TL : Cnine

ED/PF : Kouksan, Flare007

Hive[Shinji] POV.

While Sou faced against 6 Red Mongooses coming from our right, Midori, Fuyukawa and I decided to ambush the 4 that were coming from the left.

The 4 Red Mongooses were scattering towards the 3 of us. If things kept as they were, there’s no way everyone will be okay except for me who is specialized in close combat.

But, as if I was going to let that happen.

「――HIGH ALERT! 」

It’s not like I want them to notice me by shouting with such loud voice. Well, if the attention of all the girls in the entire world can be gathered just by this, I’ll shout till my throat bursts from it.

After my voice resounds in the field, the Red Mongooses change directions and head straight for me. The【High Alert!（Lv1）】 skill that I had just invoked was what you would call a hate management skill, and it’ll gather the hostility of the enemies in a ten metres radius around me.

When I use this skill, it’ll be as if I was the enemy of their parents. Though I can’t use it too many times in a battle since the skill had a 180 seconds cooldown, it was an excellent skill to turn the tide of the battle when used correctly.

「They came huh. Defense Shield! 」

An exclusive defensive art【Defense Shield（Lv2）】 which will protect me from an opponent"s attack with a shield. Even better was, the number of consecutive defense I can perform rises along with mastery level, though right now it’s only up to 3 times with my current level. Well, as I can only defend 3 times, the fourth Red Mongoose will get me.

「GUH

The impact on the arm that held the shield made me lean backwards. If I keep my stance as it is, I’ll be pushed down by another powerful rush. Thankfully my current skill in using the shield is almost reaching max mastery thanks to using arts. I side-stepped, directing the attack of my opponent to the side and not receiving it from the front, then used its own force to knock it away.

「――1! 」

Even as I’m enduring the first wave of the opponents" attack, they’re coming one after another. Readying my shield, I prepared against the 2 Red Mongoose running side by side towards me.

Different from monsters in the forest, the ones of the meadows have extremely low tendency to form group attacks or get into formations. But there’s still a chance if they have the same target.

But as a result, due to the slight gap in my stance created by the 1st wave of attack, the other two hit me during that exact gap.

Though it was a dangerous situation as there was zero distance, fortunately there was a slight moment between the 1st and 2nd wave of attack. This disadvantageous situation could be reversed as long as I don"t mess up.

Performing dance-like steps to set myself up, I then raised my shield towards the enemy"s direction. Thanks to sliding to the side, the Red Mongoose in front of me was doing an unsightly rush, with another one following from behind.

「I can avoid their attack as long as I dodge to the side. Well then――2! 」

Defense power is obviously the most important thing for a shield user, but another important thing is to take position according to the enemy"s position. With those skills, one could say that I’m not bad as a shield user.

「And then, THREEEEEEEE! ？ 」

d.a.m.n, I couldn"t perfectly fend off the impact of the 3rd Red Mongoose due to the short interval between attack and got blown to the back.

The 4th one…………was also coming. Well, I was the one who baited them to come after all.

I invoke my art to close the gap, just as the last Red Mongoose raised its well developed nails over me, and then――

「KUH, BLADE ATTACK! 」

I somehow managed to stop the nails descending towards me with the blade of my sword. Unfortunately, I could only use small and quick slashes to stop the claw of the Red Mongoose, not having a chance to counter at all.

While my sword interlocking with it’s claw, the red mongooses that I flung with my shield gathering as if to surrounding me. At this rate, I’ll become their punching bag.

――But only if things keep going on like this.

「Here I come, Hive――Windmill! 」

Turning to look, I saw Leaf raising her staff over her head, looking very much like a real magician. Two blades of wind stretched out around me, and started rotating at high speeds―― moving like a helicopter"s main propellor, chopping at the enemies surrounding me.

Its power is terrifying. One of the Red Mongoose turned into particles of light while the other 3 had their HP shaved by more than half.

「Your power is as terrifying as usual huh. But, I’m saved by it.」

「You’re welcome!But, it"ll take some time till I can use magic again, so you’ll protect me during that time right?」

「Understood, leave the rest to me! 」

In IEO, there’s the concept of HP but no MP. Instead, there’s a restriction in the number of times you can use magic, recast time after you use a spell, and charging time before being able to fire off a spell.

The weaker magic spells have short recast times, and have equally short charging times. Powerful magic spells are the exact opposite of that. Even if it’s okay to say that the power isn’t that high, the point is how to use it properly.

【Windmill】 was a considerably powerful magic spell one could learn. However, not even talking about its learning difficulty, the charging time and recast time is longer than most spells of its caliber. Why isn"t Midori learning easier magic.

But then again, thanks to that spell, there were only 3 enemies left. I’ll end this in an instant.

「Now come attack me again, BLADE ATTACK! 」

Swinging my blade, I attacked the Red Mongoose closest to me.

「GEH! ？　NO WAY」

Could it be that I was careless since it already lost half of its HP, or I was just too impatient. My attack lacked its sharpness and caused the lowest damage I could deal.

s.h.i.t, for me to make such mistake during this kind of important step――

「I just need to GOOO! 」

I started slashing my sword towards the enemy in front of me. The movement of my sword become extremely lousy compared to when I’m using an art. You could even label these as desperate attacks.

But, my desperate attacks worked, ending the Red Mongoose"s life. The figure of my best friend《Sou》floats inside of my mind suddenly.

「S-Sa~fe………….. Sou"s movements are definitely bad for my heart. Anyway, there’s 2 left! 」

I gripped the sword and shield in my hand and then prepared myself to face the 2 enemies left. But, the scenery in front of my eyes is a let down. The Red Mongooses are completely ignoring me and were heading towards Midori instead.

「Well, come then」

Speaking of it, it’s natural for them to target Midori. Though the skill【High Alert!（Lv1）】 gathered the hate of all the monsters towards me, currently they’re attacking Midori who has the highest hate after firing such a powerful spell. Knowing such a situation was bound to happen, I started my countermeasure.

「Let’s do this, Blue! 」

「Yes!.   」

Blue who was continously doing her preparation replied to my voice with a nervous face. She was holding on tightly to the flute in her hands―― Which was obviously a musical instrument and not a weapon.

「――Bewitching Tone!」

The sound of flute which was obviously out-of-place in this kind of blood thirsty battlefield resounded. Though this sound is in fact nice to hear for our ears, it’ll give a sudden discomfort to monsters as if bugs were crawling into their ears. I’m going to consider Fuyukawa as my friend from the bottom of my heart, from now on.

「GYAOOOOOOO! ？ 」

Though they seemingly suffer no damage at all, the last 2 Red Mongoose have fallen into a  frantic state after hearing the tune of Fuyukawa"s flute. I definitely won"t make an enemy of her, she has the most hated occupation of PvP after all!

I sneaked towards the monsters who were retreating from Midori and Fuyukawa due to their dislike of the sound from Fuyukawa"s flute.

「――ATTACK SHIELD! 」

I rammed the Red Mongooses from the back with my shield. They who had already took huge amounts of damage from Midori"s attack, couldn"t stand against my attack and turned into particles of light.

「ONE LEFT! 」

Red Mongooses can become a huge threat if they attack in groups, but they are nothing much when alone.

The last Red Mongoose becomes particles of light under my sword, and thus the battle concluded.

(~".")~To Be Continue To Chapter 19~("."~)

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