Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer?
Chapter 213: Life is Cruel (8)

Chapter 213 Life is Cruel (8)

Boooom!

The thunder I heard right in front of me wasn’t as loud as I expected.

Or maybe it only felt that way because it had been so loud my eardrums had burst.

‘…This.’

As I was cutting down the lava men, I suddenly lost control of my body and collapsed to my knees, trembling terribly. My vision flashed white, and my ears felt incredibly stuffy. Beeeep. The tinnitus ringing in my ears made my head spin as well.

It’s no wonder that when a flashbang went off right before you in FPS games, the screen went all blurry and the framerate stuttered.

‘…Damn it, get up!’

“Cough.”

But I couldn’t afford to waste time like this. There was still an enemy in front of me.

‘Damn it, when did that bastard manage to absorb Leviathan’s power…?!’

With the last shred of reason left in me, I barely managed to open my eyes. My eyeballs felt as though they’d been scorched, and the blood crawling beneath my skin felt like lava, but I fought through it with sheer tenacity.

I also couldn’t hear my heartbeat anymore. However, I could feel the Arcane Power that had been moving around recklessly on its own gather around my heart.

‘This is dangerous.’

Bang! It felt like my heart had been hit with a hammer, and the fragments of my scattered thoughts were forcibly pieced back together. My mind snapped back to reality.

‘Can I win this?’

Smack.

At the same time, I regained control of my arm and pushed off the ground, rolling my body away. The arm of the lava man aiming for me struck the empty space.

Bam!

Immediately after, I kicked the mob away.

The enemy staggered backward, but the recoil from my kick caused my upper body to fall back again.

As I fell, my body tilted slightly to the side, eventually leaving me lying face down. My arm touched the ground.

“Urgh.”

Black blood was pouring out of my mouth. I had no clue whether it was from a lack of oxygen or because the current that had run through my body somehow charred my blood.

Every inch of my body stung, and my head spun.

> [How amazing. I didn’t expect you to withstand that guy’s lightning.]

Yeah, I was surprised by that, too. I’d heard the chances of surviving a lightning strike were higher than you might think, but I never imagined I’d prove it with my own body.

And damn it, I didn’t expect that Demon—who I thought could only manipulate lava—to wield lightning as well!

“Haah.”

I somehow managed to focus my dazed head as I let out a heavy breath.

The exhaled air felt searing hot, as if my lungs had been thoroughly cooked. Thanks to the Sea Dragon bead, I may not have actually felt the heat, but it was still stifling. To hell with all of this.

> [Isn’t that stupid reptile here yet?]

Sssh.

Even so, I had to keep fighting. Because the enemy before me was still alive. Because there was still a battle to be fought.

…Because that was what I had to do.

> [Seriously, I should have known that turtle bastard would be slow.]

Screeeech.

A metallic sound quietly echoed, just outside my range of hearing.

Thud.

I bent low, dodging a volcanic bomb, and grabbed the Zweihänder I hadn’t even realized I’d dropped.

It seemed my strength was gradually returning, as was control over my body, though my fingertips and toes were still numb.

Slash!

Even so, I swung my blade diagonally, slicing through some of the Trash Mobs. Their diced parts collapsed behind me after I kicked them away.

With how damp and mushy it felt, it would regenerate soon, but that would take at least ten seconds.

> […Ah, right. It would be rude to think of something else while facing you, wouldn’t it?]

‘Damn it, throw that sword upward and channel Arcane Power around you.’

Then, in that short moment, I instinctively tilted my body to one side. Since I couldn’t muster any strength in my toes, I just fell sideways.

Whoosh.

At the same time, the Zweihänder I’d thrown into the air seemed particularly clear to me. The same went for the Arcane Power forming a thin membrane around my body.

Boooom!

Then, a light piercing through the Arcane Power stung my eyes. The flash I’d seen from a distance was certainly much more vicious than afternoon sunlight.

A sensation similar to before fell over my whole body.

It didn’t even hurt anymore. All my senses felt so very distant.

‘Hah, you seriously managed to hit me perfectly…’

“Cough.”

Was it because the Zweihänder had acted as a kind of buffer? Or perhaps because the Arcane Power had protected my body? Or maybe it was simply because I’d experienced that attack once already and gotten used to it.

As I tried to remember how many times I’d been hit like this in this battle, I gathered strength in my legs.

Of course, I kept my eyes closed the entire time. The flash from earlier had been too blinding. Tears were still streaming down my face because of it.

Well, maybe that wasn’t the only reason.

