Apocalypse Dark Elf Style -Magical Tribes Reincarnated in the Modern World

TL : Xean || ED: Cubic || PR: SevenTails

TN: Happy Lunar New Year~

† (TN: Sheena’s POV)

While maintaining an appropriate distance, I fired one, two, three shots. The fourth shot I fired in succession hit the torso. However, as before, there was no sign of pain on the other side.

Aguyanuba’s movement speed was faster than expected. The animal claws, transformed by the cat’s traits, slammed into where I had been a moment ago from above. Mud and dirt on the ground scattered. A blow that depended on the physical mass of the slime might be simple yet it packed destructive power.

I jumped back and kicked the lift machine behind me to gain altitude. With the bow lying on my side, I fired two arrows simultaneously. The shots with varying angles pierced the slime’s neck and shoulder, but the damage was still insignificant.

If that was the case, I’ll counter with numbers. If I shoot a hundred arrows with 1 damage, I get 100 damage. If I continuously chipped away at the opponent’s physical strength and magic power little by little, victory would be in sight. That was the only thing I could do with this basic bow and arrow.

If I was thinking of using a mean other than a bow and arrow, that was one thing, but─

(… as expected, it’s impossible)

For a moment, I checked Rensuke’s situation with a sideways glance. He was watching the situation from a position where I could not be disturbed. I knew he was smart and trustworthy. I had no regrets about choosing him as my partner. But still.

He doesn’t know the whole story and was probably not truly prepared yet.

In the split second that I looked away, Aguyanuba’s huge body flew through the air. I twisted around in a panic. The claws that cut through the air damaged the lift machine that I was using as a foothold to shoot from.

In terms of speed of movement, I was ahead of him. Jumping high in the air with a more three-dimensional focus on positioning, I reached the steel scaffolding of the building in the process.

The slime had also taken something new out of the bag. It was a yellow box, and I knew it was a portable nutritional food. He threw five or six of them into his mouth and gobbled them up.

“This is also good. This is small in size, but has heaps of calories and nutrients! The more I eat, the more I am satisfied! The more unique food I consume, the better I become!”

“That’s what I ate at the convenience store too. It tasted alright, but I didn’t like it. I felt like I was eating a hardened fish…!”

I released a shot. The slime, having been nourished, dodged them and pursued me with a leaping power that did not match its huge body.

I jumped around the steel scaffolding, nostalgically thinking about the rustling of the trees in the forest. The slime was irritated and used its arms to knock away the arrows that flew at him, but eventually became too lazy to do so and ignored the arrows in favor of chasing after me, catching them with its body.

“*Screechー* I really have the worst luck. Seriously, I drew the short end of the stick.”

The slime jumped from the scaffolding below to where I was just before.

It was time to change the rhythm of my movements. I jumped down from the spot and used the momentum of my fall to counter with a flying kick to the head. This was the first time I’ve used a melee attack.

“Oh!?”

“Oi, oi, are you serious? You really are single-celled.”

I kicked my opponent’s body and changed my trajectory to avoid a painful claw attack. The enemy lost his balance and fell directly to the first floor of the steel framework, leaving a cloud of dust on its trail.

After a short delay, I also landed a little farther away.

As a matter of fact, the arrows were made up of my own magic power, as the slime had eaten and discerned. It wasn’t like I could keep shooting endlessly. They were depletable.

However, that wasn’t a problem. No matter how much inhuman dash and destructive power it has, its movements were too short. Without the ability to attack from a distance, there was no way I could lose.

The fallen slime was slowly trying to get up. As I was about to go into shooting mode again, I noticed something moving out of the corner of my eye.

It was the corpse of the yakuza man from earlier. I saw it fall slowly to the ground in a messy manner.

Alarm bells rang in my head.

The corpse had fallen? Why? Even though it was completely pinned by the steel frame that pierced it vertically?

“Sheena!”

Rensuke shouted, trying to inform me of something. He pointed to a place. The place where the body was.

The steel frame, which should have been stuck vertically, had melted.

(──!)

I noticed it too late.

When the slime raised its upper body from the ground, it waved its arms to the side.

“I haven’t eaten hard iron in a very long time 《Imitate Mimic Slime》.”

A steel frame of the exact same size and shape as the one that had pierced the man flew at me, spinning sideways viciously. I couldn’t cope with the speed that was unleashed by the man’s monstrous strength─

I was hit by the steel frame in the abdomen and was blown away by the sheer mass.

†.

“Buhaha… Single-celled, you say? You have insulted us the greatest. We are one and all, or rather, one whole cell if you prefer.

