“Eh…!? This voice… Is it…!?”
Melt heard a voice she recognized coming from the red mist.
She was surprised to hear it, but she was not the only one. So was the cause of all this, the Toad Stinger.
It trembled, and took a few steps back, seemingly scared, as a dark shadow jumped out of the mist.
“I got you, shroom bee! What’s with that appearance anyway…!? I thought I was seeing things at first!”
“Pigyuaah!”
When Melt saw the armor that was pulling its right arm back and punching the Toad Stinger hard, she yelled with joy towards it.
“Yuugo! You’re all right!!”
“Hey Melt! Sorry I took so long!”
Yuugo pulled the Toad Stinger up after punching it away, and after a few more punches, kicked it away.
Melt ran towards him, feeling happy that he was fine, and relieved that things would be all right now.
“How come you’re safe, when everyone swallowed by the red mist went crazy?”
“Ah, you know. Apparently it’s not the mist that’s doing that, it’s that monster armor beast that’s stinging them and turning people into puppets. The mist itself is mushroom spore or something like that, and it makes people’s consciousness go hazy when they inhale it.
It looks like that thing’s MO is to sting them when they’re in that state where they can’t resist. I was in trouble when I inhaled it too, but… Thanks to Blaster, it couldn’t sting me. Then that thing got pissed and hit me hard, and that’s when I came to my senses. And then it ran away and I chased it here.”
“I see! I’m really glad you’re all right…!!”
The Toad Stinger was not a strong monster. Its stinger was not too tough either, so it could not pierce Blaster.
And because of that, Yuugo did not turn into its puppet. He then continued.
“Melt, that mushroom is the cause of this mess. I’m sure the people being controlled will come to their senses if it goes down. My body is used to the spore, because I inhaled so much, so leave it to me. Can you handle the crab thing instead?”
“Yes! Leave it to me! Let’s show them the power of the strongest duo!”
Melt responded with a smile, as she already knew how to defeat that opponent.
Yuugo smiled under the helmet about his reliable partner, and clenched his fists as he got ready to fight.
“Let’s go, Melt!”
“Don’t let your guard down, Yuugo!!”
Both ran out at the same time, fighting a different opponent.
Melt stabbed the crab in gaps between its armor, with the sharpest blade she could muster, and steadily dealt damage.
As for Yuugo, he dropkicked the Toad Stinger’s giant head the moment he got close, making it stagger.
“Sorry, but I’m not holding back! I can’t let you control any more people!”
“Pigyeeeh!?”
He hit it with an elbow after the kick, and then a left straight.
Yuugo dealt damage with a clean combo, and yelled while sending it flying with a roundhouse kick.
But the enemy would not go down so easily. It fired itself up with a yell of its own, as it stretched the stingers growing from the armor on both arms, and performed a rush as it tried again and again to stab Yuugo.
“Pigih! Gyuh! Pigyueh!”
“Fuh, ah! So you’re getting serious, uh? Then I’m also… Super henshin!”
It would be bad if it managed to sting him. It failed to pierce the armor, but now that the monster was serious, it could somehow get lucky.
And so, Yuugo judged that the most important thing was to not let himself get stung, and he made his Blaster shine with a violet color as he clad himself in what could be called his heavy armor.
The result was immediately apparent. Not only did the Toad Stinger not manage to pierce the armor after hitting it, but the violet armor was strong enough to crush the stingers, putting an end to that ability.
“Pigih!? Gyueh!?”
“Now’s my turn! Oraah!!”
The violet armor was slower, but more powerful.
Once the clenched fist connected with the Toad Stinger’s face, it flew even further than it did before.
It staggered to its feet, but it looked to have completely lost the will to fight.
It turned its back to Yuugo, and seemed to be plotting an escape, but Yuugo would not allow it.
“Ma’am! Can I borrow this knife?”
“Hn…?”
Yuugo picked up the old lady’s knife, that was flung back by the crab monster armor beast, and sought permission to use it.
She was somewhat lost, but she at least understood that her husband’s memento would be helpful, so she yelled towards Yuugo with a big nod.
“Yes, if you can use his knife to protect these kids… Use it all you want!”
“Thanks! Then I’ll gladly… Borrow the old man’s strength!!”
Yuugo smiled awkwardly to himself, as he thought that turning a nata knife into a sword he would use as a weapon was not very nichiasa of him.
And then he infused it with magic energy, and held it up, with the fleeing Toad Stinger in sight.
“Let’s finish this!!”
With the pale full moon behind him, Yuugo held the magic energy infused sword high in the air.
He swung it straight down, and then diagonally up, unleashing two magic energy slashes towards the Toad Stinger.
“Mystic Break Edge!!”
“Pyugiiiih!?”
The sword of justice cleared the maddening mist, and cut through the darkness.
The Toad Stinger was hit directly in the back while trying to escape, cutting its body in four pieces.
And after yelling for the last time, it was enveloped in a violet light, before exploding.
Yuugo posed towards the children and the old lady with that scenery behind him, as he heard the sounds of the crazed people falling all over.
“Now the people it controlled should be back to normal. Save the weak, dishearten the wicked! I showed you my chivalry! But…”
With the leader down, the villagers the Toad Stinger controlled should be freed from its curse.
He rejoiced in its defeat, but he was not the true hero.
He undid the Blaster transformation and turned around, to see the crab monster armor beast in pieces and disappearing, along with Melt posing triumphantly, and smiled.
“I did it…! I did it! I defeated a monster armor beast on my own!! I did it!!”
Melt jumped with joy over fighting the monster armor beast alone and saving the villagers, and Yuugo nodded.
Were it not for the hero who conquered her fear and refused to give up, this incident could have ended badly.
“That’s a real hero that strives to become a magic knight. Never give up, never give in, never lose heart… Melt’s the real indomitable knight.”
Yuugo complimented his reliable partner over her splendid victory, as he started moving to clean up after this incident.
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The (main) hero is aways fashionably late.
Also with this victory, hopefully Melt gets a confidence boost. Will be interesting to see her future development.