Chapter 160

160 – The Eighth Stratum – The Realm of Military Might and Duels 3

The tip of the spear divided into several tips.

As far as I know, this is the first time Furcus has shown this technique.

Even though I’d already memorized her moves in my head from watching the battle with the Fenix Party and the Tag Tournament, there was no way I could create a countermeasure against this unknown attack beforehand.

What is tested in these situations is the ability to adapt in the spur of the moment.

「Wraith! Ewan!」

Aerial shouted.

「Yes, yes.」

「U-understood!」

Soon everyone knew what the instructions to the two of them had been.

A wall of air, or perhaps an armor made out of wind would be easier to imagine.

It doesn’t matter how sharp the thrust is, it would be useless as long as it cannot pierce the body.

An armor that does not hinder the movement of the wearer, yet still maintains the hardness that could defend against the thrust.

First of all, Aerial, Wraith, and Ewan covered themselves with a transparent armor.

Aerial is with Herv, Michelle, Scathach.

Wraith is with Fran, Margret and Hamill.

Ewan is with Louie and Suuri.

They seemed to have promptly divided their responsibilities into the front, right and left sides.

The spear divided and extended just like the roots of a tree.

Those who have the means to cut it did so.

Even though it had the ability to extend the several spearheads, it’s Furcus’ brain that is executing this.

Even the fact that she can control the spear while tracking the movements of eleven people is already extraordinary. So, even if the spearhead splits further, the precision of its manipulation will decrease significantly along with each additional spearhead.

Then, rather than being wary, the plan is to just deal with the threat right in front of our eyes.

The wind magic users’s handling of the situation was close to perfect.

But it’s not perfect enough.

The Alchemist Louie’s main weapon is a war hammer. He swung his weapon to crush the extending spear, but the spear changed the trajectory of its thrust as if it had expected it.

「Ugh.」

Then, it wrapped around Louie as if it is a snake that is trying to strangle its prey.

Just like that.

Louie’s body floated in the air and slammed his head into the wall while still being tied up.

「…」

This is not a shock that thin armor is capable of defending against.

Something that people should not misunderstand is the fact that most adventurers are normal humans.

Excluding the Heroes, their stamina is not much different from ordinary people.

No matter how hard they train their body, they will never have steel muscles that can repel knives.

If they shed too much blood, they’ll die. If their head is smashed, they’ll die. A fatal blow for an ordinary person is also fatal for most adventurers.

After a fierce fight, a flashy defeat would be a good show. In fact, that’s exactly what the viewers like to see.

But, as with most deaths…

Most defeats are not interesting.

You never know when, who, or how someone will fall.

In my opinion, that tension is one of the charms of Dungeons.

That’s why a party that can give the viewers a sense of security is valuable in a Dungeon Clear, where that is the norm.

This does not mean that I am not thrilled.

『I believe they will win, but I can’t take my eyes off them to see how they will get out of this pinch.』

Some parties can excite people even with the certainty that they will win.

It’s not about winning or losing, it’s about how they win that can win people’s hearts.

That’s what I used to aim for in the Fenix party.

The same is true for viewers of this Raid Battle. 

The number of adventurers has been decreasing since the first Stratum.

Some people were elated, while others were angry and said it was pathetic.

But people never even thought about it.

They have never thought that the Heroes at the peak will lose.

And in order to live up to that expectation, they continued to move.

Towards the Demon King.

Louie…wasn’t defeated.

The wall where he was supposed to be slammed into had somehow become a pond. A pool of water that could receive the impact of a person being slammed into it. Of course, it was created by magic.

It was Wraith.

This alleviated the impact and saved Louie from having his head crushed to death.

Wraith was also attacked by a spear, but it stopped shortly before touching him.

It wasn’t obstructed by the armor.

If that was all, it would have been wrapped around him, just like what happened to Louie.

Which means that there was something that made it so that that approach was not possible. Was it fixed together with the surrounding air? Is that why it couldn’t move?

「Take thiiiis!」

The onslaught of the spear, which had continued to grow from the point where it was cut, stopped.

The reason was because Herv, who was sprinting on top of the spear, had slammed her fist into it with a huge momentum.

The spear can just be broken from the middle, from where it hadn’t divided.

Yes, there is a reason as to why Furcus doesn’t use this technique on a regular basis.

It’s powerful, but it also has its disadvantages.

No matter how damaged it is, a Magic Tool whose main body is『the longest one of the remaining parts』. That is her spear.

Naturally, if it were to be destroyed while it was being stretched out this far, the broken part would become the main body, not the part she was holding.

The advantage that she had shown in the battle with Fenix, that her spear could regenerate immediately after being damaged, would be lost depending on how the enemy deals with it.

「Whoa.」

Herv landed on the part of the spear that Furcus is still holding and she tried to continue to run up.

However, when the Reaper Knight swung her spear upwards, she was blown away, and her body rapidly approached the high ceiling.

「Tch.」

That voice belonged to Wraith.

Although it has lost the ability to extend, it still doesn’t change the reality that it is still a spear that is being wielded by a gigantic knight wearing an armor.

Wraith swiftly avoided the broken spear that was swinging downwards from the sky with Wind Magic.

However, that response of his is what Furcus is aiming for.

Since it would be difficult for him to support the others while simultaneously responding to the threat in front of him.

「U-ugh.」

It was Ewan.

He sliced the tip of the extending spear and is trying to get close to Furcus.

One of Furcus’ arms was reaching out to Ewan right before the spear was broken.

Ewan was distracted for a moment when Herv was blown away, and Furcus took advantage of that opportunity.

