257. I Believe in Them

“—What kind of person is the leader of the Vanguard?”

During training, I had asked Libera-san about the members of the Vanguard.

“A total scumbag,” Libera-san had answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“Arrogant and greedy. A heartless person who deceives others without a second thought and views everyone but himself as a pawn.”

It was a rock-bottom evaluation. Well, based on what I’d heard so far and the incident with Ivar-san, my impression was already the worst.

“But he’s strong. That much is certain. I became undead, mastered magic, and ascended to the seat of the ‘Dead King.’ If the pinnacle of monsters are the Six Kings, the pinnacle of humanity is undeniably him. Randall is the only human in history permitted to stand on equal footing with the Six Kings.”

I clearly understand the meaning of Libera-san’s words now.

The guy in front of me is a monster. He’s on a different dimension.

To the point where the girl I fought first—the Ninja God Shuri—literally seems like a child in comparison.

“—What’s wrong? Why such a tense expression?”

“Ts…”

The man before me—Randall—wore a smile.

His voice was crystal clear. Not a voice heard through the ears, but one that echoed directly in the head, rattling one’s emotions.

It’s okay. Sea King Shuram’s barrier is working.

Even if his voice reaches me, attacks and skill effects cannot pass through the barrier.

There are no tricks in his words… or so I hope.

“We finally meet like this. Why don’t we have a little chat, Kazuto Kudo?”

“A chat…?”

“Precisely. I have a strong interest in you. In just a few months, you grew enough to stand alongside us, deepened your bonds with the Divine Tree and the Wolf King—who were considered disasters in our world—and now you stand before me. Do you understand what an incredible feat that is?”

“…”

Like I care.

I didn’t choose to be in this situation in the first place.

I just found myself here.

Don’t listen to his voice. Don’t be led by his pace.

(—Item Box.)

Silently, I release that from my Item Box into the barrier.

“Hm?”

In an instant, his figure vanished behind a massive structure.

What I just released was a massive building.

Because of the barrier, I can hurl the most massive objects in my Item Box at him with zero risk of collateral damage.

(Follow-up.)

Next, I unleash the bombs Ichinose-san made for me.

Separate from the carpet-bombing conducted by the SDF, these were the ones I’d kept in my Item Box. I follow up by dumping gas tanks, storage tanks from gas stations, and raw fuel one after another.

Violent explosions occur, rivaling the ones from earlier.

Thanks to the barrier, the blast, the rubble, and the resulting smoke do not leak outside.

(It’d be great if he just fell over from this, but…)

No such luck.

There’s no way the human said to be the strongest in the other world by Libera-san herself would die from an attack of this level.

From the smoke, Randall emerged.

“Hahaha, no intention of talking, I see. Or perhaps Libera told you that speaking with me is dangerous?”

His figure was perfectly intact.

Only his clothes were scorched.

His skin was without a single scratch, looking as though he had taken no damage at all.

I feel like telling him to screw off.

(About fifty minutes until Sea King Shuram’s barrier dissolves…)

There isn’t enough time to burn up all the oxygen in the barrier to cause suffocation. Toxic gas has a low success rate due to resistance skills, and the impact on the surroundings when the barrier breaks would be too great.

Truly a pain…

Randall’s ability, as I heard it from Libera-san:

It is—simply being strong. That is all.

Instead of possessing special gimmicks or means of attack, he is infinitely strong, durable, and fast.

On top of that, he heals quickly and is fully equipped with various resistance and nullification skills.

Libera-san’s “Position Swapping,” the undead’s “Curses,” or seals from territory skills have no effect on Randall.

There is no method to defeat Randall other than simply becoming stronger than him.

There was only one entity who could exceptionally achieve that: the Sea King.

The Sea King can freely redistribute his stats.

If he allocated every single stat point into attack power, that single blow could kill Randall.

But the Sea King can no longer fight. He is wounded and weakened.

Then, should I ignore this guy and crush the other Vanguard members first?

I can’t do that either.

At the very least, I cannot take my eyes off this man.

Because Randall possesses the Master Key capable of tampering with the system.

Not Libera-san’s replica, but the original.

Libera-san said the likelihood of him using it was low because further tampering would affect the system’s stability, but if he does use it, a countermeasure is necessary.

—With my “Administrator Privileges.”

The power given to me by the mysterious white girl in the place called the Chaos Frontier System Server.

Only once, I can exercise power equivalent to the Master Key.

If Randall tries to do something, I have to use it to stop him.

“I see… you have no intention of talking, but you won’t take your eyes off me. The reason why you, the greatest combat force, won’t take your eyes off me despite me being unable to move… I can more or less imagine it—”

Randall put a hand to his chin.

“In that case, is your—your group’s—aim this? To pin me down here, and in the meantime, crush the other Vanguard members. Then, gather all your forces to slay me. How about it? Am I correct?”

