Battle at the Oasis (3)

The monster locked in a desperate battle with the Bigdaleio army below is the Thornshell Scorpion Highlord. Help tame it. That was Prince Jahal's order—or rather, request.

――――――――――

You accepted Sudden Quest: 'The Prince's Selfish Demand'.

――――――――――

Yes, that's right. This has already been accepted as a quest. It's my fault for giving him a half-hearted answer, but this is reckless... The rest of the party must have received notifications, too. What am I supposed to tell them?

Still, 'selfish demand'...? That's exactly what it is, but couldn't they have phrased it a little more euphemistically? We're adults being pushed around by a selfish child!

"Izamu... this..."

"Yeah. We can't exactly cancel it, can we?"

In any case, since I'd accepted the quest, I had to maneuver so that we could clear it if at all possible. But was it really possible to restrain the monster rampaging below?

"For now, let's rendezvous with Jigoro, who's approaching in the chariot. I wish we could come up with a good plan..."

"Before that, what are we going to do about Prince Jahal-kun?"

"Huh? Oh, get me down! I have to join the battle!"

At the prince's instruction—he said this spot was fine—Cal gently set him down near the Bigdaleio army's magic unit. The soldiers seemed relieved, but not a single one of them ran over to check on him. His Majesty Salmaan and Chief Court Mage Mahad were no exception. Was this what it meant to be a nation of warriors?

"Wooooooah!"

"He's... energetic."

The moment we set him down, Prince Jahal took off running. It was hard to believe he was someone who might have died from the fall. After seeing him off, we flew through the air to rendezvous with Jigoro and the others.

◆◇◆◇◆◇

"Things sure turned strange, brother."

Riding in the chariot's cargo bed, Jigoro grinned and made that his opening remark. Come on, this wasn't my fault! If anything, I deserved praise for saving the prince, who easily could have died!

"But what are we actually going to do?"

"Incapacitating it without killing it is going to make the difficulty shoot up like crazy, though."

That's the problem... If all we had to do was kill a strong enemy, there were any number of ways to do it. I had no qualms about using underhanded methods, after all. But capturing one was a different story. Our available options would be severely limited.

"For now, we need to wear down that monster's health. Until we've cornered it, let's fight as we normally do."

"Heh, now that's more like it! My blood's boiling!"

"It looks like this is as far as we can take the chariot. The Scale Camel doesn't want to get any closer. Actually, it's completely terrified."

Oh, so our easy ride ended here. Even a trained monster probably couldn't overcome its instincts and charge toward an overwhelmingly powerful foe. That meant the three of us would have to go on foot from here. If so, we'd need to come up with something to maintain our speed.

"Iris, Cal... do you think you can manage it?"

"It should be fine. Right, Cal-kun?"

"Grrrrrrrr!"

"Huh? Huh? Whaaaaat!?"

Iris instantly figured out what I was thinking and extended her tentacles, while Cal edged toward Eiji. Eiji looked confused, but Iris mercilessly wrapped him up like a rolled mat. Then Cal lifted him with both hands. Eiji could only scream.

"That's a good idea. To compensate for his slow speed?"

"Sounds fun! Try it on me when you have some free time."

"That's the idea, Toji. Jigoro, have Cal grant her request."

Eiji was the slowest of us all. Just as we'd done with Prince Jahal, having Cal and the others carry him solved the problem immediately. Eiji was making a fuss, but we'd arrive in no time. Enjoy your express trip through the sky!

"Wait! Waaaaait!? Aaaaaaaaaah!?"

◆◇◆◇◆◇

While flying through the air, I used 【Enchantment】 to strengthen everyone. That was to ensure we would be ready to fight whenever we came under attack. Thanks to the Bigdaleio army's strength, however, we didn't attract the monster's attention until we'd gotten quite close.

"I thought I was going to die..."

Even though the battle hadn't begun, Eiji was already completely groggy. Apparently, high-speed air travel hadn't agreed with Eiji. Eiji was swaying a little. From a game-mechanics standpoint, there didn't seem to be any status ailment, so Eiji would be fine!

"Good work, you two."

"Grrrrrrr."

After setting Eiji down, Iris stroked Cal and Eiji with her tentacles as if reassuring them. Cal purred happily, but Eiji didn't react at all. Eiji was in no state to do so.

"How pathetic."

"You all right? This is where the real fight starts."

Toji shook her head in exasperation, while Jigoro sounded concerned. Apparently, Jigoro was kind to junior members. During weekday combat training, however, the drilling had been so brutal that even I, who only watched, had been appalled...

"Ugh...! I-it's coming!"

Even while we were talking nonsense, the enemy apparently wasn't going to wait for us. We had circled around behind the Thornshell Scorpion Highlord, but one of its tails came rushing toward us at terrifying speed.

"Great Shield Deflection! Nuuuuooh!?"

At the moment the tail was about to strike, Eiji used a Shield Arts technique. The tail was knocked away, but Eiji was sent flying backward. I could hear Eiji's shield creaking. Eiji's health had been chipped away a little, but Eiji was still alive. Eiji had succeeded in blocking the attack.

"Nice one, Eiji!"

"I-it was just luck!"

"Even so, that's good enough!"

The instant Eiji deflected the attack, Jigoro sprinted forward like an arrow. Cal, carrying Iris and me, leaped into the air and began attacking from above.

"Tomoe Magic Formation, Minor Soul Heal! Star Magic Formation, Spell Adjustment, Sleep!"

