第八話 アンデッドの群れ
ついに問題のアンデッドの群れと......そのボスである、グールヘッドと衝突することになった。
群れのアンデッドは〈マジックワールド〉において最も一般的な魔物......ワイトばかりであった。
腐った死体に、穢れたマナが定着して魔物として復活したものだ。
三十近くいるが、ワイトばかりで別の魔物は存在しない。
そのことにひとまず安心した。
こっそり厄介な魔物が紛れ込んでいるなんて〈マジックワールド〉ではよくある話だからだ。
そしてボスのグールヘッド。
「ウオオオオオオオオオオ!」
緑色の巨大なゾンビの頭部から、足と太い腕が生えている。
コミカルともいえる外見だが、むしろその不格好さが嫌悪感と忌避感を煽る。
「......手にしている棍棒も、特に変わったアイテムじゃないな」
俺は一応グールヘッドの持つ棍棒を確認し、安堵していた。
たまにあの手の魔物が低確率でとんでもないレアアイテムを有していたりするのだ。
ゲームなら開発の茶目っ気で済むが、この世界ではそうもいかない。
そんな珍事で壊滅に追い込まれては堪ったものではない。
「よし、テイル、ポール! 儂の露払いとしてついてこい! 他の奴らは、適当にワイトの数を減らしておれ!」
ゴウタンはそう言うと、斧を構えて突撃していった。
赤魔術師のテイルと、ポールらしい剣士の男がその後に続く。
......ゴウタンの大雑把な指揮を見ていると、どうにも不安になる。
まあ、俺はとっとと、ワイトの数を減らさせてもらおう。
今のレベルでグールヘッドとなんてぶつかりたくはないし、ゴウタンの戦闘の邪魔になるだけだ。
「とっととあのデカ顔の取り巻きを片付けるぞ」
ああ、だからどうにも消極的に見えたのか......。
皆、魔物の群れを相手取るのは初めてなのだ。
それも外見の不気味なアンデッド系統、おまけに指揮官はロクな命令も残さず先に突撃していったとなれば、尻込みする気持ちもわかる。
こっちにいるのは、七人だな。
ただ、俺は独立して動きたい。
「三、三で別れて部隊を組むといい。互いの背を補えば、まずワイト相手に後れを取ることはない。俺は一人で動いて、敵の目を引いてそっちに向かうワイトの数を極力減らす。それでいいだろう」
「わ、わかった、俺達はそうする......」
道中では他の奴もテイル同様に俺を見下していたようだったが、この場で俺が冷静なのを見て頼りたくなったのだろう。
「もし、不測の事態が起きそうになったらすぐに仲間に知らせろ。俺も手助けに入る」
俺達はワイトの群れへと突撃した。
俺は単独で動いたためすぐにワイトの群れに囲まれたが、元よりワイトは低レベルの魔物である。
それにアンデッド系統は動きが遅く、動作も大きい魔物が多い。
「〈パリィ〉! 〈パリィ〉!」
細かく動き回り、腕の一撃を剣で受け流し、相手の態勢を崩す。
ワイトの攻撃タイミングなんざ〈マジックワールド〉で散々予習済みだ。
そして俺には、〈マジックワールド〉での知識を十全に活かせる剣の技量もあった。
この世界では当主個人の力量が一族の権威に繋がる。
腐っても俺はエドヴァン伯爵家の元次期当主だったのだ。
ワイトの攻撃を捌く程度、なんてことはない。
「よし......想像以上に〈パリィ〉が活きている」
受け流しのスキル、〈パリィ〉。
強力ではあるが、敵の攻撃タイミングを完全に読み切る必要があるため、知識と技術がなければまともに使い熟せないスキルなのだ。
〈パリィ〉を完璧に使い熟せるかどうかだけでも、重騎士の評価は大きく変わる。
俺は〈パリィ〉でワイトの体勢を崩し、〈ディザーム〉の刃を叩き込み、敵の攻撃力を減少させる。
そしてその後はいつも通り、鎧で受け止めてのカウンターへと持っていく。
「〈城壁返し〉!」
ワイトの殴り掛かった右腕が爆ぜて、軽々吹き飛んでいく。
【経験値を11取得しました。】
【レベルが12から13へと上がりました。】
よし......!
