| Author: Shizuku | Original Source: Syosetu | Word Count: 2490 characters |
| Translator: Nomad | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 1199 words |
| Editor(s): Robinxen | ||
I don’t have enough time to finish reloading, but at least I won’t repeat the same mistake as before. If I don’t have enough time, I just need to get some more. The ogres continue running at me, and now I turn and run at them too.
“Ghah!”
“Gugh!”
I pass right between their club and sword.
Damn, they grazed my arm. But it’s no biggie. I have a pretty good understanding of them now. They pack quite a punch, but they’re no smarter than orcs or goblins. A simple diversion should trick them too.
“Project my body, Stand Mirage.”
I’m still pretty new to this spell, so I have to chant the entire thing. The ogres quickly turn to follow me behind them, but then they hesitate. They could not decide which me to attack.
Stand Mirage creates projections of one’s self. As long as I know what I look like and have enough mana, I can create as many as I want. There were more than ten of me surrounding the ogres. At first the ogres had the advantage in numbers, but more than half of them were dead, and I could only imagine how they felt seeing this illusion now.
Though that’s all they were, illusions, they don’t have any strength. And everything will be ruined if I try to move even just one of them. But this is good enough. I’m only doing this to buy me some time to reload, so as long as they get distracted I’m happy.
Ka-chink!
Good. I had actually stayed right next to the ogres, and pulled the trigger from essentially point blank the moment I finished reloading. The light blue magic bullets pierce into the ogres’ bodies, and red spots quickly take their place.
I jump back again to evade the enormous falling body, dispel Stand Mirage, and chant it again. This time I use different locations and poses for my projections.
“Guh…ghah!”
The ogre looks around confused for a bit, but it quickly centers on my real body. I guess it really is hard to trick an enemy with projections like that. It might work a bit at first, but the effect quickly wears off. It’s not something I should abuse often.
The ogre swings its sword horizontally and I stop it with my magic blade.
“Woah!”
But I’m fighting an ogre, a monster with almost as much strength as the golem. There’s no way I can block an attack with so much force, so I’m quickly flung away. I somehow manage to stop myself at a short distance, but I quickly jump away from that spot.
A moment later, a sword strikes that spot. I can’t stay still when facing such an opponent.
I can’t forget to move my feet constantly and avoid taking any direct hits. I thought I could handle them without much issue, but now that there was only one left, it was either falling to despair, or overtaken with anger, but it would not stop attacking.
Eerie sounds come from the air as the unsharpened sword moves through it. The ogre’s swings are broad and clumsy, so he’s full of openings, but I don’t have enough time to exploit them.
At first I thought about parrying an attack and using that time to counterattack, but I’m still a novice at melee combat, so I’m not agile enough for that. I’ve only ever used my magic blade to cut through small goblins, relying on the fact that it’s incredibly sharp.
If I try to block, I’m flung away. White Viper is out of bullets. Illusory Magic doesn’t work anymore.
What can I do? I don’t even have time to properly think of a plan. The ogre’s sword follows me wherever I go. I can’t afford to get distracted. There’s only a few things I can do. It’s not too different from the golem. I have to use every tool available to me.
“Ghraaaahhh!”
The sword is swinging from above now. I pass under it and to the side like I’ve done countless times already. The blade cuts right behind me. I can’t block it. But what about pushing it from the side?
Ping!
As the ogre lifts the sword again, I hit it with my magic blade as fast as I can, greatly changing the sword’s path. The ogre’s arm moves against its will as a result, leaving him completely open.
Though that applies to me as well, I used my left hand to push the ogre’s sword away, and my right hand is holding White Viper with no bullets. I still have one way to attack left though.
Without stopping my momentum, I raise one of my legs. A kick will be too weak, so I should just create a magic blade on my foot to finish this.
“Take this!”
Wait wait, if I create a magic blade on my feet my boots will break! I hurry to draw back my leg.
“Hm? Wait what?”
Wait.
Why did I even think of using a magic blade from my foot? How do I know that my boots will break if I even attempt to do that? I’ve never even tried to do that before. Or wait, did I actually do it?
I focus as much as I can, and I slowly start to remember. It did happen, when fighting the golem, but I could never remember. I still felt like that hadn’t been me.
“Guu!”
Okay, daydreaming while fighting is a really bad habit I need to fix. The ogre bellows as it recovers and tries to swing its sword down.
“Tsk.”
The moment I voice my discomfort White Viper is finally replenished with mana.
“Ghaaaa!”
“E-enough!”
I point my right arm forwards as fast as I can and pull the trigger. The bullets pierce through the ogre faster than its sword swinging down.
The ogre trembles each time a bullet pierces into its body, and each chips away at its life. Once all the mana I poured into White Viper is consumed, the bullets stop, and the ogre slowly tilts back and falls on the ground.
The end of every fight always feels a bit weird for me. My automaton body feels perfectly fine, but I know that if I was human, I would be drenched in sweat and trying to catch my breath.
I do feel exhausted though, so I should head back soon.
“H-hey! Wait!”
As I turn around to go home, the dog demi-human runs towards me. That reminds me, I was fighting the ogres trying to save him. He looks like an adventurer, and he has what looks like a decent sword. He probably felt the ogres were too strong for him so he ran though.
“Thanks for saving me.”
“I wasn’t really doing that to help you though.”
I didn’t think of it as a favor or aid, I just wanted to fight a powerful monster. There’s no reason to thank me at all.
“Anyway, I’ll be going now.”
I turn around again, finally free to leave.
“Heavy Sword”
“!”
My guard was completely down, so I ate the attack and got sent flying onto a nearby tree1.
