Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells (Light Novel) Vol. 2

by Kaoru Sinozaki

  “Gh, Nhh?!”

  He must’ve tried to move.

  All of them lay on the ground before me. Who knows how long it’ll take for them to die, though. Probably the safest thing to do is put them to sleep once they’re a little weaker.

  “Too…kaa…!”

  I heard a hollow thunk, a spear being driven into the ground.

  “…You really are the Strongest Man in the World, huh?”

  Civit was standing up.

  The other three seem like they’ve given up already—they’re not even moving. Not Civit, though.

  He was wet with blood from forcing himself off the ground. His whole body was trembling, and he clung to his spear to stay upright.

  “Gh… Bh…”

  Blood leaked out of his eyes, poured from his mouth and dripped to the dirt below. The Soul Eater had tried to move and failed—Civit had broken through that barrier. He hoisted his spear into the air.

  Spurt!

  Blood flowed freely from his arm, but despite that, he pulled back, preparing to launch the spear.

  This is bad. If I’d approached him to make him sleep, I might already be skewered by now. Do I move closer to get in range? I won’t have enough time to use Piggymaru…

  Seras interrupted my thoughts, stepping between Civit and I.

  “Seras?”

  “If he throws that thing, I might be able to deflect it. Let me be your shield.”

  “Are you sure? You…can handle it after all that?”

  “I’m your bodyguard, Sir Too-ka,” she said.

  “Thanks.”

  “Ha. It’s too soon to thank me—save it for when—”

  Spurt!

  “Gh…?!”

  Civit was bleeding harder.

  “Gh, Ha… Ah—?!”

  He dropped to his knees, frozen, never letting go of the spear in his hands. The pool of blood forming around him soaked the ground.

  “I’ve never seen anybody move so much after being poisoned and paralyzed.”

  He really is that strong… I sighed admiringly.

  “I never could’ve beaten him under normal cir-cumstances.”

  It was a good idea to prioritize paralyzing them, no matter what.

  Rustle rustle…

  I felt Piggymaru’s tentacles on the back of my neck and temples.

  I can’t let my guard down. I have to stay on alert until they’re all dead. This isn’t over yet.

  “Ghh… Gh— Gah—”

  The bandaged knight was the first to die, wounded by his futile struggles.

  “What’s happening to him?” asked Seras. The man’s body began to glow, then sent a flare of light shooting up into the sky.

  “It might be a signal,” I suggested.

  Something to show the others where he died, maybe. Was there some kind of light-emitting magic under those bandages that activated automatically when his heart stopped?

  I was reminded of the egg I found in the ruins—how it glowed when I unwrapped it.

  Was that supposed to bring Civit running to his rescue? To summon him if someone managed to defeat the Elite Five?

  “Only thing that light’s going to bring our way is—”

  Dragon cries rang out in the distance.

  He must’ve left some of his knights out there on standby—likely to prevent them from interfering with his dramatics.

  They flew toward the light like moths to a flame.

  “Sir Too-ka, what should we do? I recommend we make our escape through the forest…”

  Rustle, rustle…

  I don’t want to leave. What if they have healing spells that can save Civit before he dies?

  “I need to stay here and see this through to the end,” I said.

  It’s still too dangerous to approach Civit directly. There’s nothing more terrifying than a man with nothing to lose. I remember what I was like in the Ruins of Disposal—truly cornered and unbelievably powerful. If Seras could use her spirit armor, I might’ve asked her to finish them all off, but…

  “Seras, I want you to run. I’m sorry I couldn’t explain what was happening earlier, but—”

  “I’m staying,” said Seras, firmly. “I’m keeping the blue dragonstone, of course,” she added, laughing slightly.

  She’s tougher than I gave her credit for—brave, too.

  “All right, then.”

  The black dragons approached, stopping in midair to call down to the Elite Five.

  “Sir Schweitz?! Wh-what’s happening down there?”

