Kansutoppu Chapter 80 (Patreon)

Unreasonable

-In front of the port of Rivière on the continent of Ballard-

[A horde of vampire beasts has appeared!]

[A swarm of red horns appears!]

[Soldier Leo's swarm appeared!]

"Hold the front line! Do whatever you can to stop the invasion!"

It was the newborn Demon King's Army that attacked this port, which was said to be the gateway to the Ballard Continent. The leader of the army was in the lead, and there are about 50 to 100 of them, probably all of them classified as beasts. Even compared to the demons in this area, they are incomparable.

In contrast, the population density of Port Rivière was accompanied by a large number of adventurers and vigilantes: the only A-rank adventurer was Botham, but there are about 20 B-rank adventurers and 6 C-rank adventurers. There are more than 100 people in the city. If you add the vigilante groups to that number, there are roughly more than 100 people. If we look at the numbers alone, we are not disadvantaged, but if we look at the quality, it was clearly hopeless.

For example, even a single red horned bull, the Red Horn, was a formidable opponent for a party of B Rank adventurers. Soldier Leo was a step above Red Horn in terms of strength and ferocity, and two of them could destroy a B Rank party. Then, there was that vampire beast, which seems to knock you down into despair.

It was a quadrupedal beast similar to Soldier Leo, but at that size it can feed on Poison Salamander, which was much larger than it is. Any creature pierced by its fangs will be sucked dry of every drop of blood. Blood was his staple diet, and he will not touch flesh.

"Silver, Jean, hurry."

You don't have to tell me.

Although the vigilantes of this port are a group of talented individuals, they are not used to dealing with demons, as they are an organization that maintains order in the city. Therefore, the C-rank members and I will be providing logistical support. When I saw the beasts charging toward the harbor in a hail of dust, it didn't seem to matter at all that there was a huge storm that had hit us at sea the other day.

The new Demon King's Army. Starting with the attack on the Kingdom of Avangard, they are now raging across the world. Some countries have already lost contact with them because they have their hands full defending themselves.

"It's Botham-san! This was a sure way to get through!"

We know that. Even the hail of bows that was pouring down on that horde from behind was hardly enough to finish them off. That vampire beast in particular was more than a nuisance. The cat-like, dog-like, four-legged demons are all heaped with human-like muscles. As proof that it was not all it seems, even normal magic, let alone bows and arrows, have not done much Damage. When we finally defeated one of them with concentrated fire, it was nothing more than a burnt stone.

"Hore hore! My cute little pets! Those filthy humans over there are your food!"

[Kama the Beast master appears!]

[Bloodthirsty Beast appears!]

A man riding on the back of a gigantic, indescribably huge demon with short limbs growing out of its round, pig-like body. He was slender, but his skin-tight costume, which looks like a woman's bathing suit, was too tight to even be seen. His entire body was extremely hairy, and his skin was purple. Perhaps that man directed the group. He was controlling a whip in both hands and leading the demon beasts.

"Aim and shoot at that creepy whip man! Perhaps he was the leader!"

A mixed force of adventurers and vigilantes clashed with the demon beasts. But the result was nothing short of spectacular. Some were pierced by the fangs of the vampire beasts, and then spat out their corpses after every drop of blood was sucked out of them. Some were pierced by the horns of red horns, others had their heads gnawed off by Soldier Leos.

The other party was a high-level demon, or so the excuse goes. But such words mean nothing in the face of the exchange of life. The strong hunt the weak. This has been the case for an astonishing number of years since the birth of living creatures. Watching them reminds me of such a providence that we humans have long forgotten.

"Ya-oh! I'll kill you!"

"Hey! Calm down and aim only at that man!"

[Vida Lv: 26 Class: Swordfighter Rank: B]

[Vida the Adventurer unleashes a double slash!]

[Vida deals 43 Damage to Red Horn! 567/610 HP]

Not heeding my instructions, the young man boldly went at the ferocious bull, which stood on edge and glowed with red horns.

