"Scared?"
The officer holding the giant sword snorted coldly and casually rested the absurdly oversized blade on his shoulder.
From his exaggerated build and muscles alone, it was obvious that he was the type with tremendous physical strength.
Seeing Noah tremble slightly, he decided that all the boy's confidence up until now had been nothing but an act, and that he had actually been terrified from the start.
Noah swept his gaze across the five of them.
In his heart, he silently counted.
A giant sword, curved blades, a hammer, a shield, and Najenda's Roman Artillery: Pumpkin.
Five Teigu in total.
Opportunities to fight Teigu users were extremely rare.
After all, there were only forty-eight Teigu in total, and half of them had already disappeared, with no guarantee that they would ever appear again.
Under such circumstances, facing five Teigu users at once was practically like winning the lottery.
Compared to Teigu, Noah was even more interested in Teigu users.
Because even the same Teigu would change depending on its user.
Seeing with his own eyes how a Teigu user wielded their Teigu could provide him with far more inspiration.
"Now I can relax."
When Noah said that with a relieved expression, everyone fell into a daze.
"Since you've made up your minds to eliminate me, I assume you're also prepared to be killed in return."
With that, Noah expressionlessly summoned Raven feather.
When the metallic gauntlet appeared out of thin air and covered the young man's hand, the five people in front of him did not react much.
Only Merraid and Cassandra, beside her, observed it closely.
Merraid murmured, "So that's his Teigu? From its appearance, it seems somewhat like a functional type?"
Just in case, she warned Najenda and the others, "Be careful. Don't be deceived by this man's appearance! He is an extraordinary monster!"
Monster?
The four officers exchanged glances and saw amusement in one another's eyes.
Hmph. Even if they were Oarburgh, in the end, they were just a group of women.
What monster?
If this boy was a monster, then they were monster hunters who specialized in hunting monsters!
"Ladies, you can just watch from the side. We'll show you—"
The man holding the shield spoke casually to Merraid and the others.
His gaze lingered around Merraid's chest, and the smile on his face turned slightly vulgar.
At that moment, his companion beside him suddenly shouted, "Careful!"
'Eh?'
The man turned his head.
In his field of vision, he saw the target raise a hand and point at him.
At the same time, his instincts screamed at his brain, warning him of danger.
The man subconsciously raised his shield in front of him.
In the next second, he felt an enormous impact slam into the surface of the shield in his hand, instantly overwhelming his strength.
Bang!
"Uoooooooh!"
The man roared and resisted with all the strength in his body, but even so, he was inevitably pushed back.
His feet carved two deep drag marks into the ground.
At that moment, the shield in his hand suddenly emitted a blue light, then quickly calmed the unfamiliar force.
That was how it looked to anyone who did not understand.
But Noah noticed that the shield had changed from blue to red.
Cold sweat broke out on the man's forehead as he stared uncertainly at the boy he had assumed was a rookie.
"What was that just now?"
What exactly had happened?
What had attacked him?
Noah looked at the shield flickering with red light and thought, 'So this is the shield-type Teigu that can absorb attacks and store energy.'
Absorption.
Not only physical attacks; it could absorb all forms of kinetic energy.
And the energy converted and stored through that process had a wide range of uses.
It could not only return attacks to the enemy, but also strengthen the user's physical abilities, and even restore the user's stamina and vitality.
Unfortunately, unless he touched it directly, he still could not see that Teigu's trump card.
Seeing that the attack had calmed down, Najenda hurriedly asked with concern, "Are you all right?"
"I-I'm fine. But what exactly was that just now?"
Seeing that the five of them had finally realized their opponent was no ordinary person, Merraid stepped forward again.
"That is one of that man's abilities. So far, we have already seen him use many different powers. This one is his ability to manipulate wind and air currents. Not only is it invisible, its power is terrifying."
Manipulating air currents...
Could it be an elemental-type Teigu like Great General Budo's?
Before following Najenda and defecting, these people had all been outstanding figures in the military, so naturally, they deeply respected Great General Budo, who was known as the Empire's strongest general.
