Ch.309Academy Festival (14)

“Arigiri Shota. We must take your head… to save our planet.”

Aliens surrounded me.

Their heads resembled octopuses, but their lower bodies were humanoid. That contrast created a strange sense of dissonance. I found them oddly appealing because they wore Japanese-style clothing. Hmm. Just octopus earthlings, I guess.

“I see. So I’m being threatened by Pink Beard.”

I quickly grasped the situation.

“Really… big brother always gets involved in dangerous situations.”

Madoka sighed.

“Ohoho. Just like that time at the temple, right?”

Ms. Aiko immediately formed a connection. Right. That time I had a fierce battle with a seven-foot ghost. Looking back, it’s a good memory.

“Shota has many enemies?”

Aki adapted to the situation surprisingly quickly. Today’s high school students are impressive.

“Our brother loves fighting!!”

“Last time during the open class, he had a bloody fight with that Russian guy!”

The three sisters also formed a bond over this.

“No… what kind of dangerous things have you been doing…”

Aki’s expression immediately hardened.

“It was just a dodgeball game.”

Though that Russian guy used some bizarre techniques.

“It was dodgeball, right?”

Aki asked for confirmation. Surprisingly, it was a true story.

“Brother. Fight. It’s your hobby after all, fighting strong opponents.”

Madoka spoke with an accommodating tone. If only she had large breasts proportional to her generous heart, she’d be perfect…

“Yes! Brother looks coolest when he’s fighting!”

Eri’s three sisters nodded and smiled brightly.

I was so grateful for these comrades who understood me.

However, there was a line for everything.

“Hey, octopus heads. See the situation? We’re in the middle of a festival. And… I’m enjoying leisure time with my lovers. You wouldn’t do something so uncultured as to ruin a festival, would you?”

I tried appealing to their sense of decency. Somehow I had a feeling. For some reason… these guys seemed like they could be reasoned with.

“Ah… I see. I too have a wife and children. Plus, I understand the value of culture. Let’s move elsewhere.”

The octopus humans nodded to each other, exchanging opinions.

Phew… fortunately, they were reasonable beings.

Anyway, we immediately headed to an empty lot outside the school.

It was originally a construction site, but since construction had been delayed for years, it had essentially become an empty lot. No one would come here.

“Aki and Aiko don’t have to come along…”

I felt a bit sorry about that.

They were ordinary people with no connection to Pink Beard. I didn’t want to involve ordinary people.

“It’s okay. Every moment… I want to be with Shota.”

Ms. Aiko said.

“That’s right… we joined the harem later than the others. We want to build our bond quickly by experiencing various things together.”

Aki also said with a blush.

“Actually, I don’t care about aliens or whatever. As long as Shota is here…”

Aki mumbled. A high school girl in love is amazing.

“Everyone gets along well.”

The octopuses kindly waited for us to finish our conversation. They were by far the nicest aliens I’d encountered so far.

“Let’s get this over with quickly.”

I said.

“Let me try to persuade you just in case. If you hand over Sasith’s head… we can overlook the rest of you.”

The leader of the octopuses said.

“You don’t actually think I’d accept that, do you?”

I said with a smirk.

“As expected. You’re the man I thought you were. You can’t betray your lord. Worthy descendant of samurai.”

The octopuses all drew their swords in unison.

“But I don’t have a sword.”

I shrugged.

“Ah. Don’t worry. Munsik, give him a sword.”

The octopus leader said.

Whoosh-!

One of them threw a sword at me. It was an ordinary straight sword.

Woong-!

I lightly swung the sword. Hmm. The feel wasn’t bad. Actually, at my level, I could freely use most swords.

“We’ll fight you one by one and honorably take your head. No objections, right?”

The octopus man said.

“I thought you’d all attack at once… how interesting.”

These guys are too honorable?

“We don’t do such unseemly things.”

The octopus man stated firmly.

“Well… fine by me.”

I raised my sword and pointed it directly at the octopus man.

“Mundol. You go first.”

The octopus man nodded.

Chuk-!

One of them stepped forward immediately. The one who gave me the sword must be Munsik. What a strangely Korean name.

“Here I come!”

Mundol immediately raised his sword and closed the distance toward me.

Swish-!

The sword flew straight at me.

Clang-!

One turn to charge the breath of a flash and read the sword’s breath. Two turns to exploit the sword’s weakness and strike down.

In the blink of an eye, Mundol’s sword broke and flew through the air.

Clang-!

The blade immediately stuck into the ground. Mundol seemed to have lost his fighting spirit. That’s how swordsmen were. Once their sword breaks, their combat power plummets.

“That’s one down.”

I flicked my sword.

“You’re not going to kill me?”

Mundol asked, still holding his broken sword.

