Chapter 60
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 60. Penguin Physics**
I drew up aura to the Abyss Sword.
To the limit.
The pitch-black energy flowing along the blade tore the surrounding air.
*Sizzle-!*
The frost on the floor evaporated only under my feet, raising water vapor.
Now, here I go.
An operation named 'Operation Penguin Flipping', which absolutely must not be recorded in a heroic epic.
Step 1. I go head-on.
Kicked the floor.
*Kuuung!*
The ice sheet cracked, and my body flew towards Krampus.
Directly in front of the 5-meter Adelie penguin. My gaze collided with those black, round eyes.
*Kiek?*
The penguin's head tilted slightly.
It was a look as if marveling at a human charging head-on. Not different from a penguin looking at a spectator tapping the glass at a zoo.
*'I don't like that leisurely gaze.'*
I raised the Abyss Sword above my head. Concentrating aura at the sword tip.
Vertical slash.
*Kwaaaang──!*
The pitch-black of the Abyss exploded right in front of Krampus's beak.
Of course, I don't expect any damage. The important thing is agro.
"Look here. You fat bird. Your opponent is me."
*Kieeeek──!*
The greeting worked.
Krampus's beak opened wide. Bluish chill began to condense inside the beak.
Breath preparation movement.
Now.
I quickly rolled to the left.
I gave up on elegance early on. Staying alive is enough.
Must stay alive to do romance. Must stay alive to reach a happy ending.
*Kwaaaaaa──!*
The breath swallowed the spot where I was standing. The floor instantly turned into a transparent block of ice.
Krampus's head turned, tracking me. The beak chases my movement.
The neck bends, the shoulders twist, and the center of gravity naturally leans forward.
Right, that's it.
The penguin's weakness.
Heavy upper body and short legs. If the center of gravity leans forward, recovery is not easy.
This is exactly why I drew its attention.
And.
"Dad! I'll show you how much I've grown!"
"Good, Freya! It's the Northern Rotation!"
Two streams of wind from both flanks struck Krampus's back simultaneously.
Freya. Spinning like a top holding twin swords, striking the back of Krampus's left knee joint continuously.
Grand Duke Valter. One rotation holding a single frost sword with both hands. But that one time was a blow with the weight equal to ten twin swords.
The pride of Northerners, Whirlwind Slash.
Same technique but completely different style.
If Freya's rotation is cutting wood with a plane, Grand Duke Valter's rotation is logging felling a giant tree with one axe strike.
*Screech──!*
During the rotation.
One of Freya's twin swords screamed.
*Clang!*
The blade broke, scattering fragments in the air.
But.
Freya did not stop. Instead of throwing away the broken sword hilt, she put everything into the one remaining sword in her right hand.
*Craaang──!*
That final blow penetrated the back of Krampus's both knees almost simultaneously with Grand Duke Valter's frost sword.
*Kuek!?*
Krampus's short legs folded. The giant body leaned heavily forward.
Now all that's left is the finish.
"Now, Hero!"
Leona was already running.
The Hero charging from the flank trailing afterimages of light. The white light of the Holy Sword burned explosively.
The Holy Sword's holy power collided head-on with the chill shield wrapping Krampus's body.
*Crackle!*
The frost cracked.
The barrier of chill was torn apart by the light.
The Hero's Holy Sword touched Krampus's flank.
"Haaaaaaaap!"
1 second.
Krampus didn't budge.
The mass of the 5-meter giant body was insufficient for the Hero's charging power alone.
2 seconds.
Krampus's wing went up. A motion to swing.
A crescent-shaped chill blade formed at the tip of the wing and spread out drawing a semicircle.
At that moment, I intervened.
I drew up the Aura of the Abyss not just to the sword but to my entire body.
Abyss Predation activated.
The moment the chill blade touched my aura, it was absorbed. The pitch-black energy ate up Krampus's chill.
Cold. The chill piercing to the bone flowed backward through my magic circuit.
But using that chill as fuel, the Aura of the Abyss deepened further.
I loaded the stolen power straight into the Abyss Sword. I thrust the sword into the opposite flank, loading my weight.
Leona pushing with light from the left.
Me pushing with darkness from the right.
Light and darkness.
Two conflicting energies collided inside Krampus's giant body.
*Kueeeeeeek──!*
A scream of pain. And.
*Kuuung-*
Slowly.
Very slowly.
The giant body of the 5-meter Adelie penguin began to tilt.
