Chapter 53: Looking down from the sky

Sorry for the delay in updating.

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「Hmm, I’m grateful that you bother to correct it.
Then, let’s correct this one too」(Wolf)

In response to my provocation, the leader of “Lone Wolf”, thrust his saber at Kouya whose HP has completely recovered.
And Wolf will tell me in a very calm manner.

「You know what, even in his death, Viking still helps me.」(Wolf)

Wolf remains in a position with one knee step on Kouya, with clear eyes, states that Viking’s death won’t affect him.

「You’re the one to change your mind… Don’t underestimate Taru’s alchemy」(Kouya)

「Hm, The insect crawling on the ground should be silent.」(Wolf)

(T.N: I hate this Wolf brat and Viking brat)

Kouya’s HP should have recovered, but he is still pinned to the ground by Wolf’s saber.

Did he get a paralyzed condition like the Viking just now?

The abnormal conditions will come out from time to time from skills.
And because of its high frequency of appearance, Paralysis seems to be the highest popular one because of its usefulness.

Its effect is rather troublesome.

However, Wolf didn’t let go of the pierced saber on Kouya, this might be the condition to keep the paralysis effect.

I’m not sure if it’s the effect of that saber or Wolf’s own ability, but there’s one thing I know for sure.

Kouya’s HP keeps decreasing while he is pinned to the ground.

Although I made a number of Emerald’s Tears, it would be running out soon if I kept using it to prevent Kouya from being killed.
I grabbed my Kodachi and nodded to the fairies.

「Taru, are you going (Iku~no)?」(Wind Fairy A)

「Are we playing again (Mata~ asobu~ no)?」(Wind Fairy B)

「Taru~n, fluffy (Fuwa~fuwa~n)♪」(Wind Fairy C)

I glanced at Mina next to me, she was drinking my homemade MP recovery item, “Forest Medicine”.

「Mina, I will go in first」(Taru)

「Hmm. Show me what you can do when you grow up in a greenhouse (温室育)」(Wolf)

Ignored Wolf’s provocative word, I hover-glided straight toward Kouya’s direction.
The Wind fairies cast wind on my back helping me move faster.

Even when I approach him, Wolf still won’t take any stance and stand casually.

I was somewhat angry at his attitude and swung my Kodachi with all my might.

「Hmm. I know from your previous battle against Viking that you are useless and can only act as a decoy」(Wolf)

Wolf struck the side of my arm, which is holding the Kodachi, with his bare hands.
His timing was perfect and I was intercepted very easily.
As a result, I couldn’t control the force of the wind and fell violently as I passed through Wolf.

Taru　HP 60　→　16

But, this is fine.

As Wolf says, I’m just a decoy to stall time for.

「Big Ball, Big Scorching Flame…」(Mina)

Mina is chanting to trigger her magic.

At the same time, I use Emerald’s Tear for myself and Kouya to prepare for Wolf’s next move.

But Wolf didn’t react much. He just casual howls. His howling can be regarded as a wolf or a dog.

Then I noticed the air around Wolf’s face shook for a moment,
As if Mina’s hair was fluttering and pressured by something, she took a step back.

「Mina! What happened?!」(Taru)

「Tenshi-sama! The Math question has changed to Algebra, I can’t solve it!」(Mina)

Mina muttered regretfully.

If she can’t solve the question to trigger the magic, it won’t activate.

Did the difficulty of the question increase?

Wolf started to laugh out loud, perhaps, because he saw our interaction.

「Hmm, what’s wrong?
Why don’t you keep recovering MP for the useless wizard who fails many times?
I’ll keep doing it all day long though」(Wolf)

I see.

Apparently, Mina’s magic question’s difficulty is due to Wolf’s ability.

Is there an ability that activates the effect just by howling?

Wolf realized that I don’t have attack power (DPS) from the previous battle, so his bare hands were enough to deal with me.

While using his saber to pin on Kouya and cause continuous damage (Damage Over Time)。

Mina, the only one with high DPS, is rendered useless with an ability that increases the difficulty of the question to activate the magic.

I don’t know if this is Wolff’s tactic, but it’s enough to deal with all of our attacks.

Although there is still room for other items, we only two Blue Amber Seeds left to increase Mina’s maximum MP.

「There are only five left, so… I actually don’t want to use it at this point」(Taru)

I grabbed “Aiming Fireworks (Small)” for my next move,
And when I was about to get up, a certain Player appeared to attack Wolf from the back.

