Hello, and welcome, to the next chapter of this... unique story.
Now, before we begin, I feel like it's time for me to respond to something that all writers inevitably face: comments.
So far, I've only had one criticising comment about my story, while the rest express their enjoyment of it.
To the one known as the Haxorus knight, I have no idea how Heaven in Konosuba works, since it's not mentioned much in canon, so I just went with what I know.
To all the other commenters such as Lubber, Fernando917, R.O.B. The Cool Guy, and others, thank you for liking my story, I'll try my best to keep it up, but I make no promises on it - being a beginner and all.
Now about this chapter, it introduces my favourite character in Konosuba. She's my favourite, for being able to disturb her enemies with her masochism, to the point that I wouldn't be surprised that the worst sadists would have the equivalent of blue balls from someone who gets off of what they usually do to others.
And while other characters, who know what she's really like, also find her... tendencies distressing, what about my oc? How would a person with an indifferent outward expression and a radically different mindset react to sadism and masochism? Well, I'll show you how he reacts to one of those things, and leave the other, for another time.
Bur first, Recap:
The trio recruit local Crimson Demon and Explosion-enthusiast Megumin into their party, after running into a few problems on how to deal with the remaining frogs needed to finish their first quest. Namely, Aqua's misfortune and idiocy, Kazuma's low stats, and Av'Rick's limited offensive skills.
Unfortunately, Megumin also has a few issues of her own. Specifically her EXTREME specialisation in only using one powerful spell, and said spell being so taxing, it causes her to go limp and can only be cast once a day.
Luckily, Av'Rick learned some new skills, after their last encounter with the frogs, to pick up the slack, and almost effortlessly killed enough frogs to complete the quest, twice over.
And with that, let the story continue.
Chapter 3: The Chivalrous Masochist and the Cabbage Slayer
Guild hall - Receptionist desk
"Alright, I can confirm that you've completed your quest. Nice work out there." Said Luna, as she hands back Kazuma's and Av'Rick's cards.
"Whoa! I went up two whole levels."
"Huh... I went up by six levels. Must be from killing more frogs than you Kazuma."
"Could you at least sound more shocked that you have a higher level than I do Av'Rick?"
"Why? My stats would still be higher, even if my level is lower than yours." Av'Rick lusterlessly states matter-of-factly. Since his Adaptive Development lets him increase his stats without increasing his level, the difference in their levels wouldn't matter in the long-run if they run into powerful enemies.
"Ahem!"
Before Kazuma could say another word, Luna gains the duos attention, handing them their quest reward.
"Now, since you've completed the quest and the, adding the frogs we bought from you, the total is two hundred, twenty thousand Eris." She says.
"Thanks." Kazuma replies, taking the reward, before starting to wordlessly walk towards an empty table with Av'Rick following close behind.
As they sit at the table, Kazuma starts to mentally calculate how the four of them will split up the reward while they wait for the girls to finish cleaning themselves in the local baths due to still being covered in frog slime.
Two hundred and twenty thousand, divided between the four of them makes fifty five thousand each.
Well, it was better than what they earned yesterday and thanks to Av'Rick, they got more money than usual from the quest. But was it really worth it? Sure, Av'Rick was there to help pick up the slack from their other party members, but whose to say that he'll get bored of them and leave to find better adventurers.
Turning his head towards said party member, who is just absently staring off into nothing again, Kazuma lets out another sigh. It's not going to be easy living in another world, especially with an airheaded Goddess and an Explosion maniacal Chunibyo, but at least he has another person from his world to share the burden.
"I saw your poster, I hope I'm not late." An elegant voice said, snapping Kazuma out of his thoughts and Av'Rick out of his escapism (which is ironic since he's in a fantasy world), causing them to turn towards the source.
"Are you still recruiting adventurers for your party?"
There standing near the table is a drop-dead gorgeous, well endowed woman, wearing armour. Her eyes are blue (causing Av'Rick to look straight at her eyes and ignore all her other attractive features), and her hair is blond, tied up in a ponytail. Her armour is silver, featuring a shoulder plate on her left side and a wing-like cloth on her right side, which are covering her yellow and black dress with silver trimming.
Kazuma's face becomes flushed at her beauty while Av'Rick stares at her eyes with the same emotionless expression as always.
"U-um, y-y-yeah we are! I-I wouldn't recommend it, b-but if you really wanna!" Kazuma stutters, his squeaky and cracking voice, a side effect from being a Shut-in from his past life, which caused him to be awkward around attractive woman who aren't named Aqua.
Av'Rick still stares impassively at her eyes.
"That's good, I was worried." The mysterious Knight said, closing her eyes in relief. "You see, I have been waiting ages for the right party to come along."
However, that's when her air of elegance ends, as her face becomes flushed red and her breathing becomes heavy.
"My name is Darkness, and my class is Crusader. If you would have me," Her voice starts sounding more excited, "I-I would like to join your p-p-p-p-party please!"
Av'Rick's expression still didn't change even after her sudden change in demeanour.
"I can start immediately!"
"Mmm, I don't-" The woman, now named Darkness, grabs Kazuma's arm and moves her face right in front of his.
"Tell me about the women in your party! Why are they so slimy? What sort of horror befell those two?" She exclaims excitedly.
"Oh, they uh, they were just swallowed by a couple of giant frogs that-"
"What?!" Darkness cuts him off again, her eyes dilating in disbelief and... envy?
"Oh, if only I were there." She said, sounding like she's worried about them. If it wasn't for the fact that she's still blushing when she said it.
Swallowing some saliva that accumulated in his mouth, Kazuma starts to question if there's anything wrong with Darkness, while Av'Rick's stare starts to slowly intensify while he keeps his gaze stoic on her eyes.
"Ah, I-I mean, as a knight I cannot stand by and let two tender young women be defiled by some creature!" She corrects herself, her breathing becoming heavier again as she looks at Kazuma with a crazy look on her face, before finally looking at Av'Rick.
Her breathing becomes even heavier at Av'Rick's intense stare with his inexpressive face.
Kazuma's gut tells him she's like Aqua and Megumin - Hopeless.
Until Av'Rick starts making them better party members, but you'll find out how later.
"Uh, I don't recommend you joining us." Kazuma starts off nervously, causing Darkness to turn her head back to him slowly, getting one last look at Av'Rick.
"One of our members isn't what I'd call useful, and the other one, she can only use her magic once a day. And I've got no skills." He then points his towards Av'Rick.
"He's really the only one carrying us the whole way." Av'Rick stops staring at Darkness and looks at Kazuma when he mentions him, still quiet in this whole conversation.
"Our party's trash so you're better off- Argh!" Kazuma groans in pain, as Darkness clutches his arm even tighter, before moving slightly closer to his face.
"That is exactly what I'm looking for!" She starts off, before letting go and stepping back.
"In all honesty I do have to make a slight confession to make. Although I am confident in my defensive capabilities, I am quite clumsy. In fact, none of my attacks ever hit their mark..." She states, her face now showing embarrassment.
Kazuma just looks at her pitifully, his gut correct on her being hopeless, while Av'Rick goes back to staring at her eyes again.
"That said, I will not hesitate to charge the front line!" She proceeds to invade Kazuma's personal space again.
