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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: The Human Bomb
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Miniature Forest Keepers were born from fruits scattered across the area.
They might be called 'miniature,' but their actual size was a full head taller than an average adult man.
Forest Keeper Phase 2.
This was the Forest Keeper's revival pattern.
If all Forest Keepers born from the fruits weren't defeated within the given time, the Forest Keeper would revert to Phase 1.
This could practically be considered a failed attempt to clear the Forest Keeper.
A party that had already expended its full power in Phase 1 wouldn't possibly be able to defeat the Forest Keeper again.
Therefore, the Phase 2 revival pattern must be stopped at all costs.
"Listen up, everyone."
I pointed at the fallen fruits one by one.
"The more Forest Keepers born from these fruits you defeat, the stronger the remaining individuals become. So, we'll defeat the ones on the outside first, and then together, we'll strike the one in the center last."
Given the urgency of the situation, I conveyed only the key points clearly.
Everyone nodded, their faces showing understanding.
"Poara, from now on, focus on recovery. There will be a moment when you need to unleash your firepower again. The same applies to you, Saint."
"Yes!"
"Understood."
The remaining Forest Keepers were up to Seron, Aisha, and me.
"Sweet Potato, how do you know so well how to deal with an Apostle you've never seen before?"
Seron asked me, clutching his axe.
Is *that* what he's curious about at a time like this?
"I studied."
In times like these, brazenness is the best policy.
"...I also studied at the academy, but I don't know anything about this?"
"Then you probably didn't study enough."
I ran forward before Seron could get annoyed.
As the battle had dragged on for quite a while, many gray zones had appeared.
Since stepping on one meant losing a large amount of health, I had to run with utmost caution.
The reason I told them to deal with the outer ones first was also because of the gray zones.
If we started from the inside and a Forest Keeper escaped deeper in, it would be a headache.
Fortunately, everyone understood this much without me having to explain it.
In the distance, Aisha and Seron began to assault the Forest Keepers.
Aisha's skill was undeniable, and Seron, though he grumbled, was exceptionally capable.
Confirming that the two were engaging the Forest Keepers, I raised my head.
Then I saw a Forest Keeper flailing the vines that sprouted from its body.
Four sturdy legs and two arms.
And vines wrapped around its entire body.
The vines were poisonous; touching them would melt skin. However,
*Swoosh!*
*Snick!*
That's a non-issue for me, with my steel skin.
I cut the incoming vine with my hand blade, then gripped my shield.
*Thud!*
At that moment, a rock bullet fired from the vine slammed into the shield.
This was the Forest Keeper's standard pattern.
Attack with poison-imbued vines, then fire a rock bullet.
The Forest Keeper moved exactly as I remembered.
That meant I could proceed with the established strategy.
I steadied my breath.
I moved my body to prevent my muscles from stiffening and causing a mistake.
This was my first real combat.
I would fight countless Apostles in the future to prevent the bad ending.
This battle was akin to fastening the first button in the long fight against those Apostles.
'To be honest.'
I'm scared too, honestly.
I'm directly charging towards a monster a full head taller than me.
I feel a distinctly different pressure than during the mock battles.
During mock battles, professors and assistants were plentiful, ready to save my life.
But now, it's a real battle.
There's no one here to save my life.
A place where you had to save your own life.
That was the Demon Palace.
Precisely for that reason.
I can't be afraid.
Fear constricts muscles, narrows vision, and sends the mind into a panic.
More boldly.
More decisively.
I'll recall every strategy to defeat the Apostle and secure victory.
My hand blade split another incoming vine.
My pulled-in shield deflected the rock bullet.
Before I knew it, the distance between the Forest Keeper and me was barely two meters.
The Forest Keeper also realized the distance had closed and stopped flailing its vines.
Instead, it swung an arm so muscular it resembled a gorilla's.
Attached to its arm was a massive bladed weapon, like an axe.
If it struck, even I would suffer a fatal injury from its sheer weight.
