Asaka
Sometimes, nightmares can come to life.
…I’m sure this strange thought was just my way of trying to escape reality.
Kunihiko and I are special.
You might think that sounds like a delusion of grandeur, but the simple fact is that we’re much stronger than any average person in this world.
According to Kunihiko, gaining overpowered skills when you’re reincarnated in a different world is apparently a common occurrence.
I’m not sure whether to take him seriously, since he’s talking about fiction, but…we really did get special powers, so I suppose I can’t say he’s wrong.
It doesn’t sit well with me that we’re seemingly playing out tropes from storybooks or perhaps even being forced to do so.
But these powers really have helped us a lot, so my feelings on the subject are complicated.
We’ve gotten stronger as adventurers, gathering fame and rewards so smoothly that it really has felt like a montage in a story at times.
As soon as we reach the required years of service, we’re guaranteed to hit S rank, the peak of adventurer rankings.
Once we hit that level, it might not be an exaggeration to say that the two of us would be considered higher in status than some lesser nobles, depending on the country.
In fact, if we wanted to stay someplace permanently, we could probably acquire a title of peerage if we really wanted to and live in peace for the rest of our lives.
I’m sure there would still be times we’d be asked to help out as adventurers, but I can’t imagine we’d have to fight anything as strong as a wind dragon or lightning dragon very often.
Monsters come in different classes, too. The kinds of dragons I’m thinking of are S rank, and there are even creatures of legend that humans could never hope to compete with.
But monsters like that rarely appear and cause trouble.
If they went on a rampage that often, humanity would’ve gone extinct ages ago in this world.
So as long as we didn’t foolishly venture into any dangerous areas where those kinds of monsters live, I was confident that the two of us would never be killed.
That’s just how strong Kunihiko and I have become.
People often tell me that I’m very methodical and reliable.
Sometimes there are comments that I’m cool and mature.
But honestly, I can’t say I agree.
The truth is that I’m a slacker who will do just about anything to avoid trouble.
I’m only “methodical” and “reliable” to avoid doing any more work than I have to.
And my so-called “coolness” and “maturity” are because I can’t be bothered to get worked up about every little thing, so I always opt for the path of least resistance.
Naturally, a dangerous and unstable job like being an adventurer is the last thing I want.
The only reason I’m doing it at all is to go along with Kunihiko.
I don’t like to be sentimental, but even I couldn’t help but get emotional about reincarnating and later watching the destruction of our entire clan.
Kunihiko is the one who helped me get through all that.
Without him, I’m sure I never would’ve gotten back on my feet.
I want to repay him for that. Besides, I want to be with Kunihiko.
That’s why I became an adventurer for him, even if it wasn’t what I wanted.
I would put up with just about anything for Kunihiko.
…Pretty sappy, if I do say so myself.
I certainly wouldn’t have imagined this in our old lives.
Back then, Kunihiko and I were just childhood friends who couldn’t quite take the next step into dating.
I always imagined I might end up marrying him someday, but I never once thought I would be so head over heels for him.
And since Kunihiko always flies by the seat of his pants, I took it upon myself to form a methodical plan for us.
When we became adventurers, I asked Mr. Gotou to teach us things so we wouldn’t end up neglecting the basics.
I manage our supplies, carefully assess the requests we take, research our destinations, and so on.
I do it all for Kunihiko.
And it’s for Kunihiko’s sake that I’m participating in this battle, too.
Of course, it was mandatory for B-rank adventurers and above, but it’s not as if we couldn’t have gotten out of it somehow.
If I really thought it was too much trouble, I could’ve pulled some strings and found a way to avoid participating.
But the reason I didn’t do that is because I suspected a certain man would be participating in this battle, too.
His name is Merazophis.
He’s the demon who wiped out our clan.
And Kunihiko’s goal is to someday defeat Merazophis.
He might not say it out loud, but I’m sure of it.
