Chapter 14: Bitch Slap!

While on the middle of the bridge appears a behemoth, the other end of the bridge appears a horde of sword-wielding skeleton armies that emerged from numerous 1m red magic circles. Their empty eye sockets were emitting crimson light similar to that of the magic circle, and the eyeballs-like radiance looked all around. Their numbers already increased to the hundreds, and they are still increasing.

However, compared with the hundreds of skeleton army, the Behemoth is more dangerous as it is as huge as ten meters with the shape of a Triceratop wearing a helmet. However, it had many other additional factors, such as the eyes that gave off crimson light, the sharp claws, the fangs that sounded like the clang of metals when they collided, and the blazing horn that extended from the helmet...

'I wonder if my plant can withstand that temperature, although I already prepared a fire-resistance plant, I'm not sure right now after looking at this beast.

When Commander Meld muttered "Behemoth" to himself, that Behemoth took a deep breath and let out a deafening roar.

"Gurua~a~a~aaaaa!!"

With the roar, Commander Meld quickly started to issue commands to everyone.

"Alan! Lead the students to the stair and breakthrough those Skeleton Soldiers! Kyle, Ivan, Gale! I need you guys to make a barrier as big as you can! We need to stop that monster here! Kouki, hurry and get to the stairs with the others!"

"Wait a moment, Meld-san! We'll fight too! Isn't that dinosaur-like monster the most dangerous? We'll also..."

"Fool! If that's really a Behemoth, you guys won't stand a chance at your current state! That monster is a magic beast from the 65th floor. A long time ago, even the adventurer that was once known as the "strongest" was unable to defeat this monster! Just make a run for it! I can't let you guys die!"

Although Kouki faltered for a moment after seeing Commander Meld's grave expression, he still stood his ground with, "I can't just abandon you guys!" When Kouki was about to say, "Let's think of a way to let everyone escape safely", the Behemoth let out a roar and started to charge at them.

At this rate, the students who were retreating would get trampled to death. But the Hairihi Kingdom's strongest military force summoned a multi-layered barrier to prevent this from happening.

"Repel all Malice and Enmity, Absolute Providence from the Son of God, Herein a Sanctuary, The Enemy of God Shall Not Pass, [Absolute Virtue]"

The magical circle for this spell was drawn on a two-meter square paper of the highest quality, and the incantation was made up of four phrases. In addition to that, three people were required to cast it. The barrier could only provide absolute defense for 60 seconds. The pure white semi-spherical barrier stopped the Behemoth's charge!

The moment the Behemoth clashed with the barrier, a terrifying shockwave erupted from between them. Everything under the Behemoth's feet was pulverized, and despite how the entire bridge was made out of stones, it was shaking violently. The retreating students let out a scream and tumbled in succession.

'Wow, Such power!'

I can only stand in admiration after looking at the first colossal level monster I see in this world, compared to the behemoth, the Skeleton Soldiers were magic beasts that showed up on the 38th floor. Although it is far weaker compared to Behemoth, they were clearly different from the magic beasts they had encountered so far.

In front of them was the skeleton army that made one's blood run cold, and behind them was that terrifying aura that pressed in constantly. Most of the students were in a state of panic.

Ignoring the formation, they recklessly rushed towards the stairs. A member of the knight, Alan, tried to calm them down desperately, but no one listened due to the imminent terror. One of the female students was pushed from behind and fell down. She groaned as she lifted her head, just to see a Skeleton Soldier who had lifted the sword over its head.

"Ah!"

Right! She is the future magical girl Yuka Sonobe. At the same time she let out a scream, the sword was swung down towards her head. She thought she was going to die at that moment, but the ground under the Skeleton Solider's feet suddenly swelled up. From the ground, comes many branches of wood the size of an arm that immediately binds the skeleton soldier.

Since I know that the strength of this skeleton soldier is far compared to those weak monsters, I no longer use the grass like before but wood, which is more durable. I proceed to make the plant drill into their bones and absorb the mineral contained inside them.

Why should I do this and not just throw them into the abyss? Although throwing them is faster, I'm not sure if they will survive as I don't want them to besiege me when I fall to the abyss later.

I then approached her location and helped her up as I give her some words to make her stabilize the rear.

"Hurry, keep going. If you calm down, this skeleton is actually not fast. You can use strategy and tactics to beat them if you can concentrate enough!"

