Black Iron Magician

Chapter 97 Hot Wind

「Therese-san, nice work!」

Haru shouted from the foot of the stone giant that had fallen on its face. In her hand, she’s holding a black staff and spinning it above her head at high speed. Hey, that’s cool. It’s not that it will raise the power, but the visual of spinning it raises the tension.

「First, reduce the mobility!」

She jumps and deals a heavy blow with the black staff. She hit it into the left ankle, where the iron ball was sunk in, making the damage even greater, and finally led to a complete crush. To be more specific, the left ankle was torn off.

After landing, Haru retrieved the iron ball from the crushed stone. And then, she throws it again. The target is the back of the stone giant’s head. The heavy iron ball pierced the back of his head, just as it had done to the ankle. The stone giant, which was supposed to have no facial expression, seemed to frown slightly.

「We have to finish it off before it starts moving!」

Chinatsu, who ran together with Haru, also attacks it. She gets on the huge body of the fallen giants and stabs the cracked wound with the shining light katana. Then, she runs as fast as she can. With the katana pierced, she is running around, cutting the cracks and making them into fatal injuries. Chinatsu’s agility ability surpasses even Haru’s. In no time, the stone giant’s body was cut open.

「… They are amazing desuwa. I can’t believe they are the same age as me. And here I’m completely lost my strength.」

Therese pushed back the stone giant, but she also moved back due to the recoil. She’s barely standing by leaning against her shield. No, she’s still standing even after that attack, so I guess I should praise her for that. But, I feel like there’s a figure behind her.

「Ara, I think you are also doing your best, you know?」

「Eh?」

Huh, Nell? Why are you standing next to Therese?

「You are Deris-san friend, the one with the nice glasses… come to think of it, I haven’t asked your name, have I? I’m sorry to appear like this, but may I ask your name?」

「Well, I’m just an adventurer right now. There’s no need to call me by name.」

By the way, Nell has been wearing the fashionable glasses, which is a limited edition of the Quitet Magic Item Store given by Muno, since then. She’s wearing a disguise for Therese, but why did she come to her now?

「Her disguise is rough as usual, huh. No, let alone a disguise, even children won’t get deceived.」

「Lily, it might be true for you since you are a pro at this. You even have maxed the higher rank of 『Disguise』 skill, right?」

「I have already learned even『Mutation』, which is the highest rank!」

Lily makes a peace sign and thrusts it to my cheek, so I give a chop to her. I return my gaze to Haru and Chinatsu who are fighting the stone giant. The stone giant, who was attacked in quick succession, is at death’s door and the battle is about to end.

――Well, it might be too late saying this now, but the most important thing to keep in mind when fighting monsters is when they are being cornered. Yes, it’s exactly right now.

「………!」

The dying stone giant is also unable to move satisfactorily because its legs were destroyed first. Even if it moves, it will only crawl with its arm. It would be normal for them to think that it should just fight back, but it didn’t fight back at all against Haru and Chinatsu who are attacking it. Why is that?

「It’s only looking at Therese even now, huh.」

「Ah, you are right. It’s not even looking at Haru-chan and the others. Do golems have preferences?」

「No, it’s still targeting Therese even in that state.」

――――Bakin!

At that time, the abdomen of the stone giant was destroyed. It’s not that Haru and Chinatsu destroyed it. It destroyed itself.

「………?」

Haru, who had crushed each part with the black staff and the iron ball, is wary of going up from the lower body. Chinatsu is the same. They didn’t expect it to destroy its own abdomen by itself. Then, the stone giant, that forcibly separated its upper and lower body, started to crawl on the ground as fast as it can with only its upper body. The destination is, of course, the place where Therese is.

「Crap――」

It’s too late to chase after it. The crawling speed of the stone giant, which became lighter by splitting its body, is equivalent to running. Frankly speaking, it’s scary that it’s like some kind of horror.

「Therese-san, run!」

「It’s difficult even if you told me that…」

The current Therese is barely able to stand with support. She has no strength to escape on her own.

「Hah!」

The iron ball thrown by Haru hits the back of the stone giant’s left hand. Then, the iron ball broke into the stone. However, that didn’t stop the stone giant.

「Crime Lance!」

「………!?」

A black spear protruded from the iron ball. The spear that suddenly appeared pierces the stone giant’s hand and sews it to the ground to restraint it. Oi oi, Haru. When did you become able to use it like that? The last time we talked about it was that you asked whether you can use it as a throwing spear. I never thought that you would use the thrown iron ball as a source of magic and grow the spear from it. It is becoming more and more lethal.

「………!」

――――Bakin!

The stone giant is also quite good. This time, he broke off his sewn left hand and forced his way out. And then, the stone giant is already in front of Therese. It crawled and arrived from that situation. The stone giant tries to crush Therese with its handless left arm and right arm that full of wounds. Like a press machine, both arms are approaching Therese.

「Kuh! Please run away!」

With her last power, Therese shouts. She sets up her shield to protect the unknown adventurer (Nell) with her willpower alone. Even so, there is no way that she can defend herself against it. I’m sure she knows that too. But, she won’t just die without doing anything. At such her, Nell shows a rare gentle smile and steps forward in front of her shield.

「Wha, it’s dange――」

「You owe me one, okay?」

The walls from the right and left are closing in. Then, they closed with a great force, causing the could of dust to rise.

「………!?」

「…… A-Ara? I’m alive?」

Just before that, Nell opened her arms and stopped them as a matter of course. There’s just a small gap between the walls where Nell spread her hands to the limit. But without a doubt, Therese is alive.

「What are you…?」

「I told you, didn’t I? I’m just an adventurer now. I’m in private after all.」

A part of the arms of the stone giant, which were held tightly in Nell’s hands, turned bright red. It’s bright red, like an iron burning in a blacksmith’s furnace. The stone giant’s shoulders also rapidly changed color from ash to red. Eventually, both shoulders were completely melted down and both arms fell to the ground. When Nell guarded the attack, she heated the shoulders through both arms at the same time, incapacitating the stone giant in an instant.

Therese is probably fine since she is hiding behind her shield, but the hot wind is blowing around Nell. Then, the hot wind blew off Nell’s glasses.

「K-Knight Leader Nell-sama!? Why are you in such a place!?」

「… After all, it’s useless if the size doesn’t match. Don’t make a fuss, it’s troublesome. I’m in private, so I don’t want to stand out. Do you understand?」

「I-I see. So that’s what the disguise was for. It was so perfect that I didn’t recognize you at all…!」

I’m not sure if Therese is perceptive or not.

「Ah, you see, as the current leader, I don’t like to work for free. So, you have to repay it later. Let’s see, I’m looking forward to seeing you in the Knight Order, depending on the result of the graduation festival.」

「……!」

「Eh, wait, don’t cry.」

The knight leader of our country made a young student cry, and this battle came to an end. By the way, what stopped the stone giant for real was a blow of the black staff that Haru hit at the back of the head.