The Rising of Tanaka in Another World

You Are My Enemy

「Do you know them?」

「Yeah, the pride and joy of the Purin Kingdom, Hero-sama…. Be careful. They are on a completely different level than the opponents up until now.」

「Got it. I’ll face them with everything I’ve got.」

Without relaxing their stance, Curryman and Kugel exchanged words.

The morale of the kingdom soldiers had dropped and their feet had come to a complete halt. Facing the fighting styles of those who had stepped onto inhuman domains, their will of fight had faded, their consciousness was then shifted toward the hero party who were stepping forward into the frontline.

With Hero Kamui as the lead, the Guild A ranker Tetsujin and the Purinism Priest Kaltovich were following behind him. As if encouraged by the expectations of the kingdom soldiers, they stood in front of the fierce men.

「It’s been a long time. I never thought we would meet again under such a circumstance.」

「I’m honored that you remembered this humble one. O hero-sama.」

Curryman once aspired to join the hero party, but being faced with the Hero right in front of him, he was miraculously calm. It was testament how much he had changed inside.

「As someone who is considered to be one of the prominent powerful figure in the guild, why are you siding with monsters?」

「Siding with monsters, huh…. Well, I’m getting sick of the ideology of this country, you see. Fully aware of those who have been oppressed in this country, are you seriously asking that? If that’s the case, from the bottom of my heart, I’m truly glad that I didn’t become your comrade. Right now, I’m treading on the path I believe, and I will continue to do so.」

Curryman gripped his twin swords and burned with fighting spirit.

「The path you believe in….」

「You mustn’t be fooled, Kamui-sama. He’s someone who doesn’t understand the pain of the kingdom or the noble teachings of Purinism. He may have said something seemingly aloof, but as an uneducated foreigner he is, there’s no way he would ever entertain any proper idea. At best, I bet he was most likely just acting violently out of spite for failing to become our comrade.」

「Noble teaching my ass. You better do something about that indiscriminate lust flaunting of yours first.」

「Pfft….」

Tetsujin involuntarily blurted out a laugh. Kaltovich turned her face, glared intently at the little girl and began chanting her magic.

「Hey, Kalt….」

「I get it! I’ll get rid of those rude fools first!」

Invoking magic strengthening, Kaltovich then began another chanting in order to attack, and gradually, the curtains of the battle were thus raised.

「Dual Cast – Air Cutter!」

Invisible blades attacked Currryman and Kugel. Following their polished warrior sense, they promptly jumped away and moved onto offense. Their target was the one who was chanting a high-level magic, Kaltovich. However, as they closed their distance, Kamui and Tetsujin jumped into their way.

「Get out of the way!」

Curryman skillfully wielded his twin swords and attacked Kamui.

Furious swift series of attacks–. Wielding his partners, the magic sword and the divine shield, Kamui calmly parried the attack.

「So fast…, to think you would actually be this powerful….」

「Oh, it’s an honor to receive a praise from you!」

Curryman continued to attack even while commenting lightly. However, although at a glance he might seem to be letting his guard down, he was carefully observing his opponent’s ability.

The feedback transmitted through his twin swords felt as though he were facing a sturdy boulder. Considering the fact that his series of attacks was being dealt with like nothing at all, he could tell that he was at an overwhelming disadvantage in brute force.

「Why are you siding with monsters despite possessing such an extent of power?!」

Kamui stepped back to create some distance before moving to unleash an attack of his own without any delay. He unleashed an attack that could cut apart even boulders toward Curryman. Showing no intention of receiving the Hero’s attack head on, Curryman wielded his twin swords to magnificently deflect the attack, and then, as if challenging the hero to unleash more attack, he took a stance while holding his twin swords.

「Don’t look down on me!」

Kamui increased the momentum of his slash and attacked Curryman. The slash attacks, which were accelerated further thanks to support magic Accel from Kaltovich, surpassed Curryman in terms of speed.

However, even then Kamui’s attacks still failed to connect. Curryman calmly saw through the attacks and evaded them with minimum movement.

「As expected of a hero. Both of your strength and speed are undoubtable… However!」

Just as Kamui was about to unleash another slash, Curryman’s thrust attack was coming at him.

「Wha!」

His body was already in an attacking stance, but forcefully canceling his move, Kamui blocked Curryman’s attack.

「You won’t be able to defeat me with only that much, you know?」

Facing the Hero who boasted overwhelming power, Curryman didn’t back down in the slightest.

On the other side, the battle between Kugel and Tetsujin was increasing in intensity. Rather, Kugel was single-handedly on the defense.

Tetsujin freely dashed about around Kugel. Sometimes, she would shoot arrows from his blind spots, but Kugel brushed them off with his sword with not even a shred of fluster at all.

「Girl. I would like to ask you to back off if possible.」

Perhaps finding her overlapping with the figure of his little sister who had been long separated from him, Kugel did nothing but defend.

「… I’m not a child.」

Getting accelerated further thanks to support magic Accel, Tetsujin closed their distance and attacked Kugel in an instant. However, that attack was also blocked by Kugel’s sword. Not stopping there, he shot his free hand toward Tetsujin, trying to capture her.