However, even the young man's full force of the blow was not enough to injure the muscular fibers of the mighty monster. Even after being cut through its thin skin, the red horn did not care, and pierced through the Vida.

[Red Horn used thrust! Vida was hit for 130 Damage!]

[Vida has collapsed!]

"Ch...ku...sou...protect...him..."

Whether his loved ones were in port or not, Vida died without saying his last will. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. In my view alone, roughly five or six lives have ended.

What if I, one of the few A-Ranks, was not placed here? It should be my duty to take the lead and raise their command. But what about it? It's the same as the time of the ghost ship. My body and instincts want me to escape.

"I guess I'm still a wimp after all..."

"Botham-san, I can't hold it any longer!"

"Jean and Silver, they have fought well until today. We've been drinking, we've been living, we've been surviving, we've been fighting. You've been really good guys for sticking with me all these years. I wouldn't want you guys to die if I could."

"Hmph, it's boring not to be able to hunt like this."

[Kama, the Demon Beast Master, cracks his whip! The demons' attack power has increased!]

"But this is for my beloved Master Pansard. Please don't feel bad."

The next thing he knew, there were few adventurers and vigilantes left. Dotted with corpses that looked as if their limbs had burst off, the situation could not have been more appropriate to call it a sea of blood. Only a few of them had retained their original forms, and most of them looked as if their dignity as human beings had been shattered.

"Silver, Jean, I'll hold this place..."

"Nonsense, do you really think we'll comply?"

But if we don't, we'll be wiped out...

"Oh, dear, I wonder if they've figured out how to get away."

A vicious giant pig stands before them. Kama was standing on top of it, flexing his whip with great skill. By the time they looked up at it, the pig's paws were looming over their heads.

"Sorry, you two..."

As soon as we prayed, the thick paws were supposed to trample us down and separate us into chunks of meat and blood. But there was no pig. There was Kama, stranded in midair, unable to grasp the situation. The pig on which he was riding disappeared. No, there was the wreckage of its hind toes.

"Gyabin!"

Kama, who had been thrown out, falls with a pitiful cry.

[Ryua unleashes a sonic ripper! It inflicts 451022 Damage to the blood-eyed beast!]

[The Blood-Eyed Beast was defeated! 0/2200 HP]

"Ah..."

Despite what she had accomplished, the girl with the short light blue hair who helped him that one day was looking around, covering her mouth. And behind her, a girl making a similar gesture, he remembered that her name was Roel.

He finally understood what had happened. he had been saved twice by these girls. He didn't know why they stopped at the Port of Rivière. It was a miracle. He never thought he would see them again.

"Roel, are there any people alive?"

"I'll do my best, but most of them..."

The girl rushed over to the wounded, her blonde hair fluttering. It didn't take much more than that for the demons to take notice and screamed at her

[Ryua attacks!]

[Vampire Beast Horde received 321089 Damage! HP 0/1120]

[Red Horn Herd received 368431 Damage! HP 0/915]

[Soldier Leo's herd received 359974 Damage! HP0/805].

[Horde of Demons defeated!!!].

Is this what I mean by "in the blink of an eye"? No, in fact, it didn't even happen in the blink of an eye. All I could see was the scene of the demons being cut down and obliterated on the spot. I could no longer tell if it was skill or her physical prowess that did it.

The next thing I knew, the girl was standing next to me. She rubbed her buttocks and glared at Kama, who was finally trying to stand up.

"What's going on... oh, who are you?"

"...It's just as the king said. If this continues, the whole world will be ruined."

Ryua looked too small to be called a strong person, but the tremendous power radiating from her slender frame was about to be directed at Kama.

"Ah, my pet..."

Kama looked around at the nearly obliterated wreckage of the beast, as if he had grasped that all the demons under his command had been defeated here.

"Ryua-chan, I managed to heal the living ones. Range recovery magic was really useful, isn't it?"

"Thank you, Roel, and Botham-san, I'm sorry, but I need you to work with the survivors and somehow evacuate everyone to the port town. I'll take care of the rest."

