Act 2-35 - Melee

Chapter 35 : Melee

Upon arriving at the front of the group’s location, Members of Gamdon’s suicide squad had already clashed with the grey cult members.

Upon confirming with my own eyes, the total number of our opponents was six.

Since one was attacking us from behind, that made seven of them.

Of the six, five were combat specialists.

The sixth one was an old man who, equipped with a bladeless cane, stood by their side.

He was a man with long white hair, and malicious eyes.

「《Heal》!」

The light from his cane struck the seventh member of the grey cult who retreated after receiving an injury.

After swinging his enchanted sword, the enchanted weapon user who finally got injured was restored to a perfect condition to fight again with eerie smile on his face.

《Heal》 was a magic that belonged to the recovery type of magic.

The role of the old man who didn’t participate in the combat seems to be to use 《Heal》 on his injured comrade.

Mani squinted her eyes as she looked at the old man.

「As I thought, these people individual speech and conduct might make them look like a lunatic but, they’re extremely rational to the point of creepy when it comes to their organization…」

The fighting that centered around the healer was the most basic and solid tactic.

But, the use of such basic tactics betrayed my long time impression toward the grey cult as a group of mindless lunatics.

In my opinion, they are more like the kind of people who would attack with everything they had, taking no account for healing or recovery.

「DO IT MAGUS! PULL OUT THEIR GUTS! YA-HA! LET ME TEACH YOU THE TRUE MEANING OF AT EACH OTHER’S THROAT TO SOME SPINELESS PEOPLE LIKE YOU!!」

The old man who stood in the back of their formation seems to be their command tower.

He might be their leader.

Our two environmentalists were placed in the middle of our formation during the battle, each guarded by one adventurer to keep them safe.

But then, we still outnumbered them.

On the other hand, the enchanted weapon users of the grey cult, facing against Gamdon’s suicide squad whose number was double of their number, chose to slowly exhaust our stamina.

「DAMMIT! YOU GUYS! SHOW ME ALL YOU GOT! WE HAVE TWICE AS MANY FIGHTERS AS THEM! CRUSH THEM ALL AT ONCE!」

Gamdon brandished his axe wildly as he shouted at us but all Gamdon’s attacks were dodged by his opponent.

His opponent used that chance to launch a stab attack toward Gamdon, but Gamdon parried it with his axe at the last moment.

Despite his tyrannical attitude, Gamdon was certainly powerful.

In pure combat alone, he was evenly matched with the combatant of the grey cult.

Though I’ve had my doubts before about why he got chosen as the leader of this rescue team, I couldn’t help but feel that he was a reliable leader in this situation as I saw his real power.

A simple yet powerful person like him might be the most suitable person to lead the group of mix-match adventurers like us.

「SOMEONE, DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT GEEZER WHO KEEPS HEALING THEIR INJURY’S! CAN YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT HIM, HEIDAR! TRIVIAL JOB LIKE THIS IS YOUR FORTE, RIGHT!」

「I’M ALSO OCCUPIED!」

Heidar’s eyes are already bloodshot.

It seems he was busy with preventing the other adventurers from receiving fatal wounds with his 《Prognostication Short Sword; Gjallarhorn》.

「CHILDICK! CHANGE OF PLAN! ENTER THE COMBAT!」

「THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE, GAMDON! WE’RE GOING TO BE ANNIHILATED FOR SURE IF WE LOSE AN ENVIRONMENTALIST!」

Heidar shouted back at Gamdon, rejecting the latter’s plan.

Though we did have a spare environmentalist called Ciel. I doubt we would be able to escape safely from this demon labyrinth along with the hostages if Childick was killed in battle.

In the worst case, if both of them were to die, by then, we would be literally doomed.

Even the other adventurers certainly didn’t want to see Childick enter the fight and then die.

But… in the current situation, we were at a deadlock, unable to break their defense.

That old man was tightly protected by five others, leaving no opening.

When one of the five retreated to receive healing, the number of guards temporarily reduced to four.

Worst of all, the old man confirmed the situation of the five and closed the gap that might disturb his protection.

To defeat those guys, we need to break their formation by force, and kill that old man first.

Since we outnumbered them, killing one of them would greatly tilt the balance to our favor.

On the other hand, if that side kept getting healed like that, our side would be cornered for sure.

As long as that man existed, we couldn’t win this fight.

「… Edda, can you attract the attention of the second big man from the left?」

I asked Edda while running toward the battle.

「Your weak, lack of training body will be defeated in a second.」

Edda shut her eyes, hoisting her sword.

「《Quick》」

A magic circle deployed in the air, enveloping Edda with its light.

She used one of the support magic that she knew.

It was a magic that temporarily raised its user’s agility.

Edda’s eyes opened wide, her body leaning forward so close to the ground, and then, she leaped forward.

Maybe she used that magic in tandem with her battle art, 《Transcendent Blink》.

Edda closed the gap between her and that big man in the blink of an eye.

It seems that not even that big man expected to see such speed, he quickly readied the enchanted weapon that resembled a huge wooden pole in his hand.

But, he was one step too late.

Edda had already leaping to the side with a light kick, and then closing in again with irregular 3d movement.

The big man moved his enchanted pole to defend himself.

But, Edda’s sword was faster, it sliced off some part of the big man’s shoulder.

「YOU BIIIIIITCH!」

The big man was glaring at Edda, and raised his enchanted pole.

I used that moment to run past him, heading toward the healer oldman.

「DIG! KILL THAT BRAT!」

The old man screamed.

The lanky man who stood beside the big man showed a reaction.

It seems he was the one called Dig.

Dig, who fought against two adventurers, quickly turned his back toward his opponent to attack me with his enchanted dagger.

Fast, his speed might be as fast as Edda’s fastest speed.

「Hey, have you killed a human?」

Dig was stabbing at my abdomen with an eerie smile on his face.

I ignored him, readied 《Demon Eater Sword; Beelzera》 in front of me as if to use it for defense against his dagger.

I abandoned the defense on my head and completely focused on my defense from chest and below.

「Naive, you’re too naive, stupid brat.」

The orbit of his enchanted dagger changed midway, slipping through my guard.

Short weapons were lacking in terms of reach, but it was extremely flexible in close quarter combat.

It was clearly a weapon created to make full use of his speed.

Dig’s dagger was aiming for my head.

「Ah?」

The smile on Dig’s face stiffened.

His dagger sunk into my head, and passed through the other side.

《Moon Reflection》.

It was a battle art that I took from the Gold Maimai, a battle art that specialized in neutralizing an enemy attack by turning my body into liquid.

I baited him to attack my head and use this battle art to create an opening.

In this way, I could suppress the consumption of mana to a minimum while successfully executing this trick.

It was s last minute gambling but it was worth it.

I knew that I wouldn’t be able to defend agaisnt Dig’s attack due to sheer difference in our combat experience and speed.

I passed through Dig before he could react, and pointed 《Demon Eater Sword:Beelzera》 toward the oldman.

「BASTARD! STOP RIGHT THERE!」

Edda stretched her sword to stop Dig who was trying to chase after me.

「TCH!」

Dig bent back to dodge Edda’s sword.

Though Edda fought against the big man, she interfered with Dig’s movement to make sure that I could reach the old man.

「Thanks Edda!」

「Do that after you kill that oldman,」