Chapter 132: Kobayashi: I Want to Fight Ten!
Flying sand and moving stones filled the battlefield, accompanied by the scattered screams of the students.
In such a chaotic place, the dragon automaton Sigmund opened up a small, safe space for Kobayashi and Charlotte, but in doing so, it also took many unnecessary attacks. A muffled groan reached their ears.
"Sigmund!" Charlotte cried out with worry.
Normally, she should be riding him into the sky to take advantage of his draconic form, but now, being protected underneath Kobayashi, she had become an obstacle limiting him.
The girl said urgently, "You idiot, let me go!"
"Don't move!"
Kobayashi shot her a glare, then tilted his head. "RyuZU, I'll leave her in your care."
"Yes, Master Kobayashi."
At some point, an elegant maid in gorgeous attire had appeared beside them.
Charlotte was slightly shocked to see her, because she hadn't noticed how the other party had approached her at all. In a battle, she could have been killed silently.
Kobayashi got up and rolled his shoulders. The azure pattern on his forehead slowly appeared.
His excellent dynamic vision allowed him to see that the initial three attackers were just a primer. Judging from their auras, there were ten of them, and perhaps even more waiting in the shadows for a chance to strike.
After the dragon Sigmund took out the initial three attacking automatons, the rest of them could no longer hold back and jumped out.
A knight-style armored automaton, a barefooted woman, a six-legged beast, an undine, a Jack Frost, a harpy, a golem, and the iron ball wielder... plus a white-robed automaton in the distance waving a staff and using healing magic, for a total of nine.
Among them were healers, attackers, defenders, vanguards, and ranged attackers. From their composition, they were undoubtedly a legion, and their target was Charlotte and her dragon automaton, Sigmund.
It was clear they had come prepared.
These guys have ill intentions.
As Sigmund was in a contest of strength with the giant golem, its low muttering was also very loud. It said coldly, "You really are popular, Charlotte. All of the opposing puppeteers are boys."
"...Is this really the time to be saying that?" she chided it.
To be besieged by so many people... the things she had done to offend others... she seemed to have done quite a lot. Just on this point alone, she had the resolve for a bitter fight.
Seeing him slowly walk out, the besiegers questioned him loudly.
"—Answer me, transfer student! Why did you interfere!"
He was rude and made a false counter-accusation. It was they who had attacked him, yet now they were blaming him.
"Because that girl is my companion's prey."
"—'That girl'?!"
Hearing him call her "that girl," and also comparing her to prey, all the goodwill she had just developed for the person who had saved her vanished.
"On the contrary, I should be asking you."
"...What?"
"Why did you attack a puppeteer?! The academy rules state that you are not allowed to attack a puppeteer!" he roared angrily.
Hearing this, Charlotte's heart beat a little faster, but she immediately suppressed it, because—
"You actually dare to sneak attack and gang up on me, and you even dared to endanger the surrounding people..."
I knew it. His anger isn't because of me at all.
She pouted.
"Who cares about you!" one of the attackers shouted. "Our mission is to make her lose her qualification! Whether it's the puppeteer or the automaton, as long as one of them is seriously injured, it's fine, right?!"
It seemed they had planned from the start to injure her. After all, automatons were tough and had strong recovery. Even if they were injured, they would recover quickly. But the fragile human body was not like that. A broken bone would take at least three months to heal.
However, this inherent understanding would be shattered today.
"How dare you... how dare you sneak attack and gang up on me... and it's ten against one..." he gritted his teeth, clenching his fists.
Suddenly, he leaped up. A powerful kick from the side sent the golem that was in a contest of strength with Sigmund flying. The golem's massive body, which weighed at least three tons, fell like a bowling pin.
Wow—
The audience was in an uproar.
After being freed, Sigmund flapped its broad wings, carrying Charlotte and RyuZU into the sky.
Without their target, they turned their spearheads towards him.
Raishin came to his side at this moment and asked, "Hey, Kobayashi, there are too many enemies. Let's fight together."
