True Vorpal Bunny (Danmachi SI) Ch.31 (Patreon)

Chapter 31:

The Resheph Familia and Warsan army did not receive a report from one of the squad they had sent to search and capture Prince Aram.

The god of Warsa’s strongest Familia had only one thing to say.

“They must have been beaten by the survivors of the Shazald army in that hidden fortress we found. Hmm. It is likely they left afterward to regroup with the other surviving generals. Leodo is a big enough bazaar town close enough to the frontier that it is the most likely place they’ll go to resupply. If fifty weren’t enough, let’s send a few hundreds. And send a message to the other search parties to gather at Leodo too.”

And so, they obeyed. Five hundred soldiers from the main army, led by a Level 3, joined midway by five other search parties of fifty men all led by Level 2s. Seven hundred and fifty soldiers bearing a god’s blessing with more than a dozen having ranked up. With their blessed bodies, a journey that would have taken multiple days ended in one.

All of them had been infected by Resheph’s bloodlust. They weren’t an army that conquered to rule a territory. They were a plague that pillaged, raped and salted the earth behind them. Leodo would burn, whether they found the prince or not.

Under the cover of the night, they approached the city’s walls. They would enter unnoticed and let no one escape, then they would have fun.

Or at least, that had been the plan. The moment they cleared a dune that let them glimpse the city from afar, they had caught the Beast’s attention.

A violent gale lifted a cloud of sand that blocked the Warsan soldiers’ view for a moment. When the cloud was gone, a Hume Bunny stood in front of them, oversized labrys in hand.

“Hmm? Are you one of the city’s guardians? Did  they hire a Familia to guard them?” The Level 3 leader said with a sneer slowly creeping up his face. “Too bad, little scout. You got too close. You won’t be able to warn your Familia. But I will let you have the honor of knowing the name of the warrior who is going to take your pitiful life. I’m Raoul! A Kavir who ascended twice! Be thankful for it is by my blade you will di-”

Raoul’s head flew off his shoulder.

“You talk too much. It was the same for the others, too. Is it a Kaios tradition?”

The soldiers froze for a moment. Their Kavir leader had just died. But then, they tried to rationalize it. It was clearly because he had not taken the rabbit seriously. He just had not thought that someone so small would have been a Kavir too. But that also meant that the young man before them was just a big bag of Excelia for a big troop such as them.

Ten seconds after the death of their chief, they charged at Iru.

The Hume Bunny looked at how fast they came at him. He identified the closest level 2. He blurred into action, grabbed him and threw him toward Leodo’s walls, where he skipped like a stone over the sand.

Then Iru jumped.

The Warsan soldiers looked up, up, and further up as Iru ascended into the night sky.

And then, a purple star came to life, and as if punishing them for daring to look at the newborn celestial body, the weight of the sky fell upon the invaders.

They collapsed on their hands and knees, barely able to lift their heads.

Iru gazed down at the hundreds of men who had come here to slaughter and rape their way across Leodo, and who had mostly done the same across the country of Israfan just to find Ali.

Leodo was behind him, and the nearest town was a few days walk away from here, so he didn’t have to hold back.

His Falna burned upon his back as his Magic and Skills synched with each other.

Fjadrhamr, raising his stats while he was in the air. 

Mistilteinn, adding his Strength stat to the power of his spell.

Star Crown, his faithful spell that allowed him to control gravity.

And, as he focused the full power of Star Crown on the edge of his axe, Supreme Attack, the development ability that comes for those who learned to gather their strength into a finishing blow meant to fell giants, heightening that feat even further.

Iru swung down.

[hr]

The lucky soldier Iru threw away picked himself up. His skin had been flayed in some places as his body had skipped along the rough sand.

He barely had the time to understand how far Iru had thrown him away before he saw the purple star appear. Then, in a flash, it descended upon his comrades, blinding the soldier with its radiance.

The earth shook and the Warsan man had to put his hands before him to not swallow the wave of sand that came his way. The more sand flew in his direction, the more he thought the desert was trying to swallow him, and then it stopped.

When he was finally able to open his eyes, he gasped and fell down, all will to fight leaving him.

Where before there stood more than seven hundred men, there was now a canyon, a long stretching scar that severed the sand in two. Steam emanated from the wound that had been delivered to the Kaios desert.

Iru appeared before the soldier, his crimson eyes looking down on him with clear disinterest.

The Warsan man now understood. From the very moment they had tried to attack Leodo, they had been doomed. The merchant city was under the protection of a divine beast. The Beast had dispatched them so easily, like one got rid of pests that had dared approach his food.

Iru crouched before the shaking man.

“The Freya Familia has some property in Leodo. You just tried to take from Vanadis herself. You are the only survivor because I want you to tell your leaders to not bother coming back here.”

The Warsan man looked at the executioner of his comrades. There wasn’t a question in those eyes. It was an absolute order, and the soldier rose to his feet and fled, obeying like a deity had personally given the order.

Over the centuries, people would find and translate the tale of Leodo’s Guardian Beast, and how in its wrath upon seeing invaders in its mistress’s territory, it had carved a second oasis near the city itself where it would lay its lair.

“Ah.” Iru blinked as he saw a geyser erupt where he had delivered his Afterglow. The water source that provided water for the city’s oasis must have been going through there. “Oops.”

[hr]

When Freya, her executives and Ali arrived two days later, accompanied by Douglas and his men, it was to the sight of the new oasis.

“Stupid bunny went overboard.” Hedin cursed.

“Even more of a meathead than Ottar.” Allfrigg agreed, getting nods from his brother.

“Th-The dark beast’s wrath had been kindled, leading to destruction before a new creation.” Hogni babbled in his usual chuunibyou fashion.

Allen just clicked his tongue.

As for Ottar, his hands itched for his blade. He remembered the child his lady had told him to pick up. The reckless child who had gone to the Dungeon without a Falna. Now, he had grown into a warrior that could bare his fangs at him.

Hedin then sighed.

“Well, he sped up the plan without knowing it, so there is that.”

The plan Hedin had formed after Ali had asked Freya for help during the trip back to Leodo. Freya had said she would only if Ali beat her in a game of the princess’s choosing.

Ali had chosen Halvan, a famous board game in the Kaios region. She had known from the start that a Deus Dea’s omniscience meant that even though Freya had never played, she could make the optimal play no human could think of.

Yet, Ali had played with all of her soul, knowing the fate of her country was in the balance.

Halfway through, she had been in check. She could only see her defeat, yet, she had kept playing, remembering the hints Freya had given her about rulership and Iru’s words about facing problems with a rested body and a clear head.

And, so, Ali had loosened her thinking for a moment, and did an unorthodox move that went against all the strategies she had learned about the game.

Freya had started laughing and showed her that this move had opened a way for her to win, and so the goddess had given up, and gave her the control of her Familia until Warsa was defeated and Shalza freed.

Seeing the devastation left behind by Iru, Ali lost any doubt she harbored about the feasibility of nine men taking down Warsa’s eighty thousand strong army.