Arifureta Vol 8 Chapter 3 (1/2)

Even a Mob-character Has Things It Can Do

Their current location was the deepest room in the 89th floor.

Currently, there were four entrances within the huge octagonal room, but there was actually one more pa.s.sage that leads to a hidden room between two entrances. The size of the entrance to this closed room was about 10 tatami, and its entrance was splendidly camouflaged.

Inside the room was Kouki’s party, who were resting in complete relief. However, their expressions were uniformly gloomy. There were only those who cast their gaze down in deep frustration. Everyone was covered in wounds, so a lot of them had expressions distorted by pain.

Normally, Kouki would use his charisma to encourage everyone, but now, his whole body was attacked by severe exhaustion due to the recoil from “Limit Break,” and he leaned his body in towards the wall, shutting his mouth in silent.

In addition, at such a time, the cla.s.s moodmaker who could not read the mood in a good way had a pale face due to the loss blood, and was sleeping with rough breathing as she frowned in pain. This fact was also one of the reasons which made everyone depressed.

Suzu’s lower half was still petrified from the knees down, and so Kaori was still continuing the treatment. Her pierced thigh had already been healed. What was left was to undo her petrification. However, Suzu had lost a large amount of blood from the attacks of the tentacles. There was the possibility that her vital blood vessels were damaged. But it could also be said that Kaori made it in time for the healing because she was Kaori.

To begin with, even Kaori was incapable of replenis.h.i.+ng Suzu’s lost blood. Thus, she was limited to making Suzu drink the blood-increasing medicine from this world. It was the reason why Suzu’s physical condition would not return to normal immediately. It was necessary for her to rest.

Kaori had spent all of her time on Suzu, so the others didn’t receive her healing. Naturally, Saitou and Kondou who were petrified into object-like things were kept as they were. After Suzu’s treatment ended, next were the petrified two, and the other party members who understood there were still a long wait before it was their turn, didn’t complain, except for a small portion of them. It was simply because they did not have energy to do it.

Inside the dim room where the gloomy atmosphere drifted about, s.h.i.+zuku wrinkled her forehead and was puzzled on how to encourage the others. Naturally, the taciturn s.h.i.+zuku could not skillfully change the atmosphere, unlike Suzu. However, there was no one else to do so since Kouki was also weakened due to the effect of “Limit Break” and his defeat, so she thought she must somehow do something. She was thinking in such manner because she naturally cared about others. A true worldly-wise person.

s.h.i.+zuku herself was nearing her limit both physically and mentally, and she was gradually troubled by thinking of what to do. Thus, she decided to make an unable-to-read-the-mood-style gag with the resolution of dying a honorable death. However, when she considered again, she felt as though she felt herself breaking. Then, Nomura and Tsuji Ayako appeared from the improvised pa.s.sage and they conversed.

“Fuu, I think it somehow turned into a good camouflation. But as expected, I am exhausted after using such a delicate magic… I’m already at my limit.”

“It’s not in your field of expertise to be able to transform it into wall without any sense of incompatibility… But you even used only one magic array to do that, so it can’t be helped. Cheers for your hard work.”

“You also worked hard to completely undo my petrification, right? Thanks.”

From the conversation of these two people, the one who made this room and camouflaged the entrance into the surrounding wall was the “Earth Magic-user,” Nomura Kentarou.

“Earth Magic-user” held high apt.i.tude towards Earth-Element magic which directly manipulates the ground, but it could not do delicate work such as manufacturing and forming such as “Trans.m.u.tation.” For example, it could create a bulge in the ground, make rocks fly up from the ground, harden the ground to create a stone spear, or controlling clouds of sand. In addition, for someone high-ranked, they could use petrification spells and create Golems (completely non-independent doll). However, an Earth Magic user could not produce things by separating or mixing various minerals.

That’s why, though it was possible to roughly create a hole on the wall using magic array at hand, to be able to “form” a wall similar to the surrounding walls, Nomura could do nothing but constructed it using only one magic array.

