Ch.162Heart (4)

*

Operation.

For me, lacking in physical strength, the only viable option to overcome combat-related obstacles was to devise a meticulous yet effective plan.

My opponent was a giant.

Based on Silvia’s description, it was likely a monster—a hybrid with ogre blood.

Just one hit from it, and my body would surely be crushed like a mosquito flicked by a human finger.

With cold sweat running down my face from tension, I had no time to wipe it away as I formulated my strategy.

I even prepared second and third contingency plans in case the initial one failed.

Watching me, Silvia spoke in an enchanted voice.

It sounded like a little girl who had just discovered an adorable kitten.

“Kyaa, I love it when Ash is desperately racking his brain like that.”

“…”

I tried to pretend I hadn’t heard her, but soon Alice’s incredulous voice joined in.

“What the hell kind of nonsense is that?”

“I just can’t resist how cute Ash looks when his carefully crafted plans become useless against my strength—that dejected expression is adorable.”

“…Are you sure the Demon Lord’s curse hasn’t affected your brain?”

“As sure as I am that your heart might explode any moment.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, really.”

While I was making final mental preparations and reviewing my plan, the banter between these two beside me was making my head spin.

Well, no matter how hard I try to plan, it probably wouldn’t be as powerful as Silvia’s mindlessly swung sword anyway.

No, wait.

This isn’t the time for such thoughts.

I regained my focus and addressed Pia.

“We need to take one down with a surprise attack first. If that fails, we don’t stand a chance.”

Pia nodded and replied.

“What’s your plan?”

“We’ll aim for the head.”

“Kill it in one shot?”

“No, unfortunately, none of the magic I can use has enough power to pierce through a monster’s head. So while shooting at the head, I’ll also make the dirt beneath the giant’s feet fly upward, causing it to fall.”

As soon as I finished my briefing, Alice offered her assessment.

“Hmm, not a bad strategy. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

“Our Ash is so smart, hehe.”

Silvia spoke proudly as if she were the one being praised.

Alice looked at Silvia with disdain, shook her head, and then muttered.

“Still, I can’t get used to that sight. I know you’re talking to a spirit, but to my eyes, it just looks like Ash is talking to himself.”

“There is a spirit next to Ash right now.”

“Can you see it?”

“No, I can barely sense it. Probably because it’s using Ash’s magical power.”

“I see. Since I can’t use magic at all, I can’t even sense it.”

Unable to bear it any longer, I looked at the two of them and said curtly.

“Hey, I’m trying to concentrate here. Could you please be quiet…”

“Oh my, what’s there to concentrate on? Just swing, swing, swing, and you’ll take care of it.”

“That’s only by Silvia’s standards.”

Alice spoke with a serious expression.

“I’m entrusting this to you because I believe you can handle it. If it gets dangerous, I’ll come rescue you right away.”

“You mean you’ll come save me, right?”

“Of course. But if you get taken out before we can even act, there’s nothing we can do. No matter how great my divine power is, if you get squashed like a fruit thrown to the ground, there’s no helping it. It’s not my body, after all.”

“Sis… why would you say something so scary?”

Silvia grinned and patted my head.

“Fight, win, and come back. Then I’ll give you a reward.”

“…As if your reward would be…”

I quickly shut my mouth before finishing my sentence.

The reward Silvia was referring to would surely be sexual pleasure.

There’s no way she would have prepared an actual gift for me in the middle of this forest.

It was obvious that she wanted it more than I did, yet her shameless attitude of presenting it as a reward was both cute and amusing. I was about to tease her with a retort.

However, remembering that Alice was right beside us, I hastily stopped myself.

After all, Alice hadn’t committed any grave sin that warranted hearing about Silvia’s and my sex life.

She already had enough hardships to deal with; I didn’t need to add to her suffering.

I kept my mouth shut, then slowly opened it to say:

“I’ll be back.”

“Good luck!”

Silvia waved with a smile.

As I moved forward, hunched low, Silvia murmured in a barely audible voice:

“Ah, I can’t wait to see Ash’s cute flustered face…”

*

Hiding among the grass and trees as I approached the giant, I froze before I could even begin my operation.

I was so shocked that I couldn’t think straight.

“Ash… why aren’t you moving?”

Pia, who had prepared a massive wind bundle to throw at the monster’s head, kept urging me on.

Apparently, she hadn’t noticed the situation yet.

“Ash?”

But her prompting seemed to scatter at my eardrums.

Amid my confused thoughts, Silvia’s earlier murmur suddenly came to mind.

‘Ah, I can’t wait to see Ash’s cute flustered face…’

Silvia.

What did I ever do to her?

Now I finally understood what she meant by those words.

“Pia…”

“Yes?”

“…Where are you going to aim?”

“Well… oh.”

Pia sighed.

So did I.

Good goddess.

The giant had no head.

Not that it was dead—there was literally nothing above where its shoulders should be.

Its large, cyclops eye was on its chest, and its massive mouth, emitting a stench so foul it could melt one’s nose, was embedded in the giant’s abdomen.

There was no nose visible, but judging by the terrible breath it was exhaling, it probably never had one to begin with.

“Ash, they have mouths on their stomachs.”

“Well, that must make digestion efficient…”

The giants were walking, making earth-shaking footsteps.

I muttered a small curse.

“Damn it.”

According to Silvia, there might be more of these monsters nearby.

If I hesitate and they return to their group, I’ll never be able to win.

The plan had already failed, and the second and third contingency plans I had prepared were all rendered useless.

I mean, how could I have anticipated that it wouldn’t have a head?

I sighed and gathered my magical power.

