Chapter 18 — I Am the Ruler of the Battlefield! Behold My Power and Despair!
“If you’re after the dog, does that mean you’re after the Philosopher’s Stones?” Yogiri asked. The elf chained up behind Volf had a Philosopher’s Stone embedded in her. Van had planted one each in six people and a dog.
“Oh? I’m impressed that newbies like you know about them. You must be the ones the guildmaster spoke to.” After saying that, Volf delivered a swift kick to the elf behind him. She was sent flying by the blow but could only go so far thanks to the chain fastened to her neck. Naturally, the sudden force caused her neck to snap with a gruesome noise. As she was moments from death, Volf tossed a potion at her. It must have been a considerably powerful item, as she was immediately restored to health. Tomochika was taken aback by the sudden display. She had no idea why he had done that.
“Damn elf. You knew these guys, didn’t you? I thought you said you told us everything.”
“S-Sorry! I’m sorry! Please, forgive me!”
Volf lifted the chain in the air, dangling the elf by the neck as she desperately clutched at her collar to try and support her weight.
“I specifically asked you if you knew them.”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t remember! It was so sudden! I didn’t know what was going on at the time!”
“Tch. Whatever. Be grateful I’m so kind.” Volf lowered the chain, dropping the elf to the ground. “Now, let’s continue. We need the Philosopher’s Stones to beat the last boss. You won’t need them for anything. Hand yours over and leave the boss to us. I have experience taking out the last boss, so it’s not a bad deal for you either.”
“What was all that about ‘hand over your women,’ then?!” Tomochika could understand why he would want the Philosopher’s Stone, but the rest seemed totally unrelated.
“Huh? Come on, you should be smart enough to figure that out. Having a way to relax and recover will be useful in beating the last boss. What else would dumb bitches like you be able to contribute?”
“Okay, this guy’s head is in a totally different dimension.” Tomochika sighed. It didn’t seem like Volf was trying to antagonize them. He actually seemed to believe what he was saying.
“Hey, is she the only Philosopher’s Stone you have?” Yogiri asked, a little irritated.
“I’ve got two,” Volf answered. “The other was in some old guy, but I couldn’t be bothered to bring him around everywhere, so I killed him and took the stone out.”
It didn’t seem like he had any problem talking things through.
“So with ours, that makes three. What about the others?”
“There’s one party that has two, and two more parties that have one each. We’ll have to form a raid group to take on the last boss with them, which will reduce the amount of contribution our party gets, but it should be fine if our party provides three of the stones.”
“I see. Looks like it’ll be surprisingly easy to get them, then,” Yogiri commented.
“Huh?”
“I’m not handing over our stone. Actually, you’ll have to give me yours.”
“That’s not funny,” Volf replied.
“It wasn’t a joke.”
Negotiations immediately collapsed. The first to act was Atila. Lightning shot from her hand.
“No warning at all?!”
“He who strikes first wins!”
Volf swung his greatsword down. Though the logic was hard to follow, it seemed his slash split the lightning in two, sending it flying off to either side. Edelgart then dropped down from the sky. She had leaped up into the air together with Atila’s attack. Her timing made it a perfect surprise attack. He wouldn’t be able to move immediately after swinging his sword like that. Whether he tried to dodge or block the lightning, it would create an opening for her to strike.
However, Edelgart’s spear didn’t hit its mark. Her attack collided with a shield, sending her flying away. Though she was able to land on her feet, she was unable to hide the fact that she was thrown off-balance. She never would have guessed a shield would appear from thin air. Volf hadn’t been carrying one. It was just now hovering in the air above him.
“So Edelgart actually did have a charged jump attack.”
“Is that what you’re worried about?!”
Yogiri had figured she was making it up to look good in her encounter with Atila.
“I applaud your effort, but that’s all you can do. If you give up now, I’ll at least let the women live.” It wasn’t just a shield. At some point, swords, spears, and axes had appeared as well. And it wasn’t just a few either. Countless weapons blinked into view in the air surrounding him. “My class is Weapon Master. I can equip any number of weapons and can control all of them at once.”
He was likely going out of his way to explain his ability to try and intimidate them into surrendering so he could capture the women without injuring them. At the very least, Atila and Edelgart were clearly shaken.
In a game where one’s abilities come primarily from equipment, being able to equip multiple weapons at once feels like cheating...
