Chapter 46
Elena ran through the forest.
Leading her party members,
with her back to Uncle,
she never stopped running toward the city.
"Uncle..."
Faint trails of tears remained where she passed.
***
The battles remembered by Eck's body were instinctive.
Eck used the current of power flowing from his toes to his shoulders without understanding the principles behind it.
He had reached A rank by repeatedly fighting in a crude, brute-force manner, simply pouring in and pulling out as much force as possible.
Innate physical ability.
Combat sense.
Accumulated experience.
That was everything Eck had.
Judging by everything but mana, he was a flawless, six-sided adventurer with not a single opening.
But as with all well-rounded types, Eck had the same weakness.
He became infinitely strong against anyone weaker than him, and infinitely weak against anyone even slightly stronger.
Because he was perfect, there was no room left for improvement.
The reason Eck had stopped training and spent his days guzzling liquor in the guild dining hall was that, aside from borrowing the hand of a noble, he had no other path forward.
Despite appearances, Eck was meticulous.
He knew himself better than anyone,
and scrutinized others more closely than anyone else.
That was why he never touched anyone with noble backing and had played king only within the reach of his fists.
His careful control of his strength and restraint had kept anyone from noticing Eck's petty nature.
But I am not Eck.
Eck's wariness had dulled.
The peaceful, modern sensibilities I had been steeped in dulled Eck's sharp instincts, and I paid the price with Jaina's sleeping medicine.
I would probably eventually get lazy about the detoxification I did every day during meals and stop doing that, too.
Unless I completely eliminated the enemies around me, I had to detoxify myself every day.
But as it dulled, it also grew richer.
I had learned the principles behind the fists I had thrown without knowing them.
When fighting barehanded, I understood and used the lever principle behind joint locks. I had tried it on Darko, too, and subdued him with ease.
When I held a sword, I understood when the force transmitted to its tip would be strongest.
Physics.
Kinetics.
Shifting one's center of gravity.
I theoretically understood the essence of the sword strikes Eck had once swung by instinct.
Eck had been ignorant, but he hadn't been stupid.
The combat training data accumulated throughout Earth's history.
I absorbed the knowledge I was given quickly.
And in actual combat, that knowledge seeped deep into my body and took root.
Slaaash!!
The magic sword left a blue trail.
Orcs, wolves, trolls, toads.
The trail that cut through all those monsters pursued the giant wolf.
As it ran across the forest beside me, the giant wolf changed direction with agility ill-suited to its size and shook me off.
Even though the aggro ring's effect should have made it impossible to ignore me, was it less effective against an intelligent creature?
It had devised a trick.
The more I pursued the giant wolf, the monsters I encountered along the way were drawn by the ring's aggro and latched onto the tail of the blue trail.
The magic sword cut down the monsters that came within reach.
It slit an orc's throat,
bisected a wolf at the waist,
and split a troll's skull in half.
Instead of the monsters' blood, mana glowed blue as it streamed into the blade, leaving a long, dark trail.
The giant wolf waited for my stamina to run out.
It understood that I had to hold back the Monster Wave and racked its brains to keep me from ignoring it and veering down another path.
"Let's see how far you can go."
But it had overlooked one thing.
I had prepared to surpass Eck.
The magic sword Vitalia.
The Ring of the Patient.
Overdosing on aphrodisiacs.
These three things I had prepared granted me endless endurance.
The magic sword absorbed mana.
The ring enhanced my abilities.
The aphrodisiacs granted me infinite stamina and completed a tireless body.
'I thought the aphrodisiacs were a bug.'
In the original, the reason those fucking humanoid mobs could charge in without regard for stamina wasn't some allowance made for game balance.
No wonder the game had tacked on that excuse to explain the fucking durability of humanoid mobs.
The giant wolf ran on all fours.
I could hear it panting.
It had fallen into its own trap.
"Grrr...!"
The giant wolf turned its head.
Sinister mana seeped out.
It radiated an intense determination to bite me to pieces if I came closer.
'Hah! Just what I wanted!'
Mana, too, obeyed physical laws.
It flowed freely through physical space,
but the flow and sensation of force of mana itself took a form very similar to physical energy. The difference was that it flowed according to one's will and could transform the shape of its force according to one's will.
If I understood why the magic sword was so powerful, I could increase its power further.
If I refined my mana efficiently, I could contain more of it.
Eck's combat sense had mounted atop modern knowledge.
It was like putting a knight on horseback.
'Eck's Self-Taught Style, First Form.'
Eck had mastered standard swordsmanship and even possessed deep knowledge of common sword techniques.
The long-range slash recorded there was the sword aura Eck mainly used.
But that alone was insufficient.
I created my own swordsmanship and reworked it into a sword technique.
Eck's genius extended even to mana.
Otherwise, he couldn't have reached A rank with his pitiful amount of mana.
A sword technique with only one skill.
It burned all mana to produce the strongest strike.
The magic sword blazed with mana.
Sword aura like a lion's mane billowed up; gripping the magic sword in both hands, I raised it high.
'Lion Slash.'
Just before the giant wolf spewed breath from its mouth,
I moved behind it, making the lion's mane sprouting from the magic sword flutter.
Fwoosh.
As the cut surface seared, part of the giant wolf's head split diagonally.
"For something so insignificant, all it has going for it is its speed."
But its trick hadn't been entirely wrong.
If it had managed to stop me for even a moment,
Grrr.
Gugu-gaga.
Kkiriring.
Kaaaaau.
Whether it killed me by joining forces with that monster horde resembling the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons or chased after Elena, its plan would have succeeded completely.
A large number of monsters had latched onto me as a result of its half-successful plan.
Their frenzied, murderous eyes were a tangle of rage and sorrow, like a loser protagonist whose female friend he had a crush on had been NTR'd by a Chad.
