Chapter 360: Crush the Mechanical and Grotesque Puppets! 1
* * *
The third stage begins.
"I don't... I don't get it...!"
The man hid behind cover, watching the carnage unfolding in the Third Plaza.
His face was pale, his body trembling.
* * *
He's an adventurer, based in the Ashgo Kingdom's royal capital.
Well, it's true that his occupational classification is 'adventurer', but in his case, 'day laborer' would be a more accurate description of his actual life.
He does take on monster subjugation and herb gathering quests, on occasion.
He's somewhat accustomed to rough stuff.
But the requests he accepts through the Adventurers' Guild are mainly construction work and other jobs within the city.
He's been short-tempered since he was a child, and he hates being ordered around.
That's why he couldn't stand the thought of working under a fixed boss.
But it's difficult for a crude man with no education to start a business.
And yet, he wasn't rotten enough to become a criminal, like a thief.
That's the kind of man he is, so he ended up making a living as an 'adventurer'.
But he didn't have the ambition to actively work as an adventurer and raise his rank.
Because this royal capital has a good economy.
A good economy means more work.
This city has a well-established environment where low-rank adventurers can earn enough to live without risking their lives.
Therefore, he didn't feel the need to challenge himself with high-difficulty quests like monster subjugation, hone his skills, and raise his adventurer rank.
In the first place, he never thought he'd succeed in such challenges.
He's unaware of it, but he has low self-esteem.
That's why, even though it's been about 10 years since he drifted into this city, he's continued to live the same uneventful days.
On sunny days, he works as a day laborer, earns money, drinks alcohol, and sleeps.
On rainy days, he skips meals and lies still in his extremely cheap, run-down tenement house.
Well, that's roughly how he lived his life.
He turned a blind eye to his anxieties about the future and lived a lazy life.
That's the kind of man he is.
That kind of, good-for-nothing man you can find anywhere.
* * *
Now.
I've given a long explanation about this man, but at this moment, that information is not very important.
The problem is what he's looking at, pale with fear.
What is the carnage unfolding in the Third Plaza?
What is spreading out before his eyes?
It was.
A horrifying sight of countless Ashgo Kingdom soldiers, wearing splendid armor that he couldn't afford even if he worked for a year, all lying dead.
(No way... come on...)
The man knows how strong the soldiers are.
They're strong.
After all, they're professional soldiers.
They train every day to protect the people and maintain peace, and they even take on monster subjugation quests that ordinary adventurers would hesitate to accept.
They have expensive equipment.
They're people he could never beat.
And yet, they're lying there like broken dolls.
"U-Ugh..."
"Aah..."
He could occasionally hear groans.
There must be some soldiers still alive.
But many of them are probably already dead.
How can he tell?
Just looking at their mangled, twisted bodies, he couldn't help but understand.
(What are those guys... just who are they!?)
What the man turned his attention to next was the enemy force that had caused this carnage.
They were a mysterious army, clad in full-body armor that he had never seen before.
* * *
It was a sunny day.
So the man was participating in a road repair project in the central district of the royal capital.
He got into a fight with the site supervisor and was banned from working there, but he still got paid for the work he did.
So, he drank.
And he was on his way home.
This man, walking past the Third Plaza, taking a shortcut that no one else knows, heard a mysterious battle sound.
He should have run away then, but he was emboldened by the alcohol.
So he acted on his curiosity and ended up coming to this plaza.
And what he saw was a shocking sight... a mysterious army, clad in full-body armor, almost single-handedly defeating the Ashgo Kingdom soldiers.
"Pi, pipi, pii!"
"Shuu... kyururururu! Pipipi! Pii!"
The full-body armored soldiers, emitting a strange green light from their joints, making high-pitched sounds as if signaling something... were swinging their large swords, defeating the soldiers one after another.
The soldiers' splendid swords couldn't penetrate their armor.
The soldiers' splendid armor was like paper in front of their large blades.
It was a nightmarish scene.
Why did he come to such a place?
The man regretted it, watching the spectacle, but he couldn't do anything more.
His legs trembled, and he couldn't move.
He could only hide in the shadows, holding his breath, and watch the carnage unfold.
