The Attack

My relationship with A-Class rank 118 Stein had turned hostile.

Even so, there really weren't any concrete countermeasures to take…

I figured the best approach was to stay vigilant against attacks while pressing on with training.

"… So, requests for monster subjugation have started coming in from both Ursula and Stein.

"To handle both, I'd like to split the party in two."

I brought it up with everyone.

"For Ursula's, if you said it was a lot to handle and asked her to wait, she'd let it slide, wouldn't she?

"Are you not going to do that?"

"Yeah, I'm not. I'm a man who's about to become Ursula's Goshujin-sama. I don't want to tell her I need help just because some guy like Stein is giving me trouble."

It was selfish of me, but…

"Then we'll just have to make it happen, full force."

Everyone got fired up and rallied to make my wish come true.

"All right, first off, the Sub-Master's Yuria. I'm counting on you."

"Mm, understood."

"Kanan, you're with my party. Haru, I want you supporting Yuria as her Defender."

"Got it."

"Mm, I'll do my best."

"Adelia, well, familiarity matters too, so she's with me. Leone.

"You're better suited as the Attacker for Yuria and Haru's party, so I'll ask you to go with them."

"Mm, understood."

"Nya."

"And the other person in my party is… Maika. I'm counting on you. We three have been together longest, after all."

"…! Mm, leave it to me."

"Now for the second party. First, Lyuka comes with me, since we'll need her Gates.

"Suzanne. You're the one I trust most, so please take charge of Yuria's second party."

"Mm, leave it to me. I won't let a single scratch fall on Onii-sama's companions."

"And Setsuna… go with Yuria and Haru, please."

"Mm, got it."

"Then I'll be on Naoto's team along with Kanan-sama, won't I."

Sawako thumped her own chest as she said it.

"… No, Sawako, I want you on Yuria's team."

"Wait a moment. If we do that, then Patty, Luna, and Colette, all of our trainees, will be on Naoto's team. That's hardly…"

"No, as long as it's within my line of sight, I can manage somehow.

"It's what happens out of my line of sight, things happening to Yuria and the others, that worries me. Please, do everything possible to set my mind at ease.

"If Sawako joins them, I can rest easy."

"… Understood. If that's how you feel…"

And so, the lineup came together like this.

"A nicely balanced lineup of Attackers, Defenders, and Supporters, isn't it.

"… Well, except for Lyuka and the three after her."

"Over here, I'll be mixing things up between Kanan, Lyuka, Maika, and so on.

"Honestly, this side is what I'm most looking forward to. They'll level up, learn skills, and keep growing stronger."

"… Well, we mustn't rob Naoto of his fun. All right, go and enjoy yourself."

That was how she sent us off.

Ursula's request was the monster Liger Beast at LV80. Stein's request was the monster Spiral Worm at LV55.

"At a glance, Ursula's request is more dangerous, but her intel is more reliable, so we can focus solely on the Liger Beast.

"Stein's, on the other hand, there's no telling what'll happen. Worst case, we get attacked from behind while fighting the monsters.

"So I'm asking Yuria to handle the Liger Beast, and we'll go after the Spiral Worm."

"Got it. LV80, huh… about the equivalent of LV40 for a UR-Class. A pretty formidable opponent. We'll be careful."

"Mm, I'm counting on you. Yuria, I trust you."

"Hehe, leave it to me. For your sake, I'll work infinitely hard… In return, when I get back, you have to do all kinds of naughty things with me, all right?"

She whispered that into my ear… I was looking forward to that.

"Our side's around 27. Soft opponents at a glance, so it should be ideal for leveling Colette and the others… I hope."

And then I set off as well.

First, we headed to a Gate near the destination, exchanged light greetings with the C-Class Master guarding it, and ran one last check on the location.

Apparently, a Spiral Worm nest had formed somewhere deeper in the wasteland and had grown active.

At this rate, the Gate couldn't be defended, so the request was to wipe out the nest.

We pushed on through the wasteland for a while. And eventually…

"Nya, monsters, nya."

… Caterpillar-shaped monsters with huge mouths. Not particularly strong. Good, a manageable opponent for our first fight.

"Lyuka, Luna, Colette, let's go."

"Mm!"

"… Y-yes."

Now, this was Colette's first battle.

That said, the start was just power-leveling. The system where simply being attached to a party let you naturally gain experience and level up properly existed even in this real-experience-style game world.

