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Enjoy the chapter~.

TL: Thy Unsus

ED: UpsilonProgress-kun

Synopsis of the last chapter:

Gerbersan was about to die off-screen.

Having fallen face up, throwing her limbs onto the floor, Silane didn't even twitch.

Her body was covered in wounds, showing the violent battle that had unfolded.

Deep wounds were carved on her limbs, and her left arm had been cut off below the forearm.

Her well-ordered face had a deep wound that went that pa.s.sed through her right eye from her forehead and came out through her jaw.

Her flank was cut up, and her entrails were jutting out.

Her own sword had deeply pierced through the sheet metal in the center of her armor-covered chest.

Her empty eyes lacked the light of life.

What was there….was Silane's ma.s.sacred corpse.

In contrast to Silane, Juumonji, who had thrown over Silane's corpse as if it were an object, was in perfectly good health. He had no notable injuries other than the cut on his cheek. When I thought “where did he come from”, it appeared he took a shortcut by jumping down from the inner wall to the collapsed outer wall, and took a roundabout path to here.

Perhaps he purposefully brought her corpse to make us lose our composure, or maybe because he was merely proud of his『achievement』and wanted to sneer at us.

At any rate, there was one fact in front of me.

——The Knight Silane, one of this world's best warriors, had been killed by Tatsuya Juumonji, a ‘Scouting Corps' member.

The girl who had believed me, the one who had said “I look forward to talking with you again”, was no longer in this world.

The girl—unsatisfied with her boundless talent, she studied day after day with one intention: to protect her comrades, to protect her brethren, and to protect the world—had been killed by a human who suddenly gained power from just getting transported to this world.

And, it wasn't only just Silane.

There should've been a lot of people risking their lives fighting to protect the world from the threat of the Sea of Trees. Like Silane, they had continued to fight with different feelings in mind.

And those feelings of theirs…had been killed entirely.

They were greedily devoured by a hero wielding their hollow power without any thought put into it, and ended up as mere experience points.

It was too unreasonable. But, it was our reality. Maybe this was the true nature of the cheat abilities in us transferees. Because this power we obtained after coming to this world——were cheat abilities. And the『cheat』in cheat abilities was originally a world that meant『unfair』.

Yes. The power we'd been given…was unfair.

It was a too unreasonable, dangerous power that crushed underfoot other people's thoughts without any thought put into it.

What “grace” was like this? What do you mean “the power of the hero who saves the world”?

Juumonji's voice dove into my terror-stricken ears.

“Though for a short time, I'm shocked she competed with me.” (Juumonji)

For some reason, his tone was boastful.

“But, it seems her power had a time limit.” (Juumonji)

“……Time…limit?” (Majima)

What the h.e.l.l? I hadn't heard about that.

Both she and Leader, who should've known her well, hadn't said anything.

……No. In this case, wasn't the problem what they didn't say?

What Leader had said was only that『Silane will fulfill her duty』. She hadn't said『she'll be fine』.

She knew what would happen to her important subordinate. That was why after we separated from Silane, Leader looked a bit strange.

Now that I thought about it, if it was a long-lasting power, Silane would have always fought using it. A full burst using four small spirits. That was Silane's trump card, and also her last resort.

——I told you, didn't I? That I'm looking forward to talking with you again.

When Silane said this, she had already prepared herself.

Knowing that she couldn't ever talk to me again, she sent me out after saying that.

Just what feelings did she have…when she said that.

……I couldn't even ask her that anymore.

“But well, she tried her best. She did a fine job buying time against me.” (Juumonji)

As he spoke, Juumonji threw over something he'd been holding in his hand this way.

What fell this way…was her cut-off arm.

Perhaps her gauntlet had fallen off somewhere, as the blue ring on her bare finger, the one that proved she was a knight, was blankly s.h.i.+ning.

“But well, looking only at the result, it was a pointless death.” (Juumonji)

Looking down at Silane's left arm, Juumonji sneered.

He sneered at the girl's hard battle…and the feelings she put on it.

“——a, aaAAAAHHHH! JUMONJIIiiIIIIII!” (Majima)

At the same time as my cry, the White Arachne jumped out from the side, responding to my feelings.

