Volume 2 - CH 40

“Ahh! Aaaah! Sa-save me!”

Celt was desperately trying to crawl away from the Patchwork.

It was slowly following after him.

“W-we could’ve done something about a single one, but…..! A second one is obviously too much!”

Mabel said while clutching her staff to herself.

“…..Luce, can you distract the one that’s targeting Celt? And Mabel, you should hurry and heal him.”

“I can’t go to help him with another Patchwork in the way!”

Mabel was the one who reacted first to my words.

“Also, I might do it for Elma-san or Luce-san, but I won’t go out of my way to put myself into danger to cover for someone who’s first reaction was to betray the party! Even if I use my MP to heal him, he will obviously try to run away again as soon as no monster is targeting him! I’m not saying to let him die because I don’t like him or anything. I don’t care if he wants to act like a greedy bastard and nab anything he can while ignoring his teammates, but then he needs to be prepared to be ignored in turn.”

Celt went pale from Mabel’s words.

“It’s not like he did something that would warrant him dying, right?”

All Celt did was doing as he pleased within the rules of this Raid Quest.

Some of the things he did was certainly a breach of manners, but none of it reached the level of an actual crime he would need to answer for.

His reluctance to fight a monster that could kill a nimble Hunter like him with any single one of its Skills, all the while needing to cooperate with slow moving Classes is more than understandable.

“Furthermore, this situation…..will be quite grim if we are missing even one member. Indeed I can’t guarantee that Celt wouldn’t try to run away again; we just have to trust that he’s principled enough to stay.”

Among us, Celt has the highest level.

If we were to lose our strongest asset right now, our winning chances would go down by a lot.

“You talk like we could deal with two Patchworks if there were four of us….!”

“We can. I will take command.”

Celt seemed to be excessively scared of the Patchwork, but that’s most likely because detailed information about them is not widely known in this world.

All they know about is parties getting chased and adventurers getting savagely killed by its terrifying Skills.

Although it can deal heavy damage in one hit, it’s not an opponent we can’t defeat with our current forces.

“U-ugh…..how the hell can you state that so definitely….?”

Overwhelmed by my declaration, Mabel’s words lost their momentum.

“But she won’t even be able to reach Celt in time if she have to slip by the other Patchwork.”

“Elma-san, use that Skill please!”

Luce seemed to know what I was thinking and asked me first.

To reach Celt in time to save him, it would take too long if she had to slip by the Patchwork in front of us by running.

It would be too little too late by then.

As I readied my shield, Luce jumped off from the ground.

“[Shield Bash]!”

I pushed out with my shield as hard as I could.

Luce kicked off from the shield and flew far.

Using that momentum she activated her [Acrobatic Steps] and started running on the wall, neatly avoiding the Patchwork in front of us.

With the same movements she slashed into the back of the Patchwork that was near Celt.

The second Patchwork swung its blade at the same time it turned around to face Luce.

Luce pulled back just in time to barely avoid its sword.

With this, that Patchwork’s focus shifted onto Luce for now.

“Y-you really came to save me!? No way, just why…..! I just betrayed you and tried to run away by myself!”

Celt staggered to his feet while keeping pressure on his waist with a hand.

“Elma-san is a nice person, but he’s not blind to reality either. We did not expect you to put your life on the line and fight to defend the party to begin with, so you couldn’t have betrayed our trust in the first place. Elma-san is the type to lend a helping hand to those who need it regardless of something like that. He is just that kind of person.”

Luce paused after that and started glaring at Celt.

“But….I’m not as nice or principled as Elma-san. If you try to run away again, causing us trouble, then my poisoned knife will find its way into your back, Celt-san.”

….it seems she was quite irritated by Celt’s action thus far too.

“B-but, we really shouldn’t be fighting the Three Armed Reapers! These kinds of abnormally strong rare monsters exist in every Dungeon! And now…..with two of them here, there is no way we could take them both down without some of us dying!”

By Three Armed Reapers, he must mean the Patchworks.

Apparently, dreading the thing, the adventurers of this world call it by that name.

“He’s right…..it’s not possible for us to take on two monsters of this level with our current party. Elma-san, do you have some kind of plan?”

Mabel asked me in a dubious tone.

I nodded once, then ran ahead.

I slashed at the Patchwork standing in front of us with my Mythril Sword.

The Patchwork blocked it with his own sword, turning it into a struggle.

“I will take on one alone. Mabel, you should heal Celt first, then deal with the second with the three of you.”

“E-eeeh!? Take on one alone….. there is no way you would be able to do something like that!”

“It’s a Heavy Knight’s job to hold the attention of enemies. If you are worried about me, then you should get back to helping me once you three defeated the other one.”

“But….”

“Just hurry up and go! It’s much more cruel to have Luce with her low Defense fight like that while having to cover for an injured Celt!”

“I-I got it! We will finish it right away and get back here to help!”

Mabel bowed her head towards me, then slipped by me on her way to help Luce and Celt.

At that moment, the Patchwork shoved away my blade and tried to lunge toward Mabel’s back.

However, the movements of the Patchwork suddenly jerked to a stop in mid-air, as if it was pulled by something.

It was the effect of my [Shadow Stomp] Skill.

“Your opponent is me!”

I slashed at the open back of the Patchwork, but it was blocked by another sword.

A second sword was swung towards me.

At the same moment I dodged that by ducking down, a third blade arrived from yet another angle.

I only barely evaded that by shoving myself back by pushing against the sword I was struggling against.

The Patchwork uses its three stitched-on arms to swing his swords.

But, that’s not all it can do.

A magic circle was deployed with the Patchwork as the center.

The moment I noticed that, I jumped back half on reflex as far as I could.

A slash made of purple light flashed in front of my eyes.

It was the Patchwork’s magic Skill, the [Death Sword].

While it’s a close range only magic Skill, it has a fast activation and absurdly high power.

It is said that even though the Patchwork only has three arms, if you add the [Death Sword], then it has four swords at the ready.

After disrupting my stance with a three hit combo, it immediately followed up with the [Death Sword].

It’s the largest reason why the Patchwork is feared so much.