Chapter 163 – Peerless Outbreak of War Without Self-Restraint
The world was dyed reddish black.
It wasn’t the orange color of the morning glow. It stirred up the people’s unease further, a color that forced anybody to bear instinctive revulsion that was awfully eerie, fanning up one’s fear. If it had to be said, it was the eye of a monster, as though the whole world was imprisoned inside the eyes of a monster. Even the beautiful sun that shined radiantly, right now it was merely a reddish black star floating in the east sky.
And then a strange sound was reverberating through the strange colored world. The world itself was rumbling. The ground too, the air too, the world was screaming while trembling with fear.
The people were made to understand that whether they wanted it or not, the end of the world was beginning. Amidst such an atmosphere, an even louder sound of destruction reverberated.
The soldiers, knights, mercenaries, demi-humans, everyone in the fortress trembled. Their gazes moved everywhere. Thereupon, on the sky above God Mountain something that looked like a line became visible. When the people focused their eyes in wonder, the line warped distortedly, then once again the line raised crackling sounds and spread in all directions.
“The sky… is splitting…”
Someone whispered that. It was truly a murmur that was right to the point. The distorted line occurring in the sky was a crack that ran right through space itself.
That crack fanned up the terror in people’s heart, while the sound of destruction was played to the world, the crack was slowly spreading.
“-, All hands-! Prepare to fight-!”
A command mixed with scolding was handed down toward the soldiers who were dumbfoundedly mute. It was the angry roar of Gahard whose voice was amplified using an artifact. It seemed that he also got knocked out of his wits. But as expected from the representative of a military country, he was the first one who pulled himself back together among the top brasses.
That command released the soldier from their binding. They moved all at once in order to fulfill the role that was given to them.
Even as the crack above God Mountain was increasing in size, by the time the soldiers were deployed, the space was finally completely pulverized along with a thunderous roar.
Fragments of space were blown away everywhere and sparkled like glass. Like a chasm that was opened in the ground, the abyss was peeking from that thing that materialized in the sky. It was a deeply thick darkness that was the exact opposite of the golden whirl that made one feel its solemnity which Ehito and the others used to return to the Holy Precincts. In place of the whirl there was something viscous like miasma spurting out.
From there, black rain was pouring down. No, it only looked like rain――it was a great number of monsters. From the chasm in the space the monsters were raining down on the summit of God Mountain. The numbers already surpassed tens of thousands. At any rate, it was in the amount that the soldiers who looked up from the ground could see it as black rain. It was a terrific number that easily reached millions, or possibly even tens of millions.
The heavy rain of black monsters painted the summit of God Mountain black in the blink of an eye, and then the blackness began to descend down like an avalanche.
Furthermore, from the chasm of space that was covered in black miasma, this time white rain was released horizontally. At the reddish black sky the white――no, the silver rain was really visible.
“The number of the apostles is also not half-baked, huh.”
The one who whispered with a grim look was Gahard. With his body wrapped in battle clothing, as the general of the allied force he came out to the front line together with the subordinates under his direct control. A ‘telepathic communication’ from the supreme commander of the allied force, Liliana reached his ear.
{Your majesty Gahard. Please don’t go too far to the front. It’s fine for you to die only after the battle is over.}
{Hah, you really said that. But, the strongest man in the allied force has to fight at the very front. If I die then I die, you just need to use my death to blaze up the soldiers. You supreme commander and that goddess are for that sake right.}
{Good grief… your majesty, ‘goddess’ and ‘sword’ are going out. Just as planned, please take care.}
{Yeah-, leave it to me!}
The general of the allied forces, in a manner of speaking, was the supreme commander in the field. Originally, Gahard who was the top of a military country should become the supreme commander, but giving a reason that there was no way the most skilled man could just shut in himself inside with a war going on outside, he stubbornly refused to be stopped from going out.
Although it wasn’t like that, Liliana was unsuited to become the supreme commander. She was a royalty, in anticipation of the battle against the devil race in the future she learned tactic and strategy. Rather than Gahard whose character was for the front line, the girl who was extolled as the ‘Kingdom’s Prodigy’ was more suited instead to take command of the whole from the rear with an overlooking view.
