Chapter 47
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Qualifications of a Hero (6)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Having gathered all their gear, Nellis's party stepped out of the village.
The village entrance was immediately barricaded right after they left.
But it was just a log blocking the gate, so if a massive horde of kobolds came charging in, it would break through easily enough.
Outside the village entrance, Nellis's party spotted more than fifty kobolds.
"There are so many kobolds..."
The beastly snarls of the kobolds and the sharp, synchronized footsteps of fifty of them closing in felt utterly terrifying.
"K-Kalt! What do we do!?"
"I'm not confident against numbers like that yet..."
Nellis asked Kalt in a panic, while Scarlet, though showing some improvement, revealed her anxiety at the sheer number of kobolds.
"Aria, bless me with strength and speed."
"Y-Yes! O God, grant this one your blessing!"
As he received Aria's blessing, Kalt turned to the group with a grin.
"Don't worry. Forgot who you're standing behind? I've got the timing down with that Mabel girl—I'm a pro at zipping around and mowing down monsters."
Shing. Kalt drew his sword from its sheath and spoke.
"Nellis!"
"Yes!"
"I'll charge in first, draw their attention, and cut them down. You handle any that slip through toward the village. No way a bunch rushing in like that means you can't take down some kobolds, right?"
"N-No! I'll get them!"
"Good. Scarlet!"
"Y-Yeah!"
"Once their numbers thin out, unleash your magic. You're the academy's top student, aren't you? Blast them good."
"Got it."
"Aria, support the two of them."
"Yes, Kalt!"
"Alright then..."
Kalt assumed a stance, pointing his sword at the kobold horde, and grinned.
"Let's get started!"
Kalt kicked off the ground and charged into the kobold pack.
Years later,
Nellis would recall that moment and always say:
Kalt had become a fierce gale.
A fierce gale that scattered monster blood in its wake.
Splatter!
Blood rose.
Blood sprayed.
Blood showered.
Kalt propelled himself forward, moving so fast that Nellis's party could barely track him. All they saw was Kalt blurring past, kobolds' necks and chests slicing open in his wake, blood erupting from the wounds.
-Grrrrowl!
-Grraaah!
The kobolds sensed they were under attack and snarled viciously, lunging at Kalt.
But it was pointless.
They couldn't even track Kalt's movements from the start.
Splatter!
Any that tried to resist pointlessly just lost an arm for their trouble.
"Incredible."
"Is that really human movement?"
"So that's the kind of skill you get from syncing with the Fastest Hero Mabel."
The utterly overwhelming, surreal sight left Nellis's party staring in a daze.
No matter how dim-witted the kobolds were, they could instinctively sense the gap in power as their kin kept getting cut down.
And so.
-Grraaah!
Some kobolds ignored Kalt and charged straight for the village.
"Nellis!"
Aria's voice snapped Nellis back to reality, and she drew her sword.
"You won't get past me! Hyaah!"
Nellis swung at the approaching kobolds.
A single, efficient strike, just as Kalt had taught her—no wasted motion.
Splatter!
All the lessons from Kalt had seeped into her body, claiming the kobold's life for certain.
"Come at me, however many you are!"
Seeing over fifty kobolds at first had definitely scared Nellis.
But Kalt had shown them it was fine through his actions.
They had Kalt.
That sense of security from his presence gave Nellis great strength.
Kobolds that had barely escaped Kalt? Not scary at all.
One, two, three, four.
As Nellis felled kobold after kobold, Kalt was cutting down three times as many from afar, at three times the speed.
'This isn't just around fifty.'
Kalt had already taken out over thirty, by his count.
Yet more kobolds kept pouring in from behind—including five elite ones like Kobold Warriors.
Seeing that, Kalt was certain.
'There's a Kobold King.'
The top-tier specimen.
Kalt had no doubt one of those apex spawners of lesser kin was here.
'Bit annoying, though. Ianna would've wiped them out with magic in seconds.'
He still resented them for kicking him out, but Kalt acknowledged Mabel's party's strength now that they'd overcome it with hypnosis.
