There is No Escaping the Hero
Chapter 13: Humans vs. Ogres, War Begins
“Gyahahahaha!”
“Pu, n-no, I shouldn’t laugh. Nn, pfft.”
“…”
Solo and Toro, their two wills overlapped and they retreated from the spot at breakneck speed, but their judgment to dodge was simply too slow.
As a result, Solo now sported an afro.
Weiss and Soare were laughing. Laughing while clutching their stomachs was one thing, but the one trying hard to hold it in could sometimes hurt more.
Solo cried in his heart.
“To know that there is someone among the enemy who can handle detection magic and Mega-class magic, that alone is a great achievement. You completed a major role well and survived.”
Schutz, holding back manly tears, grabbed Solo’s shoulder firmly to commend him.
Solo,
“C-Cut it out.”
Was a little embarrassed.
“However, it is impressive that you could make out the enemy’s spell.”
“Well, it was lit up like an idiot. Of course I could see his mouth well.”
“…Mouth?”
Schutz tilted his head, not understanding what he meant.
Solo tilted his head, not understanding why Schutz was tilting his head.
“That guy can lip-read.”
At Weiss’s words, Schutz and Soare opened their eyes wide.
“That sort of thing is a thief’s basic skill, basic skill.”
“I don’t know any thief other than you who could do it.”
“Me neither.”
“Hey.”
Setting aside Solo and Weiss’s argument, he had a left hand that could deceive the eyes of Soare, who was superior in combat power, had night vision, and could even lip-read.
Somehow, more than expected—
“…H-He might be unexpectedly useful talent.”
“A-As expected of Luna-sama. Her eye for people is—”
“That’s not it.”
He might be a capable man. At least he was dexterous. Neither Soare, nor Schutz, who had been in the military for a long time and built a considerable position in the knight order, could properly use lip-reading. The only one in the knight order who could use it was Luna.
Setting her aside as an exception, it was quite something.
“By the way, what’s ‘Mega’?”
“Ha, you don’t even know that?”
“Then do you know?”
“Of course.”
(Toro-suke, tell me.)
(No way, pippi.)
(Oiii!?)
He bluffed relying on his strongest wisdom bag, but was brilliantly betrayed by said wisdom bag, leaving Solo at a loss. To be honest, this man also only vaguely understood that it was amazing.
“Say it quickly.”
“…Well, you know, that. The ‘Mega’ of Megami (Goddess)-sama.”
“…Really?”
“Really, really. Thieves don’t lie.”
The desperate bluff he squeezed out,
“Totally wrong.”
Naturally collapsed with a retort from another direction. Soare with an exasperated expression and Schutz who could only smile wryly. Cornered, Solo just looked up at the sky.
“Schutz.”
“Ha. First, there are four ranks of magic.”
At Soare’s command, the macho man suddenly started acting intellectual.
Receiving the study-like atmosphere,
“…”
The eyes of the gutter rat duo gradually died.
“Nameless, Ga-class, Mega-class, and Giga-class. My maximum magic is Mega-class; if it were Luna-sama, she could manipulate Giga-class.”
“Could?”
“Can.”
Receiving Soare’s correction, Schutz corrected his statement. In her mind, Luna was alive, and she would not allow using the past tense.
“Also, there are special patterns like mine.”
“Eh, isn’t Soare’s Nameless?”
“…Do you want me to chop you up and burn you to ashes this time? Of course not. Properly, um, it puts out firepower around Ga-class.”
“Lower than Pops, huh.”
“Y-You are underestimating Schutz too much. He’s a former Knight Commander, this man.”
“Eh?”
Both Solo and Weiss were surprised by the new information. In any country, the Knight Commander is a super elite, synonymous with the country itself.
“Setting that aside, it is a fact that there are not many who can manipulate even Mega-class. Those who can manipulate Giga-class, well, can be said to be outliers as humans.”
