Makeshift Wolf Brigade ④・And Then, Like That.
Mineha-san’s Spear snapped in two, and the Minotaur’s axe swung sideways.
“Mineha-saaaan?!”
Where’s Mineha-san!?
“Mineha-san!!”
“I’m fine. Don’t shout like that.”
Looking toward the voice, I saw Mineha-san.
She had shrunk down and was sitting collapsed on the floor.
It seems she avoided being cut by instantly returning to her normal size.
But her weapon… Mineha-san was looking at the Spear, still in its enlarged state.
“Uooooohhh, take thiiis!”
“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH”
“…Sky Form… Pleiades… Maia Blade…!”
Ax-san’s sword and Liv-san’s red slashes clashed with the Minotaur Subspecies.
The Minotaur Subspecies parried their attacks with a speed unbelievable for its massive body.
It’s strong.
Without moving a single step, the Minotaur Subspecies skillfully maneuvered its four arms.
It dealt with their attacks using two arms while counterattacking with the other two.
“Uooh, guh!”
“Ngh… damn it…!”
Ax-san and Liv-san were on the offensive, but they were gradually being pushed back.
It wasn’t just brute force. That Minotaur Subspecies possessed skill.
Or perhaps it was a Relic.
“Woff. Don’t worry about me, go help them.”
“…”
Right. I had to help, just as Mineha-san said. But how?
Honestly, I didn’t think I could jump into the middle of their fight with the Minotaur Subspecies.
I’d probably just get in their way.
“Uooooh, don’t underestimate me!”
Ax-san pushed back and counterattacked. Amazing!
“…Sky Form… Pleiades… Merope Blade…”
As the Blade turned blue, Liv-san’s movements changed.
Where she had been blocking with single strikes, her sword strikes rapidly increased to two, three, four hits.
I could faintly see afterimages of Liv-san.
“OOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOHHHHH”
Unable to withstand the assault, one of the Minotaur’s axes shattered.
Her physical abilities had clearly increased.
“Not bad!”
“Ngh… Don’t let your guard down… Besides… time’s… up…”
The Blade’s blue light flickered, and Liv-san fell back.
Then, the Blade’s blue light vanished.
“Ngh… Cool… down… time… Boy.”
“Y-Yes.”
“I’m counting on you.”
“…B-But.”
“Ngh… Ax… is in trouble.”
“Nggggggguuuuhh!”
Ax-san was being pushed back by the Minotaur Subspecies’ great axe. He looked like he was about to be overpowered.
This was bad. I readied Mr. Agaro’s Knife Modified and was about to move forward, when…
“Woff. Your knives. Lend me one. There’s one I’m curious about.”
“O-Okay.”
Curious?
As I wondered about that, Mineha-san grew large again, and I handed her the requested knife.
Meanwhile, Liv-san, unable to just watch, launched her Blade to support Ax-san.
Ax-san moved back slightly and threw an Impact Stone. The Minotaur Subspecies flinched from the impact.
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH”
I see. So that’s how you use those.
“Just as I thought.”
Mineha-san muttered.
I gasped. The knife I had handed her at her urging was that strange one.
It was housed in a blue sheath and lacked a handguard.
The blade was serrated, looking as if many small triangles were linked together.
In fact, it was the longest among the knives I possessed.
Probably just barely classifiable as a knife by length.
It was one of the three knives wielded by the leader of the bandit group Mr. Agaro had subjugated.
No, the last knife remaining from that set.
“Mineha-san?”
“―――You. Your inscription reads ‘Oriones’. What a fine name.”
Mineha-san swung the knife. Instantly, the blade separated into triangles.
Eh? No way.
“Relic: [Remote Operation]!”
The triangles didn’t fall to the floor but stopped perfectly still in mid-air.
“…Mineha-san. Is that…”
“An OOPArts. And oh, how delightful. It’s the Relic type.”
When Mineha-san swung the knife’s hilt, the countless triangles swirled into a vortex.
“…”
I had wondered if it might be an OOPArts, and sure enough, it was.
Moreover, the kind that generates Relics. First Bid-san, now this. Is this some kind of trend lately?
What kind of trend is that, anyway?
“Ax! Get back!”
“!”
Instantly, Ax-san parried and leaped backward.
The Minotaur Subspecies noticed, but it was too late.
“Vortex!!!”
The vortex of countless triangular blades assaulted the Minotaur.
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”
The Minotaur Subspecies was being shredded. But it wasn’t a decisive blow.
And the Vortex probably wouldn’t last long.
While that was happening, we needed to figure out how to defeat it.
Ax-san spoke.
“The Minotaur’s weak point is its neck.”
“Ngh… That’s… common… to… practically all… living things…”
“Well, that’s true, but it’s the only soft spot on a Minotaur’s body.”
“So if we cut off its head…”
“Problem is, my sword techniques can’t sever it. Liv?”
“…Have one… But… can’t now… My trump card… already used it.”
“You mean that move from before? That was a big help in itself.”
“My Spiral could do it, but my Spear… Besides, I’m almost at my limit.”
With my 【Vanish】… But I’d have to aim for the neck?
“Na!”
Suddenly, Dagaa leaped out. He turned into a knife and settled into my hand.
“You want me to use you?”
“Na!”
“Eh? Hit you with Spiral?”
Mineha-san exclaimed in surprise.
“Na!”
“Enchant… Right. There was that technique. Woff! Catch!”
