What is a hero, anyway?
That’s surprisingly easy to answer. The simplest answer is the right one, I imagine. Heroes are meant to be…
“Those who give courage to others.”
Mimori Touka
WITH SOGOU AYAKA’S deployment to the northern flank, the course of our battle flipped in an instant.
To be honest, she did even more than I expected. I suppose I’ve never actually seen her in the midst of a real battle before, just that short exchange between her and Seras after we beat Kirihara. I have a fair idea of what her skills do, but…
“Lady Ayaka appears to be moving from the northern flank into the center!” came a message from one of our couriers.
I suppose that means that she’s done basically all she needed to up north, eh? From our other reports, it sounds like the eucharist ranks there have mostly collapsed. Their numbers are down, but the biggest factor is that we’ve taken out their command structure. Sogou’s been faithfully carrying out my orders.
“Amazing… Should’ve expected as much from the highest-ranked hero,” said Lokiella in amazement.
The highest rank… S-class.
All three S-class heroes have abilities befitting their powerful position. Takao Hijiri can do a lot with her abilities. In terms of raw combat strength, she might be considered a little weaker than the other two. But her abilities are far more flexible and widely applicable.
Kirihara Takuto’s abilities really are powerful… Controlling highly potent attack energy at will and using that energy to speed up his own movements. He can also produce smaller golden dragons to protect himself against attacks. Then there’s his ability to enslave golden-eyed monsters, which even lets him turn humanoid monsters into his servants. That’s how he created his golden-eyed army. If those abilities had been granted to someone else instead, there might be an entirely different fight for this world taking place right now.
Then there’s Sogou Ayaka.
Compared to the other two, her abilities are completely geared for combat. She was already much more powerful in battle than any of her classmates before she became an S-class. I don’t really understand how it works, but apparently, she uses a technique called kyokugen to strengthen herself—something completely unrelated to this other world that she learned from her grandmother in the old one. A kind of ancient martial arts, I think?
There’s something different about Sogou Ayaka. There has been right from the start. She can turn the tide of a battle on her own, first against Mira, and now here…to say nothing of her abilities in single combat. There’s something terrifying about being on the same battlefield as she is.
She’s an anomaly. Completely out of the norm.
“…”
It seems like she took out those giant eucharists on the northern flank one by one, then went on to capture the eucharist commanders and deliver them back to our lines. Sogou’s silver army has been slowly chipping away at the eucharists’ zone of control. They’re still out there now in the fight. She still has the MP to keep fighting, too. Nothing can escape her.
I thought I had an idea of what she could do after hearing the reports, but this is…
“I never expected this.”
“Sir Too-ka, I am ready to leave at any time,” said Seras.
I looked at her over my shoulder—the Holy Knights of Neah were at her back. I turned Slei in the direction of our army’s southern flank. I’d made the call to enter the battle after seeing Sogou’s results in the field, leaving Lokiella behind for the time being. There was no need for her to join us.
“I leave the rest to you, Your Majesty,” I said to the Wildly Beautiful Emperor.
“Of course. Ride out, and fight without fear.”
Commanding this army is the Wildly Beautiful Emperor’s role, anyway—we’re a commando unit.
I placed a hand to my Lord of the Flies mask to adjust it slightly.
“Let’s go.”
I raced toward the southern flank. Slei was so much faster than other mounts that I started to leave Seras and the others behind, but I’d accounted for that in my plans. I’d instructed them to catch up with me when they could. According to our reports, the giant eucharists were taking longer to reach our southern flank, which was part of the reason I deployed Sogou to the north.
But now the giant eucharists are finally getting to the south.
I charged into the melee on the front lines.
“You’ve come then, Lord of the Flies,” came a familiar voice—the hellhound, Loa.
“Looks like you and your monster unit are having some trouble,” I said.
“We are trying our best,” said Loa, scorching an attacking eucharist to death with his flame breath. It had been his right head that shot out the fire. “But against an enemy like that one… I know not what we can do.”
Loa was looking up at the giant eucharist. I laid a hand on the great beast’s leg.
“Leave it to me.”
I set Slei running again, blowing through any eucharist that stood before us. Keeping an eye on my target limit, I scattered a few of my status-effect skills on the enemies to clear a path, leaving a trail for Seras and the others to follow. I held a longsword in my hand—a weapon of Piggymaru’s creation.
A slime weapon, I guess you could call it. This was a trick the little guy picked up after its third stage of transformation.
I swung it from Slei’s back as we raced past the horde of eucharists, slicing at their throats.
“Hey, Piggymaru.”
“Squee?”
“You know you didn’t have to color this thing too, right?”
“Squee! Squee-ee!”
“‘But it looks so much cooler that way,’ huh?”
I grinned and snorted at that. “Well, if you say so, little buddy—I guess you’re right.”
The double-edged longsword was black, featuring a dark red groove that ran down its center. The tip of the blade was lightly curved—a bit like a scimitar—and there were also peaks and dips along the edges. The peaks weren’t small ones like the blade of a saw, but serrated like an offensive swordbreaker.
In any case, this thing’s terrifying to behold. This must be what Piggymaru was going for, eh?
I had shown the slime pictures of books with illustrations of weapons before. Apparently, it had tried to make something that would suit me.