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Last Embryo Volume 3 Chapter 6 Part 3

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

「That’s a truly ridiculous plant weapon!」

「Ah, so that’s why Aya-chan was attacked by it!」

「Moreover, the big boar itself aims towards the girls with modest chests♪」

「It’s truly a ridiculous big boar!!!」

「So that’s why Kasukabe-san was attacked!!」

Even stupidity had its limits. The audience was divided into the girls that threw complaints with their fists raised, and the foolish guys that got excited and wanted to watch the assault instead. You, on the other hand, was completely oblivious to what was going on in the neighboring wagon. While nimbly dodging the tentacles, she was inspecting the surroundings as she fought the giant boar. She didn’t display even a bit of what could be considered her Gift, and was dealing with the boar with just her own physical prowess. If she became serious, both the giant boar and the plant weapon would be no match for her, but she somehow sensed that she was being observed and decided to not display her power. She was hindered by the feeling of wanting to hide her true power at any cost before the finals came.

(…There are too many eyes on me. Are there spies hiding here, or is it a Gift of Farsight? Whichever it might be, I want to avoid showing my power to other Players.)

She turned her back towards the observers and wondered how to handle the situation.

Truth was, it was just the lewd stares of the foolish male audience that she was receiving from the spectating crystal, but since she didn’t know the circumstances, it was natural for her to misunderstand.

Unable to bear that, the mini-sized Farsight Demon, Lapko III, appeared on top of her shoulder.

「Kasukabe You. The reflection of this battle is being shown across the Giant Spirit Train.」

「Ah, so that’s how it was. Then I’ll just quickly deal with it bare-handed.」

「No, let’s go flashy instead!」

You bent her head in wonder. She couldn’t accept that request, and Lapko wasn’t one to suggest something like that usually in the first place.

「Why? Are you troubled over something?」

「It’s not like that… But the Players with debts have been cutting corners too much in the Game and we weren’t able to take any good recordings. If it goes on like this, the excitement will die down. So, we have to rouse up the stage with your flashy Gif, Kasukabe-san.」

「Eh, don’t wanna.」

Came an immediate reply.

「Then let’s do this. If you show me a flashy finish here, then I will give you the egg of a Basilisk, which is among the big five delicacies that are legendary even in this Little…」

「Okay, I’ll give it my all!」

An immediate reply again!

You grasped a wooden pendant on her chest and faced the giant boar. The beast was rumored to be as big as a mountain in legends, but in reality, it wasn’t that big. For her who had experience fighting against Giants, it wasn’t an opponent to be afraid of. Transforming her unique Gift, 『Genome Tree』, she donned a shining steel armor. The released light converged into a pair of shining wings and lifted her body up. However, she didn’t fly in order to flee. While rotating and accelerating herself, You drew an arc and flew above the big boar’s head, and then swooped down on it with all her accumulated force.

「Heave… ho!!」

Raising a slightly out of sync shout, clad in a shining wind, she rushed towards the boar. The plant monster: Kuro★Usagi Eater MK. II that was parasitizing the big boar’s back, compromised and extended its tentacle towards You’s modest chest. However, that wasn’t a problem for her.

The shining gale that imitated the Gift of 『Pegasus』 had decimated the plant weapon, leaving no traces of it, as well as blown the giant boar off to the distant ends of the wilderness. By skillfully manipulating the sparkling winds, You drew a banner in the sky, and then turned towards Lapko III and raised a big victory shout.

「VICTORY!」

And took a victory pose while making a splendid Peace Sign.

The audience raised loud cheers because she won in a flamboyant manner as requested, save for one part of the male audience, who became depressed that the tentacles’ attack never came to fruition. Suzuka, who watched the same battle from across the crystal, widened her eyes in surprise.

「Wow! Kasukabe-san is so strong. She ended it with one blow!」

「Indeed. But I believe even you can defeat something of that level by yourself, Suzuka.」

「Hmm… Well, yeah, but let’s leave that aside. If Kasukabe-san defeated it for us, there’s no better outcome that we could have asked for.」

Suzuka said with her finger raised. Although, since they could advance favorably in the finals if they accumulated achievements, it should’ve been quite severe to have a victory stolen by someone else. Suzuka wondered if that was really ok, but since the person in question had no desire to fight, it was something that couldn’t be helped.

Kuro Usagi happily resumed her reporting from the stage.

「As expected of 『No Name’s』 Victory candidate, Kasukabe You! She got the point from exterminating the big boar, thus scoring the first point for the 『No Name』 in the Exhibition Matches!」

Kuro Usagi puffed her chest in pride with her rabbit ears perking up.

With that announcement, Homura finally saw the big picture.

「She got a winning point when she defeated a big boar… I see now! So, the target beasts are the monsters from the 「Ten Labors」 that are related to the Twelve Constellations and Twelve Zodiacs, huh!」

Within the Twelve Constellations, the twelve Celestial Beasts were: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. And within the Twelve Zodiacs there was: Mouse, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. Those that matched with these twenty-four Celestial Beasts that exist along the Equator’s line, and also appeared in the 「Ten Labors’」 were: Lion, Sea Bull, Dragon, Crab and Boar.

