I definitely feel like I hit something, and the space around me shatters.
Bingo.
But then, I feel the tip of my sword catching something else.
I keep going and sever it.
This space is ripped open, and on the other side is the woman riding the giant diving beetle.
My sword cuts the diving beetle in two, and as each half falls to one side, the woman sitting on top of it is also injured and lays on the ground.
With this, the scenery around me turns back to normal completely. I can feel the presence of the Hipopo brothers piled up behind me and Princess Lily too. It looks like the castle is also still surrounded by all those bugs.
I keep holding my sword and stay on high alert as I slowly approach the woman and look down at her.
There’s no saving her.
I remain cool as I observe the enemy on the ground. It’s a sight I’ve seen many times before.
“Do you have any final words?”
I say while thrusting my sword. She looks at me, but her eyes can’t focus anymore.
“…That sword… Is not of this world, is it?”
The enemy asks with a hoarse voice.
“Hn, this? It’s made of a meteorite gifted to me by Rust.”
“Ah… No wonder… It cut through the divine protection. Did that idiot shaman drop that? What a stupid thing to…”
The enemy falls silent, but she’s still trying to raise her hands. But before she can clap them, they fall flat on the ground.
“Ran out of strength? I admire how you tried to fight back until the very end, even if you are an enemy.”
I pull my dear sword in front of my eyes, and express admiration for her fighting spirit.
But then, for some reason, the bugs surrounding the castle melt.
“Did Rust and Roa do that? No, it might have actually been Ahri. I guess the reincarnated person controlling those bugs is down. Now I need to take this opportunity to clean up…”
I whisper while turning around and facing the mountain of Hipopo brothers.
It looks like two of them got back on their feet on their own and walked away from the pile to help others get back up.
I stab my sword on the stone pavement, and watch them go to work with my hands on my waist.
I thought a few hours had passed, but… I guess both time and space were distorted in that place.
I go over to the pile of Hipopo brothers and reach the top, where two of them were flipped over and have their legs entangled, so they can’t get up.
I lift each with one hand and separate them.
“You down there, can you catch them if I throw them?”
I ask the Hipopo brothers on the foot of the mountain.
“B-bumoh!?”
“Bumo bumo!”
The two Hipopo brothers I’m holding are looking at me with their round eyes like they’re asking ‘are you really going to throw us’.
“Bumo…”
“Bumo bumo…”
The two down there don’t look too sure about this.
“All right then. Rust will get mad if he finds out I threw you and you got hurt.”
I give up on that idea, and climb down with the Hipopo brothers in my hands.
Their weight isn’t a big deal, but I’m too light without my armor, and I need to be careful not to get swung around by inertia.
And my footing is bad too. What a pain.
I manage to get down to the ground safely, and put the two Hipopo brothers down.
“Bumoh.”
“Bumoh.”
They’re probably thanking me.
Then I go up the mountain again to bring more down.
Some release themselves through their own power as I go, and eventually I manage to get Princess Lily out too.
“Now all I have to do is take care of the ones that flipped over…”
Now that they’re no longer on top of each other, I just have to flip them. Or so I thought, because the ones I rescued before worked together and did that already.
I wipe sweat off my brow, while thinking that this took longer than I expected, and wait for them to get back in formation along with Princess Lily.
“All right. Is everything ready? To the castle!”
I get back up on the same Hipopo brother, and lead the others as we advance towards the royal castle.
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