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High School Hack and Slash Chapter 148 Part 1

Last Resort

　On Saturday, my day off, I went to prepare for the end-of-term test.

The written test is, how should I put it, a continuation of the review from our middle school days, so there’s no problem.

The only one among us who would likely end up getting a failing mark is Mai.

The goal is to prepare for the dungeon practice.

In other words, this place is the training room, a social place for physical training.

The academy has many facilities with retro outward appearances, but that doesn’t necessarily mean all of them are old-fashioned.

The martial arts stadium, for example, is newly built.

Naturally, the training room, which is located there, is also brand new and equipped with the latest equipment.

Even though we’re in the season in which the surrounding mountains are dyed in white, the temperature is kept at a comfortable level.

In addition, there is a full range of drinks, and you can drink protein from various manufacturers as you please.

As such, I’ve invited everyone, but no one wants to come with me.

Compared to the hard-mode morning training, I think it’s very easy, though.

Even Saki, a girl who loves training, is not interested in machine training.

I can only think that her flesh is naturally perfect, or rather, that she already has that kind of constitution from the beginning.

By the way, the users of the training room are, hmm, well, an array of faces that truly haven’t changed for the better.

Training-men who are in the state of befriending the mirror, not engaged in the slightest bit of communication, are a lot in number, but I can at least remember their faces, and I can tell they are kindred spirits simply by looking at their muscles.

That handsome long-haired man over there who is sitting on the machine and training with the focus on his lower body is a typical example of this type, I guess.

Both of his legs are akin to logs.

He looks like he could break a troll’s leg with a low kick.

He has acquired a pretty old-fashioned rare class.

Looking at him from the onlooker’s point of view, I haven’t the faintest idea what is so fun about it, but he’s kicking the machine with zealousness, raising a clunking sound.

It’s precisely because we’re similarly such a stoic type that we’re able to refute the opinion that this is a place to get along with each other.

No, we respect diversity and muscle, that’s it.

Well, let’s put that kind of unimportant talk aside.

「Hmmm. Come to think of it… I had a strangest dream.」

Vice President-san, who is sitting on the bench and wiping his sweat with a towel, opens his mouth.

「What was, it like?」

I just finished a set of dumbbell curls here, too.

The biceps are an easy part of the body to train, so I end up wanting to train them in vain.

Choosing a banana-flavored protein at the protein bar, I’m getting into cool-down time, too.

「Phew, it was a dream-like dream that didn’t seem realistic in any way. You and I were having a fight to the death.」

「I see.」

What a disturbing dream there.

I’m curious about the result, but I guess I must have lost, huh.

That’s not a hunch, but a prediction based purely on the comparison through the Interface.

If it was a head-to-head real match, most likely, I couldn’t beat Vice President-san.

The affinity is bad, verily so.

「No… I lost. Or I ended up losing, I should say.」

「That is impossible. It is impossible for you to be defeated, Reiji-sama.」

Massive Lady-san, who is flaunting her magnificent body fat percentage as usual, defends the vice president.

Even if she glares daggers at me due to a talk about dreams, that’d be troubling.

「Yes, you are right. I should not have been defeated. Even if I had to sacrifice myself in order to take you down, stopping you was a duty I ought to accomplish. Even after I woke up from it, I could not forget it as a remorse, you see. No, it looks like I have ended up telling you one worthless story. Do forget it.」

I don’t know how to respond to Vice President-san, who is apologetically telling me that he had failed to kill me.

Also, Massive Lady-san, please don’t snap your fingers and look at me with eyes as if you’re going to screw me.

For the time being, I try to bring up another topic to shift the flow.

「… I know this is a change of subject, but has the conclusion of the tournament the other day been circulated to you Senpais, too?」

「Of course. By nature, all events in the academy are under the jurisdiction of the student council, after all.」

There’s no need to wrap a bandage around your fists, don’t you think?

