NBAA Vol. 4 Chapter 3 Part 3
Leaving Bal, he headed toward the gate where the Subjugation Corps had gathered countless carriages. In addition to the Black Tiger adventurers, there were nearly 200 other people.
Reito spotted Ullr in the carriages behind him.
“Ullr!”
“Woof!!”
“Reito, you finally made it! You’re late!! We already finished packing the bags. We’re about to leave,” Dain shouted.
“We’re sick of waiting!” Gonzo yelled.
Dain and Gonzo poked their heads out of the covering of the carriage.
He went up to them to find his friends there as well.
“You were late, bro!!” greeted Erina.
“Welcome back,” Kotomin said.
“Thanks. Kotomin… What happened to Suramin and Hitomin?”
There were no slimes on Kotomin’s shoulders. Gonzo answered for her.
“They’re right here!”
“Purupuru.”
Gonzo reached his hand out and the two slimes crawled out onto it.
Hitomin immediately jumped onto Reito’s head. Suramin leaped onto Kotomin’s shoulder.
“These girls were playing with Gonzo. They were doing the Purupuru Dance.”
“You’re just shaking like you always do!”
“Pururun!? (How did you know!?)”
Hitomin purupuru-ed and screamed.
Two adventurers came up to them.
“Wait a minute, are you the broadsword teenage swordsman everyone is talking about?”
“What’s that nickname… who are you?”
“We are adventurers from Hailstorm. We’ve heard there’s a little snot who has been getting cocky and making a name for himself. We didn’t expect it to be an actual child.”
A young beastman who was some three or four years older than Reito was staring at Reito as he spoke. He carried a longsword at his waist.
The elfman next to him jabbed him with his elbow. He was carrying a sword on his back.
“Hey, cut it out. This is Ms. Maria’s nephew. Who knows what would happen if we were to injure him.”
Reito judged that they hadn’t just come to complain to Reito. He was about to ask if they had some business with him before the young beastman reached for the longsword at his waist and laughed.
“My name is Gallow. Perhaps you know me as the strongest swordsman of the Hailstorm Guild.”
“Never heard of you,” Reito said, shaking his head side to side.
Dain and Gonzo were whispering, “Gonzo, do you know who this guy is? I’ve never heard of him either…”
“I don’t know ‘im. I heard ‘Golai’ is the strongest swordsman in the Hailstorm Guild.”
“Ngh…!!”
A vein bulged in Gallow’s forehead.
“Just ignore him. He heard you’re Maria’s relative and just came to say hello. If you run into trouble, just let us know and we’ll relay it to Maria.”
“Hey, Morimo!! Why are you kissing up to this guy!!”
“Shut the hell up!! Don’t worry about this guy. He’s just jealous because Maria cares about you.”
“I ain’t jealous!!” Gallow blushed and grabbed Morimo’s shoulders.
Somebody came up from behind them.
“Gallow, lend me your shoulders!!”
“Wh-What!?”
“Huh!?”
That mystery character jumped on Gallow’s shoulders before spinning in mid-air and landing in front of Reito.
It was a young girl with striking blue hair. She had an extraordinarily well-put-together face along with long hair fixed up in a sidetail. She wasn’t as busty as Kotomin, but she had a nice figure with no extra fat. She was either the same age or a year older than Reito. She was carrying a spear with a drill-like tip on her back.
“So you’re Maria’s nephew. My name is Mina. Nice to meet ya.”
“Um, yes.”
The girl who appeared in front of him had a friendly smile and put her right hand out for a handshake.
He was about to put his hand out before Gallow grabbed the girl’s shoulders and angrily pulled her in.
“What are you doing! Jumping on my shoulders like that!”
“Hey now! I was in the middle of a conversation.”
“Shut up and let’s get back.”
Gallow grabbed Mina and left.
Morimo looked exacerbated as he nodded to Reito.
“That guy… Anyway, I’ll be leaving now too.”
Reito felt like a storm had just passed by him before he heard an order of the adventurer on the leading horse carriage.
“Okay, let’s get out of here!! Everyone, keep an even distance as you walk!!”
A countless number of carriages began to move. They were headed toward the mountain village where the Rotten Dragon was.
Reito jumped on the carriage too and began moving. The carriage he was on was in the very back. Of course, his wasn’t a horse-drawn carriage but a wolf-drawn carriage.
Their strategy this time would depend on Reito, who had the holy sword.
Reito wasn’t a swordsman by trade, but his swordsmanship wouldn’t be outdone by Bal. As a result, he ended up being the one to carry the sword.
There were guards following along on both sides of the wolf-cart. Amongst them, there were members of the Fang Dragon and Hailstorm guilds.
One of the adventurers peeked out from their covered carriage and called out to Reito.
“Hey!! Guy!! Are you the swordsman that Gonzo talked about? Gigan told us to make sure nothing happened to you, so don’t worry!!”
“I have heard about you from Lord Maria. Please, set your mind at ease.”
“Uh, thanks…”
Meanwhile, inside the carriage, Reito’s friends were discussing a strategy to oppose the Rotten Dragon with.
“It’s like I said, we capture the dragon using Mr. Dain’s magic and Reito will use the holy sword to pierce it down. That’s the best strategy, you know?” Erina said.
