CH 148

[Not A Warrior]

The wind-blown clouds obscured the sun.

A few minutes after Sakurai and the others rushed into the cathedral, the knight puppet army led by Joseph stepped straight into the cathedral.

The nave, which used to be illuminated by brilliant light, was now dim and full of scars.

Planarian Slime’s clones rolled here and there, and some of the enshrined gods’ statues weren’t only damaged, but even crumbled.

A believer would have fainted upon seeing the scene, but Joseph was unmoved.

The reason being, he knew that most of the destruction was caused by Sakurai and the others’ fight with monsters and he was so focused on watching out for danger that he had no mind to spare caring about the devastation in the cathedral.

(It’s only been a few minutes. Even if they set traps in the meantime, the traps shouldn’t be anything special. They may have created simple traps using that scum’s threads at best…)

But he hadn’t the slightest clue what that scum might have in store for him.

As such Joseph slowly advanced with his army with the utmost caution.

His army numbered a little over 100 excluding those that had been destroyed to the point where they couldn’t be reused.

70% of it consisted of sword-wielding regular knights, while the rest bow-wielders and several magicians.

Just moving the puppets consumed Joseph’s magical power, and the consumption would shoot up when it came to battle.

Needless to say, using a magician-type puppet required several times more magical power than a regular puppet. In the case of multiple magicians, a disgustingly large amount of magical power was needed.

With this information in mind, it could be imagined how difficult it was to move a three-digit number of puppets at the same time—it was a highly demanding task even for Joseph, thus he couldn’t move them haphazardly.

In the original game, his magical power capacity was the biggest, reaching the counter stop, but that didn’t mean it was infinite.

With him at the center, he made the knights spread out in a straight line in front of him and had them move forward while swinging their swords.

This way, the knights bulldozed through several thread traps that Sakurai had made, clearing the way for Joseph… but the smooth progress made Joseph a little uneasy.

“(They didn’t show up, nor did they show any response. Did they esca—)—no, upstairs.”

But that uneasiness was quickly dispelled.

Because upon further thinking he had come up with an answer.

Sakurai and the others had fled because they were heavily outnumbered, so in the few minutes that they had disappeared from his sight, they should have been heading to a place that would allow them to counteract that disadvantage as much as possible.

The answer was a place that was off-limits and could only be climbed from the back of the nave, the upper part of the cathedral. Or to be precise, the staircase leading to the top of the spire that could be found in the upper part of the cathedral.

The staircase was narrow.

It should only be wide enough to fit 3 well-built knight puppets side by side. Two tops to let them swing their swords comfortably.

If they took on Joseph there, they would be able to crush Joseph’s advantage in quantity and maximize their advantage in quality.

If Ayako and Sakurai took turns, they might even be able to decimate Joseph’s first force before they ran out of stamina.

(A trap that takes advantage of the cathedral’s topography… However, this is likely their last-ditch effort.)

Since he couldn’t make the most of his numbers on the narrow staircase, then he should take advantage of that narrowness, instead.

Joseph was well aware and accepted that his personal combat skills were verily lacking. This was because he identified himself as a researcher and technician.

But just in case he had to enter battle, he had prepared cards up his sleeve to fill in the gap in his combat power.

“If they’re waiting on the staircase, I should prepare a puppet with a means of attack that is unavoidable in the narrow passage.”

Puppets created by Puppeteers weren’t limited to humanoid in shape.

A skilled Puppeteer could create and manipulate even a wide variety of animals as puppets.

(But since that scum has a deep understanding of me, I should create a completely new puppet model.)

In that case, a combination of the ‘Hedgehog’ and the ‘Armadillo’ should do.

By using knights’ swords for the thorns, and increasing the mass by mixing several knights together, he should be able to create a splendid slaughter puppet that pushed anything in its way while filling up the passage, crushing anything in its way.

And just in case, he should continue to have the knights clearing up the way until the spire’s staircase, though it would give them time.

However, just as he was about to dismantle a nearby knight and turn him into a small bird to use for reconnaissance…

“Hup.”

