Chapter 19: Volume 1 16

The sound of hard boots hitting the stone staircase on a fast tempo echoed through the surroundings.

As he continued to climb the stairs, he scanned inside the building. As expected, the battle seemed to be taking place on the 6th floor, the highest floor. As things turned into an all-out war, all hands have been mobilized for their fighting power. Besides from the refugees underground, those that were remained in the headquarters were the Commander Class officers, the messengers, and a minimum amount of guards. And that "minimum" amount of soldiers might already be corpses by now.

At least, Marian the magician who stayed within the castle walls can still be counted as an ally. But, the magicians in charge of defending the fort were typically weak when it comes to close combat――――Karito had a bad feeling.

When he reached the 6th floor, for some reason, the wind blowing inside the building was mixed with dust. The reason lies in the large hole that was made in the middle of the ceiling.

"Are you serious?"

The condition looked like the after effects of a C4 explosion. Well, even though he often saw scenes of it in the <WBGO> where new entrances were blasted open with explosives, but even so.

Where pieces from the ceiling were scattered, he can hear clashing sounds and people arguing from the depths of the corridor. Karito readied himself to fire his AA-12 at any time.

This time, it was not loaded with the double 00 buck bullet nor the small sized Frag-12 highly explosive shell, but it was loaded with slag bullets meant for large animals. Even though its penetration power can not compare to a military rifle, but it fires out a large amount of bullets the size of a big thumb, its power is quite dreadful.

Listening to the Dwarf's advice, he changed his plan. Instead of trying to pierce the Mythril armor, he decided to knock the equipped person with shock impact. It is similar to why special forces consider not only assault rifles, but also large caliber pistols and submachine guns as countermeasures against criminals with bulletproof clothes. If Karito is to compete using a rifle, even a 7.62 mm armor piercing bullet couldn't penetrate it. There is a high possibility that he would end up to change the rifle again. Thus, the choice of a shotgun seemed to be me more plausible in this case, Karito judged based on a real life combat experience.

There were several doors on both sides of the corridor. The invading enemies might be hiding in one of these doors, or it can be where Defense Force soldiers are hiding.

In such time, it is best to do a scan. When the scanning started, the field of view through Karito's goggles emitted a wave of light that spread around him like a submarine sending an active sonar.

"( ―――― There.)"

A person was hiding behind the door that was 2 doors away. In a large room at the end of the corridor, he saw the silhouette of four people. Two of them were lying down, and another with sword is fighting with another person with a cane. The one with a cane might be the magician Marian.

For the time being, the person hiding in the nearby room is the problem. From the silhouette he saw, it was clearly a completely armed soldier. The problem is that whether he was an Alwina soldier or a Defense Force soldier.

Deep inside the room, in the conference room, he can see Marian being pushed around by the swordsman. He can't waste any time, he needs to support her quickly.

"I'm sorry if I made a mistake!"

He tilted it upwards and fired towards the door. Stirred from the shock wave, dust flew up in the air and scattered near the muzzle. The person was ――――

"Bingo!"

It was an enemy. He must have been there to ambush reinforcements moving towards the conference room. It was one of the knights equipped with silver body armor like those he fought on the walls. The slug bullets tore through parts of the wooden door and revealed his appearance.

Because he was on guard, he sent another counter attack bullet in a flash. The distance between him and enemy was about 5 m. He aimed properly, there was no way to miss it. Sure enough, Karito hit the armor right in front of him.

Back when he fired all the bullets in his desert eagle, it was only enough to make the enemy stagger. But as soon as the slag bullet hit, the knight's body made a half turn. His feet left the floor and he fell on his back as he made a noisy sound. When he hit the floor, a sound of violent wet coughing echoed from the enemy's helmet. His internal organs might be injured from the shock blows he received just now.

It was expected from the slug bullets. While admiring it, Karito fired another shot to the helmet's side. With this he will surely faint from a cerebral concussion, however, it would not be weird if he were to die from the cerebral contusion.

