Chapter 213: The Apostle Attacks
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"Don't underestimate meee!!"
"Hey! They broke through over there!"
"Gu, ah! My shoulder, it got hit!!"
"Don't mess with me! Uwaaaaah!!?"
Shouts of anger, screams, yells...
There was an existence enjoying the desperate voices of adventurers resounding throughout the Zamago Forest base as if savoring the finest music, sitting on the defensive wall unnoticed by anyone.
It was a bespectacled woman wrapped in a pale yellow cloak that blended into the forest scenery dyed yellow and red, with half her face hidden by a scarf of the same color.
"...Aha."
Yes, the one who blushed faintly every time she heard a scream was none other than the person who caused this monster assault!
She arranged for stimulants to be burned in the forest, monster lure to be burned inside the base, and blew up the defensive wall with magic tools... the apostle of the Cube God Kakushii, Viola!
"Aah~~ the best... but, haa, I can't keep listening in ecstasy..."
The woman who had her eyes closed in rapture muttered that, and with a single leap, jumped down from the top of the defensive wall and began walking boldly inside the base.
Why did she cause such a situation?
Of course, it was to carry out the oracle given to her... "the killing of the great sinner Giovanno."
The target has comrades.
That was something she knew from the beginning after hearing it from the Cube God.
Although Viola is an apostle who has been granted magical power by the god and has more power than ordinary people, she wasn't confident that she could face and defeat several of the "comrades" who could survive in the demon realm at the same time.
If possible, she wanted to sacrifice both the target and all the comrades with her own hands, but... this is where she has a cautious personality.
In the first place, she is an assassin-type fighter, and although she doesn't dislike head-on combat, it could be said that she's not good at it.
Therefore, she decided to use a scheme.
Blow up the defensive wall that protects the base, have monsters attack, and thin out the target's defenses.
It may not be an intricate enough plan to be called a scheme, but anyway, as Viola intended, the adventurers inside the base are fighting near the defensive wall for defense, and the obstacles to achieving the goal have been greatly reduced.
She can't miss this opportunity.
The effects of the stimulants won't last forever.
It seems that the legendary earth magic user Earthcell (the one Viola was most wary of in this job) has started repairing the defensive wall, and it's only a matter of time before this chaos subsides.
She must finish off the target before that happens.
"La la la, humm humm, tra-la-laaaa~~"
Singing an off-key humming in time with the distant sound of battle, Viola quietly proceeded straight through the base toward the Adventurer's Guild branch office.
She walked through the field of mysterious plants with thick, round leaves crawling on the ground, kicking them roughly.
Viola, who had been monitoring the movements of the merchants from atop the defensive wall, knew that the Adventurer's Guild branch office had become a shelter.
In other words, the target, who shouldn't be able to fight, should be inside this building.
"...Ah, that's right, that's right, it's a shelter~~ The evacuees will see my face~~ It can't be helped! Aha, I'll have to kill them all~~!!"
Viola thought about the massacre that was about to unfold and opened the glass door of the branch office while twisting her beautiful face uglily.
She walked down the earthen hallway, tapping her feet, and proceeded down the hallway without hesitation.
It's not a very big building.
If you listen carefully, you can immediately tell where people are gathered.
"...Aha."
And finally, she arrived.
At the conference room where the targets were gathered and taking shelter.
After wiping the drool that unintentionally spilled from her mouth with her hand, she placed her hand on the knife at her waist.
(3... 2... 1...)
Counting in her mind and waiting for the right timing... Viola forcefully opened the door of the conference room!
A loud bang resounded in the room, and the evacuees inside all turned their gazes to her at once!
And... for a few seconds, their movements stopped due to the sudden event.
A defenseless moment occurs.
The assassin Viola doesn't miss that opening!
In an instant, she scans the inside of the room with her gaze and finds the target.
The man with the villain's face.
He was standing in the middle of the room.
Conveniently for Viola, the man was standing imposingly in front of the evacuees, perhaps trying to protect them, with his arms spread out to the sides.
(You're the target, idiooot!!!)
Viola stuck out her tongue at the target in her mind and threw the knife with a speed too fast for the eye to follow!
This knife has poison coated on the blade!
