Trails with Cuddle-Cuddle Osbon
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Helen
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Author Note:
It’s a battle chapter between the Almighty Conflagration and Zephyr.
Thank you for the typo reports as always.
Chapter 032 – Fufufu, son. It’s the May Field Study⑤ [A]
“You foolish, stupid, idiot!”
Emma lashed out at Rean, who had frozen the atmosphere.
Abandoning her usual character, she swung her orbal staff and slammed it at Rean.
Even though Rean caught the swung orbal staff, he said with shining eyes at Emma’s tantrum (from Rean’s perspective).
“No, you see, Emma, that person can see dad, you know?! Of course I have to tell him that!”
“Telling him is not good!”
Although she knew she was no match to him in power, Emma still wanted to slam a good hit on this idiot in front of her with her orbal staff. A punch or a slap was also good.
Rean, on the other hand, just looked at the man who called himself McBurn with a heated gaze, causing the man to become confused.
Zephyr and Mcburn watched the couple’s comedy that suddenly broke the silence.
It wasn’t because they were exhausted or that the time barrier had gotten stronger.
Alisa and Elliot also looked at the three, but nobody spoke.
However, the man who grew up in the cradle of Nord’s fertile lands and the winds of freedom intervened.
“Rean, Emma. Let’s leave it at that. Or the situation won’t progress.”
“Gaius-san……”
Emma’s eyes were filled with relief as if she had found an oasis in the middle of the desert, to which Gaius nodded and readied his spear.
“For the time being, it seems necessary to listen to their stories in order to proceed with the field study.”
“Tha………… that’s right! We have to do that!”
“Yes, Gaius is right!”
In the same way, the other members of Group A also drew their weapons in desperate voices and established tactical links. The two did their best to somehow restore the atmosphere.
The Zephyr group just ignored Rean and Emma and opened their mouths.
“Oi, oi, why did you draw your weapons if you want to listen to our stories? Are all educated people so quick-tempered?”
“Then if we drop our weapon and have a sincere conversation, would you tell us more about the wreckage over there and the reason why you guys are here?”
“Fuh…… If it’s our leader, he will definitely say this. Earn your reward with your own hands.”
The jaegers with extensive combat experience reorganized the situation even though they just experienced a comedic atmosphere.
Perhaps it was as expected of jaegers from Zephyr.
“In that case, I definitely will have to deal with that person.”
While holding down Emma’s staff with one hand, Rean awakened his power of ogre.
Upon seeing Rean suddenly became ashen-haired and had fiery eyes, everyone, except Emma, let out a gasp.
“Emma, sorry, but please use Valimar’s body to help over there. As expected, it is too much for Gaius and the others alone to handle the best jaeger corps, and two of its group captains.”
“Gh………………Suuuー………………Haahー…………………”
As Emma somehow suppressed her trembling body, her face, which had turned red in anger, gradually returned to its original color.
Upon seeing how the very person who broke the atmosphere starting to get serious, she even felt she was wrong to stay angry.
[“Fufufu, Miss Emma. Please leave the punishment for my son to a later date. When going against the two jaegers, even if you helped, while controlling Valimar, I can only say it will be a tough match.”]
“Eh, but……”
[“Valimar certainly has a high performance rate. However, since its core personality stays with my son, it means that the power of the Divine Knight depends on its controller…… which in this case, is on how Miss Emma controls it. It might be one thing if you fought mainly using Arts, but Valimar has more of a melee combat purpose. Moreover, it has no weapons at the moment. As long as my son is not riding it directly, all you’re doing is just moving around a big knight doll.”]
Emma recalled Rean’s reaction when Emma controlled Valimar’s main body in Schmidt’s classroom.
Rean used Loa Valimar, powered by Power of Ashen, to fend off the attacks from the Ashen Knight.
When Emma asked how he managed to block the attack despite the difference of output, Rean said that the Divine Knight was just big and strong.
In other words, the difference in ability was covered with his techniques.
Recalling the brilliant tactics used by the jaegers from Zephyr to take down Panzer Soldat, Emma braced herself for the fact that the battle wouldn’t be as easy as she thought.
