Translator: "Pink Tea" Editor: "Ryunakama"

　After entering the primordial forest and walking deeper into it for a while, we found traces of a large magical beast.

　A tree, a few meters in diameter, was pulled out with its roots.

「Now, the prey this time can be found by following the trail from those, but… It's already here.」

　In front of us was a giant, it has a boar-like head and a body which walks on two legs.

　The information on him was listed in the request, but—

「I guess that is gigantroll that turned giant?」

「Yes, that's right, Axel-san. …Though it's almost twice as big as what was stated in the report.」

　He had a total height of about four meters and was pretty chubby.

　Instead of a club, in one hand it was holding an uprooted tree. However—

「…His empty arm looks pretty b.l.o.o.d.y.」

　Blood was dripping from one of his hands. The skin on Gigantroll's arm was torn, with blood gus.h.i.+ng from it.

　The skin of gigantrolls is quite tough. They take hardly any damage from knocking down trees, what could have happened?　

「According to the information in the request, there are supposed to be three of them, didn't they just get into the fight? With their power, damaging the hide is possible, and they are also quite good at putting magic power into the punch. Although gigantrolls' skin is physically resistant, it has almost no resistance against magic. Even mid-level magic can pierce through it.」

　While speaking almost in ridicule, Sieg adjusted his breath.

「…Well, the fact that it got into a fight also says that it has that much of a temper.」

　Then, he readies the big sword that he was wearing on his back. And says to me in a low voice.

「I think the fight will be over almost instantly since we will take him by surprise, but if it drags on we are counting on your support, Axel-san. And avoid getting close to it as much as possible. His attacks pack some force… If you will have time for that, you can get some weapons from supplies and provide support by throwing them.」

　Looks like he is worried about us. While being thankful for that I gave him a nod.

　Seeing that Sieg grinned broadly and then took a deep breath.

「Pheeh… This time we are aiming for his heart core located in the chest area. We, frontline, will break through his defense and then backline, should penetrate him with magic. Trapper, you should look around and confirm if there are no other monsters in the surroundings.」

「Understood.」

「Long battle against a giant will be a ha.s.sle, so let's end it as fast as possible, you guys… !」

「——Yea!」

　Each member of Starlight started to run with the words from Sieg as a signal.

「——Gii?!」

　Gigantroll looked surprised, suddenly being surrounded by the party.

　However, it soon bared its hostility and swung the club.

　It's a large heavy tree but gigantroll is swinging it like a stick. However—

「An attack from the unstable stance ain't scary one bit!」

　It didn't have power behind it.

　With his big sword, Sieg repelled the approaching club.

　In addition, with the returning motion, he gave gigantroll a blow to the stomach.

「GuIGI… !!!」

　The tough skin cannot be cut with the large sword. However, the impact is still transmitted and gigantroll's chest becomes unguarded. It's their usual blitz pattern.

「Now, the magic!」

「I know, Leader. Advanced Ice Magic Icicle Pillar…!」

　When the high witch shook her hand, a huge stake of ice was formed and then was launched towards the gigantroll.

　The ice stake, cutting the wind, goes straight for the chest of the gigantroll. 　

　……With this much power, it should pierce and finish it……!

　Sieg was looking at the pillar of ice, with a feeling close to conviction, coming from his previous experience. 　

　Then, the ice stake hit the Gigantroll in the chest—

　*Clang!*

　And shattered, without piercing or penetrating it.

「Eh?!」

　Gigantroll was taken aback but still alive.

　Observing the enemy, Sieg was wondering, a gigantroll, who is supposed to be weak versus magic, was. .h.i.t by an advanced spell and was still alive, what is the meaning of this?

　And then he noticed.

「This thing… There is something on its chest?!」

　Under the brown, boar-like hair, was sparkling something black, similar to a stone.

　That was something that Sieg has seen before—

　……No way, a scale of an ancient dragon… ?!

　A st.u.r.dy scale like the one he saw at Meteor, for some reason was protecting the trolls chest.

　Since it was using weapons, for it to use protective gear as well wasn't that strange.

「Where the h.e.l.l did it get such a dangerous thing…」

　And grinding it's teeth in anger.

「GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

　Staggered Gigantroll regained its posture and threw the club at the witch.

　It's awfully fast.

　Be retreating the witch avoided the club, thrown from the unstable posture. However, the impact it produced, by hitting the ground, blew her away. 　

「b.a.s.t.a.r.d… !」

　Sieg slammed the great sword on the Gigantroll foot, who now was unarmed after throwing the club away.

