CHAPTER 15

One Versus Ten Thousand

Flying at full speed, I finally start closing in on Seiya, who looked like an ant only moments ago. It seems I have the advantage when it comes to flying. In actuality, his Flight ability wasn’t even at that high of a level when I checked his status before, compared to my level 14. If I put it in kilometers per hour, I’d be able to fly anywhere from sixty to eighty kmh. I catch up with Seiya in no time.

“I’ve got you now!”

…I try grabbing him from behind, but he evades.

Tsk! Those reflexes! It’s like he’s got eyes in the back of his head.

“What, you followed me? I told you I don’t need you.”

“Hmph! What’s your problem? I’ve got the upper hand while flying, you know? So you better watch what you say unless you like eating dirt!”

Seiya shrugs off my confident remark and mutters to himself.

“All right, that’s enough warming up. Time to start flying seriously.”

And then he’s gone in a flash.

“Um…”

By the time I realize it, he’s already leisurely flying dozens of meters ahead.

H-how did he get so fast?! D-dammit!

Wildly flapping my wings, I start chasing after him. Flying is one thing I don’t want to lose at. I mean, I have such beautiful wings. Seiya, on the other hand, doesn’t have wings at all. He’s just floating. I have to beat him no matter what it takes.

But…he’s fast! Even though I’m flying at max speed, the gap between us only widens.

Y-you’re going down! Raaaaaah! Goddess Power activate! I’ll focus all my power into these wings and—owwwwwww!!! My back feels like it’s on fire! Ahhhhhh! My wings feel like they’re melting! Push through the pain, Ristarte! Don’t give up! You’re going to be a Great Goddess one day!!!

I give it all I’ve got, seriously hurting my back and wings in the process. But Seiya fades out of sight in the end. Utterly drained of all energy, I stop midair as I try to catch my breath.

I—I even took the spirit world emergency measure… I can’t beat him even with my divine powers…

Depressed, I finally lift my head, only to see Seiya floating in front of me.

“This is why I told you I didn’t need you. Ugh. What a pain in the ass. Well, come on. Let’s go.”

Seiya then grabs me by the wrist before taking off.

…I was annoyed that he left me behind. I was sick of how overly cautious he was from the moment I met him. But while it may have been on a whim—the kindness he showed by waiting for me, his warmth blanketing my wrist—when I look at his chiseled features as his bangs flutter in the wind, it gives me butterflies in my stomach.

H-he’s actually really handsome up close! Hff! Hff! And he’s holding my hand… W-wait a second! I-it’s like… It’s like we’re on a date!

Seiya suddenly looks back at me.

“Hey, Rista.”

Oh my—! He said my name for the first time! He usually just yells “hey, you” or something to get my attention!

“Y-y-yes?”

My heart violently races.

I mean, we’re flying really high up, so nobody can see us from down below! D-don’t tell me that Seiya wants to fool around up here?! W-we can’t! We mustn’t! Love between goddesses and humans is strictly prohibited! But…well, I guess a little love never hurt anybody. At the very least, a kiss should be okay, right? Yeah, it’d definitely be okay. In fact, I want him to kiss me. Wait. Maybe I should just kiss him?

Letting my imagination run wild, I pucker up like an octopus, when suddenly…

“I’m going to speed up.”

“…Huh?”

His grip around my wrist tightens, and I’m dragged off at extreme velocity.

“Gyaaaaah!”

An unbelievable amount of air flies down my throat. I can hardly even breathe properly. While I can’t see for myself, I know my face is a disaster right now.

Incidentally, Seiya himself is fine, since he’s using his magic to fly, but being dragged through the air like this is pretty awful. To put it simply, if Seiya were sitting in the cozy pilot’s seat of a jet, then I’d be outside, tied to one of the wings by a rope. That’s what this feels like.

While being battered by the air resistance, I finally come to a shocking realization. The plunging neckline of my favorite white dress is wide open, exposing my bra! I’m even starting to pop out on one side!

“Noooooo! Stop! Wardrobe malfunction imminent!!”

But he doesn’t stop, and I continue being dragged through the sky by the arm while my bra hangs on for dear life.

Seiya finally slows down after half an hour or so. After adjusting my dress, I mutter:

“I thought I was going to die…”

“What? Goddesses don’t die.”

He says this just before looking back. That’s when he sees that my hair is a mess, my face is a wreck, and my clothes are in disarray.

