A Wild Last Boss Appeared! Volume 4, page 6
“Contestant Virgo: twenty points!”
I can do this! I can win! Having come this far, Virgo finally started to think, Maybe I’m a little strong...
Then her friends and comrades immediately came to mind. Specifically, she started imagining a what-if scenario where one of them, such as Libra, had participated in this event. In Virgo’s mental world, Libra would patrol the area with machine guns and bazookas in hand as the ground beneath her burned. She imagined Libra massacring monsters in droves while turning Draupnir into scorched, uninhabitable earth.
Ah, I was wrong. I really am weak. She still hadn’t noticed that her objects of comparison were too far to one side of the scale.
Anyway, as one of Miss Lufas’s comrades, I need to at least not embarrass myself, Virgo thought as she flew through the air, not realizing that she was far and away first place in points.
＊ ＊
“Contestant Virgo: five points!”
“Contestant Virgo: nine points!”
“Contestant Virgo: eight points!”
Man, that girl’s super strong.
The hero Sei shivered at the thought as he continued to fight and defeat monsters. He knew who Virgo, who was currently dominating the contest, was. He’d seen her yesterday. She was the cute, white-winged girl who’d been with the strange group. Even before the contest, her pure-white wings had stood out, as had her surprisingly nervous demeanor. Sei’s sense of justice had burned brightly as he’d made a note to help her out if she were in danger. He’d had to remind himself not to bring ulterior motives into it. Sei was a man, too, after all.
But he’d been too naive. Rather, he’d been foolish and lovestruck.
Save? Who again...? That one there, who’s been using hit-and-run tactics to easily poach monsters from the air? Surely you jest. That girl was far and away stronger than Sei himself. In fact, she was probably the strongest participant here.
Sei wondered just what her nervous appearance was for. Was it an act? It was basically a fantasy trope for someone weak-looking to turn out to be strong, but that was especially jarring with her. Sei figured she could even be stronger than the Sword Saint.
Sei shook away the idea; there was no way that was true, but the sight of her complete dominance over this event certainly made it seem plausible.
Ah, she killed a wyvern just now. Apparently they’re weaker than real dragons. But still, that thing was over level 80!
As an aside, Sei’s current level was 35. He was at the level where he could be easily one-shotted by Virgo. It’s so hard to level in this world. I want to cry!
Shouldn’t it be, like, way easier to level in cases like this? The main character in that light novel I read a long time ago leveled up super easily compared to everyone else. He had a mega-easy time. So what the hell is this? Like, what even is a hero?
“Contestant Virgo: twelve points!”
“Contestant Bunny Dandy: three points!”
“Contestant Bikini Muscle: seven points!”
One after another, the contestants’ point gains were being called out, causing Sei to rush himself.
Crap. I can’t even think about going for a high rank like this. I’ll be sitting at the bottom.
Actually, Sei was working pretty hard and was currently holding on to a high-ranking spot by a hair, but he himself didn’t know that.
Sei swung his sword as if possessed, continuing to defeat monsters. He was still resistant to taking lives. Some might feel exasperated at how long Sei had chosen to carry that particular cross, but it was a tall hurdle for a Japanese person. He even lost his will to fight at all against his current enemy, which was something like a cute puppy monster.
Hey, stop that. Don’t come closer. I’m a dog lover! No, don’t wag your tail at me! Don’t stand up on your hind legs to try and play with me! Stop following me! Sei thought while fighting desperately when a scream from some distance away brought him back to reality.
“Wh-What was that?”
Is there a strong monster there?
Sei turned to face the direction the scream had come from. Then, he froze. There was something huge there, right in his line of sight. Several hundred meters ahead in some grassland was a dinosaur so large that Sei could see it clearly even at that distance. And it was on a rampage.
“A-An accident! An accident has happened! A dinosaur—a dinogigant—has wandered in from the nearby forest that was its territory! Please stay away from it, everyone. This is not one of the hunting festival’s targets!”