Other than possessing the courage to run away from the capital alone, she also knew the importance of making a clear decision calmly; furthermore, in regard of barrier magic, she was excelling in base defense as an expert. And if she was accompanied with the skilled aides of each country, then it could be said that she was more than suited as a supreme commander whether in the aspect of status or morale raising.
And then, other than the general and the supreme commander, there was one more person who was given an important role.
“Everyone of the allied forces-. All of you brave warriors that stand up against the crisis of the world! Please don’t be scared! The divine protection of god is with us! We will be protected, all of us, from the evil god who tricked god and bared his fang against mankind right now-. In this point of time where everyone took up your weapon and stand in this place, all of you are already hero! Everyone of you are the warrior of god! Now-, let’s yell together with this ‘Apostle of God’ the ‘Goddess of Harvest’! We will not lose against evil no matter what-. What we are going to grasp is only ‘victory-!!”
Immediately, the soldiers of the allied force who was making tragic expression from terror while desperately holding down their trembling body, like a traveler who found an oasis after wandering in the desert for many days, their eyes shined with hope.
The ‘Goddess of Harvest’ pouring down her voice from the summit of the fortress, the flag bearer of the leaders of the allied force――Aiko, the soldiers directed their gaze that had recovered their strength and determination to her and stamped their feet all at once.
DON DON-, DON-. DON DON-, DON- The fifty hundred thousand soldiers who shook the ground rhythmically at the next moment roared in unison even without practice beforehand.
” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” “VICTORY! VICTORY!! VICTORY!!!” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ”
“Ruin for the evil god! Glory for mankind!”
” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” “RUIN FOR THE EVIL GOD-!! GLORY FOR MANKIND-!!” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ”
Aiko was desperately recalling the content of ‘You Can Do It, Agitator! Compilation of Lovely Speech Case by Case’ given to her by Hajime while sending her voice that was amplified by an artifact to the battlefield.
“The servant of the evil god is not worthy to be feared! Oh ‘my sword’! Show that proof right now!”
The instant Aiko yelled that, an amplified calm voice echoed through the whole battlefield.
“As you command, my goddess.”
Right after that, the soldiers who looked up to Aiko saw the silhouette that leaped up from behind Aiko.
White haired eye-patched black coated young man――Hajime was standing still on air where there was nothing, and then he lifted above his head a jewel that looked like diamond that he took out from somewhere. Then, that jewel shined radiantly like sun and illuminated the soldiers. Looking from their point of view, it was as though a halo was shining behind Aiko. This too was Hajime’s production.
Hajime floated a wide fearless grin.
A beat later, that happened.
A part of the reddish black sky momentarily flashed, instantly, a part of the mountain surface of God Mountain that was in the process of changing color from being covered by the avalanche of black monsters was entirely blown away along with tremendous thunderous roar.
Right after that, just when it seemed the sky flashed, many things were further raining down to the God Mountain, the mountain with a height of eight kilometer above the sea was crumbling just like a sand mountain created on the beach that got pushed down by a kid.
It was a bombing that poured down straight from heaven. But it wasn’t by missiles packed with explosives. What Hajime was doing was simply raining down large mass of metal lumps to free fall on God Mountain.
So to speak, it was Meteor Impact.
As expected, if Hajime made it drop from space then the impact would reach even the fortress, so he dropped the mass from inside the stratosphere, but even so the energy from several ton of metal lump freefalling had the destructive force that average explosive couldn’t match.
Furthermore, this attack was falling randomly in local area in the unit of few hundreds.
Along with thunderous roars that could rupture the ear drum, the highest peak of the sacred mountain that was a pride of the world was collapsing like a joke. Rain of monster? Rain of apostle? Then I’ll make it rain meteors! It was as though such a thing was said. Of course, Hajime thought that the same golden whirl like before would manifest, so it was completely a coincidence that both sides were making rain.
However, as though to make the comparison between the strength of the two sides, the allied force’s soldiers were shown the spectacle of the God Mountain crumbling before their eyes along with the extermination of several tens, hundreds of thousands of monsters, their reaction was…
” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” “――――” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ”
Trembling. Not from fear. From joy. And also from the fighting spirit welling up inside their chest.
Right after that, shouts that weren’t even losing against the thunderous roar of the God Mountain along with the monsters’ extermination were raised, it even felt like the shouts could drive away the fierce cloud of dust approaching them.
” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” “UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHH――――!!!!!! ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ”
From the bottom of their stomach, while their body trembling from the scene that came out exactly from legend, they roared from the bottom of their stomachs. They stamped their feet DON DON, heightening their fighting spirit without end!
” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” “AIKO-SAMA BANZAI! GODDESS-SAMA BANZAI!! ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ”
――God Mountain demolition right after the start of battle.
The enemy had purposefully taught them from where they were going to attack. Then, it was fine to just blow away the place where they were coming out from, that was how it went. Of course, Hajime had also prepared something else in case it was a lie, but from what he saw at Ehito’s expression that was full of superiority complex in the end, Hajime presumed that the possibility that he was lying was low.
The destruction of the God Mountain made the movement of the apostles in the sky also stop as expected. However, in the next moment they approached the fortress with a fierce speed while matching their movements like a mass of flying birds without a single disorder.
The capital that was in a half-destroyed state due to the crumbling of the god mountain was further enveloped by the approaching cloud of dust, without stopping the dust approached the fortress like a sandstorm. To that, Hajime took out a different jewel and made it shine.
“We were thoroughly made a fool by you guys before. There is no way this is the end with just this much right? Just like Icarus, fall down with your wings burning, all of you puppets.”
Right after that heavy rain of light that split apart the atmosphere poured down.
――Sunlight convergence laser Burst Hyperion
The restored annihilation weapon released light of ruin from the sky. Not just a single line, at the altitude of ten kilometers, a total of seven Burst Hyperions were floating, controlled by the jewel that Hajime was holding, with pillars of light piercing down.
Like the tower of Babel, seven pillars of light connecting heaven and earth were swallowing in one go the apostles who were drawing near to the allied forces in a straight line from the chasm in the space.
The apostles who were annihilated unaware were uncountable.
There were a lot of apostles who attempted to defend by deploying their silver wings clad in disintegration ability, but this improved version of Hyperion that had been explosively evolved in heat quantity, convergence rate, lasting time, and so on couldn’t be compared with the previous Hyperion. Against this even the characteristic ability of the apostles were pierced and their god constructed bodies were turned into cinders.
The apostles who somehow escaped from the firing lines and the apostles who only now came out from the chasm in the space stopped still, but a moment later they soared to the sky with terrific momentum. They flapped their silver wings and flew along the pillars of light where ahead of them were the astonishing weapons that annihilated their fellow apostles in hundreds.
“Don’t be reserved. There is still more to come, eat up to your heart’s content. Stuff yourself until your whole body burst out yeahh-”
Using the ‘distant viewing stone’ loaded on Burst Hyperion, Hajime saw the figures of the ascending apostles, his lips warped ferociously while saying that. At the same time, the diamond jewel shined even further.
Then, from all the Burst Hyperion that had total length of around five meters, several small type bits――’Mirror Bits’ were flying out, they went toward the surface or scattered to the surrounding. The bits with isosceles triangle shape and size around thirty centimeters had crimson gem installed on their surface.
The mirror bits scattered as though to evade the charging apostles, to that the apostles frowned suspiciously for a moment, but seemingly judging that it would suffice to destroy the Burst Hyperion where they bits were coming from first no matter what scheme the bits served, they ignored the bits and continued charging ahead.
And then, the apostles focused their silver magic power, and at that instant where they were going to attempt to destroy the seven weapons emplaced at the sky with disintegration bombing,
“-!? This is-――”
One of the apostles that leaked out that voice had her head erased before she could finish talking.
It was by the laser right from behind.
The firing of Burst Hyperion stopped just for a moment. Immediately after, the lasers split into branches like a scattered shot and rained down to the ground… was how it looked like but an instant later, lasers from all directions filled the whole sky to the brim.
That was a cage that was instantly created from laser. Countless lasers from directions that were totally different from Burst Hyperion’s positions were expanding through the whole sky as though laying out three dimensional web.
“Kuh, so it’s that small artifacts-”
One of the apostle who attempted to defend by deploying her maximum disintegration ability through her silver wings that wrapped around her body spoke out a conjecture that was nearly conviction as though spitting out, to that surely it was just auditory hallucination, but the words of the irregular that said “Correct” echoed in her ear with teasing tone.
