kscans

Chapter 75 - A Shattered Blade

"Oooooooooh!!"

"GYHAHAHAHAHA!"

Dodging fireballs launched from all directions, I charged straight ahead.

Using the foresight from my [Spirit Eye], I evaded them with minimal, weaving steps, forcefully closing the distance.

The demons before me switched from magic to close-quarters combat, all of them readying their greatscythes. The one directly in front was particularly poised, raising its weapon as if waiting for me. At that moment, I redirected all the wind I was using as footholds to my back. My own limbs felt like they would be left behind by the sudden acceleration, but I forcefully corrected my posture.

The sudden burst of speed threw off its timing; the scythe’s blade was still far away. I lopped off the head of the Lesser Demon, whose thoughts couldn’t seem to keep up, as I zipped past.

I immediately reconverged the wind at the soles of my feet. Just after I used it as a foothold to leap away, several fireballs streaked through the space I had just occupied.

I moved in a wide zigzag pattern to throw off their aim, then switched from a horizontal trajectory to a diagonal one. Combining triangular jumps with spiraling movements, I charged in for another attack.

I desperately recalled the advice Erina-san had given me during our training while throwing frisbees. The rest would have to be handled by instinct and imagination.

I shattered a demon’s face with my left fist as I passed, then uncurled my fingers to grab its horn and swing it around. I hurled it at another nearby creature.

I dodged a greatscythe swung down at my head from behind with a horizontal spin, countering by slashing at its neck.

Don’t stop, keep moving…!

I kicked off the wind to accelerate, cut down another demon with a diagonal slash, then whipped my sword around to smash the skull of one more.

A slash from the side was blocked by my left gauntlet, and I struck the attacker’s face with my pommel. The impact sent it reeling, and another demon swooped down from above to attack. A blade dozens of centimeters long passed right before my eyes.

In turn, I gained altitude, and the demons pursued me.

Dodging the incoming fireballs purely on the premonitions from my [Spirit Eye], I unleashed a maximum blast of wind diagonally downwards. Towards the swarm of demons passing by, I released the wind and fire I had gathered in my blade, incinerating more than ten of them at once.

I gathered the wind at my feet again to start running, my eyes frantically scanning my surroundings.

Where, where’s the next attack coming from…!

I dodged a slash from behind and slammed a backfist into the goat-head’s nose. The feeling of bone shattering, the recoil from my own strike. It nearly threw me off balance, and I forcefully kicked off the wind I was using as a foothold to leap back.

My balance is terrible! My distribution of wind isn’t right!

No matter how much I cursed myself internally, the enemy wouldn’t wait.

In the corner of my vision, I caught sight of six Lesser Demons heading for the school building, seemingly avoiding me.

"Like I’d let you!"

The six folded their wings and shattered through a window. I stomped down from above, crushing the spine of the leftmost one, and entered the building through the same window.

In the hallway, now littered with shattered glass and exposed to the wind and rain, the remaining five demons had landed.

The moment I saw them, I accelerated. I shattered the floor as I closed in, cut down the one in front of me—greatscythe and all—with an overhead slash, passed by its side, and thrust at the next one.

I pierced its throat, and as its body stiffened, I tucked my legs in and slipped between its arms to deliver a front kick. I sent it flying into the demon behind it, the recoil helping me pull my blade free.

Just as I cut down the rear demon, which had stumbled from the impact of its comrade, the wall of a classroom behind me shattered.

I could see ‘one’ in front of me. That meant the last one had entered the classroom next door through the door to get behind me.

"GYAHAHA!!"

"BOOOOOO!!"

"Shut up…!"

I parried the horizontal slash that tore through the wall, then used [Concept Interference] to crush the fireball launched by the other demon with my left palm.

I decided to deal with the one who had just swung its scythe first and raised my sword, but at that moment.

"‘Poison Needles’!"

Fine, purple needles made of mana pierced the creature’s back.

"GY!?"

There wasn’t much visible damage, but in the instant its attention was diverted, I lopped off its head, grabbed its greatscythe, and threw it at the enemy behind me.

I charged the creature as it instinctively deflected the scythe, slashing it from shoulder to chest.

Immediately after, another demon flew in through the broken window as if to provide reinforcements. I blocked its shoulder tackle with my right forearm, but I couldn’t completely absorb the impact. The door shattered, and we tumbled into a classroom.

"GAAAA!!"

The Lesser Demon mounted me and tried to bring the butt of its scythe down on me. I caught it near the crossguard of my sword, grabbed its horn with my left arm, and threw it off with brute force.

The demon rolled into the center of the classroom, destroying several desks. This time, I was the one who pounced on it.

I brought my knee down on its right bicep and held its head down with my left arm. The claws on its free left arm scraped against my breastplate, but I ignored it. I pressed the crossguard of my sword against its neck and put all my strength into it.

