Deathmatch at the Home Improvement Store

"Wooooooooooooooooooooooooon!!!"

The Shadow Wolf howled.

The air trembled violently, and the other monsters cowered in fear.

What incredible power.

But I can still endure it. Compared to 'that guy's' roar, this is downright cute.

"Momo! It's coming!"

"Woof!"

Shadow spread out from beneath the Shadow Wolf's feet.

The Shadow split into countless branches and lashed toward us like whips.

So it uses the same Skill as Momo's. ...No, I guess this one is the original.

"Tch!"

I took a wardrobe out of the Item Box.

A makeshift wall.

The Shadow wrapped around the wardrobe and crushed it.

Fragments flew through the air.

At that moment, the Shadow Wolf charged.

"—It's fast, huh!"

Momo and I split in opposite directions to dodge it.

I already knew from 'Enemy Search,' but the Shadow Wolf was far faster than I'd imagined.

I barely dodged it.

"Graaah!"

But the Shadow Wolf twisted its body and came straight toward me.

"What!?"

It wasn't just fast!

The sharpness of its movements was on an entirely different level from a Goblin's or Lesser Wolf's!

The light footwork unique to dogs. Movements that bounced like springs.

The Shadow Wolf's fangs shot toward me at bullet speed!

'Danger Sense' sounded a full-force alarm.

The wall—no, damn it, I won't make it in time!

"Nuuuuuuuuuuuuugh!"

My Agility stat had reached three digits.

I put it to full use, forcibly twisting my body to dodge.

The Shadow Wolf's fangs swept past the spot where I'd been a moment earlier.

That was close.

If I'd been even a moment slower, it would've bitten my arm off.

"Woof!"

The moment I dodged, Momo manipulated my 'Shadow' and tried to restrain the Shadow Wolf.

"Graaau!"

But the Shadow Wolf canceled out Momo's Shadow with its own, as if declaring, 'Don't underestimate me!' Seriously? It blocked that at this distance and speed?

But it stopped moving for just an instant. My chance.

I sent a vending machine flying toward the Shadow Wolf's head.

This will crush it!

"—Wooooooooooooon!!!"

The Shadow Wolf howled.

Then countless more Shadows shot up from beneath its feet.

They transformed into something like a spiderweb, tangled around the vending machine, and brought it to a halt in midair.

"What...?"

Hey, no way.

How many hundreds of kilograms do you think that vending machine weighs?

That was the tried-and-true tactic Momo and I had used to kill countless monsters.

And it had been completely thwarted.

The vending machine ensnared by the Shadows buckled with a series of crunching sounds.

...Getting caught by that Shadow would be bad.

I wouldn't be able to escape, and it would strangle me to death.

This is bad... It's far stronger than I expected.

Judging by the reaction from 'Danger Sense,' I'd figured it would only be somewhat stronger than a Hob-Goblin, but I was completely wrong. It was beyond my expectations.

But I still had a chance to win.

Based on the first monster I ran over and killed and the Lesser Wolves, these things had low 'Durability.'

As long as I landed an attack, I should be able to deal a great deal of damage all at once.

"The problem is figuring out how to land that attack..."

The troublesome parts were that speed and 'Shadow.'

Unless I could somehow deal with both of them, hitting this thing would be difficult.

As I was thinking about what to do, 'Enemy Sense' reacted to something new.

"Grrrrr...!"

"Uuuuu..."

"Woof!"

New Lesser Wolves appeared.

There were five of them.

Why do you guys keep coming after us!?

Go over there! Over there! Toward the home improvement store!

I glanced toward the home improvement store.

The students were still fighting the monsters.

Had they noticed us over here?

They must have heard the Shadow Wolf's howl just now, and even if they couldn't see us in the darkness, it wouldn't be strange for them to at least realize that someone besides them was fighting here.

If possible, I'd like to avoid doing anything that would draw more attention...

"I guess I don't have a choice..."

If I didn't fight seriously, I was going to die.

That's how dangerous this opponent was.

The Item Box had reached LV 10.

Let's see what it can do.

"Wooooooooooooon!!"

The Shadow Wolf charged while howling.

The Lesser Wolves followed behind it.

Once again, I sent a washing machine flying toward their heads.

