The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent – 84
EP.84 Suspicion (4)
If things got really bad, I thought I could always help.
The power emanating from Marmaros had both physical and magical properties. While it could be less effective depending on the type of enemy, it was still a magical attack, which meant it could deal additional damage to enemies weak to magic.
In the original work, there were also magic attacks without any specific attributes.
So, I could handle slimes too. With a shotgun equipped with fire-attributed Marmaros, I could melt a slime into a puddle. The only downside would be the massive fouling it left in the barrel after each use.
“I don’t need any help.”
But Lena spoke with great confidence.
“Have you faced a creature like this before?”
“No.”
…She sure was confident for someone with no experience.
“But I know their characteristics well enough. Based on that, they can’t pose a threat to me.”
At her words, my gaze instinctively fell on the two handguns under her arms. If she had equipped Marmaros onto them, there would be visible signs of it—like my shotgun. But her handguns appeared entirely ordinary.
“In that case, I’ll be going now.”
With that, Lena confidently walked down the hill towards the amorphous monster below.
Its body was an almost transparent shade of blue, reminiscent of a slime, but its shape resembled a golem. The thing stood close to three meters tall, and up close, its presence would probably be overwhelming.
“Will she be okay?”
Alice asked what I’d been wondering myself.
“She says she’s confident.”
Claire replied, watching Lena with a look of fascination. The others were watching her departure with equal interest.
…Well, if things got too dangerous, I could always reset the time.
With that thought, I continued watching Lena as she walked away, until Mia Crowfield suddenly spoke.
“She should be alright.”
At her words, all of us on the hill turned to look at her. Startled by the sudden attention, Mia flinched and trembled slightly. She seemed uncomfortable with all the eyes on her, and she spoke hesitantly.
“When you work with magic long enough, you start to sense magical energy in objects and people, right? I… sensed a considerable amount of power from Miss Meyer.”
Hmm.
Sensing magic was difficult for the average person without serious training. There was a theory that sword energy was a type of magic, but in the game, it was treated as a separate force from magic. Technically, it fell under magical attributes, but it was still different.
Trying to logically explain laws beyond physical laws was foolish. After all, this was a fantasy world. Even the logical physical laws took a long time to be understood from a human perspective, so magic, which operated even more strangely, would be even harder to grasp.
“Magic? Are you saying she has an unusual level of power?”
When Jake spoke, Mia Crowfield’s face turned even redder.
“Oh, um, I don’t think it’s actually Miss Meyer’s magic. I didn’t sense anything distinct back in the hallway earlier…”
So, it was probably due to the influence of Marmaros after all.
“Uuuaaargh!”
Suddenly, a loud cry interrupted our conversation, and we all turned to look in the direction of the sound.
The slime golem-like monster was roaring. Its deep, resonant bellow matched its massive size. I couldn’t tell exactly where the sound was coming from, but watching its squishy surface vibrate with the roar was unsettling.
Honestly, it was a bit disgusting.
But Lena, walking ahead, seemed unfazed as she crossed her arms and drew her pistols.
…And I had to admit, the move looked pretty cool, stirring just a bit of that middle-school hero complex still lingering in some corner of my heart.
Without breaking her stride, Lena drew her pistols, and the slime charged at her with a roar. Despite its bulk making its movements seem slow, it covered the ground quickly with its long strides, closing the distance to Lena in an instant.
But Lena didn’t just stand there. She extended her arms, aiming both pistols forward.
Then—
“Uuuaaargh!”
The slime threw a heavy, blunt fist at her, and Lena calmly pulled the triggers.
Bang—
The gunshot was loud enough to be heard clearly from where we stood. The sound of the gunpowder igniting in the cartridge and the bullet tearing through the air pierced through the slime’s roar.
And then,
Boom!
One of the slime’s hands exploded.
It wasn’t just an explosion. It was like the air itself caught fire, reminiscent of the effect seen in war movies when a flamethrower is hit and bursts into flames.
“……Ah, it’s Marmaros!”
Claire exclaimed softly as she watched.
Yes, it was Marmaros. But there was nothing sticking out or bulky about her guns from what we could see here, and the barrels didn’t look reinforced or modified at all.
Which could only mean…
“Is she using Marmaros as the bullets?”
Charlotte responded with interest.
“Y-Yes, it seems so.”
Mia Crowfield confirmed.
…So, there was no need to modify the gun itself. The bullet itself was Marmaros, so there was no reason to alter the gun’s barrel. Upon firing, it acted like a regular bullet. And the magic triggered upon impact, the moment the Marmaros-infused bullet hit its target and shattered.
“Grrraaah!”
The slime let out an anguished cry and swung its remaining hand, but—
Bang!
Lena quickly twisted her gun in her left hand and blew off the slime’s other hand. With both arms gone in an instant, the slime didn’t lose its aggression; its already damaged right arm was slowly regenerating. At the same time, it tried to step forward with both legs—
Bang!
A cracking sound echoed as the slime wobbled to the side and fell. White steam rose from its right leg, which had frozen instantly, shattered, and then melted just as quickly, resembling the dissolving of dry ice. It seemed Lena’s left gun was loaded with fire-attributed Marmaros, while the right gun was equipped with ice-attributed Marmaros.
“Since the Autonomous Region has a lot of large beasts, and the population density is much lower compared to forested or mountainous areas, it’s probably full of constant hunting opportunities.”
…And there are many mines. Although the autonomous government still controlled most of them, they were chronically short of population and always recruiting soldiers to fight against warlords, so there were not enough miners to extract Marmaros.
However, it was also true that Marmaros was relatively easy to obtain. Just like Winterfield hunters hunting mountain beasts, there would be plenty of Marmaros extracted from beasts hunted to protect settlements.
Bang, bang, bang—
The sound of gunfire continued.
As Lena approached the toppled slime, she fired several shots with the pistol in her right hand. With each bullet that hit its body, the slime rapidly froze.
And once the completely frozen slime could no longer move…
Bang!
Lena raised her left gun and fired one last shot to seal the deal.
Boom!
The ice-hardened body shattered, scattering fragments in all directions. While the frozen shards of the amorphous body began to melt, they didn’t reform or regenerate. It seemed the core, the weakness of the amorphous creature, had been destroyed in the blast.
Lena spun the two smoking guns, letting the smoke dissipate, then smoothly holstered them into the leather pouches under each arm. The move was undeniably impressive.
“That was amazing!”
Claire shouted as Lena approached. That was the cue for everyone to start clapping and welcoming Lena.
Lena’s expression as she walked towards us looked somewhat proud. Judging by the way she looked straight at me, she seemed to be expecting my praise.
“That was remarkable.”
Some might dismiss it as just the advantage of good equipment, but in the battlefield, those distinctions were meaningless; it’s about killing or being killed—nothing else. After all, even swords vary in quality, from fine blades to the ordinary.
However…
I glanced briefly behind Lena, thinking to myself.
…Considering how much Marmaros ammunition she used, was this fight worth the expense? With the slime shattered to bits, it would be difficult to extract any Marmaros from it.
Of course, I didn’t voice such thoughts.
Her expression was simply too satisfied.
…Was this what Alice felt when she looked at me?