This is the turbulent first part of the Raid.
“N… No…”
Facing the Boss Monster, Kiryuin Jessica was overcome with terror.
She couldn’t speak properly, her teeth chattering loudly.
Something transparent trickled down her trembling inner thighs.
It was understandable.
She wasn’t an Adventurer who actively sought out danger.
She must have intended to play it safe, only bringing back results reliably.
Yet, she had been thrown defenselessly into a deadly situation.
There was no way she could maintain her sanity.
“What are you doing?! Get back, quickly!”
Was it his sense of responsibility from being put in command?
Hyodo shouted as he pulled Jessica’s hand.
Their goal was the room’s exit.
He had already given up on clearing this Dungeon.
—Surely, that decision hadn’t been wrong.
“Tch…! It got around to the exit?!”
—If only the Death Mantis hadn’t blocked their path.
Hyodo stopped and clicked his tongue.
Judging a frontal breakthrough impossible, he hid Jessica behind him and headed deeper into the room.
The entrance grew distant.
Still, they had to put distance between themselves and the Boss Monster.
Driven by such thoughts.
“This is bad… They’re shaken because someone died right off the bat.”
Keiichiro glared at the Death Mantis with a grim expression.
But that wouldn’t improve the situation.
(At this rate… we’ll be wiped out.)
An opponent they weren’t sure they could beat even with perfect coordination.
With the team having devolved into a disorganized mob, their chances of victory were nonexistent.
In that case, they needed to somehow regain control of the situation.
They needed to hold out until the team regained its composure.
“Reizei.”
Keiichiro called Akino’s name.
“…Yes.”
She must have sensed what he was going to ask.
As she stood up, her expression held—resolve.
The resolve to leap into a place of certain death.
“————Its attacks… Can I leave one side to you?”
“…”
The Death Mantis’s main method of attack was the scythes on both its arms.
Its most lethal attacks also came from those scythes.
The right arm and the left arm.
If they could suppress those, the threat level of the Death Mantis would drop dramatically.
“I know I’m asking the impossible. It has enough power to kill multiple C-Rank Adventurers guarding together. Honestly, even a B-Rank tank has no guarantee of survival.”
They die in a single blow.
So, how many hits could a B-Rank take?
Once? Twice?
Even Keiichiro didn’t know.
Their guard could suddenly be broken, and they could lose their life.
He asked Akino to take on such a dangerous role.
In this situation, she was the only one he could entrust it to—.
“Even so… will you accept?”
Prepare to die acting as a shield.
It was a request tantamount to saying that.
Even now, it was surely burned into Akino’s mind.
The image of the Adventurer whose upper body had been blown away by a single strike.
She couldn’t help but superimpose the images.
That the next body sent flying might be her own.
Yet, Akino smiled.
“…Yes. Of cour—”
“…No. Don’t go.”
A voice interrupted Akino’s words.
A trembling hand reached out for Akino’s dress.
That hand—belonged to Jessica.
“N-No… Akino, you’ll die too… Don’t go.”
It was a plea to her friend.
Jessica’s face crumpled as she begged.
“It’s… it’s okay now. The Raid… we can just try again later… Don’t do anything dangerous…”
The sight must have been too shocking for the young girl.
It was clear to everyone that Jessica’s spirit was broken.
“It is alright. I will not die.”
Akino reached out to her.
Akino’s hand rested on Jessica’s head.
Akino’s gentle smile.
A smile that seemed to accept everything.
But her eyes had not yet given up on living.
“Alright, I’ll stop the right arm. Reizei, you take the left.”
“Understood.”
Akino stood side-by-side with Keiichiro.
The Raid team had already collapsed.
The Adventurers scrambled to escape, trying to get ahead of each other.
Those merely running around.
Those watching the situation unfold from a distance, trembling.
Among them—there was no one willing to stand and fight.
“Okay, Tsukasa, you’re the damage dealer.”
“Okay~”
Following Keiichiro’s instruction, Tsukasa took out his knife.
Just three people.
Yet, they confronted the Death Mantis.
“Tch—!”
Perhaps it sensed their fighting spirit.
The Death Mantis fixed its aim on Keiichiro and the others.
It changed direction.
And then—it charged!
“Let’s go!”
“”Yes!””
Keiichiro broke into a run.
Akino and Tsukasa started running along with him.
The few seconds it took to enter the Death Mantis’s range.
Felt terribly long.
“Trap—Set!”
The first thing to approach was the right scythe.
It sliced through the air, aiming for Keiichiro’s life.
“[Arrow]!”
An Arrow appeared on the back of Keiichiro’s right hand.
He deflected the incoming attack—with a backhand strike.
Of course, he couldn’t do that with pure power alone.
He changed the scythe’s trajectory by forcing its movement with the [Arrow].
But the Death Mantis’s assault didn’t end.
Next, the left scythe swung horizontally.
“Hah!”
Akino intercepted its path.
She crouched down, tilting her large shield diagonally to receive the attack.
By parrying at the correct angle, the Death Mantis’s attack didn’t reach Akino.
