Raising the Lowest-Ranked Adventurer, the Heroic Girl – Wasn’t I Just a Substitute Old Man?

Raising the Lowest-Ranked Adventurer, the Heroic Girl – Wasn’t I Just a Substitute Old Man?

Volume 2  Chapter 39   “World’s Strongest” and “Survivor”

“Alright then, shall we begin?”

Upon hearing Nina’s words, I reluctantly faced her.

However, even if she said “let’s play,” I was far from prepared.

The equipment I had collected was merely a makeshift assortment of items found scattered in the area where the others had set up camp.

The recovered equipment consisted of several magic tools with magic replenishment potions, along with a couple of swords, a few knives, and a single handgun.

Compared to the usually extensive arsenal I would have used to counter Nina, it was an uneasy situation, but there was no choice.

“Yes!”

Yet, whether she knew or didn’t know what was going on inside my heart… Well, she probably didn’t know for sure, but Nina replied with a cheerful smile.

And she started constructing her magic… at an astonishing speed.

Normally, I would be able to interfere when she prepares her magic from a situation like this, but Nina’s magic she’s about to use is too fast for me to disrupt.

It’s a flame that she scatters in front of her, without specifying its shape, speed, power, or target.

That’s why she can prepare it so quickly, but the problem is that even with just that, it has enough power to easily kill someone in Nina’s case.

I jump back from the spot and simultaneously throw an explosive magic tool forward—boom.

The force of the flames that was about to hit me weakens due to the explosion, and I distance myself from the blast.

Despite moving away, I still stumble slightly from the blast impact.

However, Nina doesn’t pursue me.

It’s always the same with her. When she kills ordinary enemies, it’s not like this, but when she fights me, she always takes a brief pause after her attack, as if enjoying a turn-based battle. Maybe she was like that with Miyano too.

Well, thanks to that, I have some room to breathe, so I use a magic tool to create smoke.

This is originally meant for escaping, so the smoke lasts longer compared to what I usually use. As someone who only needs the smoke to obstruct vision for a moment, the lingering smoke is nothing but a hindrance, but I can’t afford to be picky.

Due to the smoke, Nina probably can’t tell what I’m planning, and I can’t see Nina either.

But I assume she’s still there, so I throw a magic tool towards Nina beyond the smoke.

She must have recognized the magic tool I threw. I sense a change in Nina’s magic power.

She’s probably trying to destroy the thrown magic tool, but before I can be attacked by Nina, the magic tool I threw activates in mid-air and emits a burst of light.

Escaping the effect of the flash by being in the smoke, I immediately rushed towards Nina.

Attacking without confirming its effectiveness against the opponent is reckless, but you can’t survive by always playing it safe.

As I burst through the smoke and appeared in front of Nina, I swiftly pulled out my handgun and aimed for her face and legs, firing shots.

However, while a gun may be a threat to an ordinary person, it’s nothing more than a toy for Nina. Even if it hits her eye, it will only momentarily startle her.

Besides, she would probably notice the bullets and wouldn’t even take the hit unless she was extremely careless or caught off guard.

The shots to the legs are the same. They are even less meaningful than the ones aimed at her head.

But that’s only when it comes to the gun alone.

“Eek!”

Even in the midst of a life-and-death battle, I heard such a cute voice.

Well, of course, it was Nina, not me. It would be creepy if a middle-aged guy like me made such a sound.

So, what happened? Nina fell.

While it’s true that Nina can perceive the bullets and would only be slightly affected by them, it also means they have some effect, albeit minimal. And there are drawbacks to her ability to perceive them as well.

Because she can perceive them, Nina inadvertently tenses her body when bullets seem like they’re about to hit her.

Even for an ordinary person, even if it’s a child’s toy, if something is flying towards you, naturally you tense up, right? It’s the same principle.

So when bullets are coming towards her, Nina is cautious and tenses her body—she tenses her legs. But as she tenses her legs, I turn the ground beneath those legs into mud.

