“Mm… I can do this.”
Usui Tooru nodded.
Looking closely, her hands were trembling slightly.
“I… will become an Adventurer like Oshindari-san.”
But Tooru stood up.
Because she had a role to fulfill here.
“That’s why… I can’t run. I can’t lose.”
There was no certainty.
Honestly, she couldn’t shake the thought that she might die here.
“…I can win.”
That’s precisely why she spurred herself on.
And then—Usui Tooru’s figure blended into the scenery.
☆
“Alright… that secures our firepower…!”
Keiichiro gave a small smile at the pleasant miscalculation.
Kiryuin Jessica’s return to the front lines.
And with even more combat power than he had imagined.
—He could see hope.
“Now, if we can just hold out—”
“Don’t just stand there spacing out! I can only fire three more shots!”
“—Seriously?”
…Honestly, his hope dimmed slightly.
Still, considering that immense power,
he had been prepared for her not being able to fire consecutively.
He should be grateful there were even three shots left.
With that much power, they could forcibly stop the Death Mantis’s movements.
Depending on how they maneuvered, there should still be a good chance of victory.
“But it’s still not enough to turn the tables… We need to change the flow somehow.”
It was still just a faint glimmer of light.
They had only managed to bring a situation where they were about to be overwhelmed into a precarious stalemate.
And that was only for the short time until Jessica ran out of ammo.
It wasn’t enough to overturn their still disadvantageous situation.
“One more move. We need one more move to change the flow—”
They were so close.
Just a little more, and the tables would turn.
“…Fire.”
It was a quiet voice.
A calm voice, devoid of emotion.
Simultaneously, a bullet of ice assaulted the Death Mantis.
Just a single shot.
And only a fist-sized magic bullet at that.
However, it struck the Death Mantis’s left arm—right at its thinnest part.
A single ice bullet blew the Death Mantis’s left arm away.
The large scythe fell to the ground.
“The Death Mantis Scythe—”
Akino also seemed taken aback by the sudden attack.
Keiichiro, meanwhile, looked towards the origin of the magic bullet.
The one who had aided them was—
“That’s—”
A person materialized from empty space.
Kneeling with one knee up, forming a gun shape with her fingers.
The girl—Usui Tooru—pointed her fingertips at the Death Mantis with a serious expression.
“…[Stealth], plus ultra-long-range magic… A Magic Sniper, huh?”
It was quite a specialized tactic.
Mainly because very few people had the aptitude for it.
A [Wizard] possessing the [Stealth] skill was already considerably rare.
From there, they needed the range and precision to hit a target hundreds of meters away.
Furthermore, they required enough penetration power to inflict damage even with magic weakened by the distance.
Only a select few geniuses could meet all those requirements.
Such a person was here.
“…I will shoot down the scythes. Without both arms, it’s powerless.”
Tooru said in an emotionless voice.
She suppressed her emotions, tracing the example of Oshindari Yukiko.
That attempt, surprisingly, might have been connected to Tooru’s aptitude as a sniper.
After all, calmness was the most necessary talent for a sniper.
“Got it! I’m counting on you!”
As Keiichiro shouted, Tooru’s figure vanished.
She must have hidden with [Stealth] and moved to a new sniping point.
She would fulfill her role.
In that case, Keiichiro just needed to set the stage.
Keiichiro dashed towards the Death Mantis.
Its left arm was already non-functional.
All the Death Mantis could do was swing its remaining right arm.
“Tch—!”
A roar.
It was the sound of the large scythe, its trajectory bent by an Arrow, stabbing into the ground.
It must have been a full-force blow.
The scythe pierced deep into the earth.
—It was fixed to the ground.
“Usui!”
It would only be stopped for one or two seconds.
But the target was stationary.
If she was going to snipe, now was the time.
“Roger.”
The voice came from the opposite side as before.
In that short time, Tooru had moved to a position easier to snipe from while remaining hidden.
A magic bullet materialized from the void and closed in on the Death Mantis.
The ice bullet precisely shot down the Death Mantis’s remaining scythe.
An ear-piercing shriek.
