by Fuse
Why not just call it that, then? Well, there was a good reason for that. The term disaster was normally reserved for demon lords, which Charybdis wasn’t. So why wasn’t it classified as a demon lord? Simple: It was just a monster that wreaked havoc wherever it went. It took no intelligent action, neither working in groups nor deliberately seeking to destroy the human race, and some wondered if it had any true intelligence at all. A real terror of a monster, but on that point, it was also quite different from a demon lord.
She called Charybdis a spiritual life-form, whatever that was. That term meant it could resurrect itself if defeated in one body by moving over to a new one. That sounded a little familiar to me—in fact, it sounded a lot like how Veldora worked.
“This Charybdis was born a very, very long time ago, running through cycles of death and rebirth. It is the cruel, brutal ruler of the skies. One could even call it the heaven-sent child of Veldora the Storm Dragon, ruler and guardian of the forest.”
Huh? Did Treyni say something important there? Because it sounded kind of important. The child of Veldora? Was my guess correct, after all?
“Wait a sec,” I hurriedly interrupted. “What do you mean, ‘the heaven-sent child of Veldora’?”
Treyni explained. “Charybdis is a monster created by the accumulated piles of magicules that leaked out from Veldora.”
Which meant it was the same as I was. We were sort of like what the human race would call siblings. That, in turn, suggested one possible reason why Charybdis was so doggedly honing in on my position. I was related, in a way, to Veldora, so it was gunning for me first.
Perhaps it’s already noticed that Veldora “exists,” in a way, inside me. Maybe I’m overthinking it, but I suppose I’d better stay on my guard.
After our discussion with Treyni, we went over the details of our strategy one more time.
The thing we had to watch out for the most with Charybdis was its unique Magic Interference ability. Using this made any magicules within a thousand-foot radius of the monster go haywire—it could use its own powerful magic to interfere with the very way magicules worked.
“Even the high-level wind magic at my command had no effect on Charybdis,” Treyni recounted. “Under Magic Interference, we believe the effects of all magic are greatly reduced. What’s more, the biggest difficulty lies in how it annuls any sort of flight-based magic. Try to make contact with it, and you’ll lose your magic and crash to the ground. Losing the advantage of height makes it a very difficult enemy to fight.”
This was exactly why we needed an aerial offense that wasn’t dependent on magic. Even if you had wings, though, could those be canceled like magic, too?
Understood. The principles of flight differ for creatures like winged horses and dragonewts. Their wings contain the power to control gravity, lightening their overall bodily weight and letting them adjust the flow of power to propel themselves forward. This method of flight is unrelated to the presence, or lack thereof, of magicules.
Judging by the Sage’s answer, my wings shouldn’t be affected, either. I did find it a bit strange that having these wings alone let me fly. Turns out it had nothing to do with physical strength. I didn’t have to flap my wings a bunch to stay aloft, not that it mattered at the moment.
This brought up another question, though.
“I see… So flight magic works by taking advantage of magicule resistance around you. But does that mean Benimaru’s Airflight wouldn’t work, either?”
Airflight was one of the ogre mages’ Battlewill arts, powered by the user’s magical aura. It provided basically the same benefits as regular flight magic, but given that fundamental similarity and what I had just secretly learned from the Sage, I figured Magic Interference must affect it.
“Indeed, I believe it is just as you say. A very keen insight, Sir Rimuru.”
I appreciated the compliment, but it wasn’t the answer I hoped for.
“Geh. Seriously? This guy’s no slouch. So I guess flame broiling it with ranged attacks will be pretty tough.”
“It seems likely, my brother. If magicule-driven attacks won’t work on it, that puts rather large restrictions on our offense.”
Benimaru and his friends, meanwhile, were already debating how they were going to fight.
“Heh-heh-heh… Aren’t you guys forgetting something important? Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten who I am! Some big ol’ fish isn’t gonna make me break a sweat. I’ll give ’im one heck of a beating!”