この調子でどんどん上げていきたいところだ。
この数で、このレベルの相手は効率がいい。
そういう意味でも大当たりの依頼だった。
俺は次々に相手の攻撃を躱し、受け流し、〈城壁返し〉を決めていく。
あっという間に十近いワイトの残骸が出来上がっていた。
〈マジックワールド〉では相手とのレベル差が大きくなると一気に取得経験値量が渋くなるのだが、それでも充分レベルを上げることができた。
【経験値を4取得しました。】
【レベルが15から16へと上がりました。】
よしよし、順調だ。
これでスキルポイントは【5】溜まった。
次にこれを割り振るときが楽しみだ。
周りのワイトが減ったため、俺は〈ステータス〉を確認した。
【エルマ・エドヴァン】
クラス:重騎士
Lv :16
HP :29/47
MP :14/19
攻撃力:13+5
防御力:34+5
魔法力:15
素早さ:15
【装備】
〈下級兵の剣〉
〈鉄の鎧〉
【特性スキル】
【通常スキル】
〈城壁返し〉〈ディザーム〉
〈パリィ〉
【称号】
〈不動の者〉〈F級冒険者〉
よしよし、順調に上がっている。
「あいつ、ワイトを引き付けるって言ってなかったか......? 一人で大半をぶっ倒してるぞ」
「重騎士だって話だったよな? なんであんな俊敏に捌いて......あんな馬鹿げた火力で吹き飛ばせるんだ?」
他の冒険者達が、俺の方を指差してひそひそと話しているのが聞こえてきた。
俺のステータスは、同格の冒険者と比べればとても速いとは言えない。
ただ、ワイトの方が動きが遅く大きくて読みやすいため、先回りして的確に動いている俺の動きが速く見えるのだろう。
〈城壁返し〉にしても、ただの雑魚狩りスキルである。
序盤の〈重鎧の誓い〉の防御力補正の影響が大きいために格好がついているだけだ。
「......頼りにはなるが、ワイトよりあいつが怖くなってきたよ」
おい、聞こえているぞ......。
とはいえ、正直、今の俺は重騎士の強みをほとんど引き出せていない状態なんだがな。
とっとともう少し自由にスキルポイントを振れるところまでレベルを持って行きたいものだ。
Ch 8
We finally ran into the undead swarm... and their boss, the Ghoul Head.
The undead swarm was made up of one of the most common monsters in [Magic World], the wight.
It's a monster created when impure mana attaches itself to a rotting corpse, making it come to life.
There are roughly thirty here, but all of them are wights and no other types.
For now, that was reassuring to know.
In [Magic World], a more problematic monster blending in among the swarm happened a lot.
And the boss was a Ghoul Head.
"WUOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"
It's an enormous green zombie head with legs and thick arms attached to it.
Its appearance might look comical at first sight, but the way it's misshapen only amplifies the disgust and repulsive feelings it inspires.
"...the bludgeon in its hand is not an unusual Item either."
I was relieved after I checked the Ghoul Head's bludgeon, just to make sure.
Monsters like that may have an OP as hell rare item on them sometimes.
In the game that can be chalked up to as a prank from the developers, but in this world it won't end with that.
Like hell I want to get wiped out by a rare event like that.
"Alright, Teil, Paul! Come with me and keep the small fry away from me! The rest, reduce the number of wights as much as you can!"
After saying that, Goutan readied his axe and charged in.
The Red Mage, Teil, and a swordsman apparently called Paul followed him into the fray.
.....thinking about Goutan's haphazard instructions, I can't help but feel uneasy.
Well, I'll just be here, cutting down on the number of wights around.
With my current level I don't want to tangle with the Ghoul Head, and I would just get in Goutan's way anyway.
"Let's just quickly get rid of the hanger-ons of that huge face," I said to the adventurers around me.
Ah, so that's why they were looking so half-hearted about it...
This must be the first time they came up against such a large group of monsters.
To compound that, the monsters are undead types with ghastly appearances and the commander just charged in without giving any orders worth mentioning too. It's no wonder at all that they would start to hesitate.
We have seven people here.
However, I would like to move independently.
"You should split into two squads of three. If you cover each other's backs, then you should have no problems against wights. I will be moving alone to divert the attention of the enemies to decrease the number of wights heading your way as much as I can. That should be fine."
"G-got it, we'll do that..."
Although on the way the others looked down on me just like Teil, but when they saw me being calm in this situation, they must've thought they could rely on me.
"If you see anything unexpected about to happen, then notify the others immediately. I'll come to help too."
I charged into the group of wights.
Since I went at it alone I was immediately surrounded by wights, but the wights are simple low level monsters to begin with.
