Jujutsushi Wa Yuusha Ni Narenai

The attack using natural elements such as fire, thunder, or ice aside, what would happen if I tried to melt it with acid?

Come to think of it, I hadn't tried that yet.

「――『Rotten Bog』」

I tried to throw the scale into a mini bog that I made with my skill.

A while later, the mini bog started bubbling like boiling water… As if telling me that it works.

「Does that mean we can melt the scale with this method!?」

Even if acid can melt the scale, it couldn't be called as weak point. I mean, the regeneration of the scale seemed to be higher than its melting rate.

This might be the most efficient way available for us to destroy the shell.

「It's just like when I'm making preparations to subjugate the basilisk, we just need to make the magic circle… And there's no problem with the offering either…」

I might be able to drill a hole through the thick shell and bedrock to arrive at the core of the main body in one go. In that situation, Souma-kun's sword of light could hit the target.

「No wait a minute, calm down, don't get ahead of yourself. Even if I manage to create a hole with 『Rotten Bog』's ceremony… I have to go there in person.」

Though my shadow could use 『Blackhair Bind』 and the lesser version of 『Rotten Bog』, I had to be personally present if I had to use ceremony with offering.

I could invoke it as long as it was within my line of sight just like during the subjugation battle against the red raptor. All my shadow could do was draw the magic circle and prepare the offering.

「Once we go into the rocky mountain, withdrawing from it isn't a simple matter.」

After challenging Orochi time and time again, I knew that burrowing inside wasn't a realistic option. As the one who scouted that place, I knew how unrealistic this plan was.

「This is an extremely dangerous plan. Even if I deploy all the Rems and took others as escorts, defeat is imminent…」

Our only advantage against Yamata no Orochi was the fact that it never moved from its original place, allowing us to attack at our own discretion. We could attempt the challenge as much as we wanted as long as we didn't die.

But we were done for if we died. Losing even one of our potential would reduce our strength forever. Yamata no Orochi could regenerate its lost head no matter how many times we beheaded it, but we couldn't replenish our classmate.

「If we were to go with this plan, someone would eventually die along the way.」

This was the kind of risky plan that I didn't want to use. Since I had to invoke the ceremony myself, I had no choice but to risk the lives of those who went with me.

「But, there's no other way to remove its shell――」

Now that I knew the risk, I had to focus on the method to minimize the risk. Let's do our best and pray so that the plan goes without a hitch.

Men do what they can and await the verdict of heaven.

Those words sounded good, but from my perspective, they lacked crisis management. But I had no choice but to do my best when we had limited options. [TL: Momokawa forgot that "Men do their best and await the verdict of heaven" also included crisis management, including spare plans.]

「Okay, let's shelve this for now.」

At this rate, I might as well consider if this plan was viable or not. I mustn't limit myself to such a plan, there must be other alternatives.

「Come to think of it, we still needed a countermeasure for the eight heads.」

We had to find a way to seal the head that regenerated like there was no tomorrow and attack the core of the main body while it was rendered powerless.

From the result of our field training, the vanguard parties could handle up to three heads while our aces could handle up to five. But just because we managed to contain Orochi’s head, it didn't mean that we could win against it.

「Even if we divided the heads into five and three, our vanguard party and aces had to do their best to contain them.」

Not to mention that they started using breath upon entering Phase 3 when five heads had appeared. In that situation, even the rage of attack of three heads would change. On the other hand, a single death of our members would tip the delicate balance of the battle.

「Rather, is it going to unleash even more troublesome gimmicks once all the eight heads appear?」

In the first place, five heads was the limit of our aces. Once all of its eight heads appeared, it would be an untrodden territory.

If it were the boss of an action game, this phase would be the time when a new motion scene was added, making it more aggressive along with additional new attacks. As if the breath attack wasn't bad enough, this phase of Yamata no Orochi might have a super deadly AOE finishing attack that could literally wipe out our vanguard party.

And since this was a completely new attack, the vanguard party might not be able to do anything against it. In short, the party might be annihilated. And GAME OVER.

「Dammit, this guy is too tough… Man, that's reality for ya~」

I was really dumbfounded upon realizing the severity of our situation and closed my eyes for a while. Ah, I started cooking another plan.

Calm down now, this is a mind game. Since this was a reality, it was possible to use an out-of-the-box method that was impossible to use in a game.

If this were a game, a player would have no choice but to watch as the boss unleashed its full power and fought them head-on.

But since this was reality, we could literally beat them with minimum effort. I mean the sore loser often said cliched lines such as 「I'm not serious yet」, right?