It was Milim, who had changed into battle gear while I wasn’t paying attention. She stuck her small chest forward, trying to look as defiant as possible.
Can we go with that?! I was all ready to welcome her to the force.
But Shion had to go and turn her down. “I’m afraid we can’t allow that. It’ll put you in a bind, Sir Rimuru, and this is an issue for our town to handle.”
Why would it put me in a bind?
Just as I was thinking that, Shuna butted in. “She’s right. It’d be a mistake to rely on her for everything, just because she’s our friend. But if Sir Rimuru is in serious trouble, we will gladly ask for her support then.”
Um, I’m kind of in serious trouble right now, guys. Not that I could say that out loud to them. The others were all nodding; they were keen to defend their home by themselves as well. I wouldn’t get away with relying on Milim from the start.
“Ha…ha-ha. You heard them, Milim. Just trust in me, okay?”
I hated to turn her down, but I did. Way to go, man. You barely trust in yourself. I kept the thought a secret.
“Wh-what?! And here I thought my time had finally come to shine, too…”
Milim hung her head in disappointment. She was ready for action, changing her clothes for it and everything, so the shock of being refused must have been intense. She stole a few glances at me, looking ready to cry, but I couldn’t do anything for her. It was a disappointment for me, too.
So that’s what was on our plate, then. It was us against Charybdis.
Our discussions continued. Another major problem was that the megalodons that served Charybdis most likely had Magic Interference at their disposal, too. Our long-range attacks were already heavily restricted, and trying to get closer would fail once our flight skills were blocked. Practically speaking, we had very few means of defeating Charybdis or its megalodons.
Ultimately, we decided to just try fighting it and see what happened. There was little point debating any further at this juncture, so instead we would try out whatever attacks we thought could work.
Eventually, my Magic Sense picked up a group of fourteen monsters approaching us. It wasn’t long before we could see them.
Even from afar, the eerie sight was astounding. Giant sharks, over sixty feet in length, were gracefully swimming across the sky. Their bodies were protected by solid, stiff dragon scales that would assuredly deflect most garden-variety attacks. It was shaped like a shark, but at the core, it was a completely different monster.
With them was another, even more bizarre sight—the gigantic dragon accompanying the thirteen sharks.
Its size was enormous, making the megalodons look tiny by comparison. Maybe three or so times their size? Its total length had to be over 150 feet or so. There was a single large eyeball on the bottom of its wedged, sharklike head; on the top was a pair of solid-looking horns that appeared as if they could gouge their way through solid stone, or anything else for that matter.
By comparison, its limbs looked like mere decoration, tacked on to its shark-shaped torso—but the two pairs of wings on its back, one larger than the other, looked almost exactly like Veldora’s.
Charybdis exuded a weird, ominous sort of beauty.
And with that, hostilities began.
The Pegasus Knights were currently traveling here as fast as they could. Doreth, one of Treyni’s other sisters, used the elemental magic Wind Protect and the legion magic Army Move to boost their speed. A Thought Communication message confirmed that th
ey would arrive earlier than planned.
In the meantime, we decided to engage the foe. Once the Pegasus Knights showed up and it became a free-for-all, we wouldn’t be able to use any large-scale magic. When we made contact with Charybdis, we wanted to strike.
“Eat this! Hellflare!!”
Benimaru kicked things off by choosing his biggest, strongest wide-range flame attack. Always something classic about using your most powerful move the moment you meet your enemy…
Maybe I was overthinking it, but the black dome this move produced, over three hundred feet in radius, was still only big enough to encase Charybdis and one megalodon. I mean, these dudes were way too huge. At 150 or so feet in length, they looked like they were pretty close to us, but they were actually still far away. A six-hundred-foot diameter was pretty big, but to these giants, it must’ve felt cramped, if anything.
And the results?
