Chapter 7: Past Glory Lost

Part 1 of 4 (translated by Lono)

Look for it.

Find it no matter what.

In this situation, with how we are now, there must be some way we can pull this off.

Of course he hadn’t dared to think it would all go well from the very start. It couldn’t be that simple.

Even so, to think that it would be this bad…

“—ku! Ranta…! Don’t back off…!”

Haruhiro was trying to get a grasp of the situation while parrying the attacks of goblin A with [SWAT].

Goblin A was wearing a leather helmet and chainmail armor, and was armed with a short sword and a small shield, but it wasn’t like it had an orc’s big body, nor were its blows as heavy. Even fighting it one-on-one wasn’t that hard; the problem was Ranta.

“It’s not like I’m backing off…!”

Ranta yelled “[PROPEL LEAP]….!” to retreat in a hurry. Goblin B was drawn in and gave chase.

Without a moment’s delay he attacked the approaching goblin with his long sword.

“Eat this! [JUKE STAB]…!”

However, thanks to its good physique, the heavily armed goblin managed to avoid Ranta’s sword by a hair’s breadth. Well, even if he’d landed the attack between the neck and shoulder of the armor, a blow of that caliber wouldn’t have dealt much damage. Goblin B didn’t falter and closed the distance between them. Ranta slashed his long sword at Goblin B’s blade,

“[EXPEL FRENZY]…!”

And immediately knocked the goblin’s sword down. It was all going fine, but then—

“Kiran! Got you! [HATRED’S CU…]!”

Ranta stepped in aggressively and performed a full body slash, landing a perfect strike on top of Goblin B’s left shoulder. However,it wasn’t enough. It was the armor. The armor was so strong, Ranta’s long sword failed to penetrate, leaving only a dent.

“You’re being too aggressive…!” Haruhiro complained while still parrying Goblin A’s sword.

“Shut it!” Ranta yelled back. He then showered Goblin B with attacks.

“Orya orya orya orya orya….! Ura ura ura ura ura ura ura…!”

Though Goblin B was recoiling, Haruhiro could see it was somehow fending off the swings.

That’s why a brute force approach is impossible. Do you understand, Ranta?

“You b.a.s.t.a.r.d—”

Because you aren’t Mogzo.

Haruhiro almost said as much, but he swallowed his words. That was something he shouldn’t say. Because Ranta was doing his best in his own way. He had tried to take on the tank role of the party, and from the beginning of the battle, plunged himself right into the middle of the enemies.

But unlike Mogzo, Ranta was never the type to hold position and continually exchange blows with the opponent.

To begin with, the core of the Dread Knight’s fighting style was to make use of its mobility to lead opponents around by the nose, confusing them. Moving around was inevitable. If he didn’t do that, he wouldn’t be able to use his real strength. Ranta wasn’t like that. He wasn’t a tank. Haruhiro and the others would have to change the very basics of their strategy. But what would their new tactic be…?

“Oh…”

Haruhiro tried to [SWAT] the Goblin’s sword, but his hand slipped. The goblin will break through. This is bad—

“Tsuaaa…!”

Mary. Mary rushed in aiming her short staff at Goblin A. The goblin was sent flying despite blocking with his shield.

“Are you preoccupied with something…!?”

“S-sorry, Mary!”

“Focus!”

While answering yes in his mind, Haruhiro attacked Goblin A. Pretended to attack, to be exact. As soon as Goblin A turned to counter attack, Haruhiro switched to [SWAT]. He somehow managed to connect [SWAT] with [ARREST] and tried to incapacitate Goblin A, but it didn’t look like it would work.

Goblins are a bit too small. I’ve never used [ARREST] against a goblin. What’s up with this? d.a.m.nit. I was able to kill an orc, and happily lose my virginity, but I can’t defeat a single goblin facing him fair and square? I’m too weak. But I know. I know well enough that I’m too weak.

“Oom rel eckt nem das….!”

Shihoru used her magic, [SHADOW BIND]to shoot a shadow elemental at the ground. It attached itself near the right foot of Goblin C, which had locked blades with Yume.

Nice, Shihoru.

Goblin C panicked and planted its left foot, trying to pull its other foot away, but the shadow elemental clung tightly and didn’t let go.

“Funya!”

Yume jumped at Goblin C, and showered it with a combo of [SWEEPING SLASH] and [CROSS CUT]. However, Goblin C was wearing chainmail in addition to its hatchet-like weapon, so it didn’t suffer a fatal wound. Even so, its shoulders, arms and torso were hit with the kukri’s full strength, so they should be in quite a lot of pain.

Goblin C began to randomly swing its hatchet. It must have been really desperate, but Yume pulled back.

If Yume took a hit from that with just her leather armor, it would be bad.

“Yume…!”

She briefly glanced in Haruhiro’s direction, and seemed to understand just from being called.

Yume is coming here.

Parrying Goblin A’s sword with [SWAT] once more, Haruhiro dashed away. Goblin A tried to keep up with him, but Yume took over and stopped it.

Goblin C’s right foot was still affected by [SWADOW BIND]. It noticed Haruhiro coming and tried turning around to face him, but was too slow. Or rather, because it couldn’t freely use its legs, it couldn’t move or turn around. Of course, taking someone like that from behind would be easy.

Haruhiro circled around to Goblin C’s rear and leapt in. He immediately pinned the goblin’s arms behind its back and slit its throat in one go with his dagger. After Haruhiro pulled away, Goblin C’s knees bent and audibly hit the ground. His right foot was still fixed to the ground, so it didn’t collapse completely.

“—Alright! Finally got one….!”