Volume 4 Chapter 106 One Against Five
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Southwest, toward Yuigahama – I saw the War-golems had started fighting. The city was burning. Refugees poured toward me.
’If they’re in the way, crush them.’
Words unbefitting a monk. They got under my skin.
’Behind you.’
It was the young monk’s telepathy.
I switched to the rear visual feed. Through the white smoke pouring from the city, an enemy War-golem stood at the Kofukurozaka pass.
War-golems have no heads – just a slight rise where the face would be, with a small red opening that takes in visual data. The one standing at Kofukurozaka was unmistakably looking this way. Not physically – I could just feel it.
’You’re fine. Focus forward.’
The monk’s telepathy reached me at the same moment our War-golem rose up through the white smoke.
’Moritoki’s son is piloting it. He’ll hold.’
Right after that, a volley of Red Flame Balls shot toward the pass. The enemy froze. Several glowing yellow spheres appeared in the air, growing larger and turning red before slamming into the enemy War-golem – and scattering.
The red light faded. A second volley launched – but those archers had closed in dangerously close. And they weren’t aiming at the War-golem’s body. They were aiming at the red point that was looking this way.
They were trying to blind it.
The firing angle exceeded forty-five degrees. They’d calculated the arrow’s parabolic arc to hit the enemy’s eye at the apex – which meant the attack position was too close.
The enemy War-golem covered its eye with its left hand while swinging its right arm, mowing down the archers. Despite that, a third wave closed in and fired Red Flame Balls nearly straight up.
Meanwhile, Akabashi’s son had closed in on his War-golem without me noticing – and drove a heavy blow into the enemy’s torso. The target’s abdominal truss structure shattered, his attacking arm sinking deep into the breach.
Then, in the same motion, he grabbed the enemy’s shoulder with his other hand and wrenched his embedded arm free. In his hand, he clutched a square box.
That’s the cockpit. Where the pilot and mana support crew sit.
Akabashi’s son hurled it toward the Kofukurozaka pass.
That was brutal.
With regular Golems, it’s remote control – the pilot doesn’t die if the body’s destroyed. But with War-golems, destruction of the frame almost certainly means the pilot dies. Not only that – violent movements affect the pilot, too. War-golems are large and fragile; they can’t really jump or fly, and even if they tried, the pilot would get shaken to death inside the cockpit.
That’s why War-golem combat is slower and requires more prediction.
In that last engagement, everything was coordinated. The heavy strike, the archers’ volleys, the timing – it was all planned. Akabashi’s son must have predicted the enemy’s moves, matched his timing to the archers, and briefed his mana support beforehand. That’s how they got it done.
It’s nothing like a regular Golem, where a single pilot attacks on instinct.
They fight with mana support crews and infantry working together around the War-golem.
What do you mean, they’re the same as Golems? You bastard monk.
The way they fight is completely different.
Maybe Akabashi’s son is the last line of defense? Judging by his fighting style, he’s seriously skilled.
And his War-golem is less than two hundred meters away.
My War-golem? Probably serving as a decoy or vanguard.
That makes sense.
The enemy probably won’t send another War-golem from Kofukurozaka. If they were going to, the next one should have come already – but the pass is silent.
As for Keshōzaka – I can’t even see any War-golems, and the trees haven’t been cleared for passage. If the enemy comes, it’ll be from the southwest. From Yuigahama.
Tactically, I’ll hit them first. The final defense is Akabashi’s son.
What a bastard monk. He says we’ll lose out loud, but his tactics say he hasn’t given up.
And sure enough – Akabashi’s son’s War-golem is heading this way.
Fine. What I have to do doesn’t change.
The monk’s orders are to defend Tōshōji Temple from the large War-golems. Which means: smash every enemy War-golem. That hasn’t changed. Whether Akabashi’s son is here or not.
Then – shouts from Keshōzaka.
I can’t see any War-golems, so maybe it’s just infantry pouring in. I twisted my body and turned my vision toward Keshōzaka. The houses at the bottom of the slope were burning – smoke made it impossible to see movement from here.
Akabashi’s son turned his War-golem that way.
I swung my view back forward. At Gokurakuji Pass – no, more like the Yuigahama beach – two more War-golems appeared to be coming ashore. They must have rounded Inamuragasaki.
The first two pairs of War-golems had already fought each other to a mutual standstill. All four lay collapsed and motionless.
