This chapter is sponsored by anon. Now just 1 more left.

Is this novel a LN or WN, sometimes I surely think those words. Argh!!!!!! And I’m sorry, but there are many comments in between the sentences. From next time I will keep them all in the end.

EDIT : (Sorry, I forgot to add the excerpts before.)

Chapter 33 – Exceed Hopper

「......Grasshopper?」

「Grasshopper it is」

「Yeah sure is」

「No doubt it is a grasshopper」

Appearing in front us, stopping the path of carriage was a......grasshopper.

Its appearance was fiendish, and its overall length was about 3 m.

Its shell was more tough looking than the armor of Naga’s scales.

Face was, definitely not of the grasshoppers I had seen, so it was a demon. I could see fangs inside the mouth. It even had horns in place of antennas.

Legs x6 too had evenly separated fingers. This was......not an insect anymore.

There was no other component on which I could identify it, so for now I would call it grasshopper, and the only thing I know right now was that, this was completely showing its hostility towards us.

It must be natural after all, it was lured in by the scent of『maple』and also was hungry.

Well, I know one more thing, that this guy was a lot more dangerous than the『devil roach』from before.

「Elk, do you know it?」

「No, I’ve never seen it. In the first place, a big grasshopper type of monster shouldn’t be present in this forest......grasshopper, grasshopper......」

「......There is a high chance that this is a『Exceed Hopper』」

Suura-san answered by cutting in our conversation.

「Exceed Hopper?」

......Why does it feel like I’ve heard it somewhere recently......

「Yeah, its rank is B. Certainly it doesn’t live in this forest, but it’s a demon which inhibits in the different danger area lying in the opposite direction from the city」

The moment she heard that explanation, Elk widened her eyes in shock,

It couldn’t be helped. It already had fiendish appearance, and its rank too was above the previous group.

How many people might be there who could fight a guy like this?

From what I heard, the subordinates of Suura-san were inexperienced, though being regular soldiers. It we were to give them ranks like adventurers it would be at most E or D. Not much different from Elk.

Though those two delinquents were rank D, even if both of them teamed up together, it would be impossible to stand against a rank B.

The left ones were, Suura-san, Zari and me.

Frankly I would somehow take care of myself. But, I have not idea about both of their strengths......

Well seeing their fights from before, I could understand that they were experienced. Bow and arrow, and magic attacks of Suura-san and attacks by Zari had stability.

In addition......I found one big problem.

This was not noticed by others yet......

「By the way, are there points I need to keep in mind? Like, its weak points or will other of them will come if I defeat it」

「No, other than its strength, there’s nothing else. Surely it has somewhat intelligence and it might concentrate attacks on the person with most strength, but that’s something every demon does」

「I see......too bad」

「? What do you mean......?」

Before Suura-san finished saying,

I had already kicked off the ground and flew towards『Exceed Hopper』, it too had jumped at us around the same time as me.

I use the pole as shield to stop its assault while trying not to get hurt by the sharp pointed horns.

Surprisingly, the shock was so strong that it sent me two or three metres back, but I somehow held out.

......Thank god, its name wasn’t just for fun.

Then, it bite the pole that was being pressed against its face with its fiendish jaws.

historical

The pole wasn’t something soft that it would be broken by just this much, then in the next moment, I felt the sensation of being pulled strongly and suddenly my body floated.

Hearing the damn noise of wings, I understood that it flew while holding pole in its mouth. So did it want to have an aerial battle or want to kill me by dropping......

I didn’t know what it wanted to do, but I had no intention of going along with it.

Furthermore, Elk’s voice which I could hear from below seemed so have a trace of worry.

I don’t want to get a girl worry about me, let’s finish this fast.

While having the pole in its mouth, I turned my body before its very own eyes in some sort of rhythmic gymnastic form and rolled over to its back side.

Then, I left the pole for a moment, joined my hands together – of course, I didn’t forget to enhance the power and fill in magical power – then dropped it like a hammer.

「――Urrraa!!」

Along with the dull sounds, due to my attack near its medulla oblongata (does an insect even have one?), the giant body started to fall down.

Apparently, the brain of insects had always been small, so I wasn’t expecting some concussion, simply the damage seemed to be great. The flapping of wings became unreliable and it crashed into ground.