Her left arm seized Ewan.

Then she increased her strength.

「Let go of our darling newbie!」

The Wizard Michel, who is wearing a pointed hat, a robe, and a wand, casted Explosion Magic with a large amount of magical energy imbued into it.

It exploded outside the headpiece of the black armor. Along with a red glow that burns the eyes and a thunderous sound.

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The armor shook, but it was not destroyed.

「Wha-?! It’s so tough!」

Michel was surprised.

「Ewan, you can do it.」

Hearing Aerial’s voice, Ewan nodded, although he had a pained expression.

At the same time as the explosion cleared, the two Wind-users were creating a huge wind blade.

Ewan went from top to bottom.

On the other hand, Aerial went from bottom to top.

The wind blade ran towards the black armor to sever her elbow.

As the destruction progressed, a sound that made me want to cover my ears resounded and I could see the blade piercing into the armor.

「Dodge…!」

It was Wraith that shouted.

「Huh?」

Furcus’ spear…had pierced Michel’s abdomen.

Michel was befuddled. That’s just to be expected.

The part that Furcus has is the shorter one. It should be just a broken pole, not the main body.

It’s strange that it could still create another spearhead and extend.

How did this happen?

The answer is simple.

Because it once again became the main body afterwards.

The three Wind-users first went to support their comrades.

After that, Wraith helped Louie.

Then, Aerial and Ewan fired a wind blade to destroy the opponent’s left arm.

And then the rest of the battle was with the Dragonkins.

The Dragonkins hid behind the remnants of the spears remaining in the field and used them as shields and sometimes even cut the spear themselves.

As that process was repeated several times in a short period of time, the『part that was longer and recognized as the main body』was gradually shortened and eventually became shorter than the part left in Furcus’ hands.

As a result, the main body of the Magic Tool was evaluated again and the pole she is holding has once again become the Magic Tool.

She was using it to aim for Wraith, but as soon as she pulled it back, she extended it and pierced Michel.

With a large hole in her abdomen, Michel still wielded her wand.

「I’m…sending one back to you.」

A large explosion occurred around the lower abdomen of the large armor. 　

That is where Furcus’ main body came out when the armor opened during the Tag Tournament.

Almost simultaneously with the explosion, Michel’s body scattered as magical energy particles.

This explosion is much more powerful than the one aimed at the headpiece. It seemed like the previous one only had the purpose of being a distraction. 

「Keep up with me, shortie!」

「…I’m not short.」

The Alchemist Louie and the Destroyer Fran have already started running.

「Sorry, but I’m going to shorten this spear again.」

Wraith stood on Furcus’ headpiece.

The wind blade once again severed the spear.

Furcus had reached out her right arm to seize Wraith who had let go of the spear, however, it didn’t reach him.

「Hey, hey, don’t forget me, I’ll feel lonely.」

Herv kicked the ceiling and accelerated suddenly, then she hit the back of Furcus’ armor with the same momentum.

The armor caved in and the impact led to her stance being broken.

Then, Louie’s war hammer and Fran’s huge arm struck her in the abdomen.

In addition to Michel’s explosion, Hamill’s flying slashes preceded and then it was followed by two simultaneous blows.

Her left arm was on the verge of being severed, her right arm was hit, and her abdomen…was destroyed.

If there is a girl inside the armor, it is an attack that will not let her go away uninjured.

However.

「Arghh…!!」

The Reaper Knight’s right foot jumped up and her right knee welcomed the two adventurers who had hit her abdomen.

The two of them disappeared from one of the cameras like a meteor. When I looked over, I found them.

Embedded into the wall.

「Fran!」

Worried about the safety of his childhood friend, Wraith moved away from Furcus’ headpiece.

The armor on the abdomen has been destroyed and we can see what’s inside.

There…were no signs of a girl who had been hurt there.

「She’s not here…? But, at that time…」

It can’t be helped that Hamill would be confused.

It is true that the Furcus that Berith and I fought against in the Tag Tournament came out of the abdomen part of the armor.

But that doesn’t mean she’s always in the same place.

That’s right, there is still the possibility that she was only coming down and she was actually maneuvering the armor from the top.

The armor’s left arm had been severed. Starting from the elbow, the left hand fell to the floor.

Something jumped out from the hollow elbow.

A petite female… It was Furcus.

She ran on top of the falling arm and approached Ewan, who was still grasped in her armor’s left hand.

「I won’t let you do that.」

Just when I thought that there was something like a streak of light running through, a person appeared to block Furcus’ path.

He was the Thunderclap Hero Scathach.

He closed the distance in an instant, but Furcus just ignored him.

She avoided the slash that was similar to a flash by lowering her stance.

「What are you…?!」

She stabbed her fingers into the left arm of her armor and threw it.

Furcus’ race is an Ogre.

Unlike her small physique, she is unimaginably powerful.

「Wh-what?!」

Hamill was the one who raised his voice in surprise.

Furcus, who had thrown her arm, had no choice but to fall slowly.

She is an excellent warrior, but she does not have the ability to fly.

But Furcus was able to accelerate in the air. Without anything to-no, that’s not right.

There was Hamill’s Flying Slash.

Some people misunderstand it because it is invisible, but as long as it can be touched, it exists.

It’s just a slash made by an invisible blade.

That’s right.

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It’s not impossible for someone to evade and kick the blade that was aimed at them.

It’s just that I don’t think that it would actually be possible to execute.

Furcus accelerated and easily landed on the ground.

There was someone who was waiting for her.

It was…the Storm Hero Aerial.