Chapter 82: The Party Without a Hero

A shrill beastly roar tore through the night in the port city.

And once again—we encountered them.

"Vuuuvooo!!!"

"Vaa! Vuuu!!"

Ah, that beastly voice I never wanted to hear again.

The monster I once barely managed to defeat in a one-on-one fight.

Now, there were multiple of those mandrill-faced creatures, moving nimbly despite their hulking size, charging toward us in packs...

"...They're monsters."

"Aaaaahhh!! Demons! Actual demons are attacking!!"

They were swarming toward Anat, where we had been sleeping.

"Come on, really? Ilyu tells us to run, and then comes at us with murderous intent?"

"...Maybe she meant we should run today."

"Or perhaps... she overheard our conversation. Since we decided to stand and fight, maybe Ilyu made her decision to attack."

"That explanation makes the most sense. She’s an ancient magic user, so maybe she has techniques for that kind of thing?"

"If she used the chaos to plant an eavesdropping spell and then just left, that lady's seriously cunning. All that airheadedness when she was with us—she was just hiding her claws."

Ilyu had been significantly overestimated.

"In that case, we’ll need countermeasures against surveillance."

"Next time we have a meeting, we should activate Muscle Heaven: The Ultimate Muscle Musical as a sound barrier."

"...Yeah. But for now—"

Whether we were being spied on or not didn’t matter anymore. First, we had to grasp the situation.

We dashed toward the city gates.

"Run!! Run as far as your legs can carry you!!"

"Fools! Launch the ships! Escape by water!"

Near the city gate, the citizens of Anat were in total chaos.

People screamed, wailed, argued—everywhere you looked, it was a scene straight out of hell.

"...There they are."

Looking toward the plains, we saw a pack of black-glinting beasts charging from the outskirts of Anat, roaring as they came.

...Ah, our old grudge-bearing enemies.

"They’re still at some distance. I’ll fire off an Elemental Buster as a greeting."

"I'm counting on you, Irine."

I focused my mind and gripped my staff with calm composure.

Back then, my Elemental Buster hadn’t been able to pierce their tough hides.

But now—I was different. I had forged this staff in Yowin, and the firepower of the Elemental Buster had surged.

Now that I could see spirits, I had also deepened my understanding of this magic.

In short—I am no longer who I once was.

"—Flame spirit, Fujin Enha!"

A long-lost family specialty. A legendary spell passed down from ancient times—still surviving today as one of the most powerful attack magics.

Let us show you the greatest firepower that we, a party without a Hero, can now unleash.

---

The incantation was completed without a hitch.

"...Direct hit!"

My opening Elemental Buster struck true, slamming into the horde of demons.

With a thunderous roar, the night was lit up by the flash of elemental light, and an explosion spanning hundreds of meters engulfed the demons in flames.

"Whoa, that’s incredible!"

"No—it’s no good."

After firing, I let out a sigh. ...That wasn’t enough.

"...Tch."

The blast had landed. I probably took out a few of them.

...But.

"The demons are still kicking, even after being blown to hell and back."

"Most likely, the ones outside the blast center survived. Their bodies are absurdly tough—doesn’t look like a shockwave is enough to kill them."

I had poured nearly half my total mana into that single Elemental Buster. And all it achieved was probably the elimination of a few enemies.

...And there were still far more demons than we could count.

"...Irine, how many more of those can you fire?"

"One more shot. ...And then I’ll be out of mana."

"I see."

With the power boost from the staff, I’d thought we could really make a dent in them.

But like this, we couldn’t expect much real damage.

"This ain’t gonna cut it."

"What do we do? Give up and run?"

"We can’t get a ship on such short notice. We’ll have to stand and fight here."

"...Yeah. Irine, don’t use the Elemental Buster again. It’s too inefficient with your mana."

...Rey had warned me about that too. For how much mana it consumes, Elemental Buster just doesn’t deliver enough results.

I felt the same way.

"So what’s the plan?"

"...I’ll draw their attention. While I’m distracting them, Irine, find a way to hit their weak points and finish them off."

"Their weak points?"

With that, Rey—the Silent Blade—drew his dagger and stepped in front of us.

Looked like he was volunteering to be the decoy.

"They’re living creatures, so they’ve got to have a weak spot somewhere. Last time we fought them, blinding their eyes worked."

"Hmm."

"While they’re reeling, do whatever it takes to finish them off. I don’t know much about magic—so I’ll leave the methods to you, Irine."

"..."

...Strike the demons' vital points, huh? I don’t even know where those are, but it’s our only shot.

If we can’t kill them without using Elemental Buster, we don’t stand a chance.

"Use spells that consume as little mana as possible. If you run out, it’s game over, Irine."

"I’ll try some earth magic too. But compared to Irine, my mana’s pitiful, so don’t expect too much from me, okay?"

