Volume 5 - CH 4.2

“Hey, snap out of it!”

“——!!”

Asha, with a reprimand from Kusel, just barely avoided another swing from the ogre king.

“What’s the matter?”

“N-Nothing. I’m fine!”

“Asha deflected the question, and Kusel didn’t bother asking anything more.”

Probably because they’re currently in the middle of a battle.

“I need you to get yourself together!”

“Roger!”

Asha responded as if she was trying to rouse herself.

Seeing her like that made me a little uneasy.

I believe the most dangerous thing in combat is getting paralyzed by fear.

But letting go of the fear of death is also the most difficult thing to do.

I wonder how she will respond in this situation.

“Asha, cover me!”

Kusel said in a strong tone.

“Got it.”

The two resumed fighting, but they were having difficulty defeating them.

Asha’s movements were becoming slower than before.

No surprises there, Asha is not accustomed to fighting against such strong enemies.

But for now, she has no choice but to get over it on her own. I’m ready to step in at any moment, but I hope she’ll give her very best.

A few moments later, Kusel succeeded in killing the ogre general, whose movement had become sluggish thanks to the leg wound it sustained earlier, with a single blow.

All that’s left now is the ogre king.

How they go about fighting is up to the two of them, but even from an objective point of view, the ogre king’s movements are slow.

But each blow is powerful, and if the two of them were to take a hit, they would be utterly helpless.

Kusel, Asha, and the ogre king, as if to make a fresh start, readied their weapons and made their moves.

As the ogre king attempted to swing its long sword at Kusel who was closing in, it was struck in the face by Asha’s throwing knives from the side, stopping its movement for a moment.

In that moment, Kusel moved right under the ogre king, and with all her might, slashed the ogre in the stomach diagonally. The ogre king screamed.

However, it was a shallow blow. And before Asha could follow up, its swinging fist hit Kusel squarely.

“Guaaahh!!”

She guarded herself, but the blow was so heavy that Kusel was blown away upon impact and hit the tree behind her hard.

“KUSEL!”

As Asha screamed, Kusel stood up, using her sword as a walking stick.

From the looks of it, two ribs and her right arm are broken, and doesn’t look like she can continue.

“Kusel!”

I called out to her and tried to approach her, but she stopped me by stretching her hand.

“Don’t. It’s not over yet! I’m not about to throw in the towel over this ugly-ass bitch…!!”

She glared at the ogre king, holding her sword in one hand. Somehow, I feel that her presence has been sharpened even more.

Asha stared at Kusel in such a state and muttered.

“Why, why are you pushing yourself to fight to that extent…?”

Kusel answered with a smile, as if she had heard Asha’s little murmur.

“Because I’m me——nah, not quite. Because fighting is fun! And a fight to the death is unparalleled!”

Kusel twisted her mouth into a sneer.

“Asha, Haruto. You mind if I take this guy, the ogre king, alone?”

Kusel asked, but before I could say anything, Asha strongly refused.

“No way, I want to fight alongside you!”

Kusel’s eyes widened at those words, and she asked Asha.

“Aren’t you scared shitless?”

After a small gasp, Asha looked back at Kusel with fiery eyes.

“I thought I had become stronger, and somewhere in my heart I was optimistic. And yet when I saw Kusel getting done in right in front of me, I suddenly got scared. But——”

Asha gripped her weapons tightly and stared at the ogre king.

“I can’t afford to run away from this in order to fight together with you all from here on——and to fight alongside Lady Iris! Besides, I am sure Lady Iris will laugh at me if I run away from this.”

Asha smiled. She seemed to have discarded her fear.

“Very good. I’m sure Iris will be pleased too…sorry Haruto, forget what I just said. Asha and I will take this guy down.”

“You heard Kusel! The two of us will take it down together!”

Kusel and Asha said as they turned their backs to me.

What promising statements.

“Do as you please. As long as you don’t end up causing me any grief, got it?”

“You bet!!”

“Leave it to us!!”

Then they both glared at the ogre king.

Asha notified Kusel.

“My attacks can’t deal a fatal blow. So I’m going to create an opening instead, then you aim for it.”

“Okay. I’m also running low on fumes myself. So I’m counting on ya.”

