Chapter 8 (2/2)

When he noticed it, he jumped aside with all his might.

The place where he was just at exploded like a cannonball had just struck it. It gouged out the ground as it detonated. Hajime rolled while the earth rumbled, and stopped with his backside on the floor. He retreated from the epicenter with a pale face.

Slowly the rabbit stood up with a slack attitude, after it continued its assault. Hajime quickly constructed a stone wall with his transmutation. Stone wall met the rabbit’s kick and easily the kick pierced through it. By pure reflex he brought up his left arm to block. Good thing his face was not crushed, but the impact launched him to the ground. Pain coursed through his left arm when he gathered himself.

“Augh”

When he looked at his left forearm, it was broken and bent in a funny angle. Looks like it was totally crushed. Crouching in pain, he desperately sought out the rabbit. What he found was the rabbit walking in a relaxed manner, a total inverse of its earlier attitude. It must have been his imagination, but its eyes were staring at him in a condescending. Looks like it was having fun messing with him.

Since he was on his backside, he couldn’t even retreat that well. There standing in front of Hajime was the rabbit. It looked down on him, like he was some worm crawling on the earth. The rabbit brandished its foot to show it off.

(…I wonder if this is the end…)

Despair assailed Hajime. He adopted a dazed looked and gave up as he stared at the rabbit’s feet. Eventually the kick of instant death was swung.

Hajime shut his eyes, horrified at the impending doom.

…

No matter how much time passed, the expected blow never came. He fearfully opened his eyes and in front of his face was the rabbit’s foot. The kick was stopped just before it made impact. It can’t be, was it still playing with him and trying to instill even more anguish in him? Hajime noticed something though, when he looked closely the rabbit was trembling.

(W-What? Why is it trembling…it seems scared…)

No, not “seem”, it really was afraid. Hajime tried to run for the right passage, but he caught sight of a new demon.

Huge, was a word that could describe it. The beast was 2 m tall and its whole frame covered in white fur. Like all the other monsters he met here, this beast also had pulsating dark red lines wrapping its body. If he could compare it to another animal then a bear came to mind. One differences were that its arm extended all the way down to its feet, and these arms had 3 claws protruding out almost 30 cm.

Before he knew it that bear was nearby, while it glared at its prey. Silence surrounded the area. Both Hajime and the rabbit was frozen and could not move. No, would not move. Just like how Hajime was earlier. The bear’s stare had stopped them.

“…Gururu.”

Tired of the situation, the bear started to growl.

“Tsu!”

This caused the rabbit to return to reality. It quickly turned tail and instantly retreated at top speed. All that speed it used to crush its enemies was now being used to escape. Too bad it was all for naught.

Using speed that didn’t suit its size, the bear aimed it’s sharp claws at the rabbit. The rabbit used its agility to twist his body to dodge the blow. Hajime was certain the bear’s claws had missed their target, and he saw the rabbit finish dodging.

When it landed, blood started to gush from its body as multiple cut wounds emerged on its body. More and more blood poured out of its wound until Hajime noticed that its body wasn’t whole anymore. Piece by piece sections of the rabbit slipped off in different direction and a fountain of blood sprayed when the largest section was set free.

The gore show disgusted Hajime. A rabbit demon that powerful was taken down so easily without it being able to do anything. Now he knew why it was so scared. That bear demon was extraordinary. This guy would destroy any person Hajime knew of.

Lumbering its huge body, the bear approached the fresh corpse. Sounds of gorging could be heard from the bear.

Hajime could not move. Still consumed by fear, the beast eyes pin down Hajime with its eyes.

Nothing was left of the rabbit after the bear took 3 mouthful of it. It turned around and growled at Hajime. The beast’s eyes said it all, “You are next.”

Presented with the eyes of a predator all he could do was despair.

“Uwaaa-” [Ah!]

Hajime ran the opposite direction of the bear while screaming madly and forgetting about his broken arm.