「As compensation, we received the right to use the old club building, but….」

「… That matter is outside the jurisdiction of the student council, I guess. For better or worse, currently, we are inquiring with the academy’s facilities management department.」

In our academy life, there’s no point of contact between us general department students and the student council or the supreme department students.

Well, I happen to have some opportunities to have a talk with them thanks to some curious coincidences like this, but the student council are backing up the regular department students with their events.

「But at the moment, I cannot recommend you to enter the abandoned zone.」

Ah, as I thought.

Mikan-senpai and the others were also evasive about it, and I had a not so good feeling about it.

Besides, even if they say it could be our new club room, it’s unnecessary for the Adept Orders (us), who have taken roots in Asagi-sou.

「Now then, let’s have some light spar with me, shall we? I mean no ill will, but you have been lacking a little respect for Reiji-sama lately. Come now, no need to be shy.」

「I decline.」

No, seriously, please spare me of it.

◇ ◇ ◇

―― labyrinth of Perforation Realm, 『YGGDRASILL』, attached branch realm 『Yomotsu Hirasaka』――

―― The『twenty fourth』 stratum, 『uncharted』 domain ――

We, headed for the academy on Sunday, dive into the dungeon first thing in the morning.

Having had bentos arranged as well, it’s an earnest conquest with fully armed full members.

「Uraaaaaaaaa. Get blown uuuup!」

Raging Mai creates a force field that shakes the air between her hands.

It seems that she’s built up stress due to having been locked up by Seiichi and made to study for the test.

The force field in Mai’s hands distorts and bursts with a whoosh.

The force field, which is converged in a planar shape, shoots out in a fan shape with Mai serving as the starting point.

The monster army, which is rushing toward us a number so many that it’s bothersome to count, is blown away as they get mowed down.

「They sure are tough, these guys. They’re still getting up.」

Seiichi cuts off the monster that came through the blast.

In his left hand is a straight sword that might be classified as more of a small sword than a dagger.

It must be different from the daggers and knives Seiichi has used up until now, but he’s wielding it in a very dexterous manner.

「Appearance-wise, they are like huge ants, are they not? They seem to be called myrmidons.」

Shizuka, with whom I share the Interface, tells us their name.

When it comes to monsters before they turn into materials, based on the Craftsman class appraisal, these ones are on the easier side.

As the name Ant-man (myrmidon) implies, they’re six-legged insectoid monsters with red exoskeletons covering their torsos and humanoid upper bodies attached to their heads.

They have a considerable chimera ant-feel to them.

As for the size, including the humanoid parts, they’re about two meters tall, I guess.

It’s a design that appeals to its insect-esque quality to the maximum, so there may be people who feel physiological aversion to it.

At any rate, roughly more than a hundred myrmidons are forming phalanx formation as they charge at us.

The surrounding area is a huge crater-shaped decisive battlefield with good visibility, and the pressure felt from the assault is tremendous.

「Trench establishment complete~」

「Armed Golem units. Firedrake canon formation, deployment complete~」

「Linkage confirmed, paths open~」

It seems that the Senpais are fine even with bug-like monsters.

At the head of the Golem unit that has been deployed in an arrow-shaped formation is Mikan-senpai’s Goliath-kun.

Behind the simple trench, Mikan-senpai, with her arms folded, is putting her spirits into it.

「Alright~, let’s go~! Breath Organs, safety locks released!」

With a clank, the thick chest armor of Goliath-kun opens up.

In the mechanical and organic internal parts, there is a red jewel-like skill organ embedded.

It’s the fire-breathing pouch (breath organ) of a firedrake obtained in the raid quest we previously conquered.

Although it has been successfully installed in the golem, it seems to be unusable due to Goliath-kun having not enough capacity for it.

Rather than capacity, to put it bluntly, it’s the amount of SP put into the golem generation process, I guess.

Therefore, the lower-ranked salamander breath organ has been installed in all the golems except Goliath-kun.

Since it can be used like a flamethrower, it serves as the main armament of the golem unit.