Having once been fortunate enough to witness that power, they felt deep awe toward elemental-type Teigu.
"Ora!"
The giant-sword user swung the enormous blade in a full arc and smashed it down.
Even from seven or eight meters away, a terrifying shockwave came crashing toward Noah.
Noah lightly tapped his right foot, and a wall of earth immediately rose from the ground.
The shockwave collided with the earthen wall, instantly blasting a deep dent into it while sending large cracks spreading across its surface.
The giant-sword user clicked his tongue.
This time, he no longer tested Noah. He charged straight in.
At that moment, the earthen wall split in two of its own accord, then rapidly contracted and condensed.
In the blink of an eye, it actually formed into the shape of swords.
Noah took one in each hand, then used mana to strengthen the two swords made of earth.
Ordinary people could not sense the existence of mana. In their eyes, Noah was simply trying to use swords made of dirt to fight a Teigu.
The giant-sword user even said disdainfully, "Idiot."
Even a masterwork weapon was nothing but scrap metal compared to a Teigu. This giant sword Teigu possessed the power of "vibration."
One strike could trigger an earthquake, and the force of its vibration could easily destroy even extremely hard objects.
It was not something two clumps of mud could block!
"Die!"
The giant-sword user laughed wildly and brought the giant sword down.
Noah crossed the two large swords above his head, catching the incoming blade.
Clang!
There were no sparks.
The giant sword stopped after striking the crossed blades, unable to gain even the slightest advantage.
The two large swords in Noah's hands remained as stable as a frame, supporting the giant sword without the slightest shake.
"H-how is this possible?!"
The giant-sword user was horrified.
He felt as if he had chopped into a mountain. Even though he used all his strength, the slender young man before him still did not move an inch.
Noah had not manipulated gravity.
With his current strength plus mana reinforcement, whether blocking or deflecting the attacks of these people, he had more than enough room to spare.
He applied a little force, and the two large swords immediately knocked the giant sword away.
The giant-sword user was a veteran of many battles. Even after his weapon was deflected, his stance did not collapse.
His gaze sharpened, and he simply released both hands, letting go of the weapon.
The giant sword spun one and a half times through the air before smashing into the ground.
The man punched out, aiming straight for Noah's face.
Inwardly, he was pleased.
This was the difference in battle experience. A mere scholar from the Science Division, even if he had strength, could not necessarily use it in real combat.
Noah saw that he had abandoned his weapon and seemed to intend to decide the outcome through close combat.
The man's smugness and arrogance were all reflected in Noah's eyes.
So Noah also released both hands, letting his own weapons fall.
The instant he let go, he shaped his hand like a claw. Moving after his opponent but arriving first, his fingers locked onto the man's wrist.
A piercing pain made the man scream at once.
Noah twisted the man's wrist with force, directly tearing apart his forearm.
Then he struck upward with his own wrist, knocking the man's arm away and leaving his entire front exposed.
Bad!
The man's eyes widened in horror. He watched the boy in front of him punch out, and in the next instant, his eyelids became unbearably heavy.
His body was still flying through the air when his consciousness had already sunk into darkness.
"Huey!"
The officer wielding the pair of curved-blade Teigu quickly ran over and caught his companion.
But just as he held his companion's body and tried to check the wound, he realized that Huey was already dead.
"This... how could this be? This wound..."
"Huey!"
"Hey, Jeffman, how is Huey?"
Najenda kept her guard up against Noah while moving toward her companion.
Noah did not act, he simply watched.
When Najenda saw Huey's condition clearly, her eyes widened slightly, her pupils shrinking as her expression froze completely.
Because the man named Huey had a large hole opened in his chest. It was as if the flesh around his heart had been gouged out.
It was hard to imagine that this was damage caused by a fist.
Huey's eyes had not yet closed, but his pupils had already lost their light, staring blankly at the sky.
"Bastard!"
Jeffman roared and charged straight at Noah with both blades.
Najenda was about to stop him, but he shouted three times, "Don't stop me, General!"
The man holding the great hammer also said, "Huey was killed right in front of us, and we just stood there watching. General, don't stop him. I can't accept this either!"