Soon, a crack echoed. Without a moment to spare for relief at the monster’s limp body, I stood up and leaped back out into the hallway.

"Yagawa-san!"

"Busujima-san, what are you doing here?" I asked her rapidly. She was standing near the classroom door.

"I was closing the fire doors inside the school. To delay the enemy’s advance, even if just for a little."

"Got it. Please continue. But stay away from the windows as much as possible."

"Right!"

There was no time to waste talking. I leaped out of the now well-ventilated window into the sky, then descended upon a creature that was trying to enter a lower floor. My weight added to the force as I bisected its torso from above and ran a few steps along the rapidly approaching ground.

After gaining momentum, I kicked off the wind in time with my jump to gain altitude.

As I dodged the fireballs launched by the waiting Lesser Demons, the stray shots created craters all over the schoolyard.

The intense heat passing right by me felt like it would burn me, even in the rain. I closed the distance with a spiral trajectory, and just as the enemy in front of me swung its greatscythe horizontally, I leaped one step higher.

Below me, the scythe cut through empty air, leaving the demon defenseless. I brought my body parallel to the ground, spun horizontally, and slammed a centrifugally-charged slash into its skull.

I kicked off that creature’s shoulder and moved on to another Lesser Demon. I swatted away an incoming fireball with my left gauntlet and pierced its heart with my sword.

As I twisted my blade and swung it upwards, my [Spirit Eye] predicted an approach from behind. I spun around and caught the incoming greatscythe’s handle with my left hand.

I smashed my pommel into the goat face, which was contorted in shock, just as a fireball hit my back. Simultaneously, two demons closed in at high speed from my left and right.

"Tch…!"

I instinctively wrapped the flames around my sword and cut down the creature on my left. I tried to turn my blade to intercept the enemy from the right, but I was too slow.

"GAAAA!!"

"Ngh…!"

The greatscythe struck my helmet, and my vision swam. But it was just the impact. Their blades can’t penetrate my armor…!

As payback, I slammed a left uppercut into its jaw and tore its torso open with my sword.

A moment later, I realized my feet had stopped moving. This is bad…!

From behind the shadow of the creature I had just cut down, another demon attacked. My [Spirit Eye] had caught it, but my concentration was starting to waver.

I dodged the slash aimed at my neck by a hair’s breadth. I drove my fist into its stomach and, as it flinched, swung my sword.

But the blade, which should have been aimed at its side, only cut off its right arm.

It wasn’t that it dodged. My sword swings are getting dull.

My body and mana aren’t fatigued. The problem is my mental stamina.

There was no time for a follow-up. To deal with the next attack my [Spirit Eye] had detected, I turned around and blocked a demon’s charge with my sword.

The Lesser Demon charged forward, not caring that its weapon’s handle was biting into my blade. To make matters worse, the one I had failed to finish off grabbed me from behind.

"GYGYGY…!"

"GYAHAAAAA!!"

"Guh…!!"

Its left arm wrapped around my neck, choking me as I was pinned from both front and back. Realizing that other creatures would come if I stayed like this, I instinctively kicked off the wind with all my might.

I flew in a chaotic trajectory, trying to shake them off, but the demons wouldn’t let go. What’s more, both of them started gathering mana.

No way, are they going to fire a fireball at point-blank range!?

"You bastards!"

I headbutted the demon behind me with the back of my helmet and used the recoil to slam my helmet into the nose of the one in front.

The hold on me loosened slightly, and I forcefully broke free with wind and arm strength. Immediately after, a storm of fireballs came flying from all directions.

[Concept Interference]… No good, there are too many!

I covered my entire body with wind, shielded my head with my arms, and let myself freefall, taking several hits. The impact was immense, and the heat was intense. My vision flickered, and strange noises echoed from various parts of my body.

Even without looking, I could tell there were scorch marks all over my armor.

But I endured. I immediately dropped my defensive posture, readied my sword, and focused wind and fire into the blade. Then, I unleashed it, intending to burn the swarming demons.

In response, dozens of the monsters gathered together in an instant. Their raised left arms created a barrier.

The wind and fire collided with the wall of mana, which had grown denser due to their numbers, and were blocked. A few of them had their arms carbonized, but I couldn’t finish them off.

"Damn it!"

They’ve already come up with a countermeasure!

The demons sneered vilely. The moment they began to break their tight formation, a sudden—

—VWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!

A small tornado swallowed the monsters whole.

No, that was a giant shuriken. It was flying while emitting wind, and it had drawn in the barrier they had deployed, adding their mana to its own power.

"GY—!?"

The demons were minced, as if thrown into a giant blender. My jaw dropped in amazement, but I somehow managed to right myself in mid-air.

The shuriken… the [Daisharinmaru]… which had shredded dozens of Lesser Demons, embedded itself in the schoolyard.