"No need," he refused, a wicked, insidious smile on his lips. "Since they dared to gang up on me, they'll have to pay the corresponding price. Let me teach them a good lesson!"
With that, several different colored lights shone from his body, covering him completely like a protective shield. As he charged forward, he said:
"You guys, prepare—"
Before he could finish, the sound of an explosion covered his voice. Fierce flames instantly enveloped him, kicking up a cloud of thick smoke.
It was someone who had launched a sneak attack with a fireball from behind.
"Success! Serves you right for being so careless!"
The attacker jumped out happily.
But he didn't know about the "smoke but no harm" law. When he saw Kobayashi charge out of the thick smoke, he was completely stunned, his jaw dropping open. It was then immediately closed for him by Kobayashi.
A kick to his chin, and with his face slightly deformed, he was sent flying backwards.
"I said there were ten people, didn't I? There were nine outside. How could I not be on guard against you?" he said, not even looking at him, and turned to run towards his automaton.
His speed was very fast. Without a puppeteer's command, a low-level automaton couldn't move at all. It was easily kicked in the chin by him using the same method he had used on its master. The witch automaton was sent flying higher than the school building, and in mid-air, unable to withstand the force, it broke into pieces.
When dealing with automatons, there was no need to hold back.
"What astonishing explosive power!"
"Don't tell me... he's really strong..."
"Terrifying."
The surrounding people discussed amongst themselves. Seeing him so brave, the attackers also subconsciously wavered.
"Don't be afraid! The other party is just a puppeteer! He can't possibly be as strong as an automaton! Everyone, get him!" Seeing that the speaker was holding an iron ball, the one who had launched the initial sneak attack, he was probably the leader of these guys.
He glared at him, annoyed. Knowing that he hated being ganged up on, they still dared to command them. Angered, he decided to take out the leader first.
After landing from mid-air, he stomped his foot.
Using the powerful reactive force, he burst forth with extreme speed and charged towards him. The other party swung his iron ball to meet him. The speed was fast and the angle was tricky. If he couldn't dodge in time, he would definitely be sent flying.
But in front of him, with his [Spectator], there were no secrets. He just bent his knees and did a backflip to easily dodge. And even as the iron ball was swinging back, he gave it a fierce kick to speed it up. The leader couldn't control it, and unable to dodge in time, he was sent flying by his own automaton. They could even hear the faint sound of bones cracking.
Hmph, serves you right.
Since the other party wanted to seriously injure him, then it was fine for him to seriously injure them, right?
To catch bandits, first catch the king. After dealing with the leader, the rest were just a bunch of small fry.
Based on the principle of "in a group battle, take out the healer first," he charged towards the white-robed automaton that was waving a staff and using healing magic. The others couldn't mount an effective interception at all. And its puppeteer, seeing him charge over with a ferocious look on his face, was so scared he froze.
He wasn't polite. He slapped the automaton across the face, making its head spin three times.
The same slap also landed on the puppeteer's face. It was just that this time, he used less force. It only turned his head 120°. If it had spun a few times like the automaton's head, he probably would have been arrested.
One after another, they were all taken down by him.
He dodged back and forth in the middle of the battlefield, toying with this group of small-fry puppeteers at will. The combat techniques he displayed subverted the common sense of machinart, breaking through existing attack methods.
This was also to be expected.
These were the fighting methods of another world. Compared to controlling automatons in a Pokémon-style battle, the style was completely different.
For those encountering it for the first time, not to mention them, even some experienced puppeteers would be at a loss and have a headache for a while.
"Hey, is he really human?"
"Don't tell me he's an automaton."
"It's possible. No matter how you look at it, it's just too ridiculous."
His terrifying image of displaying his divine might made the surrounding spectators whisper among themselves, because it was just too exaggerated.
Charlotte also couldn't help but ask RyuZU. When she learned that the other party was an automaton, and the man below was a puppeteer, she was speechless. Her expression was very strange, exactly the same as Raishin's had been.
