Chapter 1-18 : Raid (part 2)

Shortly after I shouted, Hellfire Grizzlies came out from the woods one by one.

We sown the magic stone shard in the middle of the battle area which was surrounded by sturdy semi-circular fences.

However, the enemy seemed to have lost interest in the magic stone shard.
After they saw us, they turned to us who were outside the fences.

「Oi oi! Are you kidding me!? They are so big!」

I didn’t know whose voice that was, but it wasn’t much different in size from the one I defeated a few days ago.

However, they were indeed overwhelmingly larger than a normal bear.

No wonder if the Collectors and the villagers who are seeing them for the first time are scared.

GRAAAAAAAWWRRー！！！

As if it realized that we were scared, the foremost Hellfire Grizzly screamed and rushed over here.

This is bad…

I don’t think the fences will break from the rush, but if we are too scared to attack, it will break the fences eventually.

I have to do something!

「【Force Bullet】！」(Sarasa)

I shot the rushing Hellfire Grizzly with a lump of magical power on its face.

However, it was only enough to slow the bear down a little.

Seriously?
This magic is enough to blow away an adult man and break his bones, though…

I was shocked.

I should have practiced offensive magic more…

For the next move, I quickly stepped forward, pulled out my sword and at the same time swung it at the bear’s neck.

ーSlash!

With the sword Master gave me, I cut its neck easily like butter.

Because of the momentum from the rush, the bear’s severed head and its torso hit the fence behind me.

「Wow…」(Sarasa)

I was surprised at myself because even though I used body strengthening, I didn’t expect I could do it so smoothly.

As expected from an expensive sword.
It cuts really well.

Seeing me killing the bear, people stopped moving for some reason.

「A, Ahem! Everyone, Hellfire Grizzlies are defeatable! Don’t’ be afraid and fight!」(Sarasa)

When I cleared my throat and shouted, everyone was surprised and got back to their senses.

And then, they started to throw rocks and shoot arrows at the Hellfire Grizzlies that were coming out of the woods one after another.

ーーOh, that one was good!
Was that Kate-san’s arrow?

Kate-san aimed for their eyes very precisely.
She has good accuracy.

But, their eyeballs can be sold at a high price…
No, no, no! How can I think about money at a time like this!?
The most important thing now is to survive!

Some of the Hellfire Grizzlies were spitting fire from their mouths, but the steel fences couldn’t be destroyed by fire.
The villagers and the Collectors who can’t fight were also pouring water on their fire, so no major damage has occurred so far.

「ORAAA! We can fight them in groups! If you’re scared, use the fences to defend yourself!」(Andre)

Andre-san shouted to encourage the others.
His party has already killed one Hellfire Grizzly.

I was also struggling, but because I’m small, I could move around quickly and killed three more Hellfire Grizzlies while supporting the people who seemed to be in danger.

However, unlike the first one, I couldn’t finish them in one blow.
I had to keep avoiding and blocking their claws and fire attacks, and it was really exhausting.

Ah, I wish I had infinite stamina!

After I killed the fifth one, I realized that I had been pushed little by little until my back finally touched the fence.

「Andre-san, how’s the situation?」(Sarasa)

「I have no idea! We’ve only been able to kill two so farー」(Andre)

「I already got half of them!」(Kate)

Kate, who was shooting from the roof of a building, called out to us.

Nice! Her archery skills are very helpful.

「Well done! It’s going well so far, but….」(Sarasa)

「The fences are going to collapse, huh?」(Andre)

In addition to the accumulated damage, the bears’ corpses that were leaning to the fences made it harder for us to fight while using the fences as a shield.

「We should have made two layers of fences…」(Sarasa)

「We didn’t have time, so it couldn’t be helpedー」(Andre)

DOKAANー!

When Andre-san was talking, suddenly, Iris-san was blown away and rolled over here along with pieces of wood.

「Iris-san!」(Sarasa)

When I looked in the direction where Iris-san was blown away from, I saw an exceptionally huge Hellfire Grizzly.

Its height was more than two times mine.
The thickness of its arms seemed to be thicker than my body.

Kate-san shot an arrow at the Hellfire Grizzly, but it repelled Kate-san’s arrow easily as if it was a toothpick.

「Ughh! I’m sorry! I couldn’t hold that bear back!」(Iris)

「Iris-san, your sword…!」(Sarasa)

「I know. It broke when I blocked that bear’s attack.」(Iris)

About one-third of Iris-san’s sword was broken apart.

Additionally, there were many scratches on Iris-san’s armor, and rips in her clothes.

I gave her a fairly large amount of potions, so she has no wounds, but looking at blood stains on her clothes and her armor’s terrible condition, she must have had quite a hard fight.

「Is that one the boss?」(Sarasa)

「Looks like it. I don’t think my party alone can defeat it.」(Andre)

「Let’s attack it all together!」(Sarasa)

「I can still fight! I’m going too! ーーAa, but my sword is…」(Iris)

「Here. Use my spare sword.」(Andre)

「Thank you!」(Iris)

Andre-san lent Iris-san his spare sword.

After that, Andre-san, Gil-san, Gray-san, Iris-san, and I rushed to the boss bear.

The boss bear glared at us, ready to fight.

But suddenlyー

Piiiー Piiiー Piiiー!

The sound of a whistle was heard.

It sounded three times, so that means there’s a Hellfire Grizzly that managed to get into the village.

「ーAre you kidding me!? Andre-san, can you take your party members and go there?」(Sarasa)

「But are you sure you want to fight the boss without us?」(Andre)

「Don’t worry about us. There are no other people I can rely on except your party. Besides, look… I can’t leave this place right now…」(Sarasa)

I feel like the boss bear was aiming for me.
Perhaps because it saw me killing the first bear with a single blow at the beginning.

It would probably chase after me if I left this place.

Andre-san looked at the boss bear.

「I see… I understand. We’ll be back as soon as possible! Gil, Gray, let’s go!」(Andre)

「「Ouu!」」(Gil & Gray)

And then Andre-san’s party ran quickly toward the direction where the sound of the whistle came from.

Fortunately, the boss bear didn’t even react when Andre-san and the others left.

Looks like it’s really aiming for me.

「Iris-san, you too. Can you help the other Collectors?」(Sarasa)

「But!」(Iris)

「I’ll be fine. Trust me.」(Sarasa)

「…..Understood. Please be careful!」(Iris)

Iris-san nodded with a regretful expression and ran to help the other fighters.

Alright. Let’s see if I can beat this boss bear.