Chapter 402
Day 94 – Daytime, Dungeon
God is dead, widely quoted as a symbol of nihilism, these are the words of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche-san.
「Die, foul monsters! The only good monster is a dead one!」
「「「Yes, ma’am!」」」
Yeah, with enough fighting spirit to make even God consider suicide, they launched themselves forward, like living projectiles, striking enemies down with a single decisive blow. One clean slash to cut down and eliminate. A single-minded advance, a stubborn downward cut, one hit, one kill.
Leaving defense entirely to the protective power of their nun habits and the barrier on the rosaries, Arianna-san and others from the Church group are performing a massacre, butchering enemies in a single stroke. An execution by a test cut, a blade filled with the desperate determination of body and soul, as if in prayer… Jigen-ryu? [TL Notes: Jigen-ryū – a fierce, aggressive Japanese swordsmanship school from the Satsuma Domain (Kagoshima), known for overwhelming opponents with powerful first strikes, emphasizing speed and aggression over defense, with its signature stance (Tonbo-no-Kamae), focusing on the single, decisive blow to end combat immediately.]
「Ahh, can they even go back to the church? In such a state?」
「But if they can’t handle this much, they’ll just end up stranded among the enemies? Surrounded all alone?」
「At this rate, they gonna rip and tear their way straight through whoever might’ve been unfortunate enough to surround them.」
「Anti-personnel focus is terrifying, isn’t it? Whoever kills first wins, he said…」
Defending is hard. Protecting is even harder. That’s why you kill first, just kill everything. That’s Haruka-kun’s way of fighting, killing the strong despite remaining weak himself… The approach of killing because he can’t protect.
「But we’ve got to teach them how to dodge, at least. They are way too vulnerable like this.」
「Yeah, only Haruka-kun can really pull this off.」
「Well, as long as they got ammo and consumables, they should be able to handle most situations, right?」
Right, if your level is high enough, you can make do with throwaway gear. As long as you have money, most people other than Haruka-kun who can’t equip even that, can manage one way or another. He’s the only one who can manufacture it, yet the only one who can’t use them, but he created means to unleash that kind of destructive power in exchange for magic stones. Still, ordinary magical stone-based weapons are effective only up to Lv30, and gradually lose power; by Lv50, they’re said to be nearly useless… but honestly, that’s still more than enough firepower.
「The real issue is what to do when equipment is not at hand?」
「Well, the only way is to level up and learn new skills.」
「Well, if those nun clothes are their default outfit, maybe it’s fine?」
「Actually, the real problem might be that he embedded 『Storage』 functions inside the slits?」
「「「Guilty verdict, prepare for sermon!」」」
They are pulling their blades from their white thighs, suited for anti-personnel and close-quarters indoor combat, and after an irregular training focusing on retreat and breakthrough, the church girls steadily learned coordination and formation tactics, cutting down monsters as they fall back. And if you got close, they’d cut you, slashing down an armored 『Armored Gibbon Lv27』 in one stroke. These long-armed gibbons, or as Haruka-kun insisted,『Armored Long-Armed Apes』 , which according to him sounds cooler and more descriptive, used their reach to rush in, only to be cleaved down in a single mighty slash.
「Just a few left. Do turnaround breakthrough, and grind those (bleep) into hamburger, and then (bleep) them with (bleep)!」
「「「Yes, ma’am!」」」
Girls, or rather, women, aren’t allowed to (bleep) and (bleep)! But once combat starts, their entire demeanor changes. Their expressions, their tone, it all flips. The contrast is wild, especially since just moments earlier, they were all nice and polite, smiling sweetly and saying things like 『Thank you so much for taking care of everything』. Now those same nuns are screaming things like 『「Urarararararararaaaah! Even hell is too nice for you vermin!』 while slicing monsters in half with smiles on their faces.
「Well, there was some reasons to worry about allowing them to fight with their original personalities, but…」
「Yeah, but somehow, even though combat concerns were resolved, my worries only increased?」
「The resistance-type accessories seem to be working just fine. Next is anti-sniping detection, maybe?」
「The next issue is their protection when they aren’t wearing their habits, like during the bath?」
「But looking at it like this, nun outfits aren’t half bad either?」
「「「Right? Place another order!」」」
They were in a situation where everyone in the Church was their enemy. Returning into that mess, it’s absolutely impossible to fully protect anyone. That’s why Haruka-kun doesn’t consider protection. It’s precisely because they’ll be deep in enemy territory that he gears them for destruction. Right, protecting everything is impossible, but total annihilation is possible. Destroying the church facilities from within and breaking out during the chaos? That can be done.
