Volume 3, 8 Retreat
By the time the two Anril Armours Tena and I had boarded reached the place, the fighting hadn’t yet begun and both parties were just glaring at each other.
No, after a good look, I understood it was just Leonara and Orlaine who were glaring. I couldn’t quite understand the Evil God statue’s expression and the Pope was facing the other way.
“Sorry for the wait. How is the situation?”
I asked Leonara, while I was still on Anril Armor 2. It is different from a robot so I have to use magic to talk.
“You came at last. It’s just as it looks. It won’t come challenging so we were waiting for you people to come.”
Leonara answered, while staying cautious of the Evil God statue.
Their battle formation consisted of the Pope being at the front line with a spear, Leonara behind him barehanded and Orlaine at the back with the holy bow. Even though Leonara was barehanded, she was in the middle because she could use magic.
As one would expect, the doll occupying her hand was a hindrance so I put it into the item box for the time being. Although I do think it is only a matter of time till it slips out.
And beside them, two Anril Armors took stance. I was on the left and Tena was on the right.
The Anril Armor sure is huge when compared to humans or demons but the Evil God statue was even larger. Anril Armor’s height was at best upto the Evil God statue’s knees, so we were having to look up.
“I don’t think we will be able to finish it off but let’s focus our attacks on the legs to weaken its movement.”
“Ah, got it.”
“Leave it to us!”
“Yes, Anri-sama.”
“.......”
Hm?
There was no response from the Pope, who was at the front line. That’s rare. I wonder if he couldn’t hear because he was concentrating too much on the statue.
And so when I look towards him, I find him trembling for some reason.
He didn’t really look like it but was he perhaps afraid of the battle? If so then I feel sorry for dragging him into all this.
“I-I will..”
Seeing his usual happy go lucky mood disappear and him trying to say something even while trembling, the feeling of guilt inside me kept growing. He doesn’t look like he will able to fight at all. If he goes into battle like this, he will either be injured right away or even die.
Fortunately, the Evil God statue still hadn’t moved. It would be better to remove him from battle now.
And just when I tried talking to him about it, he looked greatly perplexed.
“As I thought, I can’t do it! I can’t possibly attack Anri-sama!”
“......”
“......”
“......”
“......”
“......”
I was an idiot for worrying. I felt like even the heartless Evil God statue looked dumbfounded.
Either way, it doesn’t seem like he will be of any use.
Giving up hope on him, I extended Anril Armor’s hand and grabbed his back.
“? Anri-sama?”
In response to his dubious expression, I just briefly said.
“Off you go.”
“Howaaaaaaaaa—?!!”
He went flying towards the bush where we were hiding a while ago, producing a doppler effect of sound as he exited the battle.
“Oi oi.”
“Y-you’re quite rash.”
“He can’t fight, so he will only be a hindrance.”
And in reality, he would just get hurt if he stayed here without fighting.
Or rather, in his case, worst case scenario, he might even assist the Evil God statue.
Well, of course he probably wouldn’t do that as long as I am here but it’s scary how I can’t be completely sure.
“W-well, let’s switch gears and attack!”
Perhaps it reacted to Leonara’s voice, or the Pope flying back, I can’t be certain of what but, the Evil God statue, which was still up till now, started closing in with his hands in front.
“Look out!”
We instantly went into attack stance as Orlaine warned.
I controlled the right arm of the Anril Armor and Tena controlled the left. We matched the big shields on each hand and stopped the Evil God statue’s hand.
Along with the high-pitched noise which came with the two metals colliding, we felt the terrifyingly huge pressure on the Anril Armor’s shield. As expected from its size, its weights force was also dreadful.
“A-Anri-sama!”
“Endure it!”
I replied briefly.
And in reality, if this went on, it was only a matter of time till we get crushed but I am sure the other two will make their move now.
“Yes!”
As if to answer to my hopes, several light arrows came flying from behind. Orlaine was supporting us from behind.
All the arrows hit the statue on the head. But it doesn’t seem like it dealt any damage.
“It doesn’t work, eh..”
Seems like her arrows aren’t enough to pierce the Evil God statue’s defense.
If it was a living creature, we would have the option of aiming for the eyes but since it is completely made of metal, that was also not possible.
But, this is fine.
Although it did little damage, it was able to divert the statue’s attention elsewhere making other parts defenseless. I also felt the pressure on the shield decreasing and, above all, it didn’t notice her stepping into range.
“Eat this!”
Leonara striked the Evil God statue with all her strength and dark magic on her fists. It made a resounding chime noise and the statue lost balance for a moment and stumbled a few steps back.
“Ouch!’
Having landed a direct hit on the statue, Leonara’s face distorted and she grasped her hand. Seems like she hurt her hand in the process.
Well, I guess that would happen when you punch someone all metal.
It looks Leonara’s attack didn’t deal much damage but judging from how it broke the statue’s stance, it surely didn’t deal no damage at all.
