"C-CAPTAIN! IS THE CAPTAIN OF THE SILVER EAGLE HERE?!"
A soldier plunged into the tent of operations, with an extremely flustered look on his face. Renora who had been sitting around a table with several other commanders and nobles was visibly surprised when he did so. They were just in the middle of discussion their battle preparations with a map laid out on a large round table, and several chess pieces indicating their numbers against the enemies'.
"The impudence!" A noble beside Renora slammed the table and stood up in a fit, his eyes felt as if they could devour that soldier alive.
But Renora, who wasn't interested in the theatrics of politics and standings when lives mattered more, managed to pacify the noble down with a few sweet words. Of course he couldn't simply deny the opinion of a noble that held a higher military post than a knight captain like himself.
"Well, why don't you forgive him here... it seems to be urgent as well. If we're to hand down punishments, we can decide after this?"
"...Hmph, well fine in that case..." The noble stepped down from his fit, as even someone as foul-mouthed as him would still be able to read the situation. This was clearly not the time to nitpick something so insignificant.
Having the consent of the noble and the others who had also seemingly had silence as agreement, nodded and turned to the soldier who had barged into the entrance of the tent.
"Well, go on."
"The Blueskin Crawlers... no... everything is being killed!"
"...Huh?"
"L-like I said! They've all been wiped out!"
"Hold on a moment, soldier... Please explain to me, ...us in more detail... what exactly is being killed? The Blueskin Crawlers? Are you serious?"
Renora's eyes sharpened as he heard that piece of information. All eyes were thus gathered on that one soldier, causing him to stutter a few times before he got it right again. Misinformation was a serious capital punishment during times when martial law was in effect, thus this kind of information was obviously somewhat serious since the soldier had given this kind of information at this timing.
"There is a group of three who are wiping out the ranks of the monster army!"
"""What?!"""
Almost everyone cried out in unison. It was impossible for something like that to happen. The gap in power and numbers were evident, and it was shown from this war council the city had created urgently. The reputable and high-ranked humans in Hiomi, or to put it in simpler terms, the best of the best were gathered here to deal with this problem. Yet the soldier had said that 3 individuals had took it upon themselves to kill the monsters?
It was inconceivable. It was inconceivable... but...
A few of the commanders gulped. Since they were the one more knowledgeable about power rankings and the military disposition of the Empire, Renora and the commanders were the first to think of one person who could pull off such an amazing feat. A task that no ordinary human could complete flawlessly.
Such a person, there was only one in the Empire.
Barbaros Glenth, the strongest person in the tent, was the first one to break the silence. His eyes widened with surprise and glee as if he had tasted the finest wine in the continent. Standing up as well, the powerful Flame Archwizard muttered in a voice loud enough for everyone present to hear.
"Has she... come back? ...The Sword Saint, Vlad Red has?!"
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What constitutes power?
Strength? Looks? Stature? Position?
...No... the ones who would say something as superficial as that are clearly delusional. True, there was a certain saying that a beauty would hold enough influence to topple even the strongest country down in a single night... But they had clearly not seen what I have seen.
The answer is raw talent. Or should I saw, raw power? That seems to be the most appropriate phrase to describe the scene unfolding before my very eyes. The scene of unbridled carnage.
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And yet, that reasoning seemed to hold the exact opposite for the other side of things. Once I had turned my head to look at another part of the battlefield, I was shown something else.
It was kind of strange to call it a battlefield, and it wouldn't be strange if someone extremely devout would reject me in the name of some kind of heresy. Such was the aura exuded from the individual before me. Full of elegance, without even a speck of blood falling onto the ground. The scene of absolute authority.
I watched on in safety a few hundred meters away from the fight, up on the hills where I could see everything clearly.
Everything. That was why it was strange. I was mistaken. Terribly mistaken.
I had a hunch, that the two women who had accompanied me ever since I arrived in this world, were nothing close to normal. They would destroy everything with ease.
And I was right. The monsters truly had no way of fighting back. But of course, the differences were very clear. The two had their own way of doing things.