And, it would be unbearable to fly again, so I deal with it quickly.

Around the neck part of this grasshopper which was trying to stand up......

「『Guillotine Leg』!!」

I swung my heel clad in wind magic.

The axe kick which was launched with sharpness of a windblade, though didn’t made the sound of wind cutting something, but it surely did drop the head.

「......Fuu」

Really, this technique hasn’t been my favorite. This techniques was grotesque and lots of blood also comes out.

But, insects all had strong vitality, so defeating without killing would be really hard. I didn’t want a situation in which others got hurt because I went easy on it and left it alive.

Well, I could make it immovable by tearing off the wings and legs, in that case, either it would starve to death or be eaten by other demons.

It would be better to finish it off an instant rather than inflicting pain......oh, this too could be called as self-satisfaction.

Even after cutting the neck, the body of insect convulsed and wriggled, so I threw it towards the grove of trees. Like this it won’t be a hindrance for carriage.

I prayed in my heart, for a happy next life of the demon who became my victim, then refreshed my feelings, and faced back.

This is something......for me who would do this from now on too.

Fuu, while taking a breath, I took the pole from grasshopper’s body, then

『stored』it back into the waist belt, while I was doing that,

「......After coming this far, I’ve nothing left to say. You actually insta-killed that exceed hopper, eh」

Suura-san said those words along with a tired smile that seemed like she had given up upon understanding all the fears and surprise she felt in this short amount of time.

Zari, Elk and others too were having same expressions. Elk was a little better because she knew about my strength.

「From what I heard, your rank is B, right......?」

「Yeah, that’s right. In that case, should I show the guild card?」

「No, it’s fine. Either way, I wouldn’t be able to understand many things」

Saying that, Suura-san took her stance, and turned back for taking on the demons,

......and soon enough, she realized almost all demons were missing.

She showed a surprised expression for a second, then as if finally passed through her, she breathed and let power out of her shoulders......hey, don’t do that, the fight is still not over. It’s only starting now.

「Hey, Suura-san and others who let their guards down, don’t do that. The fight is still not over」

「? Not over, well right we have to deal with other attacks until we leave this forest」

Elk said.

「I have no time to put on airs, so let me speak it loud and clear. The『Exceed Hopper』I defeated just now......was probably only a scout member. There is a whole『crowd』of them in the vicinity」

「「「Huh!?」」」

Oh, they harmonized. Elk & others, good job.

Though Suura-san didn’t let out a voice she was also surprised.

「......What did you base it on? Just how did you predict it?」

「Rather than predicting it, I have been hearing them since a while. The sound of their wings」

With my thoses words, the whole party went into silence.

Then, the sounds of leaves of trees fluttering and cries of demons on the other side of trees too was mixed in......

......And I heard it. The sound of wings which could be heard without any enhanced hearing ability,

No doubt, the sounds were of the same thing from before.

However, from all directions. They had surrounded us.

「......How many are there?」

「Maybe eight or nine. There is only one exceptionally big wing sound mixed in」

「Exceptionally big......? Is there some other demons with them?」

「Dunno......seeing with eyes is the fastest way to confirm things」

Immediately after,

Green colored demons came flying from inside the grove of trees as though they were getting impatient and saw that the current time as a good opportunity to strike.

In an instant, a large group started flying, seeming like forest had started to fly.

The 8『Exceed Hopper』s ......started revolving above our heads like vultures aiming for their prey.

The sound of 8 wings vibrating the space......encouraged the sense of urgency.

「If an insect-hater saw this, that person would surely go down」

「Even if they aren’t they would go down, in despair and fear that is」

Wisdom words from Suura-san.

In fact, I was able to read the strange expressions, filled with fear, shock, despair on everyone’s face......while they were looking at the scene unfold.

Among the knights, there were people who dropped their weapons in despair, some were having their bodies tremble and the armor was making clattering sounds.

「8 in total. Frankly, this is a desperate situation」

「No shit......captain-san, can you solo it?」

「......It would work in one-on-one fights. How about you, Zari-dono?」

「I too......am something similar. If I overdo it then around 2」

「Oh, that is reliable」

Eh? wtf!? Zari, you were really that much strong?