"I wonder if Luna's Vanish will take it out in one. Aim carefully, hit the center of its body, and try to get as much damage out as you can."

"Yes! … Vanish!"

Zubaaan!

Splendid, a one-shot.

Bug Worm defeated. Colette's level rose.

No special level-up fanfare to mark it, though.

"Wa-waa, I leveled up without doing anything!"

Oh, a new skill. A defensive one.

"A shield, huh… I wonder if Colette will grow into a Defender type."

"Secretaries often grow into excellent Knight-type Garumon.

"Libera, the one at Ursula's place, is a Holy Knight too.

"There are even people who say the first thing you do after becoming a B-Class Master is recruit a secretary. Recruiting a secretary as a companion is rock-solid behavior for any Master who's reached B-Class or above."

Lyuka explained.

"Is that so… wait, couldn't you have told me that a little sooner?"

"Because you didn't ask.

"… It isn't my intent to spoil all of Naoto-san's enjoyment by telling you everything.

"I'd like Naoto-san to walk this world by feeling his way forward, enjoying it to the fullest.

"Since Naoto-san chose to take Colette as a companion of his own will, I judged there was no problem in disclosing this information."

"… Ah, I see. Thank you, Lyuka. Yeah, you're absolutely right."

Acting strictly by a strategy guide would be no fun.

I had taken Colette in because she was cute and I'd wanted her with me. Of course, I had also realized she was more dependable than I'd expected.

It wasn't because I'd acted on insider strategy info about secretaries being excellent.

"This world is fun thanks in part to you, Lyuka. Thank you, always."

There, there. I patted Lyuka's head.

That said, as for this Greatshield skill: if her defense climbed higher and she turned rock-solid, that'd be one thing, but at her current low level, "damage reduction" wouldn't do much…

"Well then, more leveling. And a fittingly suitable enemy just turned up too…"

"Lyuka, Light Burst. Anything that survives, Luna, hit it with Slash. Colette, you try Strike too."

"… Yes!"

"Light Burst!"

Zubaaan! Lyuka landed hits splendidly on all three. The Bug Worm and Giant Bee went down, but the Mantis still had a fair chunk of HP left.

"Haa!"

Luna's Slash, but it didn't reach.

The Mantis swung its scythe down…

"Luna, here it comes, brace yourself!"

"Mn."

Zan! Luna took it on her HP. But she guarded well, and the damage was minimal.

"Good, nice work, Luna. Now Colette, Strike!"

"… Yaa!"

Bokat.

Colette gathered her courage, ran up to the Mantis, and landed a single bokat of a hit.

… Cute. But still too feeble to land the finishing blow.

"All right, Luna, Slash for the kill."

"Yes!"

Zuba! Luna's sword splendidly lopped off the Mantis's head.

And a new skill…

"Wait, isn't that 'Guard'?! Wow, brings back memories.

"… From the early to mid-game, when the enemy used Guard, it was so annoying."

"Nyaa… Two of them Guarding at once was the worst, nya. All you could do was wait until they ran out of charges, nya…"

"Back then… Naoto, you never once fell for the enemy's bluffs about whether they were going to use Guard. It was a little scary, like, what's going on with you? Of course, now it just feels like, well, that's Naoto for you…"

Colette's skill kicked off a wave of nostalgia.

I had heard plenty about how useful Knight-type Garumon were. Honestly, we had fought them as enemies an enormous number of times, yet for the longest time we'd never had one as an ally… so somehow, the image of "Knights = enemies!" had stuck hard.

Battles were all about how to break through a Knight's defenses.

"With Awakening these days, we just smash right through it, nya!"

"Allies can't be protected from guaranteed-hit attacks either. So we'd save the Knight for last and chip the others down little by little…"

"It doesn't block status ailments, so once I started timing my Dance of Frost to hit every three turns, that broke through too."

"Setsuna's Bloody Masquerade slip damage couldn't be blocked either… well, once you got used to it, it stopped being a real obstacle."

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen it much lately."

"Maybe because piercing attacks are getting more common? It can't block guaranteed-hits, and it's only every other turn…"

"At this rank, isn't it kind of half-baked as a defensive skill?"

"Haru's Earth Barrier, with its half-damage reduction, has the same expected value but is way more usable. Plus way more uses…"

While we were chatting cheerfully…

"… Everyone. Colette-san is on the verge of tears because the skill she just learned is being torn to shreds, so please stop."