Our War-golem was advancing toward those two. But here’s the problem: it wasn’t just two landing.
Behind them – four more.
In the pale smoke, a total of six War-golems swayed into view on Yuigahama.
’Hey – how many of ours are stationed around Yuigahama and Gokurakuji?’
I asked the monk, suddenly frightened.
’Five at Yuigahama. Five at Gokurakuji. And that’s after pulling everyone who was guarding the east.’
’So it’s six against five, then. Both sides fight.’
If our five charged the enemy six with mutual destruction in mind – one would get through.
I can handle one.
But –
’I placed five, but two are already down. Mutual destruction. They won’t be moving.’
What?
So three of ours have to meet six landing?
No reinforcements from Gokurakuji?
As I was thinking that, the six entered the city. In under a minute, the six-on-three fight was over.
We were wiped out. The enemy had four remaining. One of them had lost an arm.
They put up a good fight. But I wish they’d taken out more than just two.
Now it’s Akabashi’s son and me – two of us – against those four plus the damaged one.
But it didn’t end there.
Infantry had followed the landed War-golems – the shouts were getting louder. Kamakura was nearly burned to the ground.
’Hey – no reinforcements from Gokurakuji?’
I asked the monk. He didn’t answer.
Instead, a War-golem emerged from the mountain shadow hiding Gokurakuji.
Reinforcements?
It was too far to tell – but even if it was, that one was missing an arm. Then another came out behind it – moving properly.
The armless one turned to challenge the pursuing War-golem – and was destroyed in an instant. The victor kept going and joined the four heading this way from Yuigahama.
’You’ve got to be kidding me. Me and Akabashi’s son – against five?’
’One of them is missing an arm.’
The bastard monk dodged the point.
’Relax. If you die, I’ll send the Amazoness back to the Black Ship.’
If I die?
’I’m getting out. No – get me down.’
’I told you. Unless you die properly, I’ve ordered the Amazoness killed.’
What the hell does “die properly” even mean? And he’d stopped calling me “guest” – now it was just “you.”
Part of me hoped Kenze would figure something out. The other part was terrified that if she’d been sedated, she couldn’t do anything. She’d saved me so many times. We’d shared a bed more times than I could count.
If possible, I wanted to help her raise her kid. But that’s not happening anymore.
The five grim reapers were already that close.
Akabashi’s son was still dealing with the infantry coming in from Keshōzaka. He needed to get over here. Five-on-one – I wouldn’t last thirty seconds.
I thought about running.
I looked down. The refugees who’d been flooding in so thickly there was no room to step – they were gone now. In their place, samurai who’d been fighting around Gokurakuji and Yuigahama were straggling in, one by one.
Among them – familiar faces.
Hojo of Luzon. Tomoe. And Imai.
No Higuchi.
Imai seemed to be wounded in the leg – Hojo was helping him walk.
They’d been with Osaragi, guarding Gokurakuji. If they’re retreating…
That means no help coming from Gokurakuji.
I looked up. The grim reapers were closer.
Akabashi’s son – hurry.
As I willed it, I noticed something off. He’d been swinging his arms, mowing down enemy soldiers – but now he’d stopped moving.
What happened?
Then he reached a hand toward the visual input area in front of his War-golem’s face – grabbed something – and yanked it out.
At the same time, an arrow flew in at incredible speed and struck his other eye.
I couldn’t believe it – an arrow from over fifty meters away had hit the eye of a moving War-golem?
That arrow had to come from a strong bow. Hitting a small, moving target like that seemed impossible.
’On the battlefield, an extraordinary warrior sometimes appears.’
Don’t give me that enlightened crap, you bastard monk.
Akabashi’s son turned around for some reason. Probably using the rear visual feed – he was coming toward me backward.
Hey – are you trying to get us both killed?
That’s what it looked like. He passed right by me, backward, and charged into the five grim reapers.
At the last instant, he spun his body – and his fist connected, heavily damaging two of them.
But his own arm had been torn clean off. With the one that remained, he swung again – cutting nothing but air. The War-golem (hyōmajin) crashed facedown and stopped moving.
Then a fully intact War-golem climbed on top of it, ripped open the cockpit, and hurled it toward the grounds of Tsurugaoka Hachimangū, where the Refugees had taken shelter.
The flattened cockpit spun through the air, traveling a considerable distance before mowing down a cluster of praying worshippers and skidding to a halt.
