Ore ga Heroine o Tasukesugite Sekai ga Little Mokushiroku!? Vol 2 Chapter 3.5

CHAPTER 3 – PRAYER AND BETRAYAL

PART 05

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“Huh!? What!?”

The magical physical strength was gone as well, as I pitched forward and fell on my face. My chin hit the ground hard, and stars danced before my eyes for a moment.

“…Oh dear, I guess you really are an ordinary human being, Namidare Rekka.”

The disgustingly-cute elephant fairy Baa-kun, whom we had been searching for all this while to no avail, was once again floating before my eyes. My transformation bracelet was also back in his hands.

“Baa-kun, why…?”

“Yes. I was indeed suspicious at first that you were merely hiding your true powers from me, so I decided to put you in a dire situation where you’d be forced to use them… But you have disappointed me, Namidare Rekka. You’re just like any other normal human being.”

“?”

What was he saying?

“In short, Baa-kun-san had hidden himself away just now, to test if you are a human with any superpowers.”

R explained patiently, meeting my confused gaze.

But I still didn’t get it. If he really wanted to test my powers, we could still work together in battle. There was really no need to put all of us in danger of being crushed flat by Leviathan.

Then, I recalled the icy feeling I’d felt back when Baa-kun and I were standing before the “sealed space”, right after I’d told Baa-kun that I was just an ordinary human.

Had he been planning this all the way since then…?

“…Bahamut, I didn’t expect you to turn up in person.”

Just then, Leviathan’s voice, filled with hatred, boomed down from far above our heads.

I tensed, but the “monster”s eyes were trained only on Baa-kun.

“I’ve been waiting for this day, when I will finally get my revenge.”

“Is that right? Sorry to have kept you waiting.”

In contrast to Leviathan’s rage, Baa-kun’s attitude was full of jest. I glanced up to see his mouth stretched wide in a grin.

“I was quite anxious when I saw that you almost managed to break through the seal, since that meant that you had regained most of your strength. But now that I’ve seen you, I guess it was a needless worry. I mean, there’s less than one percent of your original power left within you right now, am I right?”

Less than one percent? Did Leviathan truly possess such a tremendous amount of power?

Ignoring my shock, Baa-kun smiled indulgently.

“Well, I’m quite curious to learn how you regained this strength, seeing that there’s nothing for you to eat in this ‘sealed space’… But you’re still so weak that you can’t even break through that little old seal, and you want to exact revenge upon me? That’s just suicidal.”

“…I promised that I would defeat you with my own hands, so as to redeem us from the mistakes you’d made. No matter how weak I may be, I’ll surely defeat you,” the white serpent declared.

“Hahaha! To think that I’d come here, all prepared for battle. How foolish of me. So, shall I show you just how much our powers differ after these billions of years?”

Baa-kun teased, before turning to me once again.

“By the way, Namidare Rekka. I’ll take back this power which I lent to you. It’ll be child’s play defeating this creature single-handedly.”

With that, Baa-kun tossed the bracelet into his mouth and chewed it up.

Once he swallowed it, his entire form started to change.

His body started to grow till he was as tall as I was, then expanded till his girth was three times my size. His limbs extended as well, while five fingers with talons sprouted from his front legs. Finally, his nose, ears and tusks grew to match his new size.

He was no longer something as cute as a fairy…now, he resembled a fearsome demon.

Placing his hands on his stout tummy, Baa-kun scrunched up his snout and turned towards Leviathan, who was charging towards him.

*SNORT!*

Suddenly, an explosion shook the ground.

“GYYYYAAAAAOOOOOO!”

The huge serpent twisted as it screamed in agony.

*SNORT!* *SNORT!* *SNORT!*

With every blow ejecting from Baa-kun’s nose, explosions bloomed all over Leviathan’s body.

Blood gushed from its body like fountains, and the smell of burnt flesh stung my nose.

Leviathan, its body buffeted by numerous explosions and blood spewing, still continued its charge towards Baa-kun.

However, it was all in vain.

Then, Leviathan conjured up several water spouts around its body, which then morphed into water snakes that struck out at Baa-kun.

It was still futile.

All its desperate attacks and miraculous water magic just bounced off the elephant demon’s body, as Baa-kun remained standing firm and firing strikes at the serpent.

I stared at Baa-kun, the one whom I should never have trusted. Why was it that he appeared so sinister now?

“GUURGH…… GYAA…… URGH……!”

Finally, Leviathan used up all its power and collapsed, unable to hold itself up any longer.

