“This is terrible.”
Despite the beauty of the nature before them, they couldn’t help but gulp at that ‘ugly’ sight.
An ugly scenery that could be seen only through the screen projected by their fosters.
“I can’t believe these many cracks would appear at the dimensional barrier in a place like this!”
Cracks could be seen all over that space full of trees like a spider web.
It would have been better if their equipment was merely faulty, but alas, those layers of lines across the projection were without a doubt there, just invisible to the naked eye.
The dimensional walls in the area were without a doubt brittle.
“I take it this normally doesn’t happen on Earth?”
Shinichi, who stood closes to the cracks, asked, and Frire angrily replied, though not because of his ignorance.
“Obviously! Only a few raybeasts might appear at a time on Earth, but there are already laws making it mandatory for the barrier to be regularly inspected! Yet these many cracks have actually been left ignored! What kind of incompetent inspection is this!?” Frire said.
“Yeah, this is terrible. Did they actually even inspect anything?” Myuhi said.
Though it was only according to Earth’s standard, there was without a doubt a lot of cracks, and deep ones too, on the dimensional barrier.
For something like this to have been overlooked, either the inspection performed was too shoddy, or no one did any inspection in the first place.
Whichever it was, it was a matter that would leave any Garestonian furious.
They were wary of raybeasts even in this world, where they were only beginning to become a problem.
The scope of this breakout was small compared to Garesto’s, but it was still more than sufficient to pose a threat, causing the women to grow furious at the negligence of the Earthlings.
“…It would be great if that was all there was to it.”
However, Shinichi was the only one who considered another possibility.
“It’s done. That Amaryllis is still running around, though,” Tomoe said.
Then came a blue-eyed girl with a katana. She became a bit timid when she saw the school’s second strongest and strongest female teacher, but she still approached Shinichi.
“W-Won’t you be fine even without me?”
“There’s no telling what kind of raybeasts will pop out and how many there are. The more hands the better… Besides, didn’t you use a barrier that locks us in?” Shinichi said.
“T-That’s true, but…” Tomoe said.
She usually had an unyielding spirit about her, but she knew her place when it came to her strength.
It made her uncomfortable just how big the gap was between her and the other three gathered here.
Unfortunately, the situation would continue to progress regardless how she felt.
〈Convergence Phenomenon of Dimensional Energy confirmed. Raybeasts will break out in 30 seconds, 29, 28, 27───〉
“Just give up and get your weapon ready. Considering the total amount of energy, even if all the raybeasts gathered together, they won’t even be able to amount to a Rank B.”
With Shirayuki’s count down in the backdrop, Frire took out her signature blade, while Myuhi took out a short spear out of consideration for her surroundings.
Tomoe resigned herself to her fate and took out Kamunagi and assumed the Seigan Stance.
She chose her katana instead of one of Garesto’s weapons, which she could use according to her grades, because she trusted her mother’s heirloom more in real battle. Not to mention, she was more familiar with it.
Her weapon was clearly of a different style compared to Garesto’s, but the other two women didn’t make any comments.
One of the Garestonians’ traits is that they didn’t care too much about the appearance of a weapon.
In fact, many among them, especially the warriors, believed that the only thing that mattered was that the offensive capability of the weapon be sufficient to destroy the enemy.
“You know, dimensional Energy sometimes diffuses and converges to create a large number of raybeasts.”
Myuhi might have wanted to help Tomoe relax, as she intentionally mentioned a disquieting possibility in a casual manner.
“…That sounds terrifying. I’ve erected a barrier to cover the surroundings and the trees, but I’d rather not run into a group of them in a place like this,” Tomoe said.
That was different from the barrier that kept people away and the barrier that locked them here.
Even if they managed to defeat the raybeasts, if they caused damages to the surroundings, it would still be difficult to hide what had transpired.
So knowing that Shinichi would want to keep this matter under wraps, she erected such a barrier too.
“Oh, that’s a huge help,” Shinichi said.
“You work well and have good insight. It’s simple, but it’s good support. I guess you really are gifted in this regard,” Frire said.
“T-Thank you very much…” Tomoe said.
When even the teacher praised her, Tomoe couldn’t endure it any longer and scratched her cheeks, embarrassed.
But then Shinichi, with that usual grin of his, casually dropped a bomb.
“Oh, but the energy is probably going to spread and create a lot of raybeasts.”
“Haa!?””
“What did you say?”
“How could you know that!?”
“That’s because I’m here, of course.”
Everyone turned to him with shock and asked if he was telling the truth, but Shinichi just indifferently and bluntly said that in response.
An irresponsible reason that no one could possibly come to terms with.
“That doesn’t make any sense at all!” Tomoe said.
“Then just take it as though fate exists and its always making things problematic for me,” Shinichi said.
“A fate as unsettling as that ought to be severed!” Tomoe said.
“Ahahaha, if that were possible, then I wouldn’t have to suffer so much,” Shinichi said.
Shinichi just laughed as he rejected Tomoe’s proposal, while the other two women wore a stiff expression.