“You’re kidding me! I put everything I had into that…”
Benimaru’s frustrated muttering was understandable. Charybdis continued to leisurely soar through the air. Its megalodon companion had fallen to earth, mostly burned up by the attack, but Charybdis itself was the same as before. Some of the scales that burned off were replaced by new ones, but that was all. Between its naturally high defense and the effects of Magic Interference, it had successfully resisted Hellflare. It hadn’t even fully incinerated the megalodons, indicating exactly how effective Magic Interference was.
I wasn’t too shocked by this—I was expecting this—but it made me realize again that this foe was going to be a huge pain in the ass. But we all kept our cool. Our plan was to expect this, so we moved on.
“All right. Let’s follow the plan: Break them up and take each one out.”
Our priority now was to buy some time for the Pegasus Knights and wipe up those meddlesome megalodons. Heeding my order, we all spread out to our positions.
I had transformed into a human, too, so I could handle whatever came my way. There were twelve megalodons left. Paring their numbers down looked like it’d be a tough row to hoe.
Each one was an A-ranked monster, but despite their speed, they didn’t have all that much power. They weren’t exactly technical fighters, either—like Charybdis, they lacked intelligence and thus didn’t seem like they required that much caution.
If a megalodon fought that knight spider Gobta dispatched, for example, the spider wouldn’t last a moment—it’d get crushed by those jaws. If it fought Gobta, though, he’d be able to dodge and run all over the place.
To sum up, those sharks were offensive and defensive powerhouses, but their speed in battle wasn’t that much of a threat. Based on its speed—an integral element of any battle—the megalodon wasn’t that astonishing of a monster.
Of course, a single strike from one could still easily be lethal. You didn’t want to approach one with a halfhearted effort, and my forces knew that well.
Geld and his team were the next to launch an attack after Benimaru. I had my command post set up on a slightly elevated hill, so I could see the action unfold below me.
This force under Geld’s command was an elite one, all high orcs ranked B or higher. Anyone ranked below that would potentially get in the way here, so we had them handle the town evacuation instead. They numbered less than a hundred but still took a leading role in our strategy.
Using the trees as cover, the force began trying to entice the megalodons to come closer so they could strike. This, sadly, did not work well. We were anticipating that the sharks wouldn’t be able to move very much surrounded by trees…but with their powerful bodies, they could simply raze any trunks that stood in the way like so much dried kindling.
Following that, the megalodons unleashed a blitzkrieg attack. This involved bashing into the enemy, using scales sharpened like blades to slice into them—you could call it Blade Charge or something similar, if you were inclined to give it a name.
The elites under Geld’s command took evasive maneuvers, but the sharks were just too big. Even though its speed should’ve made it avoidable, a gigantic shark capable of swimming freely through the air made evasion difficult. Now the orcs were the ones caught in a forest prison with the trees getting in their way.
Thanks to everyone being geared for defense like Geld was, there were no apparent deaths. Several dozen of them, however, were seriously hurt, unable to continue in battle. The remaining fighters lying low in the forest were clearly shocked by this—and when faced with the megalodons’ punishing strikes, I couldn’t blame them.
I could hear a scream of rage.
“You’ll pay for hurting my friends!”
It was Geld.
As he shouted, he faced a megalodon in front of him, halting its charge. His entire body was covered in armor, which protected him from the sharp, bladelike scales. Using his ponderous strength, he stopped the shark in its tracks.
“Now! Get ’im!”
The moment the order was made, a horde of high orc fighters took action. They moved slowly, but the damage from their battle axes was heavy. Little by little, cuts and slashes appeared on the megalodon’s body.
But sadly, none were lethal. The sheer size of it meant this barrage of attacks was too little, too late.
The megalodon shook its frame. That was all it took to send several dozen fighters flying. Geld’s face grew stern, harnessing his hatred to apply pressure to the shark’s head. It thrashed around more in response.
It was Geld’s otherworldly strength against the megalodon’s violent rage, and it proved to be an even match. Then fortune smiled upon Geld.