That Player equips with iron armor, helmet, and with his shield in front, he attacks Wolf.

「“Press”(EN skill name)』」(Yuuki)

Yuuki rushed to help us using a melee attack.

「Hmm」(Wolf)

However, Wolf lowered himself to avoid and kick Yuuki’s feet with his right foot while using his left foot to rotate around.

Yuuki was scooped up and fell.

「Hmm, one after another, you just keep flocking to me…」(Wolf)

The leader of “Lone Wolf” looks over Yuuki, Kouya, and me lying on the ground one after another.

「…Wet Blankets.
You have been in the same party with Angel before, so I wondered what were you like.
Do you think you can Power-Level the brats?
You are pretty much the same as children (players under the age of 15), you are far behind the members of our group who have passed through the shrine (dungeon/location).」(Wolf)

Wolf approached me with a stunning gaze, he pulled out the sword, that was pinning on Kouya, and stood up.

「Hmm. It’s a waste of time.
I will see how you (出方 overcome) get out of this.
You will end here as my prey.」(Wolf)

「Yuu, be careful! Touching this sword will cause a slight paralysis!」(Kouya)

As soon as Kouya becomes free, he warns Yuuki while backflipping.

「OK (EN)! In that case, we won’t let it touch me, I will use my shield as a weapon.」(Yuuki)

「Hmm, you guys are too much of lukewarm water!」(Wolf)

As Wolf said that, he howled “ARH-WOOOOO” to block the Magic Mina secretly cast and approached me quickly.

「Ri…Right」(Taru)

I immediately ask the fairies to fly to the right.

「Hmm. Right, isn’t it?」(Wolf)

Wolf chased after my quick movement caused by the sudden gust and swung the saber down to me.

「！」(Taru)

Them the fairies gave me the same movement speed.
While being surprised at the unexpected quickness, I immediately kicked the ground and changed the course.

Considering the power of his fist earlier, Wolf’s power status must far exceed me.
That’s why I choose to dodge his attacks rather than blocking it head-on.

「Hmm. You are so wide-open」(Wolf)

I managed to dodge Wolf’s saber by hair’s breadth, but with the ability of my equipped “Sky Blue Dress”, I floated softly in the air.

Wolf grinned and swung the saber in his hand again as he chased after me.

「Snowstorm! “Twin Sakura Petals”!」(Kouya)

However, Kouya made a quick surprise attack on Wolf, who tried to swing down his saber on me.
He lowered his posture and activated the ability from diagonally to the right and behind Wolf.
At the moment the two fists seemed to have stopped Wolf’s attack.

「Hmm. Too Naive」(Wolf)

Kouya’s fists aimed at Wolf’s face and abdomen were missed in vain. In response to Kouya’s attack, he kicked the ground, flew in the air, and jumped parallel in a position like the back jump of the pole vault. He did a very acrobatic trick of turning around and even counterattacking with his saber at Kouya right above him, probably because he was adding rotation to the jump.

「Gu~u」(Kouya)

Kouya was slashed from shoulder to waist, he moaned and staggered backward on the spot.

Kou HP260/270　→　195/270

Finally, Yuuki approached Wolf with his shield in front.

Wolf brilliantly landed on the ground from his feet and pointed his a saber toward Yuuki.

「Light Sword (EN skill name)!」(Yuuki)

Yuuki shouts the name of the ability and goes straight to Wolf.
His knight’s shield gets the buff from the ability and suddenly shines brightly.

Was that the true meaning of Light Sword?

Blinding Wolf for a moment and meanwhile using the shield to create the blindspot to slash the sword at him.

However, Wolf still counters all that.

When Yuuki attacks with his sword, his motion moves the shield to the side at the same time and Wolf is moving in the same direction of the shield.
Moreover, he jumped lightly, placing his left hand on the shield to make use of Yuuki’s blind spot, then he pierced Yuuki’s left shoulder from above with the saber in his right hand.

「U~uu」(Yuuki)

Yuu　HP340/450 → 220/450

Wolf had no trouble getting through Yuuki’s attack then countering.

From Yuuki’s slightly numb body, Wolf pulls out his sword as soon as he lands and gives an additional back-kick.

