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Beast Tamer Who Got Kicked Out From the Hero’s Party Chapter 177

CHAPTER 177: VERSUS AX AND CELL *2*

「“Boost!”」

I used my magic to enhance my overall physical abilities.

At that moment my body became as light as a feather.

In that state, I attacked Ax once again.

「Damn, you’re really fast all of a sudden!」

Ax tried to respond to my attack with his godspeed swordplay, but I wouldn’t allow him to have his way any longer.

Ax draws his sword, but when he tried to slash me with it, I was long gone from its overall trajectory.

With a momentum that would even leave afterimages behind, I got right behind Ax’s back.

「Ngh…… Don’t underestimate me!」

As expected, that would not be nearly enough to get Ax to surrender.

He quickly twisted his body and reversed our positions.

He then swung his sword at me at an angle that was difficult to evade from.

His was a truly amazing reaction speed.

This time I couldn’t avoid it and I had to block the incoming attack with my Kamui.

But this was fine.

「Nyaah! Your back is wide open!」

Kanade moved in behind Ax’s back and unleashed a powerful kick at it.

Ax then switched his sword into his other hand, and used his now free hand to guard against Kanade’s attack.

「Guh!’」

Now, even though Ax was able to block that kick, it was a blow done with the strength of the Cat Spirit Tribe.

Ax’s face stiffened instantly from the heavy force of impact, and apparently he did not go out of this situation without suffering some damage.

「Ax!」

At that moment, Cell unleashed some covering fire for her partner.

So fast!

She launched three volleys at us, each volley counting for three simultaneous arrows.

In total, nine arrows flew down on us like a rainstorm.

「I’m sorry, but I’m going to end it here!」

Tanya shot out a fireball and intercepted the arrows before they could cause any harm to us.

「Sora and Luna shall take care of Cell!」

「We will not let her get in your way, Rein!」

Continuing on, Sora and Luna turned to cover Tanya.

They each chanted a quick incantation, raining down a volley of Beginner Level magic onto Cell.

Even though it was supposed to be just Beginner Level magic, it was still amazing that they two of them could chant so many of those spells all at once.

「Kuh!」

I knew that long-distance battles were the field where Cell happened to be excelling at, but her opponents were Tanya, Sora and Luna at the same time.

No matter how powerful and skilled of A Rank Adventurer Cell was, and how versatile and deadly her archery skills were, there was no way in hell that she would be able to compete equally against three members of the Ultimate Species at the same time.

She was gradually being pushed into a corner as they fired a series of magic and fireballs at her, not giving her a moment to breathe and reposition herself.

Turning to cover Ax, of course, was possible for her in this exact situation.

「Tch…… Nicely done, separating Cell from me like that and making it impossible for her to support me.」

「There is no way that you guys are going to be able to compete against us any more than this! I’m sorry, but we are going to end this battle in a moment!」

「Don’t you dare to underestimate us!」

Ax grasped his sword with both of his hands again and delivered a god-speed blow towards me.

However, his movements right now seemed so slow to me.

Kanade’s blow must have been rather effective.

It seems that he was no longer able to wield his sword nearly as effectively as before, and its speed had clearly decreased as a result of that.

Normally, I might have hesitated here for a bit……

But since we have come so far already, we needed to make up our minds to go forward.

We had a mission that we needed to see being done.

And in order to fulfill that mission, we had to defeat Ax and Cell!

「Kanade!」

「Yeah!」

I then exchanged quick glances with Kanade.

That was more than enough for us.

Kanade, sensing my intentions here, continued to fire a series of blows at Ax without a moment of break.

It was a literal rush of fists and kicks.

Although Ax was able to block them all with the help of his amazing reaction speed, he gradually began to delay and be pushed back.

His hands must have been getting numb from the power of Kanade’s blows.

It must have been the lingering effect of that earlier blow that he received from Kanade.

「Nyanh!」

「Guh!」

Kanade swung her arms wide and blew Ax away.

Just as I had hoped, she created an opening for me to explore.

Everything is going to be decided here!

「Not yet! I’m not done yeeeeeetttttt!!!!!!」

Ax quickly regained his position and blocked my approach.

It looks like he…… he simply wouldn’t let things end like this, huh?

However, for him it was already too late.

「I will never…… I will never recognize what you are about to do as the right thing!」

「That’s fine by me! I shall just go my own way from now on!」

I clashed with Ax and we crossed out blades.

