Chapter 11 - Volume 2 (1/2)
Chapter 1 : Subjugation of an Arch-Nemesis
Campaign against the Bear.
Hajime is not how he was before!
* * *
“Chew, chew…Even the rabbit meat sucks.”
Hajime was the person currently eating the rabbit. That’s right, the rabbit demon. Once these kicking experts looked down on him but now they were just food to him. He had expected the meat to taste better since it was a rabbit, but it was still demon flesh. It was just bad like normal.
The rabbit’s whole body was consumed in one sitting. Once he acquired “Iron Stomach”, he proceeded to eat as much as he want and could. Hajime was especially hungry after he used his magic. In order to kill this rabbit, he had used quite a bit of power. He wouldn’t die since he had the sacred water, but he had to use his power carefully; the starvation sensation that could happen if he overused his power was not something he wanted.
The rabbit was defeated because he had trapped it. Drawing the rabbit to the river was the starting point. When it passed by the river, he sprinkled water onto the rabbit. He produced an overpowered lightning afterwards. Donner was fired upon it and just as expected the rabbit blew up in a cloud of smoke.
A bullet accelerated with electromagnetic force going at 3.2 km per second [Mach 9.3] was pretty hard to avoid; the rabbit’s head was blown to pieces when it collided with the bullet. Maybe it wasn’t necessary to use the electric shock. Donner’s firepower was tremendous.
“This is the first time I ate a rabbit…Status!”
NameNagumo HajimeAge17 Years OldGenderMaleLevel12ClassTransmutation Artist (Synergist)Strength200Vitality300Resistance200Agility400Magic350Magic Resistance350SkillsTransmutationMineral AppraisalPrecision TransmutationMineral EnquiryMagic ManipulationIron StomachLightning CladDivine StepAir WalkFlickerLanguage Comprehension
It seems his status goes up when he eats a demon. He noticed that repeatedly eating the same type of demon has a severe diminishing return on the improvements, and eating new type of demons greatly increased his stats.
Hajime wanted to test out “Divine Step.” First, he had to picture an image of the skill, the steps the rabbit made. The focal point was speed; speed so fast that only a blur was seen. He had to guess what [Flicker] did. Hajime remembered that on earth it was known as a famous high-speed movement skill.
An image of the ground exploding from the force of his movement was what he pictured. Magic was gathered instantly to his feet. His step caused a depression on the ground and he vanished. The next time he knew he dived face first into a wall.
“Ouch! C-Controlling this is hard.”
Still, it was a success. If he kept practicing he should be able to move like the rabbit. With his firearm, this would make a powerful combination.
Next was [Air Walk]. This move wasn’t easily activated. Just knowing the name wasn’t enough to perform the skill. While trying stuff out, he remembered when the rabbit made a scaffold out of thin air. Immediately, Hajime started to imagine a transparent shield in the air. He leapt at it to test it.
His face dove straight into the ground.
“Guu!?”
Both his hands went up to hold his face as he trashed on the ground. Writhing in pain, he took a sip of the sacred water to reduce the pain.
“Well, at least I did it…”
The reason he dived into the ground was because when he jump his lower body met the scaffold. What is important is the reason for his stumble. It seems like [Air Walk] was a Special Magic that allowed him to make transparent platforms in the air.
It was great to get two Special Magic in one go; these skills that were derived from “Divine Step.” With this feeling he started to train. His goal was the bear. Hajime would probably be able to defeat it with long distance shooting but he trained just in case. There was the possibility that an even stronger demon could appear. An optimistic person is a dead person in this labyrinth. Once he defeated the bear, he had to search for a way out of here.
Hajime psyched himself up.
* * *
In the labyrinth passage, there was a shadow moving so fast that the only a blurry figure was seen.
The figure was Hajime. Hajime had mastered all of “Divine Step.” He quick stepped around the passage. Using his Air Walk he created platforms to traverse on and repeated his high speed movement; as he searched for his nemesis. Usually a person would prioritizes escaping this area but no matter what Hajime wanted to kill that bear. His heart broke once, he couldn’t help but want to fight the monster that caused it.
“Guru-ua!”
When he encountered a pack of wolves; one of them leapt at him. Using a wire he carefully fired off Donner, which was fixed to his right thigh, while he somersaulted in the air.
Bang!
A bullet being propelled by the explosion of the powdered Combustion Stone and electromagnetic force struck true at its first target. The wolf’s head was crushed instantly. Using “Air Walk” he further in the air. He continuously discharged his firearm towards the jumping wolf. All the targets were not hit, but somehow all of his enemies perished before he emptied his chambers.
Hajime placed Donner between his left armpit, and quickly reloaded. He continued on his mission without glancing back at the wolves’ corpses.
After killing wolves and rabbits for a bit; he finally found his target.
The bear was currently enjoying a meal. Its meal looked like one of those rabbits. When he confirmed it was his arch-nemesis, Hajime laughed fearlessly and advanced towards it.
The bear was the strongest monster on this level; you can even call it a Lord. There were many wolves and rabbits on this level, but there was only one bear. On this level the bear was invincible. All of the demons here payed extra attention to avoid it. A full retreat was in order if they ever encountered him; not even one thought of resistance. No one would voluntarily face it.
However, that was exactly was happening in front of its face.
“Yo, Bear. Long time no see. Was my arm delicious?”
The beast narrowed its sharp eyes. What kind of creature was in front of it? Why is it not showing its back? Why did it not freeze in fear or had despair in its eyes? For the situation to not carry out like usually, all the bear could do was be perplexed.
“It’s a revenge match. I’ll make you understand that I am an enemy, not a prey.”
Hajime extracted Donner and pointed the muzzle at the bear. While in that pose, he questioned himself in his mind. Scared? No. His eyes do not fall into despair; his body did not shake in fear. There is only the earnest desire to survive and rid his adversary.
Hajime’s lips raise and change into a fearless smile.
“I’m going to kill you then devour you.”
At that declaration, he discharged Donner. Bang! An explosive noise echoed and a bullet made of Tauru ore sped towards the bear at over Mach 9.