Karito dashed until he reached the meeting room. Without slowing down before the door, he used his right leg to kick on the doorknob of the double door to open it. The heavy door immediately opened into the conference room's side.

―――― Just at that moment, Karito saw Marian's right arm sliced cut off.

Still holding the cane, Marian's right arm whirled through the empty space and slumped to the floor.

The cane fell together with her severed right arm. When the right arm separated itself from the woman magician, it bounced a little bit and at the next moment, no trace of flesh was left. It only left behind a small pile of ashes. The cane that was released from the fingers' grip rolled away.

Marian simply showed an expression of annoyance with the loss of her arm. It did not look like she was suffering from pain either. As Karito looked closely, there was no bleeding from the part where the right arm was cut. It reminded Karito of their first meeting where she said, " I can't feel pain as no blood flows."

The knight that took her arms was also a woman. Unlike other knights from the Silver Corps, this female knight was only equipped with a breastplate, a shoulder pad, knuckle pads, and a foot protector. It was the type of armor that only protects the vital areas. Those too, gave a shine characteristically that of mithril steel. From the helmet, a lock of fiery red hair like fire can be seen coming out from its hiding place.

The female knight was an exceptional beauty. The reason why he knew that was because she was wearing a great helmet type. No part of the armor hid her face and this secured her a wider view. Her face turned towards Karito who had just arrived.

"Not Good!!"

"Karito!?"

Ignoring the surprised voice of Marian that recognized the person who rushed over to her, Karito dodged sideways. The female knight wielded her sword and a fireball the size of basketball suddenly appeared in empty space and hit the door that Karito had kicked moments before. It exploded, fire scattered and a heat wave stretched throughout the corridor.

As he was trying to recall what had just happened, the next moment, the female knight plunged towards Karito's chest. Karito could not manage to evade it. He can see the sword arc clearly. The course of the arc leads towards his body. Will he be cut into two?

As the female's long sword swung down like a guillotine, simultaneously, Marian shot an arrow of light from her remaining left hand.

What Marian released was a Magic Lancer, a variation of the Magic Canon where it is specialized in penetrating the target instead of exploding on contact. If Magic Canon is equal to a grenade, then Magic Lancer can be regarded as an armor piercing bullet. Karito thought so as a Magic Canon might get him involved in the damage.

The female knight got hit by the magic bullet on her back and she lost her balance. Because of that, the sword's trajectory shifted forward and landed on the wall behind Karito..... Even though the momentum was decreasing, the sharp edge of the sword was covered with a thin light film as it tore the stone wall just like butter cut by a heated knife.

Karito gained a few precious seconds, and he instinctively moved his body to grasp on the hope of life.

He grabbed the AA-12 with both hands and raised the stock in reverse motion. The sword's guard where a jewel was embedded, collided with the stock, and both of them struggled for domination against each other for a short time. Karito was able to successfully escape from the female knight's sword as he stretched his body forward sideways, escaping through her side before her sword could hit. He slid down next to Marian and reorganized his position.

"Ahh.... I thought I am going to die."

"That voice, it is Karito after all. I am not able to sense you at all so it is hard to figure it out."

"Rather than that, your arm, is your arm alright!?"

"Don't worry. Even if I lose one or two arms, I will not die. After all, I am already dead."

Marian who had grasped Karito's position relying on his voice, gave a faint mischievous smile. The hood part which hid her face when they first met was already torn, unable to fulfill it functions anymore. The robe that was embroidered with gold thread had also been torn here and there.

After looking at Karito, her sights returned to the female knight――― Hilda, and her expression tightened again.

"That spirit sword just now, and this strong spirit emitted from the armor you're wearing, could you be Hilda the [Flame Sword] leader of the Silver corps?"

"And you must be the [Black Immortal] Marian Engelhardt―――― Today you will turn into ash and dispersed by my flame."

"Thanks to you, one of my arms have already been slashed and turned into ash."

"Then I will cut that head of yours next."