"Graaau!!"

But it dodged them.

I sent heavy appliances flying one after another.

They hit the Lesser Wolves, but none of them hit the Shadow Wolf.

Even though I sent them right above its head, it used 'Shadow' to stop the appliances in their tracks and escaped while it had the chance.

...Not enough coverage. Then—

≪You acquired experience points.≫

Oh, that's from defeating the Lesser Wolves.

A voice echoed in my head.

"Over here!"

I sent appliances at the Shadow Wolf to slow it down while running around the parking lot.

I stored every object that caught my eye in the Item Box.

The Shadow Wolf was fast, but by repeatedly interfering with it using the Item Box and Momo's 'Shadow,' I could somehow keep my distance.

All right, I'd secured enough.

Now I just needed the right location.

The other side would be better than here.

"Momo! This way!"

"Woof!"

After rejoining Momo, we left the parking lot and reached the main road.

The Shadow Wolf followed us out of the parking lot.

A national highway, wide open in every direction.

With no obstructions here, we could see each other clearly.

Momo and I stopped in the middle of it.

"Grrrrr..."

Perhaps wary of a trap, the Shadow Wolf glared at us while keeping its distance.

But I'm sorry.

The moment you let yourself be lured here, you've already lost.

"Take this—!"

I unleashed my trump card at it.

I sent my beloved car, which I'd been saving for this moment—no, my 'scrapped car'—flying above its head.

"—Graaaoon!!"

Perhaps startled by its size and weight, the Shadow Wolf produced even more Shadow than before and stopped the scrapped car.

Then, the moment its fall was halted, it tried to escape.

"Not yet!"

But I sent another car toward the path it was trying to take.

"—!?"

The Shadow Wolf's face twisted in astonishment once again.

A 'wall' of cars appeared.

Then I sent more cars—two, three at a time—to surround it.

These were cars abandoned in the parking lot earlier.

I'd already proven that I could store 'abandoned objects,' and I'd put them away during the battle just now.

The question was whether the Item Box could store all those cars, but it seemed its storage capacity had increased when it reached LV 10, which was a relief.

'G... Grrrr...'

Surrounded by cars on all four sides, it could no longer escape.

"What's wrong? You can just jump over the cars and escape, you know?"

Even when I said that, it only made a bitter face.

Ah, that's right. I know.

I figured that if its Skill was the original version of Momo's, its 'weakness' had to be the same, too.

"You can't produce 'Shadow' unless your feet are touching the ground, can you?"

That's right. That was the weakness of the 'Shadow' Skill.

It couldn't manipulate 'Shadow' unless its feet were touching the ground.

Good thing I'd asked Momo.

Well, as long as even one of its four feet was touching the ground, it wouldn't be a problem in a normal fight.

But in a situation like this, with walls on all four sides, it couldn't.

It couldn't make use of its greatest strength, its speed, either.

The moment it tried to leap, its 'Shadow' would disappear.

My only concern had been whether it possessed the same 'Hide in Shadow' Skill as Momo, but seeing as it still hadn't used it in this situation, it seemed that it didn't have that Skill.

I didn't know whether it was unique to Momo or simply an individual difference among Shadow Wolves.

I added another car above its head, stacking it on top of the others.

There was nowhere left to escape.

Then it had no choice but to defend itself with 'Shadow.'

But even the amount of 'Shadow' it could produce had a limit.

"It's checkmate... Momo."

"Woof!"

Momo's Shadow caught the Shadow Wolf.

It had been able to cancel out Momo's Shadow before, but it didn't have that luxury now.

The Shadow Wolf became entangled in Momo's Shadow and was unable to move.

Perhaps realizing its defeat, the Shadow Wolf let out a frustrated growl.

"Goodbye, Shadow Wolf. You lose."

I added one more car on top of the Shadow it was using to support the others.

At that moment, the Shadow seemed to reach its limit and easily dispersed.

The mass of vehicles crushed the Shadow Wolf.

≪You acquired experience points.≫

≪You have reached the required amount of experience points.≫

≪Kudou Kazuto's LV has increased from 8 to 9.≫

Phew. Somehow, I managed to defeat it.

Now, it looks like the students are still fighting, so I'd better get out of here quickly.