Chapter 12: Next time, at least give me a warning.

“Ora! Turns out these guys were sneaking around, hiding among the NPC trash and spying on us!”

I was shoved hard from behind by the man who seemed to be the leader of the four—someone apparently named Schneider. I went tumbling forward and collapsed right in front of the two people called Claudia and Akiyama, who were surrounded by knights poised to leap at them. Ririka and Natsumi were thrown out the same way. The three of us were forced by the four outlaw players into the middle of the main street, encircled by both a crowd and armed knights.

All four of them were level 230—hardcore no-lifers who, back when this world was still a game, must have devoted themselves entirely to leveling and upgrades. Now they wielded overwhelming power and behaved however they pleased, vicious outlaws through and through. Surrounded by them, I had neither my lifeline equipment nor the communicator I used to contact Erika. This was unmistakably a major crisis.

“Hmph. A level 120 magic fist fighter, a level 100 spirit caster, and as a bonus, a level 1 low-tier warrior. No wonder you were too scared to come out.”

The deranged woman named Claudia—who had stripped naked in public—must have checked our status. After confirming our levels and jobs, she snorted in disdain.

“People like this piss me off—the so-called ‘casual players.’ We stayed up late, sacrificing sleep to clear content and gather info, and then these idiots swoop in afterward and enjoy it. Useless pieces of crap. This is S Sword B Blaze O Online. It might even shut down, and yet they keep saying it’s ‘just a game’ and won’t get serious. Damn it.”

“And that’s why now you can’t even think about standing up to us—you just sit there trembling and watching, right? Serves you right. You clung to pathetic ‘real life’ nonsense and half-assed the game, and this is what you got.”

Schneider and the woman beside him looked down at us with contempt as they spoke. So their pent-up frustration from when this was still a game had finally exploded after coming to this world. I’d been called a no-lifer myself in other games, but I couldn’t agree with anything these people said or did. There was something seriously wrong with them.

“Release those three at once! They are benefactors who protected Dora Fortress from dragons and hordes of powerful monsters and saved us! No—regardless of that, harming unarmed people who cannot resist will not be tolerated!”

Princess Knight Evangelin, who along with the other knights had surrounded the four, pointed her sword at the outlaws and demanded our release. Her outfit looked like something straight out of a pervert’s fantasy, but her dignified bearing was reassuring.

“A dragon? Any dragon you can beat around level 100 is just trash. You beat something like that, got praised by NPCs, and played hero, huh? That’s hilarious.”

“Hey, boss, can we go ahead and do it already? All this waiting is killing the mood.”

“Uhihihihi! Like you’ve even got anything that can go limp.”

“Shut up, Akiyama! Don’t butt in every time! Limp is limp!”

At Claudia’s words, Schneider paused as if thinking, then twisted his mouth into a grin.

“Jeez. I was holding back because going too far would make it hard to stay in town, but now everyone here’s already shaking in fear anyway, so it’s a hassle. Mixed bathing at the hot springs feels like a waste, but we’ve already done all the decent women in this town. Guess we’ll head to Larentia next.”

“Sounds good. I like the queen’s character design there. I’m looking forward to it.”

“So that makes tonight our last bit of fun in this town. These three plus the princess knight should be a good finale, right?”

“Uhihihihi! Then I’ll take that loli elf.”

“Got it? Just rough up the knights and townsfolk—don’t kill them. Let’s give them a good, long show of the princess knight and the heroic adventurers getting violated right in front of everyone.”

“Nice. After that, a situation where the crowd gang-rapes them again is totally my thing.”

“Honestly, men are all the same. Well, I’ll enjoy watching some holier-than-thou bitch get violated too.”

This was really bad. Even if I said I was actually a man inside, these people wouldn’t care—and the most lecherous-looking one was a woman anyway. Ririka and Natsumi wouldn’t be able to endure being humiliated by people like this either. And monsters like these couldn’t be allowed to roam free. Absolutely not. Do we try to resist, even if it’s a gamble? But how?