* * *
"N-Ggh..."
"!!"
Now, at the edge of the carnage-filled Third Plaza, near where the man was hiding.
One of the fallen soldiers stood up.
The man knew the face of that soldier, whose face was stained red with blood.
But they weren't close.
Rather, the man thought she disliked him.
Because that soldier used to patrol the royal capital as a guard... and the man had been questioned many times by her.
He hadn't seen her lately, probably because she was transferred... but he never imagined he'd meet her again under such circumstances.
"O-Oh... haaa...!"
The soldier, staggering, slowly walked towards the full-body armored soldiers.
(Idiot! What are you doing? Run away!!)
The man moved his mouth, trying to speak.
Naturally, his thoughts didn't reach the soldier.
"We are... for the people...!"
The soldier muttered, continuing to walk.
"Pipi."
One of the full-body armored soldiers noticed her and silently stepped forward.
(Please, run away! If you do that, you'll just die for nothing!)
The man desperately shouted in his mind.
But he knew.
That she was not the kind of person to run away here.
She is.
Among the people the man knows.
The most troublesome.
The most serious.
The most inflexible.
The most loyal to her duty.
The most sincere.
Strong.
And kind.
"I will never... give up..."
Her mind is probably hazy.
The soldier, staggering, weakly raised her sword.
The full-body armored soldier looked at her with an emotionless expression, and then.
Raised his large sword high...
And swung it down with all his might.
ZUGAAAAAAAAAAAN!!
The impact created a deafening roar, gouging out the cobblestones of the Third Plaza.
But the large sword of this full-body armored soldier.
A blow that held the power to cleave the soldier in two.
It didn't happen.
...Because the man, who had been hiding in the shadows, finally jumped out into the plaza... tackled the soldier, and...
...Rolled with her in his arms, dodging the full-body armored soldier's large sword!
"Y-You are...!"
The soldier blinked, staring at the man's face.
The man didn't have the time to answer her.
Silently, he rolled with her, forcibly moving her away from the full-body armored soldiers.
And then.
"This is wrong!!"
He shouted.
"For an amazing person like you... to die in a place like this!! That's absolutely wrong!!"
His teeth chattered.
His knees trembled.
"So please... please run away...!"
And then, tears streamed down his face.
"This is where... a worthless piece of trash like me... can be of useーーー!!!"
The man stood in front of the full-body armored soldiers, shielding the soldier, and screamed!
"...Pipi."
But even with all this commotion, the full-body armored soldiers' reactions were minimal.
They made a high-pitched sound and raised their large swords emotionlessly.
Their target is the man who jumped in front of them.
The full-body armored soldier was about to swing his large sword down on the man with all his might.
ZGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!
The next moment, a deafening roar echoed, and the cobblestones of the Third Plaza were gouged out once again.
But it wasn't because the full-body armored soldier's large sword cleaved the man in two.
The man saw it.
What happened at that moment.
Just as the full-body armored soldier was about to swing his large sword down.
Towards the full-body armored soldier, from above his head.
A giant... rugged, sharp, menacing, jet-black fist descended, and...
...Crushed the full-body armored soldier flat.
The man saw it.
What happened at that moment.
But he couldn't comprehend it.
What happened at that moment.
"Hyaa..."
Just as the man, letting out a pathetic cry, collapsed on his butt, his legs giving way.
Whoosh.
Something descended from the sky, right after the jet-black fist.
"A... !?"
Making brief eye contact with it, the man let out a dumbfounded voice.
Because the man.
Has met this girl before.
BOOM!!
A muffled explosion sound came from under the jet-black fist.
When the girl moved her deformed fist that extended from her shoulder, what remained was a gouged-out ground and a crushed, compressed lump of mysterious metal.
There was no flesh and blood of a living creature.
The girl tilted her head slightly, but immediately turned back to face the remaining full-body armored soldiers and assumed a fighting stance.
Because no matter what kind of existence the enemy is.
In the end, if you break them, they can't move.
For her, who lives to fight, the world is very simple.
So, this girl, clad in a jet-black armor.
The violent flower shop girl that the man met before.
To crush all the full-body armored soldiers, her enemies... she charged towards them with all her might!!