Chapter 277: Yarn, Crimson Lotus, and Asora Weapon
Translator Note:
Wow, there’s another chapter of Tsuki ga Michi. Azumi Kei is on fire!
You know what will be next in line :DDD
A big man that surpasses 2 meters in height.
Being covered by an armor of bursting muscle, he possesses defensive power and endurance that matches his physical appearance. But even when his appearance clearly tells that he is the frontline type, he also specializes in accurate and skillful support.
So unfair.
They are probably using some sort of method to dampen the healing magic greatly, in this current situation where the recovery of the injured is quite slow, the number of enemies has not decreased at all.
Three demi-humans.
Only three.
Even in this overwhelmingly advantageous situation that is fighting in their territory.
They haven’t gotten haughty or anything, they are fighting to their best.
While being irritated by this, the captain of Picnic Rose Garden, Vivi, silently continues moving in hiding.
(Ageha and I will defeat that Arke man. Well, I say that, but that Arke called Hokuto is already different from the Arkes that we know. So this is what happens when those things get intelligence huh. Such a pain.) (Vivi)
It was already self-evident that he was an opponent that you would normally avoid battle with.
An organization that has enough war potential to attack their base, and even with overwhelming numbers advantage, there’s still no knowing if they can win.
And that organization is a company. This is seriously a funny joke.
But for Vivi, there were no signs of the word armistice popping in her head.
Even if her prided mercenary group is having an unexpected tough fight, there’s still cards remaining.
Also, the present leader of Picnic Rose Garden, Vivi Poze, is a deeply emotional person.
It is both a strong point and a weak point though. At any rate, anyone that she considers a comrade of hers, she takes care of them kindly.
Even if they are against an enemy that possesses mighty power that would defeat them in many scenarios, they are the guys that hurt Pione deeply.
And they are the guys that killed all the friends that Pione cried and was ready to lay down her life to save.
In the eyes of Vivi, Pione is family.
It doesn’t go as far as seeing her friends as family, but even so, they are acquaintances that were taking shelter in their base for a period of time.
(I know plenty well that revenge doesn’t bring forth anything good. But I also know plenty well that there are people that can’t move forward without having any sort conclusion to it, not everyone can just forget. If it’s for the sake of seeing Pione smile cheerfully once again, this leader of yours, Vivi-san, will be doing her best.) (Vivi)
Probing on the mysterious item lineup that the dwarf was drawing out, and, on top of that, deciding the coordination between one of her partners Ageha by eye contact, Vivi erases her own figure from sight, and finally caught the back of Hokuto.
The stealth skill training of Rokuya was showing its full colors here.
It is not as precise as the person himself, but the usefulness is incredibly high.
And to prove this, Vivi has been cautiously observing Hokuto, Shii, and Beren, and she is confident that they haven’t noticed her.
In other words, it is the time to attack.
She has also received contact from the Marikosans that they have already finished their first job and were going to reconvene with them in a few minutes.
They planned on going to help those girls since they were in the most problematic side of the battlefield, and yet, it ended up with those girls coming to help them which made Vivi slightly mortified, but it is true that their enemies are strong.
She should just be happy about the reinforcement.
(Here it is!) (Vivi)
From the direction she was notified beforehand, she detects a volley of light spears, and decides that she will be moving right after that attack impacts.
She is currently in the place where that bombardment will be landing, but, maybe she has confidence in avoiding them all, she didn’t show any signs of running away.
“Beren! Hokuto-chi! An attack with light element and a bit of earth element, incoming! The power is above average! Numbers…a lot!” (Shii)
(The Forest Oni, Shii, has already—?!) (Vivi)
“I have already noticed it too. No need to tell us the direction, Shii!” (Hokuto)
“Understood! I mean, roger!” (Shii)
A notification came from Shii, who was fighting in the sky with the thread of Hokuto and her own flying spell.
She perceived the attack almost at the same time it was released, and she let the two below her know.
“Beren, can I leave it to you?” (Hokuto)
“Of course! I have already somewhat understood the strength of this place, you see! It can be mostly blocked by the Aegis Film, but might as well just give them a blast!” (Beren)
In this battlefield where the tension has increased quite a lot, the dwarf Beren responds to the words of the Arke.
The magic attack of the Marikosans is a powerful attack that wouldn’t fall behind the death traps of the dungeon’s lower levels.
It would be another story if they knew of it beforehand and had prepared a countermeasure for it, but it is not an attack that you would be able to deal with right after seeing.
At the very least, not in the common sense of Picnic Rose Garden.
“Here we go! Bring back Shii here just in case! First of all, [Catapult]!” (Beren)
With the words of Beren, apparatusses that were not that big appeared at both of his sides.