My best friend was hit hard on the back, couldn’t stand the momentum, and slammed into me who was still floating in the air. (T.N: Ah, a Lucky Sukebe)

「Ta~ Taru, Sorry」(Yuuki)

「Nevermind that, Wolf is…」(Taru)

Kouya tried to help us by attacking Wolf again but he avoided it easily. Wolf approaches us with a ruthless expression.

「Hmm. Curse your uselessness, Damn Alchemist.」(Wolf)

I thought it was bad and immediately threw an item on the ground.
A Flashbang type.

It’s an item for evacuation.

“Fluffy Leaf Green (EN)”, an item synthesized with “Smoke bomb (Kemuri-dama)” and yellow-green ball, “Fluffy Bomb (Fuwamoku-dama)”.

“Fluffy Bomb (Fuwamoku-dama)”

An Item that inherits the characteristic “fluffy cotton grass color” of Mofu-Usa (fluffy rabbit) that drifts in the wind like cotton. Combing with the power of the “Smoke bomb” that blocks the field of vision. When used, the light green chemistry explodes, obstructing vision. Moreover, within the range of smoke, give you the lightness like a Mofu-Usa, the weight will be reduced to 1/20. The gravity effect applied to players will be halved.

Reducing weight means that the moving speed will be increased. (Imaging you weight 3kg instead of 60kg)
However, if the gravity is halved in addition to that, it will be difficult to step on. (halved gravity will make you float)
Both the attacker and the attacked side are more likely to be blown away if they put strength in their legs, making it difficult to deliver the attack.

And since their view is covered with light green smoke, they will be confusing.

The surroundings are dyed in a light green color, and you can’t see even a meter away.

Kouya, Mina, Yuuki, as well as the players who were fighting around, screamed.

And Wolf should be the same.

Wolf, who was trying to chase us up to that point, will either stop moving or rush in regardless.

I don’t know how he will react, but I call out to Yuuki, who just get off me after losing his balance before.

「I will watch from above」(Taru)

「OK (EN), Report the situation on PT chat」(Yuuki)

Next, talk to the wind fairies.

「To the top」(Taru)

I flew through the smoke in an unprecedented momentum and raised to the sky at once.

My height is higher than expected, more than 15 meters.

I haven’t reached the altitude of the sky, but flying this body to a high place is very simple.

It was just like the famous Brothers (Wright Brothers) who invented the airplane have always been accumulating that flying in the sky is the closest feeling to the symbol of freedom.

This is really refreshing.

The ability that enables me to fly freely in the air, feeling the wind that blows through, the blue sky, etc.
All that makes me feel refreshed.

「Thank you very much, fairies (Yōsei-san-tachi)」(Taru)

「Taru, become the wind」(Wind Fairy A)

「Taru ~ Taru ~ Feeling of the wind ~」(Wind Fairy B)

「Dance freely ♪」(Wind Fairy C)

I can only raise this body with the help of the Wind Fairies.

Thanks to that I can easier to grasp the situation by looking down on the battlefield from above.
In addition to that, if I plan to make a surprise attack, it’s easy to attack from above.
Because Wolf has a high evasion ability, it’s regrettable that I have no choice but to take such a tactic.

There are Yuuki, Kouya, and Mina on the ground.
Even if I try to expose myself to danger, they will cover me.

Hold the “Aiming Fireworks (Small)” and carefully observe the smoke area below.
No matter how strong Wolf is, if he gets sniped with this AOE-ranged-attack item while his body is fluffy, he will definitely take damaged.

I don’t know how much damage the fireworks will do to the people around him (stray bullet).
But from how it is when we are fighting with Anon-san, I don’t have to worry too much unless we get hit directly, as Mina and I didn’t get damaged from the fireworks in range.

Well then, Wolf.

Where are you?

As I was wondering from which part of the smoke the gray-haired boy would appear, I heard a suddenly familiar voice from above.

「Are~re, are~re.
You can’t see a clear sky (Misora) unless you look from the bottom, right Taru? Can you, Taru?」(Misora)

A witch flying in a robe in the blue sky.

「Eh, Ah… Misora-san」(Taru)

Despite being upset by her sudden appearance, I was happy and indescribably relieved that she was safe. I had half-predicted that Misora was attacked just before.

Unlike me, who was fluffy and slowly descending in an awkward posture, Misora stood on a small cloud like a hermit somewhere.