"You can use me as your Shield! Yes! Use me!" She proclaims passionately, Kazuma's heart beating at a fast pace by her proximity.
Quickly turning away to calm his heart, Kazuma proceeds to attempt another dissuasion.
"Sorry, I could never use a woman as a shield."
"I wouldn't mind that." She rebuffs, in a surprisingly dignified manner.
"Yeah well, we get eaten by monsters in every battle."
"Oh, I wouldn't mind that either!" She rebuffs again, in an unsurprisingly aroused manner.
Kazuma looks back at her incredulously, as she clutches her chest and breathes heavily in excitement, while Av'Rick is still quiet from this whole ordeal Kazuma is facing.
Deciding he's had enough insanity to deal with today, Kazuma decides to leave the conversation by telling an obvious lie that he drank a lot and feels ill. Getting up, while pretending his stomach hurts, Kazuma walks to the toilets and escapes through the window, leaving Av'Rick to deal with Darkness.
Av'Rick and Darkness are now locked in a staring contest, both not saying a single word.
Av'Rick continues his blank stare at Darkness, while Darkness' breathing becomes heavier, along with a deep red blush.
In Darkness' mind, she's imagining what Av'Rick thinks of her, how his stare and silence is his way of hiding his cruel nature and how he's thinking of lewd thoughts of her as he looks at her with his uncaring eyes.
In reality, Av'Rick's Hyper Instincts were managing the information he subconsciously analysed when he first saw Darkness, with her dignified demeanour and interestingly designed armour, before proceeding to stare at her eyes for most of the conversation.
Firstly, her armour has a very high quality not available to most new adventures, yet she decided to join them, even after Kazuma told her they are newbies, in spite of what the recruitment poster Aqua drew implies, indicating she too is a newbie adventurer.
Secondly, her mannerisms when he and Kazuma first saw her, before devolving into her current disposition, were very regal and majestic, which doesn't align with the typical rambunctious and roaring attitudes of adventurers. Those traits, seemed ingrained when first meeting others, before letting out her true character when they get to know her.
Couple that with her, alarmingly well kept hair and fair skin, compared to other female adventurers he's seen and most people in general, Av'Rick can only draw from one conclusion.
"Are you a noble?" He asks in his typical impassive tone, which hides his curiosity.
Darkness snaps out of her daze and gasps in shock with her eyes dilating.
"Oh, you are." Av'Rick confirms nonchalantly, sounding like he's not that surprised at all thanks to his Tranquil State.
"N-no!" Darkness stutters. "W-what are you talking about? I am not a noble, who ran away from her home to pursue her dream of becoming a knight! I-I...I..."
She trails off, as Av'Rick silently stares at her again. His impassive look, giving her the impression that he won't have any nonsense she's giving him.
A pleasant shiver runs down her back from the intensity of his stare and how apathetic it looks. Almost as if he could simply dominate her with his look alone.
Meanwhile, Av'Rick is just waiting for Darkness to continue, unaware that his staring has caused the Crusader to realise she might have a thing for blank stares.
"A-alright..." She starts off. "You are correct, I am a noble disguised as an adventurer."
She takes a deep breath.
"My true name is Lalatina Ford Dustiness, daughter of the current head of the Dustiness house." She states in a tone of pride and nobility, denoting how serious this situation is for her.
"My father kept arranging marriages for me, which I refused, so I leave frequently to fulfill my dream of becoming a knight to protect others. Just like how my family is also known as the shield of the Kingdom."
She then starts looking at him with pleading eyes.
"Please, don't tell anyone who I really am. I don't want my father to find out what I've been doing." She begs.
"...Ok." Av'Rick replies, his face not changing in any way since Darkness' confession.
Darkness, however looks at him with her mouth agape and eyes widen at how easily Av'Rick agreed to not tell anyone.
There's no possible way, it could be that simple. His face may not show it, but she can tell that there's something more to agreeing he'll keep her secret than he lets on.
Av'Rick, on the other hand, is waiting to see if Kazuma will come back.
"Y-you won't tell anyone?" She raises her voice. "There's no price for keeping this secret."
Her face slowly starts becoming lewd again.
"Y-you don't want to do anything against my will?! Or subject me to any form of indecency?!"
"Uh, no? I don't see why I should. Also if you keep yelling, people will find out anyway."
Darkness shuts her mouth and looks away in embarrassment.
"Look, my friend Kazuma probably went home since he's too ill, so I'm going too. Goodnight."
And with that, Av'Rick gets up and leaves her, causing Darkness to wordlessly try to call him back, since he left her speechless. She still can't tell if he will keep her secret or tell someone about it, due to his unreadable face, and frankly, somehow not knowing what he'll to with such information gives Darkness pleasant feelings, as it's left to her perverted imagination.
The Guild - Outside
The next day, Kazuma and Av'Rick head back to the Guild.
After leaving Darkness, Av'Rick heads back to the stables to meet up with Kazuma and Aqua, who never bothered waiting for the two teens and went back to the stables and was asleep by the time the reincarnates got there, much to Kazuma's ire.
The brown-haired teen apologiesed to Av'Rick for ditching him, hoping he'd still stay to help him manage Aqua and Megumin, since he's shown to handling them well.
Av'Rick, simply forgives Kazuma in his usual dull tone, as if didn't matter much.
Walking up to the door, Kazuma yawns, since he and Av'Rick woke up until around noon, due to sleeping late.
"Tada!" An energetic and familiar voice screams from inside the Guild.
When they enter the building, they see Aqua preforming a party trick, involving her spraying water fountains using Japanese War fans in each hand, while a cup on her head sprouts a pink rose which releases a hail of petals, causing her spectators to cheer for her.
Bowing her head to them in appreciation for praising her, Aqua turns to see Kazuma and Av'Rick, who have watched her performance when they walked.
"Oh! Av'Rick! Kazuma! Look! Don't you two love the new skill I acquired? It's a great addition to my awesome set of powers!"
Kazuma just looks at her with a deadpan stare for being a dork who thinks a party trick is worth bragging about, while Av'Rick inexpressivly gives her a thumbs-up, which boosts the Goddess' ego even further.
The teens then meet up with Megumin, who is currently eating her lunch. Taking a seat between the Archwizard while they wait for the brunch they ordered before they sat down, Kazuma pulls out his class card from his pocket, and mulls over how he's supposed to cash in the points he accumulated from their first quest when he leveled up.
Megumin, who notices Kazuma muttering his little dilemma, explains how the Adventurers class acquire new skills, while she eats.
First, he finds someone with the skill he wants to teach him how to use it. After they do, the skill will appear on his card. To finish, he transfers his points on to that skill to learn it.
Av'Rick already knows this when Luna explained to them how their cards work, when they first received them, but Kazuma was busy sulking when he found out he was the weak link of the party, so he didn't pay attention.
"So like, if I had enough points and wanted to learn Explosion magic, all I have to do is ask and you'd teach me?"
"Yes exactly!" Megumin screeches, jumping from her chair and right into Kazuma's face in excitement.