“…Have you always looked like that?”

“It’s your fault I look this way, you jerk! Just look at me! My wings are a disaster! You can even see some skin here and there because we were going so fast, my dress tore!”

“Then use that healing magic you’re so proud of. Now be quiet. What are you going to do if they hear us?

I desperately want to give him an earful, but I clam up the moment I look in the direction he’s pointing…because a large army of undead advancing through the vast plains of Gaeabrande comes into view.

From around two hundred meters in the air, they look like battalions of ants forming lines, but since I have better vision than humans, I can clearly see them when I strain my eyes. The undead army mainly consists of zombies and skeleton knights. While slow, they steadily advance south.

“S-so what are you planning on doing? Don’t tell me you’re going to charge them…”

Without answering, Seiya takes me by the arm once more.

“We’re not high enough.”

“What?! We’re going to fly even higher?!”

As we ascend straight up, I glance down. The already small undead army is getting even smaller.

I wonder how high we are. By the time Seiya finally comes to a stop, the enemy just starts to look like a moving black inverted triangle.

“Hmph. They’re marching together to intimidate through numbers. It’s an impressive sight, but it’s also foolish. I would have spread them out to avoid risk because a bombing would wipe them out in an instant.”

“T-true, but bombs are a thing of your world, right? There aren’t any fighter planes or bombs in this world.”

“But I suppose the powers I gained are more or less equivalent to the destructive force of fighter planes and bombs.”

Seiya then raises his arms into the air before closing his eyes.

“…Keep quiet.”

I wait in silence for a minute before a shadow suddenly passes over.

Huh? Wh-where’d all this shade come from?

When I look up, I’m so shocked that I almost forget to continue flying…

…because a colossal object is now floating overhead.

“Wh-wh-wh-what is that?!”

“Meteor Strike!”

At his call, the meteor roars as it descends from the sky. It passes right by us—well, with a hundred meters of distance in between.

“It’s a small meteor with a radius of only a few dozen meters, but the energy it possesses from falling at such a high speed is incredible. It will probably annihilate the army of undead in one shot.”

Before I can even say anything, the shining meteor proceeds to crash into the marching inverted triangle of undead, followed by a deafening explosion! The flames rise like fireworks.

It really was less of a meteor crash and more of an outright bombing. The awesome thermal power swiftly transforms the fields containing the undead into a blazing inferno.

“I adjusted the falling speed of the meteor for the undead. A slow collision would have only made a crater, but a rapid descent creates a phreatic explosion by raising the ground temperature to an ultrahigh degree upon impact. At least one square kilometer of land was affected.”

“W-wow…!”

That’s the only thing I can say as I stare at the sea of flame spreading beneath us. I mean, this man seriously defeated an army of ten thousand all by himself! And he did it by altering a small meteor’s orbit to land where he wanted it to. Only a high wizard can use extremely high-level magic like that!

“While powerful, it’s a spell with many restrictions. You can only use it in open areas with no people, and you need silence and some time to concentrate in order to cast it. It’s not very practical overall.”

“B-but how did you even learn a spell this powerful?”

“Back in the Summoning Chamber, when I had Cerceus in the mounted position while I practiced my melee strikes, I had a vision. And that vision turned into Meteor Strike.”

O-oh! That’s when I walked in on them! Wait a second… He was training with the Divine Blade, but that’s not even a sword skill! Ah, whatever. That’s beside the point. More importantly…

Gazing at the scorched plains, I think to myself.

I do feel bad for Mash and Elulu, but the difference in level between them and Seiya is staggering. Honestly, this Hero could probably save Gaeabrande by himself.

“I think I destroyed around ninety percent of them, but I’m a little worried… I should cast it one more time just in case,” Seiya casually remarks before raising his arms back into the air to prepare for another Meteor Strike. The corners of my mouth curl up in secret.

Heh-heh-heh… Ha-ha-ha-ha! Perfect! This is too perfect! I bet that General Deathmagla or whatever his name was died in the blast, too! Seiya might be a little off, but his talents really are one in a billion! Hey, maybe we can even use Meteor Strike on the Demon Lord’s castle and just get this over with! Ha-ha-ha! This is going to be a cinch!

I get so carried away because of Seiya’s godlike powers that I completely forget just how frightening this S-ranked world Gaeabrande can be. Unfortunately, I will soon receive a painful reminder…

…and it will come at a price.