“Well… I kind of like you guys.”

I shrugged as I spoke. I didn’t particularly want to kill them. Besides… somehow I felt these guys would retreat if persuaded.

“You’re soft. Let me correct that soft attitude.”

Next, Munsik stepped forward. He was the one who had lent me the sword. Munsik blocked my path with a spare sword.

Fwooosh-!!

Munsik closed the distance toward me with his sword raised.

Clang-!!

I used the same technique once more to guard against his sword strike while breaking Munsik’s sword.

“Next.”

The only one left was the octopus man. These guys weren’t weak. It’s just… I had become too strong.

“As expected. Just as rumored. You’re strong. But I’ll be different from the brothers you fought before.”

Finally, the octopus man stepped forward.

They all looked similar… so their skills were probably similar too? I held back from saying such a rude thing.

“My name is Mung. It’s an honor to fight a strong one like you.”

The octopus man introduced himself and raised his sword. By the way… his name is Mung? Their naming sense was consistently terrible. I made an internal resolution to never visit a naming agency on their planet.

“Here I come!!!”

Mung rushed toward me at tremendous speed, drawing his sword. It was a speed comparable to Mach 9.

Swish-!!

He perfectly executed the battojutsu technique, swinging his sword rapidly while charging. He had abandoned defense, putting everything into the speed and power of the first attack.

People often say battojutsu lacks practical effectiveness, but that’s an impression created by creative exaggerations. If it truly lacked effectiveness, the concept of battojutsu wouldn’t have survived until now.

The value of battojutsu was in landing the first hit. Even a skilled fighter would die from excessive bleeding without a chance to react if hit by a sword first.

In other words, battojutsu was the 4-drone of the sword world. There was no follow-up, but if you didn’t know how to counter it, you’d just get sliced helplessly.

Clang-!!!

I immediately blocked the sword strike with a stance of blazing intensity, reinforcing my body to move at a speed surpassing Mung’s.

“Kugh…?!”

Mung’s expression hardened, clearly not expecting his attack to be blocked. Battojutsu was a strategy with no follow-up. Having committed everything to the battojutsu, Mung’s posture quickly collapsed.

“Hyaaah!!”

Immediately after, I quickly grabbed Mung’s octopus-like tentacle beard.

Wham-!!

Then I slammed Mung’s head down with all my might.

“Gu… huk!!”

With that, Mung quickly retired.

“……..”

As expected, no “Memory of a Strong Enemy” notification appeared. Honestly, he wasn’t that strong.

Shing-!

I pointed my sword at him.

“…I surrender. I lost.”

Mung readily admitted it.

I expected him to say something like ‘Curse you… kill me,’ so this was unexpected.

“I have… a wife and children waiting for me back home. I plan to save as many people as I can and get them on the spaceship. If they learn we failed… Pink Beard will devour our entire planet.”

Mung said.

“Devour the planet…”

“His psychorobo ability… absorbs the power of planets themselves… he’s already devoured many planets and is rushing to invade Earth.”

I could hear Mung’s sigh.

“……..”

Huh? Already? Pink Beard was acting strangely rushed compared to the original story.

‘Did we make Pink Beard angrier than expected?’

I could roughly guess the reason. It’s because we blocked all of Pink Beard’s plans. Given his proud personality, he must be furious.

“He’s already devoured eight planets. Even you can’t stop that monster.”

These octopus guys seemed to have already given up.

In the original story, Pink Beard had eaten six planets… so two more had been added. This… is a bit dangerous? Honestly, I was a bit nervous.

I felt a growing sense of obligation to hurry and complete the community. I needed to quickly give Sasith the final psychorobo.

‘Anyway… I can’t stop Pink Beard myself.’

That’s right. I’m not the protagonist. In the end, Sasith had to do it.

———-

“Anyway… you guys, pretend to be dead for now. Ignore any communications.”

I summarized the situation.

“Huh?”

Mung looked at me in disbelief.

“Officially, you were killed by me here. Hide your identities and quickly return to your planet. Gather as many people as possible and evacuate. I’ll handle the rest.”

I said.

“Th-thank you… I won’t forget this favor, Arigiri Shota.”

The octopuses nodded and got up.

“This is quite a large-scale story.”

Ms. Aiko spoke surprisingly calmly. Is this the composure of an older woman?

“This Earth… is the planet where all my precious people live. I’ll definitely protect it.”

I quickly reassured my girlfriends.

“I believe in you, brother!”

Madoka said.

“Us too!”

My cute sisters-in-law nodded and said.

Yes. I’ll protect it by any means necessary. With that resolution, I headed back to the class exhibition. First, I needed to achieve Ray Lipeng’s community. Since Ray Lipeng would be with Umi anyway, I quickly headed in that direction.