Kunihiko’s gotten stronger than necessary even for an adventurer, but he still never stops training, no doubt in hopes of getting revenge one day.
To free himself of the shame of being too helpless to do anything and being spared after everyone else we knew died.
Of course, there was no way of knowing that we would actually come face-to-face with him in this battle.
But I’m sure a demon who’s strong enough to wipe out an entire clan on his own must be fairly high-ranking, so it wouldn’t be so strange for him to be a commander in a large-scale engagement like this.
If anything, our chances of running into him outside of a major battle are probably far slimmer.
So I thought it might be worth taking the one-in-a-million chance.
I’m definitely regretting that decision now.
A blade flashes past Kunihiko’s face, a hairbreadth away.
If he had leaned back even a second later, the sword would likely have pierced his head.
The thought makes my blood run cold.
My body is warmed up from running around, but somehow I still feel a chill on the inside.
Kunihiko and Merazophis are locked in a furious sword fight.
With every swing of Merazophis’s sword, my heart nearly stops in fear that Kunihiko might be cut down.
My breath comes fast and hot, but I’m freezing cold at the same time.
I’m scared.
I’ve never felt this scared, even when we fought the lightning dragon and the wind dragon.
Those battles were about as desperate as this one, but they were completely different in an important way: the indomitable will of our opponent.
Dragons are still just wild monsters.
They act according to their survival instincts, and while they were determined not to be killed, that was ultimately just part of their nature.
But Merazophis is different.
I won’t lose.
I refuse to let you kill me, no matter what.
His resolve is so intense that I can almost hear the thoughts residing within his silent determination.
The powerful intent in his eyes, the likes of which I didn’t see once in the lightning or wind dragon, is so strong that I can’t help fearing for Kunihiko’s life.
I don’t know what kind of person Merazophis is, but I’ve learned one thing from this fight already.
Merazophis is strong.
Too strong.
And not just his stats, which are undoubtedly high. From his fighting style, it’s obvious how much training he’s gone through.
His textbook, flawless swordsmanship is evidence that he’s repeated each of these motions countless times.
Mr. Gotou made Kunihiko and me practice our sword swings, too.
But I’m sure this man has repeated those far more times than either of us.
Thanks to our reincarnation cheats, Kunihiko and I have higher stats than other people, so sometimes it can actually be frustrating that our techniques can’t catch up to those high stats.
But for Merazophis, it’s the opposite.
He’s the type whose stats have risen to catch up to his incredibly polished techniques.
His grasp of the fundamentals of combat is incomparable.
I made sure that we studied the basics so we wouldn’t someday get overly reliant on our high stats, and Mr. Gotou trained us accordingly.
But Merazophis is on a whole other level.
They say that demons live longer than humans, but I can’t even begin to imagine how many long years of training it would take to reach this level of performance.
The lightning dragon and wind dragon were dangerous because of their high stats, powerful breath attacks, wide-range magic attacks, and so on, but Merazophis is a completely different beast.
The dragons might have had higher stats, but Merazophis is undoubtedly more dangerous.
We haven’t been able to land a single attack on him yet.
I start forming magic.
Since I’ve been using powers beyond my limits to fire off spells at top speed, my head is starting to ache, but I ignore it and cast my next spell.
A compressed shot of air shoots toward Merazophis.
This spell was even able to hurt the lightning dragon—but Merazophis counters it with a Dark Magic spell that cancels it out.
As soon as the two spells crash into each other, Kunihiko slashes horizontally at Merazophis’s torso.
But Merazophis blocks that, too, without breaking a sweat.
We’ve both been attacking wildly for the past several minutes—Kunihiko with his magic sword’s blade and lightning alike and me with magic.
But Merazophis has expertly fended off both our attacks.
He blocks Kunihiko’s blade with his own sword or dodges it, then uses Dark Magic to cancel out the lightning or my wind spells.