Kusel and Asha nodded to each other.

“GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH?!!”

The ogre king raised its battle cry, and approached Asha and Kusel wielding its long sword.

Asha approached the ogre king as well.

The ogre king swung its long sword down on Asha in front of him.

Just before the sword hit Asha, she disappeared.

The ogre king looked around, unable to a glimpse of her.

The next moment, however, Asha appeared behind the ogre king.

She must have utilized the blind spot of the long sword to move at high speed at the same time it overlapped on her figure. This is a move that would have been possible only if she had kept close watch on ogre king’s eye movements.

Asha, with the ogre king backing her, hurled several knives at it, and although some of them failed to penetrate, she succeeded in making it turn around.

The ogre king tried swinging its long sword, but Asha was quicker.

One of the well-aimed knives pierced the ogre king’s eye. The one aimed at the other eye only grazed its cheek, but it was more than enough.

The ogre king let out a shrill cry, caught Asha with its other eye, and swung its sword.

“Ugh!!”

Asha managed to block it by crossing the knives in her hands.

However, she was knocked away and rolled on the ground in a heap.

Still unable to move due to the pain, the ogre king approached her and raised its long sword in the air, in an attempt to kill her.

“You seem to have forgotten that I’m not alone, haven’t you?”

And at the same time Asha said this to the ogre king.

“——Exactly! I can’t have you treating me like fart now, can I!?”

Kusel’s voice rang out.

She leapt and was about to swing her sword at the ogre king, who turned around.

Her body was overflowing with mana.

The ogre king guarded itself with the long sword without hesitation, but Kusel struck head-on with her sword.

Sword sparks flew.

“YOU’RE GOING DOOOOOOOOWN!!”

Kusel forced the sword further back.

Looks like she’s using the Berserk Switch skill, that increases her stats in exchange for losing rationality.

I didn’t expect her to use it after coming this far. Still…

“I’m surprised she’s able to maintain her sense of self.”

Despite evoking Berserk Switch, Kusel was still herself.

Could this be the result of her training with Zero, or perhaps she mastered the skill at this last minute…

Either way, it should all be over soon.

Kusel was pressing the sword forward while the ogre king was pushing back.

The deadlock continued, but it’s already at its climax.

The sword Kusel was pressing forward slowly began to cut into the long sword the ogre king was using to push back.

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”

Kusel pushed even further.

The next moment, the long sword split apart, and Kusel’s sword closed in on the ogre king.

The ogre king, having lost its weapon, was cut in two with a single slash from above its head.

The ogre king was split in half and fell to the ground, spewing blood.

Putting her sword back in its sheath, Kusel, exhaled, “Whew!”. From the looks of it, she has undone her skill.

The two of them had spectacularly come out the victor against the ogre king.

Kusel walked up to Asha and gently held out her hand, though she was still a little wobbly.

“That was brilliant, Asha. If it wasn’t for that decoy, it would have been a close call.”

Asha grabbed the offered hand and got up.

“Not at all. It’s all thanks to you, Kusel. Thank you.”

Kusel smiled at Asha’s words, but suddenly became unsteady.

Yeah, go figure. She’s wounded all over.

I quickly moved to catch her as she was about to fall and immediately used my recovery magic.

Kusel sounded somewhat apologetic.

“Sorry, Haruto.”

“Don’t worry about it. More importantly, both of you did a spectacular job taking it down.”

“Yeah, thanks to Asha. I certainly couldn’t have done it alone.”

“That’s not true!”

Asha said, clasping both of Kusel’s hands.

“I shouldn’t have gotten cold feet all of a sudden like that.”

Asha’s eyes filled with tears.

“…I see. But you see, Asha. In the end, it’s all thanks to you. You should be proud of that.”

“…I understand.”

Asha nodded.

After I finished treating Kusel and Asha and sat them down, I looked up to the sky.

The sun was already high up.

It was about the time I had expected.

Just as I was thinking that, I heard their stomachs growling.

So I said to them.

“Shall we head back. And, let’s go have lunch, I’m sure you’re hungry.”

“Oh yes.”

“Okay!”

And so we returned to the holy city after collecting the necessary parts for the quest.