The counterattack (Part 2)

(3rd person POV)

"Child, in the name of your mama, just come with me!" Fred dragged Meili without waiting for a reply.

The sudden mention of her 'Mama' stunned Meili for a brief moment and he used that gap to lift her off the ground and put her over his shoulders. Luckily for him, she didn't resist which made it easier. 

[blue headed onii-chan seems to be in a hurry.

I thought he knew about my plans…

phew… I am safe] after all, she still had to carry out her mission. And she was supposed to begin her mabeast Wolgarm attack tomorrow.

However, she didn't know that the timeline of this world had changed due to this very blue-haired onii-chan and that the monster episode had been advanced by a day. She failed to be the first to cause havoc in the village.

"We are just about to reach there! Just hold on a little longer… Don't do anything stupid like biting me or jumping off.

You don't know what's coming, so just do what I tell you." he said without stopping. 

[it's good and all but, how does he know about mama?

Is he also sent by the organisation?

No, that can't be. Elsa is nearby, she is enough to deal with some bugs. Then how does he know about Mama?

Or was it just a fluke?] her monologue ran on but she couldn't decipher the meaning or intentions behind Fred's words.

"We're here." he said, putting her down near a house. 

"Go inside. I am right behind you."

Making sure that Meili was safe, Fred turned around and heaved a sigh of relief.

"Huh…it's finally over! 

Herd control is not my field of expertise."

"Phew… the first part is over. Are you guys already?"  Fred asked as he donned his armour. He couldn't use the best ones in his collection as his mastery in the mana cultivation wasn't efficient enough, but he could at least imbue some magic into his other clothes for higher defence.

"We are ready." they said in unison.

"Hey!

Why are you wearing armour?

And what's with my sword?

I need a better one!!" Subaru protested. He was using a thin sword which looked nowhere near extraordinary and some light robes which didn't look like armour from any angle.

"Well, if you don't want to die from the backlash, be happy with those. 

Your mana gate is worse off than mine, so just do with what I gave.

They aren't bad. They are just not shiny enough. Don't complain." Fred shooed him off.

[The severity of the situation hasn't gotten to SUbaru's head yet.

Or, it is just that he is used to life and situation, heh...] Fred scoffed, but he was thankful. Since a calm-minded person was necessary for dealing with situations like this. And even though he had faced Elsa before, Fred was nervous now.

He had people to protect And the maids too, Rem especially. He couldn't afford to let them get hurt during this ordeal.

[Argh! Why am I thinking of Rem in this situation?] he shook his head to clear out the thoughts of Rem. 

[Thinking of a woman in such situations will lead to disaster.] but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake Rem's image from his head.

[Hey Jenna, tell me a joke.]

[-_-FR? OK.

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE ITALIAN CHEF WHO DIED?

HE PASTA-WAY]

"Jen…

That's a very bad joke. I feel bad for the chef.

And I want to eat pasta now."

[PERHAPS A MINOR DEFIBRILLATION WILL WORK?]

"No thanks. I am good. You make good jokes. Throw the pasta in the bin." it was a waste to ask a system interface for a joke. 

"Fred-kun."

"Yes, rem?" he turned back instinctively to the call of this girl and the only thing which he saw was a black ball approaching his head.

He ducked just in time, managing to evade the fatal ball throw which would have plummeted his head for sure if it made direct contact.

He felt dizzy from the sudden rise in adrenaline as he lost his balance. He touched his forehead to wipe off the sweat. He was sweating badly…

He touched his forehead to the wipe off the sweat. The sweat was thicker than what he was expected. Finding it strange, he took a look at his palm. It had all died red.

"I guess this much is ok." he mumbled to himself. He was not dead yet. So it was all good. The ball had grazed through his forehead, peeling off some skin in the process, hence the blood.

He glared at Rem, his attacker. But to his confusion, she was swinging her morning glory like crazy all around, smashing harpies. Fred gazed around, only to find a dead harpy behind him.

[This Harpy would've ripped off my head if not for Rem. I should thank her later on.]

She hadn't betrayed him. It was rather that-

[I got too carried away. 

I shouldn't have asked for that joke.]

[THE HOST ASKED FOR IT.]

[ya ya i understand. Now shut up and lemme focus!!]

