At this rate, Epona was going to lose.

Therefore, I decided to help her.

I couldn’t let the hero die just yet.

I started chanting.

[【Guns Deployment】] (Lugh)

I took twenty-two guns out of the Crane Leather Pouch’s dimensional space where all my weapons were stored, then I used earth magic’s magnetic manipulation to position them in midair.

These guns were specially manufactured.

Unlike cannons, their size didn’t allow them to withstand foul stone explosions.

So I ground the foul stones into powder.

As a result, these guns were easy to maneuver, and the time to fire was incomparably shorter than using explosion magic in the gun barrel.

Cannons were devastatingly more powerful than guns, but guns had their own strong points.

Lower firepower meant lower recoil, which was why I could fix them in the air and fire them, and their accuracy was amazingly high.

Therefore, it was an effective card to play in a place where such precision was necessary.

[【Aim】] (Lugh)

I changed the orientations of each of my magnetically floating guns and took aim.

It was impossible for an ordinary person to aim more than twenty guns at the same time, but I kept putting the burden on my brain, and my【Hyper Regeneration】, which I used to heal it, and my【Unbound Growth Limit】, which removed the limit of my brain’s development, made that task easy.

I finished aiming all my guns after taking into account the environmental factors.

[【Full Fire】] (Lugh)

By pouring my mana into them, I made the foul stone powder reach its critical point and fired.

Twenty-two tungsten bullets were propelled.

All of them blew off the heads of the orcs that had hostages strapped to them.

It was a high-powered and ultra-accurate simultaneous attack that even the hero couldn’t perform.

Blood and gray matter were splattered everywhere, and the orcs that had their heads blown apart fell one after another.

…I thought I would be lucky in the unlikely event that one shot would be enough, so I fired one at the Orc General, but the bullet stopped when it was about halfway through his forehead. As I suspected, he was tough.

[Epona! Retrieve the hostages!] (Lugh)

I shouted.

I couldn’t rescue them by myself since I wouldn’t have been able to transport so many people and run away from that horde of orcs.

However, slaughtering the orcs that were carrying the hostages was within my abilities.

[Lugh?] (Epona)

[Hurry up!] (Lugh)

Epona gathered the hostages while harboring a pale complexion.

The orcs also tried to recapture them, but Epona was several steps ahead of them.

Now, Epona should be able to fight.

Although, the price to pay was revealing my trump card in front of my assassination target.

But I had no regret. I couldn’t let Epona die on me for now.

[Ooh, an ambush, eh? Are you also the one who fired that flare earlier? Thanks to you, my plan is ruined. Oh well, there is always the next one. This is checkmate. Hohoho!] (Orc General)

The Orc General turned his back and started running.

And boy, was he fast.

Given his phlegmatic appearance, I would never have guessed.

And then, perhaps was it to buy him some time, but the orcs that were left behind rushed in our direction.

…As far as I could tell from the actions they had taken so far, their goal should’ve been to eliminate the hero, so what was the meaning of this?

I didn’t have time to think about it.

First, I had to deal with this bunch.

[Epona, what the hell are you doing!? You have to get rid of this small fry and go after the demon! As long as he’s alive, the mob will keep growing!] (Lugh)

[R-Right! I know! I know, but…] (Epona)

Epona threw up as she tried to fight. She was looking at the hostages she had saved.

Could it be because she killed a few hostages earlier?

…It seemed that I couldn’t rely on Epona.

[Okay, fine. Go over there and take a rest. I’ll take care of this bunch.] (Lugh)

[UGAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!] (Orcs)

[YOOOUUUU’RE MEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAATTTT!!!] (Lugh)

Declaring that, I started preparing to use【Gunfire】and【Full Fire】.

I had already revealed one of my trump cards once.

I didn’t need to hesitate anymore.

_______________________________________

After a few minutes, I managed to annihilate all the orcs that were egging on us.

However, the Orc General was nowhere to be seen at all.

[Lugh, so you were actually that strong. I had no idea.] (Epona)

Epona said with a tired expression.

[That was strength born of desperation. …That aside, we lost sight of the demon. I’ll go take a quick look.] (Lugh)

After I strengthened Tuatha Dé’s eyes to the limit, I climbed the tallest tree around.

Then I looked in the direction in which he escaped.

He said he had another plan, but…

I see, so that’s what it is.

I bit my lip when I saw the scene over there.

[The military forces they dispatched have gathered in one place. What a massive army…!] (Lugh)

Fearing that Epona the hero would destroy him, he assembled in one place the troops he had scattered, and ordered them to start marching slowly, with him at the center.

The academy side was also gathering forces to intercept the enemy.

In less than ten minutes, this would turn into a huge battle.

I informed Epona about the situation.

[Let’s go. If you don’t go there, we’ll all be massacred. Besides the enemy’s number, the others are all about to faint from exhaustion. They won’t hold out for much longer.] (Lugh)

Even after hearing that, Epona didn’t move.

I stretched out my hand, but she brushed it away.

[I… I can’t. Because… on this battlefield… I ended up… killing them with the enemies… Because I’m awful at fighting. Besides, I always get so worked up I lose myself… like earlier… I lose sight of everything and exhibit my power… and I always end up killing people! Everybody and everyone… so I know… even you and the others…] (Epona)

When she said that, I sat down.

[When you get heated up and forget those around you again, I’ll be the one to stop you. So, won’t you go and fight?] (Lugh)

[I can’t. You won’t be able to stop me, Lugh. I mean, you couldn’t last time either, remember? Nobody can stop me. I… I don’t want to kill anymore.] (Epona)

She looked at my face while smiling and crying.

…That’s right. On that famous day, I had failed.

I took a deep breath.

I gathered my thoughts and readied myself.

At this rate, the academy was about to be crushed by a swarm of orcs.

Talt, Dia, and our classmates would be killed.

We needed Epona’s power to win.

Yet right now, she couldn’t even stand up.

In fact, no matter how many speeches I could throw at her, probably none of them would make her budge.

[The truth is, I didn’t show you my full potential. Take a good look. I’ll show that I’m strong enough to stop you!] (Lugh)

I made that promise and started running.

I removed all restraints and strengthened myself to the limit.

I unleashed all the mana from my nigh endless reserves.

I was overflowing with mana ten times greater than that of an ordinary person, and I used all of it to enhance my physical abilities without wasting it.

I was done hiding my true abilities.

[Amazing…! So this is Lugh’s power…] (Epona)

With my full power, I eradicated the mob of orcs.

Even if I couldn’t eliminate the demon, I could still deal with anything other than that somehow.

Then I could regain Epona’s trust. If Epona put her faith in me, she would be in the right state of mind to fight the demon.

That was my only option left.

For the sake of protecting what was important to me, I wouldn’t hesitate to reveal my current hand.

I mean, even if I played all my cards during this incident, I could just come up with new ones for the future.

Wavering here and losing Talt and Dia would be the epitome of stupidity, something I didn’t want at all.