Chapter - 12

But an earthquake wouldn't feel so little. Because the shaking that two of them felt, it felt more like numbness than shaking. And it wasn't just once. At a constant interval, thud. Thud. It was as if the ground was being struck by something with gigantic mass.

"…Could it be, these are the footsteps of a giant?"

What went through Ikki's mind was the scene that he had witnessed thirty minutes ago. The gouged-out earth, the trees that had been uprooted and thrown about. The huge footprints that had been carved into the ground. If it was the creator of the huge footprints, it wouldn't be weird for the earth to tremble every time it walked. Ikki wasn't one who talked about believing in UMAs, but certainly after seeing evidence with his own eyes, he thought it was highly likely that it was responsible.

So Ikki stood up.

"I'll go and take a look. Since it's the reason we came here today."

"I'll go too!"

Stella stood up along with him, but….

"Nope."

*pow* Ikki flicked her on the forehead. With only that, Stella was beaten, and she fell on her back.

"W-Why not!? I want to see the giant too…!"

"There's a one-in-ten-thousand chance that this is a giant, but it's a ferocious animal instead, you might not be able to fight it. So please stay docile, Miss-Person-With-A-Cold."

"Uu…."

Stella puffed up her cheeks and booed like a spoiled child, but she reluctantly abided by the command Ikki made with a serious expression.

Ikki left Stella behind, facing the entrance to the mountain shack. And pressing his ear to the thin wooden door, he tried to guess what was happening outside.

Thud, thud. The sound was quite close. He could tell that the center of the vibrations that followed the steps was also near.

"…Come forth, Intetsu."

Speaking words tinged with magic power, Ikki manifested his beloved raven-black sword into his right hand. After that, he took a deep breath and calmed his mind and body―then rammed the door vigorously, leaping outside.

In front of his eyes was―the uninhabited forest, with rain continuing to fall. That scene was the same as when Ikki carried Stella here.

What does this mean?

The sound, the vibration, both certainly existed. But the mass that had to create them was nowhere to be found. And when he took notice, the sound and vibration had disappeared the moment Ikki leaped outside.

…What is going on?"

Feeling completely confused, Ikki turned back.

And then….

"―Eh?"

He saw saw a rock giant standing in front of the mountain shack at a height of around of five meters.

Ikki had come out from between the legs of that too-huge giant.

N-No way…!

At that excessively unrealistic spectacle, Ikki stood stock still without thinking. But the next moment, he saw an even more unbelievable scene.

Of all things, that giant aimed a huge arm at the mountain shack and swung downward. Yes, aiming at the shack where the sick Stella was!

"S-Stellaaaaa!!!"

In an instant, the mountain shack was literally turned to pieces by that unthinkable mass.

Saying that, Ikki looked toward the rock giant.

"There really was a giant, apparently."

"Wha…."

Stella also turned her gaze that way, and made visual contact with the destructive culprit.

"Somehow, it's not the same as what I was thinking!"

"That's what you care about!?"

But Stella's statement was reasonable. The giant that materialized didn't fit the image of a gigantic human that they had. It was a crude humanoid shape made from many large and small rocks joined together. If one looked at it, one would doubt that it was even a living creature.

However, even if it was probably not a living creature, they understood one thing. This rock giant held hostility and malice toward Ikki and Stella. The truth was, the giant was once again gathering speed to pursue them, aiming and swinging at them with its huge arm. Ikki, carrying Stella, immediately jumped sideways and avoided the blow. The earth at his back was blasted by the unnatural force. Such a hit would blow even a Blazer away without difficulty.

In that case―there was nothing to do except bring it down before it could hit them.

"Stella, you stay here. Try not to let your body get wet, okay?"

Ikki set Stella down, and confronted the rock giant with Intetsu in his hands.

"Are you going to fight? Will you be alright? A sword won't be very effective, you know?"

"I'll be fine. I have a technique for dealing with this kind of opponent, more or less."

Saying that, Ikki raised his left hand closer to his blade, and drew the right hand that held Intetsu back with all his strength. It was plainly a stance for thrusting.

But the stone giant didn't care―no, as if it didn't have any will of its own, it lunged with its stone fist mechanically. A monotone attack with such sluggishness couldn't possibly get through the Worst One.

