The Tale of Gerald Vader, the Heretic Knightโs Rampage Through Another World
Ah, that was closeโฆ!!
It was seriously touch and go.
Facing the two Greatfangs that had completely stopped moving, I let out a sigh of relief.
Surely there aren’t any moreโฆ?
Just to be sure, I scanned the area, but there was no other sign of beasts.
Generally, the larger the beasts in this world, the more solitary they tend to be. But apparently, these two were in mating season and had been traveling as a pair.
Well, thankfully, one of them seemed to be immobilized by a trap set by the villagers.
Taking on two at once for my first hunt would have been way too much.
โฆOr rather.
Why the hell were the village old men participating in monster hunting in the first place?
This is my job, right?
The village chief never said a word about this?
And if you were setting traps, you should’ve told meโฆ
Then I could’ve gone out with everyone.
Well, in that case, I might not have noticed the other one’s ambush, and I wouldn’t have been able to test the โSword-Made Blessingโ, so it all worked out in the end.
But seriously, that old guy who got attacked by the female fanged beast earlierโฆ He should’ve taken a hit like he got run over by a truck, yet he seems fine. That’s way too tough.
The old me, before getting the blessing, would’ve died for sure.
True, his built way sturdier than the rest themโฆ Could he have some kind of warrior bloodline or something?
Well, putting that asideโฆ
The old man’s badly hurt, but it’s a blessing in disguise that no one else got killed or injured.
โ
After the villagers carried the injured old man back to the village,
I ended up being assigned part of the Great Fang’s butchering.
The villagers would probably be more skilled at this sort of thing, but they didn’t have proper tools for butchering.
Besides, we were dealing with a super-heavyweight prey, likely weighing several tons per individual.
In the end, since I had a large blade, I handled tasks like removing the male’s internal organs and bleeding it out. After that, the entire village pitched in to butcher it, bringing back meat, hides, tusks, and such to the village.
Deep in the forest with only animal trails, carts couldn’t possibly make it through.
The female, however, had lost its head to my attack and its insides were mangled beyond repair. Aside from the hind legs, most parts were rendered useless for meat.
So, after some basic processing, they’ll bring that one back to the village for incineration.
Even though it was to save the old men, I couldn’t help but feel terribly sorry about this.
It seems I still need much more training to control my power, so I can take down prey in a cleaner state.
โโฆโฆโฆโฆโ
That aside.
After surveying the two Greatfangs, I closed my eyes, placed a hand over my heart, and offered a silent prayer.
I don’t feel guilty about taking these creatures down.
They’re vermin that prey not only on crops and livestock, but on people too.
Still, I felt I owed the minimum respect to those I’d exchanged lives with.
“โฆHmm. Still, I have to say, the way you came up with that โprojectionโ technique for sword-making is nothing short of astonishing.”
When I finished my brief silent prayer and opened my eyes, Twina was standing right beside me.
She was faintly translucent yet clearly visible, looking down at the Greatfangs’ corpses.
Come to think of it, I’d been so caught up in the fight and everything that I hadn’t noticedโwhy could I see Twina?
โHuhโฆ this is outside, right?โ
โYes. It seems defeating the beasts caused magic power to leak from their bodies, forming a sort of force field.โ
She nodded before continuing.
โThanks to that, a pseudo-dungeon space formed around this area. โฆQuite an interesting phenomenon.โ
Ahโฆ I see.
Twina’s explanation made it clear why she suddenly appeared.
This is the โCombo Systemโ.
The combat system in โBlaze of Gloryโ is fundamentally a turn-based command system.
However, as an original element in combat, there’s a mechanic where defeating multiple enemies or powerful foes within a set number of turns fills the โCombo Gaugeโ, temporarily enhancing the power of the โBlessingโ.
And once the โCombo Gaugeโ starts filling, the spirit controlling the โDivine Protectionโ appears on screenโฆ but apparently, in real life (?), it manifests like this.
By the way, the enhanced โDivine Protectionโ can trigger special skills or something like that. I wonder how that works.
โTwina. Hey, can you use any strange powers right now?โ
“โฆ?ใSorry, but other than being able to see you now, I don’t feel anything special.”
โOh, I see~โ
Hmm, disappointing.
Seems this part isn’t exactly the same as the game after all.
Or maybe if I keep slaying more monsters, special skills will start popping up?
Then again, Twina isn’t a character from the game, so I don’t even know if she has such thingsโฆ
Anyway, verifying the power I used earlier comes first.
First point.
The fact that โProjectionโ is completely broken.