As much skepticism as that reason might draw, there was no denying that a lot of bad things have been happening around him.
Especially, considering the recent incidents that occurred in Kutoria and even on the first day of their school trip.
It was ridiculous just how many incidents could happen in so short of a time, not to mention, there was even a possibility of several happening on the same day.
Without intending to, Myuhi and Frire found themselves gulping as cold sweat slid down them. If his fears really were to come true, they would have no choice but to acknowledge the existence of such a fate, and that trouble would find him wherever he was.
〈───9, 8, 7, 6〉
“Welp, looks like chatting time is over.”
As the countdown entered the single digits, Shinichi too took position.
But when they saw the weapon he was using, they all commented.
“Is that supposed to be some kind of joke?” Frire said.
“Icchi, what is that in your hand?” Myuhi said.
“…Didn’t your parents teach you not to play with food?” Tomoe said.
Despite the questions accompanied by cold eyes, Shinichi was unperturbed.
And despite their remarks, even the girls have already turned back to the energy that was starting to gain mass.
Nothing had appeared yet, but there was a colorlessness that was starting to distort their surroundings.
As those swirled and gathered into single points, contours began to form.
Unfortunately, it was not possible to stop them from appearing at this point or even earlier with either world’s technology.
“That’s rude. They’ll go to waste if I don’t use them, so it’s only right that we put them to use now!”
The method taught by the school was to shoot through these things as they appeared, and the moment they materialized, Shinichi shot them through with those things in his hands.
Of course, Shinichi had no recollection of such classes because he was usually dozing off.
His actions just so happened to coincide with the school’s teachings.
Besides, no textbook ever mentioned throwing those.
“Ehhh?”
It was such a stupid idea, but the result it brought out caused a stupid voice full of shock to resound.
The first group of raybeasts took on the appearance of slightly thicker deer.
There were about ten of them, but they dispersed as soon as Shinichi shot through them with such precision as to shoot their crystals, even though each crystal was located somewhere different.
That alone was worthy of admiration, but what was even more surprising that…
“The deer were killed by… Deer crackers…”
“Can’t use it as feed anymore, so I might as well use it this way.”
Everyone else was shocked, but Shinichi was full of satisfaction.
Any object once coated with Shinichi’s mana would come to possess extraordinary hardness.
It was child’s play for him to shoot at the vital location, and upon shooting through, the deer cracker would shatter because of the burden from the mana and the impact.
‘This is ecology,’ Shinichi seriously thought to himself.
“With this guy, even stones and food can be turned into weapons.”
As his disciple, Tomoe has indeed witnessed such thing, but understandably, she didn’t think he could actually weaponize crackers.
“Come on, focus! They’re gonna start coming one after another! I’ll provide support, so you girls be the vanguard.”
Shinichi declared with a clap of his hands.
They wanted to ask him what was happening, but before they could, a herd of deer-type raybeasts appeared from right before them.
With their numbers already surpassing 20, they were not a threat that could be ignored despite their low rank.
“Tch, I’ll take the lead! Ruona, Safina, cover for me. We need to reduce their numbers by attacking quickly!” Frire said.
“Gotcha,” Myuhi said.
“I-I understand!” Tomoe said.
Frire jumped at the herd of raybeasts and swung her blade.
There was nothing complicated behind her actions, yet the air shook with a powerful sound and the raybeasts were sent flying.
It was not really because of the slash she unleashed but because the pressure emanated by her sword was just too great for the raybeasts to endure that their transient bodies were exterminated.
About 10 raybeasts dissipated in just one move, but the remaining charged at her with their horns.
“This probably won’t be effective, but I’d like to get this over with quickly.”
Myuhi swung her spear and cut at the approaching herd, but the way she handled her spear was less like a spear and more like a dull weapon as the head of the raybeasts were crushed one after another.
After all, these raybeasts were at most D Rank.
That was a level where it was dubious if they could even damage the barrier erected by Frire’s weapon terminal.
But as long as they had to reduce their numbers, they had to take down whatever was caught in their eye.
“We haven’t even visited Todaiji Temple yet!”
Tomoe said as she cut down three raybeasts with a single sweeping stroke.
Myuhi took Frire’s right, so Tomoe took her left and cut down the approaching raybeasts.
Kamunagi’s blade easily tore through the raybeasts’ flesh as though they couldn’t even feel their weight.
The beautiful stroke of her blade drew a line in the air that glimmered for a moment.
“Hmm, good step and swordsmanship. Looks like it’s true that you’re good at swords, Safina,” Frire said.
“N-Not at all. I’m just doing my best not to drag you two down,” Tomoe said.
“Tomotomo, you’re from Class B, so you should have some more confidence in yourself. As long as you’re not surrounded, a battle of this level won’t be a problem at all!”
Though they’d taken out the initial raybeasts, more raybeasts have already appeared.
Moreover, there were several visible energy vortexes around them too, indicating that even more raybeasts were about to appear.
If they only had to fight these raybeasts one at a time, even a newly enrolled student of the academy wouldn’t have a problem, but their numbers and spawn rate was a problem.
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