"Colette! It's not like that! Guard is useful! You can use it lots, so it makes me happy, makes me feel like I can rely on you!"

"Th-that's right! What was annoying as an enemy means it's reliable on our side!"

"Nya, nya… I'm sorry, nya～"

… We all apologized to Colette.

"… Now then, our strong and adorable Colette has learned a wonderful skill, so…"

"I-it's all right now… I'm fine…"

Colette was bashful.

"I'll switch out Lyuka for Patty."

"Yes～! I'll do my best～!"

"Kidding aside, in this kind of small-fry battle, Guard really is the optimal skill."

A perfectly suitable mob popped up.

"All right, Colette, Guard!"

"Yes! Guard!"

Don, a shield appeared in her hands from somewhere. She set it on the ground and braced herself.

A shield effect manifested, protecting the party.

"Gaa!"

"Guwaa!"

The monsters charged in all at once, but they couldn't get through to Colette.

"Good, defense is all about guts! That's it, Colette, you're holding firm!

"… Patty! Power Crush!"

"Yes～! Yaaa!"

Dogoon!

Tremendous destructive power. Still low-level, yet with her Attack-specialized stats and her Attack UP trait…

Against small fry of this rank, practically a one-hit kill.

"One slipped through. Luna, Slash!"

"Yes!"

Zan!

Luna deliberately delayed her follow-up, waiting until Patty had finished. Then on the next turn…

"Slash again!"

"Yes!"

Zan, a clean finish. We wiped them out with the bare minimum of skill uses.

"Fwaa…"

"See? With Colette firmly defending, Patty's slow but powerful attack wipes the enemy out. Anything that slips through, Luna mops up.

"Like this, even three is plenty to fight with. You're a full-fledged combat unit now."

"… Yes!"

The three of them fought on with eyes shining. Eventually…

"We made it without trouble. This is the Spiral Worm nest… Let's try going in with these three as is."

"Yes!"

"Colette, Guard! Patty, Binding Curse!"

The huge worms surged at Colette, but Colette guarded firmly. And then…

"Haa! Binding Curse!"

Biri biri biri! The curse Patty unleashed locked down the three worms' movements. And then…

"Luna, Divine Art Balmung!"

"… Yes."

Suu… The sword in her hand was not her usual fencing rapier.

A blade you'd believe had been carved from a dragon's fang, somehow rough-hewn yet radiating an extraordinary aura, slipped softly out of her palm. She gripped it.

"… Here I go… Divine Art Balmung!"

Zan!

… Splendid. Luna's sword cleanly cut down one of them.

"… Good, that's the finisher. Balmung again on the next."

"Yes!"

The worm, immobilized by the curse, was bisected once more in a single stroke. The last one had regained its movement, but…

"Divine Art Balmung!"

A blow that all but said so what if you can move?, slicing it cleanly in two. A flawless, no-damage victory.

"All my worries for nothing… the three of them just wrapped it up themselves."

But of course, things wouldn't go all-OK like that. I couldn't ignore it any longer.

"So, are you folks just going to trail us all the way to the end?"

I called toward the cover. At that…

"… So you noticed."

A Master appeared. The system display read…

Rank 118… the same rank as Stein. Which meant he was likely under Stein's command. Sub-Masters were assigned in order starting from rank 1, so it lined up.

Could have been pure coincidence, but.

… Quick on the trigger. To strike the very moment talks broke down. That kind of speed really was an A-Class Master's. Not your average reaction.

"I bear you no grudge, but a certain personage desires your Garumon… I'd like to take her from you."

"… Since you kept silently tailing us, I figured you'd shoot from behind. You're surprisingly fair and square about it, huh."

"You dare mock me?! I am Regnus, the foremost knight of Lord Arzel!"

"No, when you've been sneaking around stalking us, there's no way you wouldn't get mocked…"

… More importantly, Arzel was one of the Masters with whom I'd struck a nonaggression pact.

So he had dispatched a B-Class Master entirely under his thumb.

"Well, whatever. As far as I'm concerned, assassins are very welcome since they make for experience. I'll take you on."

"You impertinent young upstart, with no respect for an A-Class Master. You're paying the price for getting carried away.

"Go and regret losing your prized high-Value Garumon."

"I don't actually have to accept this one. There's no risk."

