Chapter 20 - Volume 2 (2/2)

“Yue, there are several times more.”

“!?”

“If it is this many, there is something going on. We just eliminated them all right now. Yet, another suicide attack…like they were compelled to…that flower…maybe.”

“…Parasite.”

“Yue thinks so too?”

She nodded to affirm his guess.

“…There should be a main body.”

“Seems, that as long as those flowers are on them, they are puppets. We are up against all the monsters on this floor.”

Before Hajime is crushed by the amount, he should look for the main body. Looking for the lower floor would be hard if they didn’t take care of them. Though they could find it along the way.

There wasn’t time to let Yue suck his blood, so he tried to pass her the sacred water. however, Yue refused it. She stretched both her hands out towards the confused Hajime and says…

“Hajime…Carry…”

“How old are you? Are you trying to suck my blood while we move?”

Hajime was correct. Yue nodded her head to answer him. Magical power recovery was slow for Yue with the sacred water, and they should keep a contingency plan for recovery. When he is desperately busying himself, he eventually feels a few resistance. But, necessity knows no laws.

He consented to carrying her…Because it would get in the way. He gave her a piggyback ride, as he started his search for the main body.

And this is how we end up with the current situation.

They were being chased by close to 200 demons. The thicket was troublesome. Yue had already finished her meal but she didn’t get off his back.

From the demons behind.

Dodododododododododo

Monsters approach them while making that noise. Raptors travels side by side while hiding in the tall grass, and pouncing from all directions. Hajime ran towards the place he considered most suspicious, while he counterattacked. Yue did not allow the siege to overwhelm them by using her magic.

Kapu, Chu

The two glared at the exit of the forest ahead. On the other side was the wall of the labyrinth. It looked like a cave with crack spreading from the center. Why, was this place the objective? The attacking demons had a constant habit in their movements. Hajime countered while they advanced. Their movements become violent when they attempted to escape in a certain direction. As if, they were trying to lead them away from there. They decided to rush in that direction because the demons were increasing in number and they couldn’t stay in this situation.

Apparently, hiding in the grass had already made it fail. Hajime jumps ahead with “Air Walk” and “Flicker”.

Kapu, Chu [sound of blood sucking]

“Yue-san!? Can you stop the blood sucking that has been going on?”

“…Inevitable.”

“Lies! You aren’t exhausted anymore.”

“…Those guys’ flower…I’m also…Ku.”

“What are you groaning unnaturally? Don’t try to shift the blame, Baka! I can’t afford it, hey!”

Inspite of the situation, Yue was obsessed with Hajime’s blood. It was not odd that a former royalty couldn’t control their guts. Although he was playing, he properly countered. Hajime jumped into the cracks, as he took along 200 monsters.

The cave’s cracks were narrow for two average adults standing side by side. Of course, the T-rex couldn’t fit through it, and the raptors could only enter one by one. One of the raptors that entered teared to tear Hajime with its extended claws. Before it could attack, Hajime shot it with Donner. He used his transmutation to block the crack.

“Phew, We’ll be okay for a bit with this.”

“…Good job.”

“If you feel so, get down.”

“…Mu…no choice.”

Yue reluctantly descends with Hajime’s words. His back seemed to be very comfortable.

“So then, those guys were very desperate. Is this place, bingo? Do not relax your guard.”

“Okay.”

Since the entrance was closed with transmutation, the two continued deeper into the cave.

They arrived into a big hall after traveling for a while. Cracks were even continuing into the depths of the halls. Perhaps it was the stairs to the lower level. Hajime feels the area. He did not sense anything but he kept his guard up because of an unpleasant feeling. There were a lot of demons in this dungeon that could hide from his senses.

When they arrived at the center of the room, then it happened. From all direction, an innumerable amount of green ping pong balls few in. Yue and Hajime was instantly back to back, and intercepting the flying balls. Hajime decided to create a stone wall because of the number that exceeded 100. The wall was strong enough to prevent the balls from piercing it. Seems like the balls didn’t have that much power. Yue was able to intercept the balls with her wind magic, with its excellent speed, without a problem.

“Yue, it’s probably an attack from the main body. Do you know where it is?”

“…”

“Yue?”

Hajime asked her if she knew of its location. Yue did not have a searching skill like “perception”, but as a vampire she had sharper senses than Hajime. However, she didn’t answer his question. Suspicious, Hajime called out to her, but his answer…

“…Run…Hajime!”

Before anyone knew it, her hand faced Hajime. Wind converged onto her hand. Instinct warned violently, and Hajime jumped aside with full power. A blade of strong wind passes the place where Hajime used to be and bisects the cliff in the back.

“Yue!?”

Hajime wanted to raise his voice at the surprise attack, but he understood when he saw what was on her head. There was a blooming flower on Yue’s head. Did it match Yue? It was a crimson rose that matched her well.

“Shit, was it those green balls!?”

He wanted to beat himself for his carelessness. Hajime continued to avoid the wind attacks from Yue.

“Hajime…Uhh…”

Yue broke her deadpan expression for a sorrowful one. When he shot the raptor’s flower, it stomped on the flower. That would mean that the victim’s consciousness is still there while being manipulated. Only deprived the body of its freedom.

