Volume 3 Chapter 15.3

Volume 3 Chapter 15.3

Translator: Reflet

Editor: Weasalopes

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「This sucks……」

「What does?」

「Not enough firepower. I don’t feel like I’m doin’ much damage.」

Hiroshi commented as he fled from the golem’s kick in a panic.

「Well yeah, he’s huge……」

Tatsuya agreed. He didn’t feel he was making progress either.

「I’ll try Holy Octo-Cannon one more time, but it really hasn’t been working……」

Tatsuya grumbled as he got in another hit of Holy Octo-Cannon. It took off a few bricks but wasn’t doing any real damage.

「Geez, is there any way to beat this thing……」

「What if I cast Over Accelerate on Hiroshi-kun? Would it amp up damage a bit?」

「Maybe a bit, but I don’t think it’ll be too different.」

「Right……」

Haruna proposed an idea that would hopefully get them out of this deadlock, but even she knew that the small reward was not worth the risk. If Hiroshi had a strong blunt weapon skill then the situation could have been more in their favor, but unfortunately, they knew no one who had such skills. Hiroshi hadn’t made any progress on improving his attack skillset. There were other problems that he was more motivated to tackle.

「Hiro could always use that one attack, just this once……」

Tatsuya muttered as he waited for Holy Octo Cannon to cool down, thinking of the best plan for this situation. Titanic Roar. That was the team’s most destructive close-combat attack, and Hiroshi was the one who had it. It would probably have the greatest effect on the golem since it could launch even the heaviest of weapons. Hiroshi had only used it once against Barold in Farlane, but was unable to figure out how it was activated. It was doubtful that such a miraculous event would occur right now.

「Come to think of it, Mio-chan, you got an extra skill from Aranwen-sama, right?」

「I don’t think it’ll have much of an effect on the golem if we don’t know where the core is located.」

「But it will do some damage?」

「Some damage, yes.」

Mio continued to fire carefully measured shots as she responded to Haruna and Tatsuya’s queries. Piercing skills could at least puncture, so the effect would be greater if the location struck were a bit weaker.

「Hiro, any idea?」

「Unfortunately, I don’t got enough of an idea.」

Hiroshi answered as he gallantly resumed his attack on the golem. He had been evading every attack so far, but the golem’s movements were becoming slightly more acute, and truth be told, Hiroshi was sweating bullets.

「But uhh, if we were gonna do somethin’, maybe try shootin’ the chest area?」

「What’s the basis for that?」

「Whether there’s a core or not, takin’ only a foot off him would be a waste, right?」

「I see your point.」

Agreeing with Hiroshi’s comment, Tatsuya noticed that cooldown was over and began to ready another Holy Octo Cannon when all of a sudden, the golem jumped.

「What the heck!?」

「This ain’t good!!」

Hiroshi retreated as soon as he sensed the golem’s intent. It was only a light jump, so the golem would be back on the ground any second.

What would happen when a golem with the height and weight of a fifteen-story tower jumped up three meters? The impact of the golem’s landing shook the ground enough to throw everyone off balance.

「Gaah!!」

Hiroshi rolled to the side, barely avoiding the golem’s stomp but taking a direct hit from a kick the next moment and getting blown back to where Haruna and the others were.

「Hiroshi-kun!!」

Haruna screamed.

「I’m good, for the most part……」

Hiroshi reassured her as he endured his aching back, barely managing to get up. If the attack had hit Haruna or Tatsuya then it would have minced them, so even Hiroshi could not escape completely unscathed. The size itself was definitely going to be a threat.

They had to be thankful to the queen for leading the octogals in order to evacuate Aearis and the others. This was not an opponent that they could let their guard down with.

「Mio, I don’t think we have any longer!」

「Got it!」

Following Tatsuya’s order, Mio at last began to ready her extra skill. The skill in question, Dragon Slayer, enabled the user to fire out arrows filled with astronomical energy that ignored affinity and pierced straight through any opponent to wreak havoc on their insides.