“She… Sheena…!”

I watched as a shiver ran down my spine.

The steel frame seemed to be created from the slime’s body. As a result of a direct hit from the super heavy weight of the throw, the young lady with tanned skin (TN: Sheena) was slumped back against the concrete wall. It didn’t look as if her body had been gutted like the yakuza man’s, but she seemed to have taken the full brunt of the impact. The legs that were stretched out on the ground still had a piece of the steel frame on them.

“I purposely showed you only simple movements. You don’t even know that you’ve been caught off guard. What foolishness. Didn’t you ever wonder why I ate your arrows first…? Have you not noticed that even non-organic matter can take on the form when eaten? Was it a baby slime that you fought once and it couldn’t do that?　Bu-ha-ha-ha!”

Aguyanuba got up and approached the nearby wall with a big smile on his face.

He twisted the thin steel rod, or rebars, sticking out of the concrete with all his might.

Just as before, he brought it to his mouth and curled it up just like a magic trick. Then, he swallowed it in one gulp.

“Unlike living things, our stomachs expand. Therefore, to pluck it out is a futile attempt… but if I can supplement my origin magic, then change will come! I’ve made my decision!”

The flesh around his index finger suddenly became straight and twisted into a thin line, turning a dull iron color. It was the same as the rebar he had just eaten. Aguyanuba detached it, grasped it in another hand, and threw it at Sheena like a javelin. He threw more than one. Throwing the second and third continuously.

They pierced Sheena’s shoulders and abdomen as she was unable to get up. She seemed to have fainted but the shock and pain caused her to be jolted awake.

“A-a, a-aaaahhh!”

“Sheena!”

It was different from being rammed through with a steel frame. If it physically pierced through her body, she will not be able to escape the obvious consequences. Then, vivid colors leaked out from her body.

─Blood was flowing.

─Like a person.

─Like a human being.

That was probably the reason. The last push that moved my body subconsciously.

I suddenly found myself standing between Sheena and Aguyanuba.

The slime twisted his oddly formed mouth.

“Hoh? Looking at you, it looks like you are the partner of the dark elf… The partners are only good as support for the magical species. Like accessories for your master, made in this land. It’s hard to imagine that you’re standing up alone in front of a magical species… Looks like you’ve been subjected to good brainwashing.”

“I’m not brainwashed.”

I felt sweat running down my body. I’d never felt pressure like this before. To put it bluntly, I was terrified.

But I still looked ahead. I could not help but think of her behind me, bleeding.

“I’m just in love with her.”

I said it again. Because that was how I truly felt. Because that was the only reason I have.

The slime tilted its head suspiciously as if it didn’t get what I’m talking about.

I kept my eyes on his every move.

I exhaled a long, deep breath to calm myself down.

I assumed a half-hearted stance and clenched my fists. (TN: 半身 – “half-hearted stance” stance with legs in an L-shape, with one leg bent in front and other extended behind in martial arts, traditional theater)¹https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/taekwondo/images/6/6c/SparringStance.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/340?cb=20140428193238

The RV, which I had learned to control at the knights’ school, was a kind of power suit. It was an extension of the human body. The operator must be proficient in using their physical body. That’s why the curriculum also included combat training.

I had an excellent record there as well, but how well would my general fighting skills hold up against this strange looking creature? How can I compete with this otherworldly magic that took in the traits of the eaten and reproduced them using his own body as material─?

A faintly dampened coughing reached me from behind.

“Ahー… damn itー…”

“Shー”

“Don’t look here, just look ahead. I’ll be fine… though I can’t move right away.”

I did as I was told. I only focused my auditory attention backwards.

“I guess I’ll have to rely on you. I thought it was a little too early to teach you, but… I might say this is an interesting thing that happened.”

There was a hint of pain and bleeding in her voice. But at the same time, it also contained her typical aloofness and lightness, as always. So I believed her words.

“*Gasp*… that bast*rd, what did he say to you? That slime b*stard and us, it seems we have different standpoints regarding our partners. It’s not just an accessory, it’s important to me. Very much so.”

All that mattered was her words. I didn’t care if the giant was closing the distance between us. I didn’t care about my fear of when I was going to get my body pierced by a rebar thrown from a distance like the one she had suffered from.

“Did you ever think that the partners were just a kind of guide? Not only are they our partners, but there’s a reason… why we call them our partners. So listen carefully, Rensuke, and feel.”

The last part of her sentence was spoken in a whisper.

“Your body is not that of a human being anymore.”