With that, he charged alongside Jeffman.
Najenda looked at Huey, who had died with his eyes open, and her heart tangled into a knot.
Everything had happened too quickly.
Or rather, they had been careless.
None of them had expected the enemy's strength to be this terrifying.
He had actually killed Huey instantly!
But she was a general. She knew what she should do.
So she shouted, "Formation C!"
Hearing "Formation C," the shield man immediately moved in front of Najenda and raised his shield.
The twin blades in Jeffman's hands glowed with an eerie red light.
That red glow spread to his arms, as if it were drawing out the user's life force.
"I won't forgive you!"
He crossed his blades and began charging power. Covered by that red light, the twin blades in his hands became extremely sinister.
Noah used Appraisal.
Demonic Snake Dance
・The blades flashing with red light absorb the enemy's blood. Anyone cut by them will have their blood drawn out of their body under the blades' pull. Maximum effective range: twenty meters in diameter.
・After absorbing enough blood, the twin blades will transform into demonic snakes.
'What a strange weapon.'
Noah had originally planned to continue using the two earthen swords, but his gaze suddenly fell on the giant sword stuck in the ground.
He raised his hand and gripped the giant sword's hilt. Just as he was about to pull it out, a resisting will flowed into Noah's mind.
Ignoring that will, Noah directly pulled the giant sword out with one hand and violently swung it toward Jeffman, who was charging at him.
Jeffman was startled.
Even though they were both Teigu, he did not dare use his agile curved blades to block that heavy giant sword.
He rolled across the ground, looking somewhat miserable as he barely avoided the giant sword's attack.
But he had not completely dodged.
The giant sword slammed into the ground, and the terrifying impact bounced Jeffman several centimeters off the surface.
It felt like lying in a carriage, only for the carriage wheel to suddenly roll over a stone.
"Jeffman! I'm coming!"
The man holding the great hammer charged straight over.
He did not swing the hammerhead.
Instead, he gripped the hammer handle and held it horizontally while launching a full-body charge, almost like a wild bull.
Was he trying to push Noah away and separate him from his companion?
Noah saw through his intention.
Facing the opponent's fierce charge, he raised the giant sword again, lifting that heavy weapon above his head with one hand and holding it perfectly upright.
When someone raised a two-meter-long giant sword right in front of you, bringing its height close to four meters, the pressure one felt witnessing it firsthand was something no one else could understand just by hearing about it.
But that was fine.
As the man who had sparred with Huey the most, he understood the power of that giant sword well enough. With his tough body, he could definitely endure it!
Holding that thought, he took the initiative to meet the terrifying giant sword with his short hammer handle.
However, the instant the two made contact, the man was directly smashed into a mass of flesh beneath the heavy giant sword.
Gravity manipulation.
Noah had concentrated the surrounding gravity onto the giant sword, and he had reversed part of the man's momentum.
The hammer handle was smashed apart in an instant.
Then, before the man could react at all, the giant sword crushed him into a bloody mess.
After the blade smashed into the ground, the terrifying wind pressure blew the shattered flesh and blood outward, scattering it across the area.
"Lo... Losser?"
Jeffman had only just climbed to his feet when he saw a scene that nearly split his eyes open with rage, and his entire mind seemed to fall into a daze.
But Najenda did not freeze.
She hurriedly pulled the trigger, and Roman Artillery: Pumpkin released a dangerous beam of light.
At that moment, Najenda suddenly realized something.
The power of her Teigu.
Her Teigu, Roman Artillery: Pumpkin, had the ability to produce greater power the more dangerous the situation became.
It was a special power connected to the mind.
And ever since this battle had truly begun, the few attacks she had fired were far stronger than usual.
Noah used the giant sword to block Pumpkin's shot, and the corner of his mouth curved upward.
"It seems you've already guessed why your artillery fire has become stronger."
'Gulp.'
'No way.'
Cold sweat slid down Najenda's face.
"Because from the moment you became my enemies, you had already exposed yourselves to danger. Let me tell you the answer. Your guess... is absolutely correct."