"I would like to excuse myself from that. Karito be careful, her spirit sword can burn every object it touches!"

"Seriously?"

The spirit sword refers to a sword where spirit power was concentrated to increase the sharpness of the sword through spirit magic. With Hilda being a top-class magician, her sword is equivalent to a large number of compressed spirits, resulting for the blade to look like a laser blade.

Her spirit sword interfered with the power of spirit contained in every substance, that was why when she slashes on something, it will leave a burned mark as if cut by laser. Therefore it was named [Flame Sword].

If there is something she can't cut, it would be the mithril armor she and her subordinates wore and the magic barrier that surrounded the barrack casted by a top-class magician like Marian.

In addition to the spirit sword, she practiced swordsmanship and enhanced physical ability by spirit magic and strengthening magic was something that shouldn't be taken lightly of. Her beloved sword also functioned as a wand of a magician.

"There is no use to restrain against those who sides with demi-humans. I will cut and burn that man together with you!"

"Just who on earth will just say [oh, yes please] and stay quiet!"

The AA-12 roared. It spits out slug bullets at the rate of 350 rounds per minute. Hilda avoided it at a speed that only left behind afterimages. Numerous holes the size of a fist pierced the stone wall behind her back.

But, none of it hit her. Hilda moved left and right irregularly, her movements were too fast. His aim can't catch up with her. Her speed was like a supersonic fighter aircraft that also moved around like a UFO.

When he had noticed it, she had already arrived near his torso again. But this time, Marian's hemispherical magic barrier hindered the predicted slash. Karito aimed again at the place where she stopped and shot. She dodged this too. The opponent was able to move around the conference room freely within the surrounding walls as long as there is enough space to move in, making it hard to engage attacks.

Considering that Hilda was not equipped with a defense like other Silver Corps soldiers, Karito wanted to switch the slug bullets into the 00 bullets immediately, but he does not want to create chances that will expose himself. Sooner or later his magazine bullets will run out, and the AA-12 is too big, making it hard to handle. He would like to switch into a handgun or at least a small submachine gun.

"This is my first time to use this kind of weapon, even though it is powerful, it can only can shoot in a straight line. It is no different than an arrow. It is too easy to avoid its line of fire!"

"Then how about this!"

Marian made a complex gestures with her fingertips. The flames burning around the door increases in intensity before turning into a number of flame snakes and rushed to attack Hilda.

"Only this?"

The white blade flashed in high speed and repelled all the flame snakes. At that moment, Karito aimed attempting to shoot once again. However, with her right hand grasping the sword, Hilda fired fireball towards Karito and Marian with her left hand.

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It struck the magic barrier that Marian erected and the flames scattered around them, forming a flame wall between the two and Hilda. They were not able to grasp the situation on the other side because of the wall of fire. Where had Hilda gone to?

"Behind!"

Marian who can perceive spirits encompassing every existence of this world with her pseudo-visual and not her naked eyes, was able to notice that Hilda went around their backs earlier and issued a warning. Still, Karito's reaction was too slow.

As he tried to turn the AA-12, he was assaulted by a strong impact. The next moment, both of his legs had already left the floor before he realized it. With a half-flipped posture, he flew several meters afloat from the floor as if pulled by an invisible wire before crashing down on his left shoulder into a large table where the topography map lies.

"Kuh, ghaa, this!!?"

The momentum did not stop, it was only after he bounced and slid off the edge of the topographic map and fell crashing into the floor that he finally stopped. His chest, shoulder, and back hurt, but the most painful was his chest. Breathing felt painful.

Unable to writhe in pain, Karito teared up inside his gas mask and goggles moving only his neck to look down at his chest. He can see the horrible scar of blade carved deeply into his full automatic shotgun. It was slashed down right into the engine section rendering it completely useless. The gun had become his shield.

Nevertheless, he could feel the impact through the armor. It felt like he was hit by a hammer swung by a gorilla. His breath came out rough and short. Unable to bear it, he took off his gas mask.

