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Last Embryo Volume 5 Chapter 3 Part 8

From what Asuka was able to gather from their screams, they have apparently mistook Deen for one of the giant monsters, most likely similar to the one that Suzuka was running away from earlier that roamed The Lost Continent of Atlantis while destroying anything that would stand in their path, and so now that they started attacking it they were probably not going to stop until they either manage to destroy or drive it away from their village, which placed Asuka, Suzuka, Lamia and Alma in quite the uncomfortable situation, because fighting your enemies with the intent to harm or kill them was one thing, but fighting what could essentially be likened to an angry mob that was being driven forward by the force of mass hysteria was another thing entirely.

 

In tha case of the former, Asuka could have gone all out from the start without having to worry herself about holding back or about the scale of casualties and the damage done to the surrounding area, but since they were obviously dealing with the latter here, that would mean that she is going to have to concentrate on neutralizing the villagers without actually harming them, which, again, might sound simple on paper, but is actually much harder to pull off than one might think.

 

The native residents of The Lost Continent of Atlantis were not the same as the native  people inhabiting the tropical islands of the Outer World. When it comes to the sheer strength and fighting ability, then according to Asuka’s rough estimations a single cow head mask warrior was more or less on a level of a lower-grade mythical beast, a quality that they must have without a shade of a doubt develop over the course of living in such a dangerous environment where their lives could constantly be placed in danger for generations.

 

Now that they have been forced to deal with a hail of attacks from a much closer distance than before, things could get really out of hand for them. . . or they would have gotten out of hand if it was not for Alma coming in to save their hides once more with her Fortress. Just like she did during the battle with Charybdis back in that underground cave, she expanded her body in order to create a protective tend around Asuka and the others. And since that ability of hers was strong enough to withstand even the azure flames of hell itself used by Willa-the-Ignis-Fatus, then dealing with regular weaponry thrown by the villagers should be a piece of cake for her. . . but then one of the natives put an arrow onto the bow he was holding, pulled on the bowstring as hard as he could and then released it, and the arrow which has been shot in such a way flew towards them at what appeared to be a near subsonic speed and got embedded into Alma’s protective barrier quite strongly, thankfully without outright breaking through it.

 

「N-Now this is something that I was not expecting! The strength of the native residents of Atlantis seems to be even bigger than I imagined. Not only that, their attacks are all fast, but at the same time extremely well coordinated. The only way in which they could have possibly achieved such a high lever of cooperation with one another would be through many years and countless hours of training, but even then. . . remarkable, simply remarkable. . . . . . . !」

 

Even though Alma should have been more distressed about that situation, she was strangely excited about how strong the native actually were. And to tell you the truth, in her eyes, each and every one of these villagers was a high-level warrior with potential to become as strong as Prithvi Mata or Sakamaki Izayoi, if only they continued to train and grow properly. . . and such warriors continued to gather around Deen in increasingly large numbers.

 

「Alma, it I great that you are holding them in such a high esteem and all. . . but if they keep on coming like that then we are going to have real trouble suppressing them like that. . . .. !」

 

「Controlling the flow of battle might be still be relatively easy, but if we will have to fight so many of them at once, we are definitely not going to be able to avoid causing casualties among them! I do not know about you, but this is shaping up to be an especially exquisite kind of annoyance!」

 

Since they have Alma with them, it would be all too easy for Asuka to command her to use her lightning to electrocute all of the cow head mask warriors at once so that they would all faint from the shock, but since some of them were standing on Deen’s hands and shoulders and some of them were in the middle of climbing the ropes, if they were electrocuted to the point of losing consciousness in such circumstances, most of them would definitely end up falling to their deaths.

 

While everyone kept on racking their brains trying to think of a solution for getting through this small crisis without having the blood of the innocent villagers on their hands, Lamia knitted her brows and looked at the other girls with an especially annoyed expression written all over her face.

 

「. . . . What the hell are you doing, you guys?! What is there to even think about?! If you do not want to kill anyone but you also do not want to be killed by these guys, then the answer to what we need to do should be pretty simple, right? We just have to beat the absolute crap out of them!」

 

「N-No, we cannot do that! That would be too dangerous for them!」

 

「News flash! Fighting people in such a way that is not going to kill them is always a hassle! In that case, well . . .  I do not know, maybe try to just knock them off this titan. . . . . 」

 

「Deen. His name is Deen.」

 

「Yeah, right, knock them off of Deen, whatever! But if you asked me, then I say we have every right to retaliate against them with full force and extreme prejudice, because we did not do anything wrong! We were simply walking here, minding our own business, and they were the ones who raised an alarm and started shooting at us with their arrows, spears and axes! So let us just beat them up as fast as possible and straighten out this misunderstanding with their leader later after we teach these guys a lesson!」

 

「. . . You know what? You are right. Lamia is absolutely right.」

 

「Now that I think about it, I have to agree with her as well. We are not the villains here, so why should we just allow them to do whatever they want. They started this fight, so the way I see it, the blame is entirely on the villagers.」

 

Normally Suzuka would have preferred a peaceful solution to this conflict, but seeing that such an option was no longer available for them, but not because of them, she had no choice to accept the facts for what they were. However, there was a part of her that was still rooting for finding a way to avoid the conflict whatsoever, no matter how hard that might have been. And by the looks of it, those chances were growing smaller by the minute.

 

「In the first place, we  were just using Deen as a method of transportation, so why should we be attacked for using whatever resources we have on our hand in the best way possible? It is they who should be apologizing to us, not the other way around!」

 

「Yes, they totally misunderstood what they were seeing and prematurely jumped to conclusions!」

 

Lamia laughs with her hands crossed on her chest.

 

「The natives made the wrong call here, and we are the victims of their poor decision-making. No matter how you look at it, justice is on our side here.」

 

「Yes. That is why we are going to go have some fun now. Alma, can I ask you to take care of Miss Suzuka for me?」

 

「Of course, master.」

 

「Ah, awawawawawa. . . . . . . . . 」

 

Asuka’s reasoning was that of a problem child, while Suzuka is an honor student through and through, so it was obvious that she was scared of what was about to happen. Meanwhile, Asuka and Lamia assumed their battle-ready positions while waiting for an ideal moment to launch their counterassault against the villagers, not noticing that for some reason. The number of shots being fired at them began to gradually decrease.