Jujutsushi Wa Yuusha Ni Narenai

After that, we kept dispatching the suicide squad for almost one week before deciding to end the field exercise. I actually wanted to try a bit longer, unfortunately we were running out of spare bodies for Rem.

「All right then everyone, thank you for your participation in the field exercise~」

After the field exercise ended without anyone dying, we returned to the School Tower and held a class meeting.

Everyone replied lifelessly when I called out their name. It seems they were really exhausted. I mean we had been fighting every day this week.

「We managed to fight Yamata no Orochi’s head and at least got used to its pattern.」

「At least huh.」

「It ain't that simple, Momokawa~」

「Those guys are seriously bad news.」

Following Class Rep's lifeless remark were Ueda and Nonomiya-san. The other vanguard was also having the same look on their faces.

Said Souma-kun succinctly.

Even after the vanguard went all out, the second phase was their limit. Upon entering the third phase, the number of the heads would increase to five, and their breath attack would be unlocked, making it even harder to cope with them.

Well, I did see everyone running desperately toward the shelter from the breath attack when I was in the middle of scouting the path. Turns out that digging a trench was the right choice. It saved our vanguard's as*es a number of times when they needed protection from breath attacks.

「What about your side, Momokawa-kun?」

「Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything that resembled a cave.」

As if that wasn't bad enough, the gargoyles became more and more troublesome the closer we were to the center, not to mention that there was the gargoyle's giant variant―― And though no one called for it, Yamata no Orochi’s head was instantly moving its target to me.

「The mountain is tough. It's already troublesome enough to fight that many gargoyles, and yet, the head itself will set me as its target once I enter the mountain.」

「Yup, the Yamata no Orochi has become more vigilant as we get closer to its main body.」

In the first place, its game-like behavior in which there was only one head first, followed by three, then five plus breaths was problematic by itself. I mean, since it's a living creature, why not take out all eight heads at once?

「We cannot break through from the mountain.」

Said Class Rep dispiritedly.

Though she already knew that it was pretty much impossible, she couldn't help but feel really dejected when having to acknowledge it in reality.

There might be a low chance of that, however, we had yet to scour the entire mountain. We had to prepare for the next field exercise and scouting again.

「How's the result of your analysis, Takanashi-san?」

I actually wanted to say it myself, but since I knew that bit*h wouldn't say anything if I weren’t the one asking, I left that job to Souma-kun. This was the result of my casual arrangement.

「U~hm, let's see… After looking at it from up close, I know the detailed position of its real body.」

「Where's the exact location?」

I asked while drawing the entire mountain and Yamata no Orochi on the blackboard.

「Right in the center of its body. I think it's right below the huge stone pillar on top of the mountain.」

I see, the position was a coincidence with my original assumption.

「Is there some sort of opening that leads to its real body somewhere in the mountain?」

I suppressed my urge to ask my questions all at once and urged Souma-kun to ask one by one instead.

「Its real body is covered by a giant shell. That's why even if there's a cave or opening leading to it, it's a dead end.」

Takanashi ba*tard, you should have said that first, I wasted an entire week just to find a cave that doesn't exist! This bi*ch definitely wouldn't have told us this had it not been for Souma-kun asking her.

That was a really close call.

「In short, the rock mountain is something like a second shell of Orochi's main body.」

「Yes, something like that.」

I pondered while drawing additional pictures on the blackboard, but its defense was tougher than my imagination.

If it were just a mere rock, Randou-san could dig it out with her spell. Unfortunately… Since the main body had a shell, part of the monster, it meant that earth magic might not work on it.

「What shall we do, Momokawa?」

「Can we really beat this guy?」

Upon re-evaluation, we were all awed by Yamata no Orochi’s might yet again.

That was the reason everyone sounded anxious. We had upgraded our equipment, and everyone had clearly become stronger than before, that's why they felt anxious upon knowing the result of this exercise.

