Chapter 512 part 2

We insisted we could fight, insisted we’d be fine, sending Haruka-kun and the others off as a separate unit, only to end up like this. But we couldn’t help it. As women, we simply couldn’t.

It was impossible to stand by and do nothing while, right before their eyes, sisters had their clothes torn off and were about to be violated by soldiers. How could we abandon women who were already in tatters, sobbing as their clothes hung off their bodies in rags. Even if it was the wrong move, leaving them would’ve been way too cruel. Kidnapped and then assaulted all for the sake of luring us out, beaten if they try to resist, how could we abandon them…

Some might say what we did was stupid. But we don’t care. Mock and laugh at the stupidity of falling into such a transparent scheme, walking straight into the obvious trap, until we found ourselves completely surrounded with no way out.

If we abandoned those women, kidnapped, abused, trembling in fear, broken in body and spirit, they would have won. Chances are, we might’ve been able to save them after we won the battle. But to watch, to let them be used as playthings in that moment, would have left scars no one could heal. Even if their lives were spared, their mental would not survive. To be cast aside, to be left in despair while enduring something so cruel, that is intolerable. Reckless or not, hopeless or not, we had to reach out. That is what it means to be women. Unforgivable, none of them would be forgiven, but for now, we have to protect these women.

In the end, we were useless. Our levels have risen, we’ve grown stronger, but we are just as useless.

Knowing nothing about survival in this world we first relied on Oda-kun and others. And when we failed to help them, and ended up on our own… We got obstinate, thinking we had to do like Oda-kun’s group, but in the end, we couldn’t.

Then, getting saved by Haruka-kun we ended up depending on him, getting spoiled by him, then getting panicked when Haruka-kun went off to throw his life away, desperately rushing to get stronger, but in the end, that too did nothing.

When we realized Haruka-kun was scarred mentally, that his body was breaking, we panicked again and tried to grow strong enough to protect him, and again, we failed.

We are so stupid, real fools, aren’t we? Somewhere, surely, Haruka-kun is watching this and laughing, calling us idiots. Or maybe he’s just exasperated. I just hope he hasn’t given up on us.

We failed again. We couldn’t do anything. But these women, we cannot abandon them. And we cannot forgive what was done to them. So…

「Sorry, Haruka-kun. Could you help us again? We couldn’t do anything… not this time either.」

I say aloud. Not scream, just say. After all, he is watching anyway? Watching our foolishness, our uselessness, our failure.

「…You protected them, didn’t you? You saved them, didn’t you? It’s enough to do only what you can do… I’m good at killing, you know? They’re all middle-aged men anyway?」

Only the voice reached us. Haruka-kun’s voice, Haruka-kun’s words. Probably some sort of a sound manipulation that he did with Hydra-san and Vibration Magic. And then it was over.

The scum that was surrounding us, taunting and mocking, trying to scare and hurt the women, was already finished. It was all over while they shouted obscenities and threats at us. No matter what they did and what they thought now, even if they repented and asked for forgiveness, it was all too late? They are already past tense. Can’t they at least have decency to go quietly?

It was Laozi, was it? If you have double the enemy’s troop strength, you can divide your force and pincer them, but encirclement requires ten times the strength. And rather than encircling and annihilating the enemy, it’s easier to leave a path for escape and strike the enemy from behind as they route, that’s what the art of war says. That was what the Oda group had taught us. And Haruka-kun also said: 『Anyone who thinks one plus one equals two in another world is a moron』.

Numbers are just numbers. A hundred sheep led by a lion is stronger than a hundred lions led by a sheep. So what can five thousand pieces of trash, led by nothing but trash, do when they are the ones being encircled by three Dungeon Emperors under the command of a king of calamity? It’s already over. An encirclement is a formation with a purpose of letting no one escape. The countless crowd of five thousand men, occupying everything in sight, is surrounded by just four people. The art of war? What’s that, is it tasty?

They must be furious at the sight of the Sisters in torn clothes. That definitely will cause a crazy rip off interest rate to be added for the sisters’ faces swollen from beatings.

Because if all they meant to do was kill, it would be over in an instant. For those four, it would be easier than twisting a baby’s wrist… well, actually, for those four, twisting a baby’s wrist would probably be a much harder task. But slaughtering their enemies? For them it’s as simple as breathing.

They slowly advance, closing in step by step. Those who tried to challenge them and those who stood their ground were cut down as casually as one brushes aside grass, and with every step the noose drew tighter. Surely the enemy never imagined they were the ones being encircled by only four people. Completely unaware that the escape route did not exist anymore, they threw themselves at them only to be cut down and cleaved, unable to even momentarily falter the advance of the four.

Shouts of rage turned to screams of terror, curses became pleas for life, only the silence of the dead remained unchanged as the corpses piled up.

Thinking that it’s just four people, some tried to go around, to close from behind, but no, once surrounded by those four, they have no hope of going around them or escaping?

Because those four are the most terrifying people in this world. Kind, bashful, shy, awkward, yes, all four resemble each other in that. But those are also the four who must never be angered. That’s why it’s already over. After all, the ones that were angry right now are natural disasters capable of wiping out any calamity on the frontier.