Hilda scrunched her beautiful eyebrows as she drew a clean arc aiming the tip of her long blade towards Marian. She sensed the presence of Karito's survival, he was still breathing heavily after receiving a full blown damage of the attack.

Why hasn't that man died yet?

Even though all the enemies that received her spirit sword so far could be shielded or protected by armors, however, all of them were equally cut down by the magic encompassing the sword. If there was any armor that can receive her sword fair and square, it will be no other than Mithril steel armour. At least that was what she expected until now.

How can her enemy still survive even after receiving her spirit sword? It felt like the spirit sword's power was not able to pass through at all and that only a longsword steel made contact.

Even though she cannot feel any spirit from the weapons and armors from that man――――――

"(Wait, I cannot feel any spirit at all?)"

Although he was hidden behind the topographic map and couldn't see anything, he can hear the sounds of Hilda's spirit sword colliding with Marian's defense. Even though he wanted to return back to the fight, but having received severe damage from the impact, his body would not listen to his commands.

"(I can't win if I only charge from the front)"

Their abilities were too different. Even without the spirit magic to reinforce her body, Karito was forced to realize their gaps that is like heaven and earth between their skills.

Then how could he fill that gap?

"( It's a weapon)"

The thing that the opponent does not have but he does ―――― a wide variety of modern firearms.

Which weapon will be the most effective in this moment.

"Maybe this one....!"

Originally, Karito have added this into his equipment list in order to use it in cases where the fort was breached and fights occurred inside the building. Because his left shoulder felt numb and wouldn't move as he wishes, he bit the safety ring part with his teeth and pulled it out.

The safety lever bounced in response from the loss of the safety pin. He tried to stand while desperately enduring the screams from his breastbone and ribs injuries, and threw [that] under the shadow of the topographic map, igniting it.

While pressing her shining long sword to break Marian 's barrier, Hilda was alarmed by the object rolling at her feet and quickly took a distance from Marian. She had also created a magic barrier and took defensive posture. Marian maintained the barrier without knowing what has been thrown when she heard something rolling.

The object that Karito threw was―――― a flash grenade. Then, the grenade exploded.

In an instant, intense light flashed and a tremendous roaring sound louder than the sound of a shotgun and rifle echoed in the room. The window glass which survived the aftermath of the battle inside and outside, now shattered outwards from the loud noise.

Before the flash faded away, Karito who had the protection for both visual and hearing from the goggles and helmet, stood up. Supported by the edge of the topographic map, he aimed the desert eagle with only his right hand onto Hilda whose movements were temporarily frozen.

As expected, Hilda's posture changed as she covered her eyes with both of her hands. Because of the loud noise affecting her sense of hearing and semicircular canals, her footing became unsteady. Still, her longsword was still dangerous as long as she was still holding it.

Karito jumped out from behind the topographic map and shoot while shortening the distance. He did not stop with just one shot, he fired all the bullets loaded into the magazine and continued with this momentum.

Hands, chest, shoulder and concentrating around the upper body, Karito's bullets made contact one after another. But she did not let go the sword even when the bullets hit the back of her hand.

But to perform a harmful act by shooting a .50 caliber with one hand when his mind and body were in distress with severe pain, unluckily, all hits landed on areas protected by the mithril armor. Since it has come to this, he thought of trusting the muzzle into her mouth and shoot it, and for that, he would need to shorten the distance even further.

While bearing the damages penetrating through her armor, Hilda avoided fatal injuries and now began to counterattack. Even though her eyesight hasn't fully recovered yet, she moved based on a warrior's instinct and her enemy's fighting spirit.

"Your acts are only of this small degree!!!"

"Gahhh!?"

She swooped down aiming for his neck. Although the sword attacks up till now moved in a speed that couldn't be tracked by Karito's eyes, however, probably due to the accumulated internal damage, he was barely able to react to this blow. He gripped the desert eagle and thrusted the bottom onto the slash trajectory.

