Chapter 294: Collect ・ Wall ・ Ball
We continued leveling for the Wave. I got the Old Man to make Raphtalia a new sword and placed an order for Firo’s claws with Imya’s Uncle. With that out of the way, we zealously proceed to level grind.
Because of this, my level has already climbed to 105.
The others in the village are also reaching quite high levels.
It may have something to do with that peculiar weapon, but Rishia was able to break the level cap and advance to level 105.
Then… the problem lies with Atlas and Fohl.
Every day, Atlas tries to sleep by my side. To get through the strict defenses on my house, she attacks from the front and ends up fighting every night.
And every time, Raphtalia, Fohl, the Raph Race, or the Filo Rials try to halt her advance. But please remember something.
By experiencing something once, she can adapt 10 or 20 times faster than a normal person.
“Just a little bit more!” (Atlas)
“I was told that interrupting Naofumi-san’s sleep was a bad thing, so…”
I deployed a powerful force in front of the buildings. The Heroes, Itsuki, and Ren stand to confront her. They’ve grown to have ample ability to do so.
I discussed it with Ren a couple of days ago…
“Honestly, among the children in the village, the one growing the most is that Atlas girl.” (Ren)
“I see.” (Naofumi)
Since the Houou battle was approaching, I increased the amount of time I spent training with him.
She even studied my style of defense, and even helps me study the application of Chi.
That Hengen Musou Granny said that Atlas’s defensive techniques were lacking, so I worked together with the girl to develop new techniques from the ground up.
The name is just temporary, but we made the skills 『Collect』, 『Wall』, and 『Ball』.
First is 『Collect』.
It’s convenient when facing large scale magic head on.
Of course, if you infuse more chi into it, you can increase that.
Next is 『Wall』.
It mostly works like my Air Strike Shield.
It’s much more all-purpose than the skill. Its deployable area is also really large.
Its weak points are its low defense, and its short effective time.
Last is 『Ball』. This one is a counter skill.
It works on a different principle than hitting attacks back with my shield.
I made it so that Atlas was able to use these skills.
They’re skills based on my natural ability of defense, and Atlas was just mimicking that, though.
“It’s hard to read her movements, and she’s fast. What’s more, whenever I think I’m going to hit, she immediately diverts my attacks. I can’t get any damage through to her.” (Ren) “And on top of that, her attacks naturally ignore defense, so it’s hard to develop countermeasures.” (Itsuki)
“Probably. But, if I fought her one on one, I would have to go all out, or it would be difficult.” (Ren)
“It would be hard to stop her without giving her serious injury.” (Itsuki)
For a fully strengthened Hero to have to go all out… Just how fast is she growing?
But since the Heroes try to avoid killing any villagers, they have to hold back. I guess it would be a hard fight.
“Fohl-kun can stop her, so I think we’ll manage one way or another, but as expected of the strongest Demi-Human race, the Hakukos.” (Itsuki)
Itsuki speaks with an uninterested tone.
Even so, Fohl is quite something to be able to stop her as well.
“Yeah, keeping up with her is the best I can do. She’s way too agile.” (Ren)
By the way, Fohl is at 110, and Atlas at 103.
Atlas always takes on a large number of opponents, so she gets a lot of battle experience unrelated to her level.
During the day, she trains with other strong geniuses like Firo and Sadina. She’s constantly improving herself.
“Is she seriously that strong?” (Naofumi)
When I train with her, I can take her blows just fine.
Should I ask her to come at me seriously next time?
If she manages to beat the crap out of me, I have no idea what I’ll do.
“Since Naofumi can only be on the defense, it’s hard to find opportunities to attack, I bet. We have to mix in offense as well.” (Ren)
“Well, I can’t argue with that.” (Ren)
Just keeping up defenses is easy… There may be some people who think that, but that’s definitely not the case.
You have to catch and shift the impact of opponents’ blows to stop them, and parry them as well. You can’t just hold up a shield.
