Jack of All Trades, Party of None

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In Hanemiya, where pure rain poured down, Haruto’s fists struck down the phantom demons.

But no matter how many he defeated, there seemed to be no end in sight.

The phantom demons crawling along the ground surged forth as if springing from a bottomless well.

“Captain, this is endless!”

Katina shouted as she rushed over.

The water blades she unleashed sliced off the legs of several phantom demons that were about to swarm a boy who had been left behind.

Splashes of pure liquid, unlike blood or miasma, scattered around.

“I know!”

Haruto responded lightly, striking the phantom demons that had lost their balance after losing their legs.

The balls of qi from his fists vibrated the air as they crushed the phantom demons.

Katina helped the boy to his feet and led him toward the place where civilians were being gathered for evacuation.

If it were just about continuously slaying phantom demons, it might be manageable.

But protecting civilians who couldn’t fight was a different story.

Foreign tourists, children who had been slow to evacuate, elderly people who couldn’t even wield weapons.

There were far too many people to protect.

“Damn it! Not being able to use bird’s-eye vision is so frustrating!”

In the Hanemiya outskirts where he had teleported from, he could still use bird’s-eye vision to some extent, but now, with mana growing unstable in Hanemiya, he couldn’t.

“Huey! How is the civilian evacuation going!?”

In response to Haruto’s call, a voice came from the shadow of a building a little ways off.

“The evacuation itself is going smoothly! But if any more people arrive, I’m not sure if we can protect them all…”

In fact, over thirty people had already gathered tightly at the evacuation point.

Sion and Telshe were guarding the place.

He trusted those two.

But if the number of phantom demons swelled further, they’d eventually reach their limit.

“Oliver and Luna will probably take a bit more time to return…”

Oliver and Luna, who were not present here, were transporting the gathered civilians beyond the reach of the pure rain.

But the round trip inevitably took time.

Haruto mulled over the situation.

(At this rate, we’ll be overwhelmed…!)

There was a limit to how many he could protect by punching and defeating.

Haruto glanced briefly toward the Sacred Mountain.

Unless they stopped what was spewing out from there, this would never end.

He understood.

But since Orun and Fuuka had been entrusted with that task, his job now was to keep fighting here.

He couldn’t afford to show weakness in a place like this.

Just as he punched another phantom demon down, he felt a chilling presence from behind.

“Captain, a big one has appeared…!”

Huey shouted, his gaze fixed on four unusually swollen phantom demons crawling out.

Each exuded a strange aura unlike any of the previous foes.

Their fangs had lengthened, their vaguely blurred bodies had hardened like rock, and dense pure mana oozed from all over them.

“An enhanced type at this stage!”

Haruto raised his fist.

The first enhanced phantom demon slid toward him like it was skimming the ground.

Haruto met it with a fist wrapped in qi.

At the moment of contact, he channeled qi into the enhanced phantom demon’s body and detonated it.

The enhanced phantom demon burst from within.

A flood of pure mana-like liquid splattered around, obscuring his vision.

Normally, Haruto would still have no blind spots.

But now, the pure rain had sealed his bird’s-eye vision.

Taking advantage of this blind spot, the remaining three charged at Haruto.

“Damn—”

It was too late when he realized.

The sharp claws of the enhanced phantom demon swung down to cut him.

“I’ll cut the one in front. You take the left. Nagisa, cover the right.”

A resolute voice echoed across the battlefield.

“Understood.” “Got it!”

In the next moment, the central phantom demon was shredded into pieces by countless slashes, the one on the left was sliced in a vertical line, and the right one suddenly melted into a gooey mess.