I thought it might be useful for holding back a Great Fang, since it only scratched the altar in the dungeonโฆ but it looked like a cannonball had hit it.
If this existed in the game, it’d be a weapon that breaks game balance worse than Barao’s rocket launcher.
Was it because I loaded too much magic power in a panic during the emergency?
But to give it directionality, I’d need more magic power than just generating a sword normally anywayโฆ
Wait, the sword I generated was the โFirst Swordโ size, right?
That’s the smallest unit, so that level of power is just wrong.
โฆI thought that, then reconsidered.
Upon closer inspection, the โFirst Swordโ I just fired had a projectile alone the size of a palm.
In contrast, as far as I know, even rifle bullets only have projectiles about the size of a thumb tip.
โฆWhich means.
My โProjectileโ had the firepower of a ship-mounted anti-aircraft gun, no matter how you look at it.
โโฆโฆโฆโฆโ
Seeing the completely decapitated Mesfang, I shuddered anew at its destructive force.
At the very least, its attack power alone is on par with a story protagonist’s late-game level.
At this rate, firing the โSecond Swordโ or โThird Swordโ would probably unleash firepower on par with naval artilleryโฆ
I don’t know about demon gods or demons, but it’d pulverize a dragon in one hit.
And the mana cost is just the sword’s creation plus a little extra.
Of course, since it’s an unintended use of โProtectionโ, controlling it requires some concentration, but its potential power and cost-effectiveness are terrifying.
The only drawback, if I had to name one, is that even the โFirst Swordโ is probably overkill for everyday use.
I should probably work on being able to generate โthumb-sized swordsโ or โpinkie-tip swordsโ sooner rather than later.
โโฆAh, right.โ
I wrapped up the testing and turned my attention to the head of the Osfang lying before me.
Embedded in its forehead was a fist-sized, dark red gemstone.
The female’s had been completely obliterated by my attack, but this one was intact.
I crouched down in front of the male’s head, generated the โFirst Swordโ, and extracted the magic stone.
Alrighty then, got a pretty big one this time.
โAh, a magic stone.โ
Twina crouched beside me and peered at the magic stone in my hand.
โI need this to generate the physical version of the โGodslayer Swordโ.โ
โHmmโฆ At this size, you’d probably need about a thousand to generate a short sword.โ
My own estimate suggested roughly that amount would be needed.
But well, it’s not like I need it right now.
We can just collect them little by little.
โฆThat’s fine, though.
โHuh? What’s wrong, Gerald? Your face looks strangely redโฆ Do you have a fever or something?โ
Twina noticed my state and said this with a puzzled look.
โโฆNo, I’m fine.โ
I managed to say that while averting my eyes from her.
โฆI’d just realized something I hadn’t noticed before.
Was it because the magic power leaking from the demon beast was gradually fading?
Along with that, I could see Twina’s body slowly becoming more transparent.
That’s fine.
That’s perfectly fine.
But no matter how I looked at it, it seemed like her clothes were becoming transparent before her bodyโฆ Was I imagining things?
Sure, the important parts weren’t visible yetโฆ but it felt like only a matter of time.
Wait, does this happen every time after materializing from a combat combo??
Even if that’s the world we’re in, that’s way too generousโฆ way too much.
But Iโฆ my eye muscles (?) weren’t strong enough to resist the gradually sharpening, soft curves of the goddess.
And naturally, there was no way she wouldn’t notice that gaze.
โโฆAh.โ
Twina looked where my eyes were fixed, and then I looked too.
Then, for some reason, she flashed aโฆ humid smile and said this.
โโฆCome to think of it, there’s a special skill of mine I haven’t told you about yet.โ
โA special skill?โ
For some reason, I switched to polite speech.
Because I had a bad feeling about it.
Because right now, Twina had this incredibly smug look on her face.
โOh, it’s nothing. Nothing majorโฆ Actually. I can control my body’s transparency to some extent by adjusting my magical power.โ
โโฆSo what the hell does that mean??โ
Wh-what the hell does that even mean?
I couldn’t make sense of what she was saying and blurted out the question.
But Twina savored my reaction, continuing slowly.
โDidn’t my clothes start becoming transparent before my body? โฆOf course, I did that on purpose.โ
โโฆโฆโฆโฆโ
Was this a world where chastity reverses?
โโฆMaybe we should stop the sexual harassment outdoors.โ
โAuu.โ
Before Twina vanished completely, I couldn’t help but deliver a chop to the top of her head (a very light one, of course).
I get it.
I get it now.
The feelings of a tsundere violent heroine who’s been hit by a lucky pervert.
No, wait. That’s backwards.