The Apostle Attacks

“DON'T YOU LOOK DOWN ON MEEEEEE!!”

“Hey! They got through over there!”

“Gu, ah! My shoulder, they got it!!”

“Don't screw with me! UWAAAAAH!!?”

Angry shouts, screams, shrieks......

There was someone sitting on the defensive wall, noticed by no one, savoring the adventurers' desperate voices echoing throughout the Zamago Forest base, as if enjoying the finest music.

It was a woman in glasses, wrapped in a pale yellow cloak that blended into the yellow and red scenery of the forest, with a scarf of the same color hiding half her face.

“............Aha!”

Yes, she who blushed faintly at every scream was the very person who had caused this monster attack!

The one who had burned stimulant in the forest, arranged for monster lure to be burned inside the base, and blown up the wall with magic tools...... Viola, apostle of the Cube God Kakushii!

“Aaah~~~ heaven............ but, hah, can't stand here, listening forever...... hup.”

Her eyes had been closed in rapture, but after muttering that, she sprang down from the top of the wall in a single hop and began walking boldly through the base.

Why had she caused all this?

To carry out the oracle handed down to her, of course...... “the killing of the great sinner Giovanno.”

The target had companions.

She had known that from the start, from the Cube God.

As an apostle, Viola had been granted magic power by her god and was stronger than an ordinary person, but she wasn't confident she could take on several of these “companions”, people who could survive in a demon realm, all at once and win.

If possible, she would have liked to butcher the target and the companions all with her own hands...... but in matters like this, she was cautious by nature.

To begin with, she was an assassin-type fighter; she didn't dislike fighting head-on, but if anything, it wasn't her strong suit.

And so, she decided to resort to a scheme.

Blow up the defensive wall protecting the base, let the monsters attack, and thin out the target's defenses.

It might not have been elaborate enough to call a scheme, but at any rate, things had gone exactly as Viola intended: the base's adventurers were fighting near the wall to defend it, and the obstacles between her and her goal had dropped considerably.

She couldn't let this opportunity slip.

The effect of the stimulant wouldn't last forever.

It seemed the legendary earth mage Earthcell (the opponent Viola was most wary of in this job) had begun repairing the wall, and it was only a matter of time before this chaos subsided.

She had to finish off the target before that happened.

“Mm, mm, hmm hmm, hmm~~~m.”

Humming an off-key tune to the beat of the distant sounds of battle, Viola walked straight through the quiet base toward the Adventurers' Guild branch office.

She cut straight across a field of mysterious plants that crept along the ground with thick, perfectly round leaves, kicking them aside carelessly as she walked.

Having monitored the movements of the merchants from atop the wall, Viola knew that the Adventurers' Guild branch office was being used as a shelter.

In other words, the target, who supposedly couldn't fight, was bound to be inside this building.

“......Ah, right, right, it's a shelter~~~...... the evacuees'll see my face~~~...... can't be helped! Ahaa, guess I'll kill them all~~~!!”

Picturing the carnage she was about to unleash, her beautiful face twisting hideously, Viola opened the glass door of the branch office.

Her footsteps went kotsu kotsu along the earthen hallway as she advanced without hesitation.

It wasn't a particularly large building.

If she listened closely, she could easily tell where people were gathered.

“............Ahaa.”

And finally, she arrived.

At the meeting room, where the targets were gathered and taking shelter.

After wiping away the drool slipping from her mouth before she could stop it, she reached for the knife at her hip.

(3...... 2...... 1......)

Counting in her head, timing it perfectly...... Viola flung the meeting room door open!

A loud baan echoed through the room, and the evacuees inside all turned their gaze toward her at once!

And...... taken by surprise, their movements froze for a few seconds.

A moment of complete vulnerability.

Viola the assassin did not miss that opening!

In an instant, her eyes scanned the room and found the target.

The villain-faced man.

He was standing in the middle of the room.

Conveniently for Viola, the man was planted squarely in front of the evacuees, spreading his arms to the left and right as if trying to protect them.

(You're the target, you! Stuu~~~pid!!!)