Realizing again the monstrosity of Luna Andreia. Setting aside her sister, maybe it was inevitable that Schutz and the knights were captivated.
“If the opponent manipulates Mega-class magic, honestly, there is no mistake that it will be a disadvantageous battle with these numbers. My magic is by no means on the stronger side of Mega-class, after all.”
“Are there strong and weak even within the same rank?”
“Of course. It is not a very common case, but not impossible for a master’s Ga-class magic to defeat Mega-class magic like mine.”
“Hee, so rank isn’t decided by power alone.”
“Umu. Rank is determined solely by whether one can activate magic of that rank. That said, it is not something an unskilled person can activate.”
“That’s right. Even for Ga-class, it’s normal to take ten years to master. There are knights who can’t master it even by retirement age.”
“Whoaa.”
It became a long story, but in short,
“Mega-Proc!”
“See, nothing happens, right?”
“Uwa, seriously.”
If a serious Schutz, our side’s highest combat power, is evenly matched with the enemy who seems to be the boss, the possibility that fighting with these members who are overwhelmingly inferior in numbers is a suicidal act has increased considerably.
“Ga-Proc!”
“See, see~”
“Mukiii!”
That was the conclusion, but,
“…Are we going to be okay?”
It was a group lacking tension somehow.
**
The King of Small Ogres frowned at the arrival of the enemy he had been waiting for. They should have understood his combat power to some extent. Since then, he had grown the tree further, expanded his army, and was ready to repel the enemy he could anticipate from before. And he was supposed to secure food, yet—
(Just four people?)
With that, the number of sacrifices, the blood, was completely insufficient.
The tree couldn’t grow with this.
However,
(The woman from that town, and the rat caught in yesterday’s detection… to think he survived taking that hit.)
There was no need to probe their magical power or combat power to know those four were not ordinary.
Especially,
“…Hoh, iron magic. Impudent for a mere human.”
That large man was different from the opponents until now.
The quantity of blood was insufficient, but the quality was likely different from the average human. In that case, it was interesting as an experiment. The Demonic Tree, this Common Oak, which still had many unknown parts even to the Demon King’s Army—how would it react to high-quality blood?
“Then, war continues.”
The King of Small Ogres sneered in the shadows.
**
From the depths of the burned-down forest, the four of them—Solo, Schutz, Soare, and Weiss—appeared. They hid the children in the back of the church, and Soare cast protection magic, but it was just for peace of mind. She couldn’t protect them forever. If they didn’t crush the enemy’s main base, eventually they would just be taken away.
And that main base was—
“Impression’s different when the sun is out.”
It was fortified with even thicker defenses than Solo’s impression when he went sightseeing last night. Breaking through seemed difficult no matter how you thought about it.
“Carefree, aren’t you.”
“Panicking won’t help. Isn’t this impossible after all?”
“What are you doing getting cold feet already! Schutz!”
“As you wish.”
Amidst this, Schutz stepped forward.
And,
“Be the guardian of steel! Ga-Stahl Panzer!”
He donned the black iron armor he had shown Solo before. Mega-class was a trump card; consumption was intense. It seemed this magic was the most balanced in terms of sustained combat capability.
Furthermore,
“Bloom Blue Flames! Azul-Proc Blade!”
Soare drew her sword clad in blue flames. Apparently, the Azul family’s blue flame was exception magic; the rank was unknown, but her self-declaration was Ga-class.
As usual, it was hot enough to be felt even here.
Right now, it was a reliable heat, but—
There,
“Blessings be. All-Buff Der.”
Furthermore, the blessing of Weiss, a servant of God serving the Goddess, was added. Based on a theory different from magic, it was the power of prayer, simply called a miracle in the Holy Church.
The blessing just cast was a balanced type that improved overall physical abilities evenly. Note that blessings do not activate if one is greedy; they activate only once at a time.
“Umu, power is surging.”
“Feels good.”
“Alright, let’s go.”