Whoever had been inside was probably dead by now.
Is that what’s waiting for me?
The War-golem that had killed Akabashi’s son approached me with a swagger – like it was asking, How do you like that?
”You think you’re hot stuff, don’t you?” I spat.
I had the sacred pillar braced against my shoulder. I wrenched it back with everything I had and swung it down in a vicious arc – cleaving that arrogant War-golem from shoulder to crotch.
The pillar was sturdier than I’d expected. It didn’t break. It bit deep into the enemy’s frame, from the left shoulder all the way down to its right hip.
I thought it had stopped moving. But then its internal structure gave way, and the War-golem split apart under its own weight, collapsing in two.
Got one.
That gave the others pause. I used the moment to slowly raise the pillar overhead, slid forward two steps in a steady shuffle, and brought it crashing down on the next intact unit.
Thank the gods for that pillar.
That one split clean in two as well. Its truss structure buckled under its own mass and crumbled.
Three half-destroyed War-golems left.
I turned – just in time to see an enemy arm punch clean through my War-golem’s abdomen.
Caught off guard. I’d taken a direct hit.
The cockpit groaned as something clamped around it.
I’m dead.
My right hand went slack. I dropped the pillar.
Instinct took over. With my left hand, I chopped down on the arm still buried in my mech’s gut.
The shock rattled the hand gripping my cockpit. My real, flesh-and-blood body was hurled around inside.
But I brought my hand down on the enemy’s arm a second time – and this time, it sheared off.
My turn now.
I tackled the now-armless War-golem, drove it to the ground, and stomped down on its cockpit.
Three down.
Two remained – one to my front-left, one to my front-right.
Thanks to Akabashi’s son, both of them were fighting with only one working arm.
As for me – the severed arm from my last enemy was still lodged in my mech’s gut. It restricted my movement badly. My left arm worked fine, and I could still swing my right – but I couldn’t grip anything with it.
I bent down to pick up the dropped pillar with my left hand. That’s when the one on my front-right raised its remaining arm and charged.
No time to grab the pillar.
I raised my right arm to block.
Our arms collided – and shattered on impact.
But even losing my right arm, I managed to scoop up the pillar with my left.
I drove it straight into the enemy’s cockpit. It toppled over and didn’t move.
One left.
That one’s left arm was crushed – but its right looked fully functional.
I expected another right-arm strike. Instead, it slammed into me with its full body. A suicide attack.
With only my left arm free, I couldn’t swing the pillar properly – so I used it as a shield. I planted it diagonally against the ground, bracing to absorb the oncoming charge.
But there wasn’t enough distance. The impact was weaker than it could have been.
Still, the pillar – cracking under the strain – protected my lower half. My cockpit stayed intact.
The enemy’s cockpit, however, had been blasted apart.
I won.
’Monk. It’s done.’
I announced that the job I’d taken on was finished.
But –
”Idiot! Move – NOW!”
- came the shout, in a real voice.
I climbed out of the cockpit. The last collision had crushed the War-golem’s legs, bringing it closer to the ground – but it was still a three-meter drop.
The monks were already dangling from the beams that had secured the cockpit and dropping down. It was high, but it was the safest way out.
Come to think of it – these monks. I’d never once asked them for mana.
I hope I didn’t bruise their pride or anything.
Before jumping, I glanced toward Yuigahama.
The whole area was an ocean of flames. The fire had spread terrifyingly close.
And through the smoke, I spotted enemy cavalry.
Just as planned – Kamakura was going to fall.
Well, neither side had War-golems left. I wondered how the final battle would play out.
”Guest. I’ll return your Amazoness. We’re heading to Tōshōji Temple.”
The monk said that, and started running.
Thank you for reading this far!
I’ve had a busy day today and couldn’t wrap up Kamakura properly (╥﹏╥)
Next time, for sure –
—
Summary:
The narrator and Akabashi’s son are now facing five enemy War-golems after their own forces were wiped out. The monk has threatened to kill the Amazoness if the narrator doesn’t die in battle. A mysterious arrow strike cripples Akabashi’s son’s golem, but he still charges into the five enemies, damaging two at the last moment.
The protagonist defeats five War-golems in rapid succession, losing both his mech’s arms in the process before finally destroying the last enemy through a suicide charge counter. A priest orders an immediate retreat as flames consume Yuigahama and enemy cavalry approaches in the distance. The protagonist joins the monks in escaping toward Tōshōji Temple, carrying the unanswered question of whether his promised reward – the Amazoness – will actually be returned.
