Ch.80Blood-Soaked City. Fernheim (7)
by fnovelpia
“Haaah…”
I glared at the three enemies before me.
Two battlers and one spell caster.
Their composition was the same as ours, but the details differed. While we had a greatsword and halberd combination, they used a pike and a one-handed sword with shield.
The pike was a spear that went all-in on thrusting attacks, with an intimidating length exceeding 4 meters.
Meanwhile, the one with sword and shield wielded a heavy falcata and a massive rectangular shield. Perhaps as a trade-off, or maybe because they spent all their money on weapons, their armor was relatively poor.
“Raisha.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll handle the pike. You take the sword and shield.”
“Understood.”
I tipped off Raisha, then quickly informed Simon as well.
“Begin the match!”
“AAAAAAHHH!!!”
As soon as the starting words fell, we charged forward with battle cries, our blades gleaming with light.
*
CLANG!
“Ngggh…!”
A heavy impact traveled through the blade of my greatsword.
The pike had stabbed at me to halt my advance, and I was forced to stop in my tracks from the tremendous shock transmitted through my blade, even though it hadn’t hit my armor.
“Hnngh!”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
I dodged the pike’s heavy thrusts by stepping carefully, making sure my sword wouldn’t get caught on the spearhead.
Even with my daggers, I couldn’t rely solely on them to close a distance gap of several meters.
I tried to lower my stance and get inside the pike’s reach, but my opponent looked down at me fiercely, refusing to give me an opening. I could feel sweat trickling down my spine.
Slash! Clang!
Every time I knocked aside his spearhead and tried to break through below, the long shaft used its weight to grind against my blade. When I tried to knock it upward, it didn’t bounce as high as I expected, and the spearhead would quickly recover and rush toward my abdomen, forcing me to hastily pull back my sword to block.
Damn…
This isn’t easy.
I glanced briefly at my companions.
“%!$^$!%$”
“^%@$@#!@@#”
Simon and the enemy spell caster were chanting incomprehensible spells, emitting some kind of waves in what was literally a battle of “ki.” Meanwhile, Raisha was doing to the sword-and-shield battler exactly what was being done to me.
BOOM! CRASH!
“Get lost!!!”
“Urrrgh…!”
Though shorter than the pike, her reach still exceeded 2 meters, making it incredibly powerful.
She was mercilessly slamming her shield, completely blocking any approach. The sword-and-shield battler faced a deadly dilemma: abandon the shield and die from the reach disadvantage, or keep holding it and die from the accumulating impact.
“Where are you looking?!”
SWOOSH!
“Eek!”
Whoosh!
I barely dodged the angry spearhead, and after exchanging a few more blows, there was still no progress.
While the spear had greater reach than a sword, my blade was over 2 meters long, meaning one slip could sever both his spearhead and his neck.
“…”
After thinking for a moment, a good idea came to mind.
Shhhhink…
“What the hell?”
Slap! Slap!
I sheathed my greatsword, then activated Charsach to pull on the pike when the spear-wielder momentarily lowered his guard.
After wrestling with me for a bit, he seemed to realize it was hopeless and pulled out a dagger from his waist to cut the pike shaft in half.
CRACK! CRACK! CRAAACK!
…Actually, “broke” would be more accurate than “cut,” but anyway, he charged at me dual-wielding his makeshift club and dagger.
“Not so fast!”
CLANG! CRACK! SNAP!
I swung at his shortened pike, and he twisted the spearhead against my half-broken shaft.
Naturally, the stick in his hand split along the grain and shattered, and I threw both my daggers with full force at him as he gritted his teeth.
“ARGH!”
Though he wore armor, so it wouldn’t be a severe blow, his quilted armor—likely made of cloth or linen—couldn’t stop my rushing blades.
Nevertheless, he tried to maintain his stance by widening his stance and switching his dagger hand. Whether he knew he was already done for or was making one last gamble, he charged at me with two daggers embedded in his chest.
“Hmph.”
WHAM!
“Ughh..!”
I sent him flying with Tuta, then used it again to retrieve the two daggers embedded in his body.
Then I drew my greatsword again and approached him. He made no attempt to pick up his fallen dagger or get up to resist.