Even though he had prepared for it, he still felt a considerable impact from the hit. The blade slammed into the extended magazine that is longer than the body of the handgun grip and Karito's body flew again. He was once again struck against the wall hitting his left shoulder first. With a cracking sound, a cobweb-like crack occurred on the wall where he crashed.

Had the position slipped by a little bit, he might have been rolling down from the window that had lost its glass.

"This is the end!!"

Moving at the same speed as a bullet, she focused her magic power on the tip of her sword and thrust her whole body forward to release it.

She intended to pierce through Karito, penetrating the walls behind him. Her aim was his heart.

He could not escape due to the damage which has reached his feet.....the moment he thought so, his knees suddenly lost its strength. His knees bent itself, just right around the height where his face will be facing the tip of the approaching blade.

He turned his face away from fear of the approaching sharp point of sword.

With the accelerating speed added with the thrust from her whole body behind the piercing strike, it penetrated through a space only 3 mm away from Karito's nose. The sword penetrated the wall without decreasing its momentum. And the released magic power concentrated on the sword tip released its destructive power.

The wall reached its limit and a large hole was formed from the explosion. Hilda who went flying to thrust the move, collided head-on with Karito as it is.

―――――― Karito's and Hilda's body were thrown out from the 6th floor into the empty sky.

After feeling the instantaneous floating, they fell down like the feeling of being knocked down to the abyss. That too did not last long. The impact was not something that can be compared to, and it was followed by a sound of someone being crushed.

And everything turned into darkness.

When he regained consciousness, his whole back felt like it was being buried by something.

He felt a drum was beating next to his ear, his heart was pounding intensely, and his vision filled with red filter. In the <WBGO>, this indicates critical condition. In the game there was no pain felt, but this is reality.

While his whole body seemed to scream in pain and was about to fall apart, his hand spontaneously took out syringes containing recovery medicines from the accessories list. He placed his hand in front of his neck and drove it into the nape of his neck, the pain quickly disappeared, and his heartbeat and breathing began to calm down.

At the moment when he was forced to crash down from the conference room, he had no composure to judge where he would be falling into. The place where Karito fell was a wagon which was just under the conference room. By the way, the wagon was a relatively large one, that were sent as reinforcement from the Royal Capital.

Disregarding whichever had a more concrete effect, perhaps the wagon acted as shock break from the fall in exchange for it turning into wreck. It would also seem to be the defensive effect of the armor were taking effect, so he did not have to die at least for the time being.

He stood up while removing pieces of wood from his body. He tried to ascertain the condition of that woman that fell down together with him. It was in that moment as he was about to reload and pulls out the damaged magazine from the grip that he had kept clenching in his fall.

Hilda suddenly appeared out of nowhere and overwhelmed Karito. On a horse riding posture, the only hand which was covered by a hand plate covered Karito's mouth while the other one pressed down on Karito's neck. The respiratory tract was being pressured and he couldn't breath properly. With a powerful grip which can crush his neck bones, Hilda tormented Karito.

"Die, you will die too. You filthy demi-human companion....!"

Even if she had fallen from the 6th floor and hit the ground, with the helmet still wrapping her head firmly, Hilda growled. Her beautiful face distorted likewise a demon.

Blood was dripping not only from her mouth and nose, but also from her earholes. Unlike Karito's armour, her mithril steel armor does not possess the same overall protective effect. The shock from the crash with ground passed through the armor and damaged the skull as well as her internal organs. There is a high possibility that the brain itself may be damaged too.

In such circumstance, Karito stared at Hilda who was currently trying to kill him.

With the last loaded bullet, he pushed the muzzle of the desert eagle against Hilda's temple.

"But, I decline!!"

He squeezed the trigger and the hammer falls.

The .50 AE bullet fired from point blank caused an intense spark on the helmet surface. The slide of desert eagle had flipped open as it ran out of bullets.

Hilda's body, slowly rolled down from the wagon's wreckage.

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