The sight of Raiden being blown away was like something out of a game, but this world was both a game and not a game.
Even if it was Raiden who was attacked, he would die if his HP reached zero.
I snapped back to reality, used High Step to move, and caught Raiden’s body as he flew towards me.
Thanks to the game-like settings, the impact wasn’t as bad as I’d expected.
Even so, my gaze never left the Butcher, and there was no sign of a follow-up attack.
Still in the pose of having swung his large cleaver, he gazed at the three of us as if appraising prey caught in a trap.
“Are you okay?!”
As I called out to him, Raiden grimaced but quickly got to his feet, pulled a recovery potion from his breast pocket, and crushed it.
A recovery effect occurred after a time lag, signaling that Raiden’s wounds were healing.
Seeing this, I breathed a sigh of relief.
Raiden was level 130, and the King Butcher was at least level 150.
There was a level difference that could have easily killed him in one hit, but Raiden had survived battles against formidable foes because his Endurance was abnormally high.
Not only was his raw defense high, but it was observed that his defense increased as his HP decreased, leading to speculation that he possessed some special Skill.
However, no matter how high his defense, he wasn’t invincible.
Even in games, death could come surprisingly easily, and it was actually rare to survive until game clear unless one proceeded carefully through events.
If this were reality, it was by no means an optimistic situation.
(…Is it coming?)
As if waiting for us to get into position, the Butcher’s gaze settled.
We had inadvertently gained distance due to the terrifying knockback, but it was negligible in front of the Butcher’s massive body.
The King Butcher was a giant over three meters tall.
With just one step of his, the distance between us rapidly closed.
“…Sorry.”
Raiden, who had moved away from my side, said dejectedly, his eyes still fixed on the Butcher just like mine.
I thought he was referring to me catching him, but that wasn’t it.
“Ngh!”
Seizing the moment when my attention was on the Butcher, Raiden forcibly pushed my body backward.
Then, using that momentum, he himself headed back towards the Butcher.
“Run! Go to the town and bring the Princess!”
Shouting this, Raiden ran past the King Butcher, guiding him in the opposite direction of the town.
It was then that I finally understood the meaning of Raiden’s apology.
It was probably an apology for being unable to win against the Butcher himself.
And in exchange, he was sacrificing himself to let us escape from the King Butcher.
(But that’s reckless!)
It wasn’t just the level difference.
Boss Monsters were generally not designed to be defeated one-on-one.
The reason I was able to manage even when playing solo during the game was because I exploited the various loopholes in the systems of “Nekoneko” and repeatedly challenged them, leveraging the advantage of being able to retry after death.
Besides, Raiden was a heavy warrior focused on Endurance.
He excelled in slugfests that utilized his high defense, but…
“No good! Physical attacks don’t work on him!”
He had the worst possible compatibility with the King Butcher.
Perhaps due to his flabby fat absorbing impact, the Butcher nullified 90% of pure physical damage.
And this meant that Ringo’s lightning strikes, the main offense of our party, would likely be ineffective as well.
Right now, I was the only one among us who could use elemental attacks.
(I have to do it…!)
Frankly, I had a phobia of him.
Just looking at that ugly face sent shivers down my spine, but I suppressed it with sheer willpower.
“Petit Explosion!”
I started chanting a spell, intending to provide support even now.
I hadn’t expected to use it so soon, but I couldn’t say it was entirely fortunate that I had practiced magic earlier.
While it was good to be confident that I could cast spells with the same feeling as in the game, I had overused magic in my excitement, and now only had enough MP for about one more spell.
Still, this might be enough to break through this situation.
“Raiden! I’m coming to help…!”
As I shouted and took a step forward,
“You idiot! Don’t come!”
I was stopped by a tense voice, unlike his usual lackadaisical demeanor before the Butcher appeared.
However, it was clear at a glance at their exchange that Raiden needed assistance.
He was barely blocking the Butcher’s attacks with his shield, not allowing a clean hit like the first time, but the Butcher’s attacks were so ferocious that such defense would likely hold for only a few more hits.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he was overwhelmed.
“I can’t win one-on-one! But, three-on-one…”
I shouted and tried to approach Raiden and the others, but
“If it’s fine for you, what about your companion?!”
Raiden’s words made me stop in my tracks.
At the same time, my heated mind rapidly cooled.
(Ringo…!)
I looked back at the blue-haired girl who was still following behind me, even at a time like this.
She looked at me with worried eyes, still wearing the clothes borrowed from Alice.
No matter how good her character stats were, she couldn’t possibly withstand the King Butcher’s attacks without armor.
(Will we be able to win… fighting like this?)
The question popped into my mind.
I had never challenged the Butcher with this level and this equipment.
How much damage I could inflict was completely unknown.
What if I couldn’t finish him off…?
(I’ll die. And Ringo too…)
If I let my emotions run wild, I could forget about the fear of my own death for a moment.
But…
(Is it okay for me to involve this child and…?)
This was a dire situation born from my own misjudgment.
It was my own fault if I died.
I felt sorry for involving Raiden, but since he chose the dangerous path of an Adventurer, he must have been prepared for crises like this.
But what about Ringo?
Having lost all her memories and a place to go, she had simply been acting with me as things unfolded.
She had probably never considered that living as an Adventurer was practically side-by-side with the danger of death.
Was it really okay to involve her in my selfish act, risking her life, and make her go through something so dangerous?
No, setting aside such logic, I couldn’t bear to see this silent girl killed right before my eyes.
“Guh, arrrgh!”
“Raiden!”
While I was lost in thought, Raiden was gradually being cornered.
The most precious resource, time, in this situation was being wasted by my indecision.
