What If the Strongest Villain from the Original Story Became the Protagonist's Ally? - Chapter 73 - Trampling, and Insect User

The gorilla-faced man’s intense strike fell from above.

I jumped backward to avoid that strike.

“Oh ho. You can read that movement?”

“It was slow.”

“Smart mouth! Let’s see how long you can withstand our attacks!”

Jack further increased his speed.

I could barely use mana, and there were enemies other than Jack.

From a distance, the dress-wearing woman whipped at me.

She aimed at me with irregular movements, but I deflected the whip with my sword.

“Ooh~? That person is incredible. You can read Miki’s whip trajectory?”

The dress-wearing girl was surprised. However, I had no time to answer that question.

The moment I deflected the attack, Jack had circled behind me.

“Die for real this time!”

“I refuse.”

I advanced forward before Jack’s attack could reach me.

I couldn’t defend against attacks from behind in time. Then I’d just gain distance. The exact opposite of what I did earlier.

I headed toward the dress-wearing girl.

A whip was a mid-range weapon. If I got close, it would lose its advantage.

“—Think I’ll let you?”

“!”

A fist came flying from the side.

I used my sword as a shield to defend.

I took a tremendous impact and was blown sideways.

While bouncing off the ground multiple times and regaining my posture, the armored woman was somehow in front of me. She held a katana ready.

“Got you.”

“Too bad.”

The armored woman used a katana. Since the katana was sheathed, she had to draw it to attack.

She was at a disadvantage compared to me, who already had my sword drawn.

As proof, I pressed the tip of my sword against her katana’s guard.

The pushing force delayed the armored woman’s drawing timing.

“Annoying!”

The armored woman forcibly pushed back my sword and drew her katana.

She wielded the weapon at dazzling speed.

But if she was even a moment late, I could avoid it.

I crouched to avoid the strike aimed at my neck.

“I’ll take your feet.”

I immediately swept the armored woman’s legs.

She lost her balance and fell.

“You’re scurrying around like a monkey!”

“You’re one to talk.”

Jack aimed for me right at the end of my attack motion.

His knife was swung straight down at my head.

Avoiding was difficult. Then—

Clang!!

I used my sword as a shield to block the attack.

Even Jack was surprised by this.

“You… blocked my attack without mana!?”

“No way. No matter what, I can’t block your physically enhanced attacks without mana.”

“Then how did you…!?”

“Did you notice? That’s right.”

I made the mana concentration clearly visible so even they could see it.

There was definitely mana there.

“This is strange… why, why can you use mana!”

“The artifact you have disrupts mana. It doesn’t seal mana. If it’s being disrupted, I just need to be able to manipulate mana in that state. It’s a simple story, right?”

If I refined mana more abundantly and precisely, I could ignore the artifact’s influence.

It took some time to get used to, but there was no problem now.

I couldn’t deploy magical barriers, but if I could at least enhance my body, I could overwhelmingly trample them.

“Now… it’s my turn next.”

“Tch! Let’s retreat for—”

“Like I’d let you escape.”

“Guh!?”

I punched the abdomen of Jack as he tried to turn away.

He crashed straight into the wall with that momentum and made a large hole.

“One down. Next is…”

“I’ll kill you!”

The armored woman unleashed a sword-drawing technique from behind.

The blade hit my defenseless body.

It hit and—*crack!!*

It shattered.

“Huh…?”

“Did you think you could wound my body with your level of mana?”

I kicked the armored woman.

Her armor dented, and she was blown away in a straight line to crash into the wall. She shattered the wall and fell to the ground.

“Two down. Three more to go.”

Two men and one woman.

I didn’t really want to hit the woman, but given the circumstances, it couldn’t be helped.

I stepped forward and—

“Disappea—kyah!?”

I moved behind the dress-wearing girl.

To her, it probably looked like I’d teleported.

I struck the defenseless girl’s neck.

I knocked her unconscious. The girl collapsed powerlessly.

“Two left.”

“Damn! Attack simultaneously, both of us!”

“Roger!”

The two men flanked me. Weapons in hand, they simultaneously swung down at my head.

Two blades approached.

“Useless.”

I stomped the floor.

The impact completely shattered the surrounding floor.

The footing collapsed, canceling both their attacks.

“With this—zero.”

I punched both men’s abdomens, and they went down almost simultaneously.

That was easy once I could use mana.

“But that artifact… it would have been bad if it was used on Iris.”

With Iris’s current level, she wouldn’t be able to refine mana and would have been defeated one-sidedly.

I went over to the fallen Jack and recovered the mana disruption artifact.

“Well… how are Iris and the others doing? I hope they’re safe…”

And thinking about what to do with these fallen guys, I decided to drag them all and hand them over to soldiers.

▼△▼

Around the time Yuguram was capturing the thieves who had infiltrated the royal palace.

Iris and the others, running through town, had reached near the central plaza while listening to residents’ screams.

“H-how terrible…”

In the central plaza was a mountain of residents’ corpses torn apart by monsters.

The ground was dyed red with fresh blood.

Near that mountain was a mysterious figure wearing a hood.

The hooded figure smiled upon seeing Iris and the others.

“Oh, you’re over here, Princess Iris.”

The voice was male. Beside the man was… one giant centipede.