Chapter 55 – Workshop in the Office 1
[Selection: “Save me in the name of Fenrir. Aricia!” – 52%]
“Save me in the name of Fenrir. Aricia!”
I stretched out my right hand to Aricia and shouted the keyword of command obedience. Then, Alicia’s eyes became blurry for an instant, then returned to normal.
However, contrary to my expectations, Aricia did not move to save me. Far from moving, she yawned proudly, scratching her scattered red hair with her left hand.
“Ha-ah. What is the sound of banging while sleeping? There’s no reason I’d save a trash like you, right? I’m already not feeling well lately.”
“What…?!”
Shit! Did the command obedience brainwashing fail?!
Alpha confirms that she has no hostile intent towards Aricia, and reaches out to lift me up.
“Stop the useless fuss. Cain Bean.”
The moment Alpha’s attention was focused on me, Aricia held her great sword 『Bone Breaker』 With her right hand in an extremely natural motion.
Also, if your head itches, it’s natural to scratch it with your left hand. As if it’s natural to yawn when you’re sleepy. Gently lift the greatsword with your right hand.
“…Rand, what?!”
When he noticed, there was already an image of Alicia above Alpha’s head. A great sword that looks like a stone pillar in both hands raised high.
Kwa-ang!!
A blow like a black thunderbolt struck Alpha. After receiving an unexpected blow, Alpha’s body flies like a cannonball and crashes into the wall. No matter how hard it hit, the shot shattered the wall and ricocheted into the next room.
“Arisia?! What are you doing…!”
“Well, I have no intention of saving this guy. Whoa-ha! As for this body, when I see a guy who looks strong, I want to give him a shot!”
Alicia smiled at Reina, who was taken aback by her sudden behavior, and said. I didn’t show it outwardly, but inwardly I swept my heart.
Right. Was it brainwashing in a way that works by creating convincing reasons for obeying orders, rather than forcibly obeying them?
“…Thank you for saving me for whatever reason. Sir Aricia.”
“Ah? It’s not like I was trying to save you. Okay, what is that guy?”
“I’ll have to investigate, but maybe in the Empire…?!”
A chilling sensation extends down your spine. It’s an instinctive warning.
“Nonsense…”
Arisia’s surprise attack was close to perfect. At the timing when the opponent was careless, he jumped into a blind spot and delivered the fastest blow. It would be the only thing not to die if you have heavenly luck.
“Huh. This is amazing.”
Aricia swung her greatsword with her right hand and took a step forward as if to cover me behind her back.
After all, the command obedience brainwashing must be working. Although the person himself is not aware of it, he is firmly protecting me.
I’m sorry… I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Cooong.
On the other side of the collapsed wall, ominous vibrations and metallic sounds were heard one after another, followed by flashes of blue light. Soon after, the jet-black Grim Reaper walks out slowly, unscathed.
“Identification of obstruction of justice through the use of force. In order to carry out the mission smoothly, we exclude them with our skills.”
“Under. Somehow, the taste was dull. Did you block my blow with those ridiculous gloves…?”
Alicia tutted and licked her lips, talking to herself. Only then did I know the whole story of this workshop. Alpha instantly reacted to Alicia’s blow, retrieved her right hand that was about to grab my collar, and guarded it.
What is surprising is the defensive power of that grotesquely gigantic gauntlet. Even after receiving the full swing of the Bone Breaker, it looks fine even though it is somewhat distorted.
He walked with a clicking sound and stopped about 10m away from Aricia. Their gazes crossed each other. The god of death and the wolf now completely recognize each other as enemies and confront each other.
“Full charge clear. Regulator open.”
From the inside of Alpha’s two-handed gauntlet, the blue light gradually grew brighter, and finally something like blue lightning crackled and bounced.
No doubt now I can be sure of it because I have seen it up close. That is the light emitted by the mana stone. If so, the true identity of that gauntlet is equipment with magical engineering technology applied!
Damn, did the empire already apply magic engineering technology to arms!
“I’m sorry for putting you off. Would you like to do this? If this is weird, I don’t have the confidence to control my strength.”
“No. You deliberately interfered with the performance of your official duties. To block the investigator is to disobey the imperial order. We will rule it out immediately.”
“Hahang? How can you, a wolf, me who is nothing more than a pet dog of the Empire?”
Alicia provoked with a ferocious smile.
“…”
One of Alpha’s eyebrows twitched and raised in an instant.
“It is a childish provocation. It’s not even worth replying to, but I see… To put it in a westerner way, I can answer like this.”
For the first time, a human feeling appeared on her doll-like pale face. Her red lips wrinkled and twisted.
