CH 184

Chapter 184. Peony Subjugation Battle Part 2



*****



After drinking the MP Recovery Potion, we move on to the next step of our plan.

I activate the “Art of Cloning” and send my clones to certain locations using Momo’s “Shadow Migration”.

“Good luck, me’s!”

““““Ou!””””

Since they’re my clones, they know what to do without me having to give them instructions.

It’s very convenient.

“He should be heading here right about now…”

I sense someone’s presence approaching us from behind.

I turn my head and find Nishino-kun running here, clearly out of breath.

“Haa…haa…Kudou-san.”

“Good work, Nishino-kun. How are things progressing on your end?”

“We’re fully prepared. We can go at any time.”

“Okay.”

Then we can move on to the second phase of the plan.

“Sora, we’ll be relying on you.”

‘Muu…It’s not to my liking, but I guess there’s no helping it.’

Sora reluctantly lowers her head and lies on all four.

“Aka.”

“…Furu furu.”

Aka follows my instruction and moves from the top of Sora’s head to her back.

Then, it shivers and turns into a “saddle” that people can ride on.

“Here I go…”

I place my feet on the stirrup and mount myself on Sora’s back.

Her back is so wide that I’m clinging onto her with my arms and legs rather than straddling on her back.

I grab onto the reins firmly, and Aka transforms a part of its body into a seat belt to fix me in place.

(I never thought I’d ride a Dragon in real life.)

—A Dragon Knight.

Such a phrase comes to mind.

I know that it’s not the right time to be thinking about this, but becoming a Dragon Knight is every man’s dream.

“…Must be nice…”

Ichinose-san stares at me enviously.

She must want to ride Sora as well.

But sorry, Ichinose-san.

Only two passengers are allowed on Sora’s back at any given time, and she’s not the one that will be riding with me.

“Well then, please excuse me.”

Nishino-kun says that and clings onto Sora’s back.

‘…Why do I have to have someone other than you riding on my back…’

“There’s nothing we can do about it. It’s something that he really wants to experience.”

“…Fuun.”

Despite expressing her dissatisfaction, she doesn’t shake him off.

Thanks for your understanding, Sora.

“…Sorry, and thank you for going along with my selfish desire.”

“It’s fine, but will you be alright?”

Nishino-kun nods.

“…After all, I was the one who came up with this plan.”

“…If you say so. Make sure you grab on tight. ”

Nishino-kun wraps his arms around me and holds onto me tightly.

I remember a similar situation from when we were dealing with Titan.

Why is it that I’m always being paired with a male?



There’s absolutely no appeal in this.

“Come here, Kiki.”

“Kyu!”

Kiki climbs up my back, enters the makeshift hood that Aka has created, and wraps herself around my neck.

Kiki applies “Support Magic – Buff” to Sora, Nishino-kun, and me.

“We’ll be heading off, Ichinose-san.”

“Okay. Please be careful.”

After briefly exchanging good-byes with Ichinose-san, I give Sora the sign.

“Sora, if you would.”

‘No need to remind me!’

Sora extends her wings and flies into the air with Nishino-kun and I behind her back.

*****

—It’s my first time experiencing “flight”.

For humans that do not possess wings, flying is next to impossible.

I’m “enjoying” this new experience with my entire body.

(Ababa Baba Babba Baabaab!?)

Dangerous. This is really dangerous.

We’re flying past all the sceneries like an arrow.

It feels like my body is about to be torn apart by the tremendous wind pressure and gravitational force.

Hmm, it’s like clinging onto a jet plane that’s flying in the air.

(N-not good. My consciousness if about to “fly” as well…! D-does Sora fly at such an insane speed every time…?)

There’s a huge difference between watching from a distance and actually experiencing it firsthand.

If Aka wasn’t here to provide us helmets, suits, and seatbelts, there’s no doubt that we would’ve been turned into minced meat by now.

It’s also worth mentioning that Sora’s movements defy the laws of physics.

She’s freefalling in various directions at super high speed while twirling round and round.

I don’t even know how to describe it anymore.

Without “Wide Range Enemy Detection” and “Terrain Understanding”, I’d have no clue where we’re heading to.

“N-Nishino-kun, are you okay there?”

“———….”

“…Huh? Nishino-kun!? Are you okay!?”

“————————Huh? Oh, yeah! I’m fine. Yup.”

What do you mean “I’m fine”!?

He totally, like, fainted just now, right?

He isn’t going to die on me, right?

Is he really going to be fine?

“—I acquired ‘Motion Sickness Resistance’, so it’s much better now.”

“Really?”

He has unexpectedly acquired “Motion Sickness Resistance”.

Wait, doesn’t that mean Sora is being seen as a vehicle?

I mean, he acquired the resistance skill for it and all that, so…

(—No, no, no. I should concentrate on maintaining my consciousness.)

