When I got back, Hoss and Rel were putting up a better fight than I'd expected.
Just the two of them against a gold-rank mid-tier — they were doing well.
They were hidden behind a rock now, though.
"VMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
The great demon blade Rhino was furious.
The surroundings were a mess — shattered wall fragments and cracks gouged into the ground.
Must've gone on a real rampage.
Staying out of sight, I made my way over to the two hiding behind the rock.
"Hoss. Rel. You okay? You fine?"
"You're late! Still alive... somehow."
"Barely hanging on. How's Agaro?"
"He's fine. But we came up with a little plan. Until it's ready, we're on delay duty."
The two of them exchanged a wry smile.
"It's Axe's plan, isn't it."
"Got it. But we're out of shock arrows."
"We're totally in the red, huh."
"In that case, I borrowed this from Agaro."
With that, I held up the storage pouch.
"He said we're free to use whatever Legacies and Legendaries are inside."
"Mostly booze. There anything useful in there?"
"I think he said there were supposed to be explosion arrows."
Thinking about arrows, I reached into the pouch.
My fingers closed around several. Pulling them out, I found ones with red arrowheads, yellow arrowheads, and one that was completely black—what the heck was this.
Three arrows of each type, with their rod-shaped arrowheads.
Rel narrowed her eyes.
"Fire arrows, thunder arrows, and explosion arrows. Nice going."
"Anything else in there?"
*VMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM*
The Great Demon Blade Rhino let out a deafening scream, followed by the sound of something crumbling.
A wall? Then we're in trouble. Rel, sensing the danger, grabbed all the arrows and said:
"I'll head out first. It's on you while I do."
"Yeah, got it."
Rel slipped out from behind the rock.
Hurriedly, Hoss reached into the pouch.
He pulled out just two stones—two white stone balls.
"Only two shock stones, huh?"
Legacy stones that produce a shockwave when thrown.
*VMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
After the Great Demon Blade Rhino screamed, there was the sound of lightning.
"All right. Let's go."
Hoss and I stepped out from behind the rock. Just then, Rel's arrow struck the Great Demon Blade Rhino's great demon blade.
A crackling burst of lightning erupted.
"Rel!"
Rel was standing on a pile of rubble that was slightly elevated above the rest.
"Perfect timing. I've only got explosive arrows left."
"Then drive them into it."
"Very well. I'll land it just like my eighth sister would."
Rel drew her bow and loosed an arrow tipped with a black rod.
The arrow hit the great demon blade and detonated. Even the Great Demon Blade Rhino staggered.
But that was all — it merely stumbled. The horn-shaped blade was a little singed.
"That's absurdly hard."
"But a blade should still do the job."
"So I can cut it. Hm?"
What was that? The Great Demon Blade Rhino was acting strangely docile.
"..............."
I thought now was our chance, but in terms of buying time it worked out well enough.
But I had a bad feeling.
"*Vvmmoooooomoooooo*"
With an oddly high-pitched roar, something rose from the ground as if floating up from it.
They were small magic-blade rhinos.
About horse-sized, and a rough count put them at no fewer than ten.
"They were summoned?!"
"Bring it on!"
The small magic-blade rhinos charged at us. Their horns were thinner and longer compared to the large one.
I immediately engaged the nearest small magic-blade rhino.
Its horn caught fire. A Relic, was it?
But... was that all? I cut the first one down right away.
"Take this!"
Hoss hurled a shock stone. It caught several of them, sending them tumbling, then he drove his halberd through for the finish.
Rel's ordinary arrow pierced through the head of a distant small magic-blade rhino.
I split open the belly of a wind-cloaked small magic-blade rhino and brought it down.
I stayed on guard, but they weren't much of a threat.
The Relics they wielded were elemental, and they could only channel them through the blade in their heads.
They were classified as lower silver rank precisely because they could use Relics.
Even weak monsters became silver rank as long as they could use Relics.
"*VMMOOOOOOOOMMM!!*"
Once we'd taken down about half of them, the large magic-blade rhino finally made its move.
Compared to the small ones, this one was in an entirely different class.
Explosions and impacts didn't faze it in the slightest. Edged weapons could get through to some degree, but it was just incredibly tough. Too tough.
Perhaps they had some kind of [Enhancement] or [Hardening] Relic.
Small magic-blade rhinos were extremely annoying, and large magic-blade rhinos were a genuine pain.
There was nothing to do but take down the small ones while somehow dodging the large one.
Hoss hurled the last impact stone, buying us time against the remaining two.
Just as we were about to finish them off—
"GRRRROOOOOOOAAAAAAARRR!!"
The large magic-blade rhino bounced its massive body up and down again and again, firing off slash after slash.
Every time it landed, the ground shook and our movements ground to a halt.
A slash flew in from the side and passed right through. One of the small magic-blade rhinos got cut down, unfortunately.
Just as I thought, *Poor thing*—disaster struck.
