Each to Their Own Strategy (4)

KRAAAAAANG!!!

A battle between golems and a Hero erupted across the vast expanse of Grandis's back. The seven colossal constructs known as Masterpieces belched steam hot enough to scald on contact, channeling the tremendous mana pouring from their cores into crushing blows.

Karna dodged, turning one strike into empty air—yet the force still whipped up a gale strong enough to stagger. Alone, he would have been hard-pressed to face every golem at once.

It was, without question, a kill zone. The one mercy was that the golems could not attack with complete freedom.

Their fists could shred even Grandis's thick hide in a single blow; a careless strike risked dealing catastrophic damage to the giant creature itself.

Karna noticed that at once. And with it, the advantage of keeping his feet planted on Grandis's body.

He deliberately refused to come down from the creature's head—anything to restrain the golems' assault even a little.

KWAANG!!

But pure evasion would never be enough against their ferocious, relentless attacks. The steam they vented seared even a Hero's blessed skin. Keep dodging forever and he would be worn down by inches until only death waited at the end.

Several of the seven golems were already switching to long-range fire. They were willing to accept collateral damage to Grandis if it meant killing Karna properly.

Karna drew a quiet breath. He spun his spear once into a reverse grip and thrust it toward the descending arm of a golem.

Seeing his counter, the golem only drove its fist harder.

But—

KWAGWAGWANG!!!

The first thrust had been a feint. The golem's fist, guided past him, smashed straight into Grandis's crown. On the second strike, the Holy Spear punched clean through the joint of the golem's arm.

BUUUUUUUUUUU—!

Whether from the agony of the blow to its skull or not, Grandis's enormous roar rolled across the battlefield.

The pierced golem tried to pull back. Karna had no intention of letting it go.

"You think I'll just let you run?"

The golem vented scalding steam from every seam in an attempt to shake him off. Karna ignored it. The heat was nothing to shrug at—yet he never released the spear.

He heaved upward. The Holy Spear's keen edge began to tear the joint apart piece by piece.

The golem's crimson eyes flickered; the steam grew hotter still. Karna tightened his grip, venom in his gaze.

"Thrashing in a crisis… no different from a living creature."

PAKAANG————!

At last the spear burst free, severing the golem's arm completely. In the same motion Karna leapt back—just as a mana cannon blast slammed into the spot he had occupied.

KRAAAAAANG!!

He was already gone; only Grandis's hide paid the price, peeled raw. The golems, being without emotion, did not panic—but the unexpected result forced them to recalculate.

In the brief lull while they adjusted, Karna caught his breath.

"Call them Masterpieces all you like—they're still just tin cans."

He roughly tore away the skin blistered and flayed by the steam. Medically it was insanity, but a Hero with self-regeneration ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could afford the luxury. Fresh flesh was already knitting over the raw patches.

The golems—including the one now missing an arm—finished their recalibration and prepared to resume combat.

Karna met them with renewed fighting spirit.

"…Take them one by one, and victory ends up on this side."

He was about to press the attack when he suddenly flinched and whipped his head around. Something ferocious was rising from far below Grandis.

"…The Legion Commander?"

He knew at once this was no longer the time to be trading blows with golems. If his suspicion was right, he could not afford to stay here.

"…Tch."

Leaving the golems behind, Karna began his rapid descent.

We couldn't see the top of Grandis's head where Karna was fighting, but the clash of violent mana was unmistakable.

Something was definitely happening up there—Grandis kept bellowing in pain even when we weren't the ones hitting it.

That pain, however, seemed to spur the colossal beast back into motion. I pulled out another crystal.

"One more time! Aim for the knees!"

I hurled the crystal with everything I had. It struck Grandis's leg and detonated.

KRAAAAAANG!!!

Letisia, Caesius, and Mersius immediately poured their skills into the blast site. The leg that had been trying to move locked up again.

"…Keep going!"

I kept drawing crystals and throwing them.

Every time one went boom, I half-expected to hear some squirrel somewhere yelling "Kaboom!"

The fact that I was the one doing it left me with a strangely mixed feeling. No—more accurately… it felt pretty damn good. Watching things explode one after another, I finally understood why so many stories feature bomb-obsessed characters.

"Kyahaha! How d'you like that?!"

"Albrecht, your expression is a little terrifying…?"

…I was just enjoying myself a bit, that's all.

Still, for all the damage we were dealing, the giant's legs showed no sign of actually breaking. If it got too close to the soldiers, even dropping it would be a problem—so the answer was to bring it down while we still had distance.

"Freya, do you have enough divine power left?"

"Hm? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Well…"

She thought for a moment, then asked,

"What are you planning to have me do?"

"Sever that thing's leg. It's so tough that holy power should work better than mana."

"…Honestly, if I use something like Judgment's Holy Spear again, I might not be able to maintain the blessing I put on you."

So that was what she'd been fretting over. I'd braced myself for some other reason entirely.

"That's fine."

"What? But—"

"The golems can't come down anyway, and we've already cleaned up most of the other monsters. That big bastard is dangerous, sure, but it's still dodgeable."

I looked at her steadily.

"We could just stall for time, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠we don't know when Erinn will be back. We have to try everything we can."

After a brief hesitation, Freya nodded.

"…I'll try."

"Good. We'll do the same setup as before—then you hit it hard at the end."

"Understood."

Hearing her answer, I drew another crystal and began channeling mana, preparing the next bomb.

…I'm running low.

If it came down to it, I'd have to use the hidden piece I'd been saving—the Crystal of Aether—to top off my mana. Wasteful at my current mana stat, but…

I clenched the crystal tighter, thinking that—

And in that instant I felt a bizarre shift in the mana currents. Then—

KRAAAAAANG!!!

