Showdown in the Wasteland

The heroes didn't spend all three days in discussion.

Remnants of monsters that served as the evil god's familiars did exist, and they went out to subjugate them.

They also seemed to be having discussions with the mercenaries who had come under their command.

And the heroes with Complete Restoration and Formula Bypass were helping with the city's reconstruction.

At night, Mako and Kukuri visited the group.

Mako caught up with old friends, while Kukuri listened to their battles to compose poems, performed their own poems, and built rapport.

There were many poems about labyrinth conquests, the City Alliance, and the Great Forest.

Among them were naturally poems about heroes who were killed as bandits, heroes who adapted to the other world, and heroes who participated in wars.

"So Wakamiya just went back that easily…"

The story of the hero with the Instant Death Eyes, which Mako had thought would be difficult, seemed to have quite an impact.

When they mentioned they had traveled halfway around the Dragon Bone Continent, the world's largest, before coming to this continent, they were asked why that order, but of course they couldn't mention the divine dragons' culling.

Even so, the exchange continued until the evening of the appointed day.

"Sorry, after discussing it, we've decided not to go back."

Chi-chan put her hands together apologetically toward Mako.

The heroes apparently had a rule that once all seven were assembled, important decisions were always made by majority vote.

And once a result was reached, even those who opposed it had to follow the decision.

The two with the strongest voices disagreed with returning, and the discussions followed that direction.

Chi-chan held out until the end, but ultimately the hero group unified their opinion to not return.

If they waited a bit longer, more of them might become homesick and want to go back, but Sei didn't have that much free time.

Even if these seven were sent back, ten more heroes remained. And most of them were in territories controlled by the evil gods.

Now, what happens when discussions break down?

That, of course, means transitioning to discussions through physical language.

The kind of discussion where people might die.

Though even if deaths occurred, that wouldn't be a problem.

Because the other wish Sei had asked of Irina was resurrection of the dead.

Seven heroes stood in the wasteland near Oslo.

Facing them were six from Sei's group minus Kukuri, plus Rui and Rei for a total of eight.

Since the numbers were different, the hero group could add one more person, but apparently that would actually hurt their coordination, so they said this was fine.

"Hey, I actually have one more person on my side. Are you still okay with seven?"

Sei asked to confirm, but the heroes exchanged brief glances and nodded.

They had confirmed Sei's group's strength with appraisal magic. Lavi being unidentifiable was somewhat unsettling, but it seemed they couldn't see through Sei's group's disguised concealment.

The average level of Sei's group excluding Rei was around 100, compared to about 120 for themselves.

If they thought carefully about coordination, it wasn't impossible to win. Besides, they calculated that Rei, given her position, wouldn't come to the front much and would focus on attacking from the rear or providing support.

Even if her Gift wasn't combat-oriented, her personal abilities were high and she had combat skills. Above all, the combat-oriented Gifts were extremely effective.

The surrounding area had mercenary bands following the heroes, facing off against Rei's subordinate demon army. Even if their side became disadvantaged, they wouldn't be overwhelmed by numbers.

But Sei's group was more fully prepared.

The poems Kukuri recited every night they visited were structured to conceal Sei's group's combat capabilities.

Most importantly, due to disguised concealment, Sei and Mako's combat power was set considerably lower.

Rei hadn't fully disclosed her own status either. Through her concealment abilities, it was set considerably lower as well.

And their greatest reserve force.

Sei drew his katana and pointed it toward the heavens.

"Irina! Now is the time to fulfill your promise!"

Before Sei's voice finished, it arrived.

As it entered his Map's range, the hero with Absolute Detection probably noticed too.

"This is bad, this is bad, this is bad."

A flying object approaching from the north in the evening darkness.

A dragon with a golden radiance surveyed the battlefield.

"Now, let's begin the fight."

Sei called out, and Kukuri gave the signal to start.

The first to move was the dragon.

A breath of light that would incinerate a wide area. Moving in response was the hero with Universal Barrier.

She protected her allies with a barrier that could withstand even a dragon's breath. Incidentally, the surrounding mercenaries were fleeing from the battlefield as fast as they could.

Rei's subordinates didn't move from their positions. This was less about the difference in commander charisma and more about the difference between regular soldiers and mercenaries.

The dragon's breath didn't break through the barrier, but it must have drained considerable power.

Then a breath from Lavi, who had transformed into a dragon, came from the side.

The barrier that took that breath still held for a few seconds. But there were limits.

At the same time the Formula Bypass hero used barrier magic, the Universal Barrier dissipated once.

"Damn! Long-range attacks!?"

The heroes cursed, but Sei had no particular need to insist on close combat. Victory was all that mattered.

Even with the Magic Destruction hero present, that was limited to magic. It had no effect on dragon breath, and furthermore—

[Wind Spirit King]

Spirit arts were also unaffected by Magic Destruction. After all, they didn't use magical formulas.

When Laila's spirit arts were about to destroy the barrier, the Universal Barrier hero put up another barrier.

In response, Rei put her hand to her chin briefly, then invoked spirit arts.

[Fire Spirit King]

The fury of fire and wind assailed the heroes.

"To think they could do this much long-range attacking without magic…"

The Formula Bypass hero muttered, and the Wrath hero clicked her tongue upon hearing it.

"What's the plan?"

"Bring it to close combat. The General surely won't come to the front."

Then from among the magically enhanced heroes, the front-line warriors charged out.

That said, everyone except Complete Restoration and Universal Barrier had considerable confidence in close combat.

In response, Sei, Mako, Gantz, Bungol, and Rui stepped forward from Sei's side.

Sei would handle the most troublesome Wrath hero. That was the fundamental premise.