Now that I think about it, I never asked about his rank......it might be around B or A, right?

「Well then, as for other 6......some people can make up teams, then defend and stall them......but that won’t work in this situation」

As expected. The men and women of the knight squad, both have lost their fighting spirits.

「Yeah, but we can’t call that weak or miserable. That reaction is the normal one」

「It sure is, right. And in that case......how about it Minato-kun who just insta-killed one? Can you handle the other five somehow?」

「......It would be more easier if all came at me at once」

「Will you fine then?」

Zari was surprised because he was expecting an answer『It will be impossible!』.

No well, didn’t I ask before to Suura-san that『will other of them will come if I defeat it』, right?

At that time, I already knew the existence of their group......so I thought it would be less troublesome if they all came at me at once.

No, it wasn’t like I would fight them easily? Even I would have trouble fighting eight or nine of flying demons.

But in situations like these, it was more difficult to fight while protecting the comrades.

Furthermore this time, not only enemy numbers are big, but so are the comrades.

To add in more, almost all have lost fighting spirit, and wouldn’t be able to run easily or even defend.

If the morale was high, then having more numbers would be good, but the moment it turns like this, they only turn into burden. Well, in this case, they can’t be blamed.

Suura-san would take one, Zari would on one or maybe two, and others me......it would be difficult to fight while protecting everyone.

At times like this it sure could be painful that I couldn’t use magic. At most I could take on two or three at once, in that time if other grasshoppers attacked others, then I wouldn’t be able to save them.

So, protecting everyone till the end was even more difficult.

Against these many, protecting Elk alone was my limit.

......And, one more thing had been on my mind from before......

「Suura-san, it’s about that one, the first from other side......doesn’t it look somewhat different?」

In front of the place my finger pointed......there was one individual completely different from all other『Exceed Hopper』s.

Its shell was very dark green compared to others, the body too was big.

It even had thorn growing on its legs, which made it look more fiendish......and maybe it might be imagination, but there seemed to many fangs inside its mouth.

「Ah, I’ve heard about it」

Zari said.

「Among the Exceed Hoppers, rarely, some『subspecies』are born and have dark green body color. They not only have powerful physical ability compared to normal species, but also has magical power」

「......It’s rank is?」

「If I remember correctly, it is A」

「......Didn’t want to hear that」

......『Exceed Hopper』, furthermore『subspecies』, this was certainly......

Ah, that’s right, I thought I had heard this name somewhere. This was from that『List』.

That『Become an Adult! Subjugation Target Demon List』which I got from Irene-san the other day.

It was written in there, no wonder it was strong.

So it was the sound source for that more loud sound of wings.

Anyhow, I couldn’t help but say that the current situation was really bad.

There were 8 exceed hoppers in air. Rank B.

Furthermore, one of them was an『subspecies』of rank A.

On the other hand, everyone had lost their fighting spirit. And from the fact there was no reaction from those inside the carriage would also mean the same thing.

The only ones who could fight were Suura-san, Zari and me. Just us three.

Elk had some past experience during Naga, so she was better than others, she was also standing on her feet......but her fighting strength was not much.

Defeating them all while protecting everyone could only be considered as herculean task. Running away was even more impossible.

In that case......

「Suura-san, Zari, Elk, I will say this only once, so please listen carefully」

Calming my heart to the extent I could, I called out to everyone.

I would talk to Suura-san too, so I spoke in formal tone.

「? What happened, Minato-dono?」

「Did you come up with some strategy?」

「......Minato?」

「No, not a strategy, but......」

At that moment,

「D-Don’t fuck wit me! With this......With this, I will die!!」

「I don’t fucking care about it! I-I’m running away from here!」

「O-Oi wait! Let me come too......」

When I thought I heard those voices......the two delinquents tried to run from one carriage on the other side in a state of confusion after being cornered by a single exceed hopper.

No, they had already started to run.

But,

「Oi wait! If you become separated from here after going out right now, it will only......」

Before Suura-san finished speaking,

As expected, one of the grasshopper came flying down with its mouth wide open for eating the two prey who got separated from our group.

Suura-san took her stance and released the arrow in a second, her expression said ‘words won’t help but hands will’, but because she released the arrow in a second, she wasn’t able to clad it in magic, so it struck the hard shell and fell down.