This world has dinosaurs?!
Sei’s face paled as he watched the rampaging dinosaur off in the distance. While he wasn’t sure whether it was categorized as an animal or a monster, he did understand that the danger it represented was incomparable to the hunting festival’s monsters. After all, that thing was eating the monsters. Everything around it was fleeing. Even the wyvern had lost all will to fight. The scene of the dinosaur chasing them down was exactly that of a predator, something that reigned at the top of the food chain.
The biggest problem was that it considered humans food as well. No adventurers or travelers had become its victims yet, but it was only a matter of time. If someone didn’t stop it, it was basically guaranteed that human lives would be lost. And unfortunately, there was a female adventurer who was probably a participant currently on the ground in front of the dinosaur, shivering like a leaf.
It’s obvious she’s in danger. If I don’t do something, she’ll get eaten.
“Dammit!” Sei spat before running towards the dinosaur. For some reason, the dog followed after him.
That dinosaur’ll take a couple seconds at most to finish that monster it’s eating. So in that time I’ll need to get there, grab that girl adventurer, and drag her away. As if I’d fight that thing. I know how weak I am.
Sei knew full well that the best he could do was make sure no one died until some warriors or something were dispatched to kill it. As long as he bought enough time, Friedrich or Gantz should arrive. Sei was confident they’d be able to turn things around.
“Hey, we need to run! Get up!” Sei reached the woman and grabbed her hand, trying to pull her up. She didn’t move other than to shake her head from side to side.
“I-I can’t... My legs. They’ve given out...”
“Aggghh!”
Sei immediately decided to carry the woman, but it was no good. She was too heavy. Rather, it wasn’t the woman herself but what she was wearing. Her sword was heavy too. There was no way Sei could pick all that up.
“Hey, drop your sword and armor! I can’t carry you like this!”
“B-But this was expensive... I haven’t even paid off the loans I took out to buy it.”
“Is this the time for that?!”
Each second was precious. Sei knew they needed to run away before the dinogigant finished eating the monster it was working on. But it was already too late. The dinosaur swallowed the last of it and looked their way.
Sei knew it was too late to run now, so he readied his sword and tried to intimidate the dinosaur. The fact that he refused to abandon the woman and run even now showed his mettle as a man. Although, it seemed like the woman herself wasn’t so noble, as she immediately tried to crawl away, leaving Sei behind.
“GIGAAAAAAAAA!”
The dinosaur howled and charged. It was fast and heavy.
Even though each step shakes the earth like this...what the hell is with that speed?!
Sei prepared himself, gripping his sword tightly as he tried to calmly observe how the dinosaur moved in order to avoid death.
I need to watch out for its mouth! I need to dodge its bite at all costs. If I manage to wound its legs, I think I can run away somehow.
In a flash, a white form came in-between them. It swept an arc with the sword it wielded, and the resultant wind blew the dinosaur away. Its white wings seemed as if they were dancing as Sei bore witness to a white angel’s descent.
Later, he’d realize that it hadn’t been an angel at all but a heaven-winged. At the time, however, the girl was undoubtedly an angel in Sei’s eyes.
8
In this world, all corporeal beings outside of humanity could usually be split into animals and monsters. Beings that had not been influenced by mana and retained their original form were animals. Monsters were those that had been influenced by mana and mutated. Generally, monsters were always stronger than animals. The difference between a housecat and a tiger was a good example. Tigers were always stronger, but when a cat was mutated by mana, it might become strong enough to beat a tiger.
Mana mutation affected all aspects of a living thing, making it stronger than anything natural could achieve. But there was one thing that could easily topple that power balance in Mizgarz, and that was dinosaurs. They were an ancient threat that had been around since before humanity. Even without being affected by mana, they were fear-inducing hunters that deemed everything in their sight as food, as if to say that the strong were powerful precisely because of their strength.