What’s more, my self-made defense style also allows me to break opponents’ weapons, thus aiding my party.
I can do Shirahatori, and grab weapons and arrows out of midair. (TL: Shirahadori is that thing where you clap your hands on a sword swinging downwards)
And wait, that’s kinda all I can do. I mean, there’s no helping it. I just don’t have offensive capability.
Back to Atlas.
I’m usually able to deal with it, but I don’t think my speed is that high. Is she really going easy on me?
“But you definitely are good at stopping attacks. Perhaps you learned to keep up with Atlas’s speed.” (Ren)
“Well… That’s true. Their race really does seem like it was born for battle. (Ren)
“Is that so? When she trains with Firo and the Raphs, she doesn’t look like anything special.” (Naofumi)
Looking at just speed, Firo is peerless.
She can also accelerate herself to greater levels with Magic, so she’s more troublesome of an opponent than Atlas.
And also, they have their numbers…
“Firo-chan’s really big, so it’s easier to hit her. But Atlas’s small build and dexterity make it really hard to land any blows on her.” (Ren)
“Yes.” (Itsuki)
Her size, is it?
I don’t know the reason, but perhaps it has something to do with her past illness.
Even so, enemy size…
Now that you mention it, Firo is big.
And Atlas’s size is troublesome in another way.
The threats are of different categories.
“Fuee… Atlas-chan is getting stronger by the day. It’s really troubling.” (Rishia)
“Yes, she’s gradually getting stronger too. Her movements are getting sharper and more intense.” (Itsuki)
Fumu.
“If we have members of that level of strength, won’t the Houou battle be easy?” (Ren)
“Why?” (Ren)
Ren asks with a perplexed expression.
“I made a promise to Fohl that I wouldn’t let her participate against Houou. That’s why I’m taking up applicants for that battle, but Atlas won’t be included.” (Naofumi)
I think it’s at the same moment I said those words.
When I turn around, I see a sack on the floor and Atlas staring in our direction.
And wait, isn’t my probability of happening upon these cliché situations unreasonably high?
“What’s wrong, Atlas?” (Naofumi)
“Yep, most likely. I made a promise with your brother.” (Naofumi)
“Even if you say that, I already made a promise. I decided I would keep such promises even if it killed me. As long as I properly agreed to the deal, at least.” (Naofumi)
“Onii-sama…” (Atlas)
Atlas unsteadily walks off. She seems anxious as she increases her pace.
“I’m worried about Fohl-kun, so I’m going to go check on him.”
“I as well.” (Itsuki)
“Fuee… I’m also worried…” (Rishia)
Hmmmmmmm… The trust placed in Atlas seems to be low.
No matter how I look at it, it didn’t seem that way.
“Fohl’s off getting materials to make an accessory for Atlas, isn’t he?” (Naofumi)
Everyone has break time on rotation, and Fohl uses his to go fetch materials.
He seems to have placed an order from Imya’s Uncle, so he left Atlas in Raphtalia’s hands and left.
He’ll probably be back by tomorrow, so he’s safe for today.
“Now that you mention it, that’s right.”
“But tomorrow, I feel that something will happen.”
It’s a road we’ll have to cross eventually.
Now then, will Fohl be able to stop Atlas?
I have to start preparing for the campaign.
The Heroes have sufficiently recovered from their curses.
From my visits to the Onsen every day, I’ve fully recovered from my wrath. Even the curses from when I went strange have disappeared.
The only remaining effects are that my experience gets sucked away at regular intervals, and whenever I compound, the product is dropped a few levels in quality.
The levels of those in the village that volunteered to fight in the wave are quite high as well, and the monsters are quite motivated.
By the way, the voice of the slaves, besides Raphtalia, is Kiel.
Though, she’s constantly bound to her Crepe Tree.
When I asked her if she would participate in the wave, she was overflowing with eagerness.