Yes, the role of the mirror bits were to reflect the sunlight convergence laser of Burst Hyperion which was their mother machine. With that, they exterminated the enemy from every direction. The countless bits were constantly changing position and further reflected the reflected lasers, creating a cage of laser that covered the sky and realized a diversified random shooting that was hard to predict due to the irregularity.
By the way, the bits had the word ‘mirror’ attached to their name, but they weren’t reflecting the laser using mirror but by making use of space distortion. Using that it was also possible to bend the laser in sharp angles. In a glance, it looked nothing more than a reflection, hence the naming.
“Well, that’ll take care of that.”
Due to the omni-directional laser attack without pause, the apostles reflexively deployed defense of silver wings and their charge slowed down, seeing that Hajime snorted while murmuring that.
And then, through the ‘distant viewing stone’ Hajime sent a fearless grin at the apostles whose expressions were somewhat visibly distorting hatefully. He then operated the jewel and dropped something shining the size of a fist from Burst Hyperion.
Like a morning dew that dripped down from a leaf, the seven shining tears were dropped right in the middle of great number of apostles who currently were beginning to move in the attempt to break through the cage of laser with their silver wings deployed in defense.
“Disappear all at once.”
Right at that moment when Hajime whispered in small voice,
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON-!!!!
Flowers of sun bloomed at the reddish black sky.
――Treasure Warehouse to exclusively store converged sunlight Rose Helios
What Hajime dropped were special treasure warehouses that stored sunlight which was focused until the limit. It was different with the treasure warehouse that was built internally to shot lasers, so to speak it was a large scale heat bomb that made use of the suns energy by self-destructing to release all the stored energy at once.
This artifact was a treasure where one Burst Hyperion could only have one of it loaded in them, but its power was guaranteed. The heat that was continuously converged was liberated and caused a large explosion like sun flare, the reddish black sky was painted like it was afternoon.
The radiance that made one thought that seven suns were appearing at the same time covered the sky, immediately after that, tremendously powerful shockwave and heat wave poured down.
With this, not only the apostles who aimed to destroy the Burst Hyperion, other apostles who were following behind and the apostles who just came out from the crack in the space were also blown away altogether like leaves. Not only that, but the enormous dust cloud which was approaching the fortress due to the God Mountain’s collapse was also washed back.
Naturally that force also assaulted the fortress, but the force was barely blocked by the shining membrane that covered the whole fortress. It was thanks to the ‘Great Barrier’ that was relocated from the capital to here. The former great barrier would surely be unable to endure the annihilation grade artifact of Hajime, but the current great barrier that had been improved seemed to be able to endure if it was just the shockwave.
The Rose Helios that displayed sublime destruction which surpassed expectation actually made Hajime who was the creator himself to be the one who was sweating coldly the most but… the result was no harm reached his ally so it was alright.
“Uhaa, is has become something amazing isn’t iit~”
“Hajime-kun who completely stopped restraining himself change even the topography isn’t he…”
“… If an example is made with earth terminology, then it’s like Everest got annihilated and nuclear bombs are fired wildly. When the fight is over, we have to make him have restraint with all of our strength.”
“… Either way, Shizushizu is going to have hardships. Suzu will also cooperate as much as possible okay. It feels like Suzu can hear the crying of earth from here.”
“This world is already teary eyed… When I reach the other side, I’m gonna punch Kouki flying right away. If I don’t fight him first… if Kouki get into a fight with Nagumo, not even a dust will remain from him.”
Shia and the others leaked out their impression. All of them threw their gaze at the beyond and their lips were half-smiling. They knew that Hajime planned to launch preemptive attacks at the start of the battle, they also knew that he would do that by using ‘meteor impact’ and ‘converged sunlight laser’, but never even in their wildest dream did they even imagined that the eight kilometer mountain would be annihilated and pseudo suns would materialize in the sky in multiple numbers even if only temporarily.
Furthermore, behind such Shia and the others…
“How’s that, Jii-sama! That is my honored spouse! Isn’t it amazing!”
“… aah, yep, I guess. That’s really super awesome.”
“Cl, Clan head. I understand your feeling, but your speech is… no, nothing, please pay it no heed.”