"Yes, that is correct. You can refuse on the grounds that one Ultimate-Job Ultimate-Rare Garumon for 10,000,000G isn't a fair trade, with no problems…"

"No reason to dodge a battle with an opponent I can beat. Getting experience and 10,000,000G on top of it, what a generous offer."

… Of course I wasn't without resistance to wagering my beloved Kanan on a whim.

Up through D-Class, the rules had given me no choice, but now, avoiding it was possible. I'd finally climbed to the point where I could fight without staking those I loved, and yet I was going to keep doing this anyway?

Going to put those I loved in danger?

… But I…

I clicked.

In that instant, my heart leapt. My blood boiled!

In the end, I had decided to live in this world precisely because I was captivated by these all-or-nothing battles where defeat meant losing everything.

What could anyone gain by shrinking back in fear of risk?

Push forward! Only by stepping over the risk of losing everything in a single misstep did you earn the right to gain everything.

Then why not jack the wager up higher, you might ask? That was a fool's move too. Kill the prey and that was the end of it. Keep it alive and you could feast on it as many times as you liked. This was fine.

Naturally, Colette would sit it out. But Luna and Patty were plenty as combatants.

"Let's go, Maika, Lyuka, Adelia!"

He sent out his own Garumon as well.

"Come forth, Mefi, Laila, Kaori! Bring this fool to heel!"

The three who appeared. Mefi was a Holy Knight… they were all over the place! These days, just from a glance at the armor, I could tell, ah, Holy Knight.

Knight → Holy Knight was probably the most orthodox top-tier-class progression. A class boasting high defense.

Laila was a defensive Shield Knight, hefting a massive shield. I'd seen plenty of Shield Knights too. Even among Knights, she specialized particularly in defense. Despite being only Advanced Job, the catchphrase was that her defense alone didn't fall short of top-tier classes. Well, with Libera as my benchmark for Holy Knights, I had to disagree, she clearly fell short.

And Kaori… was in Japanese clothing. Plainly kendo attire, with a real katana in hand.

Black hair, black eyes, ponytail. The dignified bearing of a kendo girl. Samurai… same as Mita-sensei, a top-tier class. Likely wielded special techniques with a katana.

"… Don't tell me, Japanese?"

"What of it? Now that I've come to this world, I too am a single Garumon. I will simply devote everything to my Goshujin-sama's victory."

She probably had nothing to do with Reido Academy, a separate transferee.

"Exactly. I agree."

Maika answered.

"Let's be careful. The fact that otherworld Garumon have high abilities…"

"Yeah, I know that better than anyone."

Per LV the value boost was 1000, Advanced Job was -500, Top-Tier was -1000, so working backwards, all three were originally Value 4000 SSR-Class.

All right, time to begin.

"Adelia, Boost Power. Maika, Dance of Frost. Lyuka, Cure Shine on Adelia."

"Mefi, Holy Protection. Laila, Iron Wall. Kaori, Mental Focus!"

Regnus's tactics were the same as mine, stacking buffs first.

Up through C-Class, fighting an opponent of the same type as me had been rare. Probably because everyone had been low-rarity with low HP up to that point.

If a fight ended early, buffs didn't matter much. The match was settled while you were busy attacking.

But in LV50+ battles where HP rose, the importance of buffs went way up.

In C-Class and below, buffs at 10 percent or 20 percent were common, weak ones, weak in effect. My companions were all top-quality, with most of their buffs being powerful, 30 percent or more. By B-Class, though, with everyone SSR-Class, the gaps in skills closed too.

Finally an even fight.

… Now, when both sides stacked equivalent buffs, the buffs effectively cancelled out. The decisive question was who switched to offense first, but…

Next turn.

I'd go from our side.

"Lyuka, Light's Blessing! Adelia, here we go!"

"Laila, Iron Wall, Mefi, Holy Protection, Kaori, go, Iaijutsu Slash!"

On their side, two Knights kept stacking buffs while one launched an attack.

The target was Lyuka.

"Pull back!"

Zan!

Kaori's slashing strike. Lyuka took it directly. No room to evade, it was just too fast.

Probably a first-strike, guaranteed-hit skill.

So that was Iaijutsu…

"Agu…!"

Gyun, HP dropped sharply. In one stroke, more than half!

"Geh…!"

"Hah, how feeble! Did you think you could fight on a B-Class battlefield with a Garumon under LV50?!"