The crystal exploded.

"A—Albrecht!!!!"

Freya's scream tore through the air at the same moment an unimaginable agony slammed into me.

"Urgh… what… suddenly…"

Thanks to the blessing she had placed on me, my hand wasn't blown clean off—but blood poured as if the flesh itself had burst open. At least the blessing had kept the blast from reaching the rest of my body. Small mercies.

"Albrecht, give me your hand!"

Freya immediately poured divine power into the wound. She was supposed to be cutting Grandis's leg—if she wasted her power here…

"Kh— Freya… I'm fine. Save your divine power…"

"Don't talk nonsense! We don't need to bring this monster down right this second!"

"…"

"What happened? Did you lose control?!"

"…No… there was no mistake in the control…"

I hadn't failed. I had been regulating the mana with extreme care the entire time, and there had been no reason to release the suppression early. I always detonated the crystals by releasing the hold only once they reached the target.

But right before that crystal went off on its own, I had clearly felt it—neither my mana nor the mana sealed inside the crystal, but an entirely foreign current of power that briefly interfered with mine and created a fracture.

That was why the mana inside the crystal, momentarily unrestrained, had detonated.

Who the hell would pull something like that… and in a moment I couldn't even sense?

"Using the mana crystals of a rampaging dragon as bombs… quite an ingenious method. The peculiarity of your mana is interesting as well. A fascinating specimen."

Footsteps approached—whether human or monster, I couldn't yet tell. But Freya's face hardened the instant she saw him. Whoever this was, he was no ordinary opponent.

"You've piqued my interest."

He wore an ornate robe that immediately called a mage to mind, and he strolled forward with the leisurely gait of someone who believed nothing on this battlefield could possibly threaten him.

Then Freya spoke his name, and I felt the blood drain from my face.

"Magic Legion Commander Arcel…"

"…?!"

He hadn't even brought his legion. Why was he here…?

"Albrecht, fall back!"

"Benefactor!"

Caesius and Mersius came streaking toward us—they must have seen the crystal explode.

"Freya, get clear!"

Letisia was riding on Caesius's back. She cracked her whip hard across the spirits she had brought with her.

"Salamander! Gnome!"

The moment Freya dragged me clear, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the ground split open and lava erupted skyward—a fusion of Salamander and Gnome.

The Magic Legion Commander simply raised his mana—

That fast…?

No chant, no cast time—he completed the spell in an instant and snuffed out Letisia's attack. A bizarre barrier simply crushed the spirits' power flat.

The assault had been rendered useless, but Letisia didn't flinch. She spoke to Caesius at once.

"Get them out of here—now!"

"Understood."

Caesius scooped Freya and me up with a foreleg and banked hard.

"Kh… wait—this leaves Karna isolated…!"

"He can extract himself on his own! Freya, keep treating Albrecht!"

"Got it!"

Mersius wheeled with us, trying to pin Arcel in place long enough to secure our escape route.

Toxic miasma blossomed around the Magic Legion Commander like a field of flowers.

"Green Dragon venom… inhaling that would be rather dangerous."

WHOOOOOOSH!!

With nothing more than a casual flick of his hand, Arcel summoned a mana gale that blew every trace of the poison away. He hadn't cast a spell—he had simply moved his mana, and the resulting windstorm was so violent I could only call it a mana tempest.

"What kind of mana capacity is that…?"

Even Letisia—whose mana pool now surpassed Erinn's after the elixir—was visibly stunned.

Gritting my teeth against the pain in my hand, I stared at the Magic Legion Commander. Just as Eris's stats had been visible, a regular story boss like the Magic Legion Commander should display his as well. Sure enough, a status window unfolded before my eyes.

…2010?

The number was staggering. His strength, agility, and stamina were a step below Eris's—but the single most critical stat for a mage, mana, sat at an overwhelming 2010.

Even if you combined the mana pools of Erinn and Letisia—the two highest in our party—you still wouldn't reach that figure.

And that's just the raw total…

Like any high-tier mage, he almost certainly possessed traits like Mana Recovery or Mana Circulation. His effective capacity would be far higher still.

"Caesius, faster!"

"I know…!"

The one small mercy was that, for reasons I couldn't fathom, the Magic Legion Commander showed no interest in pursuing us. Caesius and Mersius beat their wings hard, putting distance between us until he vanished from sight.

Only then did Letisia finally exhale in relief.

"Why is the Magic Legion Commander even here? The scouts never reported anything like this!"

"…He must have come in secret. Someone like him could easily have a method of slipping past mana detection."

"But without his legion—why alone…?"

"…I don't know."

Freya chewed her lip.

"One thing is certain: the Demon King's army has no intention of quietly swallowing the Oblivion Legion's defeat."

"…Yeah. Looks that way."

"Just holding the front line might no longer be enough."

"…"

I listened to their exchange and glanced sideways. Far in the distance, someone was moving at tremendous speed. The spear in his hand told me it was Karna.

So he noticed and came down after all.

Fortunately—if you could call it that—everyone made it back in one piece. Even more fortunate: the colossal Grandis did not follow us, and neither did the Magic Legion Commander.

Still.

…We lost.

This operation had been a near-total failure. We had managed to buy some time, true—but we had achieved no real results, and instead a terrifying new force in the form of the Magic Legion Commander had simply appeared.

Freya finished treating my hand; the pain faded quickly. The bitterness, however, lingered hard and deep.

Ever since I had been dropped into the world of Dungeon in Evil, this was the first true defeat I had ever tasted.