「There's no need to face the full-powered Yamata no Orochi. We mustn't let all of the eight heads appear.」

We had to stop it at the third phase when only five heads appeared. Its power might get stronger along with the increasing number of heads.

「Meaning that we have to seal the three heads just to be safe.」

We had to completely seal its movement. The vanguard party shouldn't fight and only do their best to prolong the battle. I had to consider that Orochi would unleash some sort of finishing move once all of its eight heads appeared together.

「One head needs around 5 minutes to completely recover. But, that fella can recover in 2~3 minutes at the earliest.」

Currently, we had yet to reach the point where we managed to corner Orochi until it was forced to move its head during recovery. But once its head recovered enough, it would be pretty much ready to enter the fray again.

「After crushing one head, we have to crush two heads of the second phase within a minute. Then we have to keep attacking the three heads… That sounds impossible.」

Defeating the head as fast as possible might be easier said than done in our current situation. In the first place, defeating one head was already troublesome enough.

It might be possible if we went all out, however, the vanguard parties would be too exhausted to defeat the two heads that would appear within a minute.

But we couldn't let it go beyond the third Phase. As long as we incapacitated three heads at the start of the third phase, we only needed to fight three heads for the rest of the battle by keeping on beating them black and blue. Alas, those three heads would unleash breath attacks as soon as they appeared.

We wouldn't be able to decapitate its head in that state.

Moreover, the three aces had to keep beating the three heads that were beaten black and blue during the second Phase, which sounded like a superhuman feat. If they ever stopped from doing that, the beaten-up head would then recover to its former glory.

It was obvious that the beaten-up head would eventually recover as our vanguards would be busy battling against the rest of the heads.

「In the first place, such a plan is not realistic…」

I mean, no matter how powerful their vocation was, their stamina was limited. The same went for their weapon.

In anticipation of a long battle, I should incorporate rotations and breaks into the plan. Even with that, it didn't mean that all 18 members were ready to be dispatched at any moment.

「Even if I can dissolve the shell with 『Rotten Bog』, it'd take quite a long time to do so.」

In that situation, the battle would definitely turn into a battle of attrition.

Alas, the battle would only become more and more difficult as time passed. It would come to the point where we might barely get any time to rest.

「In that situation, we have to find a way to seal the three heads rather than have three people fight them non-stop.」

Seriously man, the "To-do list" keeps getting bigger and bigger the more I think about it.

「Haah, dammit, I can't find a breakthrough at all…」

Should I create another distraction to escape from reality? How about adding colours to Yamata no Orochi? Or should I make an erotic figurine instead? I have Mei-chan and Randou-san as ideal busty models, after all.

「Maybe I can make a living off making figurines once I'm back in Japan.」

Dolls are the best. It is no big deal even if they couldn't move. But as long I kept honing my ski――

「――That's right, we just need to immobilize them.」

The premise of defeating them was impossible to begin with.

Rather, fighting against Yamata no Orochi by decapitating its heads that could regenerate like there was no tomorrow was a foolish errand.

「Keep their heads alive without injuring them. Then we just need to seal their movement―― Yeah, it's seal.」

By seal, I naturally didn't mean something like a huge rock or jar.

We just needed to make sure that they couldn't move.

Even Yamata no Orochi, in Japanese myth, got its movement sealed after drinking too much sake.

Naturally, I wouldn't use alcohol on this Yamato no Orochi, nor would it work on that monster. Even if we did prepare a lot of liquor, I'm sure that monster wouldn't even spare a glance at it.

Anyhow, the seal here was something that kept Orochi's head from moving around.

Naturally, we wouldn't be able to seal every single head. That's why we had to at least seal three of the heads.

We might need to spare some manpower to maintain the seal. Obviously, we couldn't spare three… It had to be one, or two at most. The two spellcasters could take turns while recovering their magical power.

「Sealing three heads and maintaining the number to five would buy us long enough time.」

If we could reduce the number of people needed to maintain this state, we could use them to attack the main body in the mountain.

However, was it really possible to invoke a really long ceremony… While maintaining the stalemate in the battlefield?

「Oh screw that. We can do it. It might be barely possible. Now we can try to de―― No, we can defintiely defeat Yamata no Orochi with this method.」

===

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~

(~’.’)~Advance Chapter Available in Fox too!~(‘.’~)

(~’.’)~You Can Read Advance releases by Becoming My Patron~(‘.’~)

(~’.’)~Support Me With Ko-Fi~(‘.’~)