"Kyo-chaaan!"

"…Huh?"

A shadow dived out of a window, and I hastily ran to catch it. As I caught her just before she hit the ground, the blonde girl grinned like a child.

"Nice catch!"

"Please don’t jump out so suddenly…!"

I set Erina-san, who was giving me a thumbs-up, down on the ground, and she said something like, "I’ll run back on my own!" before heading off to retrieve her shuriken.

I felt the tension in my shoulders ease slightly as I gained altitude.

In any case, that took care of a good number of the demons….

"…—Hey! Hey, Kyo-chan-kun! Can you hear me! Erina-kun, too!"

"Aira-san."

The voice came from my earring, and my own reply came out surprisingly calm.

"Are you okay!? What in the world are you two caught up in while a person is trying to enjoy a nice afternoon nap!?"

"Don’t blame me."

I bantered back as I charged at the demons still flying about sporadically. It seemed there weren’t enough left in this area to coordinate their attacks, and I cut them down with ease.

For some reason, my performance was improving. It might be because the situation was now closer to the environment I was used to fighting in inside dungeons.

"This time, the dungeon break only happened at your location. The SDF should be coming to help soon, but since it’s a residential area, they might not be able to send helicopters."

"Is that good news or bad news… Whoops."

I turned to dodge an incoming scythe and cut the defenseless demon’s back.

"Who knows. In any case, buy a little more time. Hold out until help arrives."

"Already on it."

"And whatever you do,"

The moment she was about to say something.

Light and a deafening roar engulfed the area.

"Wha-aaah!?"

The shockwave that followed a half-second later threw me off balance in mid-air, and I nearly fell.

I slammed my sword and right knee into the wall of the school building that was now right in front of me, managing to avoid crashing headfirst. A strange noise echoed from the right side of my body, but I had no time to worry about it.

What was that, an explosion?

"Hey, what was that sound!?"

"I don’t know. There was a sudden flash of light and a loud noise…"

I answered as I turned my gaze in the direction of the flash.

"…You’ve got to be kidding me."

I was speechless. A residential area, a short distance from the school. It was engulfed in flames.

The fire was raging so fiercely it looked as if someone had doused every house in gasoline. It was a massive blaze that I doubted mere rain could extinguish.

But my gaze was drawn to something else.

A smooth, featureless face, lacking even a nose. On it were only glowing red eyes and a gaping mouth.

Its black, muscular body was covered in crimson, protector-like exoskeletons, and in its right hand was a greatscythe, similar to what the Lesser Demons carried but more ornate.

It had a pair of twisted horns, bat-like wings, and a reptilian tail that swayed lazily.

Even though I was nearly a kilometer away, my eyes met with the being floating above the flames.

"Listen, Kyo-chan-kun! Whatever you do, do not engage the boss monster! Do not fight the ‘Demon’! In terms of danger, it’s on par with or even greater than a Refcourse! Do not let it find you!"

"…I think it’s a little late for that."

"What!?"

A liquid other than raindrops trickled down my cheek.

The monster’s mouth, which had no lips or gums, just fangs that seemed to be one with its skin, opened in my direction.

"■■■■■■■—!!"

The true ‘Demon’ let out a roar.

In that instant, an enormous amount of mana began to converge. I instinctively kicked off the wall of the school building and used the wind as a foothold to gain altitude.

There was no doubt it was going to fire that mana. Even knowing that, I hesitated in my judgment.

I can’t block it. [Concept Interference] only allows me to ‘touch the untouchable’; if I’m overwhelmed by sheer output or mass, I’ll just be crushed.

But if I dodge the attack it’s about to unleash, the school building will definitely be incinerated. My mom and the others are in there. Evasion is not an option.

I held my breath and charged the enemy with everything I had. I have to cut it down before it fires…!

But perhaps due to that moment of hesitation, or perhaps simply due to a difference in fundamental power.

I wasn’t going to make it. A torrent of immense mana erupted from the Demon’s mouth.

"O-ooooooooh!"

With a roar that felt like I was squeezing out every last bit of air from my lungs, I swung my sword.

[Concept Interference]

It was a foolish act, like trying to stop a waterfall with a single stick. I couldn’t even entangle the energy; the divided streams of mana tore through the rain clouds and the ground.

My blade met the brilliant light. For three seconds. Then the blade cracked, and both my gauntlets shattered.

Even my helmet was torn away, and with my vision now clear, I saw it.

The sword I held was shattered, and a bundle of light was swallowing me whole.

"Ah…"

As my consciousness began to fade, I saw where I was being blown.

It was the classroom I attended every day.

The window shattered, and I was thrown headfirst into the familiar space.

The remnants of the Demon’s brilliant light tore apart a section of the school building, and rubble rained down upon me.