It was the voice of the Death Mantis, having lost both its arms.
And this sound became the signal flare for a counterattack.
“Alright! We’ve crushed its means of attack! Everyone, charge!”
Keiichiro raised his voice.
The Death Mantis’s attack power had already dropped considerably.
There would be no more attacks that could kill in a single blow.
Now, they could overwhelm it with a concentrated assault.
“Whoa…”
Keiichiro tried to move to attack—and staggered.
(I’m more exhausted than I thought.)
Keiichiro frowned.
The offense and defense in an extreme situation.
The repeated use of skills.
He hadn’t realized it, but his body had apparently taken quite a toll.
“You guys are really something.”
Just then, someone’s hand rested on Keiichiro’s shoulder.
When he realized it, Hyodo was there.
And not just him.
Centered around the B-Rank Adventurers, the Raid members were all gathered.
There was no fear in their eyes—w(・)e(・)l(・)l(・), t(・)h(・)a(・)t(・) w(・)a(・)s(・)n(・)’t(・) q(・)u(・)i(・)t(・)e(・) t(・)r(・)u(・)e(・).
But something strong enough to overcome it resided there.
“Sorry. We showed you a pathetic sight.”
“At least for the end—let us help too.”
One by one.
The Adventurers patted Keiichiro’s shoulder and stood before him.
They faced the Death Mantis.
“Let’s go!”
At Hyodo’s command, the Adventurers let out a war cry.
“Tanks, draw its attention from the front!”
“Power Attackers, hit it from both flanks!”
“Speed Attackers, jump onto its back!”
Hyodo’s instructions flew.
His commands were precise, moving the team like a single living creature.
The Death Mantis had already lost most of its firepower.
However, the fact that it was an A-Rank Monster remained unchanged.
“””Uwaaaaaah!?”””
The Death Mantis twisted its body, sweeping the Adventurers away with its tail.
Nearly ten Adventurers were sent flying like scraps of paper.
It was a scene reminiscent of the very beginning of the Raid, but—
“Look! An attack like this… won’t kill us even if we take one or two hits!”
“If you have time to be scared, deal even a little damage!”
“The attacks those guys faced weren’t this cute! Get fired up!”
The Adventurers quickly got back up and returned to the front lines.
No one stopped moving anymore.
Even if swept aside, they immediately turned back to the attack.
“…It’s quite amazing, isn’t it?”
Witnessing the scene, Akino murmured.
“Yeah… it’s amazing.”
Damage was accumulating far faster than when it was just Keiichiro’s group.
The team had started functioning again.
Just that alone could shift the tide of battle this much.
“Why are you speaking as if it doesn’t concern you? Was it not you, Kageura-sama, who created this scene?”
Akino smiled as she said this.
The glimmer of hope that had nearly faded.
It was Keiichiro who had held onto it.
That’s what she conveyed.
“Reizei.”
Keiichiro fixed his gaze on the Death Mantis.
He couldn’t just rest here forever.
“—F(・)r(・)o(・)m(・) h(・)e(・)r(・)e(・) o(・)n(・), a(・)c(・)t(・) a(・)s(・) a(・)n(・) a(・)t(・)t(・)a(・)c(・)k(・)e(・)r(・).”
Keiichiro declared.
—Reizei Akino’s position was Tank.
Her role was to protect her allies as the Party’s shield.
And the abilities required for a Tank and an Attacker were different.
It wasn’t something one could easily do concurrently.
That’s why positions existed.
However, he had a conviction.
“You noticed, did you?”
—That Reizei Akino was originally an Adventurer with an aptitude for being an Attacker.
“Reizei, you parried most attacks to your left. That’s a remnant of a style where you block with a shield in your left hand and attack with your right.”
It was the same when she had deflected the Death Mantis’s attacks.
She had directed the majority of the attacks to her left.
Akino held a shield in her left hand.
But she was right-handed.
Then why did Akino hold nothing in her right hand?
Even if she sometimes held a greatshield with both hands, there was no rational reason to specifically hold a shield in her left hand otherwise.