"That's all you have to do Kazuma! If you want learn Explosion magic, I can teach you as much as you want! When you think about it, is there any other skill that's more worthwhile to know? No, there most certainly is not! Just say the word and we shall walk the path of Explosions together!" She rants joyfully.
Kazuma sweats profusely from Megumin encroaching his personal space and gently pushes her away by grabbing onto her shoulders.
"Easy kiddo, don't get so riled up." He starts off as he lets go of her shoulders.
"I've only got a few points anyway, so it's not like you..." Kazuma trails off, when he notices Megumin's mood suddenly plummet.
"He said kiddo..." Megumin mutters, much to Kazuma's confusion, as she turns away from him and takes another bite of her meal. "He called me kiddo..." She mutters gloomily, as she continues eating, ignoring Kazuma.
Which is a perfect opportunity for Av'Rick to chime in on the conversation.
"You know Megumin, if you make yourself exhausted every time you cast your Explosion magic, you could stunt your growth as a result of using all your energy on the spell. You could be stuck looking like a child for the rest of your life." Av'Rick theoriezes in his typical bland tone.
Megumin's face shifts into an expression when a person's mind was metaphorically blown due to hearing something that changed their perspective.
Av'Rick doesn't realise it at the time, but his opinion reinforced Megumin's promise to Kazuma, that she'd increase her mana reserves, so she'll have enough energy left for her body to grow and develop into a fine young lady.
As the young Crimson Demon's resolve is being reinforced, the sound of metal greaves can be heard, heading to where the trio are sitting, followed by a familiar grandiose voice. "Here you are."
Kazuma and Av'Rick turn their heads to turn to see the source, who is none other than Darkness, which causes Kazuma's anxiety to act up from her beauty, while Av'Rick's face remains stoic.
"We could not finish our talk, because you said you were drunk and felt ill." She said to Kazuma, as she walks up to the three and takes a seat next to him.
Her eyes briefly wander towards Av'Rick before focusing back on Kazuma, who is feeling agitated by her not understanding that he was trying to let her down easy last night.
"I-I'm feeling better now." Kazuma replies.
"Glad to hear. Now, shall we continue where we left off? I would like to join your party if-"
"You can't, and that's final!" Kazuma blurts out, cutting off Darkness.
This causes Darkness to recoil, as if she's been hit, and hug herself, as she blushes heavily.
"Ngh, so fast and cruel..." She mutters to herself, while Kazuma watches in shock and disgust at how she enjoyed being rejected.
"Hehe, that's not how you do it Darkness. You'll scare people away if you're that pushy." A new voice says, as she walks up to Darkness and pats her shoulder.
The newcomer is a teenage girl, with a light complexion and purple eyes. Her short silver hair is longer at the front, where two strands frame her face, and piece of her hair frame her face. She wears earrings and has a small scar on her right cheek. Her body is lithe which, along with her short hair, can make her be mistaken for a teenage boy.
She's wearing a fairly revealing outfit, which for some reason, seems to be a common theme here for some of the female adventurers. The outfit consists of jean-shorts, black elbow gloves with normal brown gloves layered over them, an elbow-length cape, a blue scarf, white knee-high socks with a blue trimming, brown boots, and a bikini-like grey top.
"Um, who are you?" Kazuma asks the silver-ette, causing Av'Rick to look at her as well.
"My name is Chris. As you can see, I'm a thief. As you can see, I'm also friends with this poor thing." She jerks her thumb in Darkness' direction, who is looking embarrassed right now.
Kazuma sighs in relief at how the rogue seems to have more common sense than most people he's seen so far.
"Just now, I heard you talking about wanting to learn a skill. Well, how would you like to learn some thieving?" Chris offers, which leaves Kazuma with a confused expression, as it sounds like Chris is offering to teach him to be a criminal.
"Thief skills always come in handy here, plus it doesn't take that many points to learn." She clarifies.
"Seriously?" He ask, with a hint of excitement in his voice.
"Seriously, just buy me a drink and I'll be happy to teach you."
"That's it? Alright, count me in! Barkeep, can I get a nice cold drink for the lady here?" Kazuma calls out.
A few minutes later, a mug of beer is placed in front of Chris.
Axel - An unnamed Street
After the drink, Chris leads Kazuma outside the guild and into a quiet street somewhere in Axel, so he can test the Thief skills Chris will teach him.
Av'Rick and Darkness tag along, with the Crusader briefly peeking at the Self Supremacist, before quickly looking away and having her cheeks take on a rosy hue.
When they arrive, Chris begins teaching a few skills associated with the Thief class, before moving on to her last one.
"And lastly, here's my favourite skill." Chris said, getting ready to teach Kazuma the last skill. "Watch closely. Ready?" She asks, with her right arm stretched out in his direction.
"Ready when you are, show me what you've got!" Kazuma replies with in determined tone.
"Steal!" Chris calls out her skill, which envelopes her outstretched arm in a bright light, forcing Kazuma to cover his eyes.
When his vision returns, he sees Chris' right hand is no longer empty - it's now holding a small pouch. A familiar small pouch.
"Hey, my coin pouch!"
"That right there is a skill called Steal. It nabs one random item, and the higher your luck the better the score. That's how Steal works." Chris explains.
As she walks towards Kazuma and is about give back his pouch, she pulls her arm back as an idea forms in her head.
"What's say, you and I have a contest? I stole from you, now you steal from me, whatever you get, you keep. Deal?" She challenges Kazuma.
"Do not ask him to risk his money like that, Chris." Darkness interjects, as the voice of reason.
"Well he is an adventurer, taking a risk or two comes with the territory."
Kazuma cups his chin to contemplate.
He could lose all his money if he accepts. Still, getting to have a duel of skills with someone? Those are the things he expected when first coming here! Finally, he gets to do something adventure-y in this world!
"Sure, I'm in!"
Taking out his card, Kazuma proceeds to the section labelled 'Skills' and selects all the skills Chris showed him.
"Okay, lets see... Enemy Detection, one point... and Lurk, one point... and Steal, one point... and Nature's Bea- Nature's Beauty?"
"Oh, that. Earlier in the bar, your party member was performing a party trick skill. That is it's name." Darkness explains to Kazuma.
"It says it costs five points to learn, for that?! No thank you!"
Un-selecting the party trick, Kazuma proceeds to cash in his points for the Thief skills.
After a few seconds, the knowledge on how to use his new skills becomes etched into his mind.
"That's it, all the skills you've picked are yours now! Come at me thief!" Chris says, with a provoking smirk.
"You got it, don't cry if I steal something you like!" Kazuma replies, with a smirk of his own. He's pretty confident that with his high luck, he'll snag something very valuable.
"Heh, if you're lucky, you might get my magic dagger. It's worth more than- wait... Where's my dagger?" Chris looks at her hip where her is usually strapped to and finds it missing.
"Is this thing really that valuable?" Everyone turns to Av'Rick - who was ignored this whole time since they arrived - examining Chris' dagger in his hands.
"Wha- How did you get my dagger?!" Chris asks in a demanding tone, her pride as a Thief hurt that a novice managed to steal her most prized possession.
"Uh... Well, when you used Steal, I swiped your dagger when everyone was distracted by the flash of light." Av'Rick confesses in his usual bland tone.
"Why would you do that?!"
