341 - Quick and Easy Blasphemy 1
341 - Quick and Easy Blasphemy 1
TL/Editor: raei
Schedule: 5/week
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The lowly creatures that should always look up to them were rushing in.
The walls of the imperial palace, which those who walk on the ground should not dare to covet, are crumbling.
As a result, the sacred place is defiled with dust, and the lowly creatures commit sacrilege.
"Y, you human scum—!!!"
"It's convenient that you're coming to me, really."
"Kyaaak!"In this situation, the imperial guards charge at me with crazed eyes, but as a close-range tank, I can only welcome it.
Their bodies are much more muscular than the elite harpies, though not much larger. If harpy commanders have lean muscles like Pilates instructors, harpy guards have solid, CrossFit athlete-like physiques. Their combat method relies on that solid body, ramming into their targets.
Monsters that use their body's elasticity to throw javelins from afar, and monsters that crash into you with a charge more comparable to a car than a bull or bear, befitting their superior physique.
In terms of power, the charge is more terrifying, but... their opponent is me, a born 6★ tank.
If they kept their distance, I'd have no way to catch them, but since they're kindly rushing in, I have to meet them halfway. Thinking this, I gripped the hammer that had demolished the wall and swung it with all my might.
"Catch him! Catch that bastard!"
"Let's dice 'em up and serve 'em as food!"
The harpy guards rush in like raptors snatching prey through the dust rising from the crumbled wall. However, the future they face is not the beheading of the madman who dared to destroy the imperial palace wall, but a baptism of the vicious hammer that crushes both sharp claws and proud wings.
Reckless attacks relying on the harpy's superior body.
It was a fatal technique that no one could withstand, but now it has become a fatal technique of a different kind – one that will surely kill them.
They strike down with razor-sharp claws at arrow-like speeds, but what awaits them is merely an iron-walled tank that cannot be pierced by mere arrows. Whether their legs are crushed against the shield or shattered by the oncoming hammer, either way leads only to becoming mana stones.
"Roland! We're coming in to cover you!"
After causing a brief commotion climb over the fallen wall to provide covering fire. I've properly drawn their aggro as the close combatant who demolished the wall.
I've pulled the aggro of all the monsters, creating a completely free angle for my allies in the rear. Our party members immediately respond to this best possible outcome for a tank.
The first to fly in are, of course, Grace's arrows. The ominously glowing red arrowheads explode in mid-air. Three guard harpies that flexibly twist their waists to avoid the surprise attack are caught in the explosion and fall.
"What should we do, Hanna!"
"Push inside! If we keep fighting them, there'll be no end to it. Break through!"
Grace's shout brings the party members flocking to me. With Grace in the center, Hanna and Irene who can use shields and holy magic on either side, and Katie in the back to guard the rear if necessary.
As the four naturally take their positions as if breathing, they approach while tearing through the guards with explosive arrows and gusts of wind. Only then do the guards stop their mindless charges.
When even one was too much to handle, now five are grouped together. Like a flock of crows circling over corpses, they start to circle above our heads, tightening their encirclement. But this stalemate is brief, as I start charging towards the imperial palace building as per the party leader's words.
As I put strength into my legs and kick off the ground, I feel the soft earth crumble and my body surge forward. The well-maintained garden designed to be looked down upon from above is mercilessly destroyed, but that's not my concern.
The imperial palace we entered by smashing walls, crushing gardens, and killing guards was truly a beautiful place. It would have been even more beautiful if I hadn't broken the wall.
"Wow... the craftsmanship of those stone dwarves is really something."
"Even if they were captured and exploited, they couldn't abandon their artistic spirit as craftsmen, I guess."
Even my companions who followed me through the hole in the broken wall each threw a comment, overwhelmed by its majestic appearance. If a place like this existed in reality rather than a game, that country could become a tourist attraction with this imperial palace alone.
But that admiration is brief.
The guards, startled that the crazed slave who destroyed the garden has finally invaded the imperial palace, start to swarm us again with their bodies.
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Raei Translations
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The battle with the guards was surprisingly anticlimactic.
"Did we stop them? ...There aren't as many as I thought."
"Maybe they never imagined the imperial palace would be invaded. Before entering the tower, invaders would have had to climb this high mountain directly."
Since they specialized in melee combat rather than javelin throwing, Katie and I could rampage to our hearts' content, and they were easily dealt with.
Moreover, they seemed to be a ceremonial unit of elites rather than the main force, so their numbers were few.
That's why the desolate imperial palace with mana stones rolling about was enough to feel out of place. An imperial palace is certainly a place where the emperor resides.
It should be common sense for it to be full of not only guards but also ministers who must attend to state affairs and maids and servants to assist them... but there was no one.
The speed was too fast to say they evacuated upon hearing the commotion. Even if they were guards, the battle didn't last that long with only about a hundred monsters rushing to their deaths.
"...By the way, can an imperial palace be this desolate?"
"It's strange that there are no harpies other than the guards, isn't it?"
Beautiful columns comparable to those of temples and beautiful walls untouched by dust or grime, as if by magic. Though I'm an amateur who only knows marble as a high-grade stone, I can't help but feel that this place is more elegant and sophisticated than any tourist spot or museum.
An empty imperial palace with no people, harpies, or stone dwarves. Hanna, who was illuminating the minimap, takes the lead again with no harpy soldiers blocking our way.
As a result, the imperial palace that looked beautiful began to feel eerie. Suddenly, a monster appeared blocking our path-
"...What? Why is that thing here?"
"As expected, are they crawling out from under the imperial palace?!"
A gooey creature extending long tentacles like antennae, slowly dissolving and eating away at the engraved pillars. It seems to have grown quite a bit, as the pillar debris falls to the floor with a plop, then floats up and is absorbed into the creature's body.
It's really strange that these gooey creatures crawled out from inside the imperial palace while the guards were protecting the walls... but anyway, having that monster right in front of us means the quest has progressed somehow.
Even if it can dissolve and eat stone, it can't instantly dissolve my armor. As I walk up and smash it with my hammer, it dies without even reacting, crushed with a splat.
The remains scatter like dropping soft pudding or tofu, sticking to my armor with a plop, but soon disappear leaving only mana stones behind.
"What kind of situation is this...?"
"Hey, this is fishy... Don't tell me there are two bosses? This reminds me of that Souls-like game I played as a punishment before starting Heroes Chronicle."
The situation was hopelessly easy to deal with, but it clearly seemed to use magic. With a monster that dissolves and eats pillars in the middle of the harpy imperial palace, my companions each throw out a comment.
However, no matter how plausible the speculation, we ultimately have to check for ourselves. As we move in the direction Hanna estimates based on the shape of the imperial palace revealed on the minimap, a grand hall appears before us.
......Empty.
"Uh, I guess it's not this way. ......Ahaha, sorry?"
"Looking at the pillars, this seems to be like a banquet hall? Maybe the magic engraved on these pillars confused you."
"Th-that, um, er, right!"
-You'd be in trouble if you went based on the mini-map alone, that hall looked like the palace entrance.
-That's why her maze escape horror game videos are unusually long.
-Lol you trusted Han Se-ah? Go watch her hide-and-seek horror game videos and come back, lol.
-Our little brat has grown up. Protecting Han Se-ah...