Chapter 124-125 - Old Strong One

Translator Note: Oh boy, I binge played all Danganronpa 1 and 2, and I gotta say, I was completely mind-blown. Now I am going for the anime, and then, V3. I am already at a state where I search for memes in youtube. I am falling deeper and deeper into this despair! Halp! Someone send Halp!

That’s someone I know.

The granny I first met when arriving at Ishtar Blaze.

She transported me at the back of a Golem to the center of the city, and gave me a hunting request after; we had that kind of friendly relationship.

Why is that Obaa-san holding the earth scythe Seeta and rampaging big time?!

“Baa-chan, yer all right-dasu ka?! Or more like, since when did ya take my earth scythe-dasu?” (Sasae)

Sasae-chan runs towards the Obaa-san in happiness.

And in response to that Sasae-chan, the Obaa-san presents a fist to her forehead.

“Ouch?! What ya doing, *Baa-chan*?!” (Sasae) <grandma>

“Ye stupid grandchild! In this kind of serious situation, why on earth is the hero spaced out?!”

Eh, grandma? Eh, grandchild?

“Sorry for that, Visitor-san. Mah grandchild seems to have hurt ya.”

Is what the Obaa-san says as she lowers her head at me.

“After being appointed as the hero, I thought that her judgement would get better, but it looks like that ain’t the case. A stupid child will stay a stupid child. It would have been better if the previous hero waited a bit longer before marrying. This lad doesn’t have the makings for a hero yet.”

“But Baa-chan! That guy is the personification of the Dark God-dasu yo! The reason why Great Pillar-sama is angered is without doubt cuz—-Ouch!” (Sasae)

She got the fist again.

“Sasae, I already knew that ye and that brat Founder were doing something secretly. Ye as well musta had quite a lot of things to think about as a hero. It must be scary to do things without knowing what is the correct thing to do, right? But ya see, even with that, the one who has to take the first step faster than anyone else is the hero. Ya see, a hero is a hero cuz they have courage.”

The Obaa-san brandishes the earth scythe Seeta.

And then, jumps forward.

“It be important to listen to the oracle, but even with that, seeing all the things that are occurring in front of ya, what ye have to do should be obvious, isn’t it?!”

A storm dancing wildly in the sky; that’s the only way I could describe that sight that was unfolding before my eyes.

The earth scythe that the Obaa-san was manipulating was dancing lightly in the sky as if it weighed nothing, and on top of that, it was freely transforming and attacking the roots that were at the surroundings.

The blade entered the roots like jelly, and just like that, it severs them.

It is not physical strength. She is cutting them away relying solely on the weight of the giant scythe, and the Obaa-san was simply holding it.

…No, that’s not all she is doing. The Obaa-san was constantly pouring earth divine power to the earth scythe, and by doing that, it is changing its weight and solidity at a dizzying speed.

At times, as light as a balloon; at times, as heavy as steel; it is exactly because she changes its mass in just an instant that it felt as if that giant scythe was rampaging like a living being.

And the Obaa-san, that was controlling that beast of a giant scythe, was its beast tamer.

That means her skills are that much polished.

At the very least, more than the original owner, Sasae-chan.

Thanks to that, the roots that were trying to attack us were wiped out in the blink of an eye. The people that were captured by it were also rescued promptly.

“Strong! That Obaa-san is way too strong!” (Haine)

Now that I think about it, at the time when I first met her, she hit me with strength that I wouldn’t think possible from an old woman. Just what in the world is she?!

“Of course-dasu!! Baa-chan be a legend after all!” (Sasae)

“Eh?”

Sasae-chan shouts happily.

“She be called the strongest in the history of the Earth Church; the earth hero known as ‘Taker by the Roots’! That be my Baa-chan-dasu!!” (Sasae)

“Don’t go getting all high and mighty over something that’s not even about ya.”

“Ouch!”

And once again, she gets the fist.

“It be embarrassing. Yer past craziness’ just doesn’t disappear once it is been edged and will stay till death, just like wrinkles.Thanks to that past glory, mah grandchild was appointed as a hero when she is still so unripened. On top of that, she was spoiled rotten by her surroundings, and showed no signs of maturing.”

“Uwu~~.” (Sasae)

Sasae-chan moans as if being hit in a sore spot, and the Obaa-san gives her the giant scythe.