The lion was the 「Nemean Lion」 with impervious skin, upon which the constellation of Leo was based on. The Sea Bull was the 『Poseidon’s Sea Bull』 from the legend of the Minotaur.

Dragon and Boar were the Celestial Beasts of the equator unrelated to the sun, but since this was an Exhibition Match they were probably loose with rules. The Crab appeared to be from Heracles’ 「Extermination of the Lernean Hydra」, from the time when he crushed its numerous heads under his foot.

Now that You had defeated the big boar, that only left four remaining.

Although the mystery had been solved, there was regretfully almost no time remaining. They might have been able to defeat the Crab, but they didn’t know which of the wagons it was in. Arjuna lowered his Divine Bow and said with a bitter expression.

「With this, we have no more reason to be in this wagon. There is also little time left. Maybe this is a good place to stop today.」

「Stop being all depressing there! You are the one who made that debt with Shiroyasha!!! And you were told to at least hunt one beast per game as a quota to repay the debt, weren’t you?!」

Arjuna ignored Tokuteru’s intimidation and looked the other way. While they were just rolled up in his debt, if they couldn’t even defeat a single beast like this, its effects would even involve Homura’s side. He wanted to avoid that at all costs. However, as heartless as it was, Kuro Usagi announced the news of clearing the Games one after another.

「Oops, I have received another clearing report from the powerhouse chief engineer Lapko! It seems that the shadow of Nemean Lion that was lying in wait had been attacked! The subjugator is a self-alleged representative of German Pantheon, Vidar! With this, only the Dragon, Bull and Crab are… eh, the Hydra and Crab had been exterminated as well? Player Vidar defeated all three of them, you say? Wow, that’s amazing, but this is unexpected! There’s only the Bull left! Debt team, please hurry!」

Kuro Usagi gave a supportive shout towards Tokuteru and others with the pole of the gong in hand. She might’ve known what was going on, but she couldn’t do anything for them as she was the judge.

Meanwhile, Homura confirmed the time in a flustered manner. There was less than two minutes left!

「Shit, there’s no time! Is there nothing we can do!? I don’t want my first step to living in another world starting with a huge debt! And not even my own debt at that!!! BUT SOMEONE ELSE’S, WHO, OUT OF THE KINDNESS OF MY HEART SHALL REMAIN UNNAMED!!!」

Homura yelled loudly. Hearing that, Arjuna dropped his shoulders with even more guilt.

Tokuteru finished exterminating all the Stymphalian Birds on the stage and looked up in wonder if this was it.

「I guess it can’t be helped then…! Homura, we are using our trump card!」

「Trump Card!? You mean, like, selling your organs to clear the debt? Oh how generous of you!」

「Shit! Have some faith in me, god damnit! Just summon 『Proto Keraunos』 from your Gift Card already! If you knock down that guy who will get summoned alongside it, we should win with our eyes closed!」

Homura was in chaos, unable to understand what he meant… But in the next moment, the meaning behind his words became clear. Homura didn’t understand why he was left in the Outer World, but now that it had come to this, everything had clicked together nicely.

「Y…You really are the lowest of the low…!」

Homura understood what Tokuteru planned, but his response was weak due to the feelings of guilt tormenting him. Indeed, if he had summoned that boy and defeated him, he might have cleared the winning condition. While he wasn’t the actual monster in question, he was said to be the son of the Water Bull. In fact, that perfectly matched the legends.

However, was that really fine?

He was currently supposed to be in the outer world’s French restaurant Don Bruno, where he spent his days in peace. Thinking about it timewise, there was a chance that he was now helping them with the dinnertime rush hour. He hasn’t lived more than 15 years, but this was undoubtedly the calmest and gentlest time for him in his entire life. Would it really be fine to suddenly summon him, and on top of that, beat him down? Would that really be a rightful thing to do as a human? Would there be any justice in that action? Not to mention, the shop manager, Don, was really strict when it came to obligations. It seemed he had been feared as one of the elite mafia members when he was in Europe, and even now when he had been betrayed and abandoned by his comrades, he still had that scar from when he had made an oath of blood. Because of that, there were even rumors going around that he was making blood oaths when he was employing the workers. And if he was made to play hooky at the store of someone as uptight as him, the outcome would be quite scary. Above all, the boy was poor. It was far too unreasonable to forcefully summon him to an unfamiliar place on top of forcing him to skip work, and even have his master beat him up. Even the black companies didn’t go so far. In the end, he just couldn’t to that…

「Just do it, Homura!!! If we can’t clear this, the debt will double, you know!!? Are you still fine with that!!?」

「Ugh……Just drop dead and fuck off to hell, Tokuteru…!!!」

Saigo Homura chose to be led down the path of evil for the sake of victory.

As he raised his Gift Card high up, the son of stars and lighting… Asterios materialized. He had been happily eating a freshly-baked pumpkin quiche with his apron still on, and the sudden summoning caused him to raise a strange voice.

「Wha-What in the…!?」

「Uesugi-san, if you will!」

「What a scummy way to settle things! I will get you for this later, Tokuteruuu!!!」

She shouted while raising her giant katana up into the air, blowing Asterios off into the distance with her monstrous strength.

And in the next moment, the final gong of the Game had rung.