"Mm... that would be great."

"Hey! You just ignored me, didn't you? Hey!

Kama suddenly cursed in a thick voice, as if she were a different person from before, and slammed both whips into the ground as hard as she could. Sand, rocks, and dirt seemed to explode, perhaps a result of Kama's monstrous strength. Either way, I'm not worried at all. All that's left is to deal with the wounded.

"You, tell me your name."

"Me? My name is Ryua.

"Ryua.... Master Pansard said that you defeated five of the twelve generals by yourself.... I see, I never expected to see you here."

He seems to have regained his composure and is rather excited to hear the name Ryua. The evidence of this is that he has gone from a wild voice back to a hoarse voice again.

"Ryua-chan, hurry up and help me carry them. There are too many for us to handle..."

"Yeah, okay."

"You are mistaken about two things! One, the Demon King's Army is not only the Twelve Generals! One, the completion end is not only their prerogative! If I kill you here, I'll be one of the Twelve Generals! Then I can be closer to him!"

[Kama the Beastmaster changed his appearance! Karma, the Colorful Beast of Violence, has appeared!]

[Ryua attacks! Ryua has inflicted 381027 Damage to the Colorful Beast of Violence!]

[Karma, the Colorful Beast of Violence, has been defeated!]

"It's over. How many are there?"

It was over, instantly. To Ryua, who was facing him, this would not even be a battle. Kama had grown pink hair on his body, becoming one with the whip, and his body swelled to many times his size and transformed.

She just glanced at him and took a swing of her right-hand sword. She brushed him off because he was in her way.

A group of monsters who could not compete even with the combined strength of more than a hundred of their fiercest members were turned into a pile of corpses. It was a girl who destroyed them in a few seconds without a care in the world.

"Don't just stand there, Botham-san, help us out too!"

The girl waved her hand at me with a slightly sultry expression on her face, as if she were an everyday person. You have no idea the fear I felt. The innocent girl's gesture made me forget that this was a battlefield.

Unreasonable.

If I had to describe her strength to someone, there would be no better answer. I wonder how many years of experience and ability I have cultivated over the decades of my life would be equivalent to hers. Maybe it is more than a few years.

-The Port of Rivière , Continent of Ballard, Port of Rivière Inn, Sea of Friends Pavilion-

"The new Demon King's Army is still expanding its power. But I never thought they would invade a place like this..."

The Damage caused by the demon king's army had reached a grave point. Groups of demons like the one they saw earlier were attacking towns and villages around the world, and although other countries were attempting to coordinate their countermeasures, so far, no notable results seem to have been achieved.

Another major problem was the flow of survivors from the destroyed towns to other countries. Of course, there were wild monsters along the way, so there was no way those who did not have the strength to fight could survive. It was obvious where people who were placed in a situation where they had nothing would end up.

There were even people in similar circumstances and peddlers being attacked, and the demon army was not the only problem at hand anymore. Some areas were still unaffected currently, but it would only be a matter of time.

"You just happened to come along and saved the day. I never thought I'd be saved twice."

"If you had come earlier, maybe no one would have died..."

The girl who had just shown strength beyond common sense was now looking weak, and her eyes were moist. In this way, she looked like any ordinary girl one could find anywhere. Even though so many lives were lost, he wondered if it was also strength to be able to grieve for a person one didn't know.

If one just looked at her, then they wouldn't know what power this girl was hiding. Level 999, to put it bluntly, was an impossible number to reach. Many adventurers hit the level cap before they reach level 40. Some may retire, some may despair, and some may take the wrong path.

Conversely, only A Rank people exceed level 50. Natural qualities, a barrier that could not be breached. How many people have hit this wall? No matter how much they reached out, it could not be reached, and it would be followed by respect and jealousy.

Mugen, who was said to be the strongest of the current Five Top Rankers, would be a good match even against that herd. With his unmatchable skills, self-healing, strengthening skills, and one-hit-kill skills, Mugen was the envy of all adventurers. But even he had not reached Level 100.