“Bastarrrd! So you're the enemy of my lorrddd——!!” (Gerbera)

Gerbera lept like a cannonball, spreading her blazing anger and fighting spirit.

Her front right leg carrying the charge's momentum attacked Juumonji's tall figure.

It was a genuine, certain kill blow of the White Arachne, a high monster. Her stab had a wild ferocity, something that even a spear expert couldn't imitate no matter how skilled they were.

“Woah!?” (Juumonji)

Her sharp claw went through his chest, piercing Juumonji's heart——just before that, he dodged by jumping sideways due to his unusual reflexes as a Warrior.

“Tsk, it failed!” (Gerbera)

“……Oi oi. I thought it was strange, but it isn't a normal arachne.” (Juumonji)

Having landed, Juumonji pulled out his straight sword wet with blood with a slightly panicked look. Then, Gerbera attacked.

“I'll kill youu! You'll know my lord's anger and sadness!” (Gerbera)

“……He's brought in someone troublesome.” (Juumonji)

Speaking in a fed-up tone Juumonji stepped forward, carrying his sword on his shoulder.

“UoOOoOAAHH!” (Juumonji)

“SHAaAAAAAAA!!” (Gerbera)

The white tyranny and the hero's violence collided with one another.

Her spider legs and his straight sword clashed several times, and cut-off body hair and metallic sparks flew around.

The large, white spider—that boasted she was the strongest in the Deep Part of the Sea of Trees where powerful monsters crowded—fought in close combat without budging an inch against her opponent, a hero.

Juumonji's sword couldn't cut Gerbera's spider outer-sh.e.l.l covered in white, flexible hair with a single blow, and when she was injured a little, the White Arachne's terrifying healing ability would immediately heal her wounds.

But in contrast to this, Gerbera was overwhelming Juumonji with her three-dimensional movements and her number of attacks, but couldn't catch Juumonji himself.

Due to both their physical strength and speed being a cut above the rest, the battle was taking alternatively favorable and unfavorable turns.

Possibly noticing no progress would be made like this, Juumonji made his next move.

“How about thisss!” (Juumonji)

The fire magic Juumonji fired burned to nothing the spider thread Gerbera shot at him, and drew near Gerbera.

“How cheeky!” (Gerbera)

Gerbera charged, piercing through the curtain of flames.

She was durable enough to endure magic up to the 3rd rank. The light burns she got on both of her arms from protecting her face didn't affect the battle, and it would recover in less than a minute. Though he was a cheat holder and a ‘Scouting Corps' member, it was impossible for the warrior-like Juumonji to work out a magic effective on the White Arachne mid-battle.

That said, Gerbera's spider thread had poor compatibility against fire magic, Juumonji's forte.

Inevitably, the battle proceeded through deadlock in a swamp of close-combat.

Meanwhile, I had run over to the collapsed Silane.

“Silane……” (Majima)

Calling her name, I touched her face. I felt heat on my hand.

It was the remaining heat of battle. She'd only get colder after this.

“Lily?” (Majima)

“……It's no use. I can't help her now.” (Lily)

Having followed me, Lily hung her head powerlessly.

This was a known fact even in our former colony.

There was no revival magic in this world. There was powerful recovery magic extremely close to that, but magic couldn't cross the absolute line of『Death』.

“……d.a.m.n it all.” (Majima)

Cursing, I raised my face.

Juumonji was there, chasing after Gerbera who was leaping on the wall and ceiling three dimensionally with her eight spider legs.

“……Guu, what great physical strength.” (Gerbera)

“You're d.a.m.n annoying! You're making me waste my time!” (Juumonji)

The battle ability of cheat holders…how terrifying. That Gerbera was gradually being overpowered.

Originally, the way Gerbera fought was that of a beast. Completely crus.h.i.+ng the enemy with uncatchable physical strength and reflexes. In other words, she had the same type of fighting style as Juumonji: overwhelming the enemy by leaving it to the battle ability given to them in this world.

If her strength and speed were to be surpa.s.sed, unlike Silane, Gerbera couldn't overturn it with technique. It would also be difficult for her to recover from a hopeless situation if her reliable spider thread wouldn't work.

Of course, that said, she wouldn't be defeated that easily. Gerbera had a natural high regeneration ability, after all. If one of her legs were cut off, she could keep fighting while regenerating mid-battle.