Still, under normal circumstances, Nina wouldn’t just stumble from the ground turning into mud.

But what if, at the same time ground turns into mud, and bullets hit her body?

With her body stiffened and her balance slightly off, she becomes unstable on her feet, and then the impact of the bullets hits.

Even for Nina, it wasn’t “nothing” as she expected.

The result of that is her falling down.

And to follow up on that, I throw the same explosive magic tool that I threw initially towards Nina.

But, well, as expected, Nina effortlessly sweeps it away with the same casual flames she used before, incinerating it before it can explode.

However, it doesn’t matter.

Unlike with Miyano, I don’t have the power to face her head-on.

That’s why, in this situation, my goal is to deplete her magical energy.

During the battle with Miyano, she must have already depleted a considerable amount of magical energy, and if I can make her waste more by firing aimlessly, I just have to endure until she runs out.

That’s why I aim the gun once again at Nina, who is stumbling and almost falling, to make her expend more magical energy.

However, despite being in an incredibly unstable state, with Nina stumbling and on the verge of falling, she managed to leap high using only one foot that hadn’t turned into mud.

In terms of height… around ten meters?

There’s no way this is the movement of a magician. This is the power of the highest level of absurdity among the special-grade.

In mid-air, Nina, looking down at me, unleashes her magic, but this time it’s not just casual flames. It’s a firmly shaped ball of flames.

There are more than a hundred… maybe not a thousand, but who knows?

All of them rain down, targeting me.

However, I’m accustomed to such things, and I take action to deal with it.

This, and this, and also this… then there’s that…

“And… this!”

Among the approaching balls of flames, I carefully select several and unleash a soil-based magic.

It’s not a grand-scale magic by any means. At most, they are fist-sized.

Normally, such an action would be meaningless, but things are different now.

“Guooooooh!”

The soil-based magic I unleashed successfully hit Nina’s anticipated ball of flames and caused an explosion. Simultaneously, it triggered a chain reaction, causing the surrounding balls of flames to explode as well.

This was what I aimed for. With such a dense cluster, once one bursts, the surrounding ones will chain react. I targeted multiple to increase the certainty.

As a result, despite being blown away by the blast, I managed to survive amidst the flames that filled my field of vision.

However, simply enduring is not enough. I can’t just lie there on the ground. I need to act immediately.

“Ikyaah!?”

Nina, who attacked me and then landed, let out another adorable voice, but this time it carried a sense of anguish—a scream that hinted at something tragic.

Did the ground turn into mud again?

Well, that’s not entirely wrong, but since she nearly stumbled due to the mud, Nina would have been wary of the mud at her feet.

So the direct cause of Nina’s fall wasn’t the mud.

Then what made Nina scream? Pebbles.

I manipulated sand into Nina’s shoes, compacting it inside to create small stones. They had a defensive shape similar to sea urchins.

What would happen if she stepped on them without noticing while paying attention to other things?

The answer lies in Nina’s condition—very painful.

Well, it’s probably because it’s Nina that she can get by with just “painful.” If it were a second-class mage, they would likely sustain an injury, and even a first-class mage might get injured, I suppose.

Although someone might have noticed if Nina had been standing normally, fortunately, she had been airborne until just now.

Not being on the ground and without pressure, it would have been difficult to notice any abnormalities inside her shoes.

However, that’s when my magic ran out.

I hadn’t started with a large amount of magic to begin with, and I had been using it repeatedly in a short period for attacking, hindering, self-enhancement, and using magical tools. So it’s no wonder it ran out.

So, what do I do? I use a replenishment potion.

There’s no magical potion that magically heals injuries just by drinking it like in stories, but there are potions that can restore magic.

That’s the replenishment potion. Technically, it should be called a magic replenishment potion, but well, it doesn’t really matter.

After draining the replenishment potion, I drew my sword and rushed toward the fallen Nina.

