Chapter 169: The Goddess’ Awareness (1)

Wolf grabbed the “I’m sorry” sticker with his steel-looking fingers. On that moment, the sticker shattered into pieces as if it were a flower fluff.

I focused my own eyes in order to support Seiya. I tried to read the status of the mechanized Wolf. However, the stats’ numbers did not appear in my eyes. I tried my best to look closely at the enemy, but it was useless. It was somewhat common for the enemy’s stats to be protected in a world that exceeded the S-rank difficulty. But…

…We always saw the enemy’s stats at the beginning of each saving quest, but right now, it seemed that we could no longer know the enemy’s abilities!! As expected of the Twisted Exfolia with a SS+ difficulty rank!! The difficulty of this saving quest was getting higher and higher!! And…I was becoming more and more unusable too!!

I felt so depressed because I couldn’t even see through the enemy’s abilities. In the meantime, Wolf was able to put a machine gun on his shoulder as he stared fixedly at Seiya.

「Why don’t you pull one as well? Don’t you have a gun?」

「…I’ll go with this. 」

Seiya pulled out the Holy Sword Egzation from his waist…And then, he stabbed the sword in the ground and left it there.

「Unseal the techniques. 」

Immediately, light overflowed and diffused from the Egzation, as if a stone had been dropped on the surface of the water. Wolf got exposed to this dazzling light.

「…What did you do just now? 」

Wolf looked confused and wary, but his appearance remained unchanged. Seiya spoke after seeing this irregularity.

「Hmm. He didn’t return to being a human, huh. It seems that his transformation is not a kind of magic or art. Well, I had a hunch, but I just wanted to confirm it to be certain.」

He wanted to try that power just to be certain! But, in the end, it didn’t work! Well, it was better to give it a try than just assuming things!

I wondered if Seiya would leave the sword as it was, and grab a gun instead. However, Seiya didn’t put back the Egzation on his sheath.

「I’ve been wondering since we’ve met…Your appearance. You look like a warrior from hundreds of years ago.」

Then, Wolf muttered confidently when he raised his arm with the machine gun.

「I’ll show you. My anachronistic warrior in a modern combat.」

A number of things that resembled wires extended from the arm of the mechanized Wolf! Those wires wriggled like tentacles and covered the machine gun! With a dry sound, the machine gun changed its shape and assimilated into Wolf’s arm!

「So you can even do that, huh. 」

Seiya murmured as if he were impressed. The tip of his deformed arm had five thick fingers that resembled gunpoints. Wolf then turned that thing against Seiya.

「Oh. It looks like a Gatling Gun.* 」

「Se…Seiya! This is not the time to admire it… 」

Wolf’s arm burst into fire while I was speaking. Countless of bullets hit Seiya while making a deafening sound of strong firearms. However, the place where Seiya was standing was empty. Wolf’s bullets only scraped the ground, leaving behind bullet holes. Beyond my line of sight… Seiya, who flew sideways with the insane speed of the Berserker state, completely dodged Wolf’s attack. I also noticed that Seiya put his hand inside the chest pocket.

That Wolf fella! He spoke of his anachronistic warrior with so much confidence! But, look now! Seiya also prepared a special gun in the Underworld…Eh, what!?

「Snake Bite. 」

Contrary to my expectations, Seiya didn’t took anything from his chest pocket, and just shook his hand off. The ground around Wolf began to bounce up, and more than a dozen earth snakes emerged from the ground. Those snakes threw themselves at Wolf all at once.

Was…Was that earth magic!? Why didn’t he use a gun instead!?

「Ah, ah. Such a boring thing again. 」

Without looking scared, Wolf quickly held his deformed hand in front of his face. In an instant, a magic circle with geometric patterns appeared in front of Wolf’s eyes. Just before Seiya’s earth snakes reached Wolf, they disappeared without making a sound! It seemed that they evaporated in the air!

「What!? They disappeared!? Don’t tell me that’s a magical barrier!?」

In the past, the Demon King Zenos Road developed an anti-magic field that completely blocked Seiya’s magic powers. Yes, during the final battle of the Geabrande saving quest.