Still… while sexy nun outfits are great, didn’t everyone go bankrupt during that last bargain sale? Right now, everyone, the lender included, is happily legally incompetent with their assets frozen. Even their savings are completely gone, and aside from food and lodging, every bit of money is going toward debt repayment. Even our food costs are skyrocketing thanks to a relentless wave of new menu items. W-We have to earn more!
「So the real problem is what happens after the sisters escape safely, huh?」
「I heard the monks are getting individual training in handling and setting explosives…」
「「「Ahhh, sabotage from the inside.」」」
Headquarters of the church, the cathedral, is said to be the pinnacle of extravagant faith, which also happens to be an impregnable fortress at the same time.But it should be susceptible to destruction from the inside. At the end of the day, it’s just a stone building. If they take out the key support points, the pillars and walls that hold the structure together, it’ll collapse under its own weight. And when that happens, no one’s going to be chasing after the sisters anymore. Yeah, they’ll have other things to worry about!
What Haruka-kun’s thinking is a mystery, I sort of suspect he’s not thinking of anything at all, but what he might end up doing is totally unpredictable. And yet, he always lays down every possible measure. He takes every action he can think of. No matter how impossible, how hopeless it seems, Haruka-kun always keeps planting seeds of possibility and setting up traps in advance.
So when something does happen, he’s got a way out. Behind every so-called miracle is his sleight-of-hand, a misdirection and trickery, just like a stage magician.
That’s how he pulled us through that war. Somehow. But it should’ve been quite barely. He pushed himself too far, over-enhanced himself until his body couldn’t withstand the strain, starting to break down as he continued fighting.
Now, to compensate for the weakened body that resulted from all that, he’s boosting himself again with equipment, faking it, forcing his body into a battle-ready state. His body remains fragile, but he keeps suppressing new power, bringing it under his control, with newer power, increasing his abilities, expanding his techniques, and adjusting everything just enough to stay in fighting shape. And still, it’s not enough, today he went out to look for mithril… For even stronger gear. Because he still needs more strength.
After struggling in war against massive numbers and unexpected suicidal tactics, Haruka-kun developed new skills, the defensive 『Shoulder Guard Funnels』 the omnidirectional 『Magic Thread』 and instantaneous movement technique 『Vanish』through teleportation which he was able to bring under his control, blending it with dance-like footwork, to reduce strain on his body, and then using it to improve his swordplay, continuously looking for ways to obtain new power.
Since then, he’s wiped out numerous dungeons and defeated Dungeon Masters, yet Haruka-kun’s level remains at 24… Still weak, still growing stronger. Fighting while breaking, still trying to get stronger. He seems to have also refined his 『Mutation』 quite a bit too, but seriously, in war, a 『Mutant』… If there’s ever an armed combat nun corps, it’d be a disaster!
「Up to the 39th floor, Arianna-san and her team will be training. They’ll handle the combat while we stick to support and guidance. From the 40th floor, Arianna-san and others will just observe, so we will have to show them how it’s done!」
「「「Leave it to us!」」」
Haruka-kun is doing all he can to raise the chances. If that’s the case, we simply have to get even stronger. If we get stronger and make the list of impossible things shorter, that alone should improve the chances, allowing Haruka-kun to use us as one of the cards, allowing us to be of use to him. As such we also have to make Arianna-san and others stronger too. That might be nothing more than a safety measure that doesn’t bear any real meaning, but there also might be something more to it… Just like back then, when Princess Shariceres led her troops to fight a dungeon stampede, just like when Murimur-sama and people of the Frontier protected it on their own. So we have to get even stronger and do everything in our power to prepare if something comes up that Haruka-kun can’t handle just with his group of four, no matter how strong they are!
「We’re the example here! Swords ready!」
「「「Jaaaa.」」」
We’d been told again and again, by Angelica-san, by Nefertiri-san, just how much trial and error Haruka-kun had poured into making our armor. Dozens, hundreds of remakes, thousands upon thousands of adjustments, calculated from within billions and trillions of simulations, Haruka-kun’s armor, crafted with everything he had. Built with every bit of current technology he possessed, it far outclassed ordinary Dungeon gear. Cost wasn’t even a consideration. This was the ultimate, supreme armor, crafted with his earnest desire to protect us. Wearing that armor, there’s no way we can afford to be weak. If we are, we’d disgrace ourselves as women!