"Because I was curious if you'd notice, since you're a thief." Chris becomes further infuriated by the reply, as it sounds like he's not impressed.
However, a smirk forms on her face again.
"Sorry about stealing your dagger. Here, I'll give it back-"
"Oh, don't worry. I'll take it back myself! Steal!"
Chris activates her skill after cutting Av'Rick off, causing her right hand to glow again, as she points her arm in Av'Rick's direction.
When the light died down, Chris' dagger never left Av'Rick's hands, which causes the Thief's eyes to widen in shock. With her high luck stat, anything she wants to steal from someone is practically guaranteed, but right now her magic dagger still hasn't returned to her. So what did she steal from him?
Unfurling her hand, Chris' along with Kazuma's and Darkness' jaws drop from the item Chris stole.
Because in her hand, is a pair of black boxer shorts.
Chris stole, Av'Rick's underpants.
"Chris..." Eyes now turn towards Darkness, who sports a blush on her face.
"T-to think... you would steal... someone's undergarments... I didn't know you were... into that sort of thing..." She loudly mutters in embarrassment at what her friend just did.
"W-wait Darkness, t-this isn't what you think!" Chris stutters, sporting a blush of her own, her voice sounding a bit more high pitched.
Meanwhile, Kazuma's mind is bewildered at the scene in front of him. On one hand, the lecherous part of his mind is thrilled at the potential of stealing the panties of cute girls. On the other hand, the retrospective part of his mind is relieved that Chris only stole his money, and not his underwear.
Though, it's hard to decide if he'd rather be penniless, or go commando.
Av'Rick, in the meantime, stares at his boxers, his stare getting intense, before becoming more... dreadful...
"Chris..." His voice starts to carry more intimidation in it's tone when he utters the Thief's name, despite sounding indifferent as usual.
Chris slowly turns her head, sweat starts to form on her forehead, as she nervously looks at Av'Rick.
His expression remains unchanged, but his presence starts giving off a feeling of rage.
Kazuma and Chris start breathing heavily in fear, their eyes showing fear to the usually quiet Weirdo.
Darkness, on the other hand, starts breathing heavily in lust, her eyes showing desire to take brunt of Av'Rick's anger, while her face becomes red again.
Her perception of him being a cruel individual of vicious brutality being reinforced by his display of ire.
"I can understand that you'd be angry with me stealing your dagger, that you'd also want to get back at me from stealing it from under your nose." His voice is very calm, but the tone of fury is also very evident.
"But if you're going to get even with me, it shouldn't be so you could fulfill your perverted desires."
"T-thats not why I-"
"So here's what's going to happen." Av'Rick cuts Chris off, causing her to meep.
"I'll give back what I stole from you, you'll give back what you stole from me. Agreed?" He compromises in a stern manner, despite his face remaining indifferent, though it further adds to the intimidation.
Chris just wordlessly nods and slowly walks towards Av'Rick to hand back his boxers with her wrist shaking wildly.
"Such a dominating and oppressive presence... I must join his party now more than ever..." Darkness whispers to herself in a perverted yet determined tone.
After receiving his underwear, Av'Rick begins calming down, causing the suffocating presence to subside until it vanishes, leaving him as his normal(/weird) self again.
Chris and Kazuma sigh in relief, while Darkness sighs in disappointment that she can't be under his intense presence now.
"Here Kazuma." Chris walks to Kazuma and hands him his coin pouch. "Let's just, call off the contest. Okay?"
"Y-yeah..." Kazuma agrees, his mind still rattled with what just happened in the last minute.
Both don't really feel like doing the competition now.
And with that the group walk back to the Guild hall, with Av'Rick putting on his underpants on the way back.
Av'Rick usually isn't that easy to anger. But take away the few things he can't replace, like undergarments made of materials most likely not discovered in this world, and somebody's gonna have a bad time.
Adventurers Guild - Guild Hall
When they arrived at the Guild hall, they quickly run into Aqua and Megumin, who look confused as to why Chris and Kazuma look dejected, Darkness looks like she's about to wet herself in excitement, and Av'Rick is busy looking at his card.
While they were walking back he took out his card to see if he learned a new skill to see why everyone was stunned when he was in a rage. Because the last time he got angry, no one was paralyzed.
Calm Fury (Lv. Max): A skill created through Tranquil State, which lets the user channel the power of their rage, while maintaining absolute tranquility. User remains calm when angered, whether it is caused naturally or by a status effect, and have a 100% increase strength, agility, and durability when this skill is active.
Ok... So this new skill, let's him remain calm when angry, and increase his physical attributes until he calms down. So maybe, when he got furious, they sensed his intent through his rage, which caused them to get a bit scared as a result of the skill being amplified by his Indomitable Willpower.
Moving on from his thoughts, Av'Rick puts away his class card to see what's happening now.
Kazuma, who got out of his downcast state, confidently shows off his new skill, by using Steal on Megumin.
Unfortunately, the item he ends up stealing are her black panties, which causes the Archwizard to blush in embarrassment.
"What's your problem? Did your level go up or something? Because your class has gone from Adventurer to pervert." Said Megumin, which starts to gain peoples attention as to what's happening right now, with the males - barring Av'Rick - giving Kazuma a thumbs up, and the females giving him a look of disgust.
"Now then, may I have my panties back? It's a bit drafty." She requests in shy manner.
"You are so icky!" Aqua says in disgust, and is also relieved that Kazuma didn't use his skill on her.
"I-I wasn't trying to steal these, whatever I get is supposed to be random! And besides, Chris stole Av'Rick's underpants before we got here!" Kazuma replies to defend himself, while throwing Chris under the proverbial bus.
Said Thief also snaps out of her slump after hearing what Kazuma just said, causing her face to flush in embarrassment. Everyone's attention is now on her, with the males holding on to their pants, as way to protect their undergarments, and the females having shocked faces that a woman just blatantly did something perverse that's usually expected of the men do to and get caught and punished for.
Unable to cope being the centre of attention caused by an embarrassing incident, Chris activates her Lurk skill and slips away from everyone's gaze.
A few seconds pass, before the eavesdroppers went back to whatever business they had before.
"This goes beyond savage!" Darkness exclaims, now snapped out of her lustful daze.
"How dare you shame them in public like this! I cannot stand here and do nothing! Therefore I shall ask you again, will you let me join your party?"
"Forget it." Kazuma denies Darkness' in a deadpan tone.
The Crusader recoils at the insult and gasps in pleasure, much to Aqua's and Megumin's confusion, and Kazuma's chagrin, while Av'Rick just stares at the direction Chris left.
Later
Taking a seat on a nearby table, the group of four, plus Darkness start to discuss about Darkness joining their party, and be named... the group of five... minus Chris.
"Hang on! According to her card, she's a Crusader! We'd be crazy to turn down someone as powerful as her!" Says Megumin, as she looks at Darkness' class card in surprise.
As she shows the card to Aqua, Kazuma sighs in frustration, due not wanting Darkness to meet Megumin and Aqua.
His only choice now, is another attempt at dissuading the blonde Knight.
"Darkness." Kazuma calls out, causing her to turn her head in his direction.