“Don’t be crazy! I can pin down a Golem at best.”
“You really can’t do it?” Gonzo was suspicious.
“I’ve said before, it’s incredibly difficult to stop a giant enemy with Shadow Magic!! Speaking of which, can’t you do something using elven Spirit Magic or something, Erina?”
“No, I’m a trueborn warrior… It’s difficult for me to attack with Spirit Magic.”
“Hmph… If only there was water. I could join the fight,” Kotomin added.
“Purupuru…”
Reito was petting Hitomin as the discussion continued. He was thinking about a plan to counter the Rotten Dragon for himself. He had a plan that he had made consulting Airis, but the probability of success wasn’t particularly high.”
“I hope things go well,” Reito said to himself before the adventurers on the sides of the carriage yelled.
“Hey! Stop!! Something strange is going on up ahead!!”
The noise of something breaking rumbled from the vanguard and then the noise of people screaming could be heard.
Reito got his weapon ready and alighted from the wolf-cart, heading for the front.
He saw the source of the sound.
“It’s a m-monster!! A monster came out of the ground!?”
“What the hell is this!?”
“Whaa!!” the monster roared as the adventurers screamed.
Although there had been no presence of the monster before, it suddenly appeared. Reito was suspicious, but he knew he had to save them.
Reito released Ullr from the wolf-cart to which he was fastened and was about to ride him when Gonzo yelled, “What!?”
“Gon-chan?”
“Everyone, watch out, a magic ring is on the gr-!!”
Before he could finish talking, a red-skinned giant appeared from the magic ring on the ground.
“O, OGREEEE!?” Dain screamed.
A three meter tall giant appeared. Its whole body was covered in muscle to the point of absurdity, and it had a horrendous face. Two sharpened blade-like things were protruding from the sides of its head.
The adventurers were shook by the appearance of the ogre.
The ogre went after them, ruthlessly. Ogres have extraordinarily high battle capabilities and took one low-level adventurer after the next.
“Angh!?”
“Hee!?”
“H, Help me!!”
“You idiot, if you can’t fight, don’t come out front!!”
The screams and shouts of adventurers could be heard left and right.
However, Reito and crew didn’t have the leeway to help them and confronted the ogre.
It slowly turned its head and looked out. It noticed Gonzo and smiled, reaching both hands out to him.
“Ugaa!!”
“NGH!?” Gonzo grabbed his opponent’s outstretched arm and gripped it, comparing strengths.
Gonzo had the most arm strength out of Reito’s crew, but he had a strained facial expression.
“Gaaa!!”
“Ngh!?” The ogre’s nails dug into Gonzo’s hand, and he screamed in agony.
“There’s no way Gonzo is losing!?” Dain was shocked.
“DIE!!” Erina shouted.
“Wait!! Leave it to us!!” Just as Erina was preparing her bow, the adventurers of the guard envoy sprung into action.
They approached the ogre and the members carrying swords and axes swung after it.
“Take this!!”
“Eat blade!!”
The attack struck the ogre’s back right in the middle. But, a metallic noise could be heard right away and their weapons were repelled.
The ogre’s skin was so hard it could repel their metal weapons. The adventurers were in a cold sweat.
“What the hell!? How can it be so hard!! What kind of ogre is this!?”
“Get out of my way!! I’m going to blow it away with magic!!”
A young magician came front and center, wand at the ready.
“Wait, Gon-san is!?”
Erina stopped the young magician while Dain used his shadow magic.
“Shadow Magic!!”
Dain stabbed his wand into the ground, and a shadow grew from it. It was shaped like a whip and grasped the ogre’s legs.
“Ugaaa!?”
“Ngh!!”
The ogre’s stance collapsed and Gonzo took the chance to headbutt the ogre. The ogre let go of him.
The opponent fell back and the young magician was getting ready to send a follow-up attack.
“Flame Arrow!!”
A blast of fire shaped like a beam of light was released from the tip of his wand, and the ogre took the blast, immediately following over.
The ogre was shroud in black smoke. Everyone cheered. An angry roar rung out from the smoke.
“Ugaa!!”
“Wah!? It didn’t work!?”
Dain, who was well-knowledged about monsters, yelled at the young magician.
“Fool!! Red ogres are highly resistant to flame attacks!?”
“How was I supposed to know!!”
The ogre looked pissed off as it stood up and chased after Dain, who had made it fall over in the first place.
“Gaaa!!”
“Wha!! H, Help!!”
“What are you doing, bro!!” Erina shouted.
“Suramin, ‘Water Gun!’”
“Pururu!!”
Erina fired an arrow and Kotomin used Suramin to release a large wave of water in order to save Dain.
The ogre winced as it took the two attacks. Dain used the chance to get away from his opponent.
An elf woman adventurer prepared Rapier and flew after the ogre.
“Thrust!!”
“Gwaa!?”
The women adventurer aimed for its right eye and repeatedly thrust at it, but the ogre covered his right eye and stopped the attack, brushing it away.
She clicked her tongue in disapproval before landing on the ground, but the ground was wet from the previous water blast, so she slipped.
“Ahh!?”
“A, Arcana!?”
“Shit, I’ll help you!”
“Woof!!”
The ogre approached the woman adventurer named Arcana and swung its fist.