Like a felled old tree falling.
*Kuuuuuuung──!*
Krampus fell backward with its back to the floor.
The altar floor cracked from the impact. Cracks spread in all directions and dust rose.
And the sight seen beyond that dust was.
A picture of a 5-meter Adelie penguin lying down looking at the ceiling.
Short wings flapping *flap flap* in the air.
Blunt legs flailing *flail flail*.
*Kueeek!? Kueeek!!*
Krampus's cry sounded strangely aggrieved.
Resentment unbefitting a demon like 'Why are you doing this to me!'.
Demon of the Snowfield. Four Heavenly Kings of the Evil God. Disaster that drove the Frost Giants to extinction.
Putting such grand titles to shame, this penguin right now was just a flipped-over penguin.
"……It really can't get up."
Leona looked at Krampus blankly.
Yes, documentaries don't lie.
It's a victory of science.
"We did it! We did it!!"
Freya cheered throwing the broken sword hilt to the sky.
Grand Duke Valter let out an empty laugh leaning on his frost sword.
"To flip over a demon…… Hah, I wonder if our ancestors would laugh or cry if they saw."
"Of course they would laugh! They are cool Northerners!"
"……That's not being cool, it's being thoughtless, Freya."
"What!? Is that something to say to your daughter right now!?"
But, there was no time to be soaked in sentimentality.
"Grand Duke Valter, Freya. Now is the time."
At my words, Grand Duke Valter nodded and began to move towards the core of the magic circle.
"Freya, follow me. I need your assistance."
"Got it, Dad."
Freya sheathed the one remaining sword on her back and followed behind Grand Duke Valter.
The backs of the two people gradually became smaller.
Same red hair. Same gait.
Being father and daughter is something you can tell just by looking at their backs.
Left are me and Leona.
And the flipped penguin.
Our role was simple.
While Grand Duke Valter reverses the magic circle, keeping Krampus in a flipped state.
Just need to stop this fat bird's struggling.
*Kueeeek──!*
Krampus's short wings scratched the floor.
The sight of it tossing and turning, jiggling its belly fat, was, honestly speaking, cute.
But I already learned that the moment you think it's cute is the most dangerous moment.
Every time the wings hit the ice sheet, chill waves spread out. Every time the legs flailed, ice fragments shot out like a shotgun from the tips of its toes.
It's threatening enough even while flipped over.
"Leona, take the legs."
"Got it."
I swatted away the wings Krampus tried to scratch the floor with using the Abyss Sword.
Leona checked the flailing legs with the Holy Sword's white light.
Taking turns. Matching the rhythm.
*Kueek! Kueek!*
Krampus continued to struggle, unable to accept its situation.
Every time it tried to scratch the floor with its wings, I lightly swatted them away with the Abyss Sword.
Every time it tried to create momentum with its legs, Leona checked them by poking with the Holy Sword's light.
*Kieeeek…*
My conscience pricked strangely.
Looking objectively, what we are doing is knocking down a fallen penguin every time it tries to get up.
Feels somewhat like bullying a pitiful penguin…
*'Shouldn't I say a word here. There is such a thing as courtesy to an enemy. A nuance acknowledging its dignity as a primordial existence, even though I have to defeat you.'*
If you stay still it won't hurt. That should be appropriate.
[Charm Roll Failed]
"It's useless to struggle. Your era is over."
"Hey! Stop saying villain-like lines! The kid is struggling more!"
Leona was freaked out.
No, I just wanted to say 'stay still quietly'.
Anyway, we took turns checking Krampus.
So that the guy maintains the flipped state. Unable to get up.
The situation was perfectly controlled. It's over once Grand Duke Valter manipulates the magic circle.
But.
"……?"
Then.
Krampus stopped struggling.
The black pupils were fixed blankly towards the ceiling. Neither wings nor legs moved.
……Why did it suddenly get quiet?
No emotion could be read from the black eyes looking at empty space.
An empty gaze. Like pondering something deeply.
Pondering deeply?
A penguin?
No, this is not a penguin but a primordial demon.
The demon thinks.
That is definitely not a good sign.
"Hero, something is str──"
It was before the words ended.
Krampus's beak opened wide.
*Kwaaaaaa!!*
The freezing breath poured out to the side of Krampus.
Self-destruct? No.
Krampus's blunt body was pushed slightly to the side by the recoil of the breath. And it rolled once.
Belly touched the floor.
It became a prone position instead of being flipped.
