Chapter 31 :

Episode 7 : Captain (5)

[‘Behemoth’ has activated the hidden skill, ‘Detonation’ Lv. ???.]

A sphere of explosiveness crashed into the center of the ogres, blasting them up as if they were nothing but pebbles.

With my shortswords receiving the blow of the shockwave left by the explosion, I was pushed back toward Mirai's bubble shield behind me.

Mirai carried an anxious look on her face when she secretly stared at my back. She wished to help, however, she knew very well that she was refrained from supporting me.

Thus, she could only spectape from the sideline with Raiden by her side.

‘I don't want to lose captain again..’ Mirai thought before perceiving Raiden's lightning.

She clasped his arm to release her silk, enveloping one of his arms to force Raiden to stop. "No, Rai!"

Raiden gave Mirai a death stare when he turned to look at her. "But Sensei..he.. He can't handle that in his current state!"

Mirai produced a hissing noise at Raiden, glaring at him with anger. "Don't underestimate our captain!"

Raiden gritted his teeth, clenching his fists tensely before he regained his composure. "..."

"Captain once taught us to be sangfroid, didn't he?" Mirai reminded him with a smile on her face as she got rid of her silk on his arm.

"Observe instead of panicking, calmness instead of fear. Yes, I remembered."

Mirai exhaled a sigh after calming Raiden. "That's much better! Geez, sometimes you can be too hopeless."

-Bump! Bump!-

The earth trembling from the collision between the ogre and the explosion, causing yet another shockwave to occur.

That shockwave delivered a lot of dust smoke into the area, including small rocks, bricks and most importantly the big ball of yarn rolling and coming toward me at full speed because they were swayed by the wind force, affected by the shockwave.

I thought as I clutched the shortswords firmly. ‘You ready?’

"Yes, master." Lucifer answered, releasing black lightning from within the blades.

[Reversing back to previous stats.]

[Strength Lv. 20 → Lv. 10.]

[Dexterity Lv. 20 → Lv. 10.]

[Agility Lv. 1 → Lv. 10.]

[Intelligence Lv. 1 → Lv. 6.]

[Luck Lv. 1 → Lv. 7.]

"It's coming." I mumbled.

A huge chunk of the wall which almost flew into me, got cut into two easily. Lucifer's black lightning zapping from within the wall, prompted it to obliterate into tiny pieces until they were electrocuted into dust, leaving only the black lightning to jolt out of control.

I continued on evading, slashing things that went into my direction. And because I had Mirai's handmade clothes, I wasn't inflicted with wounds when a few of them that I didn't evade, hit me.

Without a moment to breathe, I found another wave of bombardment that would be hard to deal with using only shortswords.

‘Bow.’ I swiftly thought when I gestured myself drawing an imaginary bow, gripping my shortswords.

As soon as I said bow, Lucifer transformed himself into a bow with 3 arrows ready to be fired.

I concentrated immensely, locking my eyes on the objects flying toward me. And when I let go of the arrows, they were shot into the bombardment of flying debris.

"Ignite." I commanded with my bow having 3 arrows replenished already.

The arrows that had struck the flying debris, bursted into dark flame from my command. The fire linked itself to the other arrows, burning the debris to prolong its fierce fire.

The fire which was strong enough to melt stones completely, illuminated the whole vicinity. Moreover, it went on burning fiercely on every surface of the ground without dying down.

After I confirmed the debris which should have bombarded me, were eradicated entirely. I fired another 3 arrows into the air above the blazing fire, commanding again but differently this time. "Absorb."

The arrow's trajectories were flame being sucked up into the arrows as it struck into the large ball of yarn.

"Unleash." I ordered again.

The large ball of yarn rolled toward me until the arrows unleashed all the fire that they absorbed, incinerating the yarn as quick as lightning.

However, the ball was still going even despite the fire burning most of its circular shape.

It was coming closer to me but I kept myself calm.

Closer..

And closer..

Until it reached me..

And when it did..

It was nowhere close to being in its enormous size when it bumped into my foot in the size of a tennis ball.

I ignored it when I was done looking at it, because it was to let the fire do its work by burning the ball completely.

I went and checked where the explosion took place while catching my breath.

The ground that was destroyed once because of me, now got demolished by Behemoth's explosion.

Freshes of the ogres, their weapons, armors, body parts were scattered around the newly formed crater.

Their armors and weapons were broken, looking rather dusty, even though they weren't rusty before.

On the contrary, these weren't what I was looking for. So I called out to him. "Behemoth."

The first thing Mirai did after releasing her shield bubble, was to run toward me immediately.

When I turned around to look at Mirai, Behemoth hopped out of his hiding place to sprint toward me like what Mirai did.

‘..uh.’ I thought while stepping backward.

———

Meanwhile..

Zircon, Tanzanite, and Turquoise were submerged in disbelief after what they have seen ever since they uncovered themselves from their wings, which were protecting them from the explosion.

"The ogres are gone." Zircon realized what the ‘Last’ player's plan was. ‘He outsmarted us?’

Tanzanite said this out loud while patting away the dusts that landed on her wings. "H-How can a cat do that?!’

"There wasn't such a creature like that before..!" Turquoise still denied the whole situation, searching through her book to see if that creature ever existed or not.

Tanzanite mentioned something she saw. "W-Wait! If I recalled correctly, I think I saw the ‘Last’ player communicating with the cat!"

"I agree with you, I also saw him talking to the cat. In fact, I thought it was a weird habit of humans.."

"Sister! T-This can't be allowed right?!" Tanzanite turned to look at Zircon for an answer.