「Hmmm, just when I wondered who made that that green cloud. It was Taru-chan, wasn’t it?」(Misora)

Misora came down slowly according to my altitude and was curiously looking at the smoke of my “Fluffy Leaf Green (EN)”.

「Ah, uhm… So, Misora-san really came here after all.
Or rather, was it because the Deus?」(Taru)

At the behest of Kaguya Morpheus, the Ash King, just like me right now, some superhumans were flying freely in the air at his own will.
What happened to those magical Deus?

If my prediction was correct, Misora was supposed to be under attack.

「For those mortals, the most they can do is imitating God, I doubt they can even notice the Majesty of the Great Blue Sky. So even if I leave them alone, they will soon fall to the ground on their own. Yes, they will fall.」(Misora)

With a smile, Misora cheerfully points her cane far above.

At that direction, there are 4 Magic Deus and the old man, who stood beside the King just before, desperately flying in the sky. No, they are running away.

If you ask what, it’s a big white mass.
It’s from a huge cloud.
The cloud, which should have been intangible, changed into various shapes, and overrun the Deus along with that old man.

Sometimes it tries to chew with a Dragon-like Agito figure (image below), sometimes it tries to hit with a fist form.

Their total amount is about the size of a small castle, it would be ridiculous monsters if all of them have such mass.

Moreover, the powerful magic from the Deus was sucked into somewhere as soon as they tried to activate it as if was swallowed by the Blue Sky. In the sky, there is only the sound of ripples on the surface of the water.

「You can’t see the Clear Sky (Misora) just by looking down.
However, unless we are looking down, we can’t understand the crisis of human beings crawling on the ground.」(Misora)

Misora began to look down, saying that she didn’t care about the fight with Deus.

I also looked down like her.

If you look closely at the battlefield, you will notice that the number of players has dropped significantly.

Around the king near the castle, the Apprentice Deus is attacked by the players and the battle between the players is extremely fierce.

On the outer circumference of the venue, the surrounding Deus is narrowing their circle.
There are some places where Players are cooperating to intercept Deus, but most of them were caught between the onslaught of the Player Vs Player Vs Deus.
And the only ones who die here are the fragile players, not the apprentice Deus.

…I feel like it’s not the case when players are fighting each other.

「By the way, did Wind Fairies (fū yōsei-tachi) help Taru-chan?」(Misora)

「Yes, of course! Without these children, I might have been…」(Taru)

「Taru is a good girl」(Wind Fairy A)

「Taru ~is a child of the wind ~a healthy child~」(Wind Fairy B)

「Taru~n~♪ Fly with the wind ~♪ Bun Bun ~♪」(Wind Fairy C)

「Wa wa…」(Taru)

Even though I didn’t tell them anything yet, the fairies generated a breeze and pushed my body up.

Looking at us, Misora-san is hiding her mouth with her sleeves and smiling.

With a calm tone like a mother, she talks to me.

「Ah, that’s right.
Taru-chan only has little magical power left, so be careful when joining forces with fairies, okay?
You should be careful」(Misora)

「Eh, uhm…?」(Taru)

I noticed it only after being told that.
My MP was only 2 left.

「Don’t tell me…」(Taru)

「If you use the wind of these children, your magical power will decrease, you know.
But there are three fairies, so it’s about one-third the amount of magical power consumed of usual? Right?」(Misora)

「Our power is matching」(Fairy A)

「The power of Taru is delicious ~」(Fairy B)

「Me too, Taru~n~♪」(Fairy C)

「Well then, this turned out to be a noisy ball, but let’s enjoy it together. Shall we?
If Taru-chan and the fairies are in danger, it’s no wonder that I, the guardian of the sky, the wise man Misora, will descend to the ground.」(Misora)

After saying such words, Sage Misora-san went up to a higher level.

I watch her figure become smaller for a while.

Somehow, it seems like parting with a distant friend.
I feel a little lonely but I have to get back to my battlefield.
Suppressing the sadness in my heart and looking down.

As expected, more and more Players are being killed.
Some of them are killed by Players, others are killed by Apprentice Deus in Light Blue Armor.

The only way we can survive this battlefield is to cooperate with each other.

If it’s my friends like Kouya, Yuuki, Mina, George, and Glen-kun, I can just talk to them.
But for Wolf.

If the other person doesn’t have that intention, must I annihilate him after all?

Drinking “Forest Medicine” and recovering MP, I slowly descend the sky.

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Author’s Note:

Thank you for reading.