—
Trivia:
War-golems have no heads – only a small red visual input opening.
The narrator’s War-golem is positioned as a decoy or vanguard.
Akabashi’s son is Moritoki’s son and the final defense line.
The enemy started with six War-golems landing at Yuigahama.
Our forces had only three operational War-golems to meet them after two were destroyed.
Our three were wiped out, leaving four enemy War-golems plus one damaged one.
Hojo, Tomoe, and Imai retreated from Gokurakuji – Higuchi is missing.
Imai has a leg wound and is being helped by Hojo.
The monk upgraded his threat: “die properly” or the Amazoness will be killed.
Kenze may have been sedated, rendering her unable to help.
Akabashi’s son took an arrow to his golem’s eye from over fifty meters away.
Despite the crippling strike, he charged backward past the narrator into five enemies.
The final blow damaged two enemy War-golems heavily.
The protagonist lost his right arm’s gripping capability but can still swing it.
Akabashi’s son’s death was indirectly beneficial – it disabled two enemy War-golems before the battle began.
The priest never asked for mana from the protagonist, which worries him about potential wounded pride.
The War-golems are called hyōmajin in Japanese, literally “ice demon” or “ice person” but translated as War-golem for mechanical context.
Kamakura is confirmed to be falling as planned, with both sides lacking War-golems for the final engagement.
The protagonist used a shrine’s sacred pillar (shinbashira) as an improvised melee weapon throughout the battle.
The enemy’s suicide attack at close range had reduced force due to insufficient distance.
The monks escaped by dangling from cockpit beams and dropping from three meters up – considered the safest method.
—
Translation Notes:
Notes:
• Moritoki – Also known as Red Bridge. The shikken of Kamakura who defied orders and led a sortie across Kofukuro-zaka. Died by seppuku after losing many soldiers. A Hojo branch family member from the Red Bridge lineage.
• Al – Alberto (Al), a massive red‑haired man recently wed to Mary, lives near the Dish Basin. He’s a companion of Hans, helping intimidate and rally elders as a villager and leader.
• Kenze – Kenze is a muscular, brown-skinned Amazoness and former Tashkurgan operative turned research student. An observant, teasing guardian with dragon tattoos, she wears gauntlet-like armor and fights with formal precision. Formerly bonded with Earnest and now a rebel leader on the Izumo, she works with Tatyana, rooms with Larry—whom she prioritizes above all—and is currently nursing an egg while declining in health.
• Tomoe – A tall, strong, and sincere warrior woman serving Hojo as an attendant and watchman. The daughter of Higuchi, she is skilled with a naginata, a heavy bow, and crafts, yet maintains a blank expression in battle. Easily flustered by nudity and naive around men, she has grown close to the other women, aids the protagonist with language, and holds deep emotional ties to the deceased Children.
• Hojo – An unsettling, aggressive male warrior from a fallen clan and ambassador/lord of the Land of Shura, this “Berserker” commands Imai and the Izumo. Dressed in sumo referee-inspired garb with a gauntlet, knee guards, and hip-mounted longsword, he has an intense, unblinking gaze. Linked to the Hojo clan, he speaks in imperious, clipped Kamakura-period Japanese. Driven by honor and trauma from his family’s slaughter, he views lethal violence as jest, yet shows restraint before outbursts.
• Imai – Hojo’s attendant and group member who remains on the bridge with Fredys and Roland. Previously scolded by Hojo and having threatened seppuku, he speaks with frustration about the Luzon fugitives. A dagger-wielding warrior of cold, methodical brutality, he operates with clinical efficiency and no emotion, interrogating a pirate by severing his ankles and calf before beheading him.
• Ho – Ho is the family name of Oliver, a 17-year-old deck crew member and comrade of the protagonist. As a member of the military unit that defended Garao Village, the young man was ultimately murdered during a night watch, slaughtered alongside Marx-san.
• Higuchi – Hojo’s attendant. Sent to gather details from the ship that brought news of Daqin’s fall. Social member of the group. Helps the protagonist understand the Berserker’s language through gestures.
• Monk – The abbot of Tōshōji Temple. A cunning strategist who speaks with old-world authority and formality. Manipulates the protagonist into piloting their war-god by holding Kenze hostage. Displays a composed, calculating demeanor throughout.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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