“Sorry, I probably won’t be able to use it that much.”
“Don’t overexert yourself, Leonara-san.”
Much? She shouldn’t be fighting with bare hands anymore. Just as Tena said, she shouldn’t overexert herself.
But if we do that, our method of attack.. Or so while I was thinking, I realized the existence of a certain thing.
Right, if that is..
historical
And so, I immediately thought of bringing out the item box.
My item box is my own shadow, so while I was wondering where it would appear in this case, it came out of the Anril Armor’s shadow. Very convenient.
I caught the thing which popped out from the shadow with two fingers of the Anril Armor and threw it to Leonara.
“Leonara, take this.”
“?! Th-this, father’s?!”
Leonara beautifully caught the thing with both hands and wore a surprised expression.
That’s right. The thing I brought out was the demon sword her father, the demon lord, had used when conquering the dungeon.
I don’t know to what extent the fist warrior Leonara can use it but I hear this sword is passed down from demon lord to demon lord. Surely Leonara has the aptitude to use it as she will be the next demon lord.
Having received the sword, Leonara took her stance, gripping the sword with both her hands. That form was so gallant that she seemed like a knight.
“Feel like you can do it?”
“..Leave it to me.”
I smiled at her reliable words and faced the Evil God statue once again with the Anril Armor.
◆ ◆ ◆
Leonara’s attacks, now with the magic sword, were much stronger than when she was bare-handed and was now definitely causing damage to the statue. Tena and I also switched from defense to offense when we could. All four of us were concentrating our attacks on its feet.
Our battle formation was appropriate and our tactics were also working.
But in spite of that, defeat was surely crawling on to us.
“Haa..haaa..”
“It.. it still doesn’t fall?”
Our cause of defeat was that we misjudged the statue’s resistance.
Of course, we could tell that it was very tough from its appearance and from the materials used to make it and, for that reason, we weren’t even trying to destroy it from the start. We thought it would at least be possible to make it immobile.
But it was way tougher than we had thought. On top of that toughness, because the statue didn’t wear out, its movements barely changed from the beginning.
On the other hand, it wasn’t the same for us.
Tena and I were riding the Anril Armour so we were still better off. We hadn’t even exhausted our mana yet.
But Leonara and Orlaine were exhausted.
Leonara, who was swinging a greatsword at the front line, was visibly tired. On top of using a weapon she wasn’t used to, she wasn’t even allowed to show the slightest of negligence. She was standing with willpower alone at this point.
Orlaine was also intensely exhausted.
The cause was her weapon. As her holy bow only needed light mana as arrows to shoot, she could keep firing without worrying about her ammo.
However, obviously, each arrow would drain her mana. And as she was barraging the statue with arrows, her mana was drained real quick. As she had fought as the hero before as well, she was more than able to pace herself through a battle but since the opponent now was stronger than we had expected, she had to go all out from the start.
“Ah..”
It looked like the fatigue had finally got Leonara — she tripped over and lost her balance. She barely stopped herself from falling by thrusting the demon sword into the ground but under these circumstances, something like that would be fatal.
“Ah-ah, no—”
“Leonara!”
“Leonara-san!”
“Run!”
Either the Evil God statue was waiting for her to be exhausted or it was just pure coincidence, but it extended its arms and grabbed Leonara.
The statue itself was huge so its hands were also huge. Leonara was completely unable to move, with only her head visible above the hand.
All four of us would not be able to block the statue’s next attack.
........
........
........
........
.....But, nothing happened.
When I looked towards the statue, I found it gripping Leonara and then slowly loosening up again. Even then, it didn’t feel like it was trying to crush her because she was fine. The statue’s actions felt as if it was trying to get a feel of touch.
Being unable to do anything about it, we just held our breath and watched. Without paying us any heed, the statue went on to poke Leonara on her chest with its right hand.
“Ah-wai–what are you doing?! Hey! St-stop! Stop itt!!”
In reaction to this absolutely unexpected action, Leonara kept shouting as her face turned red. Of course, it didn’t comply to her requests.
Nevertheless, why is the statue sexually harassing Leonara like that?
I don’t think the statue has such desires and even if it did, I would like it to stop doing it with that appearance.
After doing that for a while, the statue now tried to touch its own chest. But naturally, it wouldn’t shake.
No, wait. It’s metal so of course it wouldn’t shake, no matter who the model of the statue is. It’s definitely not my fault.
Also, considering just bust size, as the statue was enourmous, its bust size was also more than Leonaras.
However, it looks like that such a consolation didn’t reach the statue as it threw Leonara and fell to its knees with both hands on the ground.
I do kinda understand why it would feel depressed but this is our chance. As fighting any longer would just end in our defeat, we should take this chance to escape. I caught Leonara and picked up the demon sword from the ground and instructed Tena to get Orlaine.
“Retreat. Tena, grab Orlaine and let’s run.”
“Y-yes! Got it!”
And like this, first contact with the Evil God statue closed its curtains with us retreating.