Chapter 52: Battle of Attrition

“It looks like they’re steadily wearing it down.”

Just as Rain said, Yuuka and Aoi were attacking the Abystortas’s legs and gradually making it lose blood.

“Yes. Ideally, I would have liked to kill it without either of them getting close. It’s a shame I couldn’t get explosives or poison in Japan.”

“You come up with some fairly ruthless ideas too, Kakeru-kun… But a nonmagical physical attack might indeed have worked.”

Even though the Abystortas moved slowly, I would have preferred to defeat it without sending either of them near it. In the past, people had apparently tried poison, while another fearless warrior had entered the gigantic monster’s mouth and fired attack magic wildly from inside. Neither attempt had worked.

But there might have been a real chance if we could make it swallow a deadly poison from Japan, or conceal a powerful bomb or gasoline inside something it ate and detonate it within its body. Unfortunately, I had no connections through which to acquire anything like that, so I had abandoned the idea.

We had also considered setting a trap using Aoi’s magic, but there had not been enough time.

“Oh, the target’s movements have changed. It seems to have recognized Yuuka-san and Aoi-chan as enemies. Yuuka-san, it’s going to try crushing you with its right foreleg.”

“Understood.”

Until now, the Abystortas had ignored their attacks and continued straight ahead. At last, however, it appeared to recognize them as enemies. It stopped advancing and prepared to retaliate.

The monster slowly raised its enormous right foreleg. Its movements were extremely sluggish, but the leg itself was so absurdly large that its attack covered an enormous area. Rain surveyed the entire creature through the binoculars, detected its hostility with his Unique Skill, and warned Yuuka over the radio.

Yuuka immediately switched targets and rushed toward its left foreleg. She was fast enough to evade it on her own, but Rain’s Hostility Detection made doing so even safer.

“I still can’t see any hostility directed toward Aoi-chan behind it. Keep plenty of distance.”

“You don’t need to tell me.”

Rain warned her over the radio, but Aoi was already maintaining a fixed distance while casting her spells.

Rain’s Unique Skill, Hostility Detection, was different from ordinary danger detection. It could not warn him about attacks that carried no hostile intent. If one of them happened to be struck by a leg as the creature turned, or were crushed beneath it when it collapsed, the result could still be fatal.

At first, I had thought it would be safer for Aoi, who could attack from the air, to handle the front. But the rear was actually more dangerous because Rain could not clearly observe the Abystortas’s movements there, so Yuuka had taken the front instead. This was the safest method of fighting available to us.

“Truly impressive. However, the enemy’s healing ability also seems far beyond that of an ordinary monster.”

As Gustav-san said, the wound Yuuka had first cut into its right foreleg was already beginning to stop bleeding.

Its recovery was plainly abnormal. No wonder this monster had survived undefeated for nearly a century despite rarely attacking anyone.

“It’s still steadily losing blood, and I doubt it can regenerate the blood itself. If we keep this up, we should win. Yuuka-san, its left foreleg will come around toward the front next.”

“Understood.”

Rain continued observing the Abystortas and relaying instructions to Yuuka.

If everything continued as it had, we really might defeat even this S-rank monster. But each blow from the Abystortas carried enormous weight. The tremors reached us from far away, and one direct hit might be fatal. Watching from safety while unable to help made my stomach clench with pain.

“Soaring Eightfold Cherry Blossoms!”

“Grand Strike!”

Yuuka’s eight lightning-fast slashes tore into the Abystortas’s left foreleg, drawing even more blood. At the same time, Aoi’s earth magic drove a huge, razor-sharp cone of stone into its right hind leg.

More than thirty minutes had passed since the battle began, yet it felt as if several hours had gone by. My stomach hurt every time Yuuka dodged another of the Abystortas’s attacks.

“…It has lost so much blood, but it still hasn’t even fallen to its knees.”

“The amount of blood it has shed should be considerable. It is truly an extraordinarily sturdy monster.”

Just as Rain and Gustav-san said, the Abystortas continued to move despite all the attacks it had endured. It was far too tenacious. Even if its extraordinary healing ability somehow restored its blood volume, it had still lost an immense amount.

Aoi had consumed enormous amounts of mana and had already drunk several mana potions. Yuuka had not been hit even once, but she also seemed to be drinking potions to restore her stamina.

Yuuka’s sword showed no sign of trouble either. No matter how sharp an ordinary sword was, that much cutting would have dulled and chipped its edge. But her Japanese sword was an exceptionally expensive weapon forged by one of the Blessed People, and apparently its edge never dulled. …The moment I saw a Japanese sword in this world, I had suspected a Blessed Person was responsible.

“I’ve tried attacking several different places, but there doesn’t seem to be any especially vulnerable part.”

“I tested every element, but none produced a decisive result. Wind and earth magic, which have the greatest physical force, are the most effective.”

We had not spent the past thirty minutes attacking blindly. They had tested different parts of its body and every magical element while looking for softer areas and more effective attacks.

But the Abystortas seemed to have no real weakness. Even its head and crimson eyes—the most obvious vulnerable points—were hard, and any damage to its eyes healed with time. What kind of monster was this?

“Wait! Both of you, get away from it! I don’t sense any hostility, but it’s tipping forward. Could it be—”

Both women answered together, “Understood!”

Following Rain’s warning, the two immediately withdrew. The Abystortas then pitched forward and collapsed against the ground.

The impact sent a tremor through the earth even greater than those caused by its stomping attacks.

“It finally fell. That was the most stubborn monster I’ve ever fought…”

“It was unbelievably durable. As expected of an S-rank monster…”

“It looks like it can’t move, but neither of you should lower your guard. Keep wearing it down slowly, just as before.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Of course, Kakeru-sama.”

Both of them had far more experience fighting monsters than I did, so I doubted they would become careless, but I warned them anyway. After coming this far, I refused to let everything end in one final mistake.

Still, now that its enormous body had collapsed and it could no longer move, the outcome should have been decided. We had proven that blood loss could harm it. All they needed to do was make the immobilized monster shed even more blood, and it would certainly die.

I did not care if anyone called the method cowardly. All that mattered was that everyone returned safely and Soraval remained unharmed.

“Whew. I’m glad the plan worked so well.”

“Yes. We owe it all to everyone.”

It had been a prolonged battle in which Rain supported Yuuka and Aoi, whose overwhelming destructive power forced the Abystortas to keep losing blood. The strategy appeared to have succeeded.

That said, it had worked only because the enemy moved so slowly. Against an ordinary monster, the attack would arrive while Rain was still trying to relay his warning. The approach was possible only because Yuuka and Aoi could overcome its defense and regeneration. More than anything, we had simply been well matched against this particular opponent.

Yet even setting that compatibility aside, Yuuka and Aoi’s power had been incredible: overwhelming speed, mighty sword strikes, and large-scale magic capable of reshaping the land. I could only be grateful that both of them had chosen to remain by my side.

“What!? What is this? Both of you, get away from there now!”

Just as Yuuka and Aoi moved in to finish the Abystortas, Rain shouted at the top of his lungs.