Sponsored by: Christian Rodriguez, Johannes Moser
and especially Christopher Hartman
The curtain opened in the fight against the Spiritual Beasts in the ruins.
Their opponents were five huge Spiritual Beasts resembling wolves.
“I’ll defend.”
The first to move was the knight Lienhardt.
Using the composite armor shield and a long sword, he faced against two of the Spiritual Beasts.
For any outsider looking at this scene, his actions might look like he was committing suicide.
However, that shield he carried had a defensive strength capable to withstand the attacks of Spiritual Beasts, at least in theory.
Taking on the role of a decoy, Lienhardt daringly moved in front of the spiritual beasts.
Biting on the provocation, the two spiritual beasts moved simultaneously in order to attack the foolish knight.
“You from the Empire, I leave the attack to you! ”
“That goes without saying! Knight of Orn! ”
In response to Lienhardt’s words, the two knights in the back begun to run.
One, the great sword wielder Barrès, a top rank among the knights in the empire.
He had already exhausted the magic power for his sword, Mad Storm, in the previous battles.
However, his movements were still as sharp as a wild animal, and while swinging the big chunk of iron that was his sword, he tried to cut into one of the spiritual beasts.
“Barrès, get the one on the left. I'll stop the one on the right! ”
The other was the red-haired Valkyrie Knight, Sildria.
Although she was a girl who had barely reached adulthood, her movements already attained the level of a master swordsman.
With movements even sharper than Barrès, she quickly cut off the gap and aimed at the bosom of the spiritual beast.
The first strike of both the imperial knights reached the spiritual beasts.
“Tch, so hard! Are you really a wolf!? ”
“Darn… as expected, the first strike won't be able to reach the core, huh!? ”
While coordinating with the defending Lienhardt, the two imperial knights skillfully continued to attack the spiritual beasts.
Their target was the core in the chest, the seemingly only weakness of the Spiritual Beasts.
They dove, avoiding the sharp claws of the spiritual beasts, and continued their sword strikes while putting their lives on the line.
“Me too, here I go! ”
Along with those words, Lienhardt, who had been devoted to defense, struck them out with his sword.
As one would expect from him having a title as one of the strongest, he broke the stance of the spiritual beasts with power that wasn't short of that of the knights of the empire.
“I thought you were a feeble man, but you sure can do it! Knight of Orn! ”
“That’s my line. Great sword wielder of the Empire! ”
“I thought you were just hiding behind Yamato, but to think you were such a knight, Lienhardt.”
“Yeah, and I’ll surpass him one day for sure! ”
Barrès, Sildria and Lienhardt continued to fight in harmony, as if they were dancing to the same beat.
This was the first time these three people were collaborating with each other, but them being quite the skilled knights, they could work well together.
“GRRRRR! ”
The two spiritual beasts that were their opponents were certainly very agile and extremely aggressive.
However, Yamato noticed that when compared to the saber tiger-like spiritual beast that he had faced in the rock salt mine, the fighting ability of these ones was somewhat inferior.
(If it’s like this, we might be able to…)
This was a difference he found out while observing the three knights tasked with dealing with those two spiritual beasts.
Although it was dangerous, Yamato was able to see that with Lienhardt defensing, they could deal with two Spiritual Beasts.
Yamato moved back his gaze from the fight of the three knights.
“Well, I’ve kept you waiting.”
At the end of his gaze were three spiritual beasts glaring at him while making growling sounds.
The remaining from the five in the ruins, and they were prepared to attack at any moment.
But before the eerie self-confidence of Yamato, the spiritual beasts were standing still.
“Yamato-danna… are you really going to fight three of them alone? ”
Behind him, Lacq asked to confirm his plans in a worried voice.
Lacq knew about his physical ability.
However, even taking that into consideration, he found it hard to believe that Yamato could deal with three spiritual beasts at the same time.
“The spiritual beasts are certainly tough. And I don't think I can ask them to fight me one-on-one like honorable knights…”
While giving a small lecture to the worried Lacq, Yamato slowly walked towards the spiritual beasts.
It was a defenseless walk that invited the other party to attack.
“GRRRRR! ”
In response to that, the three spiritual beasts attacked him at the same time.
Aiming at three different parts of his body, they ran like bullets and tried to bite him.
The three wolf-shaped beasts the size of a military horse tried to end with his defenseless life using their large jaws.
“But… they have the form of a living being, and they move on four legs! ”
Along with those words, Yamato made his move.
Without unsheathing the medium knife, he used as his main weapon, he rushed towards the spiritual beasts empty handed.
When the three sharp jaws bite landed, what their bit was just an afterimage of where Yamato was before.
In the next moment, three bangs resounded at the same time.
“Gyaruururu”
It was from inside the three spiritual beasts' mouths that the sound was made.
While making sorrowful cries, the three spiritual beasts were lying on the ground, their mouths crushed from the inside.
“Those large jaws are certainly frightening. But along being their greatest weapon, that’s also their greatest weakness.”
The seemingly helpless Yamato, counterattacked the moment they tried to bit him.
“D-danna… that attack now… what were those balls…!? ”
Thanks to his good motion vision, Lacq was barely able to see it.
And was astonished by the destructive power of the small spheres that Yamato threw into the mouths of the three spiritual beasts as he passed by them.
“It’s a special weapon made with a mix of secret stones of the Mountain Clan People. It’s a trade secret though.”
What Yamato threw into the mouth of the spiritual beasts were the secret stones from the Mountain Clan People called “Fire stones of God’s Wrath”.
A secret originally granted to them by the God of Mining.
However, after seeing their special characteristics, he had received one from the old blacksmith Gaton.
It was not as destructive as gunpowder, but after blending it in a certain way, it produced quite the destructive power as a weapon.
And since, in the first place this object was a secret and their reserves were too small, it couldn't be used as a weapon for warfare.
However, as an anti-spiritual beasts' weapon, its effect was tremendous.
Most likely, this was a tactic only Yamato could use thanks to his enhanced reflexes and the requirement to use it at the last moment.
“Well then, now to deal with the core.”
The three spiritual beasts, whose mouth was destroyed and they movements hindered, had their core cut out at once.
Yamato reflected that in the rock salt mine he was late to notice this weakness, making him being at loss.
However this time, the spiritual beasts were weaker, and he also had this secret weapon.
So, he manages to deal with the three cores without any difficult.
(The rest are, just two…)
After dealing with the three spiritual beasts, he went to support Lienhardt and the others.