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Volume 1 Chapter 20-1: Counteroffensive

Oww…..? It…hurts?

I was blown away by the attack prepared to have my entire body crushed to bits and die instantly…but I still felt pain so…I’m still alive?

Certainly I had been sent flying but I didn’t hit the hard floor of the dungeon but instead something soft and warm…maybe I was actually dead and this was heaven?

「You don’t have time to daydream Soujirou ja. Get up.」

Ahh…I thought I’d never hear it again, but this was Hotaru-san’s voice. In spite of the circumstances I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

「That was fast Hotaru-san….」

I opened my eyes to see Hotaru-san’s two big ‘cushions’ sandwiching my face.

「You can hear what happened while Sistina heals you after we switch positions ja.」

I see…we’re still in the midst of battle. But what about that blow? There was no way I could have dodged it…so that meant!!

「Hotaru-san! That last attack did you…!?」
「It’s fine. I was the only one who could’ve made it and I’m tough ja.」

She had cut in between me and the Floor Boss’s attack…how reckless!

「Soujirou, leave that for later. While we’re sitting here Sistina is fighting the boss by herself ja.」

I was shocked and quickly looked over to see the boss swinging its blades like a whirlwind while Sistina continued to ward them off.

I couldn’t stay like this….

I forced my screaming body to move out from Hotaru-san’s embrace.

「Good. I’ll take Sistina’s place for a bit and draw the boss away. Have her heal you in the meantime ja.」

Hotaru-san smiled, turned her right hand into Hotarumaru, and moved towards the boss. Normally looking at her thin but dependable back would make me feel relieved but now…

「Her back…damn it!!」

Hotaru-san had blocked the attack for me and I could see the back of her kimono was ripped open. Her normally white and smooth back was now covered in blood.

She was originally a katana so she maintained the sturdiness of metal to some degree, but after turning into a 『person』 there was a limit to that. Just by thinking a bit I could easily realize that she could be cut and bleed.

Shit! She has that wound because I was too weak!!

「Soujirou-sama! Thank goodness you’re okay!!」
「Guho!」

It was naturally Sistina who barreled into me and forcibly halted my negative thoughts.

「I really thought you would die….」
「…I’m sorry」
「If Hotaru-san wasn’t here then we wouldn’t have made it in time…」
「Un…that wound was my fault.」
「…show me your wounds. I’ll heal you.」
「Un, thank you.」

I moved away my hands that had been unconsciously suppressing the wound in my side and Sistina’s eyes widened as she quickly poured out healing magic.

Looks like the wound was pretty serious. If we hadn’t bought good medicine like Sistina recommended then I would definitely have died.

「Sistina, how did you make it here so quickly?」
「Well, we were halfway to bringing them back when we encountered a high level explorer party that had been sent in to clear up monsters. We handed over those we rescued and used Hotaru-san’s presence sensing to search…」

Sistina’s gaze moved to the party ring on my arm.

「Thanks to the party ring we barely made it in time.」
「I see….」

So the high level party that Reitoku had employed finally arrived? I had forgotten about the ring…but it had been worth buying even if we went into debt. I had to thank Will who had forced it on us.

Well that was only if we managed to overcome the trial before us. I gazed at Hotaru-san as she fought the floor boss alone in a fierce battle to give us time.

Being mindful of the monster’s reach while making sure it didn’t aim at us, a situation where she had to continue attracting its attention….but still Hotaru-san dodged the attacks, parried them, and cut whenever an opportunity appeared. It didn’t seem like she could defeat it by herself, but she seemed to be safe enough luring it around.

However, for some reason I felt like her movements weren’t as sharp as usual…or maybe it was because the damage to her back was bigger than I thought…

Either way I couldn’t let Hotaru-san keep fighting alone.

「Sistina, how was it when you fought the boss alone?」
「….It’s strong. I barely managed to hold out by using my defensive arts to the fullest, but I didn’t see an opportunity to attack…」

I see…Sistina’s battleaxe wasn’t much different in rank than my bastard sword. That class of weapon was lacking in comparison to the variant’s defensive strength. In that case the only weapons that would work right now were Hotarumaru and Sakura…we didn’t have enough power.

If physical attacks were no good…then what about magic? However, none of us except Hotaru-san had attack type magic. Furthermore, we’d never tested how powerful it was or how it worked.

「Sistina, does light magic have attack spells?」
「…I’m sorry, I don’t really know. I didn’t mention it at the time, but light magic is quite rare. It isn’t like there’s no information, but very little circulates around.」

Inside my Light Novel brain I thought it would have light blades, lasers, and heat beams but trying such spells without any prior experience or knowledge was far too dangerous.

「Then, what about this fire magic stone, can we use it?」
「…normally magic stones aren’t something used to attack. If you pass magic through this stone normally then all that will happen is a fire appearing. The size only relates to how big it will be and how stable. Baku made the magic stone go out of control and explode by pouring in more magic than the stone could handle all at once. To make a magic stone of this size explode you would need an enormous amount of mana and even the person using the stone wouldn’t be able to escape the area of effect safely.」

Oh crap! If I had been able to use my magic power like that then I would’ve been in a super mega sh** state. So that means our party doesn’t really have any magic attacks. We may have to give up on defeating this boss…

If Hotaru-san and Sistina came then I thought we might be able to deal with the beast somehow…but it seems like all we can do is run away.