"I'm sorry, but I haven't totally been honest with you. The thing is, me, Av'Rick and Aqua may be new here, but our mission here is to bring down the Devil King." Aqua nods in agreement to Kazuma's confession.
"Are you serious?" Megumin asks in surprise.
"Yup, that's right."
"Pretty awesome huh?"
Av'Rick and Aqua reply respectively.
"Anyway, we know how rough it's going to get for us, and we're okay with that." Kazuma says solemnly.
"But what about you Darkness? If he catches a lady knight like you, do you know what he's gonna do?" He asks the Crusader. "For starters, he'll chain you up and torture the hell out of you!" He says ominously.
"Yes, I fully expect he would. For you see, since days of old, becoming his erotic plaything has been a female knight's duty. And that alone makes it worthwhile to go!" Darkness replies passionately.
"Wait, what?" Kazuma responds in confusion.
"Oh, sorry. Did I say something strange just now?"
"Yes you did." Av'Rick interjects. "The duty of any knight is to protect the powerless from those that would harm them. But you just slandered their name by making it sound like they pretend to be knights to fulfill their depraved fantasies. You should be ashamed of yourself." He reprimands Darkness, but the uncaring tone in his voice makes it sound like he's not trying.
Although, the intensity of his stare conveys that he really is reprimanding the Crusader, who is starting to look aroused again by his stern look.
Before they can continue, an alarm starts to go off, followed by voice.
"EMERGENCY QUEST!!! EMERGENCY QUEST!!!" Luna's voice calls out from the tower with speakers.
"WE NEED ALL ABLE ADVENTURERS TO ASSEMBLE AT THE FRONT GATE!!! I REPEAT, ALL ADVENTURERS ASSEMBLE AT THE FRONT GATE AT ONCE!!!" She continues, with more urgency in her voice.
When the announcement stops, everyone starts to leave the Guild to head to the front gate of Axel with serious faces, with Av'Rick and company, following suit.
Axel - Front Gate
As they were heading to the front gate of Axel, many civilians were barricading themselves inside their homes, as if they were expecting disaster to strike.
"Hope you're all ready for this!"
"There's no way they'll take me down!"
"They don't stand a chance!"
Are the words of adventurers near Kazuma and Av'Rick, boasting that they could handle the mysterious threat, that apparently attacked Axel before in the past.
When everyone arrives at the gate, a green mist can be seen in the distance, that's closing in on the town.
"What's going on?" Kazuma wonders, nervous at how tense everyone is right now.
Except Av'Rick, who notices a lot of baskets and large cages being set up nearby the gate, by employees of the guild.
"I shall protect everyone. Stay close to me and you'll be fine." Darkness' expression remains serious from her declaration, further increasing the tense atmosphere.
"They said it's an emergency. Are monsters gonna attack us?"
"Oh those aren't monsters silly, it's cabbage." Aqua replies to Kazuma.
"...Huh?" Kazuma responds.
"IT'S HARVEST TIME!!!" The adventurers shout out, which dissipates the grievous air almost instantly.
Apparently every year, a swarm of vegetables that can fly around, pass by Axel, causing a huge amount of collateral damage to the town, in order to reach a canyon at the ends of the world, where they die... Without being eaten... In Aqua's words.
As the mist approaches, it becomes easier to notice that whatever is approaching the town, is indeed cabbages... flying cabbages... flying cabbages with black beady eyes...
"ATTACK!!!"
Followed by all the adventurers charging headfirst into the swarm, to defeat the flying vegetables that have no way of fighting back, apart from ramming into their opponents with their small bodies.
The sight of which causes Kazuma to give a flat stare at the scene of adventurers fighting feral crops. Going back to bed right now seems like the better idea, rather than joining and fighting cabbages.
"Av'Rick, Kazuma!" Darkness calls out, causing the two teens to turn their heads in her direction.
"Here is my chance - I will show you my skills as a Crusader, and prove my worth!"
Drawing out her sword, Darkness lets out a battle cry, and charges into the battle like the others.
However, when she swings her sword to cut down one of the cabbages, she misses by a large margin.
She proceeds to swing again, but hits nothing.
And again... and again... and so on...
It seems like she is clumsy, like she said last night. Kazuma can only look on in disbelief, while Av'Rick notices that the cages are being filled with cabbages defeated by the adventures, who carry them using the baskets.
"ARGH!!!"
Came the cry of one of the adventures, followed by another cry of pain, as many of them start becoming overwhelmed by the cabbages tackling them.
Eventually, one the adventurers stumbles into another, causing both of them to fall over, leaving them to the mercy of the green menaces...
...Or it would be, if not for Darkness, who jumps in front of the two to shield them with her body.
As the swarm of flying vegetables bombard the unmoving Crusader, gradually breaking her armour off with each hit, the adventurers that she's protecting start pleading that she saves herself.
"I cannot abandon my comrades in battle! I can't, I won't!" She exclaims in determination.
Many onlookers stare in awe for such a seemingly selfless act, but Kazuma only looks on in disbelief at Darkness' growing arousal from being stared at by many of the male adventurers.
"She's sacrificing her body to protect those men!"
"We knights should learn from her example!"
What's worse is that no one, apart from Av'Rick and Kazuma, knows that her seemingly virtuous actions are the result of her masochistic tendencies.
"Quake in fear cabbages, for no one can stand against my lethal Explosion spell!"
Turning his head towards the direction of her voice, Kazuma looks at Megumin, who is getting ready to unleash her magic with an excited look on her face.
Mana starts to gather from the air and into her staff, a magic circle forms underneath her as she begins casting her spell, using a chant that's different from last time.
"EXPLOSION!!!"
With the trigger now spoken, a giant pillar of fire bursts to life where most of the adventures are fighting the cabbages.
Many of the cabbages are incinerated by the blast, but surprisingly there are no signs of the adventures caught up in the blast, nor any sight of Darkness, who would have most likely just screamed in ecstasy from being in the middle of the inferno.
In actuality, all of the would-be-burned adventurers suddenly find themselves outside the blast radius, with no idea how. Courtesy of Av'Rick Mephilis, who was Overclocking his bodyto carry everyone out of the Explosion. As a result of killing those giant frogs, his stats and skill levels increased, which lets him maintain his Overclocking for a longer period of time, before succumbing to it's drawback as well as being able to move at a much greater speed.
It's also very fortunate, that all of the people he carried possess the superhuman durability to endure the extreme g-force and whiplashing friction against the air, otherwise they would've been turned to paste on the grass, if Megumin's Explosion doesn't vaporise them first.
The last adventurer Av'Rick saves is Darkness, who experienced the world becoming briefly blurry, before finding herself staring at the giant crater left by the nuke-like magic.
Looking around for who took her away, she notices Av'Rick nearby, who is currently lying down.
While Overclocking didn't leave him as exhausted as last time, he still prefers to get as much rest as possible, in case something happens.
"Av'Rick." Moving his eye sight towards the voice, he sees Darkness calling his name.
"Were you the one who pulled me away from the explosion?" She asks.
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Uh, because people were going to get hurt as a result of my reckless teammate?" Av'Rick blandly responds with confusion, not understanding the question.