Sakura was joining in too.

In the last battle, her traps had played a huge role in our victory.

"Alright then, Irine—we’re counting on you."

"U-Um..."

Now then. What I need is a spell that doesn’t cost much mana but still packs a decent punch.

...I reread the textbook the other day, but did it have anything like that?

"...I’ll guard the rear. Focus on your casting, Irine."

"I’ll put my body on the line too. I’ll protect you no matter what, miss."

Everyone in the party formed up around me and Sakura.

They were entrusting me with this.

Now I just had to dig through my mind and recall the perfect spell for the job.

First comes firepower—so fire magic, right? But… they tanked that blast without flinching. Must mean they’ve got resistance to fire. Better not.

Water? No real firepower there. Sure, high-level water magic can supposedly trigger a flood, but all I can manage is launching little water bullets.

Wind magic lets you fly, yeah… but I can’t layer spells while airborne. So even if I get the high ground, I can’t rain down magic from above.

Earth magic… I can only do what Sakura does. Honestly, if we’re talking just earth spells, she might be better at it than me.

…Wait a sec. Don’t tell me the only spell I’ve got that might actually work on them is the Spirit Cannon.

“I’ll go for the eyes. Turn their eyeballs into pincushions with my arrows.”

“…We won’t win unless we all work together. You ready for that?”

“Just do what you can, nothing more. …I’m counting on you to finish them, Irine.”

The others were steadily preparing to disrupt the enemy.

And me? I just stood there, blankly watching it all unfold.

…Wait, hold up. What the hell am I supposed to do?

“Alright…”

Then—

Karl, who had been dead silent up until now, finally opened his mouth.

“I’ll help Irine finish them off.”

“…Karl?”

What’s going through this guy’s head?

He’s not a hero anymore. Just a regular adventurer now. And yet, he flashed a fearless grin.

“────Let’s go, you demonic bastards.”

Before any of us could stop him—

He charged into the horde of demons. Alone.

“Wait, Karl!? What the hell is that idiot doing!?”

“…It’s too dangerous! He should’ve waited so we could at least go in together—!”

Rey, who was supposed to be the decoy, stood there in a daze.

Because before he could even move, that idiot had already dashed ahead of him, completely solo. He knows he’s lost his hero powers, right?

It was an insane, reckless charge no matter how you looked at it.

“Come on, then!!”

“Uwoah!?”

But then—we witnessed the unthinkable.

“Gwoaaa────”

The demons bared their fangs in wicked glee as they spotted the puny human charging toward them. Probably figured he was just some idiot moth diving into the flame.

One of the demons, moving on four thick legs, raised a massive forelimb to crush Karl—

“Secret Sword—”

Just as it tried to slam that limb down, Karl had already thrust his blade into the creature’s leg and launched himself into the air with the momentum.

“Demon-Cleaver: Maharagi!”

A stunned gasp escaped me.

Flung into the air by the demon’s own strength, Karl twisted midair, his greatsword spinning with him—

“CHESSTOOO!!!”

—and cleaved the demon’s skull clean in half.

“Gwoooohhh!!!”

But Karl didn’t have a second to breathe.

As he yanked his blade free, another demon, enraged by the sight of its slain kin, lunged at him.

“Hmph.”

Seeing it come, Karl spun on the spot, raising his greatsword—

“Jaw-Cutter: Agito!”

The demon slammed its colossal fist at him with gravity behind it.

But Karl’s blade moved like a wheel, climbing up the monster’s body in a whirlwind arc—then split it wide open from under the jaw straight through the skull.

It was like something out of a fairy tale. A sword style that shouldn’t exist.

A demon-slaying technique passed down only in fiction.

“Still got plenty left in me.”

“Guh… guh…?”

In the blink of an eye, two more were down. Karl had cut them down with nothing but the body of a regular adventurer—no divine blessing, no support.

The same monsters I, a noble, had nearly died fighting just to bring down one.

“What the hell is that!? Didn’t Karl lose his Hero’s power!?”

“…I was wrong. So that’s what he’s truly capable of.”

Rey stared in awe, watching Karl dominate the battlefield like it was nothing.

…Wait a sec. Wasn’t Karl supposed to be just some average adventurer?

How the hell is an average guy overwhelming monsters like that?

“Rey-san. Do you understand why Karl-san is overpowering demons without any Hero’s power?”

“Yeah. That movement of his—it’s practically the ideal solution for fighting demons. The way he moves his body… it’s too refined. Using his whole frame like a spring… I didn’t know a human could move like that.”

With Karl’s charge, the demons’ advance had halted.

Realizing how dangerous he was, the surrounding demons slowly backed away from him, warily circling.

…No. Maybe they remembered. Maybe these demons had once been slaughtered by this same man—wiped out, driven to ruin.

