The Loner Who Conquers the Other World
chapter-287-2

Chapter 287: Middle-aged men’s Full 100% middle-aged men edition from middle-aged men of Useless Middle-aged men? Part 2

The entire castle is covered in traps due『Everlasting Trap』’s ability, making me the only one capable of freely moving through it, thanks to『Trap Ring – Automatically Disarms Traps』. That’s why I turned it into guerilla warfare, but even so, middle-aged bombers remain a nuisance preventing me from getting close to the target. Getting surrounded in the castle will be the end. Being indoors comes with a perk of having many obstacles to cover from explosions, but because it is indoors, explosions become directional, travelling far and with quite a destructive power.

If I use Magic Wrap to the full extent it’s not an issue at all, but self-inflicted damage will make prolonged combat impossible. And if I don’t use it, they’ll immediately catch up to me because of the difference in stats. I keep fighting while carefully controlling and then making instant escape, but at this rate I will be the one to collapse first.

It’s not even evening yet, but if I keep doing nothing but stalling for time I will get cornered eventually. Even so, I can’t start yet, the setup is not yet complete. The Kingdom’s First Division is said to be defending the border, so they can’t move, the Second Division is protecting the Capital. The Third Division has fully collapsed with troops deserted and the chain of command dissolved. And the Royal Guard is most likely following Royal Girl and Meripapa-san and is heading towards the Frontier. If a stampede were to happen inside the Kingdom in such conditions, it would be overrun without a chance to provide any resistance. That’s why I want to bait it to the Frontier and defeat it here, but suddenly being forced inside the castle, I’m now too busy getting chased around for any of that.

It wouldn’t been that bad if it were cute girls we are talking about, but I’m not happy about getting chased around by middle-aged men. Having said that, I also don’t want to get caught, hugged, or exploded by middle-aged men! Killing them will make an explosion, so I’m running around while warding them off with Cane Arts, avoiding them blowing up in my face.

However, those guys should’ve come from the Theocracy. If so, it might be a problem. The Frontier is basically the sticks. With few contacts with the outside it had no information exchange going. That’s why so far I received no complaints from Shintō Musō-ryū school of this world, but if the Theocracy has Shintō Musō-ryū branch, they might get angry at me?! I mean, I kept calling it Shintō Musō-ryū, but I haven’t even seen it, much less, taught in it? And while feeling it might be a limit of what can be claimed to be cane arts, I shoot a group of mercenaries with cane arts and jump down to a terrace. If I knew it would be like this I wouldn’t have given away all of the magic stone hand grenades.

It’s just like back then, when I was living in the Evil Forest, running around from monsters, hiding, and ambushing them, the equipment remains the same, and I’m still running around, clubbing enemies. The only difference to speak of is that the enemies changed from goblins to middle-aged men. Since I don’t get how are they really different, everything remains the same.

Taking a low start I instantly close the distance, taking a swing with 『Staff of the World Tree』that I extended to the length of a long club, knock the nearby middle-aged bomberman off his feet, and using that chance to get past him, cut down two mercenaries, then knocking away another one, jump around the corner on my right! Immediately, a shock wave sweeps over… Good grief, I have low HP and ViT, so if caught in a chain of explosions I’ll instantly die! Even one might be dangerous at point-blank range. I feel like I might survive one or two thanks to my gear, but I don’t want to actually test that.

I think that I got rid of about one or two thousand of them with traps and ambushes, but middle-aged men are still swarming around. Are they perhaps spawning somewhere? Don’t tell me that the Church’s trump card is artificial middle-aged man overflow? If so then this world is doomed. I don’t think there is any saving from that. Alright, let’s destroy them all along with this world itself!

Finally, the night has fallen. Flare signals are still two white ones. No overflow, but also no Frontier’s army in sight. It probably will take them another day, but such a prolonged fight is too risky for me.

With them switching from trying to explode from the inside to long-range barrage, I’m pinned here. I’m causing havoc with slotted in the clothes『Magic Beast Hide Armor – SpE 50% Up, ViT 30% Up, Slash Immunity, Spell Evasion, Physical Evasion, Skill: Clone』’s『Clone』skill, which had no use until now, but since it’s my first time using it the effectiveness is lacking. I mean, until now it was way faster to just rush in than doing whatever with 『Clone』? There’s even a rumor that I actually forgot that there is even such a skill, but I remembered about it when I was reviewing candidates for mithril upgrade, is how completely unused it went until now? I mean, if I usually had time to use 『Clone』, I’d use it to first get out of morning star’s range!

And this 『Clone』is merely an illusion, so I can’t use it for anything beside running around. There is no time for cloning when I’m trying to escape the sermon. In the first place, I never had to deal with the problem of receiving long-ranged attacks from an ambush or getting shot at by a large number of opponents, so I don’t have any specific countermeasures prepared. Yeah, school boys usually take part in evacuation drills at most, and nothing like running around while repeatedly being shot from a bow? If this was part of daily life, school boys would’ve been on the verge of extinction by now.

But this is worrying… They can spot me even if I erase my presence, and keep tracking even if I move at high speed. The problem comes from the Church’s knights taking command. I’m slowly but steadily getting cornered. And then escape through a secret passage. And then after bludgeoning a few people, I once again get locked on and gradually cornered. And then get away through a hidden passage. Then beating up a few people and then a few more I get surrounded again… And escape though a hidden door. Yeah, it’s very hectic! Well, I was the one who made this place, so I’m super familiar with the layout?

While conserving mana, I still continue remodeling the place as I’m running around, so they can’t rely on a map. So they can’t corner or surround me. However, the other party is probably also waiting for their preparations to complete. No idea what they are preparing for, but if they are trying to do something, I’d like to somehow hinder them, even so, it’s too hectic for me to get near them. A war of attrition in a deadlock. They are losing troops, and I’m losing highschool boy energy from being surrounded by middle-aged men. Even if I wanted to recharge, Armored Pres-san isn’t around, and even if she was with me, she’d probably scold me for trying to do it at such a place! Yeah, if at least I had Flat Gazium I would’ve been able to withstand this middle-aged man’s concentration, but even that is absent, only mana is gradually restored in vain through Magic Power Absorption.

Hm, I wonder if it would be alright to quickly go back to the Carnage Town, and drop by the guild to restore on Flat Gaze Pres-san Flat Gaze? I mean, I’m pretty sure they haven’t changed the quests on that bulletin board?