Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 14 - Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The True Battle

“Say, Lily. May I ask something?” Gerbera said, running alongside Lily, a vaguely restless look in her red eyes. “What is everyone’s situation? It should be about time for us to check where they all are using the mental path.”

Gerbera was incapable of checking where all her distant companions were by searching the mental path. Lily could, but the act required intense concentration. It was far more difficult to do than sensing a vague direction. Not even the source of the ability, Majima Takahiro, was capable of constantly monitoring such a steady stream of information. It would be foolish to overdo it and exhaust herself just because they were worried. It could affect their concentration at a potentially critical moment. They had to be patient, so a fair amount of time had passed since Lily last checked.

The group had spent so much time together that being unsure of where the others were in enemy territory was an extremely stressful situation. Gerbera was considerably fretful, and Lily couldn’t claim to be calm about it either.

“Right, I guess now’s about time,” Lily said.

“Really?!”

“Hang on a sec, I need to concentrate.”

Leaving it any longer would just push their stress levels even higher. That in mind, Lily focused on the mental path. Meanwhile, Gerbera devoted herself to watching their surroundings as they kept running.

“Mm... I’ve got a grasp of it,” Lily said, accomplishing her objective after some time. “It looks like everyone is converging steadily.”

“Really?!”

“Yup. If I had to say anything, I’d say Shiran is going a little slower than expected. Conversely, Rose and Lobivia should be reaching our master soon.”

“Ooh, that’s wonderful news.”

Gerbera’s expression brightened up. Relaxing her focus, Lily smiled too.

“At this rate, Rose will get to him about as soon as we initially predicted,” Lily said.

“Hm. I suppose that’s good progress. I panicked a little when we found there were tons of monsters here.”

“Right. Rose and Lobivia are strong, but against a whole swarm, they’ll get stalled a significant amount... Going at the pace we initially predicted means they haven’t been bumping into any. Looks like they’ve been fortunate.”

“Karma for their usual upstanding behavior!”

“Hee hee. You’re right. We should hurry too.”

Speaking of luck, the two of them hadn’t encountered any problems either. They’d bumped into two packs of monsters, but had broken through without spending much time on them. Among their groups, the pair boasted the greatest strength in combat.

Their master, Majima Takahiro, would soon rendezvous with Rose and Lobivia. Overcoming the obstacles in their paths, their companions were gradually converging. Things were proceeding smoothly. At least, they had been up to this point.

However, Lily was aware that things wouldn’t end like this. They’d thrown their enemy’s plans off by resisting the teleportation, but that meant only that their foe had been stalled. Given enough time, they would make a move. She knew this, so she’d been in a hurry to rendezvous before that could happen.

That was why she’d been prepared for this development.

“It would’ve been best if all of us could’ve gotten together first, but I guess things aren’t gonna go that well.”

“Lily?”

“Stop, Gerbera. Looks like the real enemy has appeared.”

The monsters they’d fought until now were no more than residents of this strange place. In a way, they were more obstacles than worthy combatants. There was still another, more dangerous adversary that had to be defeated.

“I see... How convenient,” Gerbera said, ferocious hostility clear in her eyes. “Let’s crush them.”

“Mm.”

Hearts filled with determination, the two stopped running. They narrowed their eyes sharply, and the true villain appeared before them.

◆ ◆ ◆

What came around the corner of the dimly lit corridor was a group clad in the armor of the Holy Order. Despite appearances, Lily already knew that they were not formal knights.

“So you’re Ottmar?” she said.

Much like the other groups, Lily had figured out who was responsible for this incident and who had supported him. A man giving off a robotic impression stood at the head of the knights. At his sides were two smoothly textured puppets.

“Correct, Lily. This is the Angel Puppeteer,” Gerbera said, having met the man before. Her body seethed with fighting spirit. “Good grief, to refuse to learn your lesson so many times. I don’t know how you did it, but it must’ve been quite the journey chasing us all the way from Aker.”

“That is how closely tied we are by fate,” Ottmar replied, his tone emotionless.

“Fate?” Lily repeated, narrowing her eyes. “So is your motive revenge for having the tables turned on you? That was quite the feat. Doing something so crazy, and even going as far as inciting Okazaki Takuma.”

“Mister Okazaki is an ally. We didn’t provoke him. He lent us his strength.”

“Hmm. Well, you can say whatever you want.” Lily shrugged. This conversation was meaningless when there was no telling how much of what he said was true. “Let me just ask you first: Care to surrender? If you tell us everything you know, maybe I’ll take that into consideration afterward.”