Sticking out her tongue inwardly and scorning the target, Viola threw her knife with blinding speed!

This knife had poison on its blade!

If an ordinary person were cut by this knife, they wouldn't live an hour!

The poisoned knife cut through the air.

Straight, straight, it flew toward the villain-faced man's neck.

But.

Just a few moments before the knife could sink into the target.

Roughly 1 meter in front of him.

The knife's straight path...... was blocked!

Kachiin!

With a high-pitched ring, the knife was deflected.

At the sight, Viola, in such a good mood until now, creased her brow.

The one who had deflected the knife was an ordinary woman.

An ordinary, adventurer-looking woman, her brown hair tied back in one, wearing a cloak and a sword at her hip.

While everyone else had frozen in shock at Viola's sudden entry, this ordinary woman was the only one who had moved.

Reacting to Viola's throwing motion, she had instantly sensed the target, slid into the knife's path, and activated the magic-tool bracelet on her right arm to form a fan-shaped shield.

And with that shield, she had deflected Viola's knife!

(Tch! So there was a bodyguard. Who's this?)

In preparing this operation, Viola had learned the number and faces of every adventurer in the base by the day before.

But still, she didn't know this woman.

She was likely an adventurer who had reached the base just today.

(A miscalculation. But then.)

Viola didn't panic.

The corners of her mouth, hidden by her scarf, twisted into a smirk.

Because...... the woman who had just got in her way......

Any way you looked at her, she looked weak.

She wore baggy clothes, so her muscle mass wasn't immediately apparent, but even if she had trained a bit, it likely didn't exceed the range of an ordinary woman's physique.

The magic power she could sense was ordinary, too.

Her face, ordinary too.

“Wow, that ordinarily surprised me!”

And what she said was ordinary too.

In short, she was dressed as an adventurer, but any way you looked at her, she was just an ordinary civilian woman.

(So, that just now was a fluke.)

Having reached that conclusion, Viola threw another poisoned knife.

This time, the target was the ordinary woman.

Though she looked ordinary, it would be a nuisance to leave someone acting as a bodyguard.

First kill this ordinary woman, then the villain-faced man!

But, to cut to the chase, Viola's calculation was naive.

The ordinary woman reacted to Viola's knife throw once again!

This time, instead of the magic-tool shield on her arm...... she instantly readied a small shield that had been hidden by her cloak, and while deflecting the knife, the ordinary woman began charging toward Viola!

(This is...... the movement of the “Saikenna-style Small Shield Technique”!)

Having spent a long time in the underworld, Viola had a deep knowledge of various combat techniques.

Even if she couldn't use them herself, just knowing them made them easy to deal with.

Which was exactly why, even with her plan in pieces, Viola wasn't especially shaken.

Because the ordinary woman's charge...... that “Saikenna-style Small Shield Technique”...... was, after all, ordinary.

It was by no means sloppy.

But it was ordinary.

An ordinary move that never strayed beyond the level of a typical adventurer.

In contrast, Viola considered herself a first-class assassin.

She could brush aside a move of this level with a snort.

Drawing on her own magic power, boosted by the Cube God, Viola activated 【Body Strengthening】.

Moving at a speed far beyond that of an ordinary person, she shifted her body out of the trajectory of the charge.

And then, she thrust her knife toward the unprotected ordinary woman's flank!

This was the weakness of the “Saikenna-style Small Shield Technique”!

But then!

Before the knife Viola thrust could gouge the ordinary woman's flank, it was deflected once again with a hard Giiin! sound!

Why!?

The ordinary woman, who was supposed to be mid-charge in “Saikenna-style Small Shield Technique”, suddenly planted her feet and drew her sword!

And she had sliced away Viola's knife!

(This sword stroke is...... “Sekiun-style”!)

Reading the school of the move in an instant, Viola responded by the book.

“Sekiun-style” left a relatively large opening after each attack.

(And so, have no fear, and leap inside her guard!)

But!

“Bu!!?”

The next moment, Viola was punched in the cheek and sent flying!