It should be noted that Tsuji Ayako had treated Nomura after he had undid his petrification.

“Thanks for your hard work, Nomura-kun. We should be able to gain some time with this.”

“… I hope so. Well, with this I can do nothing but pray we won’t be found until everyone has recovered. About Kousuke… we can only pray, too, huh.”

“… Kousuke should be okay. He won’t lose to anyone in term of the thinness of his shadow.”

“No, Juugo. Don’t say that, I feel bad just by hearing it…”

The talk about the increasing safety of their hiding place made the depressed atmosphere slightly relaxed, and s.h.i.+zuku smiled as she treated Nomura kindly due to the cancellation of creating a black history of her.

On the other hand, Nomura had a bitter smile as he prayed and looked into the distance towards one of his bestfriends who was not here now.

That’s right, currently one of their companions was not here. He was Endou Kousuke. With “a.s.sa.s.sin” as his cla.s.s, he was Nagayama Juugo and Nomura Kentarou’s best friend. He was neither gloomy nor a poor talker, but his existence was a forgettable one. He was a normal high school boy who could speak casually with anyone, but somehow “his shadow is thin.” His figure would be gone before anyone noticed it while saying, “Huh? Where is he?,” as they looked at the surrounding only to be surprised that he was right beside them. He demonstrated elusiveness without any intention of doing it at all. And, of course, it was also the same story when they were still in j.a.pan.

Though the person himself was extremely unwilling, his ability was currently the most useful. Endou alone separated from the party and went to explain the situation to Meld and the Knights. Normally, no matter how much of a cheat the summoned person was, it was suicidal to run through the level 80ish floors alone. Even Kouki’s party had little room to spare in conquering the floors, only because there were 15 people cooperating.

But, if it was Endou, a man who could puff up his chest while saying, “The world’s thinnest shadow!,” he could take full advantages of his stealth skills and possibly be capable of reaching the 70th floor where Meld and the Knights were without being found by any demonic beast. Thinking so, Kouki’s party sent Endou off.

When he left, Endou was slightly teary eyed… surely, he felt something by leaving alone to retreat from his companions. It could not be from his companions’ persuasion words, such as: “If it’s you with your thin shadow, even keen demonic beasts won’t notice you! Only you have a thin shadow that won’t lose to anyone, so you must be able to break through the demonic beasts without being noticed.”

Truthfully, Kouki’s party wanted to immediately withdraw from the upper floors. However, to their regrets, they didn’t have any reserve strength left to do so. Within the party members who were covered in wounds, three of them were in no condition for battle while Kouki was in a weakened state, so they didn’t think they would be able to break through the 80’s floors.

Of course, they also didn’t think Meld and the Knights would come to rescue them. Including Meld, only six people were capable of building their base on the 70th floor. In the party’s minds, even by gaining help from other Knight members and the guild’s high-ranked adventurers, whose strength came close to Meld, it should be within the safety margin for Meld and the others to reached the latter half of 70’s floors, more than that was asking for the impossible.

Even with that, it would not have any meaning if Kouki’s party didn’t break through the 80ish floors by themselves. In other words, rather than to call for rescue, the purpose for Endo to go alone was to inform them about their situation and the Demon Race woman who lead the demonic beasts.

Kouki’s party had certainly heard from Ishtal and the others from the Church of the Saints that the Demon Race was ama.s.sing demonic beasts, not by brainwas.h.i.+ng, but enslavement, since the beasts still carried their own wills. But, they never heard of such strong demonic beasts. And the astounding thing about the demonic beasts should be the “number” not their individual strength.

In fact, the demonic beasts the Demon Race woman lead had easily cleared the human untrodden 90th floor of «Orcus Great Dungeon» and overwhelmed Kouki’s party even with the cheats they carried. Such things made it strange if the human race was not destroyed sooner.

In other words, Ishtal’s information was not mistaken and the conclusion was still that the demonic beasts the Demon Race controlled “had became stronger.” Not only their “number” but also their individual strength was astounding. Kouki’s party judged this information should be conveyed by all means.

