Garumon Battle

"Wh… what is this, you're telling me to fight…!? On orders from someone like you? Is this payback for how I usually treat you? Don't make me laugh! Like hell I'll fight!"

Kazami-san's reaction was perfectly understandable, I supposed.

But up until now, you've been making us do things just like this, haven't you?

Once that thought hit me, I felt zero guilt about any of it.

"Adelia is a rare Beastkin I only just acquired. Her value is high enough to match an otherworld Garumon, and her level happens to line up as well. What a fateful coincidence. If her value were 20% lower, or if there were a level gap of 10 or more, the conditions wouldn't be met and a Garumon Battle couldn't be challenged. I am truly fortunate. Now, come forth, Beastkin Adelia!"

I'd been wondering where exactly he was keeping this Garumon of his. Reichhardt drew something resembling a capsule from his waist.

He hurled it forward, and boom!

Along with that explosive sound, an adorable, cat-eared beauty suddenly appeared.

Her status screen had been adorable too, but in person she was even more dazzlingly beautiful.

Reddish-brown hair, big red eyes. And large breasts!

She wore a sexy, leotard-like outfit covered in fur that left her cleavage on display, and her wholesome thighs were positively erotic.

She was a cat-eared beauty with a charmingly feline air about her.

"Funya… grrr…"

But she seemed to be in a foul mood.

She let out an unhappy growl in a cute voice.

"Now then, Adelia. This is your first battle. Show me the power of the Nekomata, the highest-tier subspecies of Beastkin."

"Unyuu…"

Adelia, too, was glaring at Reichhardt with a hint of defiance.

… Well, compared to the glares Kazami-san sent my way, it was tame.

"… Kazami-san, glares like that work on me, but they won't work on Reichhardt. If you lose here, you'll become his property and have no choice but to do whatever he says… Fight for real, and win!"

That was the order I gave.

"… Tch. I'll get you back for this later!"

Kazami-san seemed to begrudgingly accept what I'd said.

She readied her whip and turned to face Adelia.

Her stance was crisp and beautiful, even cool. A good figure really does make the picture pop…

"Now then, shall we begin? … Adelia, Scratch!"

Reichhardt struck a sharp pose as he gave the order.

Hmm, this felt awfully like a certain "monster" battle.

"Kazami-san, hit her with the whip!"

I gave my own command… Maybe because I was used to it from games, but the order came out surprisingly natural.

"…"

Right then, Adelia tossed her head with a Hmph and looked the other way.

Was this that thing where she refused to follow orders because she wasn't attached to him?

"Why you… don't screw with me!"

Kazami-san, on the other hand, was in a half-desperate frame of mind, but she followed my command properly.

She dashed in close and snapped the whip she'd somehow already had in hand.

Whoosh!

It cut through the air with tremendous force.

"Eh…"

I flinched at how much momentum it carried.

Her whip had good control and high power… But did it really have enough destructive force to whip up a whirlwind like that? If something like that hit me, I'd be blown to smithereens.

… Could it be that we'd been powered up far beyond our original world…?

Crack! It connected with Adelia.

"Funya! Grrrrr!"

But Adelia just groaned a little. She didn't get blasted into bits.

A red gauge, similar to the system display, hovered above Adelia's head, and I could see it had been chipped down a bit.

So that was Adelia's HP. A familiar staple of game systems.

The kind where both sides could see each other's HP bars, then.

Only, since I couldn't see specific numbers, I had to eyeball it from the length of the bar.

Roughly 5/6 left… I guess. Which meant if we did the same thing five more times, we'd win, but…

"Grrrrr…"

Adelia's eyes turned my way. She seemed to have gotten serious now.

"Tch… So that woke you up, did it, you lowly Beastkin! Now then, this time do it properly. Scratch!"

"Kazami-san, whip her again!"

"Ugh, you're so noisy! Stop giving me orders…!"

Even as Kazami-san protested, she did her best to follow my instructions.