Rel got slashed.
"Rel!!"
"Rel!?"
Hoss and I rushed over and carried him behind a nearby boulder.
"Stay with us."
"Where'd ya get cut?!"
"Hah... hah... dunno."
It looked like that slash had grazed him. His side was soaked in blood.
The wound was deep. Rel's face was turning pale.
"Wh-what do we do, Axe?! Rel's gonna die if this keeps up!"
I took a potion called Extra from my storage pouch.
This stuff is the pinnacle of potions.
I poured it over Rel's wound. But it had no effect. It didn't even stop the bleeding.
"Even this doesn't work?!"
"Hah... hah... tell my sisters... to live free..."
"Your sisters are already living free, dammit! They're too free if anything!"
"...I see... yeah..."
"Hey—Rel—don't you close your eyes!!"
"Rel!!? Axe, isn't there anything else?! Anything at all, I don't care what!!!"
"...Besides... besides Extra... something... something... come to think of it..."
As if my mind had gone blank, the memory came back to me with startling clarity.
I pulled a small bottle from my pouch.
It was something Wof had given me before we left for the subjugation.
He'd pressed it into my hands, telling me to use it without hesitation if the worst came to pass.
"Wof. Let me use this."
Without hesitation, I dripped the contents of the small bottle onto Rel's wound. Just a single drop.
A thick, glittering liquid touched Rel's wound.
Just like that, the wound vanished.
It truly disappeared, as if it had never existed.
"Wh-what was that..."
"............What."
"Rel!!"
"Rel!?"
Rel opened her eyes. Hoss couldn't help but hug her.
Rel blinked.
"What..."
"Don't go scaring us like that, you siscon elf!"
"I'm not a siscon."
"Is your body okay?"
"Yeah, strangely, I'm completely fine. If anything, power was welling up inside me. Hey. I was supposed to be dead. What happened?"
"You weren't dead. You were on the verge, that's all."
"That's—"
"BRRRROOOOOAAAARRR"
The Great Demon Blade Rhino let out a tremendous roar.
In that moment, I... I glanced at the small bottle, tucked it into my pouch, and stood up.
"What is it, Axe."
"What's wrong, Axe."
"Hey, that thing. Annoying, right?"
He muttered.
The moment I heard that roar, I was inexplicably angry.
I was pissed off about all sorts of things.
"Can't blame you for being pissed off."
"Yeah. It's pissing me off too."
Hoss and Rel stood up too. The two of them were angry as well.
That's right — we were furious. The three of us stepped out from behind the rocks, side by side.
Him — I walked toward the Great Demon Blade, then broke into a run.
Great Demon Blade Rhino spotted us right away. Besides — that last one's in the way. I'll cut it down.
"VRRRMOOOOOOOOOOOMOOOOO!!!!"
Great Demon Blade Rhino roared at us.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAATSSSS!!!!"
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAATSSSS!!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATSSSS!!!!"
We screamed too. Not to be outdone — no, louder than that.
I ran, sword raised overhead, screaming, and leaped.
Hoss charged with his halberd at the ready, while Rel stopped and drew her bow.
"VRRRMOOOAA!!"
Great Demon Blade Rhino flashed the Great Demon Blade on its forehead. I was right in its path.
"ZEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBTTTTSSSS!!"
Hoss's full-force charge and halberd strike shook Great Demon Blade Rhino, if only slightly.
"You've got some nerve. In the name of Tasan, I'll take you down."
Rel says something and fires an arrow. The arrow hits the Great Demon Blade, causing it to shift slightly once more.
It shifts bit by bit. But that was enough.
The Great Demon Blade had a crack. A crack caused by Agaro’s attack.
It was a tiny crack, but it appeared right before my eyes.
“Go, Axe!”
“Take it, Axe!”
The crack emerged from the attacks of those two—Hoss and Rel.
Yeah, I’ll do it.
“DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN YOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUU!!!”
I swung my sword with all my might at the crack. The tip of the blade struck it, and from there I put every ounce of strength I had into the swing.
“Don’t underestimate Thunder Fang, you piece of shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!”
There was a magnificent sound of something shattering.
'VvvvMOMOMOOOOOOOOOAAAAAOOOOOAAAAAAAHHHHH'
The Great Demon Blade Rhino let out an unparalleled, earth-shattering scream.
I knew what had happened. The symbolic Great Demon Blade had broken.
I did it. I’m completely satisfied. I accomplished it.
All that’s left is... it’s finally come. As I fall, I look up at the wall.
Agaro was there.
“Ooooh, you did it! That’s incredible. To think you’d pull it off from there!”
Agaro set Flametongue ablaze with pitch-black fire. It looked like wings of black flame.
"I'm happy about it. So, let me show you all. The Doom Sword — the reason behind its name."
Flametongue swelled and stretched outward like wings of black fire flapping.
It surpassed Agaro's height. Agaro leaped high into the air, then came crashing down.