“DON’T FUCK WITH ME, YOU PIECES OF SHIT!! I—I WILL NEVER ALLOW THAT!! YOU THINK I’LL LET FILTHY TRASH LIKE YOU DO WHATEVER YOU WANT?! I’LL KILL ALL OF YOU!! I’LL RIP OFF YOUR ARMS AND LEGS, GOUGE OUT YOUR EYES, RIP OUT YOUR TONGUES, MAKE YOU GROVEL BEFORE THE ENTIRE WORLD, AND THEN KILL YOU!! I’LL KILL YOU!! I’LL KILL YOU ALL!! THIS—ARISAKA NATSUMI, ARISAKA NATSUMI—WILL DRAG ALL FOUR OF YOU STRAIGHT TO HELL AND SLAUGHTER YOU!!!”

She snapped—completely and utterly. The person inside the cross-dressing shota elf exploded with fury. But the situation was terrible. Far too terrible.

“Huh?”

For a moment, everyone—including the knights and the crowd—was stunned by Natsumi’s scream. But the naked madwoman Claudia recovered first, stepped toward Natsumi, and swung her leg up.

“Try killing us, you weak little shit? Then die.”

This is bad!

My body moved on reflex. I leapt between Natsumi and Claudia, and the world spun.

“Clarice!?”

“Clarice-nyan!!”

“Hey! Are you alright!?”

I heard voices from somewhere. Everything around me was noisy. For a moment, I couldn’t understand what had happened, but it seemed that several knights standing nearby had caught me after I was kicked away in Natsumi’s place. As soon as I realized that, a chill ran through my side, and a red liquid surged up my throat and spilled out.

The instant I spat blood, the chill turned into searing pain. I crouched down, unable to even cry out. My body shook on its own, and I couldn’t move. My vision turned crimson, and the surrounding voices were drowned out by ringing in my ears.

“Hey! That one’s level 1! You didn’t kill them, did you!?”

“They jumped in themselves—what was I supposed to do!?”

“If they’re a player, won’t they revive if the party wipes and they get sent to the temple? Nothing to worry about, right?”

“That’s not what I mean! If you break the toy we were about to have fun with, what’s the point!? I’m not into necrophilia!”

Damn it… don’t screw around…

Rage threatened to boil over in my chest. Then, abruptly, the intense pain faded. My vision and hearing cleared as if nothing had happened, and the trembling stopped. I could move.

Startled, I rubbed my side and slowly stood up.

“A-are you okay, nya!? Can you stand, nya!?”

“Clarice! Thank goodness! I was scared you’d died because of me…!”

“I—I’m fine. I’m really okay now.”

Ririka and Natsumi rushed over, reaching out to support me, but I stopped them and stood on my own.

“Huh. You’re alive after all. Pretty tough for a level 1. What, did Kuro learn how to hold back?”

“Shut up. I didn’t mean to, but hey—good thing the toy didn’t break.”

Facing Claudia and her companions, who showed no remorse whatsoever, Ririka and Natsumi stepped forward and took fighting stances.

“At this point, we have to fight, nya! If we work together with the knights around us, maybe we can—”

“Even if we can’t, we’ll do it! I’ll avenge Clarice!”

“…Tch, what a pain in the ass. Fine then. I’ll play with you a little first—foreplay, basically. Come on.”

As she spoke, Claudia stretched out her arm provocatively, palm up, beckoning them on.

Then everything from her elbow down vanished.

For a single instant, a line of light flashed down from the sky. Along that boundary, Claudia’s left arm—everything past the elbow—fell to the ground.

“Huh?”

Claudia let out a stupid sound and stared at what remained of her arm. A moment later, she collapsed to her knees, rolling on the ground and screaming.

“AAAAAAAH!? IT HURTS!! MY ARM!? MY ARM—AAAAGH!!”