"GRAAAAAAAH! I'm going all out from the start!"

While I cast a constant healing spell on the ground team and harassed the enemy with 【Curse Arts】, Jigoro used the Skill 【Armor-Shattering Fist】 granted by his gauntlets as his opening move. It was the technique that had performed so well during the battle against the Tarasque. It ignored defense and even shattered armor. He slammed it into the tip of the tail—the tail segment bearing the poisonous stinger.

'Giiiiiiiiiiiiii!?'

Jigoro's arm sank into the enormous tail segment up to his elbow, making the monster scream. Judging from the amount of health it lost, the damage didn't seem to be very significant. Even so, it appeared shocked that its exoskeleton had been shattered by an attack from someone other than His Majesty Salmaan or Prince Jahal.

As the monster hurriedly tried to pull its tail back, Jigoro grabbed the thorn-covered tail segment and tried to pin it down. But no matter how high Jigoro's Strength was, it couldn't match the Thornshell Scorpion Highlord's. The monster immediately shook him off.

"Whoa! Heh, you're pretty good!"

Jigoro twisted his body in midair to control his posture and landed on all fours. You're like a cat, you know!

'Geeeeeeeeeeeeee!'

"I won't let you! Holy Shield!"

Perhaps it had grown wary of direct attacks with its tail, or perhaps the previous attack hadn't caused enough damage to interfere with the battle. Whatever the reason, the Thornshell Scorpion Highlord switched to a venom beam attack. But my Holy Shield blocked it. Since the venom wasn't treated as a continuous attack, it could only shatter Holy Shield; it dealt no damage whatsoever to the ground team.

"Giiiii!"

Perhaps it had realized that ranged attacks were ineffective. Or perhaps the damage it had taken wasn't enough to hinder the battle. I didn't know the reason, but the Thornshell Scorpion Highlord resumed attacking with its tail without hesitation. Its target was Jigoro. It probably intended to finish off Jigoro, who could shatter its exoskeleton, as quickly as possible.

"Not on my watch! Guard! Great Shield Deflection! Ugaaaah!"

Eiji used a Shield Arts technique to interpose himself in front of Jigoro and block the attack. The attack wasn't fully stopped, as expected, but Eiji succeeded in deflecting its trajectory, and the tail pierced the ground.

"Thanks! Here I go! Piercing Fist!"

"Now's our chance! Fourfold Thrust!"

Jigoro punched a section covered in exoskeleton. It might seem pointless, but he was using a Martial Arts technique that penetrated defense to deal damage. The amount that could get through was tiny, but it was a useful technique that allowed him to fight even powerful opponents.

As for Toji, her attacks normally couldn't even scratch the hard exoskeleton. However, attacks could get through wherever Jigoro had punched and shattered it. With a sword in each hand, she accurately delivered four consecutive thrusts into the broken section.

The damage must have been minuscule, but the Thornshell Scorpion Highlord couldn't hide its irritation at being wounded by opponents several tiers below us. But focusing only on us was a mistake, you know? We weren't the only ones fighting.

"You're neglecting this side!"

'Giiiiiiiiiiiiii!?'

It seemed to have grown careless in dealing with His Majesty Salmaan and the Bigdaleio army. Along with the king's battle cry, the sound of something breaking rang out. Apparently, one of its pincers had been cut apart yet again. As expected of the king.

"We're doing great! Keep poking away at it like this!"

It was a somewhat pathetic thing to say, even by my standards, but this was our role and, for the time being, our only way of fighting. We would pepper it with attacks as thoroughly as possible!

◆◇◆◇◆◇

The battle had continued for about two hours. The situation was still evenly matched, and both the enemy and our allies were nearing the limits of their endurance.

"Take this! Hyah!"

"Gwoooooooon!"

Accompanied by Iris's endearing battle cries, she tossed an iron ball, a throwing item, while Cal used 【Evil Arts】 to make the monster see hallucinations. Neither attack directly affected the outcome, but every little bit added up. Accumulating this kind of harassment would lead us to victory.

'Giiiiii!?'

"Hmm?"

Then something strange happened. The instant the iron ball Iris had thrown struck the Thornshell Scorpion Highlord, its body stiffened. It even raised one of its pincers to shield itself. The damage we'd dealt was truly minuscule, so what had happened?

"Izamu?"

"Yeah. Let's try it."

Iris had apparently noticed the same oddity on the ground, but assumed that our support had merely created an opening and seized the opportunity to attack. Only those of us watching from above had correctly understood the situation.

"First, aim at a spot different from the one you hit before."

"Understood!"

Iris immediately began throwing the item again. Naturally, she used the same iron ball as before. It wouldn't be a valid test if we didn't compare the results using the same object.

The iron ball Iris threw merely dealt a tiny amount of damage before bouncing off the Thornshell Scorpion Highlord's exoskeleton. This time, however, it did not bother to raise a pincer.

"Enchantment refresh complete. Cal, use offensive magic on that spot."

"Gwoooooooooo!"

After recasting 【Enchantment】 on our allies, I called out to Cal. Cal accurately cast 【Dark Magic】 at the spot I indicated with my staff. Once again, the monster raised its pincer to defend itself. This... could we have found a weak point?

"Iris, let's join up with everyone else."

"What are we going to do?"

"Smash the weak point!"

"Yes!"

If this worked, we might be able to turn the situation overwhelmingly in our favor. To that end, I gave Cal instructions, and we headed toward Jigoro and the others.