My pounding head is already paying the price for casting magic nonstop, but Merazophis is keeping pace with a perfectly calm expression.
All while carrying on a sword fight with Kunihiko.
He’s fighting two of us at once and doing better than both of us combined.
He looks like an ordinary human, but clearly he’s a living nightmare, more powerful than any dragon.
Yes, we faced death when we fought the lightning dragon and wind dragon.
But our defeat never seemed so imminent as it does now.
If our attacks were doing damage to him, then it would be a matter of who runs out of strength first.
But right now, we’re not causing any damage at all.
My breath quickens.
I have to constantly shift my position to keep up with the constant, tempestuous movements of Kunihiko and Merazophis, so I’ve been running around like mad.
For each spell I cast, I immediately have to start preparing the next one.
My head hurts, and my feet ache.
I can barely breathe.
I’m fighting on sheer force of will alone, but my body could give out at any moment.
Kunihiko must be the same.
I can tell he’s breathing hard, too, and sweating like a waterfall.
While Merazophis still looks coolheaded as ever.
It doesn’t seem like he’s tiring out at all.
Even if that’s partly just an act, the fact remains that he’s clearly not as exhausted as Kunihiko and I are.
And as soon as either one of us runs out of strength, this already fragile balance will fall apart completely.
On top of that…
“Ah?!”
A Dark Magic spell grazes my face.
Launched by Merazophis, of course.
And at the same time, he brings his sword down toward Kunihiko.
“Nnngh!”
Kunihiko parries with his blade, but Merazophis’s strength is starting to overpower him.
Panicking, I shoot a Wind Magic spell to separate them.
Merazophis jumps back easily, still unscathed.
We’ve both been bearing down on him with attack after attack, but he isn’t focused solely on defense. Somehow, he’s blocking all our attacks and still finding the time to hit back at us.
If either of us lets our guard down for a second, we could be killed.
So will we collapse from exhaustion, or will his attacks bring us down first?
As Merazophis looks completely unfazed despite our desperate attacks, I can’t see any way that we might win.
All I see is our inevitable loss.
What should I do?
We’re still hanging in there for now.
But if this keeps up much longer, we’re going to fail sooner rather than later.
And yet, if we let this nightmare run free, humanity itself will lose all hope.
Merazophis is just too powerful.
He could easily take on an army and win.
I frantically calculate in my mind.
…The lives of Kunihiko and me versus all of humanity? It’s not even a contest.
To be honest, I don’t really care about the fate of humanity or anything like that.
And I don’t think there’s any real purpose in risking our lives here just to slow down Merazophis for a few moments.
That means the best thing to do is run.
The question is whether Merazophis will really let us get away that easily.
Frankly, I doubt it.
Unless we can buy some serious time, he’ll kill us as soon as we turn our backs.
But how would we keep him occupied long enough to get away?
Can we even distract him at all if we haven’t been able to land a single attack on him?
No.
There’s nothing we can do.
I’ve already hit my limit.
If only we had a little help…
Just then, Merazophis suddenly bends his upper body.
An instant later, a blast of light passes through the space where his torso was just moments before.
What was that?
Magic?
I glance in the direction it came from, but I don’t see any possible caster in sight.
It came from the direction of the fort—but it couldn’t have, right?
We’re quite a long distance away from there.
If it really did come from the fort, it must’ve been cast by a powerful mage.
And not only that, but another shot follows right after the first.
Aiming solely at Merazophis, who moves around rapidly to dodge the attacks.
How could anyone manage to snipe at Merazophis from such an incredibly long distance without hitting Kunihiko?
I know I wouldn’t be able to.
This is exactly the help we needed.
And yet!
Merazophis is still weaving around Kunihiko’s attacks, my Wind Magic, and the magic sniper all at once.
He’s strong.
Too strong!
The addition of the sniper means Merazophis can’t counterattack as much, which allows us to press the attack.
But we still can’t break through his defenses.
