★★
Strange dark clouds hovered above the village. When they touched the ground like a tornado, a man suddenly appeared. He had trimmed red hair, and his face was pale like a corpse.
His white clothes also looked like burial clothes, and he had several dark masks attached to him.
Even from a distance of six hundred meters, Ameriko could see this man had a loose screw.
He was a sorcerer… One of the slave sorcerers.
“Himeno, be careful.”
Ameriko said quietly.
She was watching from the third floor of the building in the middle of the village, and through a scope.
While lying down on a balcony, she was ready to shoot, with the barrel poking out from between two flower pots Ameriko placed in front of her.
Ameriko held in her hands an M24 she summoned, a rifle used by the United States army.
It was a reliable firearm manufactured by Remington Arms. Its gun barrel was long and heavy, but that was not an issue, since it was not meant to be swung around.
Its fixed magazine held five 338 Lapua Magnum rounds. These 8.58 caliber 70 millimeter long bullets were quite powerful when used to snipe people.
An eerie presence hovered above the village, which the villagers said signaled the arrival of a sorcerer.
Ameriko decided that was the time to summon her weapon, but it took three minutes for it to finish taking form. Summoning larger weapons took more time, so she would not be able to use them when they suddenly encountered enemies.
If she failed to summon a sniper rifle, she would have to switch to plan B, summoning a shotgun and joining Himeno in fighting their enemy up-close.
“Okay, I’ll open some air holes for you.”
The maximum range of the rifle was fifteen hundred meters. She was positioned on the third floor of the highest building in the village, and fortunately there was no wind. Himeno stood six hundred meters away from Ameriko, so she was well within range.
Ameriko took the safety off, and took aim through the scope.
The creepy smiling man approached Himeno with lust in his eyes, and they faced each other.
Through the round scope, Ameriko saw Himeno say something to the man, and get ready to fight.
All the villagers took refuge inside their homes after the chief strongly told them to hide.
However, the village chief himself wanted to assist them if the time came. He was filled with regret after having two sons taken away from him, and held considerable rage and resolve.
But Himeno asked him several times not to come to her rescue no matter what happened. If someone ran in to help unexpectedly, it would hinder Ameriko’s sniping.
Himeno was using herself as bait to stop the sorcerer, and once Ameriko had a good grasp on their enemy’s abilities and felt she could reliably put him down, she would shoot. That was their plan.
For now, Ameriko waited as she trusted Himeno to give her a chance to shoot the sorcerer.
Chai and his sisters said they wanted to at least watch Himeno, so they stayed in a watchtower in the village’s entrance.
Himeno drew her sword in the blink of an eye. It was too fast for Ameriko to even see the moment when she drew it. This technique could sever one’s head in less than a second… But the sword never reached the sorcerer’s neck.
It was stopped by an invisible wall, which created several ripples that looked like red sparks upon contact.
“Is that their shield…!?”
Just as they expected, Himeno’s sword did not reach its target. The man’s expression also remained unchanged, as he was used to this and was unconcerned. He was confident that the shield would not break.
This carelessness backfired when Himeno quickly unleashed her special long-range technique.
Her sparkling blue phantom blade pierced the shield and reached the strange man. Or so they thought.
“Did she do it!?”
But the next moment, Himeno’s body was sent flying.
“Himeno…!”
Ameriko got up without thinking, and just barely stopped herself from screaming.
She had no idea what happened and did not see what the enemy did.
In addition to the invisible field, he also used an invisible attack.
It was exactly as Himeno feared. The slave sorcerers had some sort of unknown power.
Some sort of magic power that even Chai and the others could not comprehend.
“Crap…! Was that magic?”
●
“C-cough…!”
Himeno was having trouble breathing after the blow to her body and internal organs.
She tried to get up, but grimaced as she felt intense pain on her side. It seemed she had cracked ribs.
She managed to make it to her feet by using her sword as a cane.
“…What was… That attack…”
Himeno’s special technique definitely reached him. It pierced the slave sorcerer’s barrier.
Secret technique, Tenken Chikaku Zero. It should not have been possible to dodge from that distance.
The feeling of her sword hitting the barrier was suddenly gone, and the barrier appeared again closer to the man… That was what Himeno felt happened.
Did he reconstruct the barrier, or did he employ another one?
“…This is more troubling than I expected.”
She was hit once again by an invisible attack. It felt as though an iron ball had hit her and smacked her to the ground, but since it was covered in grass, she was able to land safely and minimize damage.
She could still move, although the pain from her ribs made her movements sluggish.
“I wasn’t expecting that.”
“A little surprising.”
“She’s not just a swordsman.”
“Maybe she’s a magic swordsman. I haven’t seen that before.”
“Let’s break her arms too.”
Mihirakula the slave sorcerer was unharmed, but a mask near his shoulder was cracked. Her long distance slash really did reach him.
Swords and arrows bounced off the barrier, but it was not invincible.
“Ahh…”
Himeno got up and quietly composed her breathing. She kept her presence of mind, and held back the pain. The power from the oxygen she took in and her blood ran through her entire body.
Himeno’s analysis led her to believe that there was a general principle that could be applied to most barriers or shields. After enough blows, they would run out of energy and become ineffective.
They could be physical, magical, or even attacks that used special energy like her long distance slash. The barrier definitely had a limit, and the kinetic energy from Ameriko’s bullets should be able to pierce it.
The basis of all of this was Himeno’s memory. The country known as Japan released a lot of works of fiction, and it was easy for her to analyze and understand the general concept of ‘barriers’, ‘shields’, or ‘(…) fields’ with her Japanese memory and sense.
“Is it because the sword got through?”
“Does she think she won?”
“No way.”