If it were not for Triferia, he would have been in the S Rank, undoubtedly. His level, however, was not known. There were rumors that he was over level 100 in A Rank, but no one had ever seen his adventurer's card. I have seen him once before, but he was a mysterious man. He did not want to form a party with anyone when I asked him about it, so I was thinking that he probably did not want to get involved with others.

Unlike that man, Triferia was easy to talk to and would even show me his adventurer's card if I asked him. Even when I saw the numbers on the card, I couldn't believe my eyes.

I'll be honest: I was half skeptical when I saw Ryua and Roel's adventurer's cards. It couldn't be, it was just impossible. My mind could only process within the limits of my common sense, so even when I saw the reality that she defeated Doridon, a commander of the Demon Lord's army, I still couldn't believe it.

"Botham-san, what's wrong?"

The girl tilted her head, oblivious to my bewilderment. I don't think I'll ever know even a fraction of this girl's unfathomable power just by sitting across the table from her like this. Because this girl is just an ordinary girl to anyone who sees her like this.

"So many people were killed, and the Demon King's Army is really a dangerous opponent..."

"I really can't forgive those guys, I..."

After all, the survivors were about 40% of the total. Many of the adventurers who participated in the battle, including the vigilantes, lost their lives. Most of the survivors were carried to the Healing Center, which was probably very busy right now. Some would be unable to fight due to aftereffects, while others would spend the rest of their lives with emotional scars.

The more I think about it, the more I didn't want to acknowledge the unreal existence in front of me. I wanted to run away again, just as I did when I abandoned my passengers and fled. From that unreality, from my weakness, from everything.

"Thanks again for today. Now, I'm sorry, but I'm going to go rest first... Ah!"

"Whoa, are you okay?!"

I got up from my chair and started to walk, but I must have been tired because I stumbled. Ryua supported me just as I was about to walk away. It was the warmth of a human being, of course. Yes, even if we kicked out the demon king's army, we would still be human. How can I not acknowledge the existence of this child, even if it is unrealistically strong?

"I apologize for everything..."

Can you walk to your room?

"Yeah, don't worry about it."

-The second floor of the Sea of Friendship Pavilion, Botham's room.

I staggered miserably back to my room.

From what I'd heard, those kids were trying to get to Azuma. I know the story of the millennium grass, too, but I didn't know if it was real. The only thing I could tell them was that the king of Avangard was going to thoroughly rub those kids the wrong way.

Thinking about it, there was no way the country would leave them alone if millennium grasses were real. It was unlikely that people from other countries will be able to enter the Mountain of the Great Gods, and if that is the case, they will have no choice but to use other means than the regular ones. Even so, the belief in the Great Gods in that country was out of the ordinary. If they did something, the worst-case scenario was that the Great Gods would make a move.

Of course, if those children take on the other side, they would not be defeated. But the problem would ripple from country to country. People from a foreign country would have broken Great Gods's prohibition and even took away his cherished millennium grass. Depending on how the other side reacts, even an all-out war was inevitable.

I was even awed by the king, who was willing to make a request that encompasses so many conceivable problems. I have warned the children, but I wondered how well they understand my advice.

"Young shoots must be nurtured carefully, my king."

It made me often think about what it means to be an adventurer.

______________________________________

Demon's Illustrated Book of Monsters

[Vampire Beast HP1120]

A quadrupedal bloodsucking creature with long fangs. It does not eat any flesh, but only the creature's blood.

They use their fangs to extract. They often act in groups, and their ferociousness, which allows them to face even demons larger than themselves without fear, has made many adventurers afraid of them.

[Red Horn HP610]

A carnivorous bull with conspicuous red horns. The color of its horns is even dyed with the blood of its prey.

They were tougher than they look, and an ordinary vanguard won't be able to take them head on.

[Soldier Leo HP805]

A lion that hunts its prey at high speed. Its agility is such that it even avoids magic.

It has been reported that it has jumped over the vanguard and devoured the magician in the rear guard first, and it is also highly intelligent.

It doesn't have to wait for you.