“Do you think our country’s dog is more ferocious than you?”
Those words became a signal. The two ran out and clashed as if they had promised.
◆ ◆
At first, it seemed like a whim.
It was clear that Alpha’s fists were receiving some form of augmentation from the magical engineering gauntlet. Every time her flattened fist hit the wall or the floor, she had to worry about the building, not her fist.
Alicia swung her greatsword to counter Alpha’s heavy attack from her front. With pure physical prowess, without any assistance.
A storm is raging in her room with only the wind pressure generated whenever her fists and greatswords collide. Even as I crawled backwards to get away from the two that caused it, I couldn’t take my eyes off the two of them.
Battlefield ghosts. Fenrir’s human weapon. Red Wolf Aricia Weinberg.
In her past, I had doubts about Aricia’s 50-win duel results before her 50, whether it wasn’t her match-fixing, and looked down on her. However, if I were standing in front of my eyes now, I would have covered my ears.
In the first place, it made no sense for Aricia to move like that right now, only I in the room knew.
The transformation that has been steadily progressing for several days is eating away at Aricia’s body. If you were a normal person, you would have been unable to move with pleasure and excitement that exceeded your limits just by dividing a few sums.
However, there has been no hesitation in Alicia’s movements for several decades. Could it be that the exhilaration of battle is suppressing the excitement of the body?!
At that time, Alpha steps on Alicia’s greatsword and leaps backwards, widening the distance.
“It seems that your judgment of your skill was wrong. I apologize for my earlier mistake.”
“No no. You don’t have to~? Even if you already beg for forgiveness, he won’t let you down at all. Now that you’ve insulted me, your future is already set in one of two ways. Do you quietly make a jelly bowl, or do you resist loudly and become a cake bowl!”
Spreading her ferocious aura like a beast, Aricia puts her greatsword on her shoulder and approaches Alpha.
“You seem to be misunderstanding something. I want to say this.”
Undaunted by the intimidating feeling of being crushed by that huge rock, Alpha raised both of his hands and raised his guard. Between the two giant fists, Alpha’s white face sneered.
“You are more ferocious than a puppy. Called.”
“You will have to take responsibility for that. This bloodless bastard!”
It was almost at the same time that Aricia’s muscles all over her body swelled and she closed her distance from her Alpha like her flurry. It was such a different speed that her movements so far felt like a turtle.
A hazy smoke billows from all over her body. That is the proof that Aricia used her trump card.
Unlocked. The family vision of the Weinberg family. A secret technique that temporarily borrows the power of a werewolf by releasing the body’s sobriety!
She approaches with a flurry of speed, swinging her greatsword like a storm. Heavy violence rages incessantly from the top, bottom, left and right of Alpha.
Each one is a lethal blow. As the name suggests, the pitch-black greatsword would surely pulverize all the bones in her body the moment it was hit directly with even one blow.
In the middle of that terrifying rampage, Alpha’s defenses are gradually crumbling. Alpha raised her guard and avoided his direct hit. Due to the size of her gauntlet she wore, she was able to defend her entire upper body with just a raised guard.
However, it is gradually unable to fully receive the great sword that endlessly knocks on Alpha’s mechanical armor. Every time the greatsword was slashed, Alpha’s lips contorted in pain.
“Keugh…!”
Alpha’s eyes were hidden from view, but just by the way she bit her lip, you could tell that she was flustered.
“Whoa… It looks like you neglected to investigate the heroes here. Investigator Nari.”
The magic engineering glove Alpha is wearing must be a structure that uses the mana emitted from the mana stone as power. It must have been designed to absorb the current level of shock.
But ironically, that jet-black greatsword that Aricia uses is made of a magic stone. And, the magic stone absorbs nearby mana!
At first, when the outer armor of Alpha’s gauntlet was intact, the greatsword could not access the inner mana stone, so its function was fully demonstrated. However, while sharing a few tens with Aricia, her outer armor was crushed, and her internal organs were exposed to the outside, albeit a little.
So, now, whenever Alpha strikes the greatsword, mana is absorbed, and the output of the magic engineering glove is significantly reduced, so it is not able to absorb all the shock.
“It must have been a weapon originally designed to deal with wizards. Haha. The wrong person hit the counter? This unexpected luck, that the goddess is also helping me!”
Alpha’s destiny is now literally a lantern in front of the wind. Libra is already tilted. In a few more weeks, any woman who dared to interfere with me would have her skull shattered and her brain blood spattered.
Yes.
Clearly. Exactly. Not the slightest bit of doubt.
It should have been.