After a short but fierce battle, he had taken out all nine enemies, including the giant golem.
Except...
"I know it! I know it! Your weakness!"
The last remaining small fry had sweat on his forehead, his eyes wide, and said with a mixture of terror and excitement, "Although your physical ability is strong, you can only perform physical attacks! You can only attack automatons with a physical body! In other words, my automaton—the Undine!—is your natural counter!"
Beside him was a semi-transparent automaton.
The Undine was designed with reference to a water elemental spirit. Its effect was naturally that it could transform into water to trap its enemies. An automaton that specialized in physical attacks would be countered by this kind of elemental automaton. This was a counter-relationship that was said in textbooks to be applicable to any world.
"But it's not absolute. At the very least, I have three ways to defeat you."
"...Huh?"
Hearing his words, the man was stunned.
He didn't pay him any mind and directly stated the three methods. "The first is to use absolute force to blow the Undine away. The second is for me to also become elemental. As for the third and simplest method..."
He slowly walked forward.
Seeing him approach, the man nervously had the Undine envelop him and shouted excitedly, "No matter what you do, it's useless! My Undine will completely absorb the force of your punches! You can't harm me!"
Has this guy forgotten what I just said?
Seeing his fierce-in-appearance-but-timid-inside look, he must have been so nervous he had forgotten.
He walked up and looked down at the small fry who was enveloped in water. He smiled slightly, revealing his ghastly white teeth, which made the other party subconsciously tremble.
"—Freeze!"
A blast of cold air burst forth from his hand, instantly freezing the Undine. The small fry who was enveloped was now truly trembling with cold.
"—The third method: if it has no physical body, then give it one."
With that, he smashed his fist into the frozen Undine, pierced through the ice, and hit the other's face. The fierce impact on his chin made his eyes roll back, and he fainted.
"Hmph."
He pulled out his arm and shook off the ice fragments on it. Then he looked at the small fry who were down for the count all around him and roared:
"ARE—THERE—ANY—MORE—!!!"
The sudden roar, coupled with that arrogant and domineering appearance, and the scene of the central courtyard, which was a complete mess with several deep pits and numerous incapacitated attackers, created an extremely impactful image that startled the melon-eating crowd who were still watching the show. They subconsciously took several more steps back, once again creating a relatively safe distance.
But in fact, the destroyed courtyard was all the enemy's doing during the chaotic battle. He had just been constantly fighting one-on-one and had not damaged the surrounding environment.
And on the battlefield, looking at his domineering appearance, the corners of Charlotte and Sigmund's mouths twitched.
"Charlotte, I think you can hand over your title of Tyrant Rex."
"...I think so too."
It was just too ridiculous!
Powerful martial arts, a super-strong body, and exaggerated strength. His berserk combat appearance was just like a humanoid Tyrannosaurus. That domineering aura was like that of a top-class predator, and all the other puppeteers could only tremble on the side.
Raishin was also slightly surprised to see this.
With Yaya's help, he could also do this much, and even more ridiculously. But the difference was, one was a top-class automaton worth a battleship, and the other was just an ordinary puppeteer. The contrast showed just how exaggerated it was.
But the humanoid tyrannosaurus on the battlefield was still not satisfied.
"Kobayashi, there's no need to be so angry."
"How can I not be angry? They ganged up on me and sneak-attacked me! That's a move that only the allies of justice can use on bad guys!"
"...Are you okay in the head?"
Raishin was having a little trouble following his brain circuit.
Charlotte, at the side, was the same. And the angrier he got, the more complicated her feelings became, because the reason for his anger was not that he was speaking up for her after she had been treated unfairly, but because he was indignant that he had been treated the same way.
The girl's heart was smashed to pieces.
"There are some things you just can't understand, Akabane-kun! This is the one thing I can't accept!"
His earth-shattering statement was not yet over. He shouted, "Me! Although I like to sneak attack and gang up on others, I hate it when others sneak attack and gang up on me!"
His words made the person who had organized the sneak attack, who was lying on the ground, freeze for a moment.