“I will assist you!”
I heard another scream, and a flash of light descended from the sky to land squarely on the megalodon. The creature died right there, never aware of what happened to it.
Gabil had appeared.
His force was functioning as a hit-and-run unit here, and when he saw Geld was in danger, he immediately stepped in to bail him out. Realizing Geld had the megalodon pinned down, he fired off an attack fueled by all his strength—and with his rank of A, that was nothing to sniff at. Even a sixty-foot-long shark couldn’t withstand that kind of force.
And Geld’s good fortune didn’t end there. The dragonewts under Gabil’s command were using the Full Potions they had manufactured to quickly heal the wounded. The potion flowed freely on the battlefield, restoring even the serious cases to perfect health.
“Gwa-ha-ha-ha! Thanks to you restraining that monster, Sir Geld, dealing the final blow could hardly have been easier!”
“Thanks, Sir Gabil. Would you like to keep fighting together with us?”
“Ooh! That sounds like fun. If we can help you out, I would gladly take the opportunity!”
Now Geld and Gabil were a tag team. Their respective forces worked together as well, allowing them to keep up the vicious onslaught against the megalodons without worrying too much about injury. This battle would deepen the bonds between them, no doubt.
Before long, they had succeeded in slaying two more of them.
Lethal combat was breaking out elsewhere as Geld commenced his attack.
Gobta, following Hakuro’s orders, was using his Case Cannon to strike at megalodons. It packed a powerful punch, but there was no way that a bullet an inch wide could strike a lethal blow on these guys. It had opened a gash in the megalodon’s stomach, about half a yard in width, but all that did was add fuel to its anger.
“Hey, uh, I dunno if this is gonna work!”
“Hoh-hoh-hoh! Of course it won’t. I lured it over here so I could have all of you defeat it.”
“Gahh! You’re just bullying me, old man!”
Nobody bothered trying to stop Gobta from yelling bloody murder at him.
What transpired next was a game of tag in the forest. Just as Hakuro declared, he intended to have the goblin riders defeat this megalodon for him. The riders were now surrounding it, ready to stake their lives on this game. Each, in turn, would take a stab with their sp
ears, then edge away. When the shark targeted one, another would attack in their place.
They were all frantic. They weren’t quite as speedy as the shark, but their opponent was enormous. Being able to maneuver more nimbly in the forest gave Gobta’s team a slight advantage.
In a battle under those conditions, even a tiny error could be life-threatening. But they continued with the near-suicidal attack, using High Potions to clear up any wounds.
“If worse comes to worst, we have Full Potions. As long as you aren’t instantly killed, you’ll be fine!” Hakuro’s voice might have been friendly, grandfatherly in a way, but his instructions belied his demon-instructor persona.
“Whoa! Are you serious, old man?”
Only Gobta had the presence of mind to lodge a complaint. The others were too busy attacking and dodging.
“Come on! The bait needs to fully grab its attention! Attackers, don’t think about anything else—just put all your power into pummeling your foe! But don’t forget to fall back after your attack. If you do forget, well, it’ll be a painless death, at least. Hoh-hoh-hoh!”
The very definition of a demon, Hakuro offered Gobta’s riders no mercy in their training.
They numbered only twenty, each taking turns baiting and attacking the shark, and they had divided into five teams that engaged it in a set order. Each one of them toyed with the megalodon, one after the other, although they had to watch out since it wouldn’t always change its target for them. The basic procedure: attack, dodge, move, heal, and prepare for the next strike.
Having no defense on hand, the bait had to devote themselves fully to grabbing the shark’s attention, then dodging. It was the most dangerous of the jobs, and if the megalodon didn’t focus on a new target, it’d have to keep on baiting. The time between the goblins’ attack and the megalodon adjusting its target provided the most dangerous moments of the entire battle.
But Gobta’s goblin riders worked in perfect order, carrying out their shifting roles with no confusion.