Even so, not being able to get up alone should be the same?
Instead, Krampus opened its beak while staying in the prone position.
*Kwaaaaaa──!*
Another breath.
This time towards the floor in front. The floor the breath passed over turned into a smooth ice sheet like a mirror.
*'…A runway?'*
What the guy was making was a runway.
Krampus's giant belly adhered closely to the ice sheet. Short wings spread slightly to both sides setting the direction.
And.
*Swaaaek-!*
Started sliding.
Penguin Sliding.
A movement method where a penguin slides on its belly over snow.
Penguin's representative means of transportation, high energy efficiency and fast speed.
The knowledge from the documentary I saw in my past life flashed through my mind once again.
*'Through penguin sliding, movement up to twice as fast as when standing is possible, and……'*
The problem is that in that documentary, it was a 'normal Adelie penguin with a body length of 70 centimeters'.
What if a 5-meter giant Adelie penguin does it?
F=ma.
A formula even a liberal arts student like me knows. The only three letters I remember from physics class.
Force equals mass times acceleration.
If a 5-meter penguin accelerates on a zero-friction ice sheet──
"Dodge!"
*Swoooosh!!*
Krampus charged towards me sliding on the ice sheet.
A 5-meter penguin missile.
I threw my body to the side. Rolling on the ice sheet, I barely got out of its trajectory.
*Kwargwagwang──!*
The stone pillar standing in the spot Krampus passed by turned into dust.
I was standing there just now.
*'If flipping it over doesn't work, and standing it up doesn't work, what on earth am I supposed to do.'*
Waddling when standing was a weakness. So I flipped it, and this time it slides lying on its stomach.
It didn't overcome its weakness. It completely switched the weakness to a combat method of a different dimension.
Where is there a penguin that evolves during combat!
*Swoooosh──!*
Krampus changed direction on the ice sheet. The trajectory changed just by tilting a wing slightly once.
This time the target is Leona.
"What is this! It got faster than before!"
Leona shouted setting the Holy Sword in front.
Krampus in sliding state opened its beak. Fires breaths continuously while sliding.
Shoots while moving.
What was this called in military terms again.
Run and gun? Hit and run?
No matter what term you attach, you cannot hide the absurdity of the fact that 'a penguin slides and shoots a beam from its mouth'.
Watching this, my origin feels like a handicap rather.
If I was from a Romance Fantasy world, I would have just accepted it like 'Ah, that's how penguins originally are'.
*Crackle! Crack!*
"Kuh──!"
Leona being pushed back. Foot slipped on the ice sheet and posture collapsed.
It was the same for me.
Underfoot is all ice sheet. Just standing is tough, but even have to evade.
On the other hand, Krampus was completely free on the ice sheet.
Naturally. Because the guy is a penguin.
Every time Krampus slides, the chill of the breath freezes the floor. Turn once and the ice sheet area expands, and the expanded ice sheet becomes the runway for the next slide.
A structure that becomes more advantageous for the guy the more we fight.
"Disperse the agro! Don't let it concentrate on one person!"
At least there is a weakness. Inertia of straight charge.
Destructive power is maximized, but there is a limit to sharp direction changes due to mass.
Leona and I split to both sides.
*Swaaaek-!*
If Krampus charged towards me, Leona shot the Holy Sword's light from the flank to draw attention.
If Krampus changed direction towards Leona, I launched the Aura of the Abyss to strike the guy's tail side.
A thrilling penguin bullfight continued.
Life-risking acrobatics against a penguin missile.
But we are earning time faithfully.
Now the only hope is Grand Duke Valter pulling it off.
What we can do is prevent this fat bird from reaching the magic circle.
*Kieeeek──!*
Krampus's roar shook the entire altar.
The temperature dropped another level. Exhaled breath froze and fell like snow.
Body was getting sluggish. Feeling of magic circuit freezing slowly.
"Black Knight! How much longer do we have to hold out!"
Leona shouted.
I don't know. I don't know either.
I only know one thing.
If we don't stop the penguin gliding on that ice sheet here.
The North freezes. The continent freezes.
Then cannot reach the happy ending.
That won't do.
I re-gripped the Abyss Sword.
"As much as needed. Until we die."
Leona looked at me.
And.
"……Hah, seriously."
Leona re-gripped the Holy Sword and laughed.
"Your words are always the worst, but the meaning is always right."
The Hero kicked the ice sheet.
I also kicked the ice sheet.
Towards the penguin again.
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