"That's not what I meant. I mean why did you have to pull me away from that brutal blast!? As I have said before, I am confident in my defensive capabilities, so surviving such a massive explosion is no challenge for me!" She exclaims.
"Just because you're correct doesn't mean you're right." He replies, as he stands up, feeling like he's had enough resting.
"What?" Darkness responds to Av'Rick's random answer.
"Even if you can endure the explosion, is it really wrong for me to help? To risk my wellbeing for someone else's, like you did for those adventurers earlier?"
"That's completely different!"
"Because you're a masochist?"
Trying and failing to form a comeback, Darkness can only stare at Av'Rick in shock at how he, again, figured out she was (terroribly) hiding her desire to feel pain and humiliation.
"That expression on your face tells me you weren't expecting someone to figure out your interests. An interest that's probably a result of living the life of a noblewoman."
If her eyes could widen any more, they might have fallen out of their sockets at what she just heard. No one else seemed to be able to notice her masochism, even, when she wasn't trying that hard to hide it. The only other person to figure out her 'interests' was Chris, wherever she is right now, who accepts her for who she is, and possibly her father, who hasn't said anything about it. But even more shocking is that Av'Rick is hinting he knows why she wants to feel pain and humiliation.
"You must have been really bored with the life of a noble to run away and be a knight." Av'Rick continues. "Not just because you want to protect others, but also so you can experience pain and humiliation, something that someone as aesthetically pleasing as yourself never really knew, until becoming an adventurer."
"W-what?! How could you possibly know about that!?" Darkness exclaims in shock, as it's the second time he's been able to read her like a book.
"After you told me you were a noble, I wondered to myself if that's connected to your masochism. That living a life free of pain and neglect as a noble is what caused you to desire those same things. As well as protecting the innocents. Am I wrong?" Av'Rick asks, giving her another one of his intense blank stares.
"I-it's true." Darkness stutters, nervously and lustfully under his stare.
"E-ever since I was young, everyone treated me with respect because of my looks and status as a noble, so I was rarely spoken ill of, or hurt in any way." She confesses in a depressed tone, before her face changes into one of genuine happiness.
"But when I am a Crusader, when I am an adventurer - I can show the world who I truly am, without having to worry what others think of me!"
"By protecting the helpless, while simultaneously relishing in the suffering that would afflict them?" He bluntly retorts.
"D-don't say it like that! T-that just makes me sound selfish!" Darkness sputters in embarrassment at how Av'Rick worded her goal.
While she is a masochist, that doesn't mean she doesn't genuinely want to protect others who can't protect themselves.
"Then maybe you should let others help you protect the weak and share the hardship of doing so. That way, you'll have at least someone to keep you in check, so you won't get too reckless in a fight due to your masochism."
"...I-is... Is this your way of offering me to join your party?"
"...Sure why not?" Av'Rick replies, sounding uncaring, but on the inside, he really wants her to join.
He's never met someone else who's just as socially awkward and has difficulty making friends like he does.
Granted, it's because she's a noble who grew up not knowing pain and humiliation, while he has a hard time outwardly expressing his emotions and can be easily forgotten when not being the centre of attention, but he'll take what he can get.
Beggers can't be choosers after all.
"Thank you! Thank you so much! You don't know how much this means to me!" Darkness expresses happily by grabbing onto both of Av'Rick's hands with both of hers.
"If I don't meet up to your expectations please feel free to reprimand me harshly!"
Then she proceeds to moves her face close to his while blushing again.
"...So you'll keep protecting others while letting me and my party members not let your masochism get out of hand, right? Because that's what I expect you do to."
"W-well, I think I am capable of meeting those-"
"SECOND WAVE!!!" Someone screams, causing the Knight and Weirdo to see a larger wave of flying cabbages closing in on the town.
Adventurers start running away, or at least try to. Fighting the first wave has made many of them too tired to run, those that aren't are doing their best to defend as many as they can, after being inspired by Darkness when she protected those other two adventurers earlier.
Alas, as brave as they are, they don't possess the same constitution as the blonde Crusader and will most likely be swept away by the emerald tide.
"Yeah, ok... Guess it's time for me to fight."
Which would have happened, if not for Av'Rick Mephilis deciding to step in and join the battle.
Closing his eyes, his Hyper Instincts guides him to the part of his mind that possesses the capability that enables him to kill by any means in the most efficient way possible, further enhanced by his Indomitable Willpower.
A black aura starts to surround him, giving off even more dread than earlier, when Chris stole his underpants and he got angry, accidentally creating his Calm Fury.
Everyone stops what they're doing to look at him, their faces full of shock at how someone so ordinary-looking can emit something so inhumane. Even the cabbages stop moving, their green bodies shivering in fear at the bloodlust released by a single person being directed at them.
Darkness, on the other hand, looks at Av'Rick with hearts in her eyes while blushing like a schoolgirl. The feeling of fear he's giving her causes the area between her legs to dampen slightly. The permeation of death surrounding him makes it harder for her to breathe, to the point that she might pass out. Her heart has never beaten as hard as it is now as she feels excitement from from being near him. If he ever directs his intent onto her, she might orgasm on the spot from its sheer intensity.
Av'Rick, completely oblivious from the reactions of everyone opens his eyes, his face as stoic as ever, which further intimidates anyone who sees it, as it just emphasises the impression that he's a monster in human skin.
Overclocking his body again, he vanishes from everyone's gaze, the feeling of terror never leaving the air.
One by one the immobile cabbages start to become shredded, torn, or sliced, followed by an high-speed blur, which is the result of Av'Rick using his Bodily Frequency Control to oscillate his arms at a high frequency turning his forearms into razor sharp blades, with five additional blades (A.K.A. his fingers and thumbs) at the tip.
Everyone can only watch, as the massive secondary wave of cabbages gradually gets smaller and smaller. The green veggies snapping out of their fearful daze when they realise what's happening to their kin and start to frantically get away from the beast slaughtering them.
Surprisingly enough, instead of going through the town and ramming down anything in their way, they decide the safest place to be are the cages containing the first-wave cabbages, who are just as frightened, believing that the monster outside their little asylum won't be enough to stop him.
As they close in on the cages, many of them are still slaughtered by Av'Rick, who continues to use his arms to slash each one he passes by.
Entering the cages as fast as they can, the cabbages start huddling close to each other as much as they can to amass any form of comfort from Av'Rick's presence, filling up all the cages to maximum capacity in seconds.
Those that couldn't enter once the capacity was reached start to hide in the baskets nearby, which were scattered when Megumin casted her spell.
Ignoring the ones in the cages and baskets, Av'Rick continues to cut down all the cabbages still flying in the air. However as time goes on, his movements gradually become sluggish, the rate at which he is killing them slowly declines as he continues to succumb to the drawbacks of Overclocking his body.
Eventually, just as he is about to eliminate another one, his body stops moving, until he falls face first onto the ground, as he has reached his limits, which causes him to pass out and his black aura to vanish.
As the feeling of terror dissappears from the air, everyone starts to catch their breath as they didn't realise they were holding it in.
A few seconds pass by with everyone calming down from what they just witnessed. They have never seen a person move so beast-like before, tearing apart one cabbage after another with his bare hands while moving faster than any beginner adventurer they've ever seen!