“Impossible.”
Suddenly, she felt what seemed like a low kick to her left leg. There was no sound of it cutting through the wind, and no sign that it was going to happen. All that happened was an intense blow.
“Guah!?”
As Himeno lost her balance, another attack hit her. This time the intense pain felt as though her right arm had been struck with an invisible stick.
Himeno held her sword with both hands, and somehow managed not to drop it and retain her posture.
She felt a lot of pain and numbness on her left calf, and she would not be moving her right arm as well as she wished either. If she continued to suffer damage unilaterally, she would quickly find herself unable to continue.
“…Ahh, ahh…!”
Himeno stood eight meters away from her opponent and stared at him.
There was no sign that he was attacking or even moving his limbs.
Another punch hit her, as if carving her body.
“Gu…ha…!?”
The man with the death masks had a twisted smile on his face. He spread out his arms, overflowing with confidence.
“It’s magic.”
“My magic.”
“Granted by the great sorcerer.”
“Absolute protection.”
“Overwhelming power.”
“No one can take me down.”
He was too strong. Himeno heard him talk about his magic, and wondered if it was different from the defensive barrier.
It was different than the ‘magic’ she had in mind. It was not the fire, ice, or wind magic she was used to seeing in fantasy stories. These were physical attacks dealt by an invisible hand.
The man was an aberration, but he understood his abilities, and knew how to use them.
Cold calculations hid behind his words and actions.
Mihirakula walked towards Himeno.
“Himenooooo!”
Chai screamed from the watchtower. His sisters pulled him back, as he tried to jump off.
“No! Run!”
“Found you.”
Mihirakula looked towards the watchtower, and less than a second later the pillars supporting it broke.
The watchtower leaned precariously to one side, as the three elves screamed while desperately trying to hang on.
“Cute ones.”
“Females.”
“Want to see naked.”
“And make them cry.”
“And have fun fiddling with.”
“Damn… You!”
The emotions Himeno was holding back exploded as she looked at the man vulgarly licking his lips. She mustered her strength with rage in her eyes, held her sword high, and concentrated more energy than ever on her sword.
“Shut up.”
“I want to hear them scream.”
“If you’re going to stand in the way, you’re going down first.”
Himeno kicked the ground and ran towards Mihirakula like an arrow.
When she was within three meters of him, she slashed downwards and unleashed a half-moon shaped pale long-distance slash. She then cut diagonally upwards and unleashed another attack, before finally reaching her opponent and cutting at his chest diagonally.
“Special technique, Star Slash!”
The three slashes combined formed an asterisk, and they reached her opponent at the same time.
She knew why this new technique was born, it was the kiss from the previous night.
She ran away to hide her embarrassment, but she was actually a little happy. The warmth of another person and the feeling that someone needed her… Every time Ameriko’s place in her heart became bigger, she discovered a new power.
“No good.”
“That’s it?”
“You won’t…”
“Break my barrier.”
Sparks flew from the surface of the barrier while making a thin hexagon shape.
Himeno saw the round barrier surrounding the sorcerer. She planted one foot on the ground, and swung her doudanuki with all her strength.
“Ahh… Ah!”
It felt as though she was hitting hard glass, but then, she saw it crack.
“What?”
“She…”
“How dare you?”
Physical attacks really did work. One more attack would break the barrier, but it suddenly disappeared.
Himeno was about to lose her balance, as the barrier she was pushing vanished, when an attack hit her from the side.
“Ah!?”
Her right arm was twisted, which caused intense pain. Another invisible attack hit her chest.
As Himeno lost her balance, she used the leg that was planted on the ground to kick up dust. The dust and pebbles reached the man with the death masks, meaning the barrier was gone.
The barrier and his offensive magic were the same. He used the barrier as a defensive field, and as a means to attack. He freely controlled this spherical barrier.
It moved through the air like a ghost, and although it was fast, it did not make a sound or cut through the wind. Himeno understood its peculiarities.
She was sent flying by yet another attack.
She tried to land safely, when a follow-up attack crushed her from above.
“Guho…!?”
She was beaten to the ground, and could not breathe. She felt the impact on her whole body, and could not move.
The taste of blood filled her mouth, and she barely stopped herself from vomiting.
The man approached her as she laid on the ground.
“She can’t move.”
“It’s over.”
“Now… It begins.”
“Fun time.”
He grabbed his belt, unfastened it, and pulled his pants down.
“…!”
Mihirakula exposed the lower half of his body.
“Urine.”
“On the face.”
“Give me nice screams.”
“I want to hear it.”
He was absolutely insane.
Of all things, Mihirakula was going to urinate just one step away from Himeno.
She mustered up her strength to lift the sword still in her hand, but a blow crushed her arm.
“Bu…Ha…!”
She spit the blood in her mouth, which sprayed like red mist. The mist revealed the position of the normally invisible spherical barrier.
“She spit blood.”
“Is she dying?”
“She’s dying.”
“…No, you…”
Himeno smirked, and the chest of the man exploded and blood splashed from his back.
The sound of a gunshot was followed by the sound of a bullet cutting through the air, and finished with the sound of a heart bursting.
““““Eh?””””
Mihirakula the slave sorcerer looked at the hole in his chest, having no idea what happened to him.
Was he aware that it was an attack from the center of the village? He probably had no time to process this information, as another shot blew away the top of his head.
“…Nice sniping, Ameriko.”
Said Himeno as she laid on the ground, with her thumb raised.
Bullets continued to hit him, looking like some sort of mad dance.
It was as though Ameriko was so enraged, she wanted to fire every bullet she had into him.
The gunfire stopped eventually, and the madman Mihirakula was turned into nothing more than a pile of filth.
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