The angle of the slash was slightly distorted, and the scythe’s strike hit empty air.
“Tah!”
After the attacks from both arms.
Tsukasa closed the distance with the Death Mantis in the opening created.
A leap utilizing his agility.
In an instant, he was on the Death Mantis’s back.
The scythe attacks couldn’t reach there.
From a position where he could attack one-sidedly, Tsukasa plunged his knife into the Death Mantis.
☆
“Amazing… Just three of them are taking on the Death Mantis.”
Someone said that.
He was also a B-Rank Adventurer.
One of the main forces in this team.
Yet, all he could do was stare in amazement at the battle before him.
“We… We also… have to help… We have to… help.”
There were those who said such things.
But their words were empty; their feet wouldn’t move.
They couldn’t take a single step forward.
“…Damn it. I can’t go… There’s no way I can go…! How can anyone charge at… a monster that can kill you in one hit…?!”
Someone blurted out the true feelings they couldn’t hide.
But he wasn’t the only one.
It was something everyone present felt.
They were well aware their lives were in danger.
Still—this was too much.
Faced with a being that could kill them like swatting flies.
How could they possibly jump into that?
Their feet—would not move.
☆
He deflected the great scythe.
How many times had it been now?
A hundred? Two hundred?
—He knew.
He just wanted to think that; it had only been a few times.
His sense of time was just paralyzed due to the extreme situation.
Dealing with the Death Mantis’s attacks was that mentally taxing.
(Damn it…! We’re managing to fend off the attacks…!)
Keiichiro gritted his teeth.
There was no sign—of the situation improving.
(But… we don’t have enough firepower…!)
The reason was a simple lack of offensive power.
(Tsukigase is doing his best…! But he can’t whittle it down alone…)
Tsukasa was also desperately attacking the Death Mantis.
Sweat flying, he swung his knife, trying to inflict even slightly deeper damage.
But, fundamentally, they were overwhelmingly lacking in numbers.
There was no way he alone could make up for the firepower of the entire Raid team.
(At this rate, our guard will break before we can defeat this thing…!)
What they were doing now was a battle of attrition.
Would the Death Mantis’s life be chipped away first?
Or would Keiichiro and the others’ guard crumble first?
It was that kind of contest.
But the situation was overwhelmingly disadvantageous.
Keiichiro and the others’ limits were approaching far faster than the Death Mantis’s demise.
“Kyaa…?!”
And then, the breakdown was sudden.
Akino was sent flying by a blow from the great scythe.
The angle at which she’d blocked it had wavered just slightly.
That alone caused her to be pushed back hard, landing on her backside.
That itself wasn’t fatal damage.
However—
—She wouldn’t make it in time for the next defense.
“Ah…”
“Reizei…!”
Keiichiro yelled.
It must have seen an opportunity.
The Death Mantis stopped swinging its scythes alternately and raised its left arm once more.
Its target, naturally, was Akino’s life.
“Trap—!”
He deployed an Arrow on the ground.
(Will I make it…?!)
Even if Keiichiro leaped in at high speed from here, could he intercept the Death Mantis’s attack?
And even if he could intercept, could he handle it?
The answer—was no.
Akino hurriedly tried to stand and ready herself again.
But her large shield had slipped from her hand when she fell.
Even if she picked it up now, it would be impossible to receive the attack in a proper stance.
Death was certain.
“Wait—!”
Tsukasa also moved to provide cover.
If he could somehow do something about the left scythe from the Death Mantis’s back.
Tsukasa threw his lifeline Knife without hesitation.
However, the Knife lacked the power to hinder the Death Mantis’s attack.
There was nothing left to do…
“Take this!”
It was a torrent of light.
A thick beam of light enveloped the Death Mantis’s upper body from the front.
The single flash struck the Boss Room wall directly, resounding with a deafening roar.
It was a blow of such immense power that the resulting shockwave alone seemed capable of scouring the rock face.
“What—?”
The aftershock was so intense that Keiichiro shielded his face with his arm.
(Even among A-Rank [Wizards], there aren’t many who can unleash this much power.)
It was an attack achievable only by [Wizards] among the A-Rank who specialized particularly in raw power.
But there was no way the Raid members, who were only up to B-Rank, could unleash such an attack—
—No.
There was one person.
The talented [Wizard] Akino had vouched for.
“…Jessica?”
Keiichiro looked back.
Over 100 meters away, at the edge of the Boss Room.
There stood a girl, bolt upright, her right hand thrust forward.
While even B-Rank Adventurers had their fighting spirit broken, there stood a girl who had risen without anyone protecting her.
“It was obvious—from the very beginning, wasn’t it?”
Kiryuin Jessica’s lips curled.
Mixed with fear, yet she still managed a smile.
Arrogant. Defiant. Confident.
“If I don’t want anyone to die—then isn’t it obvious that I must be the one to strike you down?!”
Light ignited in her hand.
And then, she screamed.
“Prepare yourself, monster! Despair on your level? Allow me to blast right through it for you!”
Next time: The conclusion.