She seemed to understand perfectly well that she had to fight.

This time, Adelia was glaring at Kazami-san with a serious expression. Looked like there'd be no fizzling out this round.

… The two of them stared each other down like Western gunslingers for a moment. Then…

Dash! Dash! The two started moving at the same time.

This time, Adelia came lunging straight at Kazami-san. She was way faster!

Her hand had transformed from an adorable girl's hand into a wild beast's, sharp claws sprouting out of it.

Slash!

"Agh!"

In that instant, a tremendous gust of wind battered Kazami-san.

… What the hell is that strength! Even a bear couldn't have that much power. A blow that could snap even a great tree in an instant.

That wasn't on the level of a "scratch" anymore.

… But what dropped was the gauge above Kazami-san's head. On her side, I could see specific numbers too. It went from 15 down to 9.

That was all. No broken bones, no real injuries.

"That hurt, ouch…! What the heck!"

She seemed to be in pain, but as expected.

It looked like she was protected from actual injury until her HP hit 0.

… Hmm. The classic game system where you can fight just fine until HP hits 0, at which point you suddenly drop into a knockout.

Seeing it play out in real life felt awfully strange.

"Why… you!"

Counterattack. The whip lashed out.

Adelia's movements were quick, but Kazami-san had the better control of the two. Splendidly, Kazami-san's whip landed on Adelia.

… But the gauge dropped by the same amount as before. That left 4/6.

It was glaringly obvious this was bad.

Kazami-san would hit 0 HP after taking two more, while Adelia needed four more hits to go down.

In that case… I had to bet on her other technique.

But… could she really pull it off? Wind Cutter, of all things? It's magic, isn't it?

… Still, I had no other options.

In real life, no, in the world we came from, it would be impossible, but when Kazami-san dried her clothes earlier, that had been her magic too.

Right now… she could do it.

"Kazami-san… Wind Cutter!"

"… Huh? What are you talking…"

Naturally Kazami-san looked taken aback, like what is this guy even saying, but…

Vwoosh!

The next instant, a blade of howling wind manifested in Kazami-san's hand, different from her clothes-drying gust earlier.

A ferocious whirlwind that could slice through anything.

"… What… she has two skills at LV1…? Truly, an otherworld Garumon, off the charts…! No wonder her value is 5000!"

Reichhardt groaned.

"Wh-what is this… what the heck! Amazing… but anyway, I can use this!"

Kazami-san glared at Adelia, and then thrust out her hand.

"Wind Cutter!"

Shing!

A blade of wind closed in on Adelia.

"Fugya!"

It got the jump on the supposedly faster Adelia and connected. Most likely this technique was a first-strike skill that hit before speed mattered.

Adelia screamed, and the gauge above her head dropped sharply…

Go, go… yes!

Halved it. More than 1/3 of her gauge gone in a single hit!

Now if we could just survive Adelia's next attack, one more Wind Cutter would settle it!

If Adelia's only attack was Scratch, our victory was already locked in.

"… Impossible."

Reichhardt broke into a cold sweat. But right away, he smirked fearlessly.

"However… with your power, you can still turn this around, Adelia… Go, Will-o'-Wisp!"

… Another technique?

"Funyau…"

Pop… pop pop pop…

The next moment, a swarm of fireballs floated up around Adelia.

"Wha…"

"What is that… fireballs!?"

"Nyau… Adelia loves freedom. Don't like having a master."

Right then, Adelia opened her mouth, and a slightly lispy, adorable voice came out… She could talk!?

"But losing, Adelia hates that even more, nya! Will-o'-Wisp!"

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

The fireballs came rushing at Kazami-san with terrifying speed.

"N… no! Dodge them, Kazami-san!"

"You're asking the impossible… there's no way to dodge these…!"

Still, Kazami-san leapt back desperately.

But fully evading the fireballs swarming in to engulf her was impossible, and…

BOOM!

The fireballs scored a clean hit.