However, even though she could, she had no hopes of winning if things stayed how they were.

Gerbera alone couldn't beat Juumonji. Silane, who might've been able to beat Juumonji by working with her, had died. Sakagami couldn't lift the siege of monsters, and we couldn't run away from this fortress. At this rate, this time we just might be annihi——

“Ane-sama?” (Kei)

——I heard the voice…of a little girl.

When I looked over my shoulder, the Alliance's Knight Order was there.

Having beaten the monsters blocking them, they had finally caught up with us.

Naturally, Kei, who had accompanied them, was also among them.

She was looking in my direction. But, I hadn't caught her eye. She was looking at the girl's corpse I was holding with a hollow expression.

“Silane-ane-sama!” (Kei)

After Kei ran over here, she pushed me aside and looked at her older sister's face.

Her one eyeball emotionlessly stared back up at the very young girl.

“A……Aaa” (Kei)

There was no breath in her body, and her heartbeat had already gone out.

Her strict yet gentle older sister would never smile at her again.

“N-…o. This…can't be……” (Kei)

I could see despair freezing her heart.

The only thing reflected in her eyes flooded with tears was the figure of her completely changed older sister.

That was when I heard Juumonji's scream.

“AaAAAAAH! This is so annoying!” (Juumonji)

Possibly tired of the even fight, Juumonji kicked Gerbera's spider body as hard as he could.

Leaking a cry of pain, Gerbera was sent flying. Juumonji also flew back from the recoil.

Landing safely with her eight legs, Gerbera put herself on guard, possibly getting ready to start again.

But, Juumonji's aim wasn't Gerbera. I noticed that immediately, but Gerbera didn't.

“Don't, Gerbera!” (Lily)

Lily shouted, having noticed it about the same time I did, but that was when Juumonji moved.

He jumped back and then turned around.

Making a stunned face, Gerbera opened her red eyes wide as she realized what he was doing.

“Oh no……!!” (Gerbera)

She was on the opposite side, and Juumonji was between us. In other words, he made use of Gerbera's gap, and attacked us.

Gerbera would never have imagined that he'd make use of the opponent in front him's gap and aim for the weak opponent. This exposed the poor compatibility between her honest way of thinking and a crafty human being.

On top of that, due to living her life in isolation, her fighting style had some biases. And she was influenced by said biases, especially since she had a lot of combat experience fighting that way. In short: compared to solo fights where she had no one to protect, she wasn't very good at fighting while protecting something.

If she was fighting while protecting us, Gerbera also had to pay attention to her positioning. However, Juumonji didn't have to fight while thinking about that, so rather, Silane had been the strange one for succeeding in doing that earlier despite her abilities being far lower than his.

“……d.a.m.n.” (Majima)

Juumonji's tall figure approached in the blink of an eye.

His aim was me. Since he couldn't easily beat the monster in front of him, he planned to make her powerless by killing the one leading her—me.

Naturally, Lily forced her way between us so I wouldn't die like that.

The magic she invoked was of the 3rd rank. Wind blades, her specialty, ran through the air.

“What the!?” (Lily)

In constrast with that, Juumonji also unleased fire magic of the 3rd rank.

What surprised her wasn't the mere flame, but the nature of the explosion it caused.

It was no wonder Lily raised a voice of surprise. She was wondering why he'd use powerful explosion-type magic in a narrow pa.s.sage like this. The explosion would devastate the pa.s.sage, and even could cause it to collapse.

Or, maybe that was Juumonji's aim.

Even if he was buried alive, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d was confident he'd survive.

Fortunately, the pa.s.sage endured the magic's power, but the increased explosive power of the explosion, compressed in the narrow s.p.a.ce, scattered Lily's wind magic.

Resisting the counter-current flames with the Warrior's tough body, Juumonji attacked Lily.

“You're in my way!” (Juumonji)

Lily attacked him upfront too, but she didn't even trade blows once.

The spear he stopped with his sword bent and then repelled back, and the point of his sword buried itself in the top of Lily's shoulder.

“a, Uaa.” (Lily)

She was cut up to around her back in one go.

But, Lily didn't give up.

