Chapter 25
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Ant Nest! (9)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I was pretending to be relaxed, but honestly, I wasn't that relaxed at all.
I obviously knew how to deal with it.
After all, it was a monster I'd faced dozens of times in the game.
But... this was reality.
"Kikikikik!"
"Hup!"
-Thwack!
Dodging each of those massive leg strikes drained a ton of stamina.
And my level was even lower. About the same as the Twilight Queen in front of me, or maybe a bit below.
If things kept going like this, even if I took it down, I'd end up with fatal injuries and die.
What they call a 'love shot,' I suppose.
"Haaa...!"
I pulled up every last bit of mana from my dantian and poured it all into boosting my physical abilities in an instant.
My arms gripping the sword accelerated.
I unleashed a barrage of aura-infused consecutive slashes right away.
The multiple sword techniques I'd been inspired by from Laura's demonstration.
I mixed and adapted the Water Sword Arts and Thunder Sword Arts that I'd learned.
I kept the forms using the Water Sword Arts, which had a relatively long casting time, while pouring on endless attacks with Thunder Sword Arts strikes.
At this point, it wasn't swordsmanship limited to forms anymore.
Left diagonal slash, right diagonal slash.
Slashes rained down on the Twilight Queen in rapid succession, tailored to the situation.
-Shoosh-shoosh-shoosh!
-Kagagagagak!
"Kikikiki! Kikikikikiki!"
Does it sting, you little shit?
Way back there, Hedi stared at me in surprise at this swordsmanship she'd never seen before.
Of course she would. I'd just tried it for the first time myself.
It felt so freeing to swing the sword however I wanted. Like playing my own original game.
...Though it was reality, so one death and game over.
"Kikik!"
Annoyed, the Twilight Queen dodged my slashes and retreated.
Yeah. I knew it wouldn't take fatal damage from something like that.
It had only bought me a brief moment.
'To take down the Twilight Queen, I need a decisive blow.'
I had to inflict internal damage.
The Twilight Queen's exoskeleton and joints were incredibly thick, so no matter how many cuts I landed like this, they were just minor scratches.
'So I need to target the soft insides.'
What method could drive aura deep into its body?
As I knew well, this monster had a massive body.
And with its agility and erratic web-spitting patterns, I didn't have time to gather a large amount of mana.
...Did I need backup?
I instantly broke away from the Twilight Queen with quick movements.
"Kikik?!"
Then I headed toward Hedi, who was bound tight in spider silk and watching my fight.
-Slash!
"...!"
I sliced through the spider silk binding her arms and legs.
Hedi looked up at me with a startled expression.
"Cut the rest of the webs and help me out! I can't handle it alone!"
After passing the message, I charged back at the Twilight Queen to draw its attention.
Yes. This would do.
Smooth sailing.
If Hedi recovered and bought time as I instructed, I could finish off the Twilight Queen.
'But...'
It was definitely going smoothly.
So why did this nagging sense of incongruity keep creeping in?
"Kikikik!"
I dodged, blocked, and scratched it up by the skin of my teeth against the Twilight Queen's attacks.
I was gradually figuring out its attack patterns.
Even this mixed swordsmanship I'd tried for the first time was starting to feel natural.
But why?
"Hup!"
-Thwack!
'This whole situation is brand new.'
Somehow, this sequence of events felt incredibly familiar.
Like I'd experienced it once before somewhere...
Was it just my imagination?
This was the first monster I'd faced since possessing this body, so why did it feel so familiar and off?
"D-Delinquent Boss! When do I start?!"
Urgent, Hedi shouted at me from the back.
...I'll shelve this mystery for now.
Dealing with the Twilight Queen came first.
"Buy me 10 seconds! I'll prepare my strike!"
"...Got it!"
The moment she replied, we touched batons.
She provoked the Twilight Queen with her sword, and its target switched to her.
Now to focus.
"Hoo..."
I squeezed out every last drop of mana left in my dantian.
Concentrated it into my arms and sword.
As I steadied my breathing, the mana slowly gathered toward my arms.
-Shoooo...
But then.
"Hah!"
"...!"
I couldn't help but widen my eyes at what Hedi was doing.
-Kagagagagak!
"Kikik?!"