Is it because he’ll revive anyway?
But even if he’ll come back to life, he still has to feel the pain of death. I couldn’t understand his behavior.
I raised my greatsword over his heart as he lay spread-eagled, and seeing this, the pike-wielder smiled faintly and said:
“End it quickly.”
“As you wish.”
SQUELCH!
“Ugh!”
I drove my blade through his heart with force, and then I heard something breaking in the distance.
BOOM! BOOM! CRACK!
“AAAAH!”
“DIEEEE!!!!”
The shield that had been blocking continuously finally shattered with a thunderous noise, and Raisha menacingly swung her halberd, cutting the poor battler’s short sword in two as well.
“No… No!”
Despair filled the battler’s eyes as his last means of resistance disappeared.
He had no strength left to dodge the incoming halberd strike, and with his shield and sword broken, his stance had collapsed. There was nowhere to escape the downward strike of the halberd that looked like it would split him in half.
“Yes!”
Raisha shouted as she literally split his face in two, and then came the cheers from the spectators.
“WOOOOOOO!!!!”
These damn crowds.
They didn’t make a sound when I pierced a heart, but they cheer when they see a busty woman bouncing around…
I must say, they have quite the discerning eye.
*
“^@&%@”
“@&%$@%^”
“This is ridiculous.”
Surprisingly, Simon and the enemy spell caster were still muttering something, making our ears ring.
We approached the last remaining spell caster and each put an arm around his shoulders. Each time we did, his spell wavered, and Simon’s wave of attacks followed.
“Let’s just go peacefully, okay?”
“I’ll send you off painlessly.”
Raisha and I threatened(?) him by pointing our blood-stained greatsword and halberd blades at him, and he finally stopped chanting.
His body was immediately sent flying into the wall, and his soft flesh and bones were instantly crushed, giving us a direct view of the human fish cake manufacturing process.
“Whew. I’m parched.”
“Good work, Simon.”
This match also ended quickly, but there were no jeers like last time.
It had been a fierce match in its own right, and Simon’s full-body deboning performance at the end perfectly satisfied the bloodthirsty audience’s taste.
“The old man’s got skills!”
“Fish cake maker! Blood creator!”
In the distance, spectators began snickering as they gave him nicknames, and we returned to the waiting room to find the mini buffet had been replenished.
*
Gulp! Gulp!
“Ahhhhh!!!”
Simon cheerfully downed the chilled apple brandy with gusto, and we shared the brandy as before, mixing our saliva.
“Now I feel alive again. That persistent spell caster… He seemed much lower-ranked than me, yet he had the nerve to resist…!”
“How much lower?”
“Two… no, maybe three ranks below… I can’t say for sure. Just that he was inferior to me in every way—magical quantity, quality, spell intensity, mental strength… just a complete downgrade.”
“Hmm.”
I didn’t question Simon’s “diagnosis.”
From past experience, I was convinced he possessed a keen eye for insight into people.
“Anyway… so we’re in the final four now?”
“Yes.”
“Then I think it’s about time I prepare to use spells. You two alone might find it tough from here on.”
“Hmm.”
In truth, a spell caster fulfilled their role adequately just by keeping the enemy spell caster in check.
Like a battleship anchored in port that prevents enemies from even thinking of surrounding that port.
A spell caster could pull their weight simply by preventing enemy spells from reaching allies, so I instinctively knew we needed to prepare thoroughly now.
“I’ll block the enemy spells as much as I can, but as you know, I’m neither a protection caster nor a purify caster. I’m just a sage.”
Protection casters referred to those who learned special spells and formulas for defending against enemy spells, while purify casters were those who learned spells and formulas for cleansing various status ailments inflicted by spells.
“I know. You just do your best. I’ll fight that way too.”
“It’s always a pleasure to see the vigor of youth.”
Simon nodded, then popped a few pieces of candy into his mouth, perhaps needing sugar. We also munched on some snacks while sitting on the sofa, waiting for the next match.
The sofa was soft, Raisha’s chest was supple, and her bottom was plump.
And finally, the semifinals began to determine the two teams that would advance to the finals.
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