…One of the huge statues enshrined along the nave, the statue of Kagutsuchi.

From behind its head, Sakurai softly leaped up. Wrapping his sword in flames, he launched a surprise attack from above.

“Flame Sword—”

His target was the middle-aged knight who was in the position to give command from the rear. Surrounded by archers and magicians, Sakurai assumed that he was Joseph.

In fact, he was right on the mark. Accelerated by the flames wrapping his sword, Sakurai dove down and sliced the middle-aged knight Joseph was possessing in two.

“—‘Firefall’.”

And when the tip of Sakurai’s sword went on to touch the ground, a pillar of flame suddenly burst up and enveloped the middle-aged knight’s body.

Although the flame extinguished in about 2 seconds, the body of the knight who had been burned within it was now completely charred like charcoal.

His metal armor had turned red due to the heat, too. Pulled by the force of gravity, the two halves of the knight’s body then finally fell to the floor with a loud thud.

“How surprising. I didn’t expect you to come out into the open and face me here.”

However, Joseph, having always been on guard against surprise attacks, had noticed Sakurai just before his head was cut in two, and had already transferred to another puppet through the magic wire.

He was now in a green-haired, freckle-faced young man wielding a magic staff.

“I thought you would be waiting on the spire’s staircase because you were outnumbered, yet to think you would charge at me alone, instead. Now you’ve got yourself surrounded.”

Decapitation. It was a military strategy aimed at removing the enemy’s commander.

Carrying it out would naturally require you to go into the midst of the enemy, and if you failed, you would be surrounded by enemies on all sides.

Sakurai was, of course, no exception to that failure, and he now found himself surrounded by archers with their bows drawn and magicians preparing their spells.

Facing them, Sakurai calmly took a stance with his sword, keeping Joseph in the center of his vision while watching out for surrounding movements.

He didn’t show the slightest bit of impatience. The calmness he was showing now was eerily contrasting to the excitement he’d been showing so far, and that infuriated Joseph.

“Hmph. As sickening as it may be, I’m already aware that you understand me very well, but that doesn’t seem to extend to my ‘Puppetry’ technique, as well as my nature as a demon-kin.”

The scum had laid his hands on his beloved daughter and on top of it, had a one-sided understanding of him even though he wasn’t his son.

Facing this hateful piece of filth that shouldn’t have existed, the furious Joseph was able to speak with a calm tone, surprising even himself.

However, his anger was still there.

Sakurai just silently held his sword, it was unknown whether he was listening to what Joseph was saying. And seeing him like that, Joseph became even more infuriated, and he continued, “Released from my fleshy body by becoming a demon-kin, and becoming an existence that embodies the soul that is the ghost, I’m able to transfer myself between my puppets through magic wires, unlike your average ‘Puppeteer’. The transfer is invisible and fast. Combined with the immortality that is the trait of ghosts, you can’t kill me just by cremating me.”

“What bullshit are you spouting about? Ghosts aren’t immortal, they’re simply difficult to kill with non-magic attacks.”

“Oh, were you actually a magician, perhaps? You look nothing but a swordsman to me, however. Or are you pinning your hopes on the sacred magic used by the saintess’ daughter? I’m sorry to inform you, but that level of sacred magic is far from enough to exorcise me.”

Even if, for argument’s sake, Ethel’s sacred magic was strong enough to exorcise Joseph, he could just escape to a puppet outside the barrier.

Then, he would proceed to reorganize his forces and attack Sakurai once he came out of the barrier.

If the attack failed still, he would escape to a puppet in a safe zone and repeat the same thing over and over again until he eventually managed to kill Sakurai.

Once he was dead, his existence would be erased from the world. Sakurai’s unpleasant gaze which seemed as if it wanted to devour him whole would surely disappear as well.

“You’ve lost. Your surprise attack failed, you have no way to kill me, and you are now out in the open, surrounded.”

He still had the upper hand, and even if he messed up, he wouldn’t ‘lose’.

As long as he survived, he would definitely be able to take back the victory one day.