In fact, I have the feeling that if we let up for a second, it will all be over.
It’s like we’re dancing on the thinnest ice.
Even with the extra help, it’s still not enough.
“Hrgh?!”
Suddenly, a Wind Magic spell hits Merazophis square in the back.
But it wasn’t me who fired it.
It was someone else—a child in a robe?
The child hit Merazophis with Wind Magic from behind and is already readying another spell.
I guess they’re on our side.
In that case, I’ll accept their help, child or not.
Besides, while they look small enough to be a kid, that magic was considerably fast and strong.
It doesn’t seem to have done that much damage to Merazophis, but the fact remains that it was able to hit him.
None of our attacks has managed to land all this time.
That means Merazophis wasn’t able to dodge this person’s attack.
Only with a four-on-one battle can we finally hope to be a match for him.
Since the hit didn’t do much damage, our chances of victory remain slim, but it’s still much better than the situation was before.
This is our only chance.
As soon as I decide that, I stop my constant barrage of magic for a moment and focus my energy on weaving a bigger spell.
Sensing that, Merazophis changes focus to target me with his next spell.
“Urgh!”
Kunihiko steps in with a quick slash to stop him.
Merazophis blocks his attack with his sword.
At the same time, the magic sniper and the child attack Merazophis with more magic.
“…”
For just a moment, Merazophis grimaces.
If he redirects the spell that was meant for me, he can cancel out the other two magic attacks.
He’s pulled it off all this time, so I don’t see why it should be any different now.
But Merazophis doesn’t do that.
He lets the sniper attack and the Wind Magic hit him dead-on, and instead of counterattacking with Dark Magic, he uses it to attack me instead.
“?!”
The sniper’s attack hits him in the chest, followed by the Wind Magic hitting the back of his head.
And a spear of darkness pierces my stomach.
But!
I finished constructing my magic!
Bearing the pain, I activate the spell.
Tempest Magic: Dragon Wind!
The spell engulfs Merazophis instantly.
“Ngh!”
Even Merazophis can’t dodge Dragon Wind, a spell that’s usually meant to cause destruction on a huge scale.
And it’s ultra-grand magic, which normally can’t be cast by a single person.
Ultra-grand magic surpasses even grand magic in power and is strong enough to take down a dragon.
I know, because this is the spell we used to defeat the lightning dragon.
Surely, even Merazophis couldn’t survive…
“Agh!”
A shout of determination.
The flash of a blade.
Just like that, my most powerful spell dissipates into thin air.
This can’t be happening… Can it…?
Of course he’s not unharmed, but Merazophis is still standing firmly on two feet.
Even though he was blasted in the chest and hit in the back of the head with magic right before the Dragon Wind hit, it’s as if he took virtually no damage from those at all.
How high must his stats be to make that possible…?
We’re doomed.
“AAAAAH!”
Just as the thought sinks in, Kunihiko slashes down at Merazophis.
Immediately, Merazophis prepares to parry.
But an attack from the sniper pierces his hand, and Wind Magic stops him from moving.
Then Kunihiko’s full-body strike cuts into Merazophis’s shoulder.
“Ngh!”
But while normally this diagonal sword slice should have cut straight through him, it just sinks into Merazophis’s shoulder and stops.
His defenses are too strong because of his sheer stats.
Kunihiko’s attack failed to deal enough damage.
Merazophis swings his sword and knocks Kunihiko away.
Then he puts a hand on his shoulder and bellows.
“Withdraw!”
With that, he turns his back and runs away from us.
That was a clear call to retreat, almost overly dramatic.
So much so that it practically seems put-on.
Kunihiko stares after him in silence for a moment.
Then he comes back to his senses and runs up to me.
“Asaka!”
“Mm. I’m okay.”
“You call this okay?!”
Right now, I’m lying faceup on the ground.
Merazophis’s Dark Magic hit me in the gut.
I’m guessing it blew a hole right through me.
