Chapter 60: The Rabbit Of Revelry II (2/2)

I strengthened my resolve.

With adventurers, playing things by ear is the norm. I had lost my nerve and forgot about that.

Ahead in the darkness, I saw a door.

No matter what’s beyond that door, I’ll defeat it utterly.

Our party reached the door.

Shuna put his hand on the door, but before opening it, he looked at me. I looked around at everyone in the party to confirm for the last time that there were no problems. With a nod, I had Shuna open the door.

Beyond the door was a wide space with a high ceiling.

At the same time, Frey and her party emerged from the door next to the one we had stepped through.

Before our eyes was a small mound of rusted weapons and armor that had been heaped up. Atop it was a small white creature with red eyes.

『?』

Question marks appeared over everyone’s heads.

In the alternate world, it was natural for it to have wings. However, that ”rabbit” had no wings. In other words, it was exactly the same as a rabbit from the modern world.

For the time being, just as we had arranged, Lazarissa and Gashuraku-san went out in front.

「Umm」

Frey was justifiably bewildered. I was also at a loss over what to do with a mere rabbit. When I saw Ea nocking an arrow, I followed suit and nocked an arrow too, but I felt a reluctance to kill the rabbit.

I had been feeding winged rabbits in the camp as well. They ate the weeds and pests in the kitchen garden. Once in a while, they got removed by the golem managing the garden for eating the seedlings though.

What should I do? In all likelihood, this isn’t the enemy. It seems to me like this guy had wandered in here from somewhere else.

「Ojou-sama, let's have it for dinner」

Lazarissa stepped forward together with Gashuraku-san.

The rabbit vanished.

The heads of the two vanguards went flying.

My brain wasn’t keeping up because it had happened so quickly.

「Huh?」

A stupid-sounding voice escaped my mouth.

At the same time, intense fear shot through my body.

「SHUNA!」

Shouting his name was all I could do.

Before I could voice the word “retreat”, the rabbit lopped off Shuna’s head. Seeing his head tumble to the ground, despair and anger boiled up at the same time. The rabbit slipped past the arrows that Ea and I had released simultaneously and clung to Frey.

Until the very moment her head was wrenched off, she hadn’t stopped chanting calmly.

Her red dress was dyed even redder by the fresh blood. We had lost four people in just a few moments. The rabbit weaved its way past Lys' shield and went for my sister next.

A soundless scream escaped me.

I gave the magic sword an order, but it was all too late. I saw an explosion of blood. At the head-crushing-like shock, I averted my eyes from the sight before me.

The magic sword and Lys' sword closed in on the rabbit.

The magic sword was shattered and Lys was decapitated. Yukikaze was saying something. I didn’t hear what she said. There was something that took precedence over her words.

Thinking that I would at least lay my life down for her, I drew my hunting knife and stood between Rana and the rabbit.

This isn’t about whether I have it or not.

The distinction is whether I do them or not.

Actions that I’m sure are useless.

On a wing and a prayer, I swung the hunting knife.

The moment was fleeting.

The blade wasn’t even close.

I heard the sound of something falling from behind me.

From between my legs rolled Rana’s head. I met her seemingly sad eyes.

「ah」

The dam on my emotions broke inside me.

I know it's too late. But I’ll at least kill you.

Staring at those red eyes and chanting the words of calamity, I――

――was knocked to the ground and had my mouth covered.

There was a pungent smell in my nose. The view was distorted. I could hear the cries and screams of someone.

I was being held down by a woman. She had two horns and silver hair. I had been knocked down by Evetta-san, who was covering my mouth with a piece of cloth.

The ones in the same situation as me were Shuna, Ea, Lazarissa, and Gashuraku-san. Frey's situation was especially terrible and it was taking three people to hold her down.

Only Lys and Rana were standing there normally.

I looked at everyone's faces. I looked at their necks. Their heads were attached.

The ones holding us down were all people of the Adventurers’ Guild.

Why are they here? What is this?

「Alright, these guys are the last group for today. Let’s get moving」

A boy with small wings was giving orders to the Guild employees. He had the rabbit under his arm.

Supported and carried by the Guild employees, the party members and I moved.

Urged on by them, we went into a separate room. It was a simple room that only had chairs in it.

I could hear the screams of women and the angry shouts of men coming from the next room. They were probably the adventurers who had entered before us.

「Is there anyone who is experiencing abnormalities with their mind or body due to the psychological trauma?」

The boy, the President of the Adventurers’ Guild, surveyed all of us.

I felt like vomiting. Perhaps I looked terrible as well, but Evetta-san was thoughtfully patting my back. Frey was vomiting into a leather bag that had been prepared by her person-in-charge.

「Urk」

I was almost influenced by her too. I managed to endure it somehow.

「First, you guys. Look at your own pale-faced leaders over there」

At the Guild President’s words, everyone turned their attention towards me and Frey, who were in a miserable state.