Regnus crowed.

"But we're going too. Adelia, Fire Boost, Demon Art - Flame Severing Claw!"

Now then, our usual go-to attack.

Target: that feeble-looking Kaori…!

"Guardian!"

Laila moved. An auto-defense skill, she used her shield to cover Kaori.

In that case…

"Adelia, Demon Art - Beast-Blood Awakening!"

I played the card immediately.

Adelia's skill slipped right past Laila's shield and hit Kaori directly.

"Nyaaaa!"

"Gahaaa!"

Zugyuun!

Her gauge dropped at terrifying speed… close to 2/3, but not enough to take her out in one. Still…

"Nyaaa!"

Adelia was a multi-hit attacker. Just when I thought, that's a wrap…

"Gu…!"

Kaori clung to life with HP 1, Endure.

"Whoa, at this rank they Endure as a matter of course.

"She's got defense buffs too, defense is high, and as expected of LV50, HP is high too. They've gotten tougher."

I, for my part, was impressed at not having taken her out in one turn, but…

"Impossible…!"

Regnus, on the other hand, looked stunned at having been pushed to the brink.

"Tch… piercing plus guaranteed-hit, so you slipped past defense! But a skill of that magnitude must be limited to once per battle… if that didn't finish her, the advantage is ours!

"Laila, in that case… Guard! Next turn, Kaori's slash will down the magic-user!"

"… Heh."

I couldn't help a small smile, remembering the conversation with Colette. No, no, Guard really was a useful skill.

The reason Knights had a reputation for excellence in defense had a lot to do with Guard.

The Garumon I'd fought against most up to now were Knight-type. They were useful, so everyone used them. But… it was a one-pattern playbook.

"Sorry. Adelia is in a class of her own… Demon Art - Beast-Blood Awakening, Fire Boost, Demon Art - Flame Severing Claw!"

"Yes, nya!"

Zugaaan!

"Impossible…"

Adelia's next strike took out Kaori, who had been stacking Mental Focus once again.

Guaranteed-hit skills, as I'd verified with Haru's Earth Barrier, slipped past defensive skills like Guard, which only drew attacks toward the user.

Sparring matches really did matter.

Of course, with guaranteed-hit alone, attacks aimed at Laila would still get blocked. Well, since Adelia's Beast-Blood Awakening also granted piercing, that wasn't an issue.

"Ga… hah…"

Just like that. Kaori went down.

Maika, Setsuna, Haru, Sawako… whenever I had encountered otherworld Garumon as enemies, it had always been a brutal fight.

And of course, I hadn't managed a single win against Mira Kongouin, Ursula's companion.

But this opponent was incomparable to those. She had gone down in remarkably short order.

"Adelia, one more strike!"

The reason I'd put real intent into that final blow despite only 1 HP being left was for this. Still in training, but switching targets on the second hit of a two-strike combo was possible if you tried hard enough.

Right now, I still had to set the strategy up front, "Kaori first, then Mefi," and follow the script to barely pull it off.

Going forward, I wanted to react flexibly: critical lands cleanly, switch to a different target; doesn't, follow up on the same one.

"Nyaaa!"

Zugaaan!

Mefi's defense was tough too. HP barely dropped to about half. As expected, one strike couldn't take her down.

"Tch… a stout Garumon…! Just as the intel said. Then I'll just finish this swiftly. Mefi, activate.

"Holy Sword Ras-Slayer!"

"Yes…!"

Mefi drew her sword. A radiantly shining, blinding blade. Not an ordinary weapon, a sword carrying terrifying power.

"Ras-Slayer!"

And Mefi swung her sword. Aimed at Adelia.

"Lyuka, Light Shield!"

I instantly raised a shield, but parin! A piercing attack! Couldn't be helped. But if it was piercing, the damage shouldn't be that high…!

Zan!

"Unyaaaa!"

That single strike carved off about 2/3 of Adelia's HP in one go.

"Impossible! That much damage even with piercing?! … Too strong."

A holy sword differed from an ordinary sword in that it had some kind of effect… Slayer. Maybe…

"Beastkin super-effective?"

"Ho, you knew. Exactly. We'll start by clearing out the dangerous Beastkin."

I see, he'd realized my Attacker was the Beastkin Adelia and had prepared a counter.

This was bad. Adelia would go down on the next strike.