Mineha-san struck the Dagaa Knife with 【Spiral】.
【Spiral】 was enchanted onto the Dagaa Knife.
“Na!”
Alright, alright. I get it.
I put away Mr. Agaro’s Knife Modified.
Huh? Did I ever tell Mineha-san about Enchant?
Besides, the fact she understood immediately made it feel like maybe we’d used it together before.
It could have happened. Definitely possible.
I could easily imagine Dagaa teaching her and them using it.
Geez, he really needs to be more careful about things like that.
But with this, the stage was set.
“Ngh… What did you do?”
“Enchant. Heard about it from my old lady. But that was supposed to be an extremely rare OOPArts, and only for elemental attributes, wasn’t it?”
Ax-san looked skeptical.
Mineha-san said nonchalantly.
“I’ve heard about it from my master, too. Well, maybe Dagaa can enchant anything as long as it’s a Relic? More importantly, I’m at my limit. So I’m leaving the rest to you all.”
The Vortex dissipated, and the Minotaur Subspecies, covered in cuts, let out a Roar.
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH”
Its Horns turned bright red. It was furious.
“Ngh… Ax…”
“Guess we got no choice.”
Liv-san and Ax-san confronted the Minotaur.
“Both of you.”
“We’ll act as decoys, so land the finishing blow, Leader.”
“…Counting… on… you… Boy.”
“OOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOHHHHHHH”
Three axes swung around wildly, while Liv-san and Ax-san brandished their swords.
I activated [The Silent One]. My mind calmed. But what was this?
There was a flame burning quietly within the vessel of my soul.
“Seeeeeeeeeeihhh, Demon-Severing Single Stroke! Uoh, it’s hard?!”
“…Sky Form… Pleiades… Taygete Blade… Ah, no good.”
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH”
The Minotaur Subspecies violently knocked them both back.
This was it. I felt bad for the two of them, but I had been waiting.
This single instant, when it left itself open after parrying Ax-san and Liv-san.
The downward-swung axe. The upward-swung axe. The deflected axe.
This definite opening.
An absolute, fleeting moment. Lasting less than a few seconds. Even so, it was enough.
If there was even the slightest gap, I could win.
“―――Silent Move.”
When my consciousness returned, the Minotaur Subspecies’ head had fallen.
Though perhaps ‘sent flying after being pierced’ would be more accurate than ‘fallen’.
As for me, I was completely unharmed.
Ax-san let out an exhausted sigh.
“Heh, nice job.”
“Ngh… Well done.”
“Thank you. It was all thanks to both of you.”
“Naa~”
Dagaa suddenly went limp, losing his strength.
Unable to maintain his knife form, he clung to Liv.
“Ngh… There, there…”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“He’s always like that after using Enchant.”
“Hey, Woff.”
“Ah, Mineha-san.”
“I figured it out.”
She said, looking straight at me.
“Eh? Figured what out?”
“Here, I’ll return this. It was quite useful, ‘Oriones’.”
Saying that, Mineha-san handed the knife to me.
It settled back into its blue sheath, the triangular blades linked in a single row again.
“…I didn’t know the name of this knife.”
“Of course not. OOPArts only reveal their inscriptions to those qualified to wield them.”
“In that case, this knife belongs to you now, Mineha-san.”
I offered the knife back to her.
Accepting it, Mineha-san stared intently at me. I wondered why.
“I see. In that case, I shall gratefully make use of it.”
“Also, about the Spear. It’s my fau-”
“That’s not true. Don’t say things like that. It wasn’t anyone’s fault.”
Not a single fragment remained of the destroyed Spear.
She must have collected all the pieces.
After that, Ax-san claimed the Minotaur Subspecies’ red Horns as subjugation spoils.
Then, we opened the black door.
Black pillars. A red altar. A stone monument. A pedestal atop the altar.
A room just like the other two, merely differing in color.
“…Should I read the inscription?”
“No need.”
I glanced at Liv-san and Ax-san; neither seemed interested.
I placed the Elixir Sacred Egg on the pedestal.
The black pillar split in two, the top part rotated and lowered, and the key—huh?
What was there wasn’t a key, but… what is this?
“What is it?”
“Hm… A sphere. Something’s inside.”
“It’s pretty big.”
That’s right, there was a sphere on top of the pillar.
I thought it might be an Egg, but it was too big for that.
Then the sphere vanished, and the thing inside… the curled-up thing, stirred.
Is that a pure white Hayarn? It’s a Hayarn. No matter how you look at it, from any angle, it’s a Hayarn.
It’s slightly larger than a normal Hayarn, but it’s a Hayarn. Or maybe a Hayarn Monster.
It woke up.
“Cute.”
“Hm… Super cute.”
“What’s going on?”
Its purple eyes snapped open.
“Purple…?!”
At that moment, I rejoiced. Yes, I was rejoicing.
I was bewildered. What was this joy?
Why was I so happy that this Hayarn had woken up?
What I felt in my heart was unmistakable delight.
Memories of my past life— This situation, I don’t like it, but… no way, it couldn’t be.
Is this situation that one? Is that why I was rejoicing?
Ah, thank you for appearing before my eyes in this miracle— I naturally clenched my fists.
The Hayarn gazed at us with its purple eyes and spoke. No, it laughed.
“Hahahahahaha!! Haaah-hahahahaha!! Listen well! My name is Hayar—guehaabaaah!?”
I punched it.