「… As expected, perhaps we have no choice but to beat the head and aim for its true body from below.」

「Woah, calm down Souma-kun. It's not like I was not expecting this kind of result from this field exercise. First of all, it's a good thing that we can confirm everyone's growth from the fact that they can hold out against three heads in the second phase.」

「But that's not enough to beat that monster.」

「That's why we have to think of a subjugation method using the results of this exercise. Since everyone has been fighting for the last week, let's take a break tomorrow.」

Everyone was tired and depressed. Nothing good would come from thinking of a plan in this kind of situation.

「Yes, let's take a break for now and think about the next plan after that.」

Everyone had been working hard enough.

But that wasn't the case for me.

Though it was a good thing that everyone had hope, it was all about keeping our morale high. I had to find a clue to subjugate Yamata no Orochi as soon as possible…

The next day, I was working with clay in the corner of the entrance workshop.

I mean the 1/144 scale model of Yamata no Orochi. I had seen that monster's face every day during the field exercise, to the point that it was etched in my memory. The head aside, I even remembered the shape of the mountain.

Though making a 3D model like this seemed like a waste of time since I remembered its appearance, I wanted some sort of change of pace for the time being— Working on making the clay model while making a subjugation plan based on the information from the first field exercise.

I have loved playing with clay ever since I was a kid. That's why I was confident with my skills. And my confidence only grew as I obtained alchemy skills――

「Ooh, what a realistic model.」

Before I realized it, I had made a splendid, 3D model of Yamata no Orochi. If I baked it using the witch's kettle, it would turn into a complete clay statue.

「I've been too focused on the clay doll and forgot to think about the plan.」

Never mind, let's just take it as a nice change of pace.

I arranged the 18 pieces that represented us around the Yamata no Orochi figurine. The pieces were made as freebies though. I modeled ourselves as chess pieces. The size of the pieces varied depending on the individual strength.

「It's not the kind of opponent that we can fight head-on. And we can't find a breakthrough into the mountain either…」

We couldn't reach our enemy’s weakness even if we gathered our war potential at one point. To reach our target, we had to fight that giant monster and pierce through its tough shell along with the bedrock formation of the rocky mountain. Perhaps not even Souma-kun’s sword of light could pierce through that. Well, his power might be awakened in a pinch.

「Even if his attack managed to shave the bedrock, it wouldn't pierce the shell.」

A thick shell protected Yamata no Orochi. Well, there was no way the shell of such a giant creature would be as thin as paper.

「Its thickness might range from a few meters to dozens of meters.」

I looked at the huge, bluish-white scale on the palm of my hand in a sour mood.

This scale was one of the materials we secured from the severed Orochi heads by using 『Eternity』.

In the end, all that was left from those huge, severed heads were a few pieces of this scale preserved with 『Eternity』. I mean, this showed just how much that fella's body depended on magical power.

However, the remaining Yamata no Orochi material was really tough. It was comparable to the toughness of a salamander's and Thunder T-rex's scale. It was excellent material, but the amount wasn't worth the effort that everyone put together.

In addition, according to Takanashi's analysis, the toughness of the main body was comparable… to its scale.

「The more I know about that monster, the harder it seems to defeat it.」

Well, it might not be as tough as its head. Currently, only our three aces can bisect Yamata no Orochi with ease.

「Perhaps we ought to find the weakest spot of its she— No, how about finding the part that isn't protected by shell instead?」

But does that monster really have such a convenient weak point? If it did, Takanashi should've found it much earlier.

「Maybe we can smash this shell with dynamite.」

Simple brute force is the best. The value of Yamata no Orochi’s armor couldn't be compared to the one in the movies. In short, maybe not even a barrage of missiles could leave a scratch on its shell.

「Dammit, at least give us a hint as to whether it's weak against ice or fire.」

Only shitty games would include useless elements such as invincible armor. At this rate, we had no choice but to strengthen our side to adapt our tactic against Orochi.

It might even have a short invincible mode or a gimmick such as the ability to melt itself the moment it receives concentrated fi――

「Wait a minute… Can I melt this?」

===

THE NEW PROJECT:

Journey of The Childhood Friend Who Got Betrayed by Sword Saint

The Protagonist of Isekaied Story With Cheat And Harem Has No Idea That All Of The Heroines Has Already Been Stolen By Me~Urgh, My Stomach Is Killing Me~

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