Ikki turned toward the rock giant, and with superhuman strength granted by Ittou Shura, he rushed forward as if flying. He just barely crossed right beside the stone fist as it passed.

―With the right hand that he was drawing back with all his strength, he unleashed a forward stab. A flash of steel that broke the sound barrier took flight.

It wasn't an ordinary thrust. Arm strength, leg strength, charging power―more than Ikki's superhuman body mastery, the vector of all of his power was focused on the point of his sword, a technique that forced out his highest offensive ability. This was the secret technique that boasted the strongest offensive ability among the Worst One's seven secret swords.

"The first secret sword―Saigeki!"

Ikki, who charged as if flying, without decelerating, made his body into a bullet and pierced the rock giant's chest. The impact of the penetration struck the giant's body, and from the huge hole bored into its chest, the giant made from joining rocks collapsed while making a clattering noise. The rocks being joined together fell apart, and returned to rubble having lost the humanoid shape.

"Good!"

But the moment Ikki landed with a small expression of relief….

"Eh…!"

Ikki saw something unbelievable. The crumbling stones were joining back together as if by magnets, and piled up together once again. The wreckage of the smashed giant once again repaired its humanoid shape.

And it wasn't the one giant this time. It was dozens of stone dolls, each as tall as Ikki.

And Ikki saw something even more strange in the middle of that scene. While the stones were attaching to other stones as if by magnetism, there was a presence of a thin, string-like magic power.

Right, this was no rock monster. Someone was using strings of magic power to manipulate rocks like puppetry. Namely, this was―

"A Noble Art…! The enemy is a Blazer! Stella, stay alert on the surroundings!"

"Ikki! Behind you!"

Reacting to Stella's shout, Ikki cleaved off the stone hand that was coming at his back to strike him. With a clang, Ikki's arm fell numb from the recoil of hitting his sword against hard rock. A small crack appeared in the stone doll.

Like I thought, if I don't use Saigeki, I can't deal with it…!"

But Saigeki had a lethal flaw. It was a charge technique, so it required him to set up an opportunity. As one would expect, in fighting dozens of stone dolls at the same time, there was no leisure time to set up such an opportunity.

"Gah!"

"Ikki!"

He couldn't protect himself, and blood sprayed from Ikki's brow after he took a stone hand to his head. He had warded off the stone hand with Ten'i Muhou, but there were too many enemies, unfortunately. An attack he couldn't parry and cut through had come.

This is bad….

Even though he needed to press on, the end of the time he could use Ittou Shura was coming too quickly. The remaining time was less than thirty seconds. At this rate, he wouldn't be able to win.

What should I…!

But the enemies weren't stopping to let Ikki think. While some surrounded Ikki, five of the rock dolls aimed approached Stella whose body was wrapped in a blanket.

"Stella!"

Ikki yelled out at seeing the scene. But he couldn't do anything other than cry out. He couldn't break out of the enclosure immediately. Stella was still weak. It was too dangerous for her to be attacked by the enemy right now―

"Take this!"

But as Ikki was thinking this, he saw Stella leaping forward and pulverizing the five stone dolls entirely into smithereens using a single strike from Lævateinn.

Moreover, not just the danger coming for her personally, she blew away the stone dolls surrounding Ikki with her strong sword, pulverizing them, and hastened toward where Ikki stood after easily defeating them.

"…Uh, somehow this is different from what I think of as a sick person."

"Yeah. I'm also quite surprised. I guess I'm unreasonably powerful, huh?"

Ikki wondered if she should say so about herself, but as expected he couldn't do anything but nod in surprise.

"I was able to move my body thanks greatly to taking a small rest. I'll also fight with you together. For this kind of opponent, my affinity is good."

Certainly so. With Stella's superhuman physical strength, she could cut them, and with only that power she could pulverize the stone dolls. Frankly, Ikki didn't want a sick person to fight no matter how strong she was, but as it was, Ikki's limits in fighting by himself left no room for argument. Having assistance here―at the moment he thought so….

"No no. A sick person shouldn't be doing unreasonable things. Stella-chan~♪"

Suddenly, a frivolous voice that was out of place on a battlefield rang out.

The owner of that voice appeared before Ikki and Stella equally as suddenly, without any warning.

"Vice President Misogi…!"