But then he already knew of how to free her. Hajime tried to draw the trigger as he aimed at the flower. However, the controller knew of Hajime’s firearm that shot down the previous flower. Yue’s body moved to cover the flower. She was moving around alot that there was a chance the shot would blow her face away. Hajime closed in to cut it, but Yue hit her own head.

“…You got some nerves…”

It was warning Hajime to stay away, Yue would be the target of the magic if he didn’t. Yue surely was almost immortal. However, he couldn’t deny that she might have a spell that could disintegrate her and prevent her regen. Yue would be able to fire it at an instant too. He wanted to avoid the gamble of a suicide attack.

The monster appeared from the dark cracks as it understood Hajime’s hesitation.

A demon that was the mix of a woman and a plant came out. It was similar to a dryad or aruraune in RPGs. The demon appeared before Hajime. There is a legend that dryads brings good luck, if not hostile, and they were beautiful woman. But the one in front of him did not give that impression. Indeed, it looked like a human woman, but it had an ugly face like its inner ugliness was overflowing. It also had countless vines waving around, and it felt creepy. “Her” mouth was laughing and grinning at something.

Hajime pointed his gun at it at once. However, Yue entered his line of fire.

“Hajime…Sorry…”

Yue grits her teeth with a mortified expression. Being unable to control herself was probably intolerable. She should still be resisting it desperately. Blood dripped from her lips as she moved her mouth to apologizes. Her sharp fangs were probably the cause. Was she frustrated with herself, or the curse, or both?

The aruraune fires a green ball into Hajime while using Yue as a shield. Hajime brushes it off with Donner. It was destroyed, though not visible, and probably scattered spores around. There was no sign of a flower blooming on Hajime. Laughter stopped coming from the demon and it looked confused. Spores did not seem to work on Hajime.

(Most likely, it is because of all my resistances.)

Just as Hajime guessed, the spores were a kind of neurotoxin. His “Poison Resist” allowed him to resist it. It was sheer luck for Hajime, Yue can’t be blamed for anything. She shouldn’t feel heartbreak.

Realizing that the spores were useless against Hajime, the demon grumply ordered Yue to cast her spell. Again a blade of wind was formed. Hajime thought it wasn’t able to demonstrate the full capability of the victims. The raptors movements were evidence of this.

(That’s a blessing in disguise)

If he tried to avoid the blade of wind, the aruraune would just threaten to hurt Yue. He used “Vajra”, obtained from cyclops, to endure the blades. This skill solidify and expands magic to cover the whole body. A very reliable skill that demonstrates defensive power equivalent to its name. Because he was still inexperienced with it, Hajime could only display 1/10 of its original power. The blades had no power even if it was sharp, so he was able to endure it.

(There is a method to settle this immediately once…afterwards would be scary…or throw an incendiary grenade?)

As Hajime was pondering the situation, Yue raised a sorrowful cry.

“Hajime!…I’ll be fine…just shoot!”

Yue had prepared herself for this. If she couldn’t control herself then she would rather have Hajime shoot her. She put that kind of will into her eyes that watched Hajime.

There was no way he could do that. For sure he would save her. Such a hot line would usually jump out at this scene, to bond with the heroine. The previous Hajime would do it. But the current Hajime would disappoint such expectations.

“Eh, is that okay? That’ll save me.”

Bang!

Gunfire echoes in the hall. When he heard Yue’s words, he pulled the trigger without hesitation. The hall was filled with a cold air and silence. Rose petals were dancing in the air and fell onto the ground.

Yue was blinking her eyes with surprise. Aruraune was linking its eyes with surprise. To confirm it was gone, Yue placed both her hands on her head. There was blond hair that had frizzled or were torn off. Aruraune also understood the situation. It stared at Hajime with accusing eyes.

“No, don’t make such eyes.”

Bang!

He discharged his gun with his Tsukkomi. The aruraune’s head exploded into green liquids. It fell down to the ground while convulsing.

“So, Yue, are you fine? No discomfort?”

Hajime confirms Yue’s safety with a laid-back feeling. However, Yue is glaring at Hajime while stroking her head.

“…You shot.”

“Ah? Well you did say shoot.”

“…You didn’t hesitate…”

“That, I finally decided to shoot. I had confidence in my aim. As expected, Yue was to stomach it without any question. From now on I’ll put that into consideration.”

“…My scalp was shaved a little…maybe…”

“Well, if its that much you’ll regen it? No problem.”

“Uhh~…”

Yue started to hit Hajime’s stomach repeatedly with a face that said “That is certainly true, but…” Indeed, she told him to shoot, and she had prepared herself. But Yue is a woman. She had seen some dreams. He should have at least hesitated a little. At such a light response, she wanted to complain.

Hajime did not worry for Yue after he found out that a manipulated Yue wouldn’t be able to use high-level magic. There were few spells that could overcome her immortality. It was unpleasant to shoot without hesitation. Even if it was the biggest taboo to hesitate in combat. He tilted his head in wonder at what she was dissatisfied with. She was losing to such a Hajime, and just turned away from him with a pout.

Hajime sighed inwardly, how was he going to fix the mood. This would be harder than beating the Aruraune.