　Although the attack was repelled by the hard skin, Gigantroll was slightly staggered with that blow. But—

「Leader! Watch out!!」

　In front of him, Gigantroll brandished his first, without any care about attacks on its legs. 　

　And then, that fist came down at Sieg. 　

「d.a.m.n… !」

　He had no chance to avoid it.

　The best he could do was to cover with the great sword.

　However, the shock of impact will be transmitted anyway, so this attack is almost guaranteed to shatter some bones.

　……d.a.m.n it… I rushed too much because of its irregularity…!

　A wound can be healed by drinking a potion. However, I must prepare myself for the pain. 　

　And so, Sieg clenched his teeth and braced for the impact.

　That moment—

　*Bam*

　A metal spear pierced into the chest of the troll with the tremendous force.

「Eh?」

　The spear that came from behind Sieg successfully hit the target and at the same time crumbled, unable to withstand the crash.

　However, not only the scale protecting the gigantroll's chest was smashed by the force, but even the hide beneath it took damage.

　And, the giant body of Gigantroll which received that attack, was thrown to the ground, face-up.

　——It's a chance.

　Thoughts immediately caught up to the phenomenon taking place in front of him. Furthermore—

「Sieg, finish him!」　

　Driven by the voice from behind, his body began to move.

「Y-Yeah!!」

　Swiftly swinging his sword and putting his entire weight behind it, he pierced the troll's chest.

　That attack certainly destroyed the Gigantroll's core.

「Guh, GUGAUAAA… !」

　With a scream of agony, the Gigantroll stopped moving completely.

「Haa… Haa… We did it, somehow.」

　Climbing down from the defeated Gigantroll, Sieg first tried to calm his breath.

　Then, he turned to the direction from which the spear flew. There, with transportation bag in one hand and a number of spears on his shoulder, stood Axel.

「That spear…… And that shout after that, was it you, Axel?」

「Yes, since it was your request to support you from distance. Just in case I also prepared the second and the third spear, but luckily it went down with one shot.」

　Axel nodded and casually answered Sieg's question.

「But, the giant gigantroll was really tough, since even Master's throw didn't penetrate in completely.」

　And Berzelia, that stood behind him, was talking to Axel with a completely calm expression.

「Yes, the strength went into it in a somewhat strange way, so the spear got destroyed as well. Sieg, was it pa.s.sable for support?」

　Axel asks with a serious face.

「Eh?　 Ah, yes, of course. I was saved by your more than sufficient performance.」

「Really?　Well, if you rate it that good then I guess it was okay. But, I guess to pierce it with a spear, it was necessary to put more spin on the spear.」

　Mumbling that, Axel puts spears back into the transportation bag.

　Looking at him, Sieg once again asked everyone around.

「Hey. Was it really Axel-san who threw that spear?」

「Yes. I saw it with my own eyes.」

「I saw it as well. Just when I saw him pulling out the spear, then he threw it at an abnormal speed…」

　One after another, member of Starlight were providing reports filled with amazement.

　Upon hearing them, Sieg realized a certain fact.

　They had combat-type jobs.

　And though instinctively he didn't want to say that aloud, Sieg involuntarily voiced the thoughts he had at the back of his mind.

「Tell me. Axel-san, ain't you probably……No, certainly, stronger than us?」

　To Sieg's words, other members of Starlight agreed in unison. Apparently, everyone thought the same.

　To begin with, everyone knew that Axel wasn't an ordinary carrier.

　Looking at him, it also was clear that he had high ability scores.

　……But just what is this person……?

　I felt like I was seeing a very strange existence, which cannot be explained by high abilities alone. On top of that—

　……There was a feeling like he had an aura, that I once felt in the past…

　Harboring such thoughts I looked at Axel. It was at that moment.

「Le-LEADER!　Please come here!」

　Echoed the voice of the trapper.

　With that voice, Sieg's mind switched at once.

　He instantly lowered his posture.

「Don't shout…!　We still have two more left to hunt… !」

　While being on guard for the surroundings, he looked at the direction of the voice.

　There, was the advanced trapper with the face filled with panic—

「I-It doesn't matter right now!　Please, hurry up and come over here!」

「Hm?」

　Sieg never heard the trapper speak in such a panicked voice, which made him quite curious.

　If the cautious trapper was yelling so loud, it means that something big had happened, thought Sieg, while following after him.

　They were brought into the deeper part of the primordial forest.

　A bit away from where they were fighting a while ago, was a large area of uprooted trees

　And there Sieg saw.

「This is, …gigantroll's head and bones?」

　It looked like someone with a giant maw gnawed on it.

　A sight of two corpses of giant beasts.