Tetsujin jumped in a reaction that reminisced to that of a wild animal, but just as she swiftly switched to her bow and was about to shoot an attack, her eyes widened in surprise. As she found that her opponent, whom she was supposed to have taken a distance away from, was already in front of her.

「Kuh!」

Tetsujin jumped back further while leaking out a line that would make Tanaka happy. If Tanaka had been here, he would have definitely commenced recital training for the official line of ‘Kuh, kill me!’ that would be required to be utilized in the face of orcs in the future.

Leaving such a trivial matter aside, at this moment, Tetsujin finally realized the mechanism of her opponent’s mysterious movements.

Her opponent’s reactions were abnormally fast. That reaction speed was far faster than Tetsujin’s, who had absolute confidence in her reflexes. And then, his movement that seemed as though he had completely seen through Tetsujin’s movements. Kugel had moved by precisely reading the aim of Tetsujin’s movements.

「… He’s used to battle?!」

Tetsujin, who was supposed to be superior in terms of speed, was gradually being cornered. On the other side, getting his attack route obstructed, Kamui was also unable to display his overwhelming power.

Kaltovich, who had grasped the battle situation from the rear, was astonished. It was true that they were opponents who could be said to be formidable, but she had never expected her companions to be outmatched. And then, the astonishment turned into impatience as time went on.

「What are you all doing?! Now is exactly your chance, as Hero-sama is currently holding down the opponents! Use this chance to pass through those who stand in our way and capture the monsters!」

The kingdom soldiers, who had been watching the battle up until now, began to move, following Kaltovich’s urge.

「That damned bitch!」

The Kingdom soldiers slipped through the sides where Curryman and the others were fighting, and began to move up toward the high ground. Curryman was about to try to obstruct them, but Kamui’s sturdy sword was wielded as if to prevent him.

「Madpie! Orangetto!」

While fighting against Tetsujin, Kugel let out a loud shout that echoed throughout the area.

As far as the demons were concerned, should they allow the front route to be breached there, that would mean everything was over. They had to defend this place to the death even if they had to cut off support to other places. It was a bitter decision with resolution of greatly increasing the burden of the demons who were fighting sporadically at the other places.

The kingdom soldiers who were running up to the high ground were convinced of victory based on the situation that was unfolding in front of them. This place, with its gentle slope and few nature, was an environment that was easy for the Kingdom soldiers to fight in. A little further ahead, women, children, and the elderly, who were clearly unfit for battle, stared at them, unable to hide.

Madpie and Orangetto, who had ceased their support duty and rushed over, quickly realized what was happening and stood in front of the overflowing crowd of kingdom soldiers.

「You shall not go any further than this!」

The kingdom soldiers were routed by the two newly appearing demons. The gap between their powers was apparent, but they weren’t powerful enough to push back the equilibrium of the battle. In the face of the overwhelming number of kingdom soldiers who appeared one after another, the fate of the demons could be said to be already in a precarious state.

And then the voice of Kaltovich, who had moved up along with the kingdom soldiers, echoed in the area.

「Foolish ones! The battle is already decided! Lay down your weapons and cease your resistance at once! I promise you that in the name of our God, we will not take your lives! However! If you choose not to stop resisting, then we have no choice! I will use my magic to show you what kind of position you are all currently in!」

Kaltovich began to chant her magic. Her target was the huddling up and frozen demons.

「Damn it all!」

Curryman tried to move toward Kaltovich to obstruct her incantation, but his path was blocked by Kamui.

「Please drop your weapons! We don’t want to pointlessly shed any more blood than this either!」

「You have the face to say those words?!」

Curryman’s sword clashed with Kamui’s sword. Neither of them backed down.

Kugel couldn’t move either, as he was being obstructed by Tetsujin.

Madpai and Orangetto also had their hands full with only obstructing the overflowing Kingdom soldiers.

「Understand what your position is a bit better with this. Triple cast: fireball!」

Three lumps of flame flew toward the demons.

「Hii!」

The women and children huddled together in front of the violence that they could not resist. However, the tragedy that was about to befall them was narrowly prevented. It was because the three flames fizzled out as they collided with three chunks of ice that had flown in.

「—As expected we can’t leave that one alone.」

The two shadows floating in the sky slowly landed between the demons and the kingdom soldiers.

「Hero Mikoto….」

Kaltovich glared at them with a seemingly vexed expression.

「Well, I was the one who did it, though.」

Great Sage Merlin still acted at his own pace even in such a tense situation. A sailor uniform believer was none to be trifled with.

「As expected I can’t let any more than that slide. Please stop siding with the Kingdom, Kamui. If you still can’t open your eyes even after witnessing that just now–, then you are my enemy.」

It was Hero Mikoto and the great sage Merlin who had averted the peril of the demons. As the situation had changed in various ways, how would the tide of battle turn out?

And then, our protagonist, Tanaka, who had yet to make his appearance even now. What was going on, Tanaka?! Your turn was being snatched by Hero-chan, you know, Tanaka!?