Chapter 51: The Sword Saint’s Power

“I’m within striking range. …It really is enormous when you see it up close.”

“Don’t take any unnecessary risks. If even one of our retreat conditions is met, withdraw immediately.”

“Yes, I know.”

“I’m in position behind it too.”

“Understood. I know you can handle yourself, Aoi, but don’t get too close.”

“Yes!”

Yuuka stood in front of the Abystortas while Aoi circled behind it with flight magic. Once they were in position, it was finally time to engage the monster directly. Aoi’s spell had already wiped out all the other monsters nearby.

Of course, neither of them would take reckless chances. We had discussed the operation and agreed that they would retreat immediately if even one of several conditions was met: if their attacks could not harm the Abystortas at all, if it behaved in an unexpected way, or if either of them suffered a serious injury.

They carried high potions for injuries, and Rain had also provided three elixirs. With those, any wound short of instant death could be healed—even the loss of a limb. We had already witnessed their effectiveness when treating Yuuka’s younger sister, Haruka-chan.

Yuuka, Aoi, and Gustav-san each carried one. Gustav-san had already possessed one for emergencies, but supplying two more elixirs of such extraordinary value was exactly the kind of feat one would expect from Prince Rain.

“Everything is ready over here too.”

“Understood.”

Beside me, Rain was setting up a tripod. The device mounted on top of it, however, was not a camera but a pair of binoculars.

“To think binoculars capable of seeing so far exist…”

“These magnify about fifty times. Apparently, there are models with more than one hundred times magnification too.”

Binoculars existed in this world as well, perhaps introduced by one of the Blessed People, but they only magnified about ten times. In Japan, far more powerful models were readily available. At such high magnification, even the slightest tremor in one’s hands made it impossible to see clearly, which was why we also needed a tripod.

I looked through my own binoculars and could make out Yuuka even from here. The drone, the radios, and these binoculars—every one of them could change how battles were fought in this world.

But I had done everything I could. Now I could only trust in everyone else’s strength.

“Here I go.”

Yuuka exhaled deeply and moved her right foot forward. She lowered her center of gravity and turned her body sideways.

Her left hand rested on the scabbard, while her right gripped the sword’s hilt. It was the distinctive stance of Japanese iaijutsu. A mountainous monster loomed before her, yet she showed not the slightest fear. Her gaze remained fixed on her enemy, and she did not move a muscle.

“…Thunderclap Flash!”

The instant Yuuka’s voice came through the headset, she vanished. In the same heartbeat, a streak of light crossed the Abystortas’s jet-black foreleg, which was as thick as a massive tree.

By the time I realized what had happened, Yuuka had appeared far beyond it. A moment later, dark blood welled from the line across its leg.

“It’s incredibly tough. I’m a little shocked that attack didn’t sever its leg outright… But I made it bleed!”

“I saw it. That was amazing, Yuuka!”

My eyes could follow only enough to see Yuuka vanish, but I had seen her cut through the Abystortas’s resilient hide.

This was my first time seeing Yuuka’s swordsmanship, even if only through binoculars. Its speed and power were unbelievable. Aoi’s magic had already astonished me, but Yuuka’s strength was just as far beyond human limits.

“To make the Abystortas bleed—truly, Sword Saint-dono lives up to her title. Few warriors could so much as scratch its hide.”

“Even among Blessed People with powerful Unique Skills, almost no one reaches S rank as an adventurer in only two years. She must have devoted herself single-mindedly to training all this time.”

Rain was right.

The [Sword Saint] was undoubtedly a powerful Unique Skill, but Yuuka’s achievement was also the fruit of all the desperate effort she had poured into becoming an adventurer and saving her younger sister, Haruka-chan.

“I’ll attack now too!”

Behind the Abystortas, Aoi began an incantation of her own, targeting one of its hind legs.

“Raging tempest, become the scythe that rends all creation and submit to my command—”

The winds around Aoi converged in front of her and formed an enormous scythe of storm winds.

Its range was narrower than Meteor Catastrophe’s, but even I could tell that its magical power was far more concentrated.

“Become the blade that reaps all insolence! Tempest Reaper!”

The huge, translucent scythe of compressed wind gouged into the Abystortas’s hind leg, sending more dark blood spraying through the air.

“…I couldn’t sever the leg either, but I made it bleed. We’ll continue the operation!”

“Understood! I’m only getting started!”

Aoi’s spell had also succeeded in drawing blood. Neither of them could kill it in one blow, but our plan was a battle of attrition. No matter how enormous a monster might be, it was still a living creature. If it lost enough of the blood circulating through its body, it should no longer be able to sustain its life.

From what I had researched in Japan, blood accounted for roughly seven to eight percent of a human’s body weight. Losing around twenty percent of that blood could cause hemorrhagic shock and put someone in grave danger. A turtle apparently carried slightly more blood than a human—around thirty percent more—but almost no creature could survive losing half its blood.

The Abystortas was not merely tough; its healing ability was extraordinary. No one had previously managed to inflict damage faster than it could recover, but Yuuka and Aoi possessed enough offensive power to overcome that regeneration. If its movements remained slow and its attacks could not reach them, this strategy should work.