“Now then, take it back. The current owner is not me, but ya. Yer the current earth hero.”

“But Baa-chan, I be still—!!” (Sasae)

“I am getting old, ya see. I can’t maintain my full strength for even a minute. My breath is already rough and I can’t move anymore.”

Just like she said, the Obaa-san was breathing heavily and was sweating a lot.

“Sasae, ya only polished your Golem controlling abilities and didn’t polish yer body techniques, but right now, ya can’t be saying those things, ya know. Today’s enemy is Great Pillar-sama. That’s why, Golems are not yer allies.”

Just as the Obaa-san said, the Golems are still under the control of Mantle, capturing people and presenting them to the giant tree.

Karen-san and Mirack are trying to stop it. There were surges of light and fire faraway.

“Listen well. The true power of the earth divine power is the property alteration of a solid. If ya seriously pray for it, this giant scythe will become as light as cotton, as heavy as lead metal, as thin as paper, as thick as a shield, as hard as steel, as sticky as mud; all of those properties are possible. Be it fire, water, wind, light; it can cut anything. That be the earth scythe.”

“U-Understood-dasu, Baa-chan!” (Sasae)

“Don’t get weak on yer knees. Ya can do it.”

Sasae-chan takes the earth scythe Seeta with an expression filled with determination.

Celestis and I looked at it from beginning to end from the sides.

“Uhm, you know. That Obaa-san might have said all those things but, I think that she herself is spoiling that brat like crazy as well.” (Celestis)

“Yeah. But she is properly guiding her.” (Haine)

She must have been raised caringly by many people just like this, like an egg. That is the earth hero, Gonbee Sasae.

“Now Sasae, go! What is the motto of the Earth Church’s military power, the Scorched Earth Annihilation corps?!”

“‘Punch first, apologize later’-dasu!” (Sasae)

“If they don’t forgive ya?!”

“‘Punch a lot first, and apologize later’-dasu!!” (Sasae)

Isn’t that motto no good?

But it looks like it was effective.

Being given a push by her beloved grandmother, the hero received a hundred times more energy.

“This be the time to make a decision-dasu! In order to fulfill my duty as a hero! In order to protect a lotsa people! The earth hero, Gonbee Sasae, will now be fighting against Great Pillar-sama!” (Sasae)

And then, she brandished the giant scythe and ran off.

• 125: Battle at the Earth capital

“[Holy Light Blade]!”

“[Flame Hurricane]!”

“[Strengthening] and [Edge Tornado]!”

Karen-san, Mirack, and Sasae-chan were fighting at their own sides and were hindering the advance of the roots, but the situation didn’t look good.

The opponent was undeniably gigantic after all. A giant tree that would make you wonder if it is serving as a pillar for the sky, Grandma Wood.

Even if it’s a hero, the attack of a single human would only be damage on a level of pricking it with a thorn. On top of that, the giant roots that Grandma Wood uses as weapons have already captured a good amount of humans. There were so many that it made the surface of the roots uneven.

Of course, they couldn’t attack recklessly, and the fight naturally turned conservative.

We were slowly being cornered and the state of the situation was slowly turning to the worse.

“As I thought…I have to go too!!” (Haine)

“And like I said, you can’t! Stay there! Just a bit more for your wound to close!!” (Celestis)

The wound at my abdomen that was made by the earth scythe Seeta was closing visibly, but it didn’t reach full recovery.

In normal circumstances, it should be a wound that would require to be sewn up and have me rest for several weeks, so compared to that, this was a scarily fast recovery here. But right now, every second that passes is mortifying.

“…Ya see, we ended up relying way too much on things that we couldn’t comprehend.”

The Obaa-san that was sitting at our side said this.

This person that has been confirmed to be a strong fighter in the past is already an old person and can’t move much, but that defenseless posture of hers felt like it was saying: ‘who cares anymore, whatever happens, happens’, as if she had given up already.

“We know about the thing called ethereal that the far cities use. That be something that was found by the hands of people, researched by the hands of many people, and took several decades to develop. It be different from Golems.”

The Obaa-san continues.

“We be given something we didn’t understand at all, we relied solely on something we didn’t understand. I thought it wasn’t good for things to continue like this, and yet, I couldn’t change things.”