“That’s right. If Karl were really just an ordinary guy, the goddess wouldn’t have gone out of her way to pass his sword techniques on to the True Hero.”

“Y-Yes, that’s certainly true…”

“Those moves—every one of them is logic-bound perfection. That style… it’s designed specifically to take down bigger, fiercer foes. It’s…”

…Right. I remember now. He had originally mastered that sword style specifically for fighting demons.

He shaped it from a childhood dream—imitating the sword of a former Hero he once admired.

“I heard Karl created that entire style on his own. No mentor, no formal training—just from reading books.”

“If that’s true… then he’s got a terrifying gift for swordsmanship.”

Against humans or smaller monsters, Karl had never shown his true worth—he just looked like a middling adventurer.

But now, facing his intended enemy—demons—he was performing at his absolute best, like he was born for it.

His sword was made to kill demons and protect humanity. That was the true core of Karl’s swordsmanship.

With the near extinction of demonkind, demon-slaying sword schools had faded into history.

Ironically, the only accurate record left of those ancient techniques came from fairy tales—stories for children.

The detailed scenes found in heroic epics were now the only surviving documentation of anti-demon swordsmanship. Karl had studied them obsessively and turned them into living technique.

That’s right—Karl was the only remaining practitioner of the ancient anti-demon sword school.

In raw stats alone, Noir far outclassed Karl as a Hero.

But the swordsmanship Karl had honed was so rare, so effective, that it bordered on miraculous.

That’s why the goddess, Sefa, had wavered. Why she made the insane decision to try and choose both of them.

Because Karl, too, was never meant to be discarded. He was a legitimate Hero candidate.

In fact, when the goddess began selecting Heroes to fight the demon threat, Karl was ranked second—right behind Noir.

"Just thinking, even for a moment, that he was dead weight... I’m ashamed of myself. Karl has never once been weak when fighting to protect us."

"…Heh, we can’t let him show us up, Irine."

"Exactly."

Alright—slapping both cheeks, I psych myself up.

Karl may be strong, but physically, he’s still just an ordinary human. As a noble, I should have the upper hand in terms of resources and natural advantage.

"I’ll fight too. I won’t let him hog all the glory."

"Yes, we won’t let Karl fight alone."

Luckily, the demons were still stunned, frozen in confusion. This was our chance.

And so, we stepped up beside Karl and joined the demon hunt.

…By the way—

"Penetrating Palm—Muscle Bomber!!"

"Vobahh!?"

Since I couldn’t think of any especially useful magic, I went with basic body enhancement and threw out a Muscle Bomber—and it worked insanely well.

Turns out, these demons have insanely tough hides. Basically, like wearing heavy armor all the time.

Because of that, when I used Penetrating Palm to strike straight through their "armor" and into their skulls, I could take them down easily. Figures—it is a secret technique from the Silent Blade school. Damn, this move is incredible.

Body reinforcement hardly drains any mana, too, so I can keep this up and pull my weight just fine.

"…Unreal, Irine. You’re fighting barehanded again!?"

"And Karl, even without magic, you’re still amazing!"

While Rey covered my blind spots, I focused on taking down the confused demons that Maika and Sakura were disrupting.

Karl, meanwhile, was all over the battlefield, striking down any demons that got too close to us without missing a beat.

"Urgh! Dammit, you—!"

"Irine, fall back for a moment! I’ll patch your arm right up!"

I got my bones broken twice during the fight from delayed reactions, but each time, Sakura healed me immediately, and I jumped right back in.

Yeah… having a healer in the back line really stabilizes things. Would’ve been nice to have someone like Aldebaran too—one of those heavy-hitting magic attackers—but if she’s not here, no use wishing for it.

"Hey, look! The demons are pulling back!"

"Hah… haah. Thank goodness, we managed somehow."

…Compared to how rough it was with Rewin, this time felt like a completely different fight. We overwhelmed them.

No, honestly—even back then, if Karl had been there, we would’ve had it in the bag.

This man—Karl—is strong. Ridiculously so.

"That move—you learned that from Rey, didn’t you? It’s great. Super handy, huh?"

"Penetrating Palm: Muscle Bomber is my personal favorite. …If I’d had this technique back then, I might not have struggled so much."

"Eh? Ah—oh, right, the Monkey Mask thing… I still haven’t fully come to terms with that one."

Meanwhile, I wondered—have I gotten stronger?

Have I grown at all during this journey?

…I still haven’t caught up to Karl, even without his Hero’s power. I’ve got to keep pushing myself.

"Bro… I wanna use that move too. Muscle Bomber."

"…No. Absolutely not. That is not the name!"

"…Huh? But it sounds super cool…?"

And behind us, my little sister was begging her brother to teach her the move.