I readjusted my grip on the magic sword.
My stamina was at full.
I was the strongest in theory.
"...!"
Facing the monsters swarming in from all directions, I ran backward to keep my distance.
The longer I ran without stopping, the more the monsters' speeds diverged.
The wolves that had followed closest at the front bared their teeth at me.
I thrust the magic sword between those teeth.
I reduced the monsters one by one from the front.
'Hold out only until Elena reaches the city.'
I cut down the monster at the front.
The second leaped at me.
I cut it down.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six...
I stopped counting.
The monster horde roared, mana rippling through the forest and distorting it as if aflame; the waves spread to either side, and monsters filled both flanks.
"...There are a lot of them."
That's a bit much.
***
Meanwhile, in the city,
Ding-! Ding-! Ding-!
As the alarm bells rang, the city entered a state of emergency.
Just as the city gates were about to close, Elena's knees buckled the moment she crossed them.
Elena's party and Daril's party all made it through the gate. Adventurers crowded around those who sighed in relief, saying they had barely survived.
In the middle of that chaos, Elena collapsed alone.
'I left Uncle behind.'
Her palm was covered in dirt.
Droplets falling onto it darkened the dirt.
I left him behind.
I left him alone.
Alone before a horde of thousands of monsters.
'I left him behind because I was weak.'
I was weak, so I became a burden.
Since I was a burden, I was sent away.
Uncle's back remained before her eyes.
His rough, rugged presence would not fade.
She slammed her fist into the ground.
The paving slabs of the road cracked.
"I have to go save him."
This can't go on.
I absolutely refuse to regret losing Uncle afterward.
But she had to stay calm.
The more urgent the situation, the more coldly she had to look at it.
Something Uncle had taught her.
Adventurers were responsible for themselves.
If she charged in, swept away by emotion, they would both die.
If she was going to take responsibility, she needed enough ability to bear it.
But no matter how she calculated it, going alone would only add to Uncle's burden. Waiting quietly was what she could do for Uncle.
'We need fighting power.'
If I couldn't do it alone, then with others.
A ragtag group wouldn't do.
She raised her head.
The plaza inside the city gates came into view.
The people who had lived around the streets in front of the city gates had evacuated, making the plaza more crowded than ever.
Armed people moved among the refugees, and clan adventurers checked their weapons. On the walls, she could see archers being deployed.
The adventurers took on the duty they owed for using the lord's hunting grounds and climbed onto the walls.
She spotted several familiar faces among them.
Two of them caught her eye.
A female knight with short silver hair.
It was Varie.
She directed the apprentice knights and commanded the adventurers' deployment.
Beside her,
a robed mage with long pink hair stood gripping her staff tightly.
A pang stabbed somewhere in her chest.
The pink-haired mage.
She had once asked Mira to find out about the mage with the long pink hair.
Since pink hair was rare, Mira quickly investigated who she was.
Phila Emosson.
The lord's personal mage.
A former prodigy once judged to possess the makings of a great mage, she had completed sixth-circle theoretical studies at a young age. Now rumors were spreading after she had been spotted several times accompanying Uncle.
The two of them together.
'That doesn't matter right now.'
Elena stood, brushing the dirt from her knees.
She ran toward the two of them.
"Sir Varie!"
Varie turned around.
After seeing Elena, she looked pleased and glanced behind her.
"It's Elena. Are you joining the defense, too? It's dangerous, though. Where's Eck?"
"Uncle is...!"
When Elena shot a glance at Phila, Phila flinched and hid behind Varie.
Even so, she pricked up her ears.
"Uncle is in danger! I-I have to go save him right now! I can't take them on alone. He's still out there by himself. He's in the middle of the monster horde. For my sake. Because I was weak. He stayed behind alone."
Varie's expression changed.
"Eck?"
Phila's face went deathly pale.
"E-Eck is in danger?"
"Yes."
Elena clenched her fists.
"Please help me."
She clasped her hands together and begged.
"Please."
She fell to her knees.
"Please save Uncle."
"Elena."
Varie knelt and brought herself to Elena's eye level.
She grasped Elena's arms and pulled her to her feet.
"Let's go."
Varie spoke.
"Are you saying my benefactor is risking his life to become the city's shield? I cannot turn my back on that, whether as a friend or as someone indebted to him. I have been waiting for a chance to repay that debt."
She laughed heartily.
"In that case, I suppose I'll have to tell the commander I'm going out on a scouting mission. Hahaha!"
"I-I'll go, too...!"
Phila gripped her staff tightly and cut in.
"E-Eck helped me. I-I want to help, too. M-My explosive magic... Eck said that if I was going to jump into the Monster Wave... I-I could be useful."
"Thank you."
Elena bowed to the two of them in gratitude.
"Are you coming, too?"
"Yes! I'm strong, you know, even if I don't look it!"
"From what I've heard, that seems to be true. But first, we'll need to equip you. Hellick! Bring this girl equipment that fits her!"
After donning the equipment brought by the apprentice knight, they passed through the gates and headed outside.
Elena drank potions, recovering her depleted stamina and healing her injuries.
'Uncle, I'm coming to save you right now.'
Please just stay safe.
***
"They've really gathered only the cream of the crop."
Eck spat out blood.
An ogre hurled a log, which swept me away and slammed me into a cliff.
Ogres, trolls, basilisks, stone turtles, knight chickens, and more. At least B-rank. A-ranks made up a sizable portion, too. Just looking at what had gathered, this was a force that demanded the knights' intervention.
After picking off the low-health monsters first, only the ones with absurdly tough hides remained.
I had long since thrown away the ring, but they had already marked me and surrounded me, glaring at me with murderous eyes.
"Haa."
I let out a hollow laugh.
"Fuck."