‘That damn contract. You really chose the perfect person, didn’t you?’

Click.

Instead, I drew the sword hanging from my waist.

The leather hilt was burnt to a crisp and even covered in embers. It burned my leather gloves once more.

‘Damn it… This is bad. If this keeps up…’

But the moment I drew the blade, it completely crumbled into pieces. Even when I checked it through my blurred, reddish vision, the result was the same.

‘Shit.’

It looked like it broke after I took that lightning strike. The situation just kept getting worse and worse, and there was nothing left that could help me. I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.

Clang!

It may still be usable as a throwing weapon, though.

I simply dunked the shattered blade pieces into the magma—those Trash Mobs were also made of magma, right?

It was broken anyway. After giving it some thought, I figured keeping it around would do nothing but turn me into a walking lightning rod.

The daggers tucked inside my clothes weren’t much better. Unlike the Moby Dick raid, the Inquisitor wasn’t around to create barriers for me.

I shoved all the metal weapons into my Inventory. Luckily, I still had enough space for them.

Boom!

A volcanic bomb I’d deflected with my leg team killed some of those Trash Mobs, messily splattering magma everywhere.

> [Alright, let’s keep going.]

It was then one of the Demon’s six hands, clutching treasures, raised a handful of pearls.

The lava spread over the ground suddenly began to boil, sprouting jagged spikes, and the clouds above began to howl once more.

> [I really wonder if that guy was weak or you were just that strong.]

‘…Damn it! Dodge!’

Boooom!

And then, as a bolt of lightning struck down once more, one of the pearls the Demon was holding vanished. There were now about a hundred still left. Or maybe even more.

Sssssshhh.

I could hear the sound of water coming from somewhere.

* * *

Boooom!

When the third bolt of lightning struck, the lord returned to his senses. His body trembled involuntarily for reasons he couldn’t explain.

“Hero.”

But this wasn’t the time for such things. Since the signal flare to request reinforcements hadn’t been fired, he had to focus on the immediate threat, not elsewhere.

“We possess weapons capable of attacking that monster. However, they are few in number and take some time to activate, so we may need your help.”

“…Ah, yes. Yes.”

The Hero’s eyes, still looking somewhat dazed, regained their light. Her lips trembled as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she didn’t reveal what it was.

“Also… we cannot guarantee whether it will have a definite effect. So… assuming it’s hostile, if the weapon fails to show any results…”

It didn’t matter. The lord was more concerned with saving his city and soldiers than the Hero’s issues.

It wasn’t because he was selfish, but because it was his biggest responsibility—one he couldn’t afford to toss aside.

“U-uuuurgh!”

At that moment, a soldier above them let out a strange cry. Naturally, those who heard that sound and had the time to focus on it turned their attention to said soldier, waiting for his next reaction.

Click, click. A series of lights flashed, signaling something. While the other people of the city might not be able to decipher it, the city lord immediately recognized it.

To confirm it in more detail, he hurriedly used his observation item, which he’d gotten back from Meister not too long ago.

“…Hah, even if it isn’t a Demon, it’s definitely an enemy!”

He saw the gigantic turtle monster raise its whole body before slamming it down again. This was clearly an intentional act to create waves; therefore, it was absolutely hostile toward their city.

“The floodgates…”

Grinding his teeth, the city lord quickly thought of any possible countermeasures. Unfortunately, there was only one method he could think of.

“My lord?”

“We need to open the floodgates…”

In cases like these, opening the floodgates was the only option. If the water here were to drain a bit, the incoming waves about to crash into them would be a bit lower.

However…

He turned to look back.

To the west and south, where the fire giant wasn’t rampaging, countless points of light shimmered like waves. They were the torches of citizens following their orders to evacuate the city.

How could he open gates one through four under these circumstances? Although the number of Merfolk had significantly decreased, some would definitely slip through.

If they could deploy guards to hunt down the Merfolk that managed to slip through like usual, it might have worked, but as things stood, opening the gates would put the fleeing citizens in grave danger.

“We will not open the floodgates! Hold your ground! All of us may have the strength to fight, but if we open the gates, those who cannot will end up having to face the Merfolk! For the sake of our citizens, prepare to face death!!”

“Yes!!!”

He gritted his teeth as he made this decision.

Then he turned to the Hero. He’d hoped the Hero would speak up first, but now there was no time to wait. The waves had to be stopped.

“Hero!”

“…Yes!”