「How can he use such an advanced technique…! What a frightening guy!」

I looked astonished. However, Colt spoke calmly next to me.

「For those who are engaging themselves in a combat, disabling magic is not that uncommon. By the way, I can do it too.」

「Ehh!! Is that so!? 」

「The technique to prevent attacks coming from pure magical powers has been established for 100 years now. In modern combats, a fighter gives magical power to weapons in order to invalidate magic by hybridization. In other words, this technique is a perfect method to counterattack magical assaults.」

Hy…Hybridization…!? Ugh…Was that what happened with Wolf’s body!? …I felt that we were somehow behind with our knowledge of technology…!!

「Physical attacks with a sword, or even from simple magic attacks… Those won’t work against a Supereon.」

In other words, “if you don’t use a gun, then you have no chance to win.” However, Seiya still invoked the earth snakes again, but were immediately invalidated. Wolf laughed happily.

「Let’s raise one more gear up, ‘kay…Enchant Disorder Bullet!」

Wolf’s mechanized arm began to deform even more.

「What is that!? Colt!! 」

「He gave himself the magical properties of the Disorder Bullet to the gun he assimilated into his arm. The spirit collapses just by squeezing in those bullets. What a bothersome power.」

「Wait, that means that guy is going to power up one more time!! 」

The next moment! The ground rose near me, Colt and the fallen Celseus!

「Hiiiii!! What the hell is going on now!? 」

However, the raised ground surrounded us like a barricade. Seiya glanced at me while avoiding Wolf’s fearsome firing.

「I am the one who did this. Even if I avoid his bullets, it would be troublesome if one of you guys were hit instead.」

「Ah, I see…I mean, I appreciate your gesture, but why didn’t you say so before invoking this barricade!? I thought it was one of Wolf’s techniques!!」

I screamed through the barricade, but Seiya was dedicated in dodging Wolf’s attack. Wolf’s fearsome firing continued endlessly after that. Bullets fired from his deformed arm were integrated with the gun, as if they were infinite.

I couldn’t stand the ongoing shooting, and I shook Colt’s shoulders.

「Hey!! Doesn’t he run out of bullets!? 」

「I think he produces bullets in his body. That’s Wolf’s ability, its what turns him into a beast.」

「No way…! 」

「The bullets are almost infinite. And he won’t be able to defeat Wolf if he keeps avoiding his bullets… I think it was premature to remove the role of your tank.」

Colt spoke while looking at the fallen Celseus. Seiya responded as if he heard Colt’s words.

「It wasn’t premature. I didn’t abandon my defense plan. In fact, I removed Celseus from my way because I can handle this enemy on my own.」

Then, Seiya stopped moving and held up his sword high. I saw that Seiya looked at Wolf with sharp eyes. Seeing Seiya’s stance, Wolf also stopped firing.

「Hey, hey. What’s that? Are you going to deflect my bullets with a sword?」

Se…Seriously!? In the past, when I was investigating about Japan, I saw that manga and anime portrayed heroes deflecting bullets with katana swords!! But, that was fiction!! It was impossible for ordinary human beings to accomplish that feat!! But…Perhaps…Seiya’s quickness and dynamic vision from the Crazy Warrior state could do it in reality…!?

Wolf and Seiya confronted each other in a straight line. I imagined a great-looking scene in which Seiya slashed down the bullets. I swallowed dry.

「Are you ready? 」

「Yeah. 」

Wolf shot bullets from his deformed arm with a loud fire sound!

「Seiya!! 」

And… Seiya avoided the bullets like he did before.

「…Ah? 」

Words leaked from my mouth unintentionally. After that, Seiya continued to dodge the bullets without using his sword. I felt quite disappointed, and shouted at him.

「Hey, weren’t you going to destroy them with your sword!? 」

「I don’t remember saying that. In the first place, it’s hard to maneuver the trajectory of a bullet that comes flying at high speeds with a sword. Besides, the moment you hit it, the bullet will shatter into several pieces. There is a high risk associated to that because those shattered pieces could fly straight to me. Anyway, it’s too dangerous.」

Seiya politely explained why he didn’t use the sword while dodging the bullets. Ah…Well, I knew it though! It was hard to recreate fiction depicted in a manga or anime!