Alarms inside the head of Vivi begin to ring when she sees those things she hasn’t seen before within the mysterious items he brought out.
(They look similar to ballistas, but it is slightly different. What is he planning on doing?) (Vivi)
Her uneasiness grows increasingly.
But she can’t change her plan too drastically at this point in time.
“Prepare, Blast Spears!” (Beren)
What was summoned now are spears.
In the middle of the handle of the spear, there’s a strange mechanism. This is also a weapon Vivi has seen for the first time.
4 spears like the ones used in ballistas.
“Hmph…the attack power and scope…Umu, in that case, the angle would be…next, just have to adjust it, and…” (Beren)
Beren, who has equipped some tough-looking goggles, was muttering something, and then, as if abiding to his words, the 4 apparatusses begin to move.
“Shoot!”
(?!)
The 4 spears were pointed towards the mass of light in the sky -no, the wall of light- and were shot.
The spears and the light made contact, and an intense flash covers a whole area.
And in that moment, a weak vibration resembling an earthquake reverberated in the space.
“So it didn’t take all of them out huh! Well, this next one is something that was created by tinkering with a product the hyumans manufactured. [Aegis Film]!” (Beren)
(Tch, not a single one is falling! I can’t confirm by sight, but it was blocked! In that case…!!) (Vivi)
A flash and vibrations, even so, Vivi, who had accurately calculated the countdown for the impact, immediately understands that the support fire had shown no effectiveness.
But it can create a blank space where attack and defense are gone temporarily.
In the time they are relieved they were able to block the danger of several hundreds of spells, Vivi will move.
Surprise attacks, assassinations, finishing moves; all of those are her repertoire.
No matter how cornered they are, she is a person that shows incredibly high ability.
“History of the Asura Empire, [99 thorns]!!” (Vivi)
“?!! This is…!” (Hokuto)
Hokuto reflexively takes a defensive stance against the shadow that went around from his side to his front and activated a skill.
One of his hands was pulled by a string.
It is Ageha. Vivi’s partner and a trueborn mercenary.
Ageha had trained on the empty-handed techniques, and the Asura First that she utilized was the attack that possessed the highest power from within the attacks Hokuto received in this battle, but the combo attack just now was composed by attacks that were comparable to it.
With only his free right hand, he was unable to deal with the combo of attacks that were being driven onto him by this unknown shadow.
But, he is not a hyuman.
Two more arms appear and he begins to block the punches and kicks that were like a storm.
Hokuto felt that the damage accumulation surpassed the prided regeneration ability of the Arkes and shuddered.
Receiving the 99 attacks, and having sustained heavy damage in his body, what occupied his heart was not fear, but simple admiration.
Feelings of admiration that someone that’s not from Asora and has been living in hyuman society could possess such a technique with this much power.
Even if the conditions are disadvantageous for him and his group, this was an opening that was created from him having the confidence of overwhelming the hyumans.
“The preparations are done. Rascal spider, get ready… [White Thrust]!” (Ageha)
The whole body of Ageha was overflowing with the aura of a finishing move.
The loose part of her clothes and her hair were slowly raising.
Seeing her take a half-body stance, Hokuto could tell that the fist that was on the unseen part of her body was gathering power she hadn’t shown before.
“You are still continuing huh! Splendid, karate woman!” (Hokuto)
Hokuto slightly moves the hand that was controlling the thread, and he brings out the other remaining 5 arms he has and begins to create even more threads.
“[Adamantine Yarn]!” (Hokuto)
“Fake Art, black crawling hands, [All Hazard].”
“Wa—when did you—” (Ageha)
The fist of Ageha was thrusted onto the shield of threads that was made in an instant.
At that instant…
Hokuto sensed the presence of someone suddenly appearing from behind, and it had the same amount of power from the one he felt at the front, and when he turned his gaze towards that direction, he was shocked.
There was a woman he hadn’t seen before right there.
The arm that was holding her dagger was covered with a black something that reached to the elbow.
That’s dangerous.
Even Hokuto thought so about that skill.
This unknown woman, Vivi, had already jumped into action by propelling with the full strength of her body in order to take the neck of her prey.
Even if he has an increased number of arms now, he knows that he won’t make it in time to guard.
Now that it has come to this, he had no choice but to endure it.
Hokuto, who had resolved himself to receive the attack from behind, was surprised by two things his eyes caught sight of.
“It broke through the adamantine?!” (Hokuto)
“The White Fist won’t reach!” (Ageha)
The special technique of Hokuto, adding a special properties to the thread that Arkes produce and strengthen it, yarning.
It is a technique that he learned when he decided on faithfully training in his thread techniques first, and the special properties that can be given are truly varied.
Within those varieties, the adamantine property is short in effective time, but it has also shown that it is capable of repelling most attacks.