Zeno, the slit-eyed man, who was watching Emma’s state, turned his attention to Rean, who had uttered a line he couldn’t ignore.
“Boy, who the hell are you? Not only are you aware of our affiliation, you also know our position within the corps. I don’t think I’ve seen you during our active days as jaegers. Right, Leo?”
“Aah. A strange child like him should be easy to remember…… but unfortunately, I’ve never seen him before.”
“I just heard it from the cute girl you guys left behind.”
“”Hou.””
At that moment, the atmosphere creaked.
Rean hinted about Fie, and the two also realized that.
It meant the boy in front of them had earned enough trust from their family member to the point she had revealed that much to him.
Their parental heart felt that they had to ask about it in detail.
“H-hey, Rean! Those people’s faces became very scary for some reason here?!”
“Why are you making them angry! Besides, what’s with that appearance of yours ……?”
“Sorry, I just wanted to confirm their familial love. I think I can report back to her that she is still loved. They seem to still care about her, seeing their reactions. As for this appearance, I will tell you about it once this situation is resolved…… Emma, if you think it’s really dangerous, just leave me behind and bring everyone to escape. I’ll handle my situation on my own.”
“But Rean-san, that person…… is definitely abnormal. Flames that melted a giant knight doll, is definitely not something that should be able to be conjured by a human-“
“That’s why only I can handle him. Besides, I hadn’t heard his reply yet.”
So it’s about that, after all, thought Emma as she established a tactical link with Gaius and controlled the Divine Knight.
Realizing Emma’s intentions, the rest of Group A began their attacks.
“Tch, so we have to handle them first……”
“To think they only sent one guy against that Almighty Conflagration, did his mind not work properly after seeing that flame?”
Leo’s words were correct in some ways and wrongs in others.
As if to respond to that, Emma swung the Divine Knight’s fist and slammed it at the two.
That was the beginning signal for the battle between Group A and the jaegers from Zephyr.
＊
“It would be dangerous if the others got caught up in the flames from earlier, so why don’t we move elsewhere?”
Rean asked McBurn while soaking his entire body with power of ogre and reinforcing it further with Power of Ashen.
McBurn regained his composure after watching the conversation that had taken place between Group A and the jaegers from the Zephyr and nodded generously.
“I don’t mind, but…… were you serious about what you said earlier?”
“About me asking you to be my friend? I’m completely serious.”
“I’ve lived a relatively long life, but this is the first time someone has said something like that to me.”
“Then, I guess I’m the first one.”
“You’re giving me a headache……”
McBurn looked around and pointed behind him with his thumb.
“How about on the other side of the island, where the huge statue is?”
“It’s my first time coming here, though?”
“Hah, if it’s you, you can feel it, right?”
At McBurn’s feet, a red…… nay, flaming teleportation array unfolded.
The next moment, McBurn disappeared from the scene, but as he had declared, Rean felt a huge pressure from the other side of the island.
His heart, where the power of ogre slumbered, beat strongly. Rean had no idea why, but his heart seemed to be responding to McBurn.
“Come, Loa Valimar!”
“Oh!”
Rean summoned Loa Valimar and used the execution he made use of to save Maya’s mother last night. In other words, the method was to have Loa Valimar grab and throw him.
After repeating this several times, Rean landed at the location specified by McBurn.
There, a huge statue that Musse had mentioned before, was indeed sitting there.
The gigantic statue, approaching 100 arge in size, intimidating those who saw it, was overflowing with grandeur.
“No, it’s not like it sat there. It feels more like it had collided with something, bounced off, and landed here.”
“Even though it has such a huge mass?”
“It’s the same as the huge statue in Nord Plateau. If you continue your field study, you will probably get a chance to see one.”
“Fu~hn…… But this statue ……”
“It looks similar, right? To a Divine Knight, that is.”
While Rean looked up at the statue, McBurn appeared in front of him, accompanied by swirling flames.
“I don’t feel any power from it at all. There might have been something inside it in the past, but it’s empty now. It’s only something to be looked at in the present.”
And for the umpteenth time today, McBurn let out a fed-up tone at a pace that might have broken the number of times he had been surprised in the single day in his life.
