Black Iron Magician

Chapter 182 The Guardian

The crawling sound gradually becomes louder, in other words, it’s indicating that something is gradually getting closer. ‘The area around the door is dangerous,’ the three seem to be thinking the same thing, and they jumped back almost at the same time.

「… Strange. There’s no response to my Danger Detection or Divine Protection.」

「Is it an opponent that you shouldn’t rely too much on your skills? Haruna noticed it first, but my nose is smelling the danger, you know? In a word, it’s dangerous.」

「Both of you, keep your eyes forward! It’s coming!」

It’s approaching close to the door. Haruna holds her Doggan Staff in front of her, Touko takes a low stance so that she can rush at any time, and Chinatsu pulls out the Flame Magic Sword Pluto from the wooden scabbard. They are ready for battle and are staring at the darkness behind the door.

――And then, it crawls out of the darkness.

「… Eh, a slime?」

「Moreover, it’s awfully small…」

What came out of the darkness was a slime with a jiggling blue body. It’s only about the height of Haruna’s knees in size, and it’s fairly small for a common monster you can see in the wild. In other words, it’s a young slime in the process of growing. Young slimes usually live in the sea, and they are small fry among small fry that even a level 1 novice can fight. Its appearance makes you think it’s cute in a sense, and the girls are―― not changing their battle stances.

「Well, I’m sure it’s only its appearance.」

「It’s probably trying to catch you off guard by mimicking a weak appearance.」

「It sounds like a strategy that Shishō would like!」

「「You are right.」」

Regardless of how it looks, for the girls, it’s already out of the question from the point that it’s a monster sealed by Nell. They are on guard, not making light of it, and judged it as a Demon King class. And that choice was extremely correct.

―――― Gi!

A number of tentacles suddenly burst out from the slime’s body. The tips of these tentacles are as sharp as spearhead, and it feels as if hundreds of spears are scattered from the exploding bomb. Haruna and the others dodged the sharp tip and intercepted the tentacles by hitting their sides. The feeling that’s transmitted to their hands is heavy, and it’s so hard that it couldn’t be imagined coming from that soft smile body.

「Heavy…!」

「It’s coming again!」

The first wave was dodged, but the slime has no intention to give the girls a break time. The tentacles returned to the slime, but a similar attack in all directions was unleashed with no delay time and no initial action. Second wave, third wave, fourth wave―― there’s no end to it. In addition, even though the tentacles are from the slime’s body that has been transformed, the total volume of the launched tentacles and the original slime’s body do not match. At first glance, that small body seems to contain an inexhaustible amount.

「I can dodge them at this distance, though!」

「But the closer we get, the more intense the attacks that come to us!」

The attack probably has reached the 10th wave, but it has no sign of stopping and the girls can’t get any closer. It’s like rapid-fire guns being shot in all directions. That’s how fierce and fast the smile’s attack is.

「Can Haruna’s weapon or Chinatsu’s magic be used as a shield!? It’ll be bad if this goes on!」

「Ugh! With this much power, I’m not sure…!」

「Then, I’ll do it! But before that, hah!」

Haruna quickly reached for her pouch and took out a black ball. At the same time she dodged the next attack, she raised her arm and threw it with all her strength. The throwing, which aimed at the gap of the tentacle attack, was approaching the slime at a tremendous speed without shifting from the intended course.

「Oh, as expected!」

「Goo!」

Haruna’s iron ball, which had slaughtered many atrocious monsters, took a turn and changed its trajectory. It’s unclear whether it’s the blind spot of the smile, but for the girls, the trajectory was changed to hit the side instead of the front. Also, the iron ball has been given the usual full course of magic. If it keeps advancing, it will almost certainly hit the slime.

――――Gigi.

It was the time for the next attack. However, the attack that was supposed to come didn’t come. Did the slime’s tentacles attack stop? No, it’s not. The slime’s tentacles attack, which had been shot in all directions, is now concentrated on two points.

Two points on the surface of the slime’s body swelled up like bumps. The next moment, what unleashed were no longer spears, but tentacles that resembled giant excavators. The targets of those dangerous weapons are Haruna and the approaching iron ball. The speed is much faster, probably because those are the concentration of the previous attacks. It has a high-performance homing function and is relentlessly aiming only at Haruna even if she tries to dodge it. With Haruna’s agility value, she can manage it only by defending.

「Crap…!」

「Hard Reflect! Alma Divine Bless!」

Haruna immediately took a defensive posture with her Doggan Staff, and Chinatsu quickly applied protection magic on Haruna. Thick walls of light were formed in front of the black iron of the Doggan Staff, and Haruna herself is also given light armor. But even with this, she still can’t be relieved. The tip area of the tentacle that’s approaching Haruna is now larger than her body. In addition, the tentacle became drill-shaped with repeated complex rotations, so it’s obvious that touching it directly even for a moment is absolutely not good. If she makes a mistake even a little, she will be minced.

As for the other one, it’s already collided with the iron ball because it was close to the slime. The iron ball was heavier due to Haruna’s Gravi, and it also had the effect of All Break that lowers the status of the opponent that it touched directly. As a result, the iron ball made a series of high-pitched sounds and gave off sparks as it went into the middle of the excavator. And then, it stopped halfway through the tentacle.

(Uwah, it’s hard after all… It feels like it was okay because it’s Gan-san’s iron ball. I guess I shouldn’t use aiki. Also, it seemed like it won the collision though――)

Using her newly acquired 『Calculation』 skill, Haruna analyzed the situation in an instant. The huge tentacle was pushed by the iron ball and torn off to the middle. However, seeing it returned to the slime body along with the iron ball, it does not seem to have been damaged. And now is Haruna’s turn.

「Haruna!」

「Don’t worry about me, just go!」

「――Yeah!」

As if crossing each other, Touko runs beside the huge excavator that’s approaching Haruna. Behind her, the tentacle easily breaks through the stacked barriers, which Chinatsu made as hard as possible, and is finally close to Haruna.

「Doryaaaah!」

Haruna intercepts it with her Doggan Staff that has a full course of magic just like the thrown ball. The Doggan Staff hits the tentacle on the side, crushes the drill part, and forcibly changes its trajectory. The interception is successful. However, due to the recoil of the collision, Haruna is blown backward far to the entrance of the training ground and is struck against the wall.

「Don’t get――」

「――Carried away!」

Chinatsu cut off the huge tentacle with the flame magic sword, and Toukou, with Berserk in full throttle, struck the slime body with all her might.