Shuna and Ea also looked dreadful.

Lazarissa was expressionless, but was trembling a little bit. Because of his helmet, I couldn’t tell how Gashuraku-san was faring. Only Rana and Lys looked as they usually did.

「That's the face of your leader when you guys die. And, the two leaders. The faces that are looking at you now are the faces of your party members when you die」

Huh? What do you mean?

「Isn’t this rabbit cute? It’s a rare breed that doesn’t have wings, and it has been alive for at least 500 years. Back in the day, there were many victims of internal strife because of this guy. Right now, it’s under the care of and being used by the Guild」

「Guild President, in the end, what exactly is the 14th floor’s guardian?」

Did we lose?

Do we have to start over from the 10th floor again?

「It’s this guy, but strictly speaking, it’s not this guy. Your bonds are this floor’s guardian. Souya, what did you see?」

Images of what happened earlier came to my mind.

I had the feeling that they were going to appear in my dreams for some time.

「The death of everyone present, except for me」

「Frey, what about you?」

「I also, saw the same, blerrghh」

Frey vomited again.

「This rabbit, in exchange for having no fighting capabilities, makes others see illusions of “death”. It makes them see the deaths of the people they care about and the people they think they want to protect. The reason why we made you form joint parties is to let you distinguish between the deaths. Though it appears that it was pointless for the two of you. I have qualms about both of you as individuals, but as leaders, both of you pass.

And I’m saying this to the party members, but these two leaders think too lightly of their own lives. They’re the type that dies before anyone else.

That’s an admirable sense of responsibility, but don't forget. That it’ll lead to the annihilation of the party. Moreover, for those people with straight faces, you understand, right? ………That’s how it is」

The Guild President put a villainous-looking, pretty smile on his face.

With regards to Lys, I understood. That isn’t Bel’s true feelings. But Rana too………?

「I have a resistance against things like that」

「A, as expected from my partner in crime from Hohens」

That was how Rana answered my gaze.

The Guild President wagged his finger and instructed us to pay attention again.

「I’ll say it once more. Your bonds are this floor’s guardian. And, the adventures that you’ll have from now on will invariably be accompanied by the kind of unreasonable deaths that you’ve just experienced. The job of adventurer is, when all is said and done, this kind of thing. Think hard. Discuss often. Recall well the faces of your current party members. Is your relationship one that’s suitable for entrusting your lives to each other? Consider that carefully. That is this floor’s guardian」

That’s all, said the Guild President, who urged us to disperse.

Accompanied by our respective persons-in-charge, everyone started moving.

We descended from the 14th floor and validated the portal that was located immediately on the 15th floor. We returned through it.

Bonds, huh?

In some cases, that becomes the nastiest guardian. For some parties, they may disband or even form new parties here. Parties that only have a shared interest or are cemented together using lies end here.

It’s probably impossible to proceed beyond this point except with party members who have, in the truest sense, entrusted their lives to one another.

It seems that the time has come for us to talk about the matter that had been put on hold.

If you believe Rana, isn’t it amazing that she has resistances that a magician on par with her doesn’t? Yes, that line by Frey there was a very subtle hint. But if she’s lying, that would mean that she doesn’t care or want to protect anyone in the party. Not even Ea. Did I just hear the foundations of what you thought about Rana suddenly crumble? Again, many tiny discrepancies in the past about Rana if you know what to look for. She went through a lot of suffering at the hands of both Hemus and elves when she was reduced to becoming an adventurer, so much so that she said that she would have hung herself if she was alone. That’s why she was so suspicious of Souya that she stood guard all night on their first night at the camp. And yet, always the perfect face in front of Souya. And then, she started opening up after a certain hand protector that has a charm effect was slapped onto him. Coincidence? You believe in such things after reading this far?! (^ -)

In case you didn’t quite get the Guild President’s explanation of why it had to be more than one party. The parties are supposed to see the deaths of their own party members but not see the deaths of the other party, who they probably didn’t care enough about, and through that, be able to tell the difference in the level of everyone’s bonds. That failed miserably for Souya and Frey as both of them are the type to want to protect everyone, even at the cost of their lives.

Btw, I know that most of you imagined something else when I said boss fight, but like Souya said, in some cases, this is the nastiest boss. I figure most people probably realized at a certain point that there is no way everyone dies, but did it shock you for a bit? Next chapter, one elf and one foreigner have a heart-to-heart talk and I doubt it’s what you expect. Stay tuned!

And I hate to do this, but I need to because, once again, I really need some help. After the Talker WN ”ended”, I've lost quite a number of patrons, so it's really affecting my ability to pay my bills. Simply joining at the lowest tier will get you access to everything and that's all I ask for. And it's the start of the month so you'll get the most bang for your buck as well. Having a stable base on Patreon will really help me be able to continue doing what I do, so I'd really appreciate your support. Thank you for always reading and supporting my work!