Beast Tamer Who Got Kicked Out From the Hero’s Party Chapter 176

CHAPTER 176: VERSUS AX AND CELL *1*

We have the numbers advantage on our side.

Based on that fact alone, and I mean it in a pretty non-boastful way, I think that the chances for us winning here are very high.

Not to mention that my party consists mostly of different Ultimate Species, which makes us really hard opponents to counter and push back.

And yet……

「Kuh!」

As soon as Ax rushed in, he drew his sword at us.

The slightly curved blade was closing in on us at a very high speed.

Even with my physical abilities being enhanced by having forged a contract with Kanade, I felt like if I was not paying close attention to that blade, I would actually end up losing sight of it in a flash.

So I threw Kamui forward to intercept that blade……

「Unyah!」

「Take this!」

Meanwhile, both Kanade and Tanya pounced on Ax, hoping to pin him down.

However, Ax’s movements were extraordinarily fast.

He immediately changed the target of his attack from me to Kanade and Tanya, and once again, he delivered a divine speed attack.

That’s a ridiculous reaction speed right there.

「You little!」

Kanade threw a kick in the air, interrupting the attack to take an evasive action.

「Don’t underestimate me!」

But Tanya kept the attack coming.

She avoided Ax’s upper body by deflecting it and closing the distance between them.

A fist, a leg and a tail.

She unleashed a triple blow like that at the same time.

「That’s my line!」

Ax tried to avoid all of Tanya’s attacks.

On top of that, he would counterattack back exactly at the same moment.

「Kuh!」

Tanya was a little bit slow in her reaction time, and right as she was about to escape, Ax’s blade managed to cut a portion of her bangs.

If she was even a little bit slower than that…… I shivered just from thinking about it.

「Rein, Kanade, Tanya!」

「Get out of there!」

We jumped back in unison in response to Sora and Luna’s voices.

「「“Flash Impact!!!”」」

Sora and Luna’s magic burst simultaneously at that same time.

There was a violent blast of blinding light.

A white flash of light enveloped Ax in his entirety.

That should be it.

I’m sure that both of them were taking it easy on him to a certain extent, but……

There was no way that he could possibly withstand the point blank blast of Sora and Luna’s magic like that.

So now we only needed to take care of Cell and……

「I’m not done yet!」

「What!?」

His blade cut through the kicked up dust cloud, and in the next moment Ax jumped out from the cloud as well.

「How are you still able to stay conscious after getting hit by that magic!?」

「I managed to persevere with guts and determination alone!」

「That’s cheating! There is no way that mere guts would be able to let you tank through something like this!」

In response, Ax closed in on Sora and Luna.

His idea was probably that he was going to remove the annoying magic casters out of the picture first and foremost.

However, it was extremely foolish of him to think that everything would go his way just because he was determined to do something.

「Nnh!」

Nina touched both Sora and Luna’s backs and escaped with them in tow through a small teleportation gate.

The three of them escape into the skies above, but…..

「Huh?」

As if she had been anticipating this, Cell releases an arrow their way.

The arrow, flying as if slicing through the wind, hit the three of them without fail……

「Too naive!」

Tina’s voice echoed through the air, and the arrow released by Cell flew away from Sora, Luna and Nina.

She must have been able to deflect it from its original trajectory with her remote possession power.

But then……

「Then how about this?」

As if to say that, Cell fired a series of arrows, one after another.

She held up three arrows at a time, fires them in a precise and unmatched shot, instantly drawing another portion of arrows on her bow…… And then she would just repeat the entire process.

The continuous speed and precision of her actions seemed to be out of this world.

「This guy is…… pretty annoying!」

Ax, who handled his sword as if it was simply an extension of his own body, and specialized in close quarters combat, had power on par with that of the Ultimate Species.

As far as close combat is concerned, his power was immeasurable.

Maybe I should just keep my distance here, but……

If I were to do that, I would simply make a target dummy out of myself for Cell to pin down with her sharpshooting.

And a terrifyingly accurate and incomparable blow like that would be even more difficult to avoid.

Is this the power of an A Rank Adventurer?

As expected, I should say.

If it wasn’t for Suzu-san’s Special Training, we would have lost this battle almost right away.

「What’s wrong!? Is that the best you can do!?」

「Kuh!」

Ax’s onslaught was pushing me back more and more.

Ax was definitely coming at us for real, with the intent to take us out of the picture.

He was fighting with the intention of killing without any kind of restraint.

The same could be said for Cell.

She was not showing any kind of moderation here at all.

This was only going to show just how determined to win those two really were.

And us, on the other hand……

We had to make sure we didn’t kill both of them, so we had to come at them while actually holding back to a certain extent.

No matter how hostile they are.

No matter how much they would try to block our path.

For a short while, they were our friends with whom we had spent time together.

To seriously fight to the death with people like that……

It was not a matter of a simple mindset.

「Stop screwing around!」

Ax slashed at me vigorously, oozing with anger.

His movements were constantly accelerating, growing faster and faster.

Even with all the powers and physical enhancements from my Ultimate Species contracts, I was barely managing to keep up with his movements at the current moment.

This guy, you’re telling me that he can go even faster than that!?

「You…… You’re taking it easy on me, aren’t you!?」

「T-This is……」

「I’m gonna say it again, stop screwing around!」

「Guh!」

I was able to deflect Ax’s sword strike with my Kamui here……

The battle was starting to grow increasingly against our favor.

No matter what I was trying to do, Ax was always able to smash right through it and come forth with a counterattack of his own……

Getting up close and personal to me.

And lashing out at me with a powerful fury.

「You’ve decided to go your own way!　You decided to move on, even if you had to deal with us eventually! You knew all that!」

「……………」

「But now when the time has come for you to fight us, you chicken out and take it easy! Stops screwing around and just get serious already!」

「But…… Ax and Cell, you were my friends! But now, to really turn your blade on my former friends like that……」

「Just how naive can you get!?」

「Guh!」

I was blown away by the forceful push from Ax.

I quickly defended against Ax’s blows as he tried to chase right after me.

「If you’ve decided on your own path, don’t just sit back and do nothing! You’d better make up your mind about what you want to do, because we have already done just that!」

「Ngh!?」

「That attitude of yours…… Trying to take a hold of everything while not letting go of anything…… It’s seriously disgusting!」

「Don’t think…… I will let you say whatever the hell you want!」

I kicked up and pushed Ax back.

This time, I was the one who would be on the offensive for a change.

「Well then…… It’s time for you to get serious.」

Although he didn’t put it into words, I could feel what Ax was thinking here.

You must be ready.

Stop being so naive all the time.

That’s what he was trying to say to me.

How can you possibly care about someone when you yourself said that we are supposed to be enemies……?

I don’t know which one of us is the bigger softie here.

I let out a slight chuckle inside of my heart……

But I didn’t allow it to show on my face.

Instead, I was just going to respond to Ax’s words with actions.

「Let’s go!」

I decided to get serious here.