  They’re still out of range. They aren’t coming any closer, either.

  Schweitz was completely paralyzed, unable to even speak.

  “Azu…ran…!”

  It was Civit. The Black Dragon Knights above looked confused.

  “What?! C-Commander Civit…?! Y-you… You’re injured?!”

  Apparently his subordinates can’t even believe he’d be injured in battle.

  Civit screamed up at them, blood pouring from his mouth.

  “Ghh… Sdaay… K-kill them from th-the air! Sdday away! Kill them f-from a distance—!”

  He can’t move, but he can still scream, huh?

  “N-no matter wha—! Kill them!”

  His death drew ever closer as he struggled. He probably won’t last until the Paralyze gauge runs out.

  Rustle...

  Piggymaru gave me a signal. I felt his tentacles winding around my torso.

  All right—we’re connected now.

  There are two main problems with this ability: how long it takes to get it going, and how fast it burns through mana. Back when I was training with Piggymaru, my mana plummeted when we tried this—and I couldn’t risk passing out during the conversation with Civit. Tentacles stretching up toward my face would have made him way more suspicious of me, too.

  This ability’s only good for short bursts of fighting.

  “Sir Too-ka, what’s happening to you?”

  “Don’t worry. I’m borrowing some of Piggymaru’s power, that’s all.”

  The black dragons circled in the sky above us.

  “Hmph… They look restless.”

  The knights were desperately trying to assess the situation, confused by the Elite Five lying on the ground below them.

  Figures. They never expected to see Civit Gartland kneeling in a pool of his own blood—not even in their worst nightmares.

  “Wh-hat a-are y-you doing? H-hurry u-up an’ kill them!”

  He was too weak to scream now, and his wavering voice couldn’t reach the dragons overhead. Struggled too hard against paralysis—I don’t think he’s ever moving again.

  “Let’s do this, Piggymaru.”

  “Squee!”

  “Seras.”

  “Y-yes?”

  “If they start throwing projectiles, I need you to intercept them. If you can, keep an eye on the Elite Five, too.”

  Seras looked up at the sky and raised her sword.

  “Leave it to me!”

  Countless tentacles shot out from until my robes. To anybody watching from above, it must’ve looked like I’d grown wings.

  I looked up at the Black Dragon Knights.

  “Right.”

  Release mana.

  “Time to crush them.”

  Assault Accel.

  The sky glowed orange, and the setting sun lit the cirrocumulus clouds and sent long rays of sunlight streaming through the trees into the deep forest below. The golden beams found their way through the leaves, illuminating the dirt at my feet.

  The circling Black Dragon Knights above moved into battle positions, weapons in their outstretched hands, but they didn’t attack. Maybe they thought the Elite Five were being held hostage.

  They’re reluctant to face whoever just bested the Strongest Man in the World. That’s the weak point of most groups—take down the boss, and the rest will scatter.

  “Status Open.”

  I was afraid of that—my MP’s dropping fast. I can’t keep this up fo
r long.

  “Let’s get this over with quick, Piggymaru.”

  “Squee!”

  I poured my mana into Piggymaru’s tentacles, making them glow fluorescent in the fading sunlight.

  “Sque—queeeeeeeeee—!”

  With a great whoosh, the tentacles shot up into the air.

  “Wh-what are those things?!”

  They looked like arrows arching through the sunset sky toward the Black Dragon Knights.

  “Don’t lose your heads! Strike them down!”

  None of the knights’ blows landed.

  “Wh-?! They’ve stopped…?!”

  Yeah. They aren’t coming for you—not the way you think, at least.

  The knights looked confused—why had the tentacles stopped almost ten meters away from them?

  In range.

  I stretched out my hand toward the sky.

  “Paralyze.”

  It reached them.

  “Wha—?!”

  “My dragon!”

  “I-I… I can’t m-move?!”

  Piggymaru was halfway part of me now. Anything in its range was in my range, too.