Tio puffed up her chest proudly while Adol was opening his eyes wide looking like the shocked expression that came out in a shoujo manga of a long time ago. A close aide made a tsukkomi at the clan head’s discomposed tone, but it seemed that he gave up in the middle. Ristas was extremely surprised that he was unable to stand up with his soul coming out from his mouth. (TN: Shoujo manga is a manga for girl)
Below the fortress was also noisy. Especially the rabbit ear group, they were making a hectic uproar.
“Hyahha-!! As expected bosss! He does impossible things so calmly!”
“Come on you trash! We are gonna break all of you into pieces yeah!!”
“Aaaaaan, bosss! Please hold meeeeeee! It’s unbearableee!”
“Red Flash Rondo!! Banzai!!” (TN: Akaki Senkyou no Rinbukyoku)
“Mad Whirlwind of White Fang!! Yiihaaa!!” (TN: Shiroki Souga no Kyouhyou)
“No, the nickname until now is not enough anymore! … Something, something that is more worthy for boss…”
“How about Demon King of White Night that Bring About Demise!” (TN: Shuuen Motarasu Byakuya no Maou)
“No, about that Ultimate Supreme Emperor of Death and Chaos is better!” (TN: Shi to Konton no Kyokuhatei)
“Why there is no crimson in there! It’s Ultimate Destruction God of Deep Crimson Gleaming Sky!” (TN: Shinku Kouten no Kyokuhashin)
It seemed that when the battle was over Hajime nicknames would become jumbled all over.
Amidst such resounding yells, Aiko yelled with a voice that sounded somewhat cramped yet still powerful.
“Thi, this is, the strength of my sword! Victory is together with us!”
” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” VICTORY! VICTORY! VICTORY! ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ”
Following that, Gahard somehow pulled himself together and took command with a faint smile. His loud voice resounded all over to the degree that made one think whether he really needed any artifact to amplify his voice.
“All hands, ready your weapon!! The target is above! Don’t let the goddess’s sword take all the glory! Exactly as the goddess said, every single one of us is a hero! Fight until the last moment! Destroy every single enemy! Proove the strength of us ‘humans’!”
” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” “OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-!!!” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ”
A tremendous yell was raised. At the same time, the soldiers aimed the heavy arms they were provided with each of their roles to the sky. Their morale was at the highest peak. There was nobody who was trembling in fear anymore; in exchange, their body was trembling with a warrior excitement.
Teeth were clenched tightly, light of determination shined inside those eyes.
At the sky, the apostles who barely avoided destruction arranged their formation, and then new apostles were overflowing further from the chasm in the space. Several hundred apostles were supposedly annihilated by the previous attack, but perhaps the apostle of god was in inexhaustible supply.
Therefore, exactly because of that from now on would be the authentic war between mankind and the pawn of god.
Looking at the state of the allied force, Aiko released a sigh that couldn’t be noticed.
“Sensei, that was a splendid speech. As expected from the goddess of harvest.”
“Nagumo-kun… I already, don’t understand what I should say.”
Aiko looked over her shoulder at the voice behind her while floating an exasperated smile. While shrugging to that, Hajime handed over the jewel to operate Burst Hyperion to Aiko.
It was the important jewel which brought about that large-scale destruction. Aiko accepted it timidly. From now on Burst Hyperion would be operated by Aiko’s hand as much as possible. The one who was the worthiest to handle the sunlight was exactly the ‘Goddess of Harvest’.
After glancing at Aiko who was trembling with fear, Hajime turned his gaze at Kaori.
“Your face is an apostle, but the color of your hair looks like Kaori huh. Yeah, as expected, black hair suited Kaori more.”
“Ehehe, is that so? Then we have to finish this quickly so I can return to my former body.”
Exactly as Hajime said, the current Kaori wasn’t silver haired but she became black haired even with Nointo’s body.
This was so that she wasn’t mistaken with the apostles, the cause was the disguise artifact that Hajime prepared. The color of her magic power was also disguised, so currently when Kaori spread her wings what appeared would black silver wings. Her outfit also had black tone, so her appearance was just like a fallen angel. Perhaps it could be said to be a fitting look for an angel serving the demon king.
“I’m relying on you for the rest okay?”
“Yep. This side is fine. I will protect the place for Hajime-kun to come back here. I also won’t let anyone to lay their hand on Myuu-chan and others anymore. That’s why… please, save Yue.”
