With a frozen crack, blue veins crawled up the blade.
She pulled down her helmet’s visor.
All right…I’m ready.
Her visor covered both her eyes completely, but the wind told her where to go. Using her senses this way was extremely taxing, but it allowed her to read her opponents’ movements and positions far more accurately than she could with sight alone. It gave her an impressive advantage in combat.
She lightly touched her fingertips to her eyelids.
Those four heroic-blooded bounty hunters—known to some as “The White Walkers,” to others as “Holy Watchers”…
“Fang”—Zarash Finebird.
“The Demon Bizzare”—Ashura.
“Super Pressure”—Jiobain Sengai.
“The God Sword”—Maggots Playdin.
She let her hands drop. Her body and mind were both weary from long days on the run. She closed her eyes in the dark behind her visor.
I’ve heard the stories…there isn’t a mercenary out there who doesn’t know their reputation. They’re strong and dangerous.
Even in her limited run-ins with the four of them, she’d been able to tell that they were strong, but…she also got the impression that they weren’t yet using their full abilities. It felt like they were testing her, getting a feel for her abilities before moving in for real.
I can’t let them capture me…
If she kept running, she’d only tire herself out and be in worse shape to face them when the time came.
I have to fight them while I still have the strength.
She gripped the hilt of her sword with both hands.
I’ll cut them down right here…!
She waited silently for their approach, focusing her senses until they were sharp as a knife.
She wiped a bead of sweat from her immaculate white cheek.
Long moments passed.
They haven’t attacked yet…? They must be plotting something.
A chill ran down her spine like the blade of her icy sword had been pressed against it.
They’re finally getting serious. No more hide-and-seek, no more games…
Now, they’re ready to hunt.
She put a hand to her mouth. A strange uncertainty welled up inside her.
She felt sick—overwhlemed by inexplicable nausea. Her head spun. It was like her mind was twisting itself in knots.
Wh-what is this feeling?
She couldn’t tell whether her pursuers were strong or weak, her understanding turning to dust.
Have the enemies I’ve been fighting always felt this…strange? Can I really stand up to them? Perhaps it was wrong to run from the beginning.
There was a rustling sound, and she jumped to attention. Gripping her sword tightly, she leaped toward the noise.
No! Wait…?!
It was a feint. She felt a presence in the brush behind her.
“Paralyze.”
Wh-who is that? Not one of the four hunters…I don’t feel that unbridled strength that I would from standing near them. It’s strange…this person isn’t nearly as strong as the bounty hunters, but…the spirits are afraid of them. I feel the presence of a monster, too…? N-no, no time to think about that now…
“I…I c-can’t m…ove…? Wh-wh…at is…th-this…?!” She strained to speak against the strange heaviness that had overtaken her.
“Hunh. You tried to attack me, but…there’s something different about you. I don’t think you actually wanted to kill me.”
It was a boy’s voice.
What is he talking about?
“You don’t seem like those four guys I just met. I thought maybe we could talk. I stopped you from moving for now—just some insurance on my end.”
“Wh…at d-do you…wan…t fr…om…me…?” she croaked, struggling with every word.
“Well, to be honest, I’m kinda lost. If you know the area, I’d like to be directed to the nearest town. Also, I’m not from around here, and there’s a lot I don’t know. I want as much information as you can give me.”
Her mind froze.
He isn’t lying…?
The spirit of wind, which could detect truth and falsehood, told her that his statement was mostly true. From the way the spirit was acting, it seemed confident in its reading, too. He didn’t seem to want to hurt her.
Is he really just lost, or…?
And there was one other detail that gripped her thoughts.
“Those four guys I just met…”
I can’t feel the presence of the bounty hunters anywhere in the forest.
Where did they go? What happened to the White Walkers?
Mimori Touka
I WALKED THROUGH THE FOREST, taking care not to lose sight of the road. After a while, I reached a crossroads that wasn’t marked in any way as far as I could see.
What do I do now?
I was about to ask Piggymaru when I felt a presence close at hand. Since my time in the ruins, my sense for the location and strength of enemies had been heightened.
“What the hell? That’s not her!”
Four men appeared from the trees wearing typical fantasy-style armor, though it was a long way from the clean, polished stuff you’d see on TV. All four were armed, and it sounded like they were looking for someone—someone who wasn’t me, luckily. I had a bad feeling about them, though. They clearly weren’t searching for a lost child out of the goodness of their hearts. One man, marked with a scar on his face, looked at me disdainfully.
“Just some filthy little kid. Disgusting,” he said.
“What should we do with him, Zarash?” asked another.
“Leave him, he isn’t worth our time. What is he, a fledgling mercenary, maybe? I don’t know what he’s doing here, and I don’t care.”
The man with the scar was acting like their leader—he reminded me of Kirihara. One of the other men, who looked kinda like a shark, looked me up and down.
“Them robes look old, but not bad cloth, eh? Dirty as muck, though.”
