Chapter 274: Reward

Aralkar’s clone phase 2. The attack method of phase 1 is that of primitive weapons such as swords and spears, but this phase is that of modern weapons such as mining machines, pile bunkers, and chainsaws. In addition to the mass, there are many more ways to attack than in phase 1, making it much more difficult to evade the attacks.

It seems that these techniques were developed with the cooperation of the current fifth rank, Zex id, when Aralkar was still a member of the Great Eight Demons. Or maybe I should say that these attacks were created by imitating the armaments. Zex seems to have some kind of connection with the former and the current sixth rank, huh.

During her heyday, Aralkar had a total of 27 cores. If it’s just a simple calculation, her fighting power was 27 times as much as she’s now. Moreover, the core of this clone is just a spare, and the core of the main body was even more powerful. Nell at that time should have had a hard time.

That said, you will meet a painful experience if you underestimate the current Aralkar. The quantity has decreased, but her strength as an individual has not changed at all. The power of the clone is about the same as or more than that of Hund. When the slime body is metalized and she strengthens the defense seriously, even Haru’s Doggan Staff can’t scratch it. The girls probably can’t destroy it by brute force like Lily, so they need some kind of ingenuity. Now, I wonder how they will fight?

「I and Touko-chan will go at the front!」

「Yeah! Chinatsu, I leave the support to you!」

「Okay.」

Heading for the core, Haru and Touko are running at the front, and Chinatsu is running behind them. They didn’t divide the force and decided to fight as one, huh. Sensing that the girls are approaching, Aralkar starts her attack.

Many tentacles appeared from the giant slime body. Each of them transformed into a weapon that can destroy a human efficiently, and they are blocking the way of the girls. They are all different forms of weapons, and each of them has the power that could blow away your arm if you touch it by mistake.

「Haah!」

「Daah!」

Haru used her aiki through her Doggan Staff and pushed back the power of the approaching weapons. As for Touko, she put her ki on both arms and hit the weapons while ignoring their defenses. In the past, they were overwhelmed by Aralkar’s fierce attacks, but now they are able to push back a little. Facing this storm of deadly weapons, the two are in ecstasy. Are they perverts? They sure have the nerve to enjoy this.

And then, our Goddess Chinatsu is doing work more than those two. Hard Reflect is a barrier magic that is originally used to protect yourself and your allies. It is still fresh in my memory that Chinatsu used it as a footing in the air.

This time, the way she’s using it is different from before. She compressed the size of the barriers so that they won’t be hindrances, and she changed their form into arrows and numbers, making navigators in the sight of Haru and Touko to inform them the priority of the dangers that need to be destroyed. I’m surprised by the idea of using the barriers as navigators, and I’m also impressed by Chinatsu’s ability to utilize her quick thinking, her delicate magic control, and her danger detection.

Haru and Touko can calmly handle Aralkar’s attacks because Chinatsu is supporting them. On the contrary, Chinatsu can calmly observe Aralkar’s attacks because the two are properly dealing with the attacks. It’s good teamwork that doesn’t seem to be made on the spot. They have good coordination, so they probably can compete equally with Aralkar’s clone.

「Deris, you are grinning, you know?」

「I’m just feeling the growth of my disciple. Let me do this much now.」

「Good grief, you are really soft….」

Hmm. I think you don’t have to take that attitude here…. Alright, I will praise your disciple instead. As expected of Goddess Chinatsu! You are truly everyone’s banner right now!

…… I’m in such high spirits, but seeing your hard-working figure, something caught my eye. I realized it, and even did a double take.

「Hey, Nell.」

「What?」

「Did you give the Pluto you used at the wedding back to Chinatsu? It looks like she has a substitute sword instead of the flame magic sword…」

「Eh?」

Yeah, the sword on Chinatsu’s waist is something different from usual. It’s not the wooden sword, but an ordinary like the ones that the knights use. And then, when I looked closely at the sword hanging on Nell’s waist, I saw that it’s her beloved sword, Pluto. What does this mean?

「……Ah!」

No, don’t ‘ah!’ me. That ordinary sword can be destroyed easily by Aralkar’s attack. In other words, Chinatsu is practically unarmed.

「Throw it! Throw it to Chinatsu now!」

「I-If I throw it now, it will only get in their way! I-It can’t be helped, let’s stop this for a while――」

「――It’s okay!」

When we masters were panicking, Chinatsu, who’s in the middle of Aralkar’s attack, shouted so.

「It’s okay, Nell-shishō! I’ve been relying too much on Shishō’s sword! So, I won’t use Pluto! Shishō is keeping Pluto because you took that into consideration, right!? Don’t worry. Even without Pluto, I, no, we can do it!」

「「………」」

A-As expected of Chinatsu. She even made up for her master’s mistake. She also made her master owe her…! Since it was her mistake, Nell couldn’t object it when Chinatsu told her so. Perhaps, Chinatsu realized about Pluto even before it started.

But to be honest, I’m not sure about this. To end this battle, they have to clear phase 2 with the handicap of not using Pluto. I’m sure they’ve prepared themselves, and they’ve got the abilities to do it…. Well, if they accomplished it, it won’t be worth the trouble if they aren’t given some kind of reward.

「Nell, what would you do if they could clear it in that state? Only praising them is no good, okay? Besides, it would just be a burden on Chinatsu.」

「I-I know. Let’s see… I’ll give Chinatsu a proper sword instead of Pluto. What do you think…?」

「Isn’t that fine? You can’t let her use your sword forever, and she needs suitable equipment if you are going to make her fight the Great Eight Demons. I think the time is right.」

「….. I guess I will splurge a little.」

Nell has been running around the continent under the name of expeditions and has been exterminating atrocious monsters. I’m sure she has some rare ores and rare materials. As for Touko, I will just tell Lily about it later. As for Haru―― oh, they are in front of Aralkar already, huh.

「Oraa!」

「The attacks are getting fiercer the closer we are to the body!」

「The body is the most troublesome. The core is in the center of that thick body after all. The whole thing will probably turn into a lump of metal to protect the core. We will do it without rehearsal, but can you two do it?」

「It depends on Touko-chan!」

「Hah, bring it on!」n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Chinatsu, the brain, and the two physical laborers are ready to go. Now, I wonder what will happen?