“Yeah. Look forward to it. When we come back, I’ll toy with you together with Yue.”
“Geez-, Hajime-kun you meanie-!”
Kaori made an angry look at Hajime who was making fun of her. But, her gaze was strong, and also extraordinarily gentle. And it was also similar with Hajime, both of them understood well the immenseness of the trust that they directed at each other.
Behind Hajime, Shia, Tio, Shizuku, Suzu, and Ryuutaro walked closer. While Kaori and Shizuku took each other’s hands with somewhat yuri-yuri atmosphere (TN: Lilies on their background), Hajime’s gaze moved to the surroundings.
The people inside the fortress could observe the outer part really well while being inside the fortress itself due to the countless crystal displays installed. But right now, on the contrary, the displays were reflecting the interior of the fortress’s command room and the people inside there like Liliana and the others, and then Kam and others who were the leaders of each force too.
“Princess. Use the anti-apostle artifact well okay. After all, I entrusted them believing in your competence you know?”
{Ple, please don’t put pressure on me. Well, we are going to make it somehow. Nagumo-sa――no, Hajime-san, may luck be with you.}
Liliana at the other side of the display smiled while nodding at Hajime. Hajime nodded to that and then moved his gaze to Kam who was projected on the same display.
“Kam. There is no need for tedious talk after this far. … Go rampage.”
{Ku-ku-ku-, an exciting order, thank you very much. I certainly acknowledge that. All of us Haulia will be waiting in anticipation for boss’s god killing.}
Hajime and Kam exchanged fearless smiles at each other. And then, Hajime’s gaze further moved to all the people who were visible in that place――Ranzi, Alfrerick, Iruwa, the top leaders from each country, then he lightly shrugged and declared.
“Then, I’ll go for a bit.”
Even though he was going to step into the territory of a god after this, those words were awfully light. But, mysterious strength could be felt from those words. It made them unconditionally believed, that if it was this man then he would be able to accomplish anything. It was that kind of words.
That was why nobody talked much. They nodded strongly in return and said just two words.
” ” “See you.” ” ”
Immediately after, Hajime and the others flew up together.
Under their feet were skyboards. They could also go using ‘Air Force’, but their destination――the chasm in space was at the altitude of eight kilometers. They had no intention to be pushed back by sheer number or spending more time. They were breaking through in one go stressing on the speed!
Looking at the six streaks of magic power light in six colors ascending to the sky, cheers were raised from the allied force. It was the sally of the ‘Goddess’s Sword”. The hope of humanity! Like that, yells of hope tore their throats toward the sky.
There, the first wave of apostles appeared as though to block their route. Perhaps because right after the invasion start the actual first wave had been annihilated by impossible methods, the apostles didn’t charge ahead recklessly. It was clear that they intended to fight while observing the situation.
“Hah, you all got really jittery, huuh. You think you can stop me with that kind of cold feet aa!?”
Already, there were around twenty apostles gathering ahead of them, regardless of the twin swords and their silver wings which were deployed fully, Hajime didn’t slow down at all. Far from that, he accelerated the skyboard further. And then, while telling Shia and others to ready their weapons using ‘Telepathy’, Hajime took out a huge artifact from ‘Treasure Warehouse II’ and shouldered it.
“I’ll turn you all into Swiss cheese!”
Immediately after, a crimson storm attacked the apostles.
The violence that could only be expressed like that pulverized the apostles blocking the path like a joke.
Of course, the apostles possessed disintegration ability, they had the silver wings of protection and huge swords that severed all thing with disintegration. Therefore, the apostles wordlessly and expressionlessly tried to resist using those. But, such things were easily smashed literally just like paper scraps.
KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-!!
Huge gun barrels that rotated in high speed while resounding particular sound. Brilliantly vivid magic power light sparked wildly. Extremely thick crimson flashes that might even pierce the sky surged.
――Gatling Pile Bunker
That was the true form of the weapon that scattered twenty apostles without difficulty. Different from the pile bunker until now, the loaded pile bunker was two sizes smaller. But, its might didn’t decrease for even a bit, in a second twenty electromagnetically accelerated shots spiraled forward and the huge and super heavy black pike pulverized the target.