She stared at me for a moment before replying with an energetic "Thank you" and dashed off. Besides her, I also captured more of those skeletons to stabilize the situation first before proceeding with my plan.

Besides me, was Hajime who had ruined the surrounding Skeleton Soldiers' footing and had them detained. He seems to take a moment to survey the battlefield which was chaotic as everyone is in a state of panic. Most of them just brandished their weapons carelessly while the magicians were in disorder. At this rate, it was highly likely that someone would die. Although Knight Alan was desperately trying to bring them under control, it was not going well. During this time, more reinforcements came for the Skeleton Soldiers through the new magic circles.

Seeing this situation, Hajime started to ask me.

"What do we do now Kentarou-kun... We need a powerful leader... someone with the power to open the path...We need Amanogawa-kun!"

Hearing his question I can only reply "Don't worry, I will bring him here. You go help the others as I go convince him."

After that, I started to sprint towards the direction of Kouki's party.

Behemoth was still repeatedly charging at the barrier. A powerful shockwave was produced every time it collided with the barrier, the stone bridge cracked due to the pressure. There were already cracks on the barrier, it was only a matter of time before it gave in. Commander Meld also joined to reinforce the barrier, but it was like a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood.

"Ah, crap! It won't hold for much longer! Kouki, hurry, and retreat! You guys go too!"

"No! I will not abandon Commander Meld and the knights! We must all return alive!"

"Ku, to be so egotistical at this moment…"

Commander Meld's expression was as if he just ate a bitter worm. In such a narrow space, it would be very difficult to avoid the Behemoth's rush. Therefore, the best option was to run away before the barrier became ineffective. But such a subtle opportunity could only be grasped by someone experienced, it was highly unlikely for Kouki and his party to have such insight.

While explaining the situation as briefly as possible, Commander Meld urged them to retreat. But Kouki did not take his advice and refused to "abandon" them. Besides, from the look in Kouki's eyes, he wanted to challenge the Behemoth. He believed if it was him, he might be able to overpower the Behemoth.

It couldn't be helped, he was still too young and too naive. For someone with a Hero complex, He was overestimating himself a little too much. Commander Meld had showered them with so much praise to maintain his confidence, but it seemed to have produced the opposite of the desired result.

"Kouki! Let's retreat as Commander Meld said!"

Shizuku, who understood the situation, quickly admonished Kouki and grabbed his arm.

"Sigh~ This is not the first time Kouki is being unreasonable! I'll back you up!"

"Ryutaro... Thank you."

Ryutaro's statement which comes from a muscled brain just fueled Kouki's enthusiasm even more. Shizuku clicked her tongue at that.

"Are you drunk?! Try to understand the situation! You big idiot!"

"Shizuku-chan..."

As Shizuku was getting impatient, Kaori got more anxious. At this time, I just appear in front of Him.

"Yo, Amanogaka-kun!"

"Huh? Nomura!?"

"Nomura-kun!?"

As everyone was surprised, I was wondering how I should convince him to the best of my ability, although it might be not what you think really is.

'Hmm… Should I punch him in the face ~? Or should I sucker punch Him-? Oh maybe I can do the secret ninjutsu: One thousand years of death… ~Nah, it is too cruel! Other than that, I can't really achieve the best effect. Let's just go with the bitch slap as this is the most dramatic.'

With a plan in mind, I proceed to do so facing his annoying face.

*Slapped!*

"Hurry up and retreat! Everyone can't make it without you! Hurry!"

"What are you saying all of a sudden? Why did you slap me! Furthermore, what are you even doing in a place like this? This is not a place you should be! Just leave this to us, Nomura you…"

"Just shut up! A Hero who is unable to defeat his enemy is trash! But a Hero who only focuses on his enemy and forgets his teammates as they die is lower than trash! And you know what~? You are lower than trash!"

Before He can finish his sentences, I completely rebuke him using a speech I modified from Kakashi,... Wait, I think it is from Obito. Anyway, I can see anger in his eyes as He stares at me with hatred and a will that wants to say "I am not trash!"

Other than Kouki staring at me, I can also feel the stare of Shizuku and Kaori looking at me with weird expressions in their eyes. It seems they recognize my speech since they are also researching anime due to Hajime.

Kouki was dumbstruck and full of anger as he heard my speech. After shaking his head in admonition, he stares back at me with eyes full of killing intent as he says to me in a tone of anger.

"You!!! Just WATCH me! I will show you that I am not TRASH!!!"