Joseph already had the strategic victory in the bag. Joseph repeated that fact over and over again in his mind, solidifying his absolute conviction.

“Even if, by chance, you win here, I will just have to target you another time with a new body. Defeat can’t happen to me.”

But why did he keep speaking like he was trying to show off his superiority?

“Since I’ve decided to kill you, you will die. Your peaceful days are already over.”

But why was he saying these words as if to encourage himself?

“You’ve hurt, defiled, and violated my Ayako. If it weren’t for those unforgivable crimes, we wouldn’t have to kill each other… you will die because of your stupidity!”

But why was he raising his voice as if to keep the scum away?

“So… so…!”

Facing him face to face, an indescribable feeling welled up inside Joseph.

He knew without a doubt that it was due to the gaze of Sakurai before him.

He usually paid no mind to others’ gazes, but for some reason, he was very conscious of Sakurai’s.

“So stop that unpleasant gaze of yours right now!”

Unable to bear the discomfort, Joseph cried out without him knowing.

And receiving those words, Sakurai made face as if he had no idea what Joseph was talking about. After a few seconds, he exclaimed, “Ahh,” as if he had come to a realization and said straightforwardly, “You are scared.”

Joseph gritted his teeth in anger.

There was also a sense of shame towards his cowardliness, but the big part of it was still the strong anger at Sakurai for seeing through him and making him aware of the fact.

Joseph Asanaga was not a warrior.

Although he could handle battle to some extent, it was exclusively through Ayako, and when it came to particularly fierce battles, he would pour his eyes, his consciousness, and his everything into Ayako, making her bear the full brunt.

He had never been to the front line of his own volition like this, and usually, he would always have Ayako, his trusty warrior, between him and his enemies.

Out of curiosity, he’d ended up carelessly going to the front line, and out of anger, he’d chosen to fight even though he didn’t know the true meaning of battle… the price he had to pay was now starting to manifest in the form of Sakurai’s calm killing intent.

As far as he could remember, this was the first time he was on a battlefield without Ayako.

“Haha.”

The ‘fear’ arising in Joseph.

Sakurai saw through it, then widened his eyes happily and raised the corners of his mouth high, revealing a ferocious smile.

His eyes locked on the prey (Joseph) and didn’t let go.

Just as Joseph had hidden his anger behind his calm tone of voice, Sakurai had been hiding his desires behind the killing intent in his gaze.

And now, convinced that he was mentally superior, Sakurai revealed his desires unhesitatingly.

My experience points.

Although he didn’t say it out loud, Joseph clearly understood the meaning of his gaze, and he once again became aware of his impatience that came from his fear of Sakurai who looked at him as prey.

“Flame Sword!”

“?!”

Fear delayed his response. Therefore, it was inevitable that Sakurai took the initiative.

Flames erupted from Sakurai’s sword. They turned into huge coiling snakes made of fire in an instant.

“Shoot him!”

“‘Fire Snake’!”

It was already too late. The six fire snakes shot out, engulfing the surrounding knights and creating a vortex of flames, the light of which illuminated the dim interior of the cathedral.

The fired arrows burned away, and some of the magicians who were slow to put up a barrier were rendered out of commission.

(Nearly half of the archers were burned?! But their magic wires are still fine! I can reuse the non-burned parts as materials later! This isn’t a problem! I can still fix this!)

Having transferred his consciousness to one of the surviving magicians, Joseph retreated with the surviving archers, forming a semi-circular barricade outside the vortex of flames.

At the same time, he moved the knights who had been spread out to build up more encircling barricades.

The moment that scum shows up, I’ll immediately order the puppets to attack him… while thinking so, Joseph glared at the rising flames without blinking.

“Finally.”

Before long, a swaying silhouette appeared from within the flames.

With eyes brighter than the flames burning behind it, the silhouette stepped forward and proclaimed its overflowing joy.

“I leveled uuuup…!”

“Shoot!”

In response to the incoming arrows and spells, Sakurai began running like a beast with a big grin spread across his face.