Under my dumbfounded gaze, its giant serpentine body started to break up into pieces and disintegrate.

“Oh, it looks like it can no longer maintain this form.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Leviathan and I take on different forms depending on the amount of power residing within our bodies. Thus, when depleted of strength, it becomes hard to maintain our giant form. I think there’ll be nothing left of Leviathan now but a mere shell.”

“What are you guys, balloons!?”

If their bodies were inflated by air (=energy), then it was natural that they would shrink in size once the air had been let out, leaving only the rubbery skin.

“Well, it does work that way. Let’s go search for its shell now, and put a needle to it?”

Smiling, Baa-kun sauntered off.

After yelling out to the girls, I dashed off after him.

When we finally caught up with Baa-kun, the one we saw collapsed at his feet…was none other than what looked like a human female.

“Baa-kun! Who’s that!?”

“Hmm? Oh, this is Leviathan’s shell.”

“I…see…?”

I guess it must be true, since the only living creature within this “sealed space” was the “Monster of Haishin”. In that case, it meant that the woman must really be Leviathan.

But even though it might resemble a human now, it was still the “Monster of Haishin”, the “most powerful creature” that had almost destroyed Earth…

Then I should just stand by and watch Baa-kun eliminate her…

“Hmm…? So it’s really true…”

R, who was shaking her head and twirling around in midair, stared at Leviathan as she spouted her nonsense again.

Yet it somehow ignited a strong reaction within me.

“Oi, what is it? What’s really true?”

I hissed in a soft voice so that the girls wouldn’t hear.

“Well, she seems like a ‘heroine’ to me.”

“……Huh?”

“I said, that lady there is most probably a ‘heroine’. I thought it wasn’t possible at first, but I’m quite sure of that now.”

“…!? Baa-kun, wait a minute!”

Responding instinctively to R’s revelation, I shouted and dashed towards Baa-kun. Stumbling the last few feet, I leapt between the two of them and shielded Leviathan with my body.

“Oh dear… What are you doing?”

“Erm, well…”

I broke out in a cold sweat under Baa-kun’s narrowed glare.

“Rekka-san! What are you thinking?”

Tetra and the other girls appeared shocked as well. I guess I must seem crazy.

But I couldn’t explain my own actions. Was it because Leviathan was now in human form? Or was it because she was a “heroine”? It must be a combination of both that made me unable to watch her be killed.

Moreover…I was slightly suspicious of Baa-kun’s story.

And the way he treated me after discovering that I had no powers.

As well as the way he attacked Leviathan so viciously.

Furthermore, the conversation between Leviathan and Baa-kun seemed extremely strange.

Baa-kun had told us right from the start that he was “seeking revenge”.

However, before the battle, the one who was talking about revenge was Leviathan instead.

It was as if their positions had been switched.

Just as I was about to confront Baa-kun,

“…Alright, this is it.”

Suddenly, his attitude changed.

“Namidare Rekka, I have no more use of you. Now die.”

With that, he eloquently pronounced my death sentence.

“What!?”

“Goodbye, useless being.”

Baa-kun aimed his long snout towards me.

Shit…! I was going to explode!

My body locked up, unable to move a muscle as thoughts of myself exploding filled my mind.

“Rekka!”

Then, the flames of the explosion blinded my eyes as I faintly saw a translucent barrier shimmering into place before me. It was Satsuki’s magic.

“Oh, you deflected my attack,” Baa-kun noted in mock admiration.

“Escape spells and protective magic are my specialties, after all!” Satsuki yelled furiously.

Baa-kun smiled, before aiming another attack at us, but before he could do so, Harissa had appeared beside me as well, pulling Tetra along.

“Jearim Neckrum!” She chanted.

Then,

“Hmm? Where did everyone go?”

Baa-kun looked around in puzzlement, as if we had disappeared into thin air… Yes, it was Harissa’s invisibility spell!

It was the first time I was involved in the spell, and I noted that I could still see the girls standing beside me, as well as Leviathan. I guess Harissa must have cast the spell over all of us.

Satsuki waved us over, then indicated that we should all hold on to her.

Harissa and Tetra grabbed on to one of Satsuki’s arms each, while I hefted the immobile Leviathan upon my back and rested my hands on Satsuki’s shoulders.

Then, all of us floated into the air.

But just as we were about to head towards the temple,

“Hmm~ Maybe I should seal the exit just in case.”

Satsuki grimaced as we heard Baa-kun whispering to himself.

In the end, we floated in the opposite direction, getting as far away from Baa-kun as we could.

Chapter end