“…”

Randall had accurately seen through our objective.

“But that is impossible, Kazuto Kudo.”

Randall gave a short laugh.

“Because the humans of this world other than you are weak, and Libera alone cannot defeat all the remaining members. She might take down a few, but she will exhaust herself doing so. At that point, you will be the only combat force left who can fight properly. Once Sea King Shuram, the only one with a chance of defeating me, fell, this battle was decided in our—no, my—favor.”

“…That’s not true.”

“What…?”

Before I knew it, I had spoken.

I really hadn’t intended to converse, but I couldn’t leave that unsaid.

“Why have you decided that my comrades—the people of this world—are weak?”

That’s not the case.

Ichinose-san, Nishino-kun, Rikka-chan, Igarashi-san, Goshogawara-san, Nijo, Chief Shimizu, the Mayor, Fujita-san, and everyone else.

True, the preparation time was insufficient.

We should have had more time, but we were caught by a surprise attack and forced into battle.

But even so.

We’ve overcome such pinches over and over.

No matter how desperate the situation, we compensated for what we lacked and stood our ground without giving up.

There is no way they are weak—no way they won’t be a significant force.

It’s impossible.

Randall openly snorted in derision.

“Then, you think they can win? That humans weaker than you, possessing no great power, can win against the elite of elites of our world—the Vanguard?”

“Of course.”

I declared it firmly.

I stated it clearly.

“Unlike you, I believe in the strength of the people of this world—of my comrades.”

Randall, who moves forward only on the premise of sacrifice, would never understand.

I will believe and wait.

For Libera-san, for Nishino-kun and the others, for everyone to defeat the Vanguard.

—At a divided barrier.

The equally isolated Vanguard member—Beld Raven—was waiting for someone inside his barrier.

Then, someone entered.

Even without seeing their form, he knew by the presence.

Because it was the person he had been waiting for all this time.

“…So you’ve come, traitor. The disgrace of our clan.”

Beld stared at the figure with loathing.

Faced with such clear hatred, the person frowned slightly.

Ivar Raven.

The otherworlder who called himself Aiba to Kazuto and the others, possessing the “Recreation” skill.

A traitor of the other world who sided with this world after recreating Goshogawara’s family at the campsite and nurturing bonds with them.

And the biological older brother of Beld, who stood before him.

“It has been a while, Beld. I’m surprised you still remembered me.”

—Similarly, at another divided barrier.

“One, two… three, huh. Aside from Orion, these are all faces I’m seeing for the first time.”

“…Libera-sama…”

“Holy Ark” Orion, “Barrier Master” Lizzie, and “Sealer” Narus.

The members who were split into a group of three.

“Libera-sama… um, I… that is…”

“Don’t speak, it’s annoying.”

Libera silenced Orion as she tried to say something.

“The answer was decided the moment you sided with them. Don’t act like a best friend now when you wouldn’t take my hand back then, you traitor.”

“Ts…”

Raising her staff, Libera focused her power.

“Sorry, but I have a backlog of work. I’m finishing this quickly.”

—At the outside of a divided barrier.

“That’s them, Nissy.”

“Yeah, based on the traits, they must be the ones called Rialdo and Gashmash. They seem quite shaken by being isolated.”

“They’re really hitting the barrier. …But is this really going to work? There are two of them, you know? Even Big Brother only barely managed a one-on-one…”

“We have no choice but to try. Either way, if the barrier vanishes, we have no chance. We have to do something now.”

“It’d be way safer with Libera-n, you know?”

“Safer, maybe, but then we couldn’t defeat everyone before the barrier disappears. If even one person remains, facing the leader Randall is impossible. Libera-san said so too, didn’t she?”

“Well, yeah…”

“It’ll be fine. I have a plan. Besides, an unexpected reinforcement has arrived too.”

“Ah, those people. But can we trust them?”

“It should be fine. After all, she is Kudo-san’s—”

—And at the final barrier.

The last member of the Vanguard was waiting intently for an opponent to arrive.

“…They’re here.”

Sensing a presence, the figure turned around.

The person who entered the barrier was a woman.

And for some reason, a cat was at her feet.

She drew her sword and faced the intruder.

“I am the ‘Sword Saint’ Boa Lebenherz. Warrior of the other world, state your name.”

“Sword Saint…?”

“Myau…?”

The person who entered tilted her head in confusion.

And for some reason, the cat at her feet tilted its head too.

The Sword Saint thought it was a little cute.

“What is it?”

“Ah, no, it’s nothing. I see… so that’s how it is.”

Nodding as if she had understood something, the intruder pulled a sword from thin air.

“My name is Ayame Kujo. I’ve come to stop you all in order to protect Kazuto-kun.”

End of 257