He stood up from his crouching position and stood up, drawing a wide arc with his sword, cutting off two approaching harpies in an instant.

[Bird brains. Can't even see that i got a blade in my hands here!] he spat on the corpses of the monsters which oozed out fountains of green blood.

"Disgusting chickens!" He shot a murderous glare at the monsters. The fight was far from over as he could see waves of harpies appear in the skies.

"Ram! Subaru!

We need a formation! You two stay in the middle while Rem and I will deal with the front and backsides.

Just intercept the monsters which come in between. Don't engage on your own. You are just going to tire yourselves out!" Fred relayed his commands to his party. 

A bit further away, Subaru slashed at a harpy which dove down at him, thinking of him as an easy target, only to get its claws cut off; a wind slash from the back damaged it lethally and then it fell to the ground shivering from the shock. Taking this opportunity, Subaru stabbed the harpy's head, putting an end to its life.

[It sucks to be in the middle, doing almost nothing. But he's right. There are too many monsters so we can't fight without a plan.] Though he killed a monster right now, Subaru felt guilt and sadness. But most of all, the shock of killing a human-like creature made him want to Puke-

"Hold it Barusu! If you lose focus now, you will die." Ram called out to him from a distance.

"gah…Hah…Gotcha." he gave her a nod and then held in the nauseating feeling. There were other monsters closing on him and he slowly moved to the centre of the formation while tackling them.

HAAAP!

DIE!

HAAAAH!

TAKE THAT YOU DAMN MONSTER!

War cries filled the air as corpses after corpses of the monsters fell on the ground as the assault team slaughtered them methodically and skillfully. But Fred knew that things wouldn't go on so smoothly…

[These mobs are just Exp fodder. They don't even have intelligence and dive at the sight of humans. They are only afraid of fire, because of their wind affinities.

The special classes haven't shown up yet, let alone the boss.

I wish we would at least get some rest. 

Things don't look so good for these two.] Fred was keeping an eye on the village square turned battlefield.

Everything was going fine. The number of Harpies was gradually reducing and Rem hadn't even used her oni-transformation yet. But things weren't as good for the remaining two. Ram was staggering on her feet; she had too much mana. She bit her lips to endure the pain which filled every pore of her body. Whereas Subaru was moving more sluggish than before, sweating profusely and exhausted. 

[They can't keep on going any longer.] fred knew that and called out to rem,

"Rem, let's clean up the rest quickly. Subaru and Ram are not in a good condition."

"Understood, Fred-kun."

They doubled the intensity of their attacks, which led to a small storm of fire and ice to rise in the vicinity as they unleashed their magic attacks on the remaining monsters which were hovering above them, hesitating to attack.

But keeping a distance didn't help them either as they either got roasted by Fred's fire bolts or got shot down by Rem's icicles.

At the end of the ordeal what remained were just some chicken- frozen and burnt.

Subaru looked on, biting his lips in frustration. He was weak. And it made him feel pathetic as they had to cover up for him. He didn't know about Rem, she might have been training with her weapon since little since she was raised in this world. 

But Frederick was the same as him, albeit a bit different in terms of abilities and cheats. Subaru also wanted to be strong, he wanted to use his strength to protect others. But all he had was his lame power which he called 'Return by Death'

[Shit. 

Even my naming sense is bad. Is dying to live my only super-power?

It really sucks. I wish I could be half as strong as Frederick.] he bent down to catch his breath as the mobs were cleared off.

Heaving hard, he looked up. He noticed a thin line which was approaching towards them from a great distance. It gradually grew thicker and larger as it lost altitude. No, it was not coming at them, but towards Fred. Subaru's eyes widened on realisation.

"fRED WATCH OUT!" Subaru shouted. The projectile was directly aimed for his chest. 

In reaction, Fred turned to look at Subaru who had a panicked look on his face. 

[Did he notice something? Why is he freaking out?] Fred couldn't understand why Subaru was acting like something bad was about to happen.

"LOOK BACK!

LOOK BACK!" But Subaru continued shouting while making hand gestures.

Fred turned back with a jolt to see a spear homing on him. It had the thickness of a pole. Even though he was fast enough to notice these minor details, he couldn't react in time and the thing penetrated straight through, and it stayed stuck on the torso. Blood gushed out of the gaping wound, forming a small puddle on the ground.