If the heroes simply wanted to win, they should have committed two more people to the battle to even the numbers.

Among the mercenaries and adventurers in the hero camp, there were naturally those skilled in close combat or magic. Even if they couldn't match the heroes, they could have held off Gantz or Bungol. They surely had means to counter Laila's spirit arts too.

Above all, having those two fall would trigger the Wrath Gift.

(In the end, the only ones they could trust were their comrades from Earth.)

Against Sei's attacks, the Wrath hero was completely focused on defense.

Given her Gift, she needed to endure until her allies were hurt. It was a troublesome Gift, but long battles suited it best.

And Sei's allies, conversely, were focused entirely on defense. To prevent the Wrath Gift from activating.

Sei's skill completely surpassed the Wrath hero's. But even if he dealt minor damage, the Complete Restoration hero would heal it before she could even bleed.

Yet even with that small damage, the Wrath hero's abilities kept increasing.

Setting aside the close combat, the rear-guard mages were overwhelmingly in Sei's favor.

The dragon breath and spirit arts attacks were rapidly draining the Universal Barrier hero's magic power.

And the first casualty appeared.

"Ah, no good. Out of magic…"

The hero who had maintained barriers to the limit cast one final defensive barrier on her allies, then collapsed.

The Complete Restoration hero who had remained in the rear saw this and joined the front line. Dragon attacks were too large-scale in destructive power, and magic and spirit arts were the same. Rather than staying in the rear, she should join close combat herself so they couldn't use breath or magic without hitting their own allies.

This made the front line six versus five. Seeing that, Rei herself stepped forward.

The commander Rei advancing to the front. This too was a miscalculation for the heroes.

[Earth's Binding]

Having used spirit arts to pin the Universal Barrier hero to the ground to prevent her recovery, Laila had little else to do.

With close combat engaged, she couldn't use large-scale spirit arts, and aiming with a bow was difficult.

Still, it was better than the golden dragon Irina and Lavi who could only stand there dumbfounded, so she interfered with the magic the heroes used in close combat.

The front line should gradually shift in their favor, but decisive results came at Bungol's and Rei's positions.

Bungol was defeated, and Rei won. Moreover, in Rei's case, she knocked out her opponent without inflicting wounds—an exquisite way to end the fight.

The Wrath hero's power increased slightly, but Sei still had room to spare.

With the Complete Restoration hero down, the heroes lost one recovery option.

Rei then faced the Absolute Detection hero who had defeated Bungol.

"Sei! This one's quite strong! Hurry and finish yours!"

Rei was said to be second only to the Demon King in power, but her fighting style wasn't exactly orthodox.

She had previously specialized in assassination and intelligence gathering, and now her role was commanding subordinates.

For Rei to face head-on, the Absolute Detection hero was a poor matchup against her close combat style that relied heavily on tricks and feints.

He could accurately perceive and respond to whatever attack Rei would make.

The level difference meant she wouldn't lose, but incapacitating him without injury would be difficult.

Mako was fighting evenly with the Ability Manipulation hero.

Despite Mako overwhelming him in both level and stats, facing his tricky movements as he freely redistributed his own stats to wield a poleaxe, she had little room to hold back.

With Universal Barrier boosting his defense and the opponent being a classmate she knew, neither could land a decisive blow.

But that was fine. They couldn't deal damage to opponents until Sei neutralized the Wrath hero.

Rui's opponent was the Magic Destruction hero. Vampires were strong in close combat but also adept at magic as a species.

However, unable to use any magic in close combat, he was fighting with only his vampire's natural physical abilities.

The Magic Destruction hero's primary strategy was to destroy opponents' magic while launching one-sided magical attacks himself, or fighting in close combat, so he was actually having a slightly advantageous fight against Rui.

That said, against a nearly immortal vampire, he had no means to deal decisive damage.

Gantz's opponent was the remaining Formula Bypass hero.

This was the most difficult position for Sei's group.

Gantz was a pure warrior with skills that boosted his power. But his opponent was a hero who could cast magic with absolutely no time lag.

Moreover, his pure close combat abilities were considerable, so until the Universal Barrier effect wore off, Gantz could only keep swinging his battleaxe.

Ria's words about how the truly strong weren't warriors or mages but magic warriors were true.

Of course, that assumed both aspects were at a high level, but Gantz was almost one-sidedly receiving magical attacks. If his equipment hadn't been Ria's work, he would have already lost.

Neutralize the Wrath hero first.

This was the core of the strategy Sei's group had devised.

The more allies were hurt, the more her power increased. But that wasn't quite accurate.

Her power increased even as allies became fatigued, lost magic power, or lost stamina. Of course, if Sei hurt her, that alone would raise her abilities too.

It wasn't just abilities that increased.

Perhaps healing and recovery abilities were also rising, as she showed no signs of running out of stamina.

(Should I deal a single large blow to take away her combat capability?)

Thinking this, Sei sheathed his katana.

The Wrath hero inwardly tilted her head at Sei's movement.

He held the sheathed katana at his hip in a lowered stance.

From that position, the only possible attack was iaijutsu. But since coming to this world, she had never encountered an iaijutsu practitioner, though she had met sword users.

If she had visited the Nihon Empire, she might have thought differently. But to her, iaijutsu was something from stories, not a technique used in actual combat.

So she made the wrong choice.

A longsword simply swung down was faster than a katana deliberately drawn from its sheath. That's what she thought.

Sei glided smoothly across the ground with his footwork. In response, the Wrath hero swung her sword without any restraint.

A two-handed longsword. Before its arc could reach Sei—

The katana drawn from its sheath had already taken the Wrath hero's right arm.