“s.h.i.+rasaki-san. Please take care of Kondou-kun and Saito-kun’s de-petrification. It’ll take too much time if it is me. But, leave the healing of the others to me.”

“Un, okay. Don’t push yourself too hard, Tsuji-san.”

“I will be okay. Rather, that’s my line… sorry. If only I was stronger, s.h.i.+rasaki-san’s responsibility would be decreased…”

On the side of the conversing with Nomura and the others, Ayako was drinking the potion for recovering magic power and she said to Kaori who was still continuing Suzu’s treatment. Though both were “healers,” Ayako’s abilities was far inferior compared to Kaori’s, and even though she didn’t show it, Ayako felt herself pathetic and full of apologies, since she could only add more responsibility to Kaori.

“There is no such thing,” Kaori replied so with a wry smile, then Ayako turned to heal their companions. Even if it’s slight, darkness disappeared from their companions’ faces when they recovered by Ayako’s healing. Nomura was watching Ayako with a face as though he wanted to say something, but he could not raise a voice since he felt he’d only disturbing her work.

“… In such a situation. Just speak if there’s something you want to say.”

“… Shut up.”

Nagayama said to Nomura with an expression as if he finds something amusing, but Nomura turned his face away as if sulking.

After that, several tens of hours pa.s.sed. Kouki’s party’s bodies and minds were gradually recovered and they took turns to sleep.

On the other side, one person, Endou Kousuke was retreating with the entrusted information about the Demon Race. He walked steadily aiming for 70th floor, where Meld and the Knights were, without entering even one battle.

In the 80th floors, if he was noticed by the demonic beasts, one on one would work out somehow but multiple on one was an out for him. That’s why, while hurrying up as much as possible, he advanced with prudent thoughts. Thanks to that, he was able to pa.s.s right before demonic beasts unnoticed, even now.

After the demonic beasts were out his sight, Endou got off of the ceiling where he stuck himself. The figure which was completely clad in black to make the best use of “Invisibility,” made him look just like an “a.s.sa.s.sin.” Surely, even the demonic beasts he had just pa.s.sed by earlier would receive huge damage if they were to receive a surprise attack from the ceiling. In his mind, he didn’t think, “… At least feel a little of my presence…” There was no glittering at the edge of his eyes when he saw the demonic beasts pa.s.s through without noticing him at all. Absolutely not.

“I must hurry…”

Endo understood the mission imposed on him. He had guessed Kouki and the others had sent him off to transmit the information which also meant he must survive. Nagayama and Nomura said, “Do not return here,” but their wish was transmitted without the need for words.

However, after he fulfilled his duty, Endou was going to return to where Kouki and the others were. No matter what was said, he would not feel good if he was the only one who retreated to safety.

He felt somewhat empty because the demonic beasts didn’t notice him, but it was the best weapon for the current Endou as he traced the returning route memorized in his head, and finally he reached 70th floor.

While suppressing his impatience, he went towards the room with the teleport circle where Meld and the others set their base. After a while, Endo’s Sign Perception perceived the presence of six people. There’s no mistake they were Meld and the Knights. With this distance, the others should’ve noticed him since he had deactivated “Invisibility.”

Endo turned at the last corner and arrived at teleportation room where Meld and the Knights were. However, even though his figure could completely be seen, Meld and the Knights didn’t notice him at all. Endo then approached Meld with eyes of a dead fish, and called him.

“Commander! It’s me! Please notice me! It’s an emergency!”

“Uoh!? What!? Is it enemy’s attack!?”

At the moment Endou raised his voice, Meld yelled, drew his sword, jumped back, and looked at the surrounding with vigilance. Even the other Knights were surprised and shaken for a moment, then they entered battle stance.

“Like I said, it’s ME! Seriously, please don’t give such reactions!”

“Eh? Wait, it’s Kousuke, huh. Don’t surprise me like that. Rather, what happened to the others? Besides, aren’t you somewhat ragged?”