“Not much different from the enemies we’ve faced so far, though.” From Yogiri’s perspective, Volf wasn’t a particularly threatening opponent. For that matter, Tomochika had never seen Yogiri afraid of anyone. “Dannoura, if I kill him, will everything in his item box be lost?”
“Yeah. If it works the same as mine, you need the Gift to pull items out of it.”
In short, they couldn’t just use Yogiri’s power to kill him. If they did, one of the Philosopher’s Stones might be lost forever.
“So...do you mind if I take care of this?” Tomochika seemed pretty confident in herself.
“Are you sure?”
“If things get bad, you can kill him for me.”
I must say, I would appreciate it if we could engage in battles without such a huge margin of safety.
“Okay, I’ll leave it to you.”
With Yogiri’s agreement, Tomochika stepped forward to confront Volf.
“What are you up to, kid?”
“I have the Gift too. Mokomoko!”
Very well!
Tomochika called out to her guardian spirit, who moved between her and Volf.
“What is that?!”
“What the?!”
It seemed Edelgart and Atila could see the ghost. Mokomoko had changed somewhat. Normally, she wore informal Heian-era robes, but now she looked like a god who had stepped right out of Japanese myth.
“Is Mokomoko going to attack him?”
“No. Not even close,” Mokomoko answered. Instead of the telepathic voice she normally used, she had spoken out loud.
“So what? You’ve got one more fatty on your team?” Volf sneered at her.
Truth be told, Mokomoko appearing didn’t change much. No matter how strong she may have been, she couldn’t fight against the countless weapons Volf wielded.
“Don’t worry, the fatty is just going to watch.”
“Why are you calling me that?!” Mokomoko complained.
“If you’re scared, you can feel free to run away. Oh, but leave the Philosopher’s Stones behind, okay?”
“I suppose there are idiots like you out there, people who don’t understand anything that’s going on. Fine, I’ll teach you just how weak you are,” Volf responded to Tomochika’s cheap provocation.
“Hah! Those words amount to a declaration of war! I am the Ruler of the Battlefield! Behold my power and despair!” Mokomoko shouted as if sealing a pact. As she did, everyone around her was blown away. Yogiri, Atila, Edelgart, and Volf’s henchmen were all knocked back.
“What the...” Yogiri stretched out a hand, but found himself blocked by some sort of invisible wall.
“This is our battlefield, a space restricted to create a one-versus-one environment. It will not allow anyone else to interfere. And now!” Mokomoko reached her hands towards the sky. Light poured out, filling the space around them. Enveloped by that light, the weapons hovering around Volf dropped to the ground one by one. “Special abilities are forbidden in this space! The Gift is forbidden, as are the abilities of all equipment! Your formidable armor is now no more than a lump of steel!”
Tomochika’s Gift, Ruler of the Battlefield, allowed Mokomoko to modify the world around her to create a place where Tomochika could shine. Of course, such an absurd power was not limitless. There were a number of restrictions on activating it. The opponent had to agree to the fight, and the battlefield would trap both participants inside until the one-on-one battle reached a conclusion.
“So what? You can’t use your powers either. It’s now all about skill and equipment.” Volf was strong enough to walk in full plate armor with ease and to swing around an enormous greatsword. None of that came from his special abilities. Even without his Gift, he could defeat most of his enemies relying on that strength alone.
However, that wasn’t enough to match the Dannoura family’s martial arts. In the blink of an eye, Tomochika delivered an explosive side kick to Volf’s stomach. From outside the range of his greatsword, she had closed the gap between them and struck before he could react.
Dannoura School Final Art, Extreme Arrow Step. While it could be described as little more than lunging forward at incredible speed and delivering a kick, it contained secrets gleaned from numerous ancient martial traditions. Her movements slipped through the gaps in their opponent’s awareness. The attack couldn’t be perceived, much less evaded.
The impact would be felt through any sort of armor. Delivering strikes that penetrated armor was an elementary part of the Dannoura way. Volf dropped to his knees before crumpling to the ground.
“The victor is decided!” At Mokomoko’s declaration, the battlefield vanished.
“That was kind of impressive, but what do we do with him now?” Yogiri asked. Though he was unconscious now, the man would have full use of his powers when he awoke. Restraining him wouldn’t mean much against someone with the Gift. At least, that’s what Yogiri thought, but Tomochika’s Gift had already taken all of that into account.