If I fall unconscious here, we’ll fail to “retrieve” that.

As for why we can hold a conversation up in the air, it’s all thanks to Aka.

A thin thread has been attached to our helmets, so we can talk like this despite the violent windstorm surrounding us.

—Aka’s versatility is at another level.

Sora and Momo are overwhelmingly superior to Aka when it comes fighting power, but no one can best Aka in terms of support.

Aka’s ability to mimic and split its body can be put to use in a variety of different situations.

(Spending all that SP on “Mimicry” was worth it…)

Aka originally had 30 SP, and almost all of it was spent on raising “Mimicry” from LV 7 to LV 10.

As a result of those upgrades, Aka’s “Mimicry” has become several notches better.



Other than that, “Enlargement” was raised from LV 1 to LV 2.

Afterwards, Aka still had 1 SP remaining, so we decided to have Aka keep it for now.

“Sora! The next corner is on the left!”

‘Umu!’

Sora makes a sharp turn at an incredible fast speed.

The two of us at the back are attacked by a pressure so strong that it almost rips our bodies apart.

“~~~~~~~~~~”

Nishino-kun screams silently.

The helmet and the suit that he’s wearing have a better performance than the ones I have, but it must still hurt quite a bit.

It’s a good thing that Kiki buffed us beforehand.

“—They’re coming!”

Sora roars.

The next moment, Peony’s huge roots shoot up from the ground and appear before us.

“Item Box, open!”

At the same time, with pinpoint accuracy, I crush the places where Peony’s roots have come out from using my tetrapods.

Rocks weighing more than two tons each crash down on Peony’s roots.

(With Kiki’s support magic, your “Enemy Detection Invalidation” no longer works on me.)

The greatest threat that Peony and all Treants in general pose against us isn’t their explosive power.

Rather, it’s the fact that we aren’t “conscious” of them at most times.

They possess a cheat-like trait that allows them to avoid our detection until the very last moment, just before we’re about to get hit by their attacks.

Naturally, this puts us at a disadvantage, especially since our reaction speed would be delayed.

However, now that Kiki has consumed a Treant’s magic stone, she can negate this trait of theirs, thus relieving us of this burden.

Not only can we detect them now, we can take the initiative to attack them.

On top of all that, we can even predict where they’ll attack us.

It’s true that Peony’s vines and roots have some very unique powers, but if we pour cold water on them preemptively before they can do anything against us, their movements will slow down for a brief moment, opening up an opportunity for Sora to shake off the attack.

‘Not bad.’

“It’s an honor to be complimented by you.”

Whenever I see a huge root coming out of the ground, I crush it using a tetrapod.

Of course, this alone isn’t enough to block everything.

“Kiki! Nishino-kun!”

“Kyu!”

“—‘Don’t move’.”

The moment they shout, the roots and vines either stop moving or get repelled.

This is the result of Kiki’s “Reflection” and Nishino-kun’s “Command”.

“~~~~~!?”

Unlike its “Automatic Defense”, Peony’s “will” is required to have its tentacles prey on its enemies.

This means that Nishino-kun’s “Command” will be effective against them.

It only works for a second, but it’s enough to stop Peony’s movement.

In that momentary gap, Sora can tear down its roots via her “Claw Attack”.

(—We’re pulling it off.)

Things are going well.

A combo move that has been made possible because of our alliance with Sora.

Peony can no longer stop us.

We fly around the town at an extremely high velocity and engage Peony in an aerial battle.

(Fourteen…Sixteen…No, this isn’t enough.)

While all this is happening around us, I keep proceeding with the “retrieval” work.

I’m also obstructing Peony with the Item Box and managing my clones at the same time.

Hot.

It’s like my brain is boiling.





Announcements are made, telling me that my skill levels have gone up.

It’s understandable that they have leveled up considering how many things I’m doing simultaneously.

I didn’t expect it to happen, but it’s nice nonetheless.

(Twenty-four…Thirty…Fourty…)

Good, this much should do.

“Sora, fly to the harbor—wait, she might not understand where that is…Uh, head towards the sea!”

‘Got it.’

We shake off Peony’s pursuit and head towards the harbor.

Near the harbor, we retrieve what we’ve come for.

Due to their sheer volume, I was worried whether it would fit in the Item Box.

Thankfully, it does.

With these, we’re truly ready.

“Good. Sora! Fly up!”

This time, I order Sora to fly up into the sky.

We steadily go up and arrive an altitude where even Peony cannot reach.

“I-it’s cold up here…”

How high up are we?

Around 2000 meters above the sea level?

Even with Aka’s suit on, enduring the cold at this altitude is a bit hard.

‘Hmph, how weak.’

“The human body isn’t as sturdy as yours.”

