The God Hachiman of Rhozgelia

Down Under

I always detested caves, or underground places in general.As a God of the Heavens, being constrained in small and confined spaces make me claustrophobic. Freedom and the