“Don’t worry about it. Losing inside my battlefield turns you into a prisoner of the winner. I can seal his powers permanently and force him to obey me.” Passing out or admitting defeat made you into a prisoner of war, surrendering control of your own life to the winner.
“That would be pretty scary if you lost...”
Of course, if she had lost, Tomochika would have met the same fate. That was the cost of her power. Such a colossal weakness was needed to afford the tremendous control her power granted her over her opponents.
“No way.”
“Volf lost?”
As Volf’s henchmen tried to flee, Atila fired a bolt of lightning at them. The strike disabled them immediately.
“It seems the other two were not that strong.”
“Umm, what should I do?” The elven girl was in a state of total confusion.
“Are we adding this girl to the harem?” Yogiri asked. They couldn’t just rip the Philosopher’s Stone out of her, so it seemed they didn’t have many other choices.
◇ ◇ ◇
After receiving the other stone from Volf, they brought the elven girl back with them to the gate leading back to town.
“Looks like we’re up to ten stones in total now. I get the feeling we probably have enough at this point.”
Tomochika had eight in her item box. Two more were still inside the elven girl and Dai. Volf had also given them the information they needed to track down the other four. The current holders were all famous players, so tracking them down likely wouldn’t be that difficult. They hadn’t really put much thought into how they were going to go about getting the other stones, so this gave them a clear path. They didn’t know whether they would be able to resolve things through negotiations or if they would be forced to fight, but if they knew where the stones were, things would ultimately work out in the end.
“But that aside, we might have to defeat the last boss to get out of here.”
“You sound like you’re enjoying yourself, Takatou.”
“Do I? Even if they’re monsters, I can’t really get used to killing with a sword like this.” Though he said that, he still seemed to be enjoying the process of strengthening his equipment.
“Now then, I suppose we should get going. Can we just bring the elf girl back through with us?”
“It’s kind of hard to ask her to go back to the gate she came from, right?” They had left Volf and his henchmen in the ruins. There was a chance the elf would run into them again if she had to use the gate she arrived from to get back, which would be bad for everyone.
“Umm...so, you’re saving me, right?” the elf asked, finally having calmed down somewhat.
“I guess you could say that...” Yogiri trailed off. Their intention hadn’t been to save her at all. All they were after was the Philosopher’s Stone she held.
“By the way, what’s your name?” Tomochika asked.
“My name is Sakut.”
“That sounds somehow familiar.” Back in the Elven Forest, they had met a girl named Fuwat. Maybe all elven names followed a similar pattern.
“Walking around with a dog is fine, but I don’t know how I feel about bringing an elf with us everywhere just because she has one of the stones we need,” Tomochika said.
“I don’t really want to force her to come with us either,” Yogiri agreed.
“No, please, let me go with you! If I don’t, more strange people will show up to attack me! You people seem way better than them, comparatively!”
“U-Uhh, I feel like there was a better way you could have worded that.”
“All right, let’s go back.”
Their group passed through the gate, returning to the adventurer’s guild instantly. However, they were immediately greeted with a scene dyed red.
“Excuse me?” Tomochika blurted out in confusion.
The bar was in total chaos. Tables and chairs had been smashed and bits of flesh and blood had been scattered everywhere.
“What happened here?”
The answer became clear rather quickly. They noticed a group of goblins, orcs, and trolls inside the guild, all monsters they had fought on quests in the past. Those monsters were toying with the humans, smashing them to pieces, ripping them apart and eating them. Yogiri’s group had been dumped right in the middle of that nauseating, hellish scene.
“How are there monsters in the adventurer’s guild?” Edelgart muttered in shock.
“Is it...my fault?”
“No, I don’t think this has anything to do with you, Atila.”
However, if a dragon like her was able to pass through the gates and make it into the adventurer’s guild, it was possible that was how the other monsters had made it in as well.
As they were all frozen in shock at the scene playing out before them, the monsters turned and rushed towards them, eager to be the first to reach the fresh prey.
“Die.”
With one word from Yogiri, they all dropped to the floor. “Now what are we supposed to do?” he asked.
“Yeah, good question.”
Yogiri and Tomochika found themselves at a loss.
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