“But I didn’t expect you to come here through being thrown, instead of teleporting. You’re really an incomprehensible kid, together with that doll, but it’s not bad. If it’s you, perhaps you can make me heated up.”
“Heated up?”
“It’s simple. I’m looking for someone who can get me heated up.”
“So if I can continue to make you heated up, you’ll be my friend?”
“I wonder. Well, I’ll think about it if you can satisfy me.”
“I’ll take your words for it.”
While silently drawing his tachi, Rean imbued the power of ogre to it and materialised ashen armor on his body.
Seeing the tachi wrapped in a pitch black aura and Loa Valimar that was deployed to protect Rean’s body, McBurn’s lips curled up.
“You’ve shown me some good stuff, so don’t get beaten up immediately!”
McBurn made the first move.
Flames were released from his right hand without chanting and headed straight to Rean.
“Fatal Crimson Slash!”
Rean intercepted that with his tachi. The slash was sent with momentum to cut down its target, but its power was weakened by the flames and was deflected with a single swing of McBurn’s arm.
But perhaps Rean had already expected that, dashing towards McBurn at the same time as he sent another slashing attack.
“Arcane Gale!”
Rean’s tachi approached McBurn.
Rean was moving at such a speed his figure appeared blurry, and just as he thought McBurn would receive a direct blow, Rean sensed danger and immediately interrupted his attack.
“Hah, you got good intuition there…… Burn up!”
The released flame took the shape of a beast, approaching Rean as a ferocious beast with flaming fangs.
Rean wanted to withstand it with his ashen armor, but he instinctively stopped and chose to avoid it.
That seemed to be a correct decision, as the part of the rock that got hit when he avoided the flame became red hot, showing the intensity of the flame.
“If I took that head on, my weapon, my body, even my bones, might get vaporized……”
Even though his body was reinforced by the power of ogre, Rean braced himself to refrain from slashing the flames with his tachi like what he did in the beginning.
“Burn!”
As if to say that Rean wouldn’t be given time to think, the flames were thrown in a clumsy manner and approached again.
Rean immediately moved away, but even his cold sweat seemed to have vaporized as a pillar of fire rose up in the spot Rean had previously occupied.
There’s no choice but to attack…… Valimar!
{“Oh!”}
The ashen armor shrank.
The ashen aura that was covered by Loa Valimar’s upper body flowed into Rean’s tachi.
Rean relied on his own body for defense and pushed everything to an attack.
“Eat this!”
The fiery beast bore its fangs again, but Rean avoided a direct hit and rushed towards McBurn.
But indirect hits burnt his skin, stripped its water content, and robbed them of its bodily function.
But Rean was convinced that there was something beyond this flame that could lead him to being acknowledged by McBurn.
What was waiting for Rean, who had successfully broken through the flame beast, was the pillar of fire surrounding himself, Flame of Judgment. 1
Rean was unable to do anything in front of the flames that were being continuously released and his body burned and he collapsed.
At that moment, McBurn, who seemed bored, let his guard down.
“——Arcane Gale!”
“——Gah!”
“Fatal Helix!”
Rean’s blow from behind sliced through McBurn’s back and along with the follow-up attack, sent him flying.
McBurn rolled on the ground and slowly stood up, wincing as if he was in pain.
It was only for a moment, and a look of joy soon appeared on his face.
“Hah, so close. You might be getting close to that idiot Loewe.”
While saying this, McBurn looked at Rean, who was supposed to have been burnt.
The boy, who was supposed to have avoided the fiery best Hellhound, and burnt by the Flame of Judgment that was set afterward, was safe and holding his tachi.
“It might be cheating as a swordsman, but this isn’t a formal match, after all. I’ll use it without hesitation.”
As the ashen aura leaked from the burnt-out clone, McBurn realized why Rean was safe.
Even if he injected energy into the sword, it wasn’t like he couldn’t use Loa Valimar’s Craft.
The clone ability that could only imitate appearance during his battle against Aurelia in the past had now grown to the point where Rean could give it the same mass and presence as himself.
From the perspective of the person facing him, they would simply be under the illusion that there were two Rean.
Rean used this as a decoy to land a blow on McBurn.
“I don’t really mind…… Besides, I could see that you’re quite good at using your power. Then, make me more heated up, will you?”