If Ianna were here, she'd whirl up a storm and sweep the kobolds away in one go.
'Scarlet could handle it with advanced magic, maybe...'
But not against this many—not yet.
'I'll take out all but one Kobold Warrior for now.'
Figuring Nellis's group could handle a single one, Kalt became the gale once more, swinging at the kobolds.
"Haat!"
Slash!
"Hah, hah."
'That's twenty!'
Once she'd downed over ten, Nellis had intuited it.
This was way more than just over fifty.
But she didn't despair or shrink back.
Partly because Kalt's presence reassured her as she swung her sword, but also thanks to her improved skills from his training—she was felling kobolds far more easily than expected.
Confidence directly fueled the strength of her Blessing.
And so, even when kobolds attacked from the side mid-fight, Nellis ignored them and swung straight at her target.
On top of that.
"Stop thinning out already!"
Whoosh!
She wasn't fighting alone.
Kalt was still whipping up a bloody storm in the distance, and Scarlet was firing off beginner spells from behind—though basic, her flames were igniting kobolds and easing Nellis's burden.
'Stamina's fine. Their momentum's slowing. Good. Keep it up... Huh?'
As she psyched herself up and looked ahead, Nellis spotted an approaching Kobold Warrior.
'A Kobold Warrior? Why... Did Kalt miss it?'
For a split second, the memory flashed of her getting blasted away by one in the past.
"Ugh..."
But Nellis shook her head vigorously and gripped her sword tight.
'I'm stronger now than back then! Kobold Warriors don't scare me anymore! I'm strong! I'm strong! I'm Super Nellis, way stronger than before!'
"Hooo..."
She exhaled, steeling her resolve.
"Raaah!"
Nellis charged at the closing Kobold Warrior.
"Nellis!?"
"Hey, why're you charging in?!"
"I'm stronggg! Hyaah!"
'Just like Kalt, I'll get strong!'
Nellis's sword arced from low right to high left in a diagonal slash.
Splatter!
-Grrrk!
'Shallow! It dodged!'
The Kobold Warrior, wary after Nellis had slain several of its lesser kin, didn't take the hit cleanly.
It retreated, dodging, then swung its own sword down at her.
Nellis raised her blade horizontally, blocking the strike.
Clang!
"Nngh!"
'I chickened out!'
Even after hyping herself up that she was strong, without full faith in her Blessing to protect her, Nellis had blocked with her sword.
She felt ashamed for not trusting herself despite the self-talk.
'Still... I won't lose!'
Unlike before, Nellis didn't get down on herself.
If she fell short, she'd learn more, reflect more, and grow stronger. She had the drive to improve, a guide to lead her, and comrades to walk beside her.
"I... won't lose!"
The moment Nellis poured more power into her arms to deflect the Kobold Warrior's sword—
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Three fireballs and four swords of white light streaked in, striking and embedding into the Kobold Warrior before exploding.
The blast and follow-up damage shoved its upper body back slightly.
"Huh?"
"Don't space out! Finish it!"
"R-Right! Hyaah!"
Splatter!
This time, without fail, Nellis's sword delivered a fatal blow to the Kobold Warrior.
Thud! It collapsed and moved no more.
"I... I did it! I took down a Kobold Warrior! But..."
With more kobolds still coming, Nellis turned around.
"Aria! You can do offensive spells too!?"
"I've known how since the beginning."
"Oh. I forgot because you'd never used holy attacks before."
"Makes sense. I held back so I wouldn't waste casts that could go to blessings instead. But... right now, it feels like I'll have fewer chances for blessings anyway. So I want to lend my strength to you too, Nellis."
"Aria...!"
"Hey, I helped with magic too."
"Yeah! Thanks, Scarlet!"
Nellis felt once more how reliable her comrades were.
Turning back to the front, she swung at the narrowing kobolds.
"Come at me! I'll take you all down!"
Five minutes of swinging her sword amid brimming confidence.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Wh-What's that!?"
-Groooaaar!
Nellis gaped at the monster—four times the size of a normal kobold, one eye scarred, covered in blood—barreling forward, trampling the kobolds in its path without a care.