“So just give us your money and scram, got it? And we won’t strip you naked and make you piss up a tree like a dog this time. We’re in a rush,” said another of the men, pointing his greatsword in my direction.
“No. We kill him.”
A thin man stepped forward. In his hands, he toyed with a curved knife.
“You want us to waste our time killing this worm?”
The thin man stroked his fingertips with the curved blade.
“I haven’t tried this new blade out on a living person yet… This trash meat will do. I mean, just look at him! It’s like he’s begging for us to kill him.”
“Hurry up and do it then, Maggots. We’ve got bigger fish to fry. Our prey should be tiring soon—we’re almost at the finish line.”
“Heh, it’s no fun toying with the boys before I kill ’em, so let’s get back to our real prey. Hey! When we get our fee for capturing that girl, let’s go get some Ablom prostitutes!”
“No way. I’m tired of the ones that know what they’re doing—that place is expensive, too. Let’s just stop by the nearest city, grab some pretty girls off the street, and keep ’em to ourselves for six months, man!”
“Six months?! No girl could stand six months of you going at ’em!”
“Shut the hell up! If they can’t handle me, that’s their fault! I want to get my hands on this one we’re chasing… Not many girls around that are worth all this trouble!”
“One look at her and I could barely control myself! No city girl could compare to that thing~!”
The man with the scar looked off into the trees.
“Even we can’t touch this one, though…not when our client is…” he gave them a significant look.
“Ugh, yeah, you’re right.”
“Anyway…”
The man with the curved knife took a step towards me.
“Whatcha doin’, kid? Think you can sneak away from us, shaking like that? Where are you gonna go?”
I’d begun inching backwards as soon as the men started talking. I held my hand out in front of me as if in protest.
“Please…l-let me go… I don’t want to die…”
The man shot me a sadistic grin.
“Sorry, kid~! I’m gonna cut you into little pieces nice and quick, then we’ve gotta get on with the job, okay~? ♪”
The man’s muscles tensed; then he lunged forward with his knife in hand.
“Die!”
I had the distance—everyone was in range.
“Nobody gets away from Maggots-samaaaa!!”
“Paralyze.”
“Aaa?! Ahh… Nh…?!”
“Can’t… m-move…?”
All four men stood motionless in front of me.
They all seemed like the usual self-important worthless scum, but they also seemed fairly competent. That’s why I decided to get a good distance on them before using my unique skills.
They seem way less threatening than anything from the ruins, though…
“Good. Status effect skills work on human targets, too.”
So far, the success rate is still 100%.
“Maybe that foul Goddess really is the only one who’s immune to my abilities…”
“N-no way…”
“Hm?”
The man with the scar was trying to speak.
“S-status…effects…? Y-you aren’t…even…using…a m-ma…gic…item…” he wheezed.
Hmm. So they can talk a little even while they’re paralyzed, huh? I couldn’t tell when I was fighting monsters—it was hard to tell just how paralyzed my enemies were.
“A-all…four…at once…? C-can’t be…lieve…”
The Goddess had told me that status effect skills are famously worthless. I guess she’d been telling me the truth. I smiled.
“Guess I pulled the short straw, huh?”
“Wh-what…?”
“Forget it. You tried to kill me, and none of your friends even tried to stop you. Thanks for making this easy for me.”
The four men still didn’t understand.
“Poison.”
“Aah?! Aaah!”
“I-it…burns…”
“Who…who the…h-hell…are…”
The men turned purple and began to moan in agony.
“Squee!” Piggymaru poked out from the neck of my robes and perched on my shoulder.
“Piggymaru? Are you mad at them…?”
“Squee!”
It seemed that Piggymaru felt the same way about these four that I did.
“Doesn’t matter to me if they die. Might be a relief to watch them go.”
There was something black and evil within the four men—something I saw in Kirihara and Oyamada, too.
I’ll answer murder with murder, evil with evil. Those are the rules you play by, aren’t they?
“If I don’t kill them, they’ll kill me.”
I stared at the palm of my hand.
No need to hesitate. No fear. No worry.
“I can kill them. I can kill people.”
I waited for the men to die, watching their eyes roll and their faces contort with pain. Paralyzed from head to toe, they could barely even writhe.
They begged for help in the end. I seriously doubted that they ever showed mercy to their victims’ similar pleas.
I ignored them.
“Nngh…”
At long last, they all lay dead before me.
I didn’t level up.
Did they just give really low EXP, or…
“Do humans not give EXP at all?” I wondered aloud as I started to ransack their corpses.
Their clothes were all too big for me, and I didn’t want anyone to recognize them while I was wearing them around town—that could get me in a lot of trouble. Same went for the weapons—it’d be too dangerous to walk around with a stolen sword. I decided to stick to their money, and put several purses stuffed with gold, silver, and bronze into my leather pouch. Money was untraceable, after all. Much safer to steal.
Done with the mercenaries, I stood up and dusted myself off.
“Squeeee!”
Piggymaru let out a strange squeaking noise.