… Fortunately, Adelia was the faster one, but… if Laila covered, I couldn't take her out. Spending the last Beast-Blood Awakening would do it, but…

I wanted to save it for the next battle.

Maika's Gale Dance + Accel Mirage 2-strike combo just got blocked by a normal Guard.

I really wanted Maika to have a piercing attack too.

"But right about now…"

Shuuu…

"Ah, uu…"

Dance of Frost. Laila froze and could no longer move.

"Tch, freezing techniques…!"

Unfortunately, it had no effect on Mefi. Holy Knights probably had high magic defense.

All right, here was my chance.

"Right, Adelia, Fire Boost then Demon Art - Flame Severing Claw on Mefi!"

"Yes, nya!"

Dogoooo!

"Aguu!"

I'd shaved her down… but Endure again. Probably an item that takes Endure to 100 percent.

Sawako had been equipped with one too, so it was probably standard B-Class kit.

But with HP 1 left and no defense up…

"Maika, Gale Dance + Accel Mirage!"

"Yes!"

Doka!

Splendid, Mefi went down. With that flowing motion she pivoted into a re-attack on Laila, then another!

Maika had relatively low Attack, but she was driving her kicks precisely into critical points, so criticals popped reliably.

Once HP had been chipped down this much…

"Finish it, Adelia!"

"Nyaaaa! Demon Art - Flame Severing Claw, second hit, nyaaaa!"

Zugaaan!

… Cleanly chewed through the rest of Laila's HP! … But then, Endure again! Persistent. Still…

"Speed quadrupled, I'm there!"

Dogoo!

Maika's three-hit combo landed, finishing it cleanly. Felt good. Multi-hit attacks and re-attacks, fully utilized to a tee.

A splendid, lopsided victory.

"Cure Shine!"

Lyuka's magic at the end. A small heal for Adelia. If we hadn't finished Laila off, Lyuka would have delivered the killing blow.

"Im-impossible… I prepared a Beastkin counter, set up airtight defenses… damn it all! What did I keep you in my party for if your only brain is for shielding?!"

Geshi! Regnus kicked the fallen Laila aside!

"Stop that!"

I shouted Regnus down.

"… Tch… Member change!"

… Unpleasant guy, but anyway, on with it.

"Saphira, Rouge, Mare!"

And what appeared was…

"Dragon Knight Saphira, presenting myself!"

A knight whose limbs were guarded with dragon scales. Plainly a Dragonkin girl.

She was clad in armor over that… a Dragon Knight. A Dragonkin made into a Knight on top of being already strong by default.

If memory served, one of the top-tier classes, a tremendously powerful Garumon, no question.

"I am the Beast Tamer, Rouge.

"By the Beast Tamer's ability, I can summon one monster on entry.

"Come, Black Dragon Glass!"

A magic circle appeared in midair, and the next moment, a dragon had manifested.

"Fufufu! Welcome! Mount!"

Saphira straddled the dragon's back.

"Now, sorry to keep you waiting. From here on, the real match begins!"

You could do something like this…!

Mare was a girl in light Dancer's clothing. Plain as day, a Dancer.

For their ace, the opponent was a fully armed Dragon Knight.

"Mare, Dance of Exhilaration. Rouge, Whip of Exhilaration. Saphira, sweep them with Dragon Breath!"

"Don't let them stack buffs. Adelia, Flame Severing Claw on Mare! Maika, Gale Dance, Accel Mirage on Mare! Lyuka, Cure Shine on Maika!"

After waiting for Lyuka's buff, Maika was the first to move, boasting overwhelming Speed.

A 3-hit combo on Mare. Speed still fell short of 8x, but she carved off a clean 40 percent in one go.

If Adelia's attack landed now…

Suka!

"Nyau!?"

But Adelia's attack missed.

Shadow Step?! Of course a Dancer would have it!

Still, Adelia's attack came once more. No way she'd dodge twice in a row…!

Suka!

… Well, it happened sometimes… No, with Maika's three landing and Adelia's two missing, the probability wasn't actually bad. Although I did wonder why it wasn't the other way around…

Adelia's attacks had been precisely targeting the opponent's hard-to-dodge centerline.

But when a skill activated, you got dodged unreasonably.

A bit beyond what technique could compensate for, nothing to be done. If you wanted to land it, you had to spend a guaranteed-hit.