“You have one, don’t you—a weapon to hold in your right hand.”
“Yes.”
The answer was simple.
Her original style involved holding a shield in her left hand and a weapon in her right.
“—Come to think of it, Kageura-sama.”
Akino, having stepped forward, looked back.
The smile she wore was incongruous with the battlefield.
“Lately, calling each other by our surnames—it has begun to feel a little lonely. Tsukasa-chan also called me ‘Akino-chan’.”
Akino turned back to the front without waiting for a reply.
“—I shall be going. K(・)e(・)i(・)i(・)c(・)h(・)i(・)r(・)o(・)-s(・)a(・)m(・)a(・).”
With those words, Akino broke into a run.
She headed straight for the Death Mantis.
“Yeah. ———A(・)k(・)i(・)n(・)o(・).”
Keiichiro watched her retreating back.
The Death Mantis’s gaze locked onto Akino.
The enemy was straight ahead.
Therefore, the Death Mantis chose to—charge.
Its A-Rank power sent the Adventurers blocking its path flying, aiming for Akino.
“Allow me to show you!”
A charge driven by sheer mass.
Akino—met it head-on.
Riding the momentum of the tackle, Akino collided with it, shield first.
A brief moment of stalemate.
Then, before she could be pushed back, she tilted her shield.
Parried, the Death Mantis lost its balance.
“—[Laevateinn].”
Akino raised her right hand.
Crimson flames surged forth from it.
They gradually took shape—becoming a sword.
“Haaaaah!”
Using the shield in her left hand to break the enemy’s stance, she delivered a blow to the defenseless foe.
That was Akino’s style as an attacker.
The flame sword swung down upon the Death Mantis.
Explosive flames struck in concert with the slash.
In the wake of her single swing, a tremendous pillar of fire towered.
“This is Bloodline Equipment, usable only by members of the Reizei Family. You should feel honored.”
Bloodline Equipment.
As the name implies, it is equipment that can only be wielded by individuals of a specific bloodline.
In exchange for the condition that only blood relatives of the first wielder can use it, it is a masterpiece hiding performance superior to other equipment.
Many of them possess abilities comparable to items favored by S-Rank Adventurers.
Her [Laevateinn] must also have been inherited from someone in the Reizei Family.
“Tooooooryaaaaaaaah!”
Tsukasa carved into the scorched body of the Death Mantis with a storm of slashes.
Each individual blow wasn’t particularly heavy.
However, his sheer number of attacks more than compensated for it.
His assault was steadily destroying the Death Mantis’s body.
(Kurenai. Yukko. Kikuri.)
Watching the heroic figures of those two, Keiichiro felt proud.
Those were his companions.
(I’m still not strong like everyone else.)
Keiichiro felt proud.
Proud that his treasured companions said they believed in him.
(But in this Party, I will become stronger.)
Those two acknowledge Keiichiro as their leader.
He didn’t want to betray such expectations.
He wasn’t being chased by the fear of disappointing them.
Right now, Keiichiro was chasing his ideal self by his own will.
That’s why he wanted to become stronger.
That’s why he could become stronger.
“”Last—!””
He heard Akino’s and Tsukasa’s voices.
In front of Keiichiro stood the Death Mantis.
Riddled with wounds to an extent unimaginable from when he first saw it.
Yet, the Death Mantis was still alive.
Alive, and glaring, intending to kill Keiichiro.
“Onii-chan!” “Keiichiro-sama!”
“—[Trap Set].”
Keiichiro lowered his stance.
The Death Mantis mustered its final strength and advanced towards him.
A suicide charge pouring in all its remaining energy.
Keiichiro—did not avoid it.
“[Septet].”
Seven Arrows overlapped.
Keiichiro stepped forward, treading on the Arrows.
The scenery distorted.
His body rapidly accelerated.
His form was like a black flash of light.
“Uoooooooooooooooooooooohhhh!”
No need for petty tricks.
Just thrust the dagger forward and charge.
That’s all.
“It’s over!”
Keiichiro—pierced the Death Mantis’s body straight through the front.
The Raid—concluded.