Furthermore, the movement speed of most undead type monsters are slow, and their attacks have a large wind-up.
"[Parry]! [Parry]!"
I kept minutely moving around, parrying the attacking arms with my sword and destroying their postures in turn.
I've already learned the wights' attack timings in [Magic World] perfectly well.
And I also possessed enough skill with the sword to be able to make best use of my knowledge of [Magic World].
In this world, the personal power of the head of the family has a direct effect on the influence the household can wield.
Even if it's former now, I used to be considered the next head of a Count family.
Fending off attacks from a bunch of wights is nothing at all for me.
"Good.... The [Parry] is working even better than I expected."
The Skill to ward off attacks, [Parry].
Although it's a powerful Skill, since you need to perfectly grasp the timings of every enemy attack, without sufficient knowledge and skill you wouldn't be able to master it properly.
Depending on whether you can master [Parry] properly can greatly influence how useful others view the Heavy Knight class.
Using [Parry] I break up the wight's posture, then I hit it with my sword to [Disarm] it, which lowers its attack power.
And after that I block its attack with my armor, which leads into a counter as usual.
"[Rampart Reversal]!"
The wight's attacking right arm simply blows off and sails off in an arc.
[(You have gained 11 experience points.)] 
[(You level has increased from 12 to 13.)] 
Nice....!
I would like it to keep going up just like that.
Fighting a group with appropriate levels like that is quite efficient.
This Guild request was an excellent catch from that point of view too.
One after the other, I dodge and ward off the attacks, then use [Rampart Reversal].
In no time at all I was responsible for the broken remains of almost ten wights.
In [Magic World], the larger the level difference was between you and your opponent, the less experience you gained, but even so, I was able to raise my level quite a bit.
[(You have gained 4 experience points.)] 
[(You level has increased from 15 to 16.)] 
Good, good. It's going well.
With this I had [(5)]  Skill points in the bank.
I'm looking forward to the time I will use these up.
With the number of wights around me greatly decreased, I used [Status] to check.
[(Elma Edvan)] 
Class : Heavy Knight
Lv : 16
HP : 29/47
MP : 14/19
Attack Power : 13+5
Defense Power: 34+5
Magic Power : 15
Agility : 15
[(Equipment)] 
<Sword of a Low Ranking Soldier> 
<Iron Armor> 
[(Special Skills)] 
[(General Skills)] 
<Rampart Reversal> 
<Parry> 
[(Titles)] 
<F Rank Adventurer> 
Good, good. It's going up nicely.
"Hey, didn't he say that he will try to pull the wights away from us...? He just straight up destroyed the majority."
"Wasn't he a Heavy Knight? Then why can he be that nimble with his dodges.... and how can he just blow them away like that?"
I could hear the other adventurers talking quietly while pointing at me.
My Status cannot be called agile compared to an average same rank adventurer.
However, the wights' movements are slow, cumbersome, and easy to predict, therefore my carefully calculated movements must seem swift in comparison.
Even [Rampart Reversal] is only good for demolishing small fries.
The only reason why it's working as well as this is due to the increased defense the [Vow of the Heavy Armor] gave initially.
"....it's good that we can count on him, but somehow I'm more scared of him than the wights right now."
Oi, I can hear you all....
That being said, to be honest, right now I can't even show what the Heavy Knight is really best at.
I want to bring my level up as soon as possible to a point where I can distribute my Skill points a bit more freely.
The Reincarnated Heavy Knight Who Was Exiled After A Supposed Big Miss Is Unparalleled With His Game Knowledge
大ハズレだと追放された転生重騎士はゲーム知識で無双する
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-reincarnated-heavy-knight-who-was-exiled-after-a-supposed-big-miss-is-unparalleled-with-his-game-knowledge/
Action Adventure Fantasy Romance Shounen
Abandoned Children Adapted to Manga Adventurers Alchemy Arrogant Characters Artifacts Blacksmith Calm Protagonist Clever Protagonist Determined Protagonist Dungeons Fallen Nobility Fantasy World Game Elements Guilds Hot-blooded Protagonist Level System Love Interest Falls in Love First Lucky Protagonist Male Protagonist Mystery Solving Naive Protagonist Nobles Poor to Rich Previous Life Talent Reincarnated in a Game World Romantic Subplot Skill Books Strategic Battles Strong Love Interests Strong to Stronger Sword Wielder Underestimated Protagonist Weak to Strong
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n8465gx/
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