“W-what the hell!? Magic!?”

“What did you do!? Was this you!?”

“What!? What is this!?”

The four outlaw players panicked, shouting over one another, unable to understand what had just happened.

I, however, quietly looked up at the star-filled sky.

—So you came.

The next moment, it descended between us and the outlaws.

Two objects.

One was a massive metal shell over two meters tall, its pointed tip buried straight into the ground like a dropped spear. The other smashed through the stone pavement beside it, kicking up dust and crackling arcs of plasma barrier discharge before landing in a kneeling position and then standing upright.

It was a short-haired girl, about 160 centimeters tall, wearing something that looked like a white, old-fashioned school swimsuit.

The girl turned toward us.

“Vital data from the nanomachines within your body indicated damage to the master. I therefore judged this an emergency situation and came to provide assistance. My apologies for the delay, Master.”

“E-Erika…?”

“I conducted a reassessment of the lifeform evaluation criteria on this planet, analysis of unknown particles, and modifications to equipment suitable for mission operations within the planetary environment. This body is part of that process.”

“Erika-nyan turned human, nya!? Or wait—robot, nya!? Android, nya!?”

“So Erika-san’s main body was there after all…”

“My core—what you would call my main body—is located within the central systems of the flagship Einpheria. This form is merely a hastily constructed terminal for planetary operation support. Indigenous lifeforms.”

We were still struggling to process Erika’s physical arrival when the outlaws began shouting again.

“What the hell is that thing!? No level, no job, no stats! It’s not even an NPC! A summoned monster!? I’ve never heard of something like that!”

“There’s no way there’s magic or summons we don’t know about! Is this cheating!? You bastards are using cheat hacks!?”

Erika glanced at them and spoke calmly.

“What shall we do with these indigenous inhabitants, Master? According to Galactic Federation Space Force regulations, the killing of humanoid natives on undeveloped planets is, in principle, prohibited. However, exceptions are permitted if there is a risk they may cause harm during independent operations by fleet assets or personnel. My assessment recommends termination.”

“…Even if we let them go, they’d probably trample other people somewhere else for fun. As long as they’re alive, they might hurt or kill someone. …But honestly, I’m not prepared to kill someone just because they’re irredeemably evil.”

“I acknowledge your decision, though it is unexpected coming from a master who has eliminated a total of 116,385 individuals—including hostile forces and terrorists—across numerous star systems in both fleet and ground combat.”

That’s… way too many. Seriously, Clarice, that’s excessive.

“However, for reasons unclear even to me, I find that aspect of you appealing, Master.”

After showing what looked like a faint smile, Erika turned back toward the outlaws.

“Judgment deferred. For now, I will incapacitate them. They will atone through pain for injuring my master. Prepare yourselves, you barbaric indigenous beings.”

The instant she finished speaking, Erika closed the distance in a blink and punched the man called Schneider, their leader.

His head snapped sideways, Erika’s fist still buried in his face, and the two of them slammed into the ground together, shattering the stone pavement.

“Guh—!? IT HURTS!! IT HURTS!! HELP! HELP ME, YOU IDIOTS!”

“You are still capable of speech. As expected, some lifeforms on this planet possess abnormally high vitality. That means I can strike you without restraint.”

“What are you doing!? Use magic! Kill this monster with magic!”

Snapped back to reality by Schneider’s screams, Akiyama and the other woman clasped their hands in front of their chests, trying to invoke magic—

—but in the next instant, a blinding light spread across the night sky, like the sun rising for a single heartbeat.

“What!? My magic won’t activate!”

“Me neither! Why can’t I use magic!? Was it because of that light just now!?”

“We have confirmed that the unknown particles respond to weak electrical signals within biological organisms—primarily neural synapses—vibrating irregularly and influencing surrounding molecules to generate what you perceive as supernatural phenomena. Due to the particles’ sensitivity to faint electromagnetic waves, it was hypothesized that an EMP effect produced by a high-altitude nuclear detonation could temporarily inhibit their motion. This was untested until now, but the results appear satisfactory.”