My body, which had been charging forward, rapidly lowered itself.
As if the endless training with Aisha hadn't been in vain.
The Forest Keeper's arm swept over my lowered head as my legs skillfully extended.
I dodged the first close-range attack.
But I didn't let my guard down.
'One more time.'
*Bang!*
Something exploded at the end of the Forest Keeper's swinging arm.
It was the sound of the explosive fruit attached to the Forest Keeper's arm detonating.
With the explosive fruit's detonation, the Forest Keeper's arm swung violently at me again.
This was a combo pattern: even if the first attack was dodged, a second attack would follow.
An arm larger than my head came flying.
In the same charging posture, I powerfully kicked off the ground.
*CRASH!*
The Forest Keeper's arm, aimed at my lowered body, swept low.
I dodged with a leap and stomped on the Forest Keeper's shoulder directly in front of me.
Then I tightly gripped my hand blade.
The Forest Keeper's head stared blankly at me.
It realized its mistake, but it was too late.
*CRACK!*
My hand blade, imbued with all my strength, plunged into the Forest Keeper's head.
My hand pierced the Forest Keeper's thick outer skin and dug inside.
I felt a nasty, foreign sensation within.
In that state, I twisted my hand blade further, scrambling the Forest Keeper's head, then pulled my hand out.
My hand was covered in copious amounts of purplish blood and brain matter.
No time for disgust.
Kicking off the collapsing Forest Keeper's body, I landed on solid ground, avoiding the gray zone.
"Hah."
A short breath escaped my lips.
I was grateful for Bikarman's body.
If it weren't for Bikarman's agile body, I wouldn't have been able to execute my thoughts so precisely.
Of course, I had also prepared contingencies for potential mistakes.
That's why I could move even more fearlessly.
It's always best to be prepared for anything.
'Just one down.'
There are still plenty of Forest Keepers left.
No time to stop.
Keep going.
* * *
Thanks to the efforts of Aisha, Seron, and myself, the fruit-born Forest Keepers rapidly dwindled.
However, once their numbers dropped past half, the pace gradually began to slow.
As mentioned before, in the Forest Keeper's revival pattern, the fewer individuals there are, the stronger the remaining ones become.
Therefore, the time it took to deal with the Forest Keepers, now twice as strong after their numbers were halved, also gradually increased.
The Forest Keepers' patterns began to diversify.
The last Forest Keeper we'd face would utilize all these patterns.
It was good to experience them firsthand during battle.
"Hah, hah, you two, don't you ever get tired!?"
Seron, having defeated one Forest Keeper with his explosive axe, yelled at Aisha and me.
If he had the strength to yell, I'd rather he put more effort into the fight.
Aisha and I, with indifferent expressions, ran to engage the next Forest Keeper.
"Compared to the stamina training we do every day..."
"...this is easy."
Aisha started, and I followed up.
I had grown strong thanks to Aisha and her never-ending hellish training.
Needless to say, Aisha, who designed the training courses, was even stronger.
"Hmm, should we call him the Greatsword Ironman and you the Hand Blade Ironman?"
Sirimiel, who had been observing us from a distance, smiled kindly.
At this rate, we might actually end up being called by those nicknames.
"Senior Hanun, the roots are moving again!"
Just then, Poara pointed at the roots that were above the dark clouds.
As Poara said, the roots began to move once more.
It was a notification that the revival pattern was progressing.
'It's tighter than I thought.'
More time than expected was being consumed trying to avoid the gray zones while fighting the Forest Keepers.
Unlike a game, this was reality.
Having to worry about the ground *and* the Forest Keepers.
With my attention split in so many directions, a lot of time was wasted.
'Should I have saved some of Poara's firepower?'
I used the Spirit Lord, a hidden card, reasoning it was better to pass Phase 1 without casualties than to have injured party members. But,
The revival phase was more of a headache than I expected.
"Seron, no time to rest! Get up and take down at least one more!"
"Ughhh, I knowww!"
Seron groaned but got up and charged at a Forest Keeper.