“I won't……let you.” (Lily)

“Wha!?” (Juumonji)

Despite the upper half of her body being opened, Lily tried to send out her spear once again.

It appeared Juumonji had never thought he would be counterattacked by an opponent with such heavy wounds, as he was full of gaps. Finding herself overwhelmingly superior in her initial response, Lily tried to pierce Juumonji's blazer-covered abdomen with the tip of her spear.

“……Ah.” (Lily)

Juumonji's fist exploded in her face.

Like a watermelon dropped from a high place, Lily's head burst open.

Drawing out his sword from her opened body, Juumonji ran while Lily collapsed.

She didn't die, but I knew through the path that she'd lost consciousness. When this happened, it would take Lily several seconds to recover. Lily had been defeated.

Lily wasn't at all weak. But, her opponent was too evil. He was no longer a demon, but someone that should be regarded as a disaster for humanity.

The time Lily's do-or-die resistance earned against the cheat holder was about one second.

There was no longer anyone to obstruct him, and me and Juumonji's eyes met. A smile of scorn was on his fearless features.

Realizing Gerbera wouldn't make it in time, I bit the edge of my lip.

I had no choice but to somehow make it through.

Having seen Lily done in, I was already holding in my arms Kei, stunned beside Silane's corpse. While extending Asarina on my left hand to the wall, I jumped back holding her.

“Gyaoh!” (Ayame)

Ayame held him back by spitting out a fireball, but Juumonji cut the fireball with his straight sword and further shortened the distance. A red magic circle built up in his left hand. What he made in no time was 2nd-rank fire magic.

I could endure that much. No problem.

When I judged so, I felt Asarina on my left hand stick to the wall.

“Alright, my means of evasion are now ready”……Just after I thought that, I noticed my misunderstanding.

I paled. I thought it was bad, but Juumonji's magic had already been cast.

A small explosion occurred, and Asarina's long-stretched, viney body was partly burned off.

Juumonji's demonic smile approached. I had no means of emergency evasion. No. No. He was catching up…….

Dokun, my heart beat.

I would be killed like this. I was able to vividly imagine my torso being sliced, and the moment after I was split in two.

I wasn't alone. Now that I thought about it, Kei, Silane's important protegee, would be killed without being defended. It was like a decided future prediction, and it was something I absolutely couldn't allow.

I wouldn't recognize that future. ——No matter what, I have to protect her.

“……Eh?” (Majima)

It happened the moment after I strengthened my grip on my sword, trying to struggle in vain. I unconsciously leaked a voice of astonishment.

I saw Juumonji open his eyes wide in shock as well.

——A hand had grabbed Juumonji's shoulder from behind.

It wasn't Gerbera's white, slender hand. It was the tight yet abnormally pale hand of someone who grasped a sword. Possibly because there was that much power in their bloodstained fingertips, Juumonji's face distorted in pain, his shoulder grabbed onto.

“Wh-……at, you're….” (Juumonji)

Looking back, Juumonji moaned hoa.r.s.ely.

The reply to that——was a row of teeth sinking into his skin.

“Giii!? GYAaAAAAAA!?” (Juumonji)

Juumonji screamed loudly.

The forearm he immediately stuck out to protect his body after he realized something was strange was *RAAGHM* bit into.

The row of teeth tore through the sleeve of his blazer, sunk into his skin, and chewed up the supposedly tough cheat ability user's flesh, making a *buchi buchi* sound.

“Aaa, AAAAHH!? AaAAAAH!?” (Juumonji)

His straight sword tumbled to the floor with a *clatter*.

Juumonji crouched on the spot. His right forearm had a crescent moon shape bitten out of it.

A wet *crush crush* sound rang out. It was the sound of『flesh』being chewed.

Everyone froze, not saying a word at the overly gruesome scene.

——Gulp

The thoroughly chewed meat was swallowed.

“a, uaA……aA, AAaA”

A hollow moan leaked from their dyed-red mouth.

And not long after, it turned into the cry of the dead.

“aAAAA, AAAAAAaa, AAAAaAAAAAH!”

Silane, who should have died, stood up, and raised a yell without even a fragment of reason.

Dun Dun DUNNNNNNN!

If you guys notice anything wrong, please let me know!

-Thy Unsus