「Hold the line! Let them come into range, then charge in!」
「「「Jaaaa, READY.」」」
If Haruka-kun heard that, he’d probably make a fuss, 『Why are you mixing German and English?!』, but it was a great response. With Oda-kun and Kakizaki-kun away, now’s the time we have to step up. If we can’t do it now, then everything we’ve done up till now would be meaningless.
Coming to this world, we cried a lot, suffered a lot, but we also laughed a lot, and were spoiled a lot, were treated with such kindness, so, so much kindness. That’s why… that’s why we have to become stronger. We’ve received so much, and we still haven’t given anything back.
「Gooooooooo!」
「「「Jaaaaa!」」」
With the vanguard’s charge, the enemy front line was obliterated in a single sweep. At the same time, the second unit slipped through and took over the front, cutting down the next wave. If you are going for one strike surekill, then just leave the second strike to the second unit. When coordination is possible, when a formation is in place, tactics are born.
「In an instant…」 「They’re incredible!」 「S-So strong!」 「These are the black-haired princesses…」 「So a group can be this strong when it acts as one…」 「A pack of Level 41 monsters, taken out like nothing…」 「The coordination’s amazing, but the strategy and command are flawless too!」 「It’s overwhelming…」 「It’s way too amazing to use an example…」 「So this is what tactics can really do…」 「If only we could do this!」
A double one-hit kill, first strike followed immediately by the second to cover the gap. If the vanguard becomes the third unit and repeats the cycle, even a one-hit-kill charge won’t fall apart. And once the enemy starts to believe that’s the case, they can’t press in anymore. Of course, in close quarters, coordination gets harder. The tighter the space, the more important positioning becomes, but first, they just need to see and learn.
We left the mopping-up of the remaining few monsters to Arianna-san’s group and moved deeper. It was good that they stayed composed during the battle, even while observing. I’d been a little worried they’d lose patience and jump in from behind, but as long as they’re only watching, they seem stable enough. Whether that really counts as stable is debatable, but if you’re just nice all the time, you can’t even protect yourself.
We let the church girls observe, learn by watching, and occasionally rotate into the lineup for firsthand experience. Let them build combat experience by facing weakened or thinned-out enemies, and finally, have them watch the Dungeon Master battle on the final 57th floor.
With Angelica-san and Nefertiri-san there, there was absolutely no real danger, but even so, we formed a protective formation around the church girls and showed them sword-based combat. We are still nowhere near skilled enough to be teaching others or acting as a proper example… but I think we make a better role model than Haruka-kun. Yeah, that was awful.
And it’s not just offense, we also need to show them how to defend and counterattack, how to handle siege battles… there’s so much I want to teach. When the opponent reaches for you, knock that hand aside. While keeping distance, prevent them from closing in, holding them at bay. Engage them, draw them in, and encircle them. As the green giant charged and attacked, its massive scythes were suppressed with numerous slashes, and as it turned its back, it was cut from behind, thus Dungeon Master 『Metal Mantis Lv57』was getting helplessly whittled away.
The giant iron mantis was gradually and safely worn down through sword strikes, as if carving it down little by little. If it makes a move, we cut. We stop its motion, surround it, keep striking from behind, weakening it. While falling back in a formation that shields Arianna-san and the church group at the rear, we maintained the encirclement and coordination to avoid being split up. We didn’t need to finish it off. We didn’t need to defeat it. It was enough to retreat safely while keeping everyone protected.
I think this is what we were trying to teach the church group… Just the basics of a safe retreat and how to break out of an encirclement. At first glance, it might look like a one-hit-kill aggressive style, but it’s actually intimidation. That powerful, deadly slash is used to make enemies hesitate, buying time to retreat.
This must’ve been the lesson they wanted to teach… but couldn’t. The example was just too far outside the norm. I mean, most monsters die in one hit, and I don’t think those four have ever needed to retreat or fall back. Yeah… the four least suited for being instructors ended up as instructors, and that’s how everyone’s common sense and personalities got warped, turning them into one-hit-kill maniacs… That’s probably what we wanted to tell them, but couldn’t.
Even if they wanted to demonstrate or teach it, since with their surekill attacks a proper retreat battle just wasn’t possible. After all, the ones who wanted to flee were the monsters. Even when they tried to retreat, the monsters wouldn’t give chase, they’d run away instead. I mean… they were Dungeon Emperors, right? Anyone would run? The monsters surely did?
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