And as Weiss naturally gripped the cross borrowed from the church decorations and tried to take the vanguard, Schutz and Soare opened their eyes wide.
“Um, I don’t have a blessing?”
Solo was the only one not showing surprise, but he was more surprised that he didn’t have a blessing. Are you telling me to die? was the feeling.
“Don’t need it. You’re not gonna be a fighting force anyway.”
“…E-Ehh? Technically, um, I’m a Holy Sword wielder.”
“Can’t hit, can’t stab, right? You.”
Saying that, the sister, Weiss, jumped out ahead of Schutz and the others. Her blue habit and dull blonde hair fluttering, she ran.
“No!”
Simultaneously with Schutz’s restraining voice,
“Proc Ball.”
The enemy formation, the Mage Goblins in the rear guard fired fire magic all at once. Even if each one was small, with large numbers, it rained down like rain.
However, Weiss showed no sign of stopping or being overwhelmed.
“Wait, what’s with your acquaintance!?”
“Well, she’s always like that. More importantly, the blessing… can I stay on standby?”
“Aren’t you worried!?”
Schutz was already moving to save Weiss. However, the positional relationship was such that even Soare’s speed wouldn’t make it in time.
“Everyday occurrence. You guys are underestimating that idiot too much.”
“Eh?”
The rain of fire poured down, burning brightly.
Seeing the human enveloped in flames, the vanguard goblins laughed “Gyaggya.”
The next moment,
“Yo.”
“Gya?”
Until Weiss appeared from within the flames, drove the tip of the cross into the skull of a vanguard goblin, and sent it flying in a mess—
Just like that,
“Get crushed!”
Weiss simply rampaged with pure violence. Both Schutz and Soare were surprised enough to dislocate their jaws. Because it clearly wasn’t human strength.
In terms of simple power, she was above Schutz who was physically superior, and above the outlier Luna. Even receiving a balanced blessing like All-Buff, a human doesn’t become like that.
Cannot become.
“No guard… fuhaha, I am impressed.”
A type of human even the veteran warrior Schutz was seeing for the first time. Jumping leisurely over the barriers of gender, there was a big wall between humans and Weiss.
She was that kind of creature.
“…A chosen one, same as Elder Sister.”
“Not like that. Just an idiot with strong strength.”
“Y-You…”
“Well, if she changed jobs from a brawler to a proper sister, she went from just an idiot to a slightly decent idiot.”
“…”
Soare tried to reprimand Solo for his hateful words, but seeing the slightly happy expression on his face, she mumbled.
This man sometimes wore this kind of face.
“Don’t you need to go?”
“Y-You go too.”
“Well, if I feel like it.”
“Sheesh.”
Soare joined the battle belatedly. As expected of her speed, she dodged the enemy magic smoothly; in the first place, ordinary fire showed no sign of passing through that blue flame.
Schutz was also rampaging as usual.
『Partner, aren’t you joining the fight?』
“Those three seem fine for now… I guess I’ll observe.”
Solo sat cross-legged nonchalantly, surveying the battlefield. If you’re going to observe, watching from high ground is the standard.
『Hoee~, Partner thinks unexpectedly deeply.』
“Well yeah. Thieves are quick-witted, you know.”
The thief calmly chose to wait. Cheeky for an afro.
**
(That human… troublesome.)
Watching the human sitting alone in a distant place, the King of Small Ogres had a grim look. If they entered a melee, he intended to burn them all along with his allies with his maximum firepower immediately.
After all, they were just something resembling his kin born from the tree.
They were replaceable as much as he wanted.
However, as long as that man was observing, he couldn’t do that.
Whether he was cautious despite his strange headgear, sharp-witted, or just cowardly.
For now, he had no choice but to stick to watching.
Besides,
(The fruit of the tree that has sucked much blood… it would be trouble if you underestimate it.)
There was still fighting power. Because he had offered that many sacrifices—