“Impossible. All of you will die here.”

“That’s quite the grudge...”

As a deserter, losing Travis Mortimer and Louis Bard, his employers, one after the other had to have been a serious blow. Much like the puppets he manipulated, however, it simply didn’t show on his face. It wouldn’t be strange for him to resent Majima Takahiro, but that didn’t make his resentment just. Lily had no obligation to put up with it.

“I see. Then we’ll defeat you right here.”

Lily pointed her spear at Ottmar. Despite everything, this was a great opportunity. According to what she’d heard of Rose’s battle against them, Ottmar served as the core of these former knights. If they defeated him here, their situation would improve greatly.

There were around thirty hostiles. A significant force, to be certain, but Lily and Gerbera were capable of fighting them. Lily had a particular, practiced advantage against knights of the Holy Order. During their last battle, she’d managed to turn their debilitation magic against them. Also, specializing in maneuvering freely in three dimensions, Gerbera had a significant advantage in such a restricted space.

“Let’s do it!”

“Mm!”

They were going to end things here and now. Lily and Gerbera charged into battle. This was the strongest tag team among Majima Takahiro’s servants. However, Ottmar showed no signs of faltering before them.

“I told you, you’re the ones who will die here,” he said, his tone as inhuman as ever. He casually raised his hand. That was the signal. A figure jumped out from behind the knights. “It’s in your hands. Bring down the hammer of justice upon these evil monsters.”

“Leave it to me,” a deep, muffled voice responded.

“That’s...?” Lily quietly muttered to herself.

The man gave off a bizarre impression. It was hard to see his build because of his robe, and his face was hidden by a mask. The mask was decorated with many feathers that went all the way to the back of his head. He was a complete mystery. Who could it be?

At first, Lily thought it was Battle Ogre Edgar Guivarch, a member of the Holy Order’s Fourth Company against whom their group had fought multiple times. However, his build couldn’t be hidden with robes like that. The mana she felt on her skin wasn’t as great as the Battle Ogre’s either. When he activated his ability, Edgar had enough strength to go toe-to-toe with a cheater, meaning this foe wasn’t at that level.

Still, she sensed the enemy was close to her and Gerbera’s level, so she couldn’t be careless. What’s more, the weapon he was wielding was bizarre too. It was an enormous sword with a pitch-black blade. Its sinister look clearly indicated that it was some kind of magic weapon.

This was the reason Ottmar was so composed. It was definitely the ace up his sleeve. Recognizing this, Lily didn’t falter or halt her charge. This was a surprising turn of events, but nothing to panic over. In truth, she’d predicted that Ottmar had had some kind of trap ready.

Ottmar had no chance of winning in a head-on collision against them. What’s more, he hadn’t run away or hidden and had instead come out to attack them. It was only natural to assume he’d been up to something. That was why Lily had planned to devote her first move entirely to blocking and dodging. She used her trump card, the ability to mimic multiple monsters at once, and deployed a specialized defense.

Her right hand turned into an enormous shell with a metallic texture. Hard scales covered the right side of her body. Even a warrior’s all-out attack wouldn’t easily break through such an aegis. With her defenses hardened, Lily stepped in front of Gerbera. Her role was to be the shield. By catching the first attack, she would push back and create an opening if possible. Gerbera would then use that opportunity to counterattack.

If this was enough to defeat him, then that was that. If not, they would gain information on their enemy and even potentially consider retreating. This was an approach they’d developed, informed by their constant flirtation with death. Even with such might at their fingertips, Lily wasn’t careless.

That was how genuinely unreasonable this enemy was.

Everything until this point had gone smoothly. However, now that they’d encountered this enemy, the true battle had begun.

“Lily?!”

Gerbera’s scream echoed down the corridor. Cutting through every layer of her defense, the bizarre sword split Lily’s torso in two.

◆ ◆ ◆

The hardy shell, the lithe yet firm scales, and even Rose’s specially made armor served no purpose whatsoever. The sword split Lily from her right shoulder all the way to her left hip. The word “dreadful” seemed inadequate. It was as if the slash had met no resistance at all. Half the tortoise shell and part of Lily’s right arm twirled up toward the high ceiling. Lily’s body lost all its strength and collapsed to the floor—then popped right back up.

“H-Holy crap?!”

Even as she staggered from her unbalanced body, Lily stepped back in a fluster. Her severed arm returned to a slimy state and splashed against the ground. Not that she had the leisure to retrieve it.

