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High School Hack and Slash Chapter 157 Part 1

Rebellion

―― ＊＊＊＊『unknown』, ＊＊＊『unknown』――

―― Style 『unknown』, ※Space-time Pressure Difference 『unknown』――

 

「Iyou!」

Baby Nue, charging at me in pursuit, licks my face all over until it becomes all sticky.

My body is getting buried in the ground as I get one cat punch after another, so I hope it’ll stop doing it.

These days, baby Nue has grown bigger again.

When it plays around with me with all its might, the surrounding areas get destroyed.

「There, there.」

As I put it in a headlock and ruffle its neck, its snake-like tail grandly mows down the surrounding areas.

Even as it rolls over and launches a cat kick at me, I block it because I feel like my clothes will get ripped off otherwise.

I hold down and pet baby Nue, which rubs its body against mine while rumbling its throat.

Good graciousness, its body may have gotten big, but inside it’s still that of a spoiled child.

But I’m thankful that the baby Nue came at this moment.

「Iyou?」

Let’s ride it in place of the fuzzy cloud.

Well, first thing first, let’s replenish ourselves.

I wolf down the crab legs that just happen to have been well roasted, sharing them with baby Nue.

The staple food of baby Nue seems to be pomegranates, but perhaps omnivorous by nature, it seems to eat anything.

It happily chews on it, along with the shell itself.

The satisfied look on its face reminding me of Yuki-chan is probably the embodiment of what you’d call: pets resemble their owners.

I then straddle the back of baby Nue, carrying the souvenir crab legs.

「Now then, please.」

Baby Nue, raising an Iyou cry, nimbly runs up into the sky.

It feels different from smoothly flying through the sky on the fuzzy cloud.

Stepping on the air, it lightly dashes through the sky.

The place where we’ve been until just a moment ago is apparently the top of a gigantic, sheer rocky mountain.

If I were to use an analogy, it would be Table Mountain in the Guiana Highlands.

Countless stone pillars stand close together surrounding the mountain.

The surface of the land is a forest covered in green, which stretches across the entire field of view.

The grand blue I can see in the distance is probably the sea.

It’s larger than any other world (raid) I have ever seen thus far.

Or rather, it’s too vast.

It seems that the larger the other world (raid), the more powerful 『core』 are needed to support it.

For argument’s sake, if this one were the type where there exists a raid boss, it must be one crazy cheat-class boss.

In the state of having my authority (skill) sealed, as expected even I have no thought about challenging such a foe.

It would be a battle where in order to crush it, you have to prepare everything perfectly, amass your forces, and sometimes devise some tricks.

Letting your guard down is as insincere of an act as taking it easy.

There are also times when you have to fight with everything short, but that’s that and this is this.

「Iyou~!」

Running through the sky using the clouds as a foothold, Baby Nue’s tension seems to be at the max.

It’s a child who loves to go for a walk.

Unlike when we go for a walk at night in the outside world, it must’ve found it fun to be able to run as fast as it can.

Its tension seems to be so high that it’s discharging crackling electricity, but, well, I can understand how it feels.

As I peek down through a break in the clouds, it seems that before I knew it, we’ve come all the way to the sea.

Beyond the body of water where a group of islands are located, I can faintly see some kind of substandard giant tree towering above its surroundings.

Looking behind us, I can see the ocean all the way to the horizon, land is no longer in sight.

Is baby Nue just fast-footed, or is the space connected in some strange way?

No, to begin with, I get the feeling that baby Nue is headed to nowhere in particular.

I wonder if it’s just running around at random, taking it as we’re going for a walk.

That was careless of me.

The moment I pat the back of the merry baby Nue as a signal.

In the corner of my eye, I see a glint of bloodlust.

「Kuh!」

I brush away the trajectory of the bullet, which is shot straight at us, with a hand sword.

The killing intent, which lets out a metallic scraping sound as it gets deflected, draws an arc and strikes again from right above us.

As I grab the souvenir crab leg to mow it down, the two shatter like a balloon breaking.

Following that, three pairs of ballistics come flying at us.

It’s a sniping from an imperceptible ultra-long distance.

Me being able to intercept the first shot, which was fired by surprise, is close to a coincidence.

The tracks of the three ballistics dance through the air irregularly.

They’re turning, accelerating, and changing trajectories.

「Guided missiles, huh… Excellent.」

I guess this one can be said to be the higher ranked skill of the magic bullet that Mai wields.

「Iyou!」

Baby Nue, evading them with an acrobatic step, knocks down the first one, I bend over to evade the second one, and barely manage to catch the third one.

The target is not baby Nue, but me completely.

When the light that has been flailing around in my hand fades, a single arrow is left behind.

I’ve never seen a bow and arrow user at the academy, but I know of others who use similar weapons.

They are the 『Musketeer (Gunner)』 type class holders of the American group.

Using firearms as catalysts, they imbue their skills on bullets.

It can be said to be a special class of 『Arts User (Magi)』 branching that lets off long-range attack skills.

This one must be the bow and arrow version of that.

But in terms of firepower, there’s a difference akin to between a peashooter and a cannon.

Desperate rapid-fire volleys are coming at us one after another.

Most likely, they must have intended to finish me off with the first shot.

The pursuit is so sloppy.

The chain shots drawing a meteor shower-like radiation are uncontrolled.

As Baby Nue easily dodges through the barrage, a column of water rises disorderly on the surface of the sea.

Baby Nue, baring its fangs, glares at the distance with the mane rising on end.

In other words, it means that the attacker’s unable to conceal their killing intent.

It was a truly brilliant surprise attack, which is why it’s so regrettable.

Them immediately withdrawing after failing on their surprise attack would’ve been the most troublesome pattern.

They may be a first-class hunter, but they’re not a professional in guerrilla warfare.

Moreover, for a sniper to boldly show themselves…

Like a mirage, the space ahead distorts, and the one who appears in mid-air is Maid-san.

Even I myself don’t know what I’m talking about, but Maid-san, dressed in a maid’s uniform, is flying in the air with a bow at the ready in her left hand.

『…..』

It’s the one who didn’t wet herself, the blonde-haired pony-tailed Maid-san.

The eyes peeking out from the bangs are blazing, and the smile on her mouth is hung up ferociously.

She must be capable of shooting all of the countless arrows in her right hand in the blink of an eye.

And then, the group of arrows floating in her rear also looks as if it could be shot even without using a bow.

Nice.

Very, very nice.

In its own right, this is not so bad.

It’s the height of folly for a sniper to come forward.

However, if she wants to have a duel with me, that’s a different story.

Soothing baby Nue that’s snarling with full of eagerness to go at it, I decide to literally stand at arrow point.

「— Now, let’s do it.」

Getting off the back of baby Nue, I take a step forward.

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