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CHAPTER 264: MONSTER TRAIN

 

A thunderous roar echoed as plumes of dust billowed into the sky.

With the ones pulling this monster train having teleported away using their escape stones, the attention of the remaining horde shifted toward us.

If we were to get swallowed up by this swarm of monsters, large-scale magic would become much harder to use, turning this into a war of attrition. Ideally, we needed to thin their numbers as much as possible before that happened. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much time.

「Alright! Let’s hit ’em hard and make it flashy!!」

Everyone’s voices echoed back in response to my call.

Though I said ‘flashy’, the best move for me right now was to use a gravity-based dark spell to slow them down. If I could delay their advance even a little, the others would have enough time to unleash their high-powered spells and wipe out as many as possible.

First, I’ll deploy 【Hypergravity Zone】 over as wide an area as I can.

Just as I was about to cast the spell, Drake and Shinku turned toward me with grins on their faces.

「I’ll sync up with your spell, Aniki!!」

「Drake, you’ll sync up with mine as well.」

「You sure know how to make crazy demands outta nowhere, Shinku-neesan! But sure, I’m ready!!」

From an outside perspective, it would’ve seemed like we had no choice but to retreat using escape stones.

And yet, the members of Black Thunderbolt were genuinely enjoying themselves, even in this situation. Just looking at their faces made the very thought of retreat vanish entirely from my mind—it was strange how they had that effect.

「【Hypergravity Zone】」

「【Multi Rockfall】」

「Alright!! 【Downburst】!!」

I cast 【Hypergravity Zone】, spreading heavy gravity across the area, while Shinku unleashed dozens of boulders from above. Then, perfectly timing his move with ours, Drake amplified the falling speed of the rocks with his wind spell 【Downburst】.

— DO-GA-GA-GA-GA-GA!!!

The leading pack of Evil Werewolves and Golden Geysers were crushed beneath the plummeting rocks, their bodies and the boulders bursting apart on impact. The effect wasn’t limited to the ground either—the flying Hippogriffs were caught within the 【Hypergravity Zone】thanks to the powerful downdraft and were forcibly dragged down as well.

「You guys… seriously!?」

「Heh! Nailed it!!」

「Of course. Failure is not an option in this situation.」

「I deserve way more praise for pulling this off on the fly!!」

It was essentially a more advanced version of the dual-element combination spell he’d used against the Lion Tower boss—Aquilaleo—except back then, it had just been a combination of a single person’s spells. Even that was a high-difficulty technique, but matching your spell to someone else’s to enhance its power was far more complicated. If your timing was off, you risked weakening the effect—but they had pulled it off nearly perfectly, amplifying the destructive power considerably.

What’s more, neither Shinku nor I had told Drake which spells we’d be casting. That meant he had read the situation, narrowed down his options on the spot, waited until we started casting, and then matched the timing almost instantly.

「Drake, save the chatter for later. Next up is Kinu-sama’s spell. …You understand?」

「Of course! I’ll nail it again, no problem!!」

「Drake, sync with my spell too.」

「Eh, wait—Nelfie-neesan too!?」

「Fufu, here I go. 【Floral Funeral】」

「Mhm. Good luck, Drake. 【Azure Fox Fire】」

Nelfie’s spell caused flowers to bloom wildly across the wasteland, their vines rapidly extending to entangle the charging monsters’ legs. The immobilized Hippogriffs and the mounted Arc Goblin Scouters were snared along with them. Moments later, Kinu’s flaming fox swept through, igniting everything in its path.

And then—

「How about this!! 【Wide Blast】」

Drake’s gust of wind roared forth, expanding the range of the azure flames to catch even more of the advancing monsters. The burning petals scattered through the air, triggering small explosions throughout the battlefield.

「Th-this is insane!!」

「Excellent. Well done. At this rate, we should be able to wipe them out.」

「Mhm. And we’re conserving mana too.」

「Even small spells can create ridiculous firepower when combined like this. Still, the real problem is the big ones in the back.」

「A pair of Cyclopses, huh…」

The two Cyclopses marched forward, trampling the burning monsters underfoot. They appeared highly resistant to magic, barely slowed by the ongoing carnage. One of them was charging a massive amount of energy into its single eye.

「We’ll take the Cyclopses head-on. Shinku, I’ll leave the support to you.」

「Understood. Leave it to me.」

I activated 【Gale Flash】 and 【Thunder Drum】 simultaneously, boosting my stats. Gripping the hilt of Shiranuemaru at my waist, I took my stance.

A beam of light shot from the Cyclops’ eye, gouging a deep trench across the ground. But Shinku leapt to the front, transforming her Dorenkoi into a massive shield, reinforcing it with a magic barrier, and deflected the beam off course.

— DO-GAAAAAAN!!

A deafening explosion echoed from the impact site behind us, sending a sandstorm whipping through the area, but my concentration remained unbroken.

「【Thunder Step】」

As I stepped forward with my right foot, I simultaneously drew Shiranuemaru. In a blink, I closed the distance to the Cyclops. A moment later, I felt the peculiar sensation of flesh being severed through my blade.

With a clean follow-through, Shiranuemaru sliced straight through the Cyclops’ face, sending a fountain of blood spraying skyward.

Meanwhile, the other Cyclops had a magic arrow from Nelfie embedded in its eye. The energy it had been charging lost containment and detonated violently, causing its massive body to topple directly toward me.

「Nice assist!!」

I activated 【Thunder Step】 again, leaping upward. Swinging Shiranuemaru in a rising arc, I cleanly severed the Cyclops’ head from its body mid-fall.

With both Cyclopses down, the biggest threats were eliminated. Still, we were far from out of danger—there were plenty of monsters remaining.

Looks like it’s about to turn into a drawn-out battle from here.

Just as I was thinking that, Drake’s voice came through via telepathy.

「Aniki! I’ll take care of the rest all at once!! Get out of the way!!」

I looked up, dreading what I might see. Sure enough, Drake had transformed into his black dragon form and was gathering breath in his mouth.

「Wha—!? You idiot!! 【Gate of Eternal Night】! 【Thunder Step】!」

I hurriedly deployed 【Gate of Eternal Night】 opening a portal to escape beyond the breath’s blast zone.

Once I made it back to where Kinu and the others were, I watched as Drake unleashed a column of mixed ice and wind breath from the sky, freezing both the monsters and the very ground beneath them.

「H-holy crap…」

That bastard didn’t even consider the possibility I might not dodge in time…

I mean, yeah, I dodged it, but still—what if I hadn’t? …Oh, right, nobody here thinks that way, huh?

Well, whatever!

「That’s all of them cleaned up!」

「All that remains is the scum we captured… Shall I prepare him for an easy execution?」

「No, you’d kill him before he talks…」

「Mhm. Aun. Leave the interrogation to me.」

Kinu’s voice was calm as always.

But behind that calm, there was a clear undercurrent of rage—her smile colder than even the breath Drake had just unleashed.