The frenzied Great Demon Blade Rhino. No — just a monster named Rhino, stripped of his Great Demon Blade.
I was the one who shattered that thing.
Agaro swung Flametongue.
The annihilating flames of the Doom Sword burned through Great Demon Blade Rhino as they sliced him apart.
"…………"
The once-fortified Great Demon Blade Rhino split cleanly in two as easily as cutting through softened butter.
So this is the Doom Sword.
Agaro landed and put Flametongue away.
Then he gave us a wry smile.
"Sorry, sorry. I managed to climb up the wall pretty quick, but it kept crumbling in places and I got lost along the way."
"So Axe's plan was a surprise attack from on top of the wall, huh?"
"I see. From up there, then."
"Yeah, there happened to be a spot I could climb, so I figured I'd go for it."
"Made it up fine, but the fog was thick and I got turned around — nearly ended up at Mistland, believe it or not."
"That would've been no laughing matter."
Wait, does that place actually exist?
Agaro picked up the fragments of the Great Demon Blade.
"Still, you all did well. I didn't expect you to actually shatter it."
"That's only because Agaro cracked it for us first."
I said, handing back the storage pouch.
Agaro took it and pulled a bottle of sake from inside.
"Breaking it's still impressive, though. All right — when we get back, drinks are on me. Go wild!"
"Nice. Cider Inn, then."
"Cider Inn it is."
"Cider Inn, right?"
"Fine. Cider Inn."
Of course it'd be that place. We went there more than anywhere else in Hydrangea.
"All right, let's head back. Oh, right — take a piece of the Great Demon Blade. That stuff makes good material."
"You mean a subjugation drop, don't you?"
"You sure? It's all ground to dust."
"Oh, right — that's true."
"Sorry about breaking it."
I couldn't help but apologize. Agaro laughed and took a swig of sake.
"Ha — don't worry about it. The biggest piece should do the trick, one way or another."
"Will it, though?"
"Who knows."
"Figures. That kind of nonchalance — reminds me of the third sister, who declared she didn't care whether she got the fancy soup or the rotten-meat soup."
"You're the one being sloppy, going around calling things sloppy."
"Is that so?"
"It is."
And so we left the Mazan mountain range behind.
A few days later.
Hydrangea. The Cider Tavern.
"Wof. Thanks."
I set the small bottle on the table.
I looked up from the complimentary extra-large butter rice and noticed it was empty.
"You used it, huh."
"Yeah. Thanks to it, Rel pulled through."
"Rel? Did something happen?"
"He nearly died. But what was in that little bottle you gave me saved him."
"...I'm really glad to hear that..."
"Wof. I'm not gonna ask what that stuff is. You saved me, after all. Hoss too. We kept it from Rel."
Keeping it from our companion Rel weighed on me.
But if the liquid that saved him was what I suspected, there was no way I could tell him about it.
"...I'm sorry."
He looked genuinely apologetic. I laughed.
"It's fine. Here, eat. You can have seconds too."
"Thank you."
Once Wof had polished off his extra-large serving, I set the white fragment down.
"Wof. I want you to take this."
What I placed there was a shard of the Great Demon Blade Rhino.
Wof's eyes went wide.
"This is, could it be—"
"Yeah. It's a fragment of a Great Demon Blade. Take it."
"Are you sure?"
"Rel is safe thanks to you. And before that, you've helped me out in all sorts of ways."
Meeting Wof is how we got to where we are today. I could never thank him enough.
"Thank you. But what would I use it for? Maybe a knife?"
"Why not try making some armor? You don't have any, right?"
"No. I've thought about it in various ways, but anything decent is a bit too heavy for me."
"Fair point. At your age, even leather armor would be a burden."
"Right. Armor. I do want some, though."
"Then what about gauntlets?"
"...Gauntlets?"
"Agaro mentioned it. Apparently, with this material, you could make a pair that's both lightweight and durable."
"Gauntlets... But I don't know any blacksmiths."
"Ah, sorry about that. The ones I know all cater to delvers."
"I see..."
"Ask my sister."
The one who suddenly piped up from the side was Agaro.
I glanced over — a man at the far table had drunk himself into a stupor. Ah, so he'd won again and made his way back here.
Apparently the only person he'd ever lost to was Megadia, the bottomless drinker. That Megadia who beat him must be something else.
"Arifa?"
"My sister — she'd know someone who could turn those into gauntlets. She's bound to know."
"Got it. I'll ask her."
"By the way, Wof. How's that knife?"
"It's great. Really easy to use, and it's been a huge help."
"Good. Take care of it."
"Will do!"
"See you."
"Thanks for everything."
Agaro wobbled out of the shop.
A faint, hard-to-describe smile crossed my face.
"If only he had one of those too..."
"Axe."
"Hmm? What is it?"
"Tell me about the Mazan Mountain range!"
Wof asked excitedly, his eyes sparkling.
I smiled and began to recount what had happened.