the battlefield.

But then the unthinkable happened. The Terror's Symbol, without sparing so much as a glance for anyone else, came chasing after Kokushi Musou. The Lich was scattering magic around indiscriminately, but the Terror's Symbol relentlessly hunted Nishikyo-san and Kitora-san.

"We can't outrun it any further! We make our stand here!"

Judging it impossible to escape while carrying Nishikyo-san and Kitora-san, whose strength was nearly gone, Shinonome-san resolved to fight the Terror's Symbol. I steeled myself too and deployed Shiden and Hayate.

"Go! Shiden, Hayate!"

Standing in for Nishikyo-san and Kitora-san, whose movements were a far cry from full strength, I poured mana without stint, hammering in the two-attribute Machine Cannons and the Magic Machine Cannons. But last time I'd been able to land shots because it was a surprise from behind; this time it's a straight-up frontal assault. Even firing a combined forty rounds a second, everything's dodged or deflected, and I'm barely scratching it.

What's more, the Lich's magic comes flying at us from time to time, and dealing with that eats into my effort too. Fighting the Terror's Symbol in this state is impossible. But running isn't an option either.

Just when I thought we'd finally exhausted every last option, the voice I most wanted to hear right now came from behind me.

"Yo. Sounds like you're having a rough time of it. Want me to give you a hand?"

On Asahi's camera was none other than Sieg Howard — the man who'd stood beside us at the press conference only the other day.