The Man Picked Up By the Gods (Reboot)

Chapter 259 - The Store’s Protection (1/2)

Chapter 259: The Store’s Protection (1/2)

Approximately 3 hours after the beginning of the attack.

While the people protecting the city and the people attacking it continued to play cat and mouse, Ryouma, who was running around the city in his small boat, noticed something and turned around, but immediately after, he looked back ahead and sped up.

“What’s the matter?” [Yurdum]

“The slimes I placed by the laundromat and the Garbage Processing Plant reacted. It appears the enemies have come.” [Ryouma]

“So it’s finally gotten to this point, huh. You sure you don’t need to go there?” [Yurdum]

“There are plenty of problems elsewhere too. It appears that the enemies that have been hiding have finally started to move.” [Ryouma]

Ryouma took out a vessel that looked like a test tube from his coat, and quickly drank the mana recovery medicine inside, supplying mana to the slimes that have assimilated with the muddy stream carrying the boat to further increase their speed.

“Fei-san and the others are there to watch the store, and we’ve already taken precautions to protect the non-combatants. Delaying our response to others is precisely what the enemy wants. More importantly, are you ready to fight?” [Ryouma]

“But of course.” [Yurdum]

“In that case, we’ll just keep going like this and plunge right in!” [Ryouma]

Right after Ryouma said that, the boat slid into the scene of the fire like a car slipping on frozen road, hitting a group of people, that looked like adventurers, attacking the people extinguishing the flames.

“Whoa! I know we’re in an emergency and all, but couldn’t you have let us down in a safer manner!?” [Yurdum]

Yurdum complained as he landed on the ground, but he knew that there was no helping it. As soon as he landed, he immediately hit one of the assailants next to him.

The chaos of the town showed no signs of calming down, and this battle too was nothing but the tip of the iceberg.

Meanwhile, on the street facing the Bamboo Forest laundromat, the man in charge of the store’s security, Ox, faced off against 20 adventurers, giving rise to a threatening air.

“Like we said, we came here to help with this store’s security. That kid Ryouma asked us to.” [Adventurer 1]

“I haven’t been informed of any such thing. Leave.” [Ox]

“As if anyone could contact you with the city like this. Confirm it with your superiors.” [Adventurer 1]

“There’s nothing to confirm. The owner has completely entrusted the protection of the store to me. He also told me that there won’t be reinforcements, and he won’t be coming here either.” [Ox]

“Well, your orders could have changed—” [Adventurer 1]

“Enough.” [Adventurer 2]

As the man continued to argue that they should be let in, one of the adventurers drew his sword.

“H-Hey!” [Adventurer 1]

“Shut up already. Either way, the plan would end up like this anyway. It would have saved us a lot of trouble if you’d just opened the door obediently, but it’s not a problem even if you don’t. We’ll just have to kill you.” [Adventurer 2]

“R-Right… We don’t have time to be talking here… It would be a problem if people came.” [Adventurer 1]

When the man said that, the other men took out their weapons too.

The light spilling out of the store reflected suspiciously.

Ox quietly watched them as he spoke.

“You’re going to kill me? Did I hear that right?” [Ox]

“Hah!?I don’t know which fighting arena you’re an ex-champion of, but you can’t even use those two swords you’re so proud of with just one arm, can you??With so many of us surrounding you, this’ll be a piece of cake!?Get him!!” [Adventurer 2]

“Yeah!” [Adventurers]

The men simultaneously surrounded Ox, and the first to attack was none other than the man that gave the order.

He held his sword above his head, and slashed down at Ox’s right shoulder, but it could not reach his flesh, and was instead smashed up as a high-pitched sound resounded.

In the blink of an eye, Ox’s sword had been drawn over his head in an underhand grip.

“Huh?” [Adventurer 2]

“You need to train more.” [Ox]

“Long!?” [Adventurer 2]

As he changed his grip on his sword to an overhand grip in the air, the snake-like sword swooped down for the man’s right shoulder.

He’d struck him with the back of the sword, but when a lump of metal like a sword was combined with the power of gravity and Ox’s strength, the resulting power could only be devastating. In the face of that power, the simple shoulder pad that the man wore offered no resistance, and his collarbone easily shattered, the impact reaching even his lungs.

Cries of anguish rose from the man as he reflexively retreated, but he messed up, and fell to the ground, forcing him to crawl with his only functioning left arm.

Ox spared just one glance at that man before parrying a spear thrusting at him from the side with his sword, and sliding toward the spearman to quickly break the hand holding the spear.

A knife came at him from behind, but with a step forward, he switched positions, and then drew a huge circle to crush the enemy’s arm from above, sending the pommel flying to hit the man squarely in his jaw, launching him straight into their carriage.

In just some few seconds, three of their comrades have been dealt with, and the rest of them stood there petrified.

“What? Not coming??It’s true that I’ve lost my left hand, but I can still swing a sword with my right hand. You came knowing that, right?” [ox]

“Tch, get him together!?If we attack at the same time, one sword is nothing!” [Adventurer 1]

“What a joke.” [Ox]

As one of the men raised his voice, the remaining men tried to move, but the other sword that Ox had on him cut them down.

The sword had leaped out of its sheath all by itself and swept out like a fan before the men, then it drew a big arc and settled where Ox’s missing left hand would be.

“The sword is floating.” [Adventurer 1]

“Tch!?It’s a spell!” [Adventurer 3]

“But beastmen shouldn’t have a lot of mana!?He shouldn’t be able to keep that up for long!” [Adventurer 4]

“Which just means that I’ll have to settle this quickly.” [Ox]

It was then that – for the first time – Ox initiated.