Hedi's slashes poured toward the Twilight Queen.
I knew she had great combat sense.
But that was...
'That's the exact flat slash technique I just used...?!'
Left diagonal, right diagonal.
Her sword moved swiftly along the same trajectory I'd swung mine.
Even mimicking my forms by holding Water Sword Arts.
...It was clumsy, sure, but she was imitating my Thunder Sword Arts mixed with Water Sword Arts steps and flat slashes.
"Like this...?"
"...!"
She was just an extra in the game's story.
How did she have talent like that?
Was I being arrogant?
Were there tons of people at my level from the start?
No... Most students who'd seen Laura's adaptive swordsmanship demo hadn't seemed to get it.
I had an adult's intellect from my past life and game knowledge, so I understood the forms mostly.
That kind of talent wasn't something her age group could just have easily.
What the hell was Hedi...?
*
The Delinquent Boss's probing consecutive slashes were fresh.
Hedi had tried mimicking them to buy time...
But hers felt way less powerful than his.
Mid-fight, Hedi glanced at the Delinquent Boss gathering aura.
'...What the heck is that guy?'
From his behavior, she'd already sensed he wasn't the real leader of those delinquents.
But that only made her more puzzled.
A master she'd never seen at the academy...
If she hadn't bought his backyard excuse back then and kept fighting, she thought she'd have lost.
'So he went easy on me then...? Why?'
She'd charged in without hearing explanations.
He could've crushed her with overwhelming force.
Why had he held back?
'...Come to think of it, his face is unfamiliar too.'
She didn't remember a swordsman with that look in class.
With that skill and appearance, rumors would've spread.
'Mid-term enrollee?'
Mid-term admission required exceptional skill and talent.
Ariel Academy had strict rules.
Even high nobles couldn't pull strings easily.
"Kikikikiki!"
"Kuh!"
Hedi's stamina was starting to flag.
No time to think.
Her limit.
"D-Delinquent Boss! Not yet?!"
Hedi shouted desperately at him.
***
"D-Delinquent Boss! Not yet?!"
'Ah.'
I'd been lost in thought watching Hedi's swordsmanship.
When I snapped back, my sword—having sucked up all my mana—was spewing violent aura.
This would do.
"Good! You can pull back now!"
"Got it!!"
Hedi turned her back on the Twilight Queen and tried to flee.
And as I went to take the baton back...
"Kyaaaak!"
"...?!"
Hedi let out a pained scream and collapsed near the Twilight Queen.
Blood poured from her upper body.
She'd gotten pierced in the side while fleeing in a hurry.
'Not like this, now?!'
The Twilight Queen approached her fallen form, breathing raggedly as if sensing the end.
This wouldn't work.
I desperately leaped toward the Twilight Queen.
Raised my sword high.
"Die nicely, you bastard—!"
"Kikik?!"
The moment I swung down, the aura curved along the trajectory.
The massive aura whip moved with the sword.
The dark surroundings lit up in an instant.
Time seemed to slow. That's when everything came into view.
Blue light.
The cave walls were bathed in blue.
It might've looked like a pretty aquarium at a glance.
But not this situation.
-Kwaaang!
The aura blade hit the Twilight Queen's upper body, and time sped up again.
It spewed its guts. Instant death—no time even for a groan.
...An attack I absolutely couldn't have pulled off without Hedi buying time.
The goblins and Big Spiders swarming from around scattered in panic at the queen's death and the immense sword pressure.
And right now, as I brought down the aura blade...
"...!"
I realized it in a flash.
Seeing Hedi gasping for breath with her grievous wounds jogged my memory.
It was slightly different, but I'd known like foresight that Hedi would get badly hurt.
I was piecing together the source of that incongruity.
The goblins—forest monsters that shouldn't exist—in this deep underground labyrinth.
The Big Spiders moving with the goblins, drawn by the Twilight Queen's pheromones for some purpose.
...And the corpse storage artificially made for the Twilight Queen's live breeding.
All connected by one thread flashing through my mind.
Information I'd completely forgotten because I didn't care.
I felt a chill of danger.
...I'd gotten tangled in the thing I'd dreaded most.
What was it?
There was only one thing I didn't care about and avoided.
This very moment,
was the heroine's origin story.