Right now, just by facing each other the apostles couldn’t hope to stop Hajime’s advance! Only by wringing out their intellect, piling up study, and resolve with a firm will like humans, they would be allowed to finally stand in front of this opponent for the first time. That was how wide the difference was!
The apostles who stiffened for a moment in amazement then decided, a pincer attack from left and right! Like that they circled while trailing afterimages behind.
“We cannot leave this only to Hajime-san!”
“Indeed!”
Shia and Tio readied themselves to deal with that.
But two apostles that brandished their large sword clad in silver magic power toward Shia and Tio. At the next moment, their heads were blown away by the flash that tore the sky before they were falling down spinning.
“Fue?”
“Wha, what?”
Shia and Tio stared in puzzlement with their spirit dampened. Not only the two, Hajime and the others also looked over their shoulder following the line of the flash. They had already reached the altitude of five kilometers so nobody understood other than Shia whose body was reinforced and Hajime who possessed ‘Far Sight’, those two perfectly saw it.
The fortress on the ground, at a corner of the rooftop, while holding a very long sniper that was fixed directly on the floor of the fortress, Pal-kun (ten years old), nickname ‘Bardfelt of Certain Ruin’ was sending them a thumbs up.
Not just Bardfelt-kun. The sniping experts even among the Haulia which was put together into a squad were readying the ‘Electromagnetic Acceleration Super Long Range Anti-Material Rifle’ that Hajime provided for each one of them while floating fearless smiles.
In the first place, these were the fellows who performed super accurate sniping even with just a crossbow. With scope that was enchanted with ‘Far Sight’ and ‘Foresight’, if they could see the future position of the apostles then a five-kilometer sniping was possible. Though honestly, Hajime was feeling a little unbelieving.
In Hajime and Shia’s eyes, they could see the glint of Bardfelt-kun’s eyes narrow across the scope. At the same time, they could somehow see what he was saying from the movement of his lips.
{Boss! Anego! Just leave clearing the path to us!} (TN: Anego=big sister, this way of calling usually used by delinquent or thug.)
Perhaps that was what he said. As though to proof that, the apostles who planned to pincer attack were shot through one after another by the flashes soaring from below.
As expected, one shot one kill was impossible after the apostle became on guard, but even so they ate considerable damage, they became unable to attack carelessly and somehow their face looked vexed.
Even if the apostles tried to use long range bombarding or large scale magic, Bardfelt-kun and others sensitively sensed it and they prioritized sniping at the apostle trying to do that. Their attack was interrupted, and even if they tried to attack forcefully regardless, Hajime and others would easily endure such attack.
“My clan is rapidly getting superhumanized desuu…”
“Perhaps, it’s not only Shia anymore that can be called as special truly.”
“Everyone that got involved with Hajime all become distanced from normal humans, isn’t it…”
“He, hey, Shizushizu. Suzu is still a human, right? Right?”
“Perhaps it’s already too late for me yeah~”
While riding their skyboard, the enemy at the front was dealt by Hajime’s Gatling pile bunker, while the enemy to the left and right were dealt with a terrifying degree of accurate sniping, so Shia and the others who only needed to intercept, evade, and defend minimally had time to have somewhat distant looks while murmuring that kind of thing to each other.
While the apostles were unable to even hinder them properly; finally, Hajime and the others arrived at the chasm in space that spurted out the muddy black miasma.
“Chih, even though its appearance changed, the ability is still the same huh.”
Hajime clicked his tongue. Exactly as he said, similar with the golden whirl, the black miasma was blocking Hajime and the others’ progress.
“You guys, hold back the puppets behind! {Sensei, you can hear right? Send the mirror bits over here!}. Taniguchi, you put a barrier on me!”
{Ro, roger.}
“Go, got it.”
Hajime was giving out instruction to Aiko on the surface and Suzu, and also at the other members while taking out a short sword from his breast pocket.
Although the item had the shape of a short sword but it didn’t have any edge at all, rather it was made from a crystal that looked brittle.
It was ‘Degraded Version Crystal Key’. Based on his experience when creating the real crystal key, Hajime produced with his all this short sword that possessed the effect to interfere with space. It didn’t have the power to open a gate toward the Holy Precincts, but if it was just the power to lockpick a locked door then this item could do it.