Exceed hopper opened its mouth for biting of the heads of two without caring about what happened right now......and the next instant,

「......It can’t be helped anymore, eh」

SFX: *Dogoo*

Along with a dull sound, on its flank something collided......it couldn’t bear the shock, and went flying away, and soon crashed down.

「「「!?」」」

Suura-san and others looked while being surprised at what just happened. Something fell from the stomach of grasshopper who wasn’t able to move as it wanted while its body twitched. The thing fell on the ground with a thud.

It was a black......iron ball.

It was the iron ball I threw just now, its size was two times bigger than clenched fists and had a same colored iron chain attached to it.

One end of the chain attached was being gripped by my hand.

This chain-attached-iron ball too was an item I got from before leaving the home......and was stored in the belt since beforehand.

In this situation it couldn’t be helped, and I had to resort to using this.

......This really is dangerous.

And......that too which I will use from now.

「Suura-san, please give out orders」

「Orders?」

Suura-san seemed like she hasn’t caught up with the situation. Her voice had somewhat bewilderment.

But, ignoring it, I simply tell her what to do.

「I’m gonna go rampart from now. If, at that time others are near me it would only act as hindrance, so let them take shelter near the carriage or inside them. Even so it might be dangerous, so everyone should lay down. I will try to not get carriage and everyone involved」

「......? What are you trying to do?」

「I will omit the explanation. You two over there......」

Before finishing saying, I moved my hand which wasn’t holding the chain towards the iron ball lying on ground.

When I did, the iron ball hovered in air and returned to me.

I catched it, after holding the side with iron ball attached, I had lot of chain space, so I threw the other side, it collected the two delinquents lying on ground like a lasso, then I suddenly pulled them back. Just like that, I threw them inside the carriage.

I looked back, to see everyone moving their almost-not-responding-legs and gathering near the carriage, after Suura-san gave the orders without understanding the situation herself.

Alrighty, now I could move more easily. Now, the next.

「Eh everyone. This situation is like this, so I have no time to explain, but pinch your noses」

I said just that.

As expected, everyone looked like they didn’t understand anything. Among them, Suura-san and Zari and half of them did as ordered while showing bewilderment.

Elk too did it while knowing what I was going to do, she knew it because of everyday training.

It was good that I showed her this before.

The other half people still haven’t pinched their noses, but I couldn’t wait anymore,

「――Here I go!!」

And the moment later, the magic I invoked......invades that place.

「―――!!?」

That something which scattered with me as the centre, jolted the brains of everyone present there.

That something, which was similar to『intimidation』used by masters who train in martial arts or something else, spread in the whole surroundings and the atmosphere changed rapidly.

The knights were now not moving even a bit which they could before. Among them, there were people who fainted, maybe mental fatigue too kicked in. As for those who didn’t pinch their noses......they all fainted.

Suura-san and Sari were standing somehow bearing the unrest.

Elk was also in a similar position, but because she knew what would happen, so she looked somewhat better.

And, the grasshoppers in the surroundings, though didn’t retreat or faint......but they did increase awareness concentrated to me.

The me, who was the centre of their attention......was clad in a mist of black and violet, the color of something like darkness.

[ET: Go and see the picture of MnD on project page. That thing on his hand is the one he is using currently]

It was the attribute which was my speciality, the『darkness』magical power.

The power didn’t grew like『earth』, and speed to lost to『wind』. The destructive power or additional effects like『fire』and『lightning』, weren’t present within

『darkness』.

However, it was too powerful to regard it as jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none. It was endowing me with an all-rounder magical power.

This power could increase, physical strength, agility, reaction speed, defense power etc all at once. I hadn’t used in a while, but this was my original-by-nature power.

As for why I hadn’t used it till now, the reasons were three.

First. I didn’t had any need to use it.

I had been able to get through with just pure magical power filling without any changing in attributes.

Second. It was a really rare power.

Compared to other six attributes, the people having talent to use『darkness』and『light』were extremely rare. Statistically, there were chances of a person having them in the ratio of one person among several hundreds.

So, if others knew I could use something rare, others would pay attention to me, and some noisy people would come to me.