And then…
“Just go!!”
As Raiden shouted, his shield deflected by the Butcher,
“…I’m sorry!”
I made my decision.
Exhaling apologies, I no longer hesitated.
“Let’s run!”
I forcibly pulled Ringo’s hand, who looked at me with bewildered and confused eyes, and ran towards the town.
It was frustrating, but I couldn’t use Godspeed Cancel Movement.
Furthermore, I was dragging along Ringo, whose reactions were strangely sluggish, so I didn’t have the luxury.
“It’s okay!
His defense is top-notch, you know?
There’s no way he’d fall to someone like that!”
I told Ringo, who still seemed hesitant.
“…That’s right!
He even fought dragons in events!
He didn’t die then, so there’s no way he’d be killed by that meat blob… he won’t be killed!”
I wasn’t sure who I was trying to convince anymore.
But I felt that if I stopped talking, something would end, so I just kept babbling.
“You probably don’t know, but.
In the game, I survived a one-on-one fight with Hisame!
With Hisame, you know?
Someone like that, just… that person…”
As I said that, a dull, heavy sound, like something heavy colliding, echoed from behind me.
So I looked back.
I looked back, and I shouldn’t have.
“Raiden…!”
Raiden lay on the ground.
The large shield he should have been holding was broken in half and lay on the ground, and he himself lay on his back, unmoving.
“What the hell is that…”
For better or worse, Raiden was supposed to be a reliable vanguard.
He appeared in many events, and while he might kamikaze himself challenging tough opponents, he was a veteran Adventurer who helped players at crucial moments, with his tenacity particularly noted when on the defensive…
“This… is…”
I should have known.
I should have been the one who knew this world was a game.
Games have a cruel aspect where people’s feelings and skilled techniques are easily overcome by mere parameters.
I should have known that especially this world of “New Communicate Online” was one where people were casually killed on a whim.
But though I thought I knew, I actually understood nothing.
“That guy…”
The Butcher approached Raiden, who lay collapsed and immobile.
Raiden hadn’t disappeared yet.
So he was still alive.
But even from a distance, I could clearly see what the Butcher intended to do to him, unable to move.
(Am I going to die? Am I going to be killed?)
Blood rushed to my brain.
My vision blurred for no reason, the outlines becoming fuzzy.
Nausea surged to its limit, and I felt like I was going to vomit.
“Ringo. …Don’t look back, run to town.”
I pushed Ringo’s body in the direction of the town, just as Raiden had done to me earlier, and started moving my feet, which had stopped at some point.
In the opposite direction from before.
Towards the battlefield where the fallen Raiden and that King Butcher awaited, I moved my legs with all my might.
“Aaaaaaaargh!!!!”
I screamed, as if to ward off my fear.
But the Butcher didn’t look at me.
If this continued, Raiden would be killed before I could reach him.
So…
“Look over hereeeee!!!!”
With a roar, I threw the wakizashi in my left hand with all my might.
The wakizashi flew straight towards the Butcher, and while it didn’t pierce him, it caught the Butcher’s attention.
The King Butcher turned towards me.
But…
(No good!)
As expected, the wakizashi wasn’t enough to draw his attention to me.
The Butcher’s gaze quickly returned to Raiden.
(Not happening!)
I “Focused” on the Butcher’s weak point, his ugly face.
The moment I was about to make my next move…
“–!?”
A dazzling beam of light streaked past me and struck the white giant!
Not just once.
Twice, three times, no, a barrage of frenzied onslaughts that didn’t even allow a moment’s breath struck the Butcher, and finally, the Butcher turned completely towards me.
Moreover, while shielding his vital face with his hand, he completely turned his body towards the direction of the unidentified lightning strikes attacking me, or rather, him.
“Ringo!”
There was only one person who could unleash such an attack.
Before I knew it, Ringo stood beside me, wielding Koganezakura.
“Why, why did you come back!
If you both come back, who will go to Hisame…”
I suppressed the fleeting thought that I found her reliable for a moment and yelled.
However, Ringo remained steadfast.
Even as she continued to unleash lightning strikes from Koganezakura in her right hand, she looked at me with her usual inscrutable eyes, but this time, she met my gaze squarely and spoke.
“Soma can do as he pleases.”
As if she had seen through all my inner conflict.
As if she were blaming me for running away from the enemy using Ringo as an excuse.
She first stated that, and then…
“I will follow behind him, as I please.”
Firmly, she declared.
“Ringo…”
Was it the dignity of a Princess, or the resolve of someone who had made up their mind?
The will within me to resist her decision was completely broken.
I had only spent a day with her, and I hadn’t done anything particularly to earn her affection.
So I could have dismissed this feeling of fondness or trust as shallow thinking due to ignorance, or a mistake stemming from childishness.
But to dismiss her feelings that way felt like an insult to her resolve.
Whether she was just following along out of circumstance, or didn’t know the meaning of living as an Adventurer, none of that mattered.
She was choosing, with her own will, whether she was immature or inexperienced.
To be here with me.
Then all that was left was…
“Understood. Let’s fight together.”
Whether we, I, could win against him.
That was all.
If we won here, no one would die.
Raiden, Ringo, and of course my own life would be saved.
And now, we weren’t entirely without a means to defeat him.
The moment I solidified my resolve to fight, it felt as if a misty veil had completely lifted from my vision.
Then, perhaps for the first time.
I looked the King Butcher directly in the face.
Gazing intently at his eyes, which, despite being relentlessly bombarded by Ringo’s lightning and having their movements hampered, showed no sign of fading fighting spirit, I declared,
“This time, we will defeat you!”
I gripped Shiranui with both hands, ready to strike down my archenemy, the giant.