Hajime’s body became clad in vivid crimson. And then he poured the immense magic power of ‘Limit Break’ into the degraded version crystal key that used the very small amount of god crystal’s fragment discovered at the abyss of Orcus, activating its ability.
“This time for sure, I’ll pass through no matter what!”
Hajime yelled and stabbed that short sword at the miasma wall.
Creak, creak Such a sound came out, the degraded crystal key in trying to break the wall of miasma causing ripples. Hajime’s crimson magic power also roared trying to blow away the miasma.
But, there a silver shining large sword thrust out from inside the miasma. The large sword of apostle.
Even while Hajime held his ground to break the miasma, naturally the swarm of apostles was still coming out from there. Hajime himself was pouring all his strength to break the miasma so he couldn’t take any considerable action.
{I won’t let you!!}
“Don’t get in the way!”
That was why Aiko and Suzu were there.
The mirror bits deployed around Hajime and others were guiding the laser from Burst Hyperion and blocked the approach of the apostles like a barrier.
And then Suzu also waved her iron fans gently on her skyboard. Living up to her reputation of barrier master, a square shining shield thirty-centimeters large was invoked instantly, the barrier didn’t block the large sword of the apostle that slipped through the laser net, but diverted the trajectory as though the barrier surface was slippery. This was because Suzu understood that defending the enemy’s disintegration ability from the front was disadvantageous.
Behind Hajime, Shia and others were also buying time by putting importance on handling the enemy rather than defeating them. Apostles were overflowing from the miasma as though they were unlimited, if the scene was seen from slightly distant spot, surely it would look like Hajime and the others were enveloped in silver cocoon.
The great numbers of apostles attacked clad in silver magic power to remove the insolent people who were trying to step into the Holy Precincts. Shia and the other somehow held out right now, but with the current pace they would surely get swallowed by pure numbers in less than a minute.
For that reason, Hajime ignored all the attacks of the apostles. He entrusted his back, his life, everything to Shia and the others. He turned his whole mind only to advance forward.
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-!!!”
A shout burst from Hajime’s mouth. Hajime’s magic power further increased. The degraded version crystal key condensed the vivid crimson and got dyed with deep crimson. At the same time, cracks ran creakingly as though the key was screaming unable to endure the large power.
The cracks on the degraded version crystal key was widening second by second as though giving the notification that its life span was up already. But, Hajime further poured his magic power. The apostles who were breaking through even with half their body erased by laser launched silver feathers that disintegrated even Suzu’s barrier, cutting Hajime’s cheek and gouging his limbs.
Shia and the others were also bearing wounds from the overwhelming amount of attacks and their limited battle scope.
As expected, were they really unable to break through. Was the power of god unmatched…
If the people here were ‘average’, surely such thinking would pass in their mind. But, if they were people with such good understanding, then in the first place they wouldn’t be here. That was why, they yelled. Even while injured, even with enemies surrounding them from all sides.
(En: Battle scene pictured above)
“We can do this! If it’s Hajime-san!”
“Exactly, Goshujin-sama!”
“It’s fine! There is no such thing that can possibly stop you!”
“Gooo! Nagumo-kun!”
“Nagumooo! Smash it uuup!”
To those yells of Shia and others, Hajime was…
“Obviously-. Those guys that got in my way, I’ll destroy them, anything and everythiiiiiiing!!”
Right after that…
creak A sound resounded.
But, that wasn’t the sound of the degraded crystal key. It was from the invisible wall before his eyes, from the crack in space that spurted out miasma. The tip of the degraded crystal key plunged into the wall. With that spot as the center, ripples were spreading.
――Yue-
Following his desiring heart, Hajime twisted the crystal short sword.
Then, with the stabbed point as the center, space distorted flabbily, opening an ellipse hole.
The path to the Holy Precincts was opened.
“-, you guys! Here we go!”
“Yes desu!”
“Yes!”
“Roger!”
“Yep!”
“Ou-!”
The command that was given along with Hajime’s fearless smile was affirmed by everyone with the same smile floating on their faces and a nod.
Right after that, the swarm of apostles descended on them.
But, the figure of Hajime and the others were already gone from between the apostles.
After that, there were only the sparkles emitted by the remain of the broken degraded crystal key and the gate that was closing even now.