“Oh, you feel it too. I know…”
I could’ve taken my time killing the men slowly with the non-lethal poison setting, but I’d been distracted. There was another presence nearby—someone powerful. Someone ready to fight and kill. I ducked low and made my way toward them.
I don’t know yet if this person’s going to be my enemy, but after everything those mercenaries said, I have a pretty good idea who it’s going to be.
“What the hell? That’s not her!”
“Even we can’t touch this one, though…not when our client is…”
It must be the girl they were chasing.
“It’s strange, though…her presence is so strong and clear.” It hit me like a wave, honest and true, like she was challenging the whole forest to battle.
She must’ve been planning to take them head on, otherwise she’d be hiding and planning an ambush. She’s either really confident in her abilities, or too noble to hide.
I picked up a thick branch and threw it off into the bushes.
“Squee!”
Piggymaru’s tentacle twitched to the right.
So that’s where she’s hiding…
She was fast, like a strong wind racing through the trees. I stood up from the brush and pointed my arm squarely at her back. She noticed me just a fraction of a second too late.
“Paralyze.”
She stopped dead in her tracks—not that she had a choice. She seemed confused about why she wasn’t moving.
Well, I can tell from the shape of her body that she’s definitely a girl. She’s wearing a weird hood…or one of those things that nuns wear. A veil, I think?
The veil was connected to a cape that hung down her back, a bit like a hoodie. The next thing that caught my attention was her armor. It looked like a dress, white and accented with blue and green lines.
Her hair was a pale blonde under the veil. Her body looked slim and delicate. She struggled against the paralysis, trying to speak.
“Huh. You tried to attack me, but…there’s something different about you. I don’t think you actually wanted to kill me.”
I’d felt a change come over her as she charged at me—hesitation, almost. She wasn’t going to kill me out of some sadistic pleasure like most of the monsters and humans I’d met lately.
“You don’t seem like those four guys I just met. I thought maybe we could talk. I stopped you from moving for now—just some insurance on my end.”
Doesn’t change the fact that she’s dangerous. I had to strike first, or she would’ve cut me down. The only way I can survive is by manipulating things in my favor.
“Wh…at d-do you…wan…t fr…om…me…?” she asked with some difficulty.
No sense lying about that, I guess.
“Well, to be honest, I’m kinda lost. If you know the area, I’d like to be directed to the nearest town. Also, I’m not from around here, and there’s a lot I don’t know. I want as much information as you can give me,” I replied.
I could sense her confusion from my response.
I carefully walked closer to get a better view of her face.
“A blindfold…?”
Is that part of her armor?
Her vision was completely obscured, like she was wearing an eye mask. I looked at her face, and was drawn in by her incredibly white skin. Her face was small, and her jaw came to a graceful point at her chin. Her glossy, thin lips quivered a little as I approached.
“Th…the other…four…?” she stammered.
“Friends of yours?”
“N… No…”
“…”
This is just getting annoying, talking to people while they’re paralyzed. There’s still time left, so…
“I’m gonna make it easier for you to talk. But make any moves and I’ll freeze you again. I
have things that can hurt you, too. So don’t try anything, okay?”
That was a bit of a bluff—I can’t stack one paralyze on top of another. But I’m not exactly lying. If she tries anything, I’ll put her under with sleep, but I can’t exactly ask her questions if she’s out cold. I’d like to avoid that if I can.
Piggymaru was quiet—almost like it was holding its breath to avoid being heard. I was impressed. Slimes were much smarter than I’d given them credit for.
After a time, the girl responded.
“O…kay…”
I put a little more distance between us, then tapped the Dispel Location: Head setting on the panel. There was also a drop-down list of other body parts to choose from.
“I… I can talk again…” she said with a blank expression.
“Only move your mouth, okay? Sorry to be so blunt, but I don’t trust you. I’ve been through too much to get here, and I can’t take any chances.”
“I understand. You’re right not to trust strangers. Any experienced traveler would do the same,” she replied.
She didn’t start panicking or screaming. She has more sense than that.
Her voice was clear, and her expression made it obvious how strong her will was. She looked almost like a pure, righteous knight come to life. I checked the yellow paralysis gauge and realized something.
I think I’m the only one who can see this gauge counting down…which means I might be able to trick my opponents into thinking it’ll last forever.
“First, I’d like to ask you a question, if you’ll permit me,” the knight said.
“That depends on the question.”
“Did you meet a group of four men on the road?”
“I did.”
“What happened to them?”
“I killed them.”
“What? Y-you…”
“Something wrong? They seemed like worthless trash to me. And they were chasing you, weren’t they?”
“Oh…yes. They were indeed my pursuers…and there’s nothing wrong. I just…” she stopped and seemed to be sizing me up. “Do you mean to tell me that you defeated them single-handedly? Or do you have allies nearby?”
“Just one. But I’m not planning on revealing my ally to you.”
That wasn’t a lie, either—my ally just happened to be hiding in my robes.
Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells Vol. 1 Page 17