Humans were food. Monsters were food. Its own kind was food. Even devilfolk were food. Dinosaurs were a naturally strong predator that deemed anything and everything as something to be eaten. That was just how they were. That was why they were feared and hated throughout Mizgarz, even more so than monsters.
Two hundred years ago, Lufas Maphaahl had lessened their numbers. Though there were fewer today, dinosaurs still existed, spreading fear throughout the land. And there were some especially feared carnivorous dinosaurs among them. Dinorexes lived in the north. The west had dinoacrocanths. There were dinotalbos in the east, and lastly were the dinogigants in the south. There were other dangerous dinosaurs, but the above four were especially feared.
And right now, one of them was standing right in front of Sei. It was thirteen meters in height, and it weighed thirteen tons. It was an absolute nightmare by any metric.
On the opposing side, there was a newbie hero and a dainty heaven-winged girl. Any outside viewer would think that this wouldn’t amount to a real fight. “Reckless” would be a nice way of putting what they were doing.
But they weren’t the only two people participating in the festival. Hearing of the dinosaur, several other adventurers and travelers ran to support Sei and the girl.
“Heh, a dinosaur? I’ll finish it in five seconds.”
A cool-looking swordsman in all black stepped forward and drew his weapon. Even his sword was dyed an ugly pitch black. With the air of the mighty, he elegantly approached the dinogigant, his mantle billowing in the breeze.
Is this like that one trope? The one where a strong character coolly shows up out of nowhere and defeats the enemy? Sei held that hope in his heart as he watched the dude in all-black.
“Fall to my secret technique. Secret Art: Flowing Blade of Dark Shadow!” All-black guy declared his skill in a low, cool-sounding voice as he slashed at the dinogigant.
And it was deflected by the dinosaur’s tail as it swept forward and blew him away with an “oof?!” All that had happened in a mere five seconds.
What good are you if you only last five seconds?!
“Seems like it’s not just all talk.”
Next, an absolutely ripped, bearded man with bunny ears came forward while cracking his knuckles. He didn’t falter, even with the dinogigant’s size, after seeing the instant defeat that had just happened. He was like a veteran fighter with absolute confidence in his own strength.
When he reached the dinogigant’s feet, he grabbed a gigantic leg with both hands. The dinogigant didn’t move, not even an inch.
Wait, did he just try to throw it? Like, no, that’s impossible, dude. Look at the size of it!
While Sei was busy with his exasperation, the dinogigant kicked the man away. After rolling on the ground a ways, he stopped, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He was unconscious.
“You small-fry. Let me show you how to fight.”
Lastly, an older, ripped, macho-looking dude in bikini armor walked up. He ran to the dinogigant’s feet and grabbed its thick leg again.
Come on, you already know that’s impossible. What the hell have you been watching up until now? I’m begging you here. Think of the size difference!
The useless man with no ability to learn was kicked away by the dinogigant as well, joining the bunny-eared man in a friendly bout of unconsciousness.
“What the hell did you guys even come here to do...?”
In the end, the only result of their demonstration of the dinosaur’s strength was Sei’s exasperation. But he pulled it together and held his sword up. Virgo also fixed her grip on her sword and faced the dinogigant with a nervous expression. The dog monster tried to pad out front, but Sei hurriedly grabbed it and dragged it backward before readying himself again.
What was surprising was the dinogigant. Sei had thought that it would attack immediately, but for some reason it was standing still and staring at Sei... No, at Virgo. It could have been that the dinogigant was sensitive to strength because it was a wild animal. It had probably noticed how strong Virgo was, even though her appearance was deceiving, and decided that it shouldn’t recklessly attack.
But as a dinosaur, it was never very patient in the first place.
“Gggghh... GYAAAOOOHHHHHH!”
The dinogigant’s roar shook the air as it turned on the spot to strike with its tail. It was aiming for Virgo!
But she’d already closed the gap all at once and got right next to its feet while dodging its tail. Then, her sword flashed! Virgo had cut into one leg before rising into the air once again, escaping the dinosaur’s grasp. The dinogigant collapsed on its wounded leg, though it was still attached. It quickly got back up, angrily staring up at Virgo, who was still in the sky.