If an ordinary person is injured by this knife, their life won't last even an hour!
The poisoned knife cuts through the air.
It flies straight, straight toward the neck of the man with the villain's face.
However.
Just a few moments before the knife sinks into the target.
About 1 meter before it.
The straight trajectory of that knife... was obstructed!
Kaching!
With such a high-pitched sound, the knife was deflected.
Seeing that, a frown forms on the brow of Viola, who had been in high spirits until now.
The one who deflected the knife was an ordinary woman.
An ordinary woman with brown hair tied back in one, wearing a cloak and a sword at her waist, looking like an ordinary adventurer.
That ordinary woman was the only one who moved when Viola entered the room and everyone froze due to the sudden event.
In response to Viola's knife-throwing motion, she instantly realized the target, slid her body into the trajectory of the knife, activated the magic tool on the armlet equipped on her right arm, and formed a fan-shaped shield.
And with that shield, she deflected Viola's knife!
(Tch! There was a guard. Who is she?)
When carrying out this operation, Viola had grasped the number and faces of adventurers existing in this base by the previous day.
But she didn't know about this woman.
She was probably an adventurer who arrived at this base today.
(It's a miscalculation. But.)
Viola doesn't panic.
She twists the corner of her mouth hidden by the scarf into a grin.
Because... the woman who just interfered with Viola...
No matter how you look at her, she seems weak.
She's wearing loose-fitting clothes, and although the amount of her muscle can't be read in an instant, even if she's trained to some extent, it's probably not beyond the scope of an ordinary woman's body.
The amount of magical power that can be sensed is also ordinary.
Her face is also ordinary.
"Wow, I'm ordinarily surprised!"
And her words are also ordinary.
Anyway, although she's dressed like an adventurer, no matter how you look at her, she's an ordinary civilian woman.
(In other words, that just now was a fluke.)
Viola, who came to that conclusion, throws the poisoned knife again.
This time, the target is that ordinary woman.
Although she seems to be an ordinary woman no matter how you look at her, it's troublesome to leave someone who moves as a guard.
First, she'll kill this ordinary woman, and then kill the man with the villain's face!
However, Viola's plan was, to put it bluntly, naive.
The ordinary woman reacted to Viola's knife throw again!
This time, not with the shield magic tool equipped on her arm... the ordinary woman instantly readied a small shield that had been hidden by her cloak, deflected the knife, and began charging toward Viola!
(This is... the movement of "Saikenna-style Small Shield Technique"!)
Viola, who has been in the dark world for a long time, has deep knowledge of various combat techniques.
Even if she can't use them herself, if she knows them as knowledge, it's easy to deal with them.
That's why Viola, despite her plan being shattered, didn't get too flustered.
Because the ordinary woman's charge... the movement of "Saikenna-style Small Shield Technique"... was, after all, ordinary.
It's not sloppy at all.
But it's ordinary.
It's an ordinary movement that doesn't go beyond the level of a general adventurer.
In contrast, Viola considers herself a first-class assassin.
She can handle movements of this level with a snort.
Viola uses her magical power, which has been boosted by the Cube God, to perform [Body Strengthening].
She moves at a speed far surpassing ordinary people, shifting her body off the trajectory of the charge.
And from there, she thrusts her knife toward the unprotected side of the ordinary woman!
This is the weakness of "Saikenna-style Small Shield Technique"!
But, however!
The knife Viola thrust was deflected again with a grating sound before it could gouge into the ordinary woman's side!
Why!?
The ordinary woman, who should have been charging with "Saikenna-style Small Shield Technique," suddenly stopped, drew her sword!
And she slashed away Viola's knife!
(This swordsmanship is... "Sekiun-style"!)
Viola, who instantly read the style of that movement, acts according to the established method.
"Sekiun-style" has a relatively large opening afterward.
(Therefore, don't be afraid and jump into the bosom!)
But!
"Guh!!?"
The next moment, Viola was punched in the cheek and blown away!
The ordinary woman, who was thought to be a swordsman of "Sekiun-style," threw away the sword, which is the life of a swordsman, and drove a powerful hook into Viola who had entered her bosom!
(This is "Iwaken Brawling Killing Method"...!)
