… Upon hearing the clinks of something metallic along with the feeling of killing intent from behind me, I turned to face the source.
And there stood L’Arc, pointing his scythe towards me with a wry smile.
“… What?” Feeling the unsettling atmosphere, I returned with an emotionless glare towards L’Arc and Therese.
“Oh man… I never thought that you’d actually be the Shield Hero, Kiddo.”
“I’ve already told you so many times.”
“Yeah, but… Kiddo … No, should I call you Naofumi? By the way… why are you wearing that weird kigurumi… bfft!”
“Y-you mustn’t laugh in front of them, L’Arc… pfft!”
Whilst trying to stop L’Arc from derailing the conversation, Therese also started laughing when she looked at me.
Yes, as a result of me prioritizing performance during the wave, I am wearing the Pekkul Kigurumi instead of the armor made by the Old Guy of the weapon shop. It is the equipment that I’ve prepared in anticipation of combat in the sea.
Thanks to this, I was able to close the distance with the inter-dimensional whale and stop its movements much more easily! Its effects are extremely good, so long as you are able to put up with how ridiculous it looks. Yes, so long as you don’t mind how it looks.
“Fueee…”
In fact, even one of Itsuki’s companions was wearing a squirrel kigurumi, after all!
“Hmph, keep laughing. Don’t be surprised once you witness the sheer performance this kigurumi gives!”
“Naofumi-sama, your words lack any sort of impact to get through to them.”
“Pekkul~” Filo is calling out that name again and again in high spirits.
Shut up!
“Ahahahahahahahahaha!”
“Stop laughing already!”
“Hahaha… that’s right. That thing looks really silly, but let’s fight fair and square!”
L’Arc then sank all the ships within the vicinity using a powerful attack, dissuading anyone from interfering.
I can clearly feel the stark difference in strength compared to how it felt when we fought together previously.
“Here I go!” L’Arc leapt up high, swinging his scythe towards me.
I held my shield out in front of me as I prepared to receive the attack.
Sparks scattered fiercely the moment his scythe collided with my shield.
“Oho, enduring it with ease, huh?”
Now’s my chance! I let out a surprising line that would catch them off guard, one that I had thought of back when I decided to wear this thing.
“Your lousy attack won’t work on Pekkul, pen~!”
“Bwuh!?”
The strength that L’Arc was exerting drastically weakened. Seemingly having hit his funny bone, it took all that he could just to hold his laughter in.
“Bfft…! That’s dirty, Naofumi!”
Hmph! Battles give no shit for things like cowardly tactics! And what’s with you trying to take this fight seriously when I’m wearing such a ridiculous outfit!
“It matters not to Pekkul, pen! All Pekkul needs to do is just to defeat the enemy that comes out, pen!”
I cornered L’Arc even further as I spewed even more words of ostentatious mascot-like charm towards him.
In the meantime, Raphtalia could only make an awkward face with a hint of disapproval while attacking Therese who had been crackling up in laughter at the sight of me, which caused her to fail her chanting.
“How do I put this… This is certainly a battle beyond human comprehension,” spoke the Queen with an appalled tone under the cover of her fan, seemingly thinking the same.
“Okay! Let’s go!”
“Pen pen!”
Filo, stop imitating me!
Using all of my strength, I pushed the unguarded L’Arc right into the sea.
“Whoa!”
Unable to endure my tackle, L’Arc fell to the sea.
I continued my pursuit, jumping behind him before restraining him. As much as L’Arc desperately tried to release himself from my grasp and resurface, I wasn’t going to allow that to happen.
I then began plunging further into the sea, dragging L’Arc along with me. But after diving for some amount of time, L’Arc’s scythe flashed with a light… striking me with effective damage, wounding me.
“This is… a defense rating attack!?”
“Bwrbbweb (That’s right!)”
If you’re wondering, L’Arc’s reply here is just my interpretation of what he might’ve said… seeing that he is able to hear my words.
The battle under the sea continued as I parried L’Arc’s defense rating attacks.
It’s useless, there’s no easy way for you to hit me in the sea!
I can just simply create distance the moment his attacks come my way, after all.
That goes to show how much of a burden fighting underwater is. Just like one can’t defeat monsters by simply swinging their weapon around.
“Bwrbb…”
L’Arc hurried to go up to the surface of the sea, but I prevented him from doing so by grabbing onto his feet.
Eventually, L’Arc’s expression gradually pales as he swings his scythe with desperation towards me.
“Bwrbbbwbrbr… (Not bad, Naofumi!) Berbwbrbwrb… (I was looking down on you because of how you look… it’s my loss…)”
I then resurfaced onto the corpse of the inter-dimensional whale while carrying L’Arc’s already unconscious body.
The wave was immediately brought to an end by having Filo attack the wave’s crack, while Therese was being held down by Raphtalia.
“Victory!” I exclaimed.
“L’Arc!” Therese shouted, worried about L’Arc.
“He’s not dead, but it’ll be a while until he regains his consciousness.”
“Excellent work, Iwatani-sama. Now we’ll have them taken into custody and get them to talk once the man regains consciousness.”
The Queen praised me. But… when the other heroes regained consciousness…
“Bwahahahahahaha!” Motoyasu laughed at me.
“You’ve done very well, but… surely you could have gone about it in a better way…” Itsuki said with a bitter smile.
“Hmph… Give me that kigurumi later.” What the heck are you even saying, Ren!?
I can hear the voices of people trying to hold in their laughter from all directions.
I was simply wrought with the illusion of having sacrificed something important just for the sake of winning.
The battle would later be remembered as ‘The Second Coming of the Pekkul’.
—
Conclusion: He could win, but the situation afterward will only torment Naofumi with a sense of loss instead.