The ordinary woman, whom she had taken for a “Sekiun-style” swordsman, had of all things tossed away her sword—a swordsman's very life—and slammed a powerful hook into Viola as she leaped inside her guard!

(This is the “Iwaken Brawling Killing Method”......!)

Her glasses went flying, but Viola broke her fall, was back on her feet at once, and identified the ordinary woman's martial art on the spot.

But that meant nothing!

As Viola looked up, she saw the ordinary woman with a thin tube in her mouth, pointing it at her!

(A blowgun!?)

Realizing it instantly, she leaped backward.

Sure enough, she was right: dart after dart shot from the tube in the ordinary woman's mouth and stabbed one after another into the spot where Viola had been standing.

Shooting in a wide range, up, down, left and right!

Viola had no choice but to leap out of the meeting room, where the target was, into the hallway to escape the darts!

“Iyaah!”

The ordinary woman chasing her picked up the sword she had thrown and swung it down with all her might from an overhead position!

(Now it's “Sword Saint Style”!?)

Viola no longer had the composure she had earlier.

She leaped sideways and rolled along the hallway to evade the strike!

Next, the ordinary woman threw a net at Viola, pulled from who knows where.

The net spread across the narrow hallway; at this rate, it was certain she would be captured!

“GOD, DAMN, IIIIIIT!!!”

Her face distorting hideously, Viola smashed through a window to escape the net and leaped outside the branch office!

(What the hell!? What the hell is that woman!?)

Viola was thrown into utter confusion!

That woman was, any way you looked at her, an ordinary woman!

The way she swung her sword, used her shield, moved her feet, her martial arts!

Every last one was, without doubt, ordinary skill, no threat at all to Viola.

But, still!

By an ordinary woman who could only do ordinary things...... by an ordinary human who was supposed to be beneath her!

She, a first-class talent recognized even by a god, was being cornered!?

Ever since she had learned to kill and fight, Viola had never tasted such humiliation!

“You...... what the hell are you......!?”

Viola muttered in a low voice, glaring at the ordinary woman who had followed her outside.

“Wow, I'm Yuju Ally, just an ordinary adventurer!”

Apparently that mutter had reached the ordinary woman just fine.

Yuju introduced herself in the ordinary way, smiling breezily.

That sight grated on Viola all the more!

“What do you mean, ordinary......! Then shut up, and get killed......! I'm, one of the chosen...... I'm, special...... people beneath me...... don't, get in my way......!”

“Wow, yeah, I get it. Everyone's special, right! One and only! But if everyone is special, then being special is ordinary too, see. Mm-hm.”

“That nonsense...... DON'T YOU SPOUT IT AT MEEEEE!!”

In a complete fury, Viola took a knife in each hand and slashed at Yuju with tremendous speed!

(Now then, I wonder if the provoking worked?)

While parrying Viola's fierce assault with ordinary swordsmanship and ordinary shield techniques, Yuju thought calmly.

This assassin's skill was...... quite high.

Honestly, if she showed what she could really do, she would be a very difficult opponent for Yuju to defeat alone.

But still, Yuju remained composed.

(After all, I just saw a real monster.)

A being truly not ordinary, so much so that she had been forced to give up even on retreating.

After seeing that girl, the assassin in front of her was cute by comparison.

(For now, keep provoking her, I guess. There don't seem to be any other enemies, so I'll wait for backup. She's probably tied up in this commotion, so I'd like to take her alive if I can.)

If you can't win alone, you surround the opponent with multiple people and take them down.

Aiming for the ordinary, reliable, best situation anyone could think of, Yuju started buying time!

She can do all sorts of things, ordinarily!

That's the “Ordinary” rank-1 adventurer, Yuju Ally!

But wouldn't that make her less Yuju-Ally and more Gener-Ally?

......Don't sweat the details.

And the apostle Viola, so easily provoked!

The cool, composed shadow-unit maid is only her role in the story; at heart she's a thug and a murderer.

It can't be helped that her true self shows in the parts away from the script.

She seems a little hung up on being better or worse than others, which probably ties in to whatever it was that twisted her.

Though that will probably never be written.