It got its name from the time when a certain hunter slew a dragon the size of a castle with Aranwen’s protection. Unlike the name suggested, it didn’t have any particularly special effect on dragon type monsters, but it didn’t need any extra power to wreck its opponents.

「Fire!」

Mio let out an unusually fired up voice as she shot the arrow. The bow groaned as it released the energy-filled arrows, aiming straight for the golems chest and piercing through it. A fissure ran throughout the whole torso, but the attack was not enough to completely crush the golem.

「One more hit……」

「No, look at the state the bow is in.」

Looking at the bow like Mio said, it did indeed seem to have been warped from the previous attack. It could probably be repaired right away, but it was likely to still break apart with one more shot.

「That’s to be expected from an extra skill. Without enough practice, you’ll go through weapons like no tomorrow……」

Nodding at Mio and her situation, the team looked back at the golem, still alive and well despite suffering so much damage. If the golem had regenerative abilities, then it would probably be preferable to risk the bow in order to fire another shot. But from the state her bow was in, it would be quite the gamble to try and fire another shot of the extra skill.

「If the fissure is that ginormous, maybe my trump card will work.」

「Makoto?」

「I didn’t mention this yet, but I also have it. An extra skill.」

All present almost cried out in astonishment at Makoto’s “coming out” moment, unable to understand why she had kept quiet all this time. The first thing to come out of anyone’s mouth was, of course, an inquiry.

「Did you not mention it because it was a katana skill?」

「Yup. Although I never used it in the game.」

「……Right, the weapon……」

Things were beginning to make more sense. Everyone who heard the reason completely lost the will to complain. Then again, it wasn’t like Tatsuya and the others were in any position to complain, so they never thought about saying anything from the start.

「Hiroshi, can you give it another go?」

「I got enough resources in storage to remake everyone’s weapons, mate.」

「Then please do it again.」

Makoto said as she put the katana back into its sheath. Lightly raising her hands up, she confronted the golem with no outward emotion. Makoto was too far away to slice across the fissure, so she waited for her target to swing a punch and miss. Stomp, kick, and then finally the third attack, the punch she had been waiting for. Once she dodged the punch, she hopped onto the arm and raced up to the top.

「I’ll show you a secret technique!!」

Hand at the hilt, Makoto ran up to an area from which she could reach the torso, releasing the energy she had stored up all at once and accelerating her speed past its limit.

「Razor Wind Slash, Earth!」

The secret technique derived from various forms. Makoto released one of the most fundamental attacks. Swift above all else, and able to cut through its target multiple times. Or at least that was what it sounded like by word of mouth. However, when you realized that the “speed” consisted of twenty katana strikes in one second, no one could simply refer to it as being “fast” even if they wanted to.

This simple, yet specialized attack that pierced through one end to the other was more worthwhile than trying any complicated variations. Although…

「Darn, it’s still not enough……」

Makoto already knew from the moment she unleashed the attack that it would not be enough to finish off their opponent.

「Even that move isn’t enough? You gotta be kidding me……」

「If I had at least known Hiroshi from the game, then I bet I would have been able to pull it off right now.」

Makoto responded with a grimace as she held out her katana that had broken during the last flash attack. Just as she said, if she had known Hiroshi from the game, she should have been able to use god steel katanas, and the amount of training with the katana would have raised the proficiency of the secret technique. As a result, the katana would not break, the same move would be even more powerful, more precise, and would have been enough to completely pulverize the golem. Although in all honesty, the attack just now only had to be 10/20% times more powerful to win the fight.

In another what-if scenario, if Makoto’s katana had not been a compound of magic steel and mythril, but instead orichalcum or adamantite, there would have been added power from the katana to finish things off.

But of course, discussing such possibilities is pointless. Besides, leaving aside activation, they had one more extra skill attack left. Their opponent’s defense being as high as it was, the HP had several dots left so it could not be polished off with a regular great attack, but this extra skill would overkill them.