"TAKE DOWN THOSE CABBAGES!!!"
Snapping out of their shock, an adventurer realises there are still lots of cabbages flying around, despite Av'Rick culling a massive number of them, and calls out to the rest to take action. Everyone resumes their battle, which is now significantly easier with the cabbages in smaller numbers and not trying to tackle them. Instead, they're either flying away from the town, or are on lying on the ground playing dead so Av'Rick won't attack them, as they are all still terrified of him.
As the fighting continues Darkness, who has also snapped out of her lewd daze, runs towards Av'Rick's lying form.
"Av'Rick! Av'Rick!" She calls out to him but gets no response as he remains face down.
Kneeling down when she arrives, she turns him over to see what's wrong with him.
There's no way she'll let him die on her watch, now that she's in his party. He's accepted her for who she is, or at the very least doesn't care that she's secretly a noble with a desire to feel pain and humiliation. And as a bonus, he fights like a brute, mercilessly taking down his enemies while exuding an aura of death and violence, ready to face off against any opposition, maybe even her if she tries to get in his way-
Shaking her head out of her perverted fantasies, she resumes her examination.
So far, he's breathing normally and doesn't seem to have any injuries, other than the numerous tears on his arms and hands that were not there when he was talking to her. The cuts were the result of Av'Rick using his Bodily Frequency Control on his arms, while moving at high speed with his Motion Concentration, causing the blisters to form as a result of the friction between his oscillating arms and the air particles.
"Out of my way! Let me see!" Calls another voice as she also kneels down to check Av'Rick's condition.
"Oh, it's you! The Archpriest!" Exclaims Darkness, when she tilts her head upwards to see that it was Aqua who called out.
"Yup!" Aqua confirms with pride in her voice, before putting on an uncharacteristically serious expression.
"I'm here to heal and purify my teammate, it seems like he's possessed by the spirit of a monster with a vendetta against cabbages. The possession seemed damage his arms every time he attacks." She theoriezes to Darkness.
Being a (useless but still actual) Goddess, she is more sensitive to things related to the undead, like body snatching spirits that imbue their victims with an unnatural presence.
In actuality however, due to her abysmal intelligence, Aqua was unable to discern the difference between the aura of a spirit of vengeance and the aura that Av'Rick himself radiated earlier.
Putting her hands to her forehead while forming a peace sign on each of them, a blue light begins to form between her fingers, on her forehead.
"Sacred Exorcism!"
The light beams down towards Av'Rick, like a laser and a magic circle forms underneath him, surrounding him in Aqua's holy magic, as she tries to release the supposed spirit from Av'Rick.
"There we go! I exorcised the spirit out of his body!"
"But I don't see any spirit leaving his body." Darkness points out, unsure if Aqua's magic worked. A small part of her wishes it didn't, so she could defend his party members from the (seemingly) possessed teen and take brutal hits from him, but a larger part of her hopes he'll be ok because she doesn't want the spirit to hurt him every time he attacks.
"Well obviously the spirit was purified by my holy presence the moment it left his body!" Aqua declares proudly, thinking her divine aura was enough to eliminate the (nonexistent) spirit.
"Uh, ok..."
"Now then, time to fix his wounds. Heal!"
Casting her spell, Aqua's magic starts to mend Av'Rick's lacerations, every wound starts to undo themselves, leaving unscathed skin behind.
When all of the injuries vanish, Av'Rick opens his eyes.
"Hello." Are his first words after waking up.
Guild Hall - Hours Later
"This stir fry tastes pretty good."
After the remaining cabbages were defeated, the guild took as many of cabbages as they could to the guild hall to be cooked and turned into cabbage stir fry. Fortunately for them, all of the vegetables were too paralyzed out of fear to move, letting the guild take almost all the cabbages to the kitchen, to be cooked.
Apparently, cabbages give low level adventurers high experience points when consumed, and luckily, there's more than enough to go around, to the point that the guild could still have a lot of left overs for the next few days as a result of the abundance of cabbages.
In fact, this year's harvest showed the biggest yield in cabbages in the history of the guild, thanks to Av'Rick's efforts.
Right now, he's with his whole party, including Darkness since he's invited her to join, eating the stir fry with them.
Kazuma is eating his stir fry quietly, wordlessly agreeing with great reluctance as to what Av'Rick said about the taste of the meal. He didn't come to this fantasy world to eat cabbages, dammit!
"Welp, there's no doubt that you're a Crusader!"
Snapping out of his musing, Kazuma pays attention to what his other party members are talking about. So far, it's Aqua acknowledging Darkness' qualifications.
"Even without your armour, you were so fierce that those cabbages could get past you!"
"W-well actually, I'm just built solidly. Protecting someone with my body is all I'm good for." Darkness bashfully replies, humbled by Aqua's praise.
"You shouldn't say that Darkness, I'm sure you have other positive qualities besides from defending others in a fight." Av'Rick says dully.
Darkness looks away with her whole face red. Ever since he massacred the cabbages, Darkness has started being shy around him and he can't understand why. Not even his Hyper Instincts have helped him determine why she would be so diffident to him.
"Aqua, your Nature's Beauty spell was perfect!" Says Megumin. "The cold water quenched everyone's thirst from the battlefield, and kept all the cabbages fresh in the cages and baskets!"
That's right! The seemingly useless skill Aqua learned, that's supposed to be a party trick, turned out to useful for after the fight, where it kept everyone and the terrified cabbages hydrated.
"Oh, it was nothing. That's why having having an Archpriest is so important!" Aqua replies with pride in her voice.
"For what? Squirting water?" Kazuma asks rhetorically.
"Well, an Archpriest's magical water is the purest." She responds, not understanding the sarcasm from Kazuma's question.
"Your spell was astounding, Megumin." Darkness compliments the Archwizard, while Kazuma mutters 'really?' at Aqua.
"You wiped out an entire swarm of cabbages in a single blow."
"That's Crimson Demon power! Breathtaking, isn't it?" Megumin happily takes in the extolment.
"Yes, I've never seen anything with such devastating firepower before." Says Darkness, before she begins to slightly fantasise about what would happen if she actually got hit by Megumin's spell.
"You really shouldn't make a habit of getting in between the crossfire of destructive attacks Darkness. I'd prefer it it, if I don't have to pull you out every time you want to see how much you can an tank anihilative onslaught at our expense." Av'Rick warns Darkness, asking her not to get out of hand with her masochism.
"W-well, I-I'll be sure to be extra c-careful, if we face a p-powerful enemy." Darkness stutters to Av'Rick without making eye contact.
"Speaking of destructive attacks, I never knew you could fight so fiercely like that Av'Rick." Megumin says to Av'Rick.
"The way you rushed towards those cabbages, slashing them apart like a beast was unlike anything I've ever seen!"
Aqua, Darkness and even Kazuma nod in agreement.
Just as he thought Av'Rick couldn't be any more terrifying, Kazuma finds out he has the savagery to commit veggie genocide, along with surrounding himself in an aura of death that promises an unpleasant end.
Just how much of a cheat is his Self Supremacy really!?
"True, but don't forget, that most of his power came from that evil spirit that I exorcised from him." Aqua (falsely) corrects Megumin, reminding everyone of Av'Rick being (supposedly) possessed by a spirit of vengeance.