"Y-you're just being..."
"I have double standards!"
He said it first and then puffed out his chest proudly. "So what if I have double standards!"
That look of being in the right even though he was clearly in the wrong... the surrounding people seemed to have a hallucination, seeing a certain shameless, water-blue goddess in him.
Wow—
This time, even Raishin and Charlotte couldn't take it. They took a step back to show that they were not on the same side as him.
"But he really is strong, to be able to take care of all of them."
"They're just a bunch of small fry who can barely command their automatons. If it were you and Yaya, I wouldn't have had such an easy time."
He glanced at them with disdain, simultaneously raising them up.
Of course, what he said was also the truth.
Basically, an automaton under control can be manipulated at the puppeteer's will. However, an automaton is not a pure puppet; it has its own autonomy and will. If the two cannot connect spiritually, then the automaton's movements will become sluggish, and at the same time, it will consume extra mana.
Furthermore, his attack methods were relatively comprehensive. By relying on [Spectator] and magic to effectively target them, he was able to appear so at ease.
If the opponent had been a powerful automaton like Yaya, he would have been no match at all.
Of course, to compare an automaton and a puppeteer... that didn't seem right no matter how you thought about it.
"Do you understand?! If you understand, then get lost!"
"Y-yes—!" xN
In the end, all ten of the automatons he had knocked down had lost their ability to fight. After being scolded, the remaining puppeteers who could still move hurriedly dragged their companions and automatons and fled in a panic.
The surrounding students were also rendered speechless, and could only stand there in a daze.
At this moment, Charlotte walked up and said to him, "Don't be stupid enough to think you saved me."
"No, in that situation just now, even if I didn't save you, Sigmund would have saved you, right?" he said, shaking his head, indicating that he had just made an unnecessary move and that she shouldn't mind.
But it was precisely this attitude that annoyed her. She stared at him for a long time without saying a word, but as she stared, her mood began to change.
She took the initiative to speak. "...Hmph. I'll ask for your names, I suppose."
"Kobayashi. Just call me Kobayashi. And she is my automaton, RyuZU," he introduced himself.
"I am a puppeteer from Japan, Raishin Akabane."
"Same as above, my name is Yaya!"
"No, no, no, you and I have nothing in common."
"I am his wife, Yaya!"
"Of course not! We're not even married!"
The flustered Raishin and Yaya, who was declaring her sovereignty to another woman, began to bicker. But Charlotte was not concerned about this.
She asked, "Which of you two is first?"
"...What?"
"Aren't you here to challenge me? Who's first? Or are you coming together? After all, there is a certain scumbag who doesn't like to be ganged up on, but loves to gang up on others."
She seemed to be preparing to take this opportunity to get rid of the remaining two flies who had come to challenge her at the same time.
Kobayashi waved his hand, took a step back to create some space, and said, "I'll sit this one out. You are his target. I won't interfere. And Akabane-kun definitely won't let me interfere."
"After all, I'm the type who likes one-on-one, not a threesome," Raishin said with a familiar smile.
I feel like he's trying to be lewd, and I already have evidence.
"...But let's forget it this time. My excitement is all gone."
Raishin ignored the expectations of the melon-eating students around them and gallantly skipped out on the chance for this scheduled fight.
"What did you say?!"
Charlotte looked at the two of them, annoyed. One had treated her like prey, and the other could fight but wouldn't.
"At this point, you think you can just esca—"
Before she could finish, a small ball appeared in Raishin's hand, and then he decisively smashed it on the ground.
Along with a small explosion, a not-so-small cloud of smoke appeared. When the smoke cleared, he and Yaya had also disappeared.
"That guy..."
"What in the world is that guy doing?!"
The one who had forcefully interrupted her was Kobayashi, who was even angrier than she was.
"To actually ditch me and run off on his own... are you kidding me, Akabane-kun!"
"...Eh?"
His furious roar left her a little confused.
—He's angry because of that?!
(End of Chapter)