Buffs stacked onto Saphira and the black dragon respectively. Mare's dance looked like it had a special, heightened effect on a single target.

"Dragon Breath!"

Dogoooo!

The dragon spewed flames.

The destructive power was obvious at a glance. In many fantasy stories, dragons were the strongest monster. In this world, no different.

Or perhaps it was a boost from the Beast Tamer or Dragon Knight's abilities.

"Light Protect!"

Pariin…!

Good, blocked.

"Naive… my Dragon Breath is a 2-hit combo! Dragon Breath!"

Dogoooo!

"Do you really think I, having been honed under Naoto-san, can't handle that much? Light Protect!"

Pariin!

Flames spat out one after another.

But Lyuka splendidly blocked them all.

"Well done. As expected of Lyuka."

… That said, if the next one came as a 2-hit combo too, Light Protect could only block once…

No place to be stingy.

"Adelia, Demon Art - Beast-Blood Awakening, Demon Art - Flame Severing Claw on Mare!"

"Nya!"

"Maika, Gale Dance, Icicle Zapper on Saphira!"

"Yes!"

"Lyuka, buff Maika with Cure Shine! Then prepare for the attack!"

"Yes!"

With this Adelia would be tapped out. Drop her here!

"Acceleration!"

Paaan!

Right then, Rouge's whip accelerated Saphira.

"Dragon Breath!"

Dogooooo!

"Light Protect!"

Pariin!

Light Protect was now empty.

"One more shot…"

"Nyaaaa! Finishing blow, nyaaaa!"

Zuggaan!

But an instant before Saphira's re-attack went off, Adelia's strike pierced through Mare.

… Oh, no Endure trigger. She went down.

"Gale Dance, Icicle Zapper!"

At the same time, Maika's attack burst out.

Dogoo! Dogoo! Dogoo!

Sadly, 8x was apparently still a no-go. She stopped at 3 attacks. The damage must have been considerable, but the opponent's HP was simply too high. Couldn't finish them off.

… Wait, were Saphira's and the black dragon's HP combined?

"Naoto-san, I'll protect Maika-san!"

"No, Maika is fine. Protect yourself."

"Yes! Light Shield!"

"Dragon Breath!"

"Nyaaaa!"

Adelia threw herself over Maika. Attackers who'd burned through their offensive skills turned themselves into shields and stayed useful to the very end.

She'd kept that lesson faithfully.

"Adelia…!"

Adelia got taken out in a single hit, but the damage to Maika was minimal… Well, originally Dragon-element was completely weak to Maika's Ice-element.

That was part of why I'd skipped putting a shield on Maika.

… Next turn.

"Impossible… a mere fledgling B-Class Master, this strong…!"

"No, you knew that, didn't you? That's why you originally paid to enter into a nonaggression pact, isn't it?"

"Kuh, we did not request that you enter into any such nonaggression pact!"

"… Ah, you were Stein's pet from the start, weren't you? At first Stein went along with protecting me too.

"Then I got on his nerves and he flipped. Tough being a retainer, isn't it."

"You bastard! Do it, Rouge! Whip of Doom!"

"Eh, ehhh!? But the second party is still standing…!?"

"Just do it!"

"Yes! Burn through your life force and run wild! Whip of Doom!"

Pishi!

"Gaaaaaaa!"

Saphira roared… Yeah, this looked like one of those skills where she'd die in one or several turns in exchange for unleashing her last reserves.

Until she ran out of strength, the odds she wouldn't drop were high.

"What do you want to do?"

"Light Shield on Maika. The rest of you, rest a little."

"Understood. Do your best, Maika. An opponent of this level, please put her down without it reaching Kanan-san."

"Oh? Doesn't Naoto-kun want to finish her off with Luna's Balmung?"

"Ah, the dragon super-effective going to waste, I do want to use it…

"… But forget it. I don't want to give a guy who doesn't treasure his Garumon any badge of honor like 'I took down at least one party.'

"… Maika, dodge with everything you've got!"

"Yes!"

As proof of her resolve, Maika cast off her uniform and stood in the erotic Spirit Garb.

"Dragon Breath!"

"Icicle Zapper!"

The dragon's blasting breath collided with masses of ice. Ordinarily the ice would have melted away, but whether thanks to the elemental advantage or Maika's strength, the ice instead pushed the flames back as it advanced and slammed into Saphira.

Now, that side, no need to watch over.