He didn’t expect that a single punch would be able to break through it.
The finishing move of Ageha that she trusted the most was only able to pierce through a film of the thread and, with only that, it lost all its power and was unable to reach Hokuto.
And the other surprising thing was…
“Heave-ho~~!”
The appearance of an intruder that flew right between Hokuto and Vivi with incredible speed.
She swung down her tough metal rod with all her strength against the black lunge.
It was hard to believe, but the one that was bounced off was the metal rod.
“What unbelievable toughness and speed! Can’t be helped then! Now that it has come to this, I will also be showing my trump card…”
“…From what an unbelievable place you are intruding from! Stay quietly at the backlines like the elf you are!” (Vivi)
The momentum of Vivi’s attack was killed, but even with that, she once again accumulates strength directed not at the person that intruded but at Hokuto once again.
“If possible, I wanted to finish this fight without using it, but as the partner of Hokuto, I can’t step back here!”
The identity of the intruder is the Forest Oni, Shii.
With the same yarning technique, the thread that was connecting Hokuto and Shii was given a strong rubber property, adding that to her own acceleration spell, she managed to interfere instantly.
This was a speed that even Hokuto didn’t expect, and it is also the reason of his surprise.
Shii immediately digested that her own prided attack was repelled, and takes a long and narrow test tube-looking bottle with red liquid from the holder at her waist.
A high-pitched sound was made when she broke the seal of it, and she drank it all.
“It looks like the hyumans desire this as an ingredient for their elixirs, but for us, they are the ingredient for our trump card. Evolution Drug, [Crimson Lotus]!” (Shii)
Red magic power gushes out.
A torrent of raging magic power different from her usual state envelops the body of Shii.
“With this, I will bring you down!” (Vivi)
“No you won’t! I won’t let you!” (Shii)
The red magic power clad metal rod and the black thrust once again cross.
Both magic powers clash and a powerful shockwave assaults the surroundings.
“What crazy power…” (Vivi)
“Ouch ouch…it really hurts~. My hands went numb. But this is my win. Well then…fly away, [Storm Homerun]!!” (Shii)
Shii holds the metal rod with both hands, and swings widely at Vivi who had her posture heavily crumbled.
The leader of the mercenary group was smashed away to the distance.
Blasting off
And while that happened, Shii had thrown the metal rod and that metal rod chased straight after Vivi.
“Vivi!” (Ageha)
“That Shii, she really did it. Well then, let’s take care of this one too then.” (Hokuto)
“This is—?! A string?!” (Ageha)
“It is called yarn, a technique of mine. I add a variety of properties to the threads. Woman of valour, you were strong.” (Hokuto)
“…Tch. If the White Fist had connected, the story might have been different, but…this one fight, it is our lost huh.” (Ageha)
Hokuto and Ageha exchange fearless smiles.
A few seconds later, the thread that was coiled around the right fist Ageha used for her attack began to shine…and exploded.
Ageha was blown back towards the place where her comrades were, but they were unable to stop the force of it and were blown back together with her.
“Good grief. They really attacked us aggressively there. I want to believe those were their aces in the group.” (Hokuto)
The slight damage that still remained in his body clouded his expression.
“Yeah. Even if the calculations stated that it would be okay even if we shot the Burst Spears, these guys formed a space that weakened us to a point where we were made to shot those Burst Spears in an underground environment. This is not the handywork of some regular folk. If it weren’t in these kind of circumstances, it is to a level that I would want to bring some great alcohol and listen to the principle behind it. Seriously.” (Beren)
Beren was surprised that he was able to utilize the weapon that is normally not something that can be carefreely utilized outside, and even within Asora, it is classified in a relatively high position.
As a dwarf, he possesses more interest and ability in the generalistic area rather than the specialization area, so he was incredibly interested in the structure of this labyrinth.
“Is there no second volley of the magic attack just now? What are they planning on doing?……Wait, ah, so that’s how it is.” (Shii)
“Umu.”
“As expected of Waka-sama. It looks like the barrage went to where Waka-sama is.” (Beren)
The two nod in succession at this.
Because they felt that the thin presence of their lord had now become clear, and at the same time, the spell, that was clad around his body and had been weakening, was once again firmly clad on him.
“Well then, let’s go for one more push.” (Beren)
“Yeah.” (Hokuto)
“I even used an ampoule of the Crimson Lotus, so today I am okay in going at full power. Like, it is okay to wipe them all out, right?” (Shii)
“It probably goes without saying but, don’t kill anyone, okay? Keep it at half-dead.” (Hokuto)
Shii, who had a fiery light in her eyes, was reiterated by Hokuto.
The fight was beginning to heavily incline towards the Kuzunoha Company.