Yet the abilities being used constantly didn't seem to be made just to clean the numbers of the monsters below. It felt more like they were being used just for the sake of their flashiness. Soma and Lestia seemed to be... flaunting their powers to somebody, which was strange since there were no other humans close enough to witness this unbelievable scene.
Soma would rip and tear through the monsters and throw them around like dirt, causing collateral damage and wreaking havoc on the battlefield. Then without caring about the walls of weaker monsters that served as meatshields for the bigger and stronger ones, the woman would make her way to them like a hurricane and blow them apart all at once. It was a crude, but effective way to destroy their coordinated ranks.
"Dieeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!"
Lestia on the other hand, had used her ability as a summoner and had induced the monsters around her into a state of hypnotism, stealing their will to retaliate while she sat on top of the mountain of motionless bodies which were piling on top of one another obediently without her saying a word. Even when something actually did get close to her, it would just get stabbed and die mysteriously from a bone tail which had poked its head out of the ground.
"Ara, what a barbarian. Are you a monkey? A monkey! Fufu, truly a monkey who fights in a monkey-like manner! Hey, can I call you a monkey? Monkey?"
Honestly, I didn't know how. But it seemed as if their thoughts were being shared with me through some kind of telepathy. The consistent and cooperation for clearing of monsters ended when Soma had finally lost to Lestia's provocations and had begun to throw the monsters at her 'throne of monsters'.
"THE FUCK YOU CALL ME, SLUT?! YOU'RE ASKING TO DIEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Ara, truly the speech of a degenerate. I had thought Master's eyes were excellent for picking me, but it seems it might have only just worked when he met me. Maybe he has a thing for unintelligent and ugly animals? Fufu~"
"Uuuuohhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! Now you've done ittttttt!!!!!!!!!!!! PICKING ON THE PAST HUH?! YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN DO THAT! GET DOWN HERE AND LET ME BREAK YOU INTO LITTLE PIECES! THEN WE'LL SEE WHO'S THE UGLY ONE! YOU USED WHORE!!!"
"Ara, I can't be mistaken right? You, I think you've said something that shouldn't be said?"
"Yeah?! Meat toilet! High school slut! Reserved only for men over 40?!"
"Ufufufufufufufufufufufu... Come to think of it, haven't we settled the score yet? It seems like you can't wait to humiliate yourself in front of Master again~ Ufufufufufu, I'll allow it then~ Come~ Allow me in response, to grant you another humiliating defeat! ...Die for me, okay~?"
Uwaaahhh... That face... that's Lestia right...? Eh? Ehhhhh?!!! Scary... women are scary...!!!
...Ah, Lestia had mobilized the monsters. Is this going to be okay?
...More like, did they think I couldn't hear them? The back channel is revealing their hidden thoughts?!
As you can tell, dropping the 'miss' had been more than appropriate as I had begun to lost all sorts of respect for the two of them?!
And then, everything that happened after that was just like a contrasting duet of carnage and authority. Soma was attempting to kill even the creatures Lestia had put under her control, which Lestia was trying to control Soma's movements by sacrificing monsters by the blade of Bloodwell to hinder her action of withdrawing it back. Honestly, if one didn't know better about the facial expressions the two were having right now, they would have called it friendly fire. A coincidence, they would say by the far stretch of the word.
But since I could see them... I knew. They had gone completely insane in the heat of the battle. Soma and Lestia were seriously going at each other, using the monsters as chess pieces to get to the other. Had they forgotten the original plan to save the city?
...It seemed likely.
...Oh? I see a person wearing some kind of half armor? ...Is that a scout? He seems pretty weak-looking as compared to the monsters around... Or have my sense of strength perception gone down the drain after witnessing the two play around with the monsters?
I honestly couldn't tell.
Since I was afraid to fight on my own, I wasn't in a position to judge someone else who had bothered to even come close to those monsters. So I waited.
And then a few more soldier-type figures appeared. And then even more.
Soon, it seemed as if they had gathered everyone in the city outside to witness everything. Of course, it wouldn't have been much from the ground to see how the two were facing off each other as if they were in a playground, but the monsters dying rapidly had surely been registered in their eyes.
A victory by a landslide.
Within a few more moments, the last remaining monster had died.