The Winter Shogun

It was a week after Fantastic Dreamer's expedition to the Devil's Keep Forest. We're currently having our regular meeting and lunch in the guild.

"We need to find the Demon King General and fast," Darkness said with urgency.

"Impatient now are we?" I asked her.

Darkness sighed and shook her head. "Kazuma, it's winter, I can't let my comrades sleep in the stables during winter while I sleep comfortably in a tavern," she then turned to Aqua. "Can't you do anything about this? You're an expert at breaking curse right?"

Aqua shook her head. "I've tried, it's tied to his soul," she replied while popping a vegetable stick into her mouth. "Besides, it's not bad, Kazuma can keep the stables warm with his magic."

The crusader sighed a little and sat back down. "Then, what are we doing today?"

I turned towards the bulletin road. We're basically the only adventurer party who's still active during winter. With all the easy missions getting more and more rare and only the more dangerous mission remaining, only the high leveled party dares to approach the guild.

Just yesterday we got another two million after killing a one shot bear. In the end, Megumin's explosion finished it off, thus making her level up by like ten. Now she only needs ten seconds to cast her trademark explosions.

Yeah, of course I'm keeping track on her casting time! Timing is crucial when it comes to utilizing her to the fullest potential. Just one second off the mark is enough for an accident.

"Oh, I have an idea! Let's hunt snow fairies," Darkness said.

"Snow Fairies?"

"Fluffy ball of snow magic. Each one killed will make spring come earlier by half a day, they have a bounty of one hundred thousand Eris."

"Are you sure it doesn't come with a climate changing and possibly catastrophic consequences? "

Everyone else just looked at me in confusion.

Right, fantasy world, not all logic applies here.

"But there's the winter shogun," Megumin said in a warning tone. "It appears whenever someone kills the winter fairies. It's deadly and has bounty of around two hundred million," she explained.

"I don't think we need anymore money…" I muttered to myself. "But this winter shogun sounds pretty impressive, let's do it!"

---

The plains far away from town. It wasn't snowing in town, but this place was dyed white with shiny snow.

And that must be the snow fairies. It's a palm sized white ball that was floating around the place. It has a pair of black beady eyes. Kinda cute actually, almost felt bad for killing it.

Beside me, Aqua is sneaking up towards it with a large net. She looks like a kid who's in a middle of a cicada hunt, the difference is her winter attire. She lunged towards the fairy and caught it in a net. She then put it in a jar before it could fly away.

"Yay! Got one!" she showed the jar of fairy towards me with a bright grin on her face.

"Great, let's kill it!" I brandished my new sword.

Aqua looked really horrified for some reason. "No! Not this one, I'm planning to have it as a pet, then I'll have it cool some neroid!" she exclaimed.

Well, it's not the worst idea she's think of. Then again, having those fluffy white ball fluttering around doesn't sound like a bad idea. "Alright then, I won't kill anything you catch but," I swiped my sword and killed a nearby snow fairy. "the rest are fair game!"

"Darkness!"

The girl grinned a little and activated her newest skill, Decoy. Unlike bait that just increase her aggro, decoy is a type of illusion that made all the nearby enemy attack her regardless of their own strength. This means that these fluffy ball of winter magic is ramming carelessly on to Darkness's armor.

I swiftly dealt with them with relative ease, killing like ten of them in one go.

"Say, Megumin, did you bring the crystal attachment?" I asked a midst the massacre.

Megumin showed me her crystal staff. "Of course, we're planning to kill the winter shogun, right?"

I clicked my tongue. "Yeah, unfortunately,it only increases the range of your explosion, not the power."

The girl looked like I just told her that santa doesn't exist. "Wh-what do you mean?" she asked. "It's stronger right? It should be five times stronger right?"

"If you can somehow keep the range at twenty meter radius, then yes, it'll be five times stronger. If not, then it's just bigger explosion, not stronger explosion," I explained.

"N-no way…"

Ahh, she's depressed now, shouldn't have said that during the mission.

"Just take it off Megumin,"

The girl took the attachment off halfheartedly. "You know, I think, I think I can concentrate the power of my explosion, at least let me try, okay?"

I rolled my eyes in response. "Just hang on to it okay?"

With that, we continue our massacre on the snow fairy. It was until the thirtieth snow fairy killed that something happened. Cold mist started to gather around us and a silhouette of a very, very large and very scary figure could be seen in the distance.

Its helmet was pure white. It was a simple and dull color, but the elegance of the warring era armor was still prominent. Its body was covered with scale armor of intrinsic designs. Its blades emit cold white smog and was obviously sharp.

"Ah, so that's it huh? The Winter Shogun, AKA, Jack Frost…"

Jack Frost raised its blade like a freaking samurai and I raised my own. Darkness already went towards it with her sword held high.

The white blade shone under the sun and slashed towards Darkness who was the nearest to him.

"Ugh!?"

Darkness wanted to block with her great sword, but— With a crisp crack, the great sword that we just bought yesterday after our battle with the one shot bear cracked into pieces.

"Ahh!? My sword is …!?"

"We just bought that!" I exclaimed. "Darkness, retreat, Megumin, get ready!"

I activated the advanced thief's skill dash and hide to sneak up behind the winter shogun. Then I cast silent steal. 'Come on Eris!' I thought when the winter shogun turned around. He was about to behead me with his blade when…

"JACKPOT!" I couldn't help but yell when I got his sword. I throw away my old sword and decided that his sword is better. "Okay, let's see if I can…"

The sword in my hand burst into flames and I cackled madly. "HAHA! You're fucked!" I yelled before charging towards the winter shogun.

What I don't expect is for the winter shogun to have a spare blade. Thus begun one of the most dangerous sword fight I've ever been in a while. There's no doubt that this bad boy would kill me in one hit.

So I kept my distance and play it safe. Trading blows with the winter shogun and shooting it with fire balls. Though, it looks like a waste of mana at first, the fire does something to the Winter Shogun. The part hit by the fire turn slightly invisible before becoming opaque again.

The sword fight against the winter shogun last for at least ten minutes before I finally get him where I want him. It is a patch of land I prepared, there's no trace of snow in the area, which means…

"Nature's Beauty!" I yelled and a bunch of vines shot out of the ground. It bounds the Winter Shogun and I quickly ran away from the kill zone. "Megumin! NOW!"

There was a sound of explosion and I grinned a little. Once again my plan went flaw-