Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 5 - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: The Sprinting Girl

“Majima. Did you feed Mizushima to the monster you’re manipulating?”

Her words felt like a direct impact to my heart. I knew someday, somewhere, someone would ask this question. I had thought of this before. I knew I would be disparaged, disdained, and denounced for it. Such a reaction would be perfectly natural. However, Iino Yuna’s arrival was all too sudden, and I didn’t have time to prepare myself. I didn’t even have time to consider what the best thing to do was. My mind couldn’t come up with any way to deceive her. As a result, my reaction became an answer of its own.

“Looks like I’m right.”

Iino obviously found fault with how I stood there gulping, because her eyes glinted with the sharpness of naked steel.

“You villain.”

I broke into a cold sweat. I wanted to ask why she was here and why she was chasing me, but my mouth had frozen shut. Fear welled up within me to the point where I couldn’t even breathe. All the blood drained from my face, and my extremities turned numb with a chill. The animosity she bore me was gripping my heart.

This girl before me was overwhelming. Even though she had yet to draw the sword at her waist, the core of my being was screaming at the danger closing in on me. Perhaps this was how a mouse felt when a roaring lion pinned it down.

That such a comparison came to mind emphasized the gap between us. I could instinctually sense that. Though I could fight a little now, it wasn’t nearly enough to escape from her. She was one of the few who had earned a nickname within the exploration team. Considering how Juumonji Tatsuya hadn’t had one, her strength was unfathomable.

“My Lord!”

Naturally, my servants weren’t going to quietly watch this crisis unfold. They all went into a frenzy to remove the danger before me. They weren’t overreacting either. Someone had shown up out of nowhere and suddenly called out their master with clearly hostile intent. Considering the gulf between our strength, it was as if someone had suddenly pointed a machine gun at me.

Nobody had time to think. I could be Swiss cheese in the next second, after all. That was why their counterattack was practically reflexive.

“Shaaah!”

The first to attack Iino was the strongest of my servants, the Great White Spider. Leaving the manamobile behind, she charged in with explosive force. She used her specialty thrust, rode the momentum of her charge, and plunged her leg right into Iino’s throat.

At least, that was what it had looked like. I knew somewhere within me that it wouldn’t end so easily. Iino was way too fast. It had only looked like she’d been struck. Iino had moved right before Gerbera could make contact. Her slender body reached top speed in an instant.

“Haaa!”

Iino leaned to the side, dodging the spider leg and cutting it off with her sword. I didn’t even see her draw it. She then pivoted with her left foot to deliver a roundhouse kick directly to the back of Gerbera’s head.

“Gah?!”

Struck from behind in the middle of her charge, Gerbera couldn’t stop her momentum. She crashed into the ground, flying past Iino.

“Are you resisting?” Iino asked. “Well, I don’t really care. That just means I have to knock you down.”

I had plenty I wanted to say, but I didn’t have the chance to slip in a single word. Iino charged right at me. I had seen her fight once before. Her movements had been absurdly fast. They had surpassed my cognition at the time. However, I could use mana better than I could back then. This meant I could also strengthen my body better than before. Thanks to that, I could see the Skanda’s movements now...but that was all I could do.

I saw her dash toward me. I saw her swing her fist, her sword still clenched in her hand. She even surpassed Lily, who couldn’t even cut in between us.

A sudden shock ran through my body, and I went flying backward. I lost consciousness for a moment.

“M-Master!”

“Senpai!”

I could hear Rose and Katou right next to me. There was a hard sensation against my back. Rose had evidently caught me. Something viscous came dribbling out of my nose. That was when I first realized I had been punched right in the face.

“Huh? That should’ve been enough to knock out a knight. You’re strangely sturdy, huh?” Iino said curiously. “Well, whatever. If that’s not enough, I just have to hit you harder. If need be, I can keep hitting you all day.”

“Iino, you...”

I couldn’t say anything else. My brain was shaking. I couldn’t think straight. Nevertheless, I clenched my teeth and looked up as Lily charged in.

“Ugh! Hnngh...”

“Oh, right. Let me tell you now. It’s useless no matter how hard you try, okay?”

Iino was casually holding Lily’s black spear with her left hand—she’d stopped it mid-thrust. Lily was gripping it so tightly that her hands were trembling. She was putting all of her strength into it, but the tip wouldn’t budge.

“I specialize in speed, so I only have average physical strength among the exploration team...but I’m still a cheater.”

She kept her gaze fixed on me the entire time. At a glance, Iino’s fighting style focused entirely on speed. But that didn’t mean she was lacking in strength. Actually, one could say she was weak, but only when compared to her overwhelming leg power. Her standards were out of whack to begin with.

“Hwah?!”

Iino pulled on the spear and yanked Lily forward, breaking her balance. She sidestepped Lily as she tumbled forward. Then Iino casually tossed the spear aside before turning back my way.

I was at my wit’s end. At this rate, Iino would trample us before we could do a single thing. I had to do something...anything. Although I was still disoriented, I wiped the blood from my nose and glared at Iino.

“Hmm, so you’re not giving up?” Iino said, narrowing her gaze.

“Of course not.”

I drew my sword with my right hand and held out my left. My head was still shaking, and I couldn’t think straight, but I had no other choice. I was being attacked, so I had to retaliate. I couldn’t stand here and let her kill me for god knows what reason.

“Massss—ter!”

“Grawr!”

Asarina vigorously lunged from my hand while Ayame ran up to my feet and spat out a fireball to support her.

“Out of the way.”

Her slender blade cut down both the fireball and Asarina. That didn’t matter. My true aim came after that.

“Do it!”