“W-Wow...” Virgo’s speed had Sei awestruck, his mouth hanging open.
To him, she was gorgeous, as well as sharp and fast. It was obvious at a glance how different she was from the all-black swordsman from earlier. Virgo’s build was, in fact, a back line specialist, so everything she was doing now was her brute-forcing things, using the difference in their stats. However, Sei simply lacked the levels to be able to notice that.
While Sei was busy being too low-leveled to not be awestruck, Virgo and the dinogigant’s battle continued. Virgo managed to deal several cuts to the dinogigant with her hit-and-run strategy.
If possible, Sei wanted to help, not to mention that he felt it shameful as a man to simply stand by and watch. He also knew that if he acted clumsily, he might end up being a hindrance instead, so he quickly gave up on participating in the battle. Instead, he took a handkerchief out of his pocket and spread some random sand and gravel on it before closing it into a package. As soon as Virgo pulled away from the dinogigant, Sei hurled the tiny package as hard as he could at the dinogigant’s eye.
“GAAAHHH?!”
“It’s a blinder. How do you like it?!”
Man, I’m barely a hero at this point, aren’t I?
Even while thinking things like that, Sei was also convincing himself that this was the best he could contribute at the moment. Even though his stats were comparatively low, Sei had still gained way more strength than he’d started out with now that he was over level 30, and he had more than enough to be able to fling a handkerchief filled with sand at a dinogigant’s face.
While the dinogigant staggered, Virgo launched a blade of light at it and dealt a deep slash to its torso. When she did, the dinogigant got even angrier and tunnel visioned on her even further. Apparently it didn’t even register Sei as a threat, completely ignoring him.
I’m so pathetic. Seriously, it makes me wonder what the hell a hero is even supposed to be. But... This is good luck for me, you reptilian bastard. I’m weak. I know that.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t do anything.
Sei activated a hero skill he’d only learned recently, “Light Sword.” It was a fairly shabby skill that only doubled the strength of the next attack, but paired with the sword that had been found in the Grave of the Black-Winged King it became a strong technique.
For the timing... Now!
As soon as the dinogigant tried to take a big step to attack Virgo, Sei attacked the ground under it! It created a questionable pitfall just barely big enough to fit one of the dinogigant’s feet.
Sei immediately ran away and created some distance. He had just made the most annoying, small-minded attack possible. It wasn’t the way any man worthy of being called a hero should fight, but while there was little effect, it hadn’t been worthless. The dinogigant’s foot fell into the hole, causing its stance to crumble and allowing Virgo to make another concerted attack.
“Yaaaahhhh!”
Virgo flew high into the air and, using both her hands to grip her sword, reared back for a huge swing. Then she dropped from the sky! Imitating what Lufas had done in her fight against Scorpius, Virgo slammed her sword into the dinogigant’s head with all her might. The moment she hit it, she activated La Pucelle’s ability. The slash of light helped Virgo bury her sword deep into the dinosaur’s head.
“I’ll help! Light Sword!”
Sei activated his skill, doubling the power of Virgo’s La Pucelle.
La Pucelle, having become a literal sword of light, dug even deeper into the dinogigant’s head, causing blood to spurt out. By the time the sword lost its momentum, it had cleaved all the way from the top of the dinogigant’s head to its nose. It was a huge blow.
“GAH... Ah...”
The dinogigant’s huge form wavered unsteadily before collapsing with a huge thud. But it didn’t just fall. No matter how long they waited, it showed no signs of moving. Not even a twitch. The dog monster even walked right up to it and took a piss on the body.
Seeing that, it finally sunk in for Sei that the dinosaur had been defeated. He clenched his fist.
I don’t think I won that. That would be way too presumptuous. It was that girl who won. Yet at the very least, Sei was happy that the danger had passed.
