Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka?

Final Battle ?

Once Wakaba-san appeared, the situation changed right away. Wakaba-san thwarted Reise-san who was targeting the Demon King, then defeated him. The black god also seems to have been unsuccessful in his battle with Wakaba-san, and has collapsed. In addition, we had no choice but to suffer a long distance barrage from Wakaba-san. Almost as if it had a homing ability, the spells struck Guen-san and Hyuvan-san with precision. Not only that but she can easily avoid our long distance attacks. To do something about this situation, I have no choice but to get close to Wakaba-san.

「Katia. I’m going to sneak up on Wakaba-san.」

「Wha!? Do you understand the situation!?」

「Keep it down! It’s because I understand that I’ll move.」

Right now, Wakaba-san’s attention is on Guen-san and Hyuvan-san. She’s glancing at Nier-san and Sue from time to time as well, but she hasn’t started to attack them yet. She probably decided to start by bringing down large targets like Guen-san and Hyuvan-san who are in dragon form. She’s paying so little attention to Katia and I that I’m almost annoyed. Although I’m saying this about myself, we’re the weakest ones in this place, so it makes little difference if we’re here or not. I’m sure Wakaba-san understands that as well. Which is why her focus is elsewhere.

「But, even if you can get closer, what could you actually do?」

「It’s not like we actually have to do something. Or rather, we can’t. So instead, I’ll revive Reise-san.」

All I can do is use Kindness to resurrect the dead. Reise-san’s corpse is lying behind Wakaba-san. If it goes well and I can resurrect Reise-san, then he might be able to make a surprise attack from behind.

「Would it actually go that well?」

「Doubtful, but if we don’t succeed we can’t win.」

We’re at a disadvantage now. If this continues we’ll definitely lose. In which case, we gotta take a gamble even if the margins are slim.

「……In which case, go to Ronant-sama first.」

「I see…」

Just those words are enough for Katia’s intentions to get cross. In short, we’ll depend upon Ronant-sama’s teleportation, right?

「Since it’s decided, let’s go.」

「Sure.」

「It can’t be helped. I guess I can make a smokescreen for you at least.」

At the point when we’d reached a conclusion, we heard Nier-san’s voice from nearby. Immediately afterwards, Nier-san transformed into her dragon form. Exactly in the right place to conceal us from Wakaba-san. To stand out even further, Nier-san used her ice breath attack and fired it at Wakaba-san, attracting her attention. Right now, Katia and I should be completely hidden from Wakaba-san’s field of view. While thanking Nier-san in my heart, we began to move out quietly.

Most of the spider type monsters have already been defeated. With nothing to oppose us, and with the fact that the corpses of the spider monsters actually made for good coverage, we were able to conceal our progress. At this rate we’ll be able to reach Ronant-sama without standing out.

And so we soon arrived at Ronant-sama’s location. Ronant-sama was in combat with a large spider monster, an Arch Taratekt. The Arch Taratekt is a monster with a danger class of S, just one step below that of the mythical class. They’re not something that a single human can hope to take on. Despite that… Ronant-sama was fighting equally with that Arch Taratekt.

The Arch Taratekt was making use of its huge size to charge at Ronant-sama. Against that charging Arch Taratekt, Ronant-sama shot incandescent fireballs. The Arch Taratekt used Darkness Bullets to intercept those, but the fireballs swallowed up those Bullets and continued onwards. To avoid the inexorable fireballs the Arch Taratekt jumped backwards and to the side, putting some distance between itself and Ronant-sama.

Amazing. This is humanity’s strongest mage and Julius-nii-sama’s magic teacher huh. Ah, now’s not the time to be admiring him.

As the Arch Taratekt moves towards Ronant-sama again in order to attack him, I stealthily approach it from behind and slash its hind-legs. Since it was completely defenceless, my slash managed to cut off one of the Arch Taratekt’s hind-legs. The Arch Taratekt raised a strange voice. It quickly turned around, putting me in its sights.

「Are you sure you want to present your back to me?」

Ronant-sama addressed the Arch Taratekt from behind. At the moment when the Arch Taratekt turned to face him, its body was pierced by heat rays. Having its body pierced by those heat rays, the Arch Taratekt screamed in agony again. I drove my sword into its head. The huge body of the Arch Taratekt made one last spasm, then began to lose the strength in its legs. It’s body then crashed to the ground.

「Phew. I appreciate the help.」

「It’s nothing. I believed you could have even beaten it by yourself, Ronant-sama.」

I simply used a surprise attack, so didn’t make much of a contribution. Based on the state of the battle earlier, I thought that Ronant-sama could have even beaten it by himself.

「Not necessarily. Having to face that class of monster while also protecting this collapsed guy, was a major pain.」

I looked at the collapsed old man that Ronant-sama was referring to. That old man was the pope of the Divine Word Religion. Using the Harmony skill, twice, he nullified the enemy’s attack. However, because the backlash of the Harmony skill was so large, the pope collapsed while covered in blood.

「I’ll apply treatment.」

「Ignore… me. The… others… are… cough!」

The pope coughed up blood while speaking. He’s obviously on the verge of death.

「…… Ronant-sama, would it be possible for you to teleport us to where Reise-san is?」

I have… abandoned the pope. If I used my treatment magic here, I’d be able to heal the pope’s wounds. However, that would not only take some time, but curing the pope wouldn’t meaningfully improve our situation. It’s a bitter feeling to abandon someone, but this is something I resolved myself to do. Seriously… this is such an unpleasant thing to resolve oneself for.

「You know, don’t you? Using that power will ravage your own body.」

「I do know. I’ve resolved myself for it.」

I looked Ronant-sama straight in the eyes while replying. Seeing that, Ronant-sama quietly heaved a huge sigh and began to activate his magic.

「I’ll cure this guy. It’s fine as I doubt I’d be able to take on any more opponents with my abilities. I’ll do what I’m able to as far as I can. So I’ll say the same to you - you’re also going to do only what you’re able to, right?」

「Yes.」

That’s Ronant-sama’s way of saying that he’s worried about us, probably. “Don’t be reckless.” But please forgive me. Right now, we can’t win without being reckless.

And so, Katia and I arrived at Reise-san’s location via Ronant-sama’s teleportation.