A ninja suicide bomber attacked Karen.
“Phew! That was close!”
But just as the explosion occurred, Karen had put a lot of distance between them. She’s luckily unharmed.
“His grip weakened just before the explosion! I used that opportunity to escape!”
That’s what she claims, but it would require a considerable amount of explosive power to do so, and it’s probably impossible for most of the guards to pull off such an attack.
DOOOOOOOOOOOOON!
“…Mm. True enough, escaping is possible.”
Fana pulled it off as well. It’s as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
DOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!
“This much? I don’t even need to dodge—it can’t harm me.”
Lill didn’t move. Even in her human form, a self-destruction of such level was nothing to a being in mythic grade.
“Guys, don’t try to copy them, okay?”
“““As if we could!!”””
The escort soldiers scattered in panic, desperate to evade the suicide-charging ninjas. A few, however, braced themselves and tried to hold the attackers off with sasumata .
Guiiiiiin!!
“Hoh~, that thing extends huh.”
It seemed the sasumata could lengthen and retract at will, allowing them to keep the explosive assassins at bay. It’s a clever trick, one that bought them precious seconds. Elsewhere, the karakuri soldiers threw themselves into the fray, intercepting the self-detonating ninja head-on. To them, sacrificing their own bodies carried no hesitation.
Even so, many guards were killed in the ninja’s suicide attacks. Since multiple people were caught up in a single ninja’s suicide attack, injuries continued to occur.
“Ugh… How frustrating…”
“Area Heal!”
“…? M-my wounds…?”
I activated a ranged healing spell, healing the wounds of the injured all at once. Not only could it heal many people at once, but it was also an excellent technique, as the healing effect automatically increased if anyone was slightly more seriously injured.
“Oh? Getting a little flustered, are we?”
The ninjas had most of their faces concealed, making it difficult to read their emotions. Yet even so, it was obvious they were rattled.
Well, of course they would be. What good was sacrificing themselves in a grand explosion if their targets just healed it all away in an instant? After all, the cost-to-reward ratio was far too poor.
Realizing I was the one responsible, the ninjas all leapt at me at once.
“Hundred Lightning bolt!”
Tiny bolts of lightning rained down upon their heads, one after another. Each strike wasn’t all that powerful on its own, but the spell could hit multiple targets at the same time.
“““~~~~tsu!?”””
The lightning bolts seared into them, and their movements faltered.
“As I thought. Karakuri is weak to electricity, so I decided to test it out—and it seems you, with bodies remade into karakuri, are no different. …Uh-oh~, looks like you guys are about to self-destruct huh.”
The ninjas surrounding me all triggered their self-destruct function at once. Even if their bodies were half-paralyzed and no longer functioning properly, it seemed the one thing they could still manage was pressing that suicidal switch.
I spread my barrier, completely negating the chain of explosions.
When the smoke cleared, the squad of over fifty ninjas had been reduced to only a handful. Yet even then, desperate to achieve their mission, the survivors hurled themselves toward the shogun’s carriage. But the elite guards protecting him did not allow them to get anywhere close.
At last, the last one was pinned down by a karakuri soldier but he still tried to trigger his self-destruct switch.
“Freeze!”
My spell encased him in ice before he could detonate. The ninja became nothing more than a frozen statue.
“I’d like to dismantle him later, so I figured I’d just bring him back like this.”
“I– I see… Still, to think the Western land had warriors like you. When I first heard you’d slain the Yamata no Orochi, I assumed it had to be some sort of mistake. But after witnessing your battle just now… it’s hard not to believe it.”
The guards murmured in awe as I tossed the frozen ninja into my subspace storage.
After that, no further ambushes came. We safely crossed the mountain pass, and our journey continued smoothly.
Before long, we arrived at a small mountain town known as Nikou.
“Nikou is one of the most famous hot spring sites in our country. Its excellent effects are said to be incomparable to those in Edo. It is said that simply soaking in the hot springs every day will make you ten years younger. It is also effective in relieving fatigue and healing wounds, and is said to have been a favorite of warlords of the Sengoku period.”
“…Could I become ten years younger?”
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
Previous ⚜ Table of Contents ⚜ Next
Yume Neiji's Works 