“…Even so, that doesn’t serve as a reason to accept this destruction.” (Haine)

My wound is mostly closed now.

I stop the healing, and stand up.

“You, wait a moment!” (Celestis)

Celestis hurriedly tried to put me back in place, but I didn’t obey.

“I will defeat Grandma Wood –Great Pillar-sama. I will also save the people that were assimilated. Everyone is still alive. That thing’s objective is to obtain stable prayer—spiritual energy absorption, so there’s no point if it were to kill them.” (Haine)

“How are we going to defeat such a big thing like that?! Also, saving the people that are assimilated to the tree is practically an impossible feat. Just how are you going to safely sever the violently wriggling roots? Moreover, save those several hundreds of people!” (Celestis)

“The trunk itself.” (Haine)

I point at Grandma Wood.

“The tree’s body is the trunk. That guy is using only the roots to assimilate humans, and the assimilated people are concentrated on the roots. In other words, if we blow up the trunk, the people will be safe.” (Haine)

Of course, plants are filled with vital energy. Just like weeds, even if you cut them into a thousand pieces, as long as the roots remain, it can grow as many times as it wants, which could be a plausible possibility here.

But, even if that really is the case, if we blow up the trunk, and on top of that, wipe out all the leaves and branches, the tree won’t be able to receive nutrients from the sunlight, and there will definitely be some damage dealt.

“No no no no! Wait wait wait there!” (Celestis)

Celestis immediately objects to my plan.

“You are saying this incredibly casually but, can you blow up that big tree?! That thing’s size is not something to sneeze at, you know?! The biggest monster I know of is the Great Sea Dragon I fought not that long ago, but there’s the need to combine several hundreds of those in order to reach the size of this tree, you know?! And you are saying you are going to blow it up?!” (Celestis)

“I can.” (Haine)

My affirmation left Celestis speechless.

“But in order to do that, we have to lower those rampaging roots. Right now they are wriggling and jumping around, and there are times when they would get close to the trunk; with that, there’s the risk of dragging those too in it. I won’t be able to cleanly blow the trunk up!” (Haine)

Celestis was looking at me with a clear face of: ‘did this guy hit his head?’.

“Understood! That role, I will accept it!!”

The voice that reverberated from the wireless transmitter was from Karen.

Looks like our conversation reached their ears as well.

“We heroes will lure the roots and lower them to the ground! Haine-san, please concentrate on attacking the main body! Mirack-chan! Sasae-chan! You can do it, right?!” (Karen)

“Is there are a time when I have said no to what you propose, Karen?!” (Mirack)

“I don’t understand, but I understand-dasu!!” (Sasae)

“Wait, you girls!!” (Celestis)

Celestis voices her disapproval alone, but it soon disappeared.

She already knows that once Karen-san has said something, she has a personality that doesn’t go back anymore.

“—I get it, geez! Let’s go with that plan! Get it, Haine-chi? This basically means that the four of us will be entrusting our life to you! Make it succeed with franticness on the level of making all of us your brides, okay?!” (Celestis)

And just when she was lacking on things to say, Celestis-san goes and says something outrageous.

“That sounds nice! Let’s do that!!” (Karen)

Karen-san, please don’t thoughtlessly bite.

“Anyways, I will be moving to a place where I can snipe Grandma Wood. Please tell the others not to get closer than necessary. If they get caught in it, they won’t be leaving even dust behind after all.” (Haine)

“I don’t understand well, but I do understand that you are incredibly confident. Okay. You take this as well!” (Celestis)

Saying this, Celestis takes out something from her pocket and throws it to me.

It is the same thing that Celestis has in her ear. A wireless device?

“It is the latest model of the head office in Hydra Ville. You equip it by fixing that hook at your ear. With that, you will be able to fight freely with both arms and still maintain communication. I said this already but, the only ones who have been successful in making a small version like that is us!” (Celestis)

It is true that being able to communicate even when afar is a grateful thing.

I equip the transmission device to my right ear just as told.

“Haine-san, I have something to talk to you about later.” (Karen)

And, the moment I equipped it, I heard the voice of Karen.

“I will have you properly explain the reason why you went on your own and left me behind, okay?” (Karen)

It looks like things are getting scary.

But in order to connect the future to that scary event, I have to obtain victory here.

Understanding what everyone has to do, we move towards that goal.