Nina once again scattered flames indiscriminately, but just like before, I threw an exploding magical tool in front of her, causing an explosion.

That was the last explosive tool I had, but it successfully reduced the intensity of Nina’s flames.

However, that alone wasn’t enough to completely negate the damage from the lingering flames and the explosion of the magical tool.

So I activated a defensive magical tool to protect myself from the flames and the blast, pushing through the flames.

“Damn it, it’s not like it’s supposed to break after just one use, you lousy piece of junk!”

However, the magical tool that protected me broke under the strain of that single use.

I know it’s not a faulty product. It’s just that Nina’s flames are that dangerous.

But even so, I had to say something to vent my frustration.

“Seaaah!”

I thrust through the flames and swung my sword down towards Nina, who was trying to regain her stance.

But it was caught. With just a single finger, no less.

I knew it, and it had happened before, but even so, I attacked with quite some seriousness while thinking, “If it ends like this…” And yet, just a single finger… Can I cry about it?

But I can’t stop there. Even someone as remarkable as Nina should have some self-enhancement if she can stop my sword with just a single finger.

In other words, the objective of making her use her magic is being accomplished.

So it’s not a failure. Rather, it’s a success.

“- Ahaha. It’s fun, isn’t it?”

…Is it really a success?

Seeing Nina smiling with genuine enjoyment, I felt a bit uneasy, but I have no choice.

“However…”

As we clashed, with swords and bare hands… or rather, exchanged blows, Nina slowly opened her mouth and unleashed a barrage of flames, blowing me away from the center of her attack.

“Guu! …Tch!”

As my whole body burned and the shorts I wore underneath turned into something resembling a pair of shorts with holes, I hastily got up and threw my sword at Nina.

“My magical energy is running low. So let’s finish this in one more attack.”

However, the sword was easily deflected, and Nina began constructing her magic.

I searched for flaws to disrupt her from casting it, but it seemed like she had put considerable effort into its construction, leaving no openings.

In that case, I tried to attack Nina directly, but flames emerged around her, creating a barrier that I couldn’t pass through.

It seems like I have no choice but to find a way to endure the unleashed magic.

…Judging from the construction of the magic, Nina is probably using the same one she used when she “played” with Miyano in the end.

Honestly, if that thing is directed at me, I would have no choice but to die. But does she think I can defend against it? …She probably does. Otherwise, she wouldn’t use it.

How much does she expect from me? I’m not that incredibly strong…

Still, I begin to take action to survive.

I can’t get close to Nina or launch an attack, but that doesn’t mean I have nothing to do.

I head towards the area where the students had set up their positions and start gathering the magic tools that were left behind and deemed unnecessary, packing them into a makeshift bag as best as I can.

“I did it.”

As I finished my preparations, Nina seemed to have completed constructing her magic and called out to me.

In response to her voice, I stood up, and Nina smiled with a hint of exhaustion on her face.

“That’s the end. Today was really… fun.”

With those words, Nina unleashed the magic towards me without hesitation.

…If I take a hit like this, I’ll probably die.

While thinking such thoughts in the back of my mind, my body continued to act in order to survive.

At the moment Nina released her massive flames, I threw the bag filled with magic tools towards her magic.

Accidents during magic tool creation often result in significant damage, destroying the surrounding area.

In some cases, it can even surpass attacks of the highest caliber.

I intentionally reproduced that accident.

The thrown magic tools would break due to Nina’s magic, releasing the power contained within and scattering it in the surroundings.

The impact would neutralize Nina’s magic. That was the plan.

And now, my plan—or rather, my gamble—was put into motion.

“Ugh… Gaaaaah!!”

Even though I used up all the remaining magic power for defense, the impact alone felt as if my entire body had been punched.

I tumbled and rolled like a bouncing ball, but eventually collided with something, coming to a stop.

As the impact subsided, I lifted my head to see a heavily damaged ground and beyond it, the figure of Nina lying on the ground.

…It seems that once again, I have managed to survive.