“Ash, do you have another plan?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Um… what should I do?”

“Just wait a moment.”

I peeked out to observe the two monsters.

Rough calluses covered their massive bodies everywhere.

Even on the grotesque appendage dangling between their legs.

Even with Pia’s help, the meager firepower of my magic wouldn’t be able to penetrate that skin.

The large mouths on their abdomens were filled with haphazardly protruding teeth.

All teeth, even where incisors or canines should be, were blunt molars.

If an arm got caught in there, it wouldn’t just be severed—it would be completely crushed.

Looking up a bit, I could see the large eyeball embedded in the chest wobbling.

The grotesque eyeball, protruding slightly beyond the body line without eyelids, looked like a slime filled with bloodshot veins.

The moist eyeball, swaying with each step, seemed like it could fall out at any moment.

It seemed that eye was the only vulnerable spot I could target.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

I chanted a spell.

Just two words—one to create fire and one to condense it.

Unlike a fireball that needs to be expanded, I reduced the fire to a size that could fit in my palm.

Naturally, this also reduced its power, so I drew more magical energy and repeated the two words several times.

“…Ah, I see.”

Pia seemed to understand my intention just from watching and began to wrap wind around her body.

Whether she was smart or had simply been with me long enough to read my thoughts, I wasn’t sure, but I nodded and continued my incantation.

“Ugh.”

My palm and fingertips began to sting where I was gathering the fireball.

I was getting burned from the heat.

But I didn’t stop and continued layering the spell.

“Ash, stop it. Your hands will burn up.”

“Guh… urgh, Pia, with the wind…”

“I know.”

Pia drew magical power from my body and enveloped the palm-sized fireball with wind, carrying it away.

The way she blocked external influences while simultaneously circulating air inside to keep the fire burning was a perfect execution of what I had in mind.

A burning pain quickly spread through both my hands, but I gritted my teeth, endured it, and slowly caught my breath.

Then I shouted loudly.

“Hey, you ugly monster!”

Both giants turned toward me simultaneously.

The large pupils embedded in their bloodshot eyeballs, each vein as thick as a finger, targeted me directly.

I targeted them too.

Wind Blaster.

Pia timed it perfectly, tossing the prepared fireball just in front of my spell.

“Please hit!”

Upon activation, the fireball, looking like a small sun, shot straight toward the monster’s eye.

Skillfully, Pia manipulated the wind to flatten the fireball slightly.

The fire, now sharper, plunged straight into the slime-like eyeball of one of the giants.

“…!”

A terrible scream that could shred eardrums echoed in all directions.

Covering my ears with my oozing hands, I looked at the monster and could still see the glowing red fireball inside its eyeball.

Thanks to Pia’s wind, the fire remained unextinguished by moisture and began to boil the monster’s eyeball.

The pupil floating in its eye began to bubble slowly, and soon the thick blood vessels started bursting one after another.

I could see red blood filling the inside of its eyeball.

The monster began to writhe in pain, screaming even louder.

The other giant beside it seemed confused too, alternating its gaze between me and the monster while just screaming.

Then it was hit by the flailing arm of the monster and slowly tilted, losing its center of gravity.

Amidst the monster’s screams, I shouted to Pia.

“Now’s our chance, we can’t miss this!”

“Wait, Ash, your hands first!”

“It made an incredibly loud noise. It’s still screaming! Other monsters will come soon!”

“Shit, what do we do now?”

THUD!

With a loud crash, the monster fell, and I shouted to Pia.

“Bury it!”

Pia nodded and slowly gathered soil from around us, pouring it over the fallen monster.

Perhaps because she had practiced handling soil during her training with Silvia, Pia was manipulating the large mound of earth relatively skillfully.

It looked like a massive wave of earth swallowing the monster.

As a result of all the surrounding soil being pulled away, the forest turned into bumpy, rough terrain, and the dense trees around began to tilt as their roots were exposed.

Meanwhile, the monster writhing in pain from its boiling eyeball didn’t see the suddenly rising ground and tripped.

And coincidentally, there was a tilted tree right where the monster was falling.

“…Uh, what?”

Anticipating what was about to happen, I covered Pia’s eyes and squeezed mine shut.

In retrospect, I should have covered my ears instead.

That terrible sound that pierced through even the monster’s screams and drilled into my eardrums!

That wet yet chilling sound coincided with the monster’s screams stopping.

“…”

I opened one eye slightly to look at the monster.

The tree that had pierced the fallen monster’s eye had gone straight through its back.

The soft eyeball, caved in along the tree’s path, was still bubbling.

The eyeball, which had been continuously emitting hot steam through the puncture, soon burst with a popping sound, spilling its hot, viscous fluid onto the ground.

A foul stench hit my nose, carried by the hot wind.

“…Lucky break.”

“Huh? Wasn’t that your plan?”

“What?”

“I thought you were aiming for this when you buried the other monster.”

“…”

Pia carefully held my hand and peeked up at my face with her eyes.

“…Oh, yeah. Of course I planned it.”

“You totally didn’t.”

Pia looked at me with half-closed eyes, sighed once, and then gently caressed my palm.

“Ouch.”

“What should we do… it looks really painful.”

Only then did I look down at my palms.

In that short time, both my hands had become a mess of blisters, oozing fluid, and peeled skin.

“Why does Ash always get damaged somewhere when fighting?”

“…”

“Wasn’t a magician supposed to fight more elegantly and gracefully?”

“…You’re right.”

She was absolutely right.

Her words were so accurate that I could only smile awkwardly even as Pia nagged me.

That’s when it happened.

“You certainly fight noisily.”

Alice slowly approached me.

.