I immediately pulled my sword back out and got myself some distance from Mammon. I’d used a skill, a killer technique the assassin had taught me called Deadly Backstab. If you used it when the target wasn’t paying attention to you, you had a chance of inflicting a fatal hit. It was useful only in very specific circumstances, but it was the perfect ability for me.
I didn’t know if it was the skill at work or the poison I’d slathered on my blade, but Mammon pitched forward, his mouth working helplessly open and shut. The other monsters, seeing the knight they’d assumed was their friend suddenly turn into me, started panicking.
“It—it’s hiiiim!”
“He killed Master Mammon! And so suddenly!”
“What vile tactics! What foul deeds!”
“What?! Hold on…what?! Is that even a thing? You pull stunts like that, and you still call yourself human?!”
The monsters might have been completely freaked out, but I guess they really were members of the Demon King’s personal guard, because they quickly resumed their formation, and about three of them started advancing on us.
“Light of Saber!” Over by the entryway, a pretty good distance from where we stood at the far end of the room, Yunyun used her trademark spell to cut down one of the knights.
Darkness seized the moment: Completely ignoring the attacks that came her way, she charged straight at us. Mitsurugi and the rest tumbled after her, and in the blink of an eye, the great hall became a battlefield.
“This guy’s dangerous!” shouted the knight who was blocking my way, his weapon at the ready. “Surround him, and we’ll get him in one shot!” The two others with him nodded. Three sword points were leveled directly at me.
“Grrr, three against one? Some knights… And you still call yourselves the Demon King’s personal guards?!”
“Huh? H-hey, you’re one to talk! Making your own party member strip off her armor and then ambushing Master Mammon like that? You shut your mouth!”
“Y-yeah, how dare you speak to us like that…!”
“Just forget it, you two. I’m done letting this guy make us dance to his t—!”
All the complaining, though, left the knights open for just one second.
“Bind!”
“?! Wha—?! Hey!”
I didn’t feel compelled to let the guy finish. My superpowerful binding rope wrapped itself around him like a living creature!
“Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow! Hey, Kazuma, that hurts!”
…But the rope wrapped around Aqua’s neck squeezed down with it.
“Ugh! Good gods! Not only did he ambush Master Mammon, he thinks nothing of sacrificing his companions! I never expected him to be so inhuman! Shit, I let my guard down! You two, take care of this!”
It kind of hurt to be called inhuman, but I could hardly admit that I’d just plain forgotten that Aqua was at the other end of the rope.
“Kazuma! Kazumaaaa!! This guy’s armor is really hard, and it hurts! Can I use my magic to undo the Bind?”
“Hang in there just a little longer! I’m going to take care of these other two!” I said, and then I turned toward the remaining knights, who had their swords up and were watching me closely. They lowered their weight, ready to fight.
“That inhuman bastard might do a lot of talking, but you saw him. He took one of us out of the fight before we knew what was happening. Don’t blink. We go on three!”
“I’ve got it! On three.”
As they stood there working out their timing, I focused on the first knight’s voice and…
“Nah, y’know, I think we should do it on ‘Ready and Go!’ Or maybe on a count of ten…”
“Huh? Well, which is it?!”
“Hey, stop that! Don’t imitate my voice!”
While my antics threw my opponents into confusion, there was a shout from someone else: “Watch out! The Crusader’s headed your way!”
The knights in front of me glanced toward the voice…
“Eeeyikes?!”
“Wh-what the hell’s going on?!”
It didn’t matter if they sliced at her. It didn’t matter if they punched her.
“Stop, stop! Don’t let her go that way—stop her!”
“She won’t stop! I’m cutting her and cutting her, but she looks perfectly happy…!”
Two more knights were clinging to Darkness’s waist, trying desperately to drag her away from the Demon King’s chamber, but she was hell-bent on getting to Aqua and me. When she reached me, she said, “Kazuma, Aqua, I’m here to rescue you!” even as she tried to peel the knights off her. “I’ve come…to… G-grrr… Kazuma, could I get a little help here? These two just won’t…!”
“What do you think you’re doing, dragging two more enemies right over to us?! Now it’s two against four!” I exclaimed. The two knights who’d been clinging to Darkness let go and joined their comrades in surrounding us.
✦ ✦ ✦
At that moment, we heard a triumphant chuckle.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Try three against four.” Standing there looking absolutely thrilled with herself was Aqua, who’d broken my Bind. Which, of course, meant the knight who’d been tied up with her was free, too… “H-hey, Kazuma, is it just me, or does it suddenly look like the numbers are against us?”
“Why do I have to face down five opponents with nothing but an incapable Crusader and a pitiful Priest on my side?! You must both be total idiots!”
While we were arguing, the five knights had all pointed their swords directly at me and were preparing to launch an attack. I guess they had really taken those threats to heart. They were clearly looking to get rid of me first.
This was bad… With five of the Demon King’s elite troops coming at me at once, I was as good as dead! I was trying to decide if there might be some way to hide behind Darkness when the knights lunged.
“Decoy!” The knights’ swords abruptly turned toward Darkness, the blades scraping against her armor, leaving some light scratches on her cheek and sending a few strands of golden hair flying through space.
The knights, who’d been expecting to attack me, were thrown into confusion by suddenly having hit Darkness instead.
“H-how could I, as great and powerful as I am, have been fooled by a Decoy skill?!”
“Shit! I don’t know why, but this Crusader makes me want to hurt her…! It’s like I feel compelled to stab her…!”
The knights were totally flummoxed by their own behavior, but they all stabbed Darkness at once, the perv’s face lighting up bright red and her breath coming hard. “Hrn! I would have expected no less from the Demon King’s elite troops. You stab hard and true…! But I’ll accept all your attacks! Come on, now! Do your worst! Unleash all your most awful attacks! Quickly, now! Hurry up and stab me!”
The enemies backed away instead, thinking this must be some kind of trap.
Suddenly, one of the five crumpled.
“Lady Aqua! Are you all right?!”
We looked toward the sound of Mitsurugi’s voice to discover that every knight in the room had been taken out except for the five surrounding us. One of those five turned toward the intruder, looking to deal a blow with his sword, but…
“?! Hey! M-my fell blade?!”
“This enchanted sword is a legendary weapon, a gift to me from the goddess herself. There’s nothing it can’t cut,” Mitsurugi said as he sliced neatly through the knight’s sword and then through the knight.
“This guy’s even worse than the inhuman freak over there! We’d better take him out first, or— Ahhh!” Mitsurugi sliced the knight up before he could finish talking. That prompted two more to come at him at once, but—
“Rune of Saber!” Mitsurugi swept them both aside, his sword glowing with magic.
“Curse this man… Acting like I need him to—!” Darkness, who had basically been saved like a damsel in distress, was muttering angrily.
Geez, that enchanted sword of his really was a cheat. Did every Japanese person around here except me have an item that OP?
Mitsurugi shook the blood from his blade, then went over to Aqua and took her hand. “Lady Aqua, are you hurt?”
“Oh, I’m fine. Let me handle Darkness’s wounds…” Mitsurugi still hadn’t let go of her hand, and she gave him a funny look.
“Oh, uh, sorry, milady!”
“I don’t really mind, but if you start casually committing sexual harassment like that, you’ll wind up like Kazuma.”
“I’m gonna slap you so hard…,” I grumbled.
Mitsurugi dropped Aqua’s hand like a hot potato.
“I’ve gotta give it to you, though,” I said. “You really are strong. How about you just go take care of the Demon King for us? All by yourself.” I looked around the room.