The two who had attempted to use magic stared at their own hands in disbelief.

“However, incapacitating all four personally will be inefficient. Master, I will leave the remaining two to you. Please use the Gungnir Mk.4 ground-combat armor. Galactic Space Force equipment is not affected by an EMP of this magnitude.”

As Erika spoke, part of the metal cylinder that had descended with her opened.

“I was unable to complete improvements to the armor itself, but I succeeded in miniaturizing and lightening the attachment and detachment system, as well as enabling transport via Dragoon and Hummingbird.”

“G-got it.”

I stepped inside the cylinder. The hatch closed, the yukata I had been wearing was stripped away, and armor components locked onto my body one after another. When the helmet sealed into place, the hatch opened again, and the HUD lit up—shield gauge full, vital signs showing only minor abnormalities.

A sharp prick ran through my inner thigh.

“While we were at it, I replenished your medical nanomachines. You should be fully healed within a few minutes.”

“Thanks, Erika—but next time, give me some warning.”

With that, I sprinted toward the man called Akiyama.

Thanks to the power assist’s time lag of less than 0.001 seconds, I closed the distance instantly and drove a body blow straight into his abdomen. I’d held back, but even so, a punch from a multilayer special-alloy fist—enhanced by power assist and capable of piercing tank armor at full output—sent Akiyama flipping through the air, spraying vomit as he crashed to the ground.

When I turned toward the remaining woman, she stared at me with a face twisted in terror and screamed.

“What is that armor!? I’ve never seen anything like it! Damn it! What the hell is this!? The guys are useless too! Shit! Do something, Schneider! You’re the leader, aren’t you!? I even licked your filthy d*ck for you, and this is what you give me!?”

So this one was a guy on the inside too? A hardcore net-catfish who’d kept it secret even from their own party.

Fine by me.

I’d hesitated about hitting a woman, but if that was the case, I could swing without holding back. Though, honestly, she was undeniably female right now—and I wasn’t exactly in a position to judge.

With a bitter smile hidden inside the helmet, I saw a square cursor appear on the HUD, labeled [human].

So what? Is this what a human is?

I slammed my multilayer special-alloy fist into the woman’s face while she was still hurling abuse at her companions.

Even so, it was almost anticlimactic.

I’d expected more resistance from level 230 players, but the madwoman named Claudia—whose arm had been severed at the start—was still crouched on the ground clutching her stump, while the leader was being thoroughly beaten down by Erika despite remaining physically intact. Considering the vitality of dragons and giant boars, it made sense that players at this level would possess enormous HP pools and corresponding durability.

“Kuro… what the hell are you doing… you’re a saint, so use healing magic…!”

“Shut up! It hurts too damn much to use magic like this! You’re the one who went limp after just one punch!”

I see—it’s the pain.

Their bodies had gained overwhelming strength and vitality in this world, but their minds were still those of players who had once sat safely in front of a PC. Minds unaccustomed to physical pain couldn’t endure it. Even I had frozen briefly when I was kicked, despite the nanomachines dulling the pain almost immediately. If that level of agony persisted, fighting would be impossible.

Still, better safe than sorry.

If the EMP effect wore off and they managed to gather the will to cast healing magic, it would be a hassle. I grabbed Claudia by the hair—the one who still seemed the most capable among the four—and hauled her upright, then punched straight through the center of her face, adding a bit of personal resentment for good measure. Her body smashed into the stone pavement, leaving her writhing.

I looked down at all four of them, confirmed they could no longer move, and then scanned the surroundings.

The crowd and the knights were silent, staring—either stunned or terrified by my appearance.

And there was Evangelin.

Among them, Ririka and Natsumi were holding hands, celebrating.