'Wha~?~?~?' Hearing his statements, I can only feel that I am confusion as I have a lot of questions inside my head.

'Did he really hear my sentences? Is His brain okay? Did he only hear the first sentences before but? Or He just cares about being called trash and forgets the rest….He is really lower than trash!'

With his very confusing reply, I can only nod and say "Show me then!" as I can also see Shizuku and Kaori trying their best to hold their laughter while Ryutaro just humphs at me. I can't help but twitch my lips at the reaction of the two.

The moment Kouki turned around and tried to attack the Behemoth, the barrier finally fell along with Commander Meld's howl. The raging shockwave assaulted me and the others directly.

I quickly stepped forward and used my defensive earth system to withstand the blow.

"System call! Generate earth element! Form shield shape! Add shock resistance attribute! [Shock Negation Shield]!"

Magic incantations usually try to describe the skills effect with the most popular one being praising the element itself with adjectives such as mighty, strong, etc. Although how to describe it itself doesn't matter as even Kousuke in the later stage can change them into hand seals like in Naruto.

Of course, since it doesn't matter, I just make the most compact incantation which I copied from a certain anime in my past life that does not air yet in this world. That way, no one really cared about it.

The principle of this impact resistance shield is quite different. Rather than something like absorbing the shock, I used the superposition of waves or resonances to achieve a shock cancellation effect. By finding the frequency of the shock and making the phase angle be phi radian (180 degrees), the waves will superimpose each other to achieve an out-of-phase superposition and cancel the waves that come in front of me.

Of course, this only applies to shockwave attacks as projectile attacks also carry momentum which can be negated using this principle.

I along with Shizuku and Kaori that I protected behind me are safe and sound. However, Commander meld, the three knights, Ryutaro and Kouki were unable to move due to the after-effect of the shock wave.

After a few seconds, Kouki starts to stand up from the shock despite his apparent internal injury.

"Ku... Ryutaro, Shizuku, can you buy me some time?"

As Kouki asked them, he walked towards Ryutaro who still seemed like He is in pain, and Shizuku who was okay behind me. Although the two are in pain, they are still farther than the knights who receive a frontal impact. Since Commander Meld had been disabled, it was up to them to do something.

"I guess we don't have a choice!"

"...I'll try to think of something!"

Both of them suddenly assaulted the Behemoth.

"Kaori, start healing Commander Meld and his men!"

"En!"

He doesn't instruct me as He still wants to show his will to not be trash despite his misunderstanding. Of course, although He forgets about the backline, I still keep an eye on them with one of the three minds that I can use in parallel. I pretty much do the same as before such as restraining the skeleton that is trying to attack the students and so on.

Kaori moved according to Kouki's instruction. While I proceed to get beside Commander Meld and erect a barrier in order to not get caught up in the aftermath of the battle. Then, Kouki began to chant in order to unleash his big skill.

"Divine will! Perish everything that is evil with your light! The breath of God! Blow away the ominous clouds and purify this world! The mercy of God! Forgive all my sins with this strike! [Heaven's Might]!"

An aurora gushed out from the Holy Sword after the chant. I really wonder how he can chant this with a confident face as this chant seems to be very embarrassing.

The skill was similar to the [Soaring Flash], but its power was on a completely different level. The aurora gouged the bridge as it shot towards the Behemoth, shaking the bridge with its might. After the chant, Ryutaro and Shizuku had already cleared out. However, the two were extremely exhausted. They suffered a considerable amount of damage in such a short period of time.

The bombardment of light hit the Behemoth directly. The light had painted that area white. The intense vibration caused cracks to appear on the bridge.

"With this... Haa~ Haa~"

"Hmph! As expected, shouldn't we have done this earlier?"

"Hu… It's just that..."

Ryutaro and Shizuku returned to Kouki's side. Kouki breathed heavily after using such an enormous amount of magic power. That skill earlier was Kouki's trump card. His remaining magic powers were almost used up. Behind them, Commander Meld and the fallen knights stood up after they got patched up.

Not long later, when the light and the dust settled down, in that place... was an unscathed Behemoth. The beast sent a death glare at Kouki and growled. After that, it raised its head, the horn on its head began to glow red-hot and emitted a high-pitched sound like that of fingernails scraping the glass. Following that, the helmet ignited like lava.

Seeing this, only one thought surfaced in my mind 'Congratulations! The enemy BOSS has entered the rage mode!'