Even while her glasses were blown off, Viola immediately identified the martial art used by the ordinary woman as she took a defensive posture and regained her stance.
However, that doesn't mean anything!
What flew into Viola's field of vision as she raised her face was the figure of the ordinary woman biting a thin tube and pointing it at Viola!
(A blowgun!?)
She instantly saw through it and jumped back.
Indeed, that assessment was correct, and several arrows were shot from the tube the ordinary woman had bitten, piercing the spot where Viola had been standing one after another.
A wide-range shooting aimed up, down, left, and right!
Unable to endure it, Viola jumps out of the conference room where the target is into the hallway to avoid the arrows!
"Oh my!"
The ordinary woman who chases after her picks up the discarded sword and swings it down with all her might from above!
(This time it's "Sword Saint Style"!?)
Viola no longer has the composure she had until earlier.
She jumps to the side and rolls down the hallway to avoid the blow!
Then, this time, the ordinary woman threw a net at Viola from who knows where she was hiding it.
The net spreads to fill the narrow hallway, and it's certain that she will be captured at this rate!
"D-Damn iiit!!!"
Viola breaks through the window with a hideously distorted face and jumps out of the branch office to escape from the net!
(What is it!? What is that woman!?)
Viola was intensely confused!
That woman seemed like an ordinary woman no matter how you looked at her!
Sword handling, shield usage, footwork, martial arts!
Every single one of them was definitely of ordinary skill, not a threat to Viola.
But, however!
By an ordinary woman who can only do ordinary things... by an ordinary person who should be inferior to her!
She, a first-class assassin recognized even by a god, is being cornered!?
Viola had never tasted such humiliation since she learned to kill and studied combat!
"You... what are you...!?"
Viola glared at the ordinary woman who had come out after her and muttered in a low voice.
"Oh my, I'm Yuju Arie, an ordinary adventurer!"
It seemed her voice reached the ordinary woman properly.
Yuju introduced herself ordinarily with a carefree smile.
That attitude irritated Viola even more!
"What's ordinary...! Then, just shut up and be killed...! I am a chosen one... I am special... An inferior human to me... Don't get in my way...!"
"Oh my, yeah, I understand. Every person is special, you know! One and only! But the fact that everyone is special means that even if you're special, it's ordinary. Yup, yup."
"DON'T SAY THIIINGS THAT DON'T MAKE SEEENSE!!"
Viola, completely enraged, wielded knives in both hands and slashed at Yuju with tremendous speed!
(Now then, I wonder if the provocation was successful?)
While fending off Viola's fierce attacks with ordinary swordsmanship and ordinary shield techniques, Yuju calmly thinks.
This assassin's skill level is... quite high.
Honestly, if she unleashes her full potential, it would be quite difficult for Yuju alone to grasp victory against such an opponent.
But even so, Yuju was calm.
(After all, it's after seeing a real monster.)
An existence that is truly not ordinary, to the point where she had no choice but to give up even retreating.
After seeing that girl, the assassin in front of her is cute in comparison.
(For now, continue the provocation. There don't seem to be any other enemies, so I'll wait for reinforcements. That's probably related to this commotion, so I want to aim for capture if possible.)
If you can't win against an opponent alone, surround them with multiple people and defeat them.
Aiming for the ordinary, reliable, and best situation that anyone can think of, Yuju started buying time!
Being able to do various things, ordinarily!
That's the "ordinary" rank 1 adventurer, Yuju Arie!
But isn't that more like "Usually" rather than "Yuju Arie"? *
... Don't worry about the minor details.
And the apostle Viola who gets provoked easily!
The calm and collected dark side maid is just a role in the story, and her true nature is a hoodlum murderer.
It's inevitable that her true colors show in parts that deviate from the plot of the story.
Some fixation on superiority and inferiority with others can be seen, but that's probably related to something that caused her to become distorted.
It probably won't be depicted though.
TL Note: (It seems like the author was trying to draw a similarity with the name "Yuju Arie" and the word "Generally" in katakana, but the wordplay falls on its face in English. However, "Yuju Arie" is awfully similar to the word "Usually" which I am unsure if that's intentional or a coincidence that I could play off that word instead.)