"I was possessed?" He asks, in confusion.
As far as he knows, the reason he was acting like he was possessed, was because of the new skills he created to better kill the cabbages.
Killing Instincts (Lv. Max): A skill created through Hyper Instincts, which enables the user the instict to kill in the most efficient way possible. Strength, agility and dexterity increase by 100% of their base value when user intends to kill.
Killing Intent (Lv. 8): A skill created through Killing Instincts, which enables the user to control their intention to kill and inflict fear on others. Skill can used in two ways, either exuding their intent to kill, which covers their body in a black aura that causes others to be inflicted with 'Fear Paralysis' debuff and induce death, if they came in contact with the user by hallucinating how they, or supressing their intent making others unable to sense their intent to kill as well as being able to read their intents to kill to predict their next moves. Higher levels increase all the effects.
"Yup, that's right! But don't worry, for I Aqua, your selfless and benevolent party member, cleansed you of the malicious spectre that used your body as its puppet and healed you of the wounds that you have been afflicted with, as a result of being possessed! Feel free to praise me." Aqua smugly states to Av'Rick, still unaware that he was never possessed and that he hurt himself when he got carried away under the influence of his new skills.
But now that he nows what to expect of them, he won't be caught off guard on what to expect when he uses them next time.
Although, maybe it's best if everyone thinks it was just him being possessed by a malicious apparition, and not the result of a new skill that brings out the inner killer inside of him.
So his response to Aqua 'saving' him?
"Good girl."
Patting her head like a dog, as well as praising her like one.
"Guh- That's not the praise I wanted! I meant praise me like a Goddess!"
Aqua swats his hand away, while Megumin and Kazuma laugh at her expense, with Kazuma muttering how she deserves it for trying to hog all the attention to herself.
Though oddly enough, Darkness stays quiet, her eyes staring intently at the Archpriest, in jealousy.
Maybe the Crusader is envious that she couldn't have Av'Rick patting her head, and praising her like she was some sort of pet...
OK yeah, she's definitely feeling left out that he's not degrading her down to an animal.
"I have to say Kazuma, you were impressive out there as well." Darkness tells the brown-haired teen, changing the subject.
"I agree, when you turned invisible with your Lurk skill and attacked the enemy behind with Steal, it was handled with the precision of an assassin. Truly impressive!" Megumin says, agreeing with Darkness.
"Kazuma, by the holy name of me, I hereby bestow upon you, the title of great Cabbage Thief." Aqua declares, after getting over Av'Rick treating her like a dog.
"God put a sock in it! What did I ever do to deserve this life!?" Kazuma cries, putting his head down on the table to sulk.
"And for you Av'Rick, I bestow upon you, the title of fearsome Cabbage Slayer, even if you were possessed."
Well, at least he's not the only one to get a lame moniker from the dim-witted Goddess.
"Yes well, now you all know what I'm capable of. As a Crusader and ally!"
Pushing herself up from her seat, Darkness reintroduces herself.
"So once again, I am Darkness. Even though I wield a sword, please do not expect much from me. I am far too clumsy and my attacks never hit their mark." She says while scratching her cheek bashfully, before she starts becoming confident. "However I make sn impenetrable wall!"
"Our party is turning out to have quite the impressive roster, don't you think!" Aqua says to Av'Rick and Kazuma, the latter lifting his head off the table.
"First we have me, an Archpriest, then Megumin, an Archwizard, and now Darkness, a Crusader!" She lists, with pride in her voice. "There aren't many parties, where three out of five are the advanced classes!"
Kazuma internally grumbles. Sure what Aqua said is technically true, about most of their group having advanced classes, but, in the few days he's been in this world, he and Av'Rick proved that classes aren't enough to make it far in this world, with Kazuma combining his skills to make up for his average stats, and Av'Rick - well, he's an exception due to having Self Supremacy, but still, his class is Adventurer like Kazuma, so it counts.
On the other hand, the girls prove that having advanced class isn't enough to take on giant amphibians, and hordes of flying vegetables.
Aqua may be an Archpriest, with maxed out stats, powerful support and healing magic, but her intelligence and luck stats are the lowest stats ever seen by the guild, making her unable to preform a basic analysis on the situation at hand or effectively use the vast knowledge she possesses about the world, making her only useful in very specific situations, and totally useless every other time, as well as being put in misfortunate situations a lot of the time, whether it's someone breaking her self esteem, or she gets eaten by large monsters.
Megumin may be an Archwizard, with high intelligence as a result of being a Crimson Demon, as well as being able to cast one of the most destructive spells, but bring raised to focus on theatrics and idolising an unnamed saviour from her childhood, has caused her to only know Explosion, and nothing else. To make matters worse, the spell is so taxing, that it can only be cast once a day, leaving Megumin immobile and vulnerable, making her a glass cannon. Still, Kazuma made her promise to improve her mana reserves, so hopefully she'll be able to cast more than once a day. Eventually.
As for Darkness-
"Well Kazuma, now that we are allies, do not hesitate to use me as your shield. T-the same g-goes to you Av'Rick, I-I look forward to p-protecting you."
She's kinky, a real life masochist. Sure she's a Crusader with high durability, but she can't hit anything and gets off of people lustfully staring at her.
To some folks out there, this seems like the perfect setup, but from where Kazuma's sitting, it's a recipe for disaster.
"I look forward to working with you all."
"Sure." Av'Rick replies in his typical lacklustre tone.
"Ngh, s-so uncaring..." Darkness mutters, blushing from Av'Rick sounding apathetic.
Kazuma looks on, realising that maybe - just maybe, it won't be too hard keeping the girls from getting carried away with their faults.
Sure, Av'Rick may be, one of the weirdest people he's ever met, but so far, and the most terrifying, but he's been the most reliable person ever since coming to this world, and keeps Aqua and Darkness in check.
Maybe with his help, this ragtag team of misfits might just be crazy and insane enough, to take on the Devil King and - dare he say - win, with all of Kazuma's limbs and sanity intact.
He can only hope...
Cut!
That's a wrap for this chapter. I would have finished earlier, but life problems delayed me from doing so.
As you may know, Darkness has developed a bit of a crush on Av'Rick. Some of you may ask 'Are you going to ship Darkness and Av'Rick together?', and my answer to that is... pass.
For now, I don't know who I want to ship him with. I only made Darkness crush in him, because it makes sense to me that she'd find an apathetic individual who fights savagely and makes others cower in fear attractive to her (that's the impression she has of him). Sure, he's not the ideal man Darkness dreams about, but I figured that it's close enough.
Although, I could ship him with Aqua, or maybe, she could be his pet! I can see that happening, Aqua eagerly awaiting her headpats or being spoiled with high quality wine for being a good girl.
Definitely not shipping him with Megumin though. She and Kazuma look much better together. Chunibyo X ex-NEET Otaku!
There are definitely others I could ship him with, but I'm still not sure. Or maybe, I should ship him with multiple women. Don't know, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.
Anyway, my next chapter is where the story truly starts to diverge from canon, instead of the small changes from earlier chapters.
And with that said, I bid you all adieu.