There was a bright flash followed by a loud clang.

Our blades collided with one another, sending bright sparks flying everywhere.

We would then back away, and then we would rush forward once more, once again sending sparks flying and fill the air with the sound of metal clashing against metal.

It was like a raging storm.

It was like a roaring tornado.

The blade would meet the blade, creating countless wounds on both of us.

But still, we wouldn’t stop. No, we COULDN’T stop.

Ax and I, in order to achieve our respective goals, we would advance forward, risking everything we had.

What unfolded here was an endless sword dance……

In this situation, the moment when one of us would inevitably make a mistake would be the moment when the battle would come to a crushing and sudden end.

「Huh!?」

All of a sudden, Ax seemed to have lost his balance.

He looked at his feet with startled eyes.

And there…… There was a wild rabbit that I had remotely tamed, clinging to Ax’s leg, slightly disrupting his movements.

「What the…… A rabbit……!?」

「Did you already forget?　I’m a Beast Tamer!」

Axe’s movements were now disorganized and he stopped in his tracks, trying to get the wild rabbit to let go of his foot.

I wasn’t going to let such an opportunity slip me by.

I grabbed Kamui tightly and jumped forward, aiming at Ax’s chest.

And then……

I moved the blade back.

I then struck Ax right into his solar plexus with Kamui’s hilt.

「Guh…… Ahh……!」

That was a decisive blow to Ax’s body.

Ax tried to stand back up on hisd feet at all cost, but his legs did not seem to be doing what they were supposed to be doing.

He let go of his sword and fell straight to the ground.

At about the same time……

Tanya and the others, who had been fighting a little further away from us, succeeded in destroying and neutralizing Cell.

***

「Fuh……」

The fight was over and we were finally able to relax our tensed bodies.

Ax and Cell wouldn’t be able to move for a while.

I gave Ax a pretty painful blow and……

As for Cell, she had to take care of her partner for the time being.

There was nothing that they could do to stop us now.

「Are you okay?」

「…… Listen here, you don’t have to worry about us every single time like that. Spare us the humiliation, why don’t you?」

When I called out to him, Ax said so dismissively.

「Are you an idiot?　We have just been fighting, remember?　We are your enemies, Rein. What are you doing, worrying about the enemy?」

「But it would not let me rest if I didn’t ask……」

「Goodness gracious…… You’re a very good-natured person, aren’t you? Maybe even too good for your own good.」

「But that’s what makes Rein who he is, wouldn’t you agree?」

Kanade said with a smile on her face.

「I mean, don’t you think it’s too vain to talk like that to your opponent after you just happened to beat them?」

「Ugh……」

At Tanya’s jab, Ax looked awkwardly to the side.

So he must have been fully aware of it.

「Well then, we’ll be going now.」

I was really worried for the two of them, but……

We couldn’t possibly afford to waste any more time here.

There was a chance that the main Strike Force might have already been locked in combat with Iris.

We needed to get there first and seal Iris away before there would be more casualties.

「Let me tell you this.」

Ax’s voice was strained, as if he wanted to say those words really bad, as if it was the last thing he was supposed to do in his life.

「I will never accept it, you know?」

「……………」

「Rein, I will never approve of what you’re trying to do here.」

「I know.」

「You’re way too soft, you know that?」

「Maybe so, but there’s nothing else I can really do about it. This is the best way for me to live my life. So, I will just have to believe in this way of life and keep going down that road, right?」

「…… What a stupid idiot you are.」

That was the moment where Axe seemingly ran out of strength to carry on and he just fainted on the spot.

Looking at Ax with what could only be described as love and support, Cell said:

「There’s no one else here who can hold you back from your goal, Rein and company. So now, you just have to do whatever it is that you want to do with the Devil.」

「Yes. And we will.」

「…… If I may say one thing here, I agree with Ax on what he said to you before. That is why we were able to fight with you guys like this. And that is why we were giving this thing everything that we had.」

「Yeah, I know.」

「…… This is a goodbye, then.」

「Yes. Yes it is. Farewell.」

That was the moment when our group cut ourselves off completely from Ax and Cell.

They were our friends with whom we had traveled together, even if it was only for a short while……

But as we are right now, those good times could never possibly come back.

So there were no more words that would be spoken between our groups.

Just like that, we just left this place and pressed forward.