The Hero, now fully rid of all distracting thoughts, responded. In that instant, a golden barrier appeared and pushed back the Demons once more, clearing the waters.

The soldiers, finally able to catch their breath for a little, let out fierce shouts as they hurled their spears. All the while, other thrown items either shattered on the water’s surface or froze it.

“The giant monster has just stirred up a wave. Is there any way to stop it?”

“…Yes, there should be!”

The city lord asked with slight hope. Fortunately for him, the Inquisitor already had experience with halting incoming waves.

“Then, may I entrust this task to—”

“This is my duty, lord! There’s no need for you to ask!”

The Inquisitor blinked her trembling eyes, fixing her gaze on the mentioned incoming wave.

“It is my mission to save people at the cost of my own life. That’s why I’ve been conserving my strength in preparation for these kinds of situations! So don’t worry. No matter how difficult your demands may be, as long as they serve a just cause, I will never back down!”

Her unease definitely didn’t stem from wanting to avoid this difficult task or disappointment that the creature ultimately turned out to be an enemy.

Ah, perhaps the latter did play some role in it, but still, the feeling she got from that wasn’t significant enough to explain her current agitation, so it couldn’t be the cause.

“So don’t worry and focus on the battle.”

Despite her words, it kept gnawing at her mind.

The thing she couldn’t stop thinking about for a while now…

“We have to end this battle as quickly as possible.”

The troublemaker placed a hand on her shoulder. “Iron wall.” The Inquisitor didn’t respond to his words. Her wide eyes and ragged breathing made her seem like someone cornered on the edge of a cliff.

“Make space!”

At that moment, someone shouted at them with a hoarse voice, one that didn’t rise above a certain pitch even while shouting. It was Meister.

“Get out of here!”

He and the craftsmen had brought a gigantic device. Two thick iron rods were mounted on the front, like the number 11, and its surface was engraved all over with some kind of formula.

It was so big that even lifting it onto the wall seemed almost impossible.

“Should we move it?”

“I’ll help too.”

“That should work, but…”

Fortunately, there were people here, like the Inquisitor, who could even move around in full armor without breaking a sweat. She was surprisingly strong, even by ordinary people’s standards.

Ber… No, Weapon Master and Deathbringer stopped killing Merfolk with spears for a second to also help move the device.

Of course, even for them—especially Weapon Master—it was still too heavy to be carried entirely by hand, so they used a cart to move it instead.

“It’s quite heavy.”

“Not something you should say when you moved it without needing to take even a single breath.”

Bang! The machine was mounted on the wall, with its rods extending beyond the battlements.

Without missing a single beat, Meister, who’d responded quite cynically to Weapon Master’s whining, began preparing to secure it in place.

“Meister!”

“Yes.”

“Fire! Kill it!”

“Ah… So it’s an enemy after all. Shield! I told you to put up a shield first!”

Meister didn’t show even the slightest hint of disappointment at the lord’s words, immediately acknowledging the situation before venting his anger in a different way.

The person beside him, who’d been quite startled, quickly created a shield. He seemed to have also brought along some wizards as well.

In addition, others—who also appeared to be wizards—placed their hands on the device.

Judging by the flow of energy, it seemed they were channeling their Arcane Power into it.

She now realized this device needed three wizards just to supply enough Arcane Power.

The formulas engraved on the device began to glow blue, concentrating light between the two rods.

“What is that?”

“A failure, a money-guzzling hippo, and a single-use item.”

“…What?”

“More importantly, Hero, I get that you’re conserving your strength in case that turtle crashes into us, but don’t you think you should do so while observing the situation a bit more? Don’t you see the waves and the Merfolk charging in?”

Right at that moment, the Merfolk began rushing at them all together. It was like whenever they felt Arcane Power, dozens of them would leap up to take the brunt of a spell on their own.

These things somehow caught wind of the impending attack from this device and rushed over to interfere.

Behind them, the temporarily lowered sea level rose again as the huge wave came rushing at them.

“Uwah, they’re coming!”

“Hmph. Dealing with them in the water is so annoying.”

“The Merfolk are coming! Defend!”

“Come on, everyone, give it your all. If this thing gets destroyed, that’s thirty million Gal worth of investments down the drain.”

“Thirty million… Gal?”

Meister, who had been busy fastening chains to the battlements, blurted out some words of encouragement. It seemed like he was trying to boost morale somehow…

While the Inquisitor’s eyes grew wide at the staggering amount, the lord, who’d been busy rallying the soldiers, suddenly felt a bit sick to the stomach.