  “Kh! That freakish tentacle creature did this?! Y-you monster!”

  I’m not used to controlling this yet. One of them wasn’t fully in range—I didn’t position myself properly.

  I split one of my tentacles in two and went for him.

  “Piggymaru, are you okay?”

  “Squee! ♪”

  Green.

  Piggymaru seems totally fine, though I guess that makes sense—it’s not taking any damage.

  The Great Sage left some notes about this—I think the only way Piggymaru can be damaged is if something injures his core? So it shouldn’t hurt if these tentacles get injured—or it shouldn’t hurt much, at least. And since we’re connected right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if hurting the tentacles hurts me.

  “Maybe we should be a little more aggressive.”

  “Squee!”

  “But you let me know if it hurts, okay?”

  “Squee!”

  I threaded tentacles up through the clouds, searching for new targets, as the paralyzed dragon knights came crashing to the ground around me.

  Oh, I could just…

  “Sleep.”

  The remaining dragons stopped in midair, falling to the forest floor with their riders in tow—a rain of black beasts pummeling the ground in eerie silence.

  “Right, then.”

  I quickly applied Poison to the mass of dragons and Black Dragon Knights that lay sprawled around me.

  “Gh, Ahh…”

  Orban.

  “I—impo…possible…”

  Schweitz.

  “Too-kaa!”

  Civit.

  I applied a second round of status effects to the Elite Five.

  “Sleep.”

  All that’s left is to wait, watch, and keep reapplying these effects like I always do.

  Level up!

  Level 2 → Level 3

  All right! Sleep is finally at level 3 too, and…hmm?

  New skills unlocked

  Freeze

  Dark

  Berserk

  New skills, huh? I’ll check them out later—gotta deal with these Black Dragon Knights first. I’ll stick with the combo that I know works.

  “No, wait… It might be worth trying them out.”

  They might be useful, and who knows when I’ll have another chance to test them against real opponents.

  “Seras.”

  “Y-yes?”

  “If Orban attacks me, put him down.”

  “U-understood.”

  Seras didn’t ask any questions—I appreciated that. I directed my tentacles toward the still-breathing Orban, who had a little time left on his paralysis gauge.

  “Berserk!”

  His whole body began to twitch and shake uncontrollably.

  “Gh… Ghh… Aggh…!”

  He screamed over and over, coarse and filled with rage. He began to spit blood.

  Just as expected. I guess this skill makes targets aggressive. Combo this with Paralyze, and targets are forced to move and struggle against their paralysis, killing them faster.

  Next, I turned my tentacles on Schweitz.

  There’s less risk doing this with my tentacles than approaching directly.

  I removed Schweitz’s Sleep effect and paralyzed him again.

  I’m probably going to need him to be awake for this to work.

  “Dark.”

  Schweitz opened his eyes.

  “Huh…?! Wh… I can’t see! M-my… My eyes…”

  I guess this one affects the enemy’s vision—I should’ve seen that coming. Might be useful when I don’t want to be seen, or even for close combat.

  “Gh… Hgh… Gah—ah—ah…!”

  “Nhh…?!”

  Both of the dragon knights writhed in agony from the poison.

  Orban tried to kill Seras for the money—Schweitz tried to give her to his subordinates as a plaything. There’s nothing wrong with using them for my experiments. They’re worthless—just like I am. I have a good idea what this freeze skill does, but…

  “Hm?”

  I checked my MP gauge—a substantial amount was already gone.

  I can’t let this reach zero.

  I looked over at Seras, who was watching over the Black Dragon Knights scattered around us.

  Guess I’m the only one who can see the stat screen.

  “Piggymaru, deactivate.”

  “Squee!”

  I felt Piggymaru’s tentacles detatch from my torso.

  I’ll test out the last skill some other time...I don’t want to risk overwriting some of my other skills. Freeze sounds similar enough to Paralyze that it might. Right now, all these targets are paralyzed and poisoned—I want to make absolutely sure they die.