However, then, “why did he hold that sword for the first time in this fight…!” Such a question came up on my mind. In the end, I did not know the truth. And, as usual, Seiya avoided Wolf’s bullets with the Crazy Warrior speed.

Wolf spoke to Seiya during the endless shootings.

「Are you expecting my bullets to wear out? Ah, ah, ah. I see. Whether your physical strength runs out first or my bullets run out first. A close match, huh. But, it’s too bad for you.」

Ugh! Wolf’s statement! As Colt speculated, there was no doubt that Wolf was producing ammunition in his body! He had absolute confidence in his ability!

I felt impatient, and Colt pondered as he put his finger on his chin.

「He could win if he managed to get close to Wolf, but neither the sword nor magic would work against him. How can he beat Wolf in this situation? I have no idea.」

…That…That’s true!! What should he do!? This dreadful situation was somewhat impossible to overcome…!!

On this very moment. Suddenly, something caught my heart. Seiya should have been ready for this battle! Moreover, he claimed that he could defeat this enemy on his own! Then…!

I tried to calm down to evaluate the surroundings.

…Colt looked at this fight with a mysterious face.

…Wolf continued to fire with pride.

…Wait a second!! Was this situation created by Seiya himself…!?

Suddenly, a thunder light ran through my mind, and I secretly clenched my fist.

I got it!! I understood it now!! Seiya probably planned to “hide the existence of his special gun to the last minute and use it after the enemy let his guard down”!!

The strategy itself was extremely simple. However, the time required for it was crucial. Who would imagine that Seiya, who had been running away since the beginning of this battle, had a machine gun hidden in his pocket?

…That’s right!! If Seiya used the hidden machine gun during the “normal” time, then he could lose against this enemy!! But Seiya exceeded the “normal” time to deceive the enemy into thinking he had no gun at all!!

I looked carefully at the battle again. Wolf deployed his magic circle power to counterattack Seiya’s newly created earth snakes, which tried to strike between the shots. Wolf also moved his body quickly to fend off the earth snakes that approached him from behind.

「I thought that you would become hard and dull because of the increased weight, but apparently, you did not lose agility. To be honest, you more convenient than the Daunting Pose Celseus.」

「Hu, hu, hu. Not only did I harden my skin, but I also inherited the agility and sharpness of werewolves. That’s why I am classified as Supereon.」

「I see. I got it. This is the end of my analysis.」

I…I knew it!! The only reason why he held the Egzation was because he wanted to analyze his first battle with a Supereon! And he finally finished his analysis now!

…I was proud to realize Seiya’s strategy during the middle of this battle. I felt as if I could better understand this hero’s tactics. If It’s was myself from the old days, I would not be able to understand the meaning of his actions. I would have just made a fool of myself in front of Seiya. However, after working with Seiya for a long time, I began to realize gradually how amazing he was with his cautiousness. Yes, little by little, I was starting to understand this hero!

Wolf was clearly less alert to Seiya’s actions, since Seiya had no effective means of attacking. The fire continued, but the gun’s aim was starting to blur. The moment where the bullets clearly hit the ground away from Seiya’s location. I was strongly convinced in my heart.

「Seiya!! Now!! 」

Seiya moved his arm toward his chest in sync with my screams.

…After waiting for the right moment to use his machine gun, Seiya was ready to crush the opponent’s prideful defense! Look at this, Wolf! This is the strategy of the cautious hero!

Seiya took an amazing gun out of his pocket. It surprised both Wolf and Colt… I imagined such scenario in my head, but…

「Snake Bite. 」

…Seiya used earth magic again.

…!? He did not use a gun!!

I couldn’t help but scream loudly in my heart. Why…Why didn’t he use a machine gun to defeat this terrifying enemy!? Just why!! It was obvious that those earth snakes were useless against this enemy!! Why did he keep repeating this type of attack!? With so many attacks in this world, why use one that didn’t work at all!! Besides, it was too late for a machine gun reveal now!! In the end, I could not understand this cautious hero…

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*A rapid-fire, crank-driven gun with a cylindrical cluster of several barrels. The first practical machine gun, it was officially adopted by the US Army in 1866.

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