"Buahahaha! Too bad! You should remember this. Fire is super-effective against Wind. Double damage. There's no way a LV1 Garumon could withstand a super-effective spell from a LV3 Garumon! Of course, any chance to put that knowledge to use is gone now! They say the fate of a Master who loses his Garumon is a tragic one! My condolences, ahahaha!"

Reichhardt cackled triumphantly.

No way… The situation looked hopeless. Everything seemed to be over.

But I still had hope. When I'd looked at Kazami-san's status, there was one stat that was abnormally high, along with her Trait… Magic Defense!

When the blast and dust cleared… Kazami-san was still standing.

"… Pwah! That was close…!"

Her HP was just 1, but she'd survived!

"Funya!? Adelia gave it her all…"

Adelia widened her eyes in shock too.

"Wh… what was that!? Impossible…!? A Garumon at an elemental disadvantage and a lower level shouldn't have survived… Could it be… she was a Magic-Defense-specialized Garumon!?"

He gaped in astonishment, jaw dropped.

Yeah, that had been my gamble too. But with only 1 HP left, if the random damage roll had gone slightly the other way she'd have been wiped out.

It had been an absolute squeaker.

"Kazami-san, finish it, Wind Cutter!"

"Right, take this!"

Slash!

"Nyaaaaaah!"

And, hit! The gauge zeroed out in a single stroke.

"I see, so it's elements…"

Fire on Wind is double, but Wind on Fire is just normal? I wondered.

If our side had had a half-damage modifier on incoming Fire too, we'd never have won.

What a paper-thin victory. By raw stats alone, we couldn't have won. But results are everything.

"… I-impossible… I… lost… to him…?"

Reichhardt hung his head.

A system message floated up before my eyes.

YOU WIN

Probably YOU LOSE was floating in front of Reichhardt.

We won…!

"Alright, we did it!"

"Yeah!"

Slap!

Kazami-san and I high-fived, celebrating together.

A splendid first battle, first victory!

"… Hey, what's with the friendly act!? Quit messing around, ordering me around like that… I'll get you back for this later!"

… But once she got her composure back, I got chewed out anyway.

Yeah. Setting aside that I'd done it myself, I knew we weren't on familiar enough terms for that.

The system message had a continuation.

Acquired Beastkin Adelia.

"Funyaa…!"

Snap!

The collar wrapped around Adelia's neck split open. Then, the next instant, a chain extended from my hand, coiled around Adelia's neck, and forged a new collar.

"Oh, oh…"

Now I could see her proper status.

Across most stats she was generally stronger than Kazami-san… How did we even win, anyway?

Just, she was a Strength-type with low Magic. Casting magic at the Magic-Defense-specialized Kazami-san had been a bad matchup.

Release her? Yes / No

Yet another message followed.

No, why on earth would I release her? What kind of message is this?

Naturally I picked No.

What kind of trap option is this? They should ask this sort of question once your party is full. What an unhelpful system…

"D-dammit, dammit…! M-my precious Beastkin that I begged Papa to buy for me…!"

Reichhardt suddenly started lamenting pathetically.

"D-damn it, damn it, rematch! A rematch, right now! I'll trample you with my real strongest Garumon! Come forth, Suzanne! Show me your power…! … Gwah! Level Mismatch! Can't be challenged when the average level difference exceeds LV10… what!? Don't screw with me, don't screw with me! Sysyyytem! In that case, I'll just crush you directly! … Gaaah! No attacks for 24 hours after a Garumon Battle!? Don't screw with me!"

Reichhardt fiddled with the system, raging about something or other.

… So apparently a Garumon Battle is a system that prevents the strong from one-sidedly trampling the weak.

… We're saved. If that LV14 Suzanne came at us, with a level gap that big, there was no way I could win.

"Damn it, damn it! Naoto Akai, I've burned your face into my memory! I'll take your Garumon as my own without fail! Just you wait!"

He ran off in tears, leaving us behind.

And so he vanished from sight, leaving the beautiful Beastkin Adelia with us.