"Senior."
Meanwhile, Aisha had approached.
"At this rate, we'll be too late, won't we?"
"...Yes, it looks like we might be too late."
Aisha nodded.
"Senior, isn't the main reason we're slow in defeating the Apostles right now because of the gray zones?"
That was true.
Defeating the Forest Keepers themselves wasn't that difficult.
But because we had to worry about the gray zones underfoot,
too much time was being spent.
"Just once."
Aisha gripped her greatsword tightly.
"I can make it so you don't have to worry about the gray zones. What do you say? Can you finish them off within that time?"
My eyes slowly widened.
I realized what Aisha was about to do.
"Leave it to me."
I immediately moved away from Aisha and ran towards Poara.
Meanwhile, Aisha slowly lowered her stance, holding her greatsword.
Just in time, I snatched Seron, who had just defeated a Forest Keeper.
"Hey, hey, what are you doing!"
"Poara! Can you attach a low-ranking wind spirit to me?"
"Yes, yes, I can do that much!"
I didn't answer Seron; instead, I shouted at Poara.
Then Poara hastily summoned a low-ranking wind spirit and attached it to my back.
The small, butterfly-shaped low-ranking spirit flapped its wings.
I threw Seron directly between Poara and Sirimiel.
"Saint, a tempest will blow soon."
I looked back at Aisha, who had lowered her stance completely.
"Can you manage not to get caught in it?"
"Of course."
Sirimiel prepared a defensive blessing with a prayer.
Meanwhile, Aisha began to rotate in her seated posture.
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh-*
Her rotation speed gradually began to accelerate to an absurd degree.
Before long, winds began to rage, centered around Aisha.
All the wind was drawn to Aisha and flew towards her.
Even the Forest Keepers began to lift into the air and be pulled away by the fierce wind.
"...Is she even human, like us?"
She wasn't even a Spirit Lord.
Seeing the Forest Keepers caught in the wind Aisha created by herself, Seron made a disgusted face.
Aisha was certainly beyond human level.
But that's why she was the most reliable at this moment.
Sirimiel cast a defensive blessing here.
Thanks to it, we weren't swept away by the wind.
"Poara, get ready!"
Stepping out from the defensive blessing, I began to run towards Aisha.
It's coming.
The wind is coming.
The moment fierce winds raged around Aisha.
Aisha's massive greatsword, which she had been swinging, was raised above her head, and at the same time,
it was brought down directly onto the ground.
*CRASH!*
And a storm erupted on the ground.
*WHIRRRRRR!*
The storm that rose from the ground, in an instant.
Everything on the ground was lifted into the air.
The Forest Keepers, caught without time to prepare, tangled with each other and were all swept away by Aisha's wind.
As soon as I saw this, I yelled to Poara, leading with my hand blade.
"Launch me!"
With my cry, Poara launched me with a wind spirit.
My body soared into the air.
But simply charging like this would be nothing more than a steel cannonball hitting something.
Right now, at this moment.
I had to become a cannonball that could blow all the Forest Keepers away.
So, I pulled out the trump card I had saved until now.
On my skin.
Magical characters engraved by magic rose and began to glow in unison.
Magic Inscriptions.
A skill I learned from Sharin.
Originally, magic inscriptions should be engraved on tools, not human skin.
But what is my skin?
It's steel skin, tougher than most armor.
So, I directly embedded magic inscriptions into my skin.
If I concealed the embedded magic inscriptions using the Bandage of Concealment, no one would know of their existence until they activated.
My body began to generate heat and catch fire.
This was a special move I had painstakingly prepared for a day like today.
The magic inscription I had prepared was an explosion spell.
And it was a spell that Sharin herself had helped engrave.
'Human bomb.'
My body, reaching the clustered Forest Keepers, was enveloped in light.
The Forest Keepers' belated struggles were meaningless.
'Suffer this.'
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*
It was the moment an unprecedented explosion occurred on the 1st floor of the Gray Forest.