Leave a comment

I drew my katana and headed toward the Devils.

Since Princess Eligore was here, I didn’t summon my gauntlets.

Even if there were three Devils, my combat power was different from back then. I confirmed it in Berith that I could deal with them as long as I could strengthen my body with thread manipulation.

Even so, our situation wasn’t so favorable that I could get careless. That’s just how strong a foe these Devils were.

“Gadius, I’ll—”

Back you up now. I was about to say that, but someone hugged me from behind. Of course, I was careful since this was a battlefield. But since I got hugged, it had to be someone that wasn’t included in my vigilance network.

“F-Finia?”
“Please don’t! Even if it’s you, Lord Reid, that enemy is—”
“Wait, Finia!?”

Finia and Gadius knew of my identity. So it was natural for her to call me that. But there was Princess Eligore and other Adventurers of Stollar here as well. It was pretty bad to call me that here, and Finia was smart enough to realize that, but…

“Please don’t go. That enemy is beyond even you, Lord Reid.”
“Wait, listen…”
“Please, don’t go. Please…”

After saying that much, she just started to sob.

She fell powerlessly to her knees while hugging me from behind, so she was just clinging to my waist now.

Looking back at her, I finally realized her fear.

She was trembling and crying so much she couldn’t stand anymore as she clung to me.

There was no way Finia could remain calm when she saw those Devils. She was merely forcing back her trembling and pretending to be calm.

Twenty-five years ago, even just the presence of that Devil made her petrified in place.

Now three such Devils appeared, so she couldn’t possibly be calm. She was in total panic. But it would be too harsh to blame her for that. I was the one insensitive enough to have missed that.

“Finia, it’ll be okay. I can deal with that level of an opponent now.”
“But… but still!”

I patted the confused Finia’s head and calmed her down.

She started to shake her head at me, acting like a spoiled child that was unlike her.

I tried to convince her with a gentle voice as she cried nonstop. I couldn’t abandon the Adventurers now.

That would also mean abandoning this city itself, after all.

“I was fine in Berith, right? And I have Gadius, who’d be even better at defense than Lyell, so there’s not even the smallest possibility of something going wrong.”

If I had to say, Lyell was a warrior excelling in the offense. He was like a gale that could rampage at the forefront using his forged physical strength and Gift of Toughness.

Gadius on the other hand had mountain-like stability, blocking and fending off the enemy attacks without budging.

He lacked firepower in exchange, which was the reason why he couldn’t drive away the Devil this time.

But with me here, that flaw could be made up for.

“I don’t want to die again. If it gets dangerous, I’ll just ditch everything on Gadius and run back.”
“Really?”
“Really, really. If I lie, I’ll listen to anything you ask.”
“I-I’ll believe you, okay?”
“Sure.”

I gently patted the clinging Finia and removed her wrapped hands off me.

But Finia’s sudden frenzy surprised a few Adventurers, and though they avoided a fatal injury, they were out of commission now. Even if it was an unavoidable thing, I had to make up for the delay.

The three Devils already joined up, and Gadius was dealing with two of them while the remaining one was held off by the Adventurers.

Gadius lacked attack power so he couldn’t defeat them, while the Adventurers were not strong enough to win even if they went at it with numbers.

“Don’t push yourselves! But don’t let it pass through no matter what!”

Mark stood at the forefront and encouraged his allies.

He knew that they couldn’t win on their own so he had decided to maintain the frontline.

His judgment was correct here.

Gadius could only protect, but the Adventurers Guild had heard about this.

If so, they should have contacted Raum with the communication system where Maxwell, the strongest attack power of this country was.

And the messenger was also dispatched.

If they dashed the horse to the death, they could deliver the information to Raum in three days.

They didn’t plan to continue this battle that long of course, but the information would reach Raum for sure.

The remaining problem was to survive until then somehow.

If the Guild reaches out to that old man and he comes here, these Devils can be exterminated instantly.

Maxwell was extremely specialized in attacks, after all.

“But that would piss me off in its own way.”

Always relying on Maxwell’s attack power just kept me away from my ideal heroic figure of myself.

It was unthinkable to suffer against the same enemy over and over.

I directed my thread manipulation powers internally and strengthened my body. Gadius wasn’t in that much danger, so I decided to help the Adventurers first.

I slipped through the crowd of Adventurers who were stopping the Devil’s attacks and arrived at its feet.

As I was sliding between its legs I sliced the underside of its knees and broke its posture.

Devil’s skin was hard and thick. I wouldn’t have been able to slice the skin with my normal muscle power.

But now I was strengthening myself with the Gift of Thread Manipulation.

I cut its hard skin like paper and severed the muscles and tendons behind it.

As the Devil fell with a somersault, the Adventurers flocked to it. Naturally, they couldn’t deal any effective damage with their power.

“Smite its shoulders and inner sides of elbows with axes!”
“Okay!”

That said, I doubt it could fully defend against axes that could cut down big trees.

There were many Adventurers who focused on destructive power and specialized in axes. They stepped forward now and attacked the Devil’s arms.

The Devil shrieked from pain and tried to rampage, but having its legs cut and arms smote with axes, it could no longer deal any effective counterattack.

I didn’t even have to do anything anymore. The Devil was exposed to the Adventurers’ attacks with no means to fight back and soon drew its last breath.