If something like that rabbit couldn’t escape then it did not look good for Hajime. The wind howl and from his left he felt pain explode in his body as he was flung against the wall.

“Gah!”

The blow had knocked all the air out of his lungs. He trailed down the wall as he collapsed into a fit of coughs. Hajime was swaying from the impact but he kept his eyes on the bear. Then he noticed the bear was chewing on something.

What the hell was it chewing on? The rabbit was already consumed. Somehow the arm it was eating was very familiar. Hajime was confused at the event, because he felt lighter on his left side. To be precise, his left arm…

“A-Are?” [What]

Hajime’s face stiffened. Why is there no arm? Why was blood spurting out? He tilt his head. Hajime could not make sense of what happened. The reality of the situation finally hit him. Pain was the reminder that this was no dream.

“Ahhhhhhh!!!!”

His shriek echoed in the passage. Everything below his left elbow had disappeared.

The beast still had its Special Magic. His three claws were able to create blades of wind that could extend up to 30 cm. If you thought about it losing just one arm was fortunate. The bear was playing with Hajime and it begged the question if Hajime was lucky. Considering that the rabbit earlier had been dealt with so quickly.

After he was finished with his meal, the bear advanced towards Hajime. His eyes was not condescending like the rabbit’s. The beast just looked at Hajime as food.

The beast extended its forelimbs toward Hajime. It looked like it was going to eat Hajime alive.

“A, A, Guu, Re “Rensei”!” [Transmute]

While tears and mucus flowed, drool escaped from his mouth, he transmuted the wall with his only arm. It was an unconscious action. The only power that was available to the Hajime that had such low specs. Using magic that is usually only used to process weapons. This class was without a doubt a crafting class. Thought of as useless in combat, but another worlder showed the knights a new application for its skill. A skill that saved the lives of his classmate. On the brink of death, he choose to rely on that skill, and it answered him with a means of escape.

A hole 50 cm in height, 120 c in width, and 2m in depth formed in the wall. Hajime rolled into the hole and narrowly escaped the bears paws reaching towards him.

It was overwhelmed with anger from losing a prey.

“Guruaa!!”

The beast casted its Special Magic while it roared. It aimed its magic towards the hole Hajime made. A terrible destruction followed as the wall was shaved off my the powerful claws.

“Ahhhh–! “Rensei”! “Rensei”! “Rensei”!”

Pancing from the monster that was gradually getting closer, Hajime started to continuously cast his transmuting and delved deeper into the wall. He did not even bother to look back. Recklessly he repeated the magic, and advanced with a crawl. All his pains or any other thoughts were put in the backseat. Mana was consumed over and over again as his survival instinct had control over him.

How much did he progress? Hajime did not know, but he couldn’t hear the terrible sounds. In reality, he did not progress that much. Each cast of his “Rensei” allowed him to advance 2 m (This was twice as strong as his earlier days). The main problem was his bleeding, he would not be able to move soon.

His awareness was already gone from the excessive bleeding. Still his body pushed forward.

“”Rensei”… “Rensei”… “Rensei”… “Rensei”…”

No matter how many times he chanted, the wall did not change. His magic ran out before his body gave out. Exhausted, his hands fell from the wall.

Hajime fell on his back and his last strand of consciousness was going out. He just aimlessly started to the heavens, but all he saw was darkness.

Hajime at this time recalled some past memories. It was like a Revolving Lantern(*). His life flashed before his eyes. His nursery and elementary school, middle school, and high school days. Various memories flooded his mind until his last memory. In that bedroom illuminated by the moonlight. The chat he had with a goddess and the promise they made. Her smiling face.

[* Revolving Lantern is a show where a lantern has some cutouts done in them and in the center a candle or light source is placed. The shadow casted by the light and cutouts could provide a show. Usually the light is directed to one direction so a story could be told.]

After remembering that beautiful sight, the darkness engulfed him. Just before sleep claimed him, he felt a drop of water on his cheek. Like someone had shed a tear for him.