Kunihiko hurriedly pulls out a recovery potion and pours it on the wound, where it sinks in stingingly.
“Don’t die! Don’t you dare die on me!”
“Don’t worry. I don’t think I’m going to.”
I’m not putting on a brave face—I genuinely feel like I’ll probably survive.
Stats really are an amazing thing.
Normally, with a hole like this in your gut, you’d die for sure.
But between the HP Auto-Recovery skill and the Healing Magic I’ve been casting on myself, I think I’m going to make it.
“He let us live again.”
“I know.”
Once he figures out that I’m really not on the verge of death, Kunihiko mutters quietly as he continues treating me.
If that fight had continued, we would’ve lost.
We managed to injure Merazophis, but that’s it.
Each of us attacked him with everything we had.
And even then, the most we could manage was a scratch.
Even if we’d fought with the will to sacrifice ourselves in the process, I still don’t think we could’ve won.
“I’m no good. I still gotta get stronger.”
You don’t need to get that strong, really.
That’s what I want to say.
I never want to experience danger like this again.
There’s no guarantee that he’d let us live again next time.
They do say the third time’s the charm, after all.
This is now the second time that Merazophis has decided to spare us.
When he wiped out the clan that birthed and raised us, he let us go free purely on a whim.
And today, it happened again.
Although I don’t know what his reasoning was this time.
“Are you all right?!”
As I’m lost in thought, the child in the robe comes running over.
She really helped us get through this battle. I should thank her.
“Thank you very much. Your support was greatly appreciated.”
“You can thank me later! First, we have to heal you!”
“It’s all right—I can stand.”
My wound has mostly closed up.
It’s certainly still painful, so I can’t push myself too much until it’s fully healed, but I should be able to get up and walk around at least.
We’re still on a battlefield, meaning I can’t just lie around, so I start to sit up.
I catch a glimpse of the hooded figure’s face: a young girl, looking wide-eyed and surprised by the speed of my recovery.
I couldn’t tell in the middle of battle because her hood was pulled over her eyes, but she’s a real beauty.
And judging by her overall appearance, now I understand how she was able to fight so well.
“Aah, so you’re an elf.”
The girl’s pointed ears give it away.
Elves live even longer than demons, and they’re said to be especially skilled at magic.
As a result of their long life spans, they age relatively slowly, so this girl is probably a lot older than she looks.
This girl and one other.
I look to the fort.
I don’t know who it was or what they look like, but there was a mage supporting us by sniping at Merazophis throughout our fight.
Without the help of these two, we wouldn’t have even been able to begin to fight Merazophis.
Exhaustion is becoming harder and harder to ignore, but there’s no time to waste. I push away the desire to simply lie down and sleep.
Kunihiko reaches out his hand, and I let him pull me to my feet.
“How’s the battle looking?”
“Seems like they’re retreating.”
Looking around, I can just barely see the demon army pulling back.
And I see the adventurers who were fighting them, too, with Mr. Gotou among them.
Maybe Merazophis noticed that their battle was going poorly for the demons and decided to make a tactical withdrawal.
If so, we owe a lot to Mr. Gotou and the others.
“I suppose we should head back, then.”
“Yeah.”
Both of us are too exhausted to fight anymore anyway.
If we tried to chase the retreating demons, Merazophis might actually kill us once and for all.
No, we should quit while we’re ahead.
“Are you coming?”
“Yes.”
The elf takes off her hood and nods.
“But first, I should introduce myself to you…Tagawa and Kushitani.”
For a moment, I’m so tired that it doesn’t register as strange for her to know our names.
But then I realize: Kunihiko and I have never used our old family names in this world.
So how does this girl know them?
“My name is Filimøs Harrifenas. But in your case, perhaps I should give my old name instead: In my previous life, I was Kanami Okazaki.”
Kunihiko’s eyes widen in shock, and so do mine.
Because that’s the name of our old homeroom teacher.
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