The total investment in these anti-giant monster weapons was said to be around a hundred million Gal, but at this point, it may actually have already exceeded one billion Gal.

Of that, developing this particular device alone cost them around thirty million Gal.

“…So it cost thirty million Gal to make, but it’s still just a single-use item?”

“Yeah.”

Even so, it couldn’t be called anything but a failure that would immediately break after firing once.

The core idea of the device was to channel Arcane Power into the two rods until they repelled each other with enough force to launch projectiles as fast as light. The only problem was that no material in existence could withstand that repulsion.

To be precise, it could be made, but at an absurdly high cost. Really, ridiculously, astronomically high.

After hearing the estimated cost, the lord couldn’t say anything other than, “Forget the launcher and just make some projectiles…”

Just recalling that moment made the lord’s expression darken. “Keep them off us!” Even at that moment, he urged on the soldiers almost out of instinct.

Baboooom!

The soldiers thrust their spears frantically as though their lives depended on it. On the other hand, the Merfolk desperately slammed themselves against the barrier, which the Inquisitor had hastily reinforced.

“It’s coming!”

“Everyone, brace yourselves so you don’t get swept away—!”

Ssshwaaaah!

However, the Inquisitor’s barrier continued to hold firm.

It blocked even the huge wave perfectly, sending everything back into the sea. Those clinging to the walls to avoid being swept away now cautiously dared to raise their heads again.

“Almighty God, grant me the strength to protect everyone!!”

The golden barrier pushed out further like a row of falling dominos, pushing back the water that had covered the entire wall. The Merfolk were swept away with it, momentarily leaving the battlefield completely calm.

Everyone just blankly stared at the Inquisitor who’d brought about this miracle.

“Hero…”

More than protecting the walls, more than healing dozens of people at once, more than knocking off a few Merfolk clinging to the walls, this was the most certain display of her power this whole battle.

“What are you doing? Tie it down!”

Clang.

However, Meister, who didn’t give a rat’s ass about gods or miracles, was different from them and remained wholly focused only on his device.

With meticulous movements, he used special tools to stabilize the shaking device, wrapping it in multiple layers of chains and even covering it in iron netting to root it firmly in place.

“I-it’s shaking a lot, isn’t it?”

“It’s not going to explode right now, so just tie it down!”

Rattle, rattle, rattle.

No matter how you looked at it, those vibrations were quite unnerving. Deathbringer, looking extremely exhausted, lent a hand. They’d secured the device so tightly that if it were a person, they would’ve 100 percent suffocated to death.

“They’re coming again!!”

“Regroup and attack!”

In the meantime, the enemies the Inquisitor had momentarily pushed back returned.

Perhaps aiming to block the device’s attack, Merfolk swarmed in such great numbers that it could be said that “there are more Merfolk than water.”

“Kill them all!!”

Bang, bang, bang, bang.

The machine firing massive arrows continued its assault while Weapon Master, wielding a spear she had borrowed from a soldier, smashed in the heads of commander-ranked enemies.

“Incoming magic!”

Boooom!

“Well done!”

At that moment, timely Arcane support blasted through the Merfolk leaping toward them, frying dozens of the Demons to crisps.

The soldiers finally had a brief moment to catch their breath.

“That’s it!”

Thud.

And after all the effort they’d put in, just as the shaking device finally began to emit a blinding light, the giant turtle came within a few hundred meters. Rumble. The ground collapsed as it stepped onto the embankments.

“Hero, can you form a barrier around the device, covering both sides, above, and behind?!”

“I can.”

“Alright, the moment I give the signal, completely erase the big barrier and create one only around this device. Everyone, fall back!”

It wasn’t really a big deal. Meister didn’t care whether or not that turtle was approaching; he simply gave out orders after he got the Inquisitor’s confirmation.

The wizards who’d been channeling Arcane Power into the device were the first to retreat, and then the soldiers retreated on the lord’s orders, their expressions half filled with fear and half with relief.

“Now! Do it!”

“Yes!”

Following his signal, the Inquisitor formed a cubic barrier around the device, leaving only the front and bottom open.

Guooooh!

At just that moment, the approaching turtle let out a loud cry. It extended its neck and opened its mouth wide as it roared.

However, it was already too late to halt the attack in response to it. The moment that thing roared, a sound even louder than thunder suddenly rang through the area.

BOOOOM!

The device exploded, causing an explosion inside the golden barrier created by the Inquisitor.

The blast launched some sharp projectiles forward as if repelled by an overwhelming force.

____