Pitting attack against attack to weaken each other… as you could see, it was doable.

Not full cancellation, but if you adjusted your timing and the angle of impact, you could cut damage almost in half.

Plus, Maika's improved Speed.

Tan! Tan!

She nimbly dodged the rain of flames pouring down.

Speed didn't just mean acting first in the game-mechanic sense, or having more attack chances. She really could move fast.

She raced around the battlefield at tremendous speed, with high evasion rates too.

… That said, full evasion of area attacks was hard. Plus, since you couldn't normally stay airborne, even brushing the heat wave dealt damage.

Still, Maika splendidly halved the damage.

"Dragon Breath!"

"Icicle Zapper!"

One more! With that, Saphira's HP was down to 1. Endure activated as expected.

"Dragon Breath!"

"Icicle Zapper!"

Three attacks! She landed one more on the counter. And still didn't go down…

"Gaaaaaaaa…!"

Pishi… pishi pishi… But Saphira's body was cracking, the limit clearly approaching. If we held out one more turn, we'd win.

A quick member change here just to mock him would be too much. I'd hold off on that.

"Maika, chip Rouge with Accel Mirage."

"Yes!"

"Whip of Exhilaration!"

"Dragon Breath!" "Dragon Breath!" "Dragon Breath!"

… With Attack stacked this high, this was a life-risking strike.

It would be strange if she couldn't take Maika out, even with the elemental disadvantage.

But… ah, maybe, while sprinkling sparkling snowflakes and dancing through the flames so deftly, Maika's beauty had even Saphira enraptured.

I was enraptured all over again too. Maika really was… beautiful. Truly…

"… Ah… ah…"

Dosa. And then, exhausted, Saphira fell. Maika was on the brink of death too, of course, but…

"Accel Mirage!"

Dogo! Dogo! Dogo! Dogo!

On the last turn, Maika, Speed maxed out, unleashed a flowing 4-hit attack. Rouge had lost her will to fight too, so every hit was a critical, and the match ended cleanly.

"Ho… how absurddd…!"

Regnus was thunderstruck. Well, he'd just lost 10,000,000G in a single match, so it stung.

Converted to yen, that was about 1.7 billion.

The reason it worked out that way despite 1G being 10,000 yen was that, perhaps because the wealth gap was so steep in this world, the higher the figure climbed, the less each unit of money was worth.

The food 1G could buy was indeed worth 10,000 yen, but what 10,000,000G could buy wasn't equivalent to 100 billion yen.

Reckoning it roughly as: 10,000G → 10,000,000 yen, 100,000,000G → 10,000,000,000 yen, scaling down like that, the currency value made decent sense.

By that logic, "10x" amounted to roughly 5.6x, so 10,000,000G was about 1.7 billion yen. Lyuka had crunched the numbers for me.

1.7 billion was about the price of a fighter like an Eagle, wasn't it? Thinking of it as "the loss of losing a B-Class Master vs B-Class Master fight is about as much as having one fighter shot down" made it easier to picture.

… Well, I didn't actually need to convert into yen anymore. I wasn't going back to the original world, after all…

But wanting to convert into Japanese common sense was basically my nature by this point.

Maika's level rose.

"Oh, Maika finally hit LV49! Just a little more!"

"… Mm! Just a little more…!"

Waa…!

The day Maika and I would finally be united was drawing near, and we got fired up.

"… Oh, we can't be lazing around. To attack efficiently, the next guy should come at us right after the invincibility window expires, in 10 minutes."

"In that case, no need to push ourselves. We've fulfilled the goal of subjugating the monsters. Let's hurry back via my Gate."

"Yeah, let's do that."

But before we headed back…

"Regnus, are you all right? Want me to take you to a nearby town?"

He didn't seem like a guy I'd ever get along with, but leaving him there bothered me, so I called out anyway.

"… Sorry. Thank you."

He passed through the Gate with surprising meekness. Not an especially bad guy after all…

He'd attacked under his superior's orders, and had at least come at me fair and square.

He wasn't kind to Garumon, but plenty of Masters in this world were like that. That was why I, on the other hand, was called abnormally kind.

The truly bad ones were guys like Stein. Even granting that a slightly hostile newcomer existed, would you really go so far as to send assassins after him? That guy, I had to do something about him soon…

But first, training. I wanted at least one more LV50 unit.

On the way back, I gently took Maika's hand.