NBAA Vol. 7 Chapter 4 Part 5
“Ah…it can’t be helped, Gon-san, Han-san, do it!!”
“Gon-san?”
“Could it be that Han-san is me?”
“Don’t keep getting carried away, you little brat!”
While Gonzo and Hanzo were puzzled by Reito, who was giving orders like an old lord, one of the mercenaries took out a bow gun and fired it at Reito.
The arrowhead and the end of the arrow that had been shot were smeared with a purple liquid that seemed to be poisonous. Reito, judging that direct contact would be dangerous, used the “Chain” wrapped around his left arm to deflect the arrow.
“Watch out!”
The arrow that had been shot almost hit the tip of Dain’s toe.
“Woah!? Hey, you almost hit me.”
“Oh, sorry…”
“Tch!! He’s an adventurer, as expected…but how about this!”
This time, one of the mercenaries took out a ratchet and swung it at him.
Reito lazily blocked the attack with his Reflection Sword.
“Too slow.”
“Whoa!”
“What?! Shit, then this!!”
“No, that’s enough…’Wind Pressure’.”
“Fuck!”
Reito used the magic of “Wind Pressure” to blow away the mercenary who was about to act.
His level had increased considerably, and his skill had been raised to the limit, so even his beginner magic was powerful enough on its own. The mercenary who tried to attack was blasted into the wall and knocked unconscious.
The mercenaries were astonished at the sight.
“He used magic! He’s not a swordsman!”
“Damn it, everyone attacks!!”
“Let me do it!! Shadow Slip!!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”
Dain activated his shadow magic, and his shadow, transformed into a whip, slashed at more than a dozen mercenaries, causing them all to fall with a crash.
“Hmph!”
“Wait, wait… Gyaaaaah!”
“Woohoo!”
Gonzo picked up the fallen mercenary and slammed him into another human being with great force.
Both of them were struck by the strength of the Giants and fell unconscious with expressions of pain on their faces.
Hanzo, on the other hand, ran along the wall in the manner of a triangle jump as if ignoring gravity and kicked the man in the face as he tried to get up.
“Touuu!”
“Fugee!?”
“B-Bastaaa…Gyaaaah!”
One of the mercenaries stood up and tried to attack Reito from behind, but Reito didn’t look at him at all and unleashed “Gale Thrust”.
He had learned fist-fighting techniques in past matches. Reito, who inherited his mother’s blood, was a support magician, but he also had the talent of a martial artist.
“You idiot!! Attack the weak one first!! Take that brat hostage!!”
“D-Don’t mess with me!! Shadow Bite!!”
“Whoa! What the hell is this…?”
As the mercenary tried to approach Dain, a black wolf’s head spawned from the shadows and bit him.
The mercenary was struck by a mysterious feeling of fatigue and his movements became sluggish, and Dain took advantage of the opportunity to keep his distance and concentrate on providing support.
“Shit, shit!! What the hell are these guys?! They’re used to fighting!!”
“Noisy!! Gale Thrust!”
“Whaaa!?”
Reito mercilessly slammed his fist into the confused mercenary, blowing him away. Even though he was a support magician, his physical abilities increased when he reached level 65. Even without using “Limit Boost,” he was able to overpower the mercenary.
Unlike adventurers, mercenaries had few opportunities to fight monsters, so their level was often not very high. In particular, the people of the Red Snake Mercenary Guild were made up of roughnecks, and since they often used means such as assassination and poisoning instead of serious physical training, their fighting ability was surprisingly low.
“You bitch! I got you!”
“Whoa!?”
Hanzo was detained by one of the mercenaries.
“Hey, you guys! I don’t care what happens to this woman… Oh, what!? What is this log!?”
“It’s just a body replacement technique. Atemi!”
“Ugaa!?”
Hanzo, like a Ninja(?), used Ninjutsu to confuse her opponent, and knock him out with a blow from behind.
Thus, most of the mercenaries were driven out of fight. The only mercenary left was the man who appeared to be the leader, who had already been bound by Dain’s shadow magic.
“Shadow Bind!!”
“W-What is this magic…!?”
“You’re the last one. Do you still want to fight with us?”
“Dammit…!!”
When Reito thrust the Reflection Sword at him, the mercenary let go of the weapon as if he had given up.
After confirming this, Reito and the others also sheathed their weapons. Deciding that the leader had lost his will to fight now that all of his companions had been defeated, Dain ended the spell.
The mercenary man sat down sulking.
“Tch!! I never thought the day would come when I would lose to a kid like this…”
『Even though he calls you a kid, your mental age is around 29 years old.』
“Don’t say unnecessary things.”
While responding to Airis’ words, Reito looked at the unconscious mercenary. Then he noticed something strange. There must have been about a dozen mercenaries, but for some reason, the number of people who had fallen was clearly less than half.
“Huh? Aren’t there a few of them? I’m sure someone didn’t accidentally push them into the waterway, right?”
“No, no one would do such a thing!? I didn’t know because I was running around giving support!!”
“I didn’t do anything like that, that I know of.”