McBurn conjured a fireball with his right hand.
The fire that started at the size of a fist gradually became bigger to the point it reached a size where it could easily swallow Rean whole.
“Now, how will you handle this?”
Furthermore, flames flew out from his left hand one after another, forming a wall of flames surrounding Rean and McBurn.
The heat was slowly burning Rean’s body, making it difficult to even breathe.
Rean immediately channeled energy from his tachi to his ashen armor, blocking the heat and dryness.
But it was only a thin wall of breakwater, and unless something was done to deal with the oversized fireball growing above McBurn’s right hand, it would burn out in no time.
Moreover the wall of flames, which was probably meant to prevent Rean from escaping, gradually increased in thickness.
Even if Rean cut it through with his ashen tachi, the flames would quickly replenish and he wouldn’t be able to destroy it for good.
So there was only one answer.
All he could do was to cut McBurn down.
“……………Fuh~”
Rean dispelled the power of ogre and Power of Ashen.
Seeing Rean’s gray hair returning to black and even his black aura disappearing, McBurn let out a voice of irritation.
“What, did you give up?”
“No way. I’m not friends with you yet, so I won’t do such a thing.”
Rean quietly sheathed his sword.
McBurn looked at him dubiously, but soon a look of surprise, then joy, emerged on his face.
Rean’s aim was simple and clear.
It was to concentrate the power of ogre into the blade inside the sheath and unleash it with a single slash.
“Valimar.”
{“Oh!”}
Rean called out the name and formed a tactical link with the Divine Knight that resided in his heart.
What he imagined was the battle against Aurelia last month.
When Rean was connected to everyone in Class VII Group B through a tactical link, he was overflowing with tremendous power.
Each swing of his tachi generated the same strength as Aurelia’s blow, and even managed to push her back at times.
Valimar felt his will, but his memory was still hazy.
It might be difficult to unleash an attack as powerful as the one from the month before, even with a tactical link established.
Even so, Rean’s trust continued to be conveyed, through their tactical link, his will to Valimar.
“…………OOooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHH!”
The ogre roared.
Even though he maintained the appearance of Rean Schwarzer, the shapeless power tube transmitted the power of ogre from his heart to his blade.
McBurn’s smile deepened as he saw Rean’s burning eyes beginning to darken.
Then came the moment of clashing.
“Incandescent… Hellfire!” 2
“Supreme Crimson Slash!” 3
The oversized fireball and the flying slash, which carried all of the power of ogre, clashed—— or so it appeared for a moment, but McBurn saw the slash had avoided the fireball and approached him.
Moreover, the slash unleashed eventually changed shape and formed Loa Valimar.
Immediately after using the craft, McBurn was still in the position of throwing the fireball, so he got punched by Loa Valimar’s giant fist.
As for the fireball that approached Rean——
“Dad!”
“Fufufu.”
In an instant, a teleportation array developed at Rean’s feat and he was transported to Loa Valimar.
It was a short distance teleportation.
All Rean did was reveal his cards.
Emma needed Geass Master Quartz to summon Valimar’s main body.
Geass’s original function was simply as a radar that showed coordinates.
Valimar complemented that and sent himself into it. It was just that simple.
And the one who did that now wasn’t the main body of Divine Knight, but Loa Valimar with its consciousness.
So even without Geass, Valimar could teleport at his own discretion as long as it was a short distance away.
That said, teleportation only applied to its awakener or semi-awakener, and Osbon needed to supply the spiritual power for that, but it was used effectively here.
The teleported Rean ran towards Valimar, who got punched by Loa Valimar.
Imbuing the power of ogre into the greatest technique he could unleash at the moment, Rean swung his tachi.
“Ashen……Mortal Le——”
“Aaah, you did great.”
Just before the tachi containing the power of ogre swung and cut down McBurn, Rean was stunned.
His eyes met with McBurn.
His eyes were dyed black like dark night, mysterious patterns ran all over his body, and his hair was discolored just like when Rean activated his power of ogre.
———————Death
With that image in mind, Rean’s heart felt like it was bursting with heat—— and his consciousness suddenly snapped like a string being torn to shreds.
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