“K-Kudou-san can still afford to talk, which is quite impressive as well…”

Nishino-kun is already approaching at his limit.

Please endure for another minute.

Peony’s attacks can’t reach this height.

From the Item Box, I take out the things that we retrieved earlier, allowing “them” to obey the law of gravity and fall on Peony’s head.

“—?”

Peony should have no idea what they are.

However, sensing that its main body is in danger, Peony’s automatic defense gets activated.

Its tentacles slap away the freefalling objects, and they get drenched by their “content” in the process.

“…?”

An unknown liquid pours down on Peony’s canopy.

“Sora.”

‘Umu.’

Sora shoots out a breath from the sky.

As the distance between us is rather great, the breath does not reach Peony.

Nevertheless, the heat from Sora’s breath spreads and ignites the “liquid” in the air.

In a short span of time, the fire spreads throughout the entirety of Peony’s canopy.

“~~~~~!?”

Peony’s flustered over the sudden inflagration.

I guess it’s time for the grand reveal.

The liquid that’s raining down right now is “gasoline”, and the “things” that I dropped from the sky were gasoline tanks.



While we were flying around the town, we were secretly retrieving them.

We knew where the local gas stations were, and through “Terrain Understanding”, we easily figured out the locations of the buried storage tanks.

Collecting only the storage tanks that were underground was no easy feat, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the Item Box.

What’s more, retrieving the tanks while flying around at a super high speed proved to be rather challenging.

It’s a good thing that I managed to pull it off.

“Make sure you receive lots.”

Peony is quite a distance away from the town, and there are lots of trees, shrubs, and old buildings around it.

The gasoline gets ignited in the blink of an eye, and the fire quickly spreads from Peony to its surroundings, turning the area into a sea of fire.

(To think he’d come up with this kind of a strategy…)

This is the first strategy that Nishino-kun has proposed.

—Burning down Peony along with the town.

As for his second strategy—

“It’s all up to you now, Fujita-san.”

It’s questionable whether or not my voice reached him, but I hear a cry from the direction of the ground immediately afterwards.

“—SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!”

Sounds of bombardment could be heard following Fujita-san’s battle cry.

The projectiles have all been shot from within the “Safety Zone”.

Peony’s automatic defense activates to defend against the bombardment, but its roots and vines explode the very next moment because of that.

“!?”

It probably didn’t expect its roots and vines to be destroyed while defending against the bombardment.

Until now, none of our attacks have been effective, with the sole exception being Sora’s breath attacks.

Probably because of that, Peony loses its composure.

“I told you right? We won’t be holding back.”

The weapons that have been painstakingly prepared over the course of the past three days are in full display near the border of the “Safety Zone”.

Tanks, military helicopters, and missile launchers, all of which are modern weapons used by the Self Defense Force, have been brought back to life.

(It took quite a bit of time though.)

I can only distract Peony for a few minutes using “The Art of Ginormous Growth”.

In that short timeframe, Towada-san and the others had to use Momo’s “Shadow Migration” to move from one “coordinate” to another, gradually itching closer and closer to the neighboring town.

They were accompanied by other Item Box users who collected the debris of tanks, helicopters, and missile launchers from the SDF base.

“—The absence of a ‘Safety Zone’ was the biggest reason why the Self Defense Force got annihilated by Peony.”

It might have also been because of a lack of firepower, but the most crucial reason was because they lacked “time” to prepare for a battle.

In a battle against monsters, every second is a matter of life and death.

Tanks and missile launchers, on the other hand, need a decent amount of time to get prepared.

The time it takes to enter the vehicle, the time it takes to start the engine, the work that must be put in to load the shells, and of course, the time it takes to check whether everything is clear at the back.

Against Peony, all this time loss could lead to a devastating consequence.

“They were most likely unable to even put up a fight…”

Tanks and military helicopters in pristine conditions had been found at the destroyed site of the SDF base.

Tanks that don’t move are just blocks of iron.

Since food is everything to Peony, it must have concluded that they were worthless.

As such, they had been left untouched.

We were really lucky in that sense.

“The difference is that they can fight back now.”

With the impenetrable “wall” known as the “Safety Zone” denying Peony entry, the Self Defense Force could fully utilize the power of modern weaponry.

As a “Weapons Craftsman”, Ichinose-san repaired and remodeled the weapons, giving the Self Defense Force a power unlike before.

We were missing some important components, so we had Aka “mimic” into them.

Although these weapons aren’t as powerful as Sora’s breath attack, each and every shot from them should carry a significant amount of force.

Sora’s breath attack, the SDF’s modern-weapon bombardment, and the rain of fire from the sky.

We’ll have Peony enjoy the full course.

Let me tell you something, Peony.

We aren’t food that you can just eat.

We are enemies capable of defeating you.