Third. I didn’t use it because『darkness』was different from『light』and was an evil power used by devil within the country and other places. So, it was detested.

It seemed like something scary and troublesome like religion would target me.

[ET: Demons (魔物) devil (悪魔), I don’t know if it was the typo by author, though this guy does have many in all chapters]

[AK: could you give me the line, I don’t think it is a typo, I would like to check if my idea is correct, because if i remember correctly you can use both but the implication is somewhat a little different ]

[ET: Till now the author never used devil but demon, and they both are different things. Devils are evil spirits or some more bigger entity while demons are evil fodders (mutated animals)]

I had been told about the second and the third by mom before......she told me not to use them, and even without using them I was able to get by, so I hadn’t used it till now.

But, right now, the opponents were strong, numbers big, so just in case I used it.

Though I used this magical power......it had no relation with that『intimidation』just now.

More precisely, wasn’t intimidation something like colliding spiritual power and was only used by masters?

And, in fact, I couldn’t do it. Never knew the way to do it, after all.

No, I did try to do it during my training with mom, but unfortunately, maybe because of my youthness and inexperience, I wasn’t able to do it.

So, I made this magic as its alternative method.

And the name was『Magic Pheromone』

『Pheromone』......the secretion substance released by living things, for several hundreds of things like, warning, courting, commanding, tranquility etc, acts upon the parts of brain directly to give out some effects.

Tampering those parts with magical pheromones to give out even more effects on my own will, that’s what this magic was about.

A typical example of that would be the『intimidation』I just used.

This technique releases magic from my body of one sort of pheromones such as『warning pheromone』, so by increasing the effect on parts of brain, for intimidating and scaring opponent, this magic could give out the effect same as『intimidating』someone.

It was an colorless, tasteless and odorless magic, so it couldn’t be sensed by anyone neither can be defended. It affects the instincts directly, so if something went wrong, it would give out something more powerful than a normal intimidation.

But, it had a fault, because of that I hadn’t used it even once.

This magic, upon being released from my body couldn’t be called back, and could tamper with demons and people present in the area indiscriminately. Adjusting too was almost impossible.

In addition, though it had magic blended it was a chemical substance, the scattering point......in other words, the person near my body would have a more stronger effect while the person far would have less.

So, if something went wrong, the comrades near me would be strongly affected by it and turn incompetent. Just like the knights who fainted.

And, it didn’t reach completely to the enemy far away......

But in this situation, the knights would only be burden if they moved while they wouldn’t be of any help currently. So for stopping it I used this.

Incidentally, pheromone could be sensed by nose, so I had them pinch their noses......so how was it? It might have been better than not pinching the nose, right?

......Well, whatever.

Well, now, the grasshoppers had stopped their movements due to bewilderment.

I held the iron ball in my hand with tight grip strength for throwing it towards the grasshopper who was the most far away.

「First one to attack wins!『Linear Cannon』!!」

[AK: I would almost say leave it at romaji same as above]

[ET: So you say I leave it as Rinia Cyanon (リニアキャノン)?]

Immediately after,

The iron ball which was in my hand went flying with unbelievable momentum and speed towards the grasshopper which was hovering in air and was far away.

Then, the chain was tensed due to the attack, I swiftly pulled it back......and swung it horizontally.

「―――Orrrrrrrrraaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!」

Originally, iron balls with chain were to used by using centrifugal force to attack, but sorry for being rude to that theory and using brute force.

In accordance to my pulling horizontally, the chain and iron ball drew a horizontal track in air, and mowed down all the grasshoppers in that track.

In doing so......the trees present in the attack too were mowed down quite cruelly. I’m sorry.

As soon as the front half calmed down in a semicircular shape, I jumped right above.

If I swung again, there was chance that it would engulf Suura-san and others near the carriage, so I changed the trajectory.

So, after jumping to height on which they wouldn’t become obstacles, I swung with all my strength.

「――One more coming!!」

Without changing the momentum, I revolved once then once again.

While shifting the trajectory slightly, not changing the speed and momentum during swinging, the iron ball rampaged freely.

With a total of three rotations, it hits six out of eight grasshoppers, including the subspecies and they all crashed down.

I couldn’t get them all, but this would be fine.

Aiming at one of the left two, I revolved once again and thr-->>

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