  Somewhere off beyond the trees, the death cries began. First it was one of the Elite Five’s dragons…eventually Civit’s white dragon died, too.

  “Gyh… Eh…”

  Level up!

  Level 1789 → Level 1796

  The dragon mount of the Strongest Man in the World… It really lives up to the name with that many experience points. I bet if humans gave EXP, Civit would have given me a ton…

  My MP gauge was now completely refilled.

  No need to worry about that anymore.

  The dragon knights continued to die around us, most of them still asleep.

  “A dreamless sleep,” I said.

  “This is such terrifying power. I was surprised to see you take down Civit, but this new technique with Sir Piggymaru is incredible.”

  I looked over at Seras—she still seemed a little shaken. I wanted to talk with her about what happened during the battle, why I couldn’t just leave like I told Civit, and why I had to see this through to the end.

  “It takes a long time for that technique to activate, and it’s really taxing on me. It has a lot of constraints.”

  I’m not happy about being an E-class, but I’m so glad I have the perfect stats to be a magic user.

  “That ability with Piggymaru…is that one of your powers as a hero from another world?” she asked hesitantly.

  I guess she’s still worried about asking personal questions. Can’t say she doesn’t keep her word.

  “Hero from another world, huh…I guess you could say that.”

  The monster enhancement solution came from my copy of Forbidden Arts: The Complete Works, written by the Great Sage Anglin, Hero of Darkness.

  Seras looked at the Elite Five.

  “I knew you were strong, but I never expected you to be a hero from another world. I thought that your power might be some cursed magic, or… And, well, I didn’t know that the Goddess of Alion was searching for—”

  “Don’t worry about it. She doesn’t like me either.”

  “I-is that so?”

  “She disposed of me—thought I was worthless, I guess. She thinks I’m
dead.”

  I smiled, trying to reassure her.

  “So don’t worry, okay? I won’t sell you out to that foul Goddess.”

  “F-foul Goddess…?”

  “What else should I call her?”

  Seras responded with a dry laugh.

  “To think you’re so strong, but she disposed of you anyway. You must have really gotten on her bad side. But that incredible power…I think I understand now,” she said.

  “I don’t want anybody to know I’m a hero, so I figured it’d be best to keep quiet about it. We’re going to go our separate ways someday, right? Some things are better left unsaid.”

  Seras shook her head.

  “I wasn’t of any help when the Elite Five attacked. You defeated them all on your own.”

  “You did your duty as my bodyguard.”

  Seras smiled sadly, then looked away and stared off into the distance. I gave her a pat on the shoulder.

  “You all right?”

  “Ah, I apologize. My head is spinning with all that has occurred. I still need some time to think.”

  “I bet—thanks for focusing on the job earlier.”

  “I couldn’t let you die.”

  “What?”

  “I couldn’t forgive myself if I spaced out and let you die. It was self-defense, in a way. My heart couldn’t take watching you die; I had to protect you—protect it. That’s why. You saved my life once, after all. I couldn’t live with myself if I let you down.”

  I had a feeling that’s what it was. Seras really is just like my foster mother. Even when she feels down…

  “You have a really strong heart, don’t you?”

  “Sometimes you smile kindly, you know, Sir Too-ka.”

  “Maybe because I’m thinking of someone kind.”

  “Your foster mother?”

  I laughed at Seras.

  “She’s just like you—speaking of kind people.”

  “But the expression you make when you think of her…it’s a little different.”

  “Well, I mean, you’re a different sort of person.”

  Seras is a high elf, not a human.

  Seras’s eyes softened at the words.

  “Uh, ghh…” One of the knights moaned, interrupting the conversation.

  Orban breathed his last, and Schweitz quickly followed. Almost all the dragon knights were dead now.

  It’s quiet, death by poison. And slow. How many people could do this and see it through, I wonder? How many would have a change of heart, get scared and dispel the effect?