“Lily, are you all right?!” Gerbera yelled.

“I’m not! Anyone else would’ve died!” Lily shouted back.

She grabbed her severed right half and stuck it back on. This was a crude approach, but there was a need to hurry. The masked enemy had his sword brandished and was charging at her.

“Whoa?!”

Lily rolled backward to dodge the blow. Faced with yet another attack, she mimicked a firefang’s breath to blow flames at him. This was apparently unexpected, and the masked enemy came to a stop.

“Gerbera, we’re running!”

Lily’s decision was quick. Gerbera immediately obeyed and ran. They heard Ottmar yell, “After them!” right away. The knights gave chase with the masked enemy at their fore.

“Lily, should we really be running?!” Gerbera screamed, scattering spiderwebs to slow their pursuers. She’d done as she was told, but didn’t really understand.

“We have no choice!” Lily answered while busily rejuvenating her missing right arm. The damage she’d suffered was great. She’d lost a huge chunk of mana. However, that wasn’t the only reason she’d chosen to run away. “That thing just now! It’s probably magic! It’s really bad! I can tell after getting hit by it! It doesn’t cut as if it met no resistance, it really cuts with no resistance!”

“What...?”

Gerbera was speechless. Her red eyes focused on the spiderwebs she’d left behind, which the masked enemy’s sinister sword was cutting through as though they were nothing. It was the same as before. Lily’s defenses hadn’t broken. The abnormal thing here was the feedback. There was no feeling of physical objects hitting each other. The blade simply slipped through. That was what it meant to cut with no resistance.

“I-I can’t believe it. Is such power even possible?” Gerbera said.

“It sure is... It actually happened to me and all.”

Lily added to Gerbera’s attempts to stall the enemy as they talked. She fired grade 3 wind magic. Countless blades of wind filled the corridor. This seemed somewhat effective. The masked enemy swung their sword, even managing to cut the blades, but there were simply too many to handle for one person. Such a display served only to stall them temporarily. Using that brief respite, Lily shared what information she had.

“There was a cheater in the Colony with a similar power. His nickname was the Absolute Blade. So long as he held a bladed weapon, his inherent ability let him cut through anything. But it didn’t matter what kind of weapon he had, so he wouldn’t need that weird sword. I guess the blade is a cheap imitation? It looks like that sword has a similar power.”

Lily was talking about the exploration team’s nicknamed cheater, the Absolute Blade Hibiya Kouji. He’d gone missing alongside the Beast of Darkness Todoroki Miya far to the south during the Colony’s fall. Despite its ultimate fate, the exploration team’s leader, Nakajima Kojirou, had entrusted those two with the Colony’s safety, meaning they not only had his trust, but possessed powerful abilities to handle the task. Even a cheap imitation was a threat.

“That magic weapon can’t possibly be normal. Maybe it’s a relic of salvation?”

“Another troublesome nuisance...” Gerbera groaned.

A blade that passed through anything couldn’t even be blocked. It could only be dodged. Being forced to evade every attack narrowed their choices significantly. This made defending meaningless while also making any offensive tactic problematic. Simply blocking a weapon with that sword would be enough to bisect said weapon, ensuring that they couldn’t even keep the enemy in check.

Judging by what she could see of the masked enemy’s movements, his strength even without the weapon was very close to Gerbera and Lily’s. Given the enormous advantage of that weapon, facing him head-on would be extremely dangerous. What’s more, there was Ottmar and the other knights to consider. Being able to handle them from a range with Lily’s magic at least improved the situation a little.

“Ugh. I suppose we have no choice but to withdraw,” Gerbera said. “But we have to reach our lord!”

With no other way to turn, they had to escape in the opposite direction they’d been going. That meant getting further from being able to reunite with the others. Gerbera gritted her teeth in vexation.

“No... Depending on how you look at it, it means we’re keeping that dangerous bunch from reaching our lord too,” Gerbera added.

“Right.”

Gerbera’s senses were sharp when it came to battle. Lily turned to look over her shoulder.

“Actually, let’s keep pulling them away. While we do, they won’t be able to attack our master.”

First, they had to get that masked enemy and Ottmar far away from this place. After that, they could somehow shake them off and work on reuniting with their friends. That was the only choice. It was irritating that they couldn’t secure their precious master’s safety with their own hands for a while longer. Given their predicament, they were going to have to entrust that to Rose and Lobivia, who were going to get to him soon.

And so, Lily and Gerbera kept an eye out for opportunities to counterattack, beginning their long and arduous battle.