“Me neither. I was careful when I threw them.”
Dain, Hanzo, and Gonzo each denied doing anything like that.
“Oh, hey! Where the hell are all my men, you guys?”
The leader also seemed to notice that his companions had disappeared, and he stood up in a hurry.
Just then, something tentacle-like splashed out of the huge sewer that ran between the passageways. It then grabbed one of the unconscious men and dragged him into the sewer.
“W-What!?”
“Tentacles!?”
“Is it a Kraken, that it is?”
“Whoa!”
“No!”
The mercenary leader hastily tried to save him, but the tentacles immediately pulled the unconscious man into the water, and then the tentacles wrapped around the mercenary leader’s body as he carelessly approached.
Gonzo immediately reached out his arm and grabbed the mercenary leader, trying to pull him away from the tentacles. But even with his strength as a Giant, who has greater physical strength than humans, he could only prevent the mercenary leader from being dragged into the water.
“Ugh!? This power…”
“Ugyaaaa!? My body is…”
“This!!”
Blood oozed from the man’s leg that was wrapped in the tentacles.
Reito held out his Reflection Sword and slashed at the tentacles. But at that moment, he felt a strange sensation.
“What… those aren’t tentacles!!”
“Huh!? Then, what is this… Wow, it’s still moving!?”
“It does look like a snake, that it does!”
The tentacles that Reito had cut off were writhing around like snakes. As he calmly observed it, he realized that it was not a tentacle, but a “plant branch.”
“Ugh…Gyaaaaaah!?”
“W-What the hell!?”
“Uwaaa! Help meee!”
One by one, branches emerged from the water and wrapped around the unconscious men, trying to pull them underwater.
“Oh no, you guys!”
“Don’t go there!”
The mercenary leader tried to reach out to them, but Gonzo held him back with force. If he moved badly, there was a risk that the mercenary leader would be pulled underwater.
Although they did not know what was going on, there was no doubt that something was lurking in the water.
Reito then created countless Photospheres to illuminate the entire passageway to find out what it was.
“Photosphere!”
“Jululululu!!”
The moment the passage was illuminated by Photosphere, Reito and the others saw a “tree monster” in front of them.
The monster, which had the appearance of a “dead tree,” had countless branches, and the dozen or so people who had just been restrained were seen to be trapped. It seemed that they had been pulled up again after being dragged into the water, and had escaped drowning.
When Dain witnessed the monster, he immediately shouted the name of the monster that matched his knowledge.
“It-It’s a Demon Tree!! It’s a plant-type monster!!”
“Demon Tree!?”
As Reito was startled by its strange appearance, Airis’ voice echoed in his mind.
『Remember the Dryad? It’s a different kind of plant-type monster. The original danger level is around level 1, but the fighting power and abilities of a Demon Tree change greatly depending on the environment. This Demon Tree is the master of the sewer!!』
Reito judged that this monster was a dangerous opponent and activated “Space Magic” to bring out his Extermination Blade from another dimension.
The size of the Demon Tree was about four meters. It was only one head taller than Gonzo. However, its body was covered with countless branches, each of which was more than ten meters long.
There were wrinkles and folds on its belly that made it look like a human face, and it let out a scream that sounded like that of a real creature as it climbed into the passageway.
“Jululululu…!!”
“H-Hiiek… W-What is this monster!!”
“L-Leader…!”
“P-Please help me…!!”
The mercenaries, who had regained consciousness looked lifeless and begged their leader for help.
Then the branches holding them tightened and they all screamed.
“Geeaaaahh……!?”
At that moment, the branch holding the mercenary leader loosened.
“Uh, waaaaaaaaaaa!!”
“Oh, hey!”
The leader slipped out of the branch and ran towards the door, as if he had completely lost his will to fight.
Immediately after that, the Demon Tree extended a new branch and pierced the leader’s back.
“Julu!!”
“Gyaaah!?”
“Damn!!”
Reito tried to cut the branch that pierced the mercenary leader’s back, but before he could do so, the Demon Tree pulled its branch toward the trunk.
Before long, the mercenary leader’s body began to dry out. The branch sucked the water out of his body.
“Oh my God…!”
“Oh no!”
“What is happening, that it is!”
“That thing is sucking nutrients from the place it’s pierced!! We have to help him fast…”
“Gale Strike!”
Before Dain could finish, Reito leapt into the air and activated his battle technique, slicing open the branch that was stuck in the mercenary leader’s back.
A red liquid that resembling blood gushed out from the cut branch, and the mercenary leader fell to the ground on the passageway.
“Are you okay!? Damn…’Ultra Recovery Boost’!”
“Aaah…!?”
Reito used recovery magic, but even though the injury healed, the withered body never seemed to return.
Deciding that his recovery magic would not be able to completely heal him, Reito activated “Space Magic” and tried to retrieve the recovery medicine from another dimension. But just then, the mercenary leader reached out and pulled Reito’s leg.
When Reito looked at the leader’s face to see what was wrong, the leader glanced at the bag attached to his waist as if to say something. Then, he died in front of Reito.