“I said it before, there’s an emergency!”

When Meld and the Knights understood it was Endou, they relaxed their shoulders because they knew how thin Endou’s shadow was. However, Endou returned earlier than scheduled, and it was only him. Furthermore, Endou was ragged and covered in wounds, that’s why their expressions became stern and guessed something must’ve happened.

As he was hurting because of the fact even the Kingdom’s elite Knights were incapable of noticing him unless he called out to them. However, Endou thought it was not the time for that and he began to talk about the situation rapidly.

At first, Meld and the Knights put on dubious expressions, but their expression tightened as Endo advanced in his story. Then, maybe because his heart was shaken when his story reached to where he retreated alone, Endou was drown in tears and his head was patted.

“Don’t cry, Kousuke. You are doing something only you can do. Do you think any of them can run through 20 floors in such a short time without even a fight? You’ve done well. I’ve certainly received your words.”

“Commander… I, I’ll return to them now. Even though they’d be able to return here by themselves… even if this time they said they won’t lose… Amanogawa was unable to defeat the enemies even with “Limit Break.” All we could do was to run away. Everyone is considerably exhausted, so even if their injuries heal… if they are attacked… we still don’t understand everything about those b.a.s.t.a.r.d demonic beasts… that’s why, please return to the surface and convey this information.”

So ashamed that he was crying, Endou rubbed his eyes with his sleeve, and said with a resolute expression.

Meld bit his lip in regret, and handed over the tool bag filled with all of the highest grade healing potions and everything else inside. The other Knights copied Meld’s actions, and entrusted their tool bags to Endo, feeling mortified.

“I can only apologize, Kousuke. Although we want to rescue them together… we will just be a hindrance to you…”

“Ah, no, please don’t worry about that. There’s a considerable decrease in the number of our potions, so it will surely help us.”

Saying that, Endou shook the tool bags where various potions were kept with a wry smile, but Meld’s frown only deepened. It was not only because he was mortified with his incapability of helping them, but also due to the bitterness.

“… Kousuke. Now, I will say the worst thing I can say. I don’t care if you scorn me because it’s natural. However, I want you to hear it.”

“Eh? What’s with this all of a sudden…”

“… No matter what happens, please take only “Kouki” back.”

“Eh?”

Meld’s words made Endou dumbfounded.

“Kousuke. If the demonic beasts are so strong and capable of putting the current you into such a predicament… the Human Race won’t have any future if we lose Kouki. Of course, I believe all of you can go through this and meet again with us, and I wish for that… However, I must say this as the Commander of Herrlicht Kingdom’s Knights. If by some chance it comes to that, please let “Kouki” live.”

“…”

Endou finally guessed what Meld meant and was dumbfounded. It was to sacrifice anyone to keep the more important one alive, a “choice” that must be done for someone with duty. It was something Endou never thought of. Therefore, Endou’s expression had become awfully bitter.

“… We, are we just extras added to Amanogawa?”

“Of course not. For it is true I wish and desire for everyone’s survival. No, such words don’t have any persuasiveness after I said that… Kousuke, at the very least I want you to convey those words to s.h.i.+zuku and Ryuutarou.”

“…”

Meld’s words made Endou’s feelings darken. Meld, Endou, and the others had spent much time together. He was always by their sides ever since their beginner days in this world, and they had fought together for a long time. Meld was a big brother-like existence for the students who went to the front lines, and someone they trusted more than anyone in this world. That’s why, Endou felt betrayed by Meld who said to cast them away.

Still, he understood the necessity of what Meld said in the corner of his mind, so he could not curse him. With a dark expression, Endo only nodded and turned on his heels.

However, at that moment…

“Kousuke!?”

“Eh!?”

Meld suddenly pushed Kousuke aside and cliiiiing!!, the sound of metal grinding against metal rang out, it came from the drawn sword swung in an arc. Following that, he rotated once and sent a splendid kick towards the blurred s.p.a.ce.

BooOOOm!