Rose ran past me and attacked Iino from the front. She swung her bardiche with both hands to try and bisect Iino at the waist. In the same moment, Gerbera matched her timing and attacked Iino from the rear.

Regardless of whether she tried to catch Rose’s attack or dodge it, we were aiming for the opening created when she did so. To be doubly sure, Lily slammed both her hands against the ground, as if standing up would be a waste of time, and kicked her heel up at Iino as she went into a handstand.

These were my servants. Any one of them would’ve been lethal against an average opponent. But the moment I thought this would settle things...I gasped at the spectacle before me.

Lily’s attack was the first to reach. Iino easily caught Lily’s heel with her palm.

“Hwah?!”

Iino casually tossed Lily’s outstretched body aside. Having removed Lily with only a minimum amount of effort, Iino calmly dealt with Rose and Gerbera’s attacks. She took a single forceful step. It looked like she was exposing herself to Rose’s blade, but she leaned to the side and avoided the blow. At the same time, she twisted her body and unleashed her fist.

“Gyah?!”

She delivered a terrifying body blow to Rose’s side. The sound of wood creaking and cracking apart rang out as Rose’s body slammed into the cliffside. The impact sent clumps of dirt crumbling down the tattered cliff, which seemed liable to collapse any second. Released from its wielder’s hands, the bardiche plunged itself into the ground. Iino had defeated Rose in the blink of an eye.

Just then, Gerbera’s attack from behind came in. This had been our true intent. It was supposed to be an unavoidable assault. However, because Iino had taken a step forward when intercepting Rose, what was supposed to be a tightly linked chain of blows was off by one beat. In the time it took Gerbera to take that single extra step, the Skanda had turned around and faced her with lightning speed.

“Shaaah!”

Gerbera had lost her advantage, but she wasn’t one to hesitate over that. Because Iino had just turned around, her defensive stance wasn’t perfect. As such, there was no other choice but to push in. The talons at the end of Gerbera’s legs closed in to tear Iino apart. Iino stayed standing where she was and responded with the slender sword in her hand.

“Haaah!”

Iino’s expression tensed, and she let out a yell full of fighting spirit. There was a power in her eyes that displayed the dazzling fire burning in her chest. The way she gallantly fought with the cold, sharp blade in her delicate hand...truly shone with a brilliance suitable of a savior.

From my perspective, however, it was a nightmarish sight. Gerbera was strong. Her eight legs were each like remarkable spears. She could freely wield her specialty threads to bind her enemy. She was strong enough in battle to doggedly hound Juumonji. Yet she couldn’t keep up with Iino at all.

“Yaaa!”

We were truly in the realm of the Skanda’s speed. The scene before me explained what it meant for a cheater to earn a nickname from their peers. Gerbera’s expression stiffened at the countless silver flashes from Iino’s right hand.

My eyes could just barely see their exchange of offense and defense. The one thing I could tell was that Iino parried every single one of Gerbera’s thrusts, while the tip of her silver blade carved Gerbera’s hair-covered carapace in the blink of an eye.

“You’re pretty good. But I won’t lose to some monster being manipulated by a villain!”

“You brazen little...!”

Gerbera’s tough white legs were becoming visibly tattered from the countless cuts. It was clear things were turning for the worst.

“Dammit!”

I launched Asarina at Iino’s flank to try and support Gerbera, but Iino cut down the parasite creeper in the spare moments she had dealing with Gerbera. I couldn’t even buy a single second. As that went on, one, then two spider legs fell to the ground.

“Agh... Ugh...”

Within ten seconds, Gerbera lost her balance. Iino had cut off two legs on her left and one on the right, so Gerbera could no longer keep up her vicious stream of offense and defense.

“It’s over,” Iino said, turning my way.

“Not yet!”

Iino’s eyes widened ever so slightly. She thought Gerbera was toppling over, but the spider resolutely grasped at Iino even as she fell.

“I shan’t let you touch my lord!”

Gerbera had once fought Juumonji head-on. She couldn’t match Iino in speed, but her physical strength could possibly compete with the Skanda.

“Ooooh!”

Gerbera’s expression was desperate, like she was saying this was her last chance. But even that was no match for the Skanda’s speed. Iino let out a quiet yelp and slipped past Gerbera as if by magic. Gerbera’s powerful arms caught nothing but empty air.

“Guargh?!”

She turned around in a panic and met Iino’s uppercut. It was a clean hit. Gerbera’s body drew a large arc in the air. The giant white spider, now missing several legs, came crashing down behind Shiran and Kei, where she slammed into the manamobile and finally came to a stop.

“Gerbera!” Katou screamed as she ran over to her.

Iino could apparently tell right away that Katou posed no threat. She only gave her a single glance before she put her hand to her chest and let out a sigh.

“That one startled me a bit...”

That was all Gerbera’s all-or-nothing attack had amounted to. I was shocked by how monstrous Iino was. Gerbera groaned from the many wounds she had suffered. Lily had launched two attacks but couldn’t do anything at all. Rose staggered as her body creaked from the cracks running through it.

We were in no position to retaliate. At this rate, we would be wiped out. Something... There had to be something we could do, some way of getting through this situation. I desperately got my thoughts in motion, but there was no such convenient—

“Hm...?”

Maybe my brain had started recovering from the blow I took. As I desperately fumbled for a way to get through this, a certain detail suddenly caught my attention. Something felt out of place here. I couldn’t tell exactly what it was, though. I didn’t have time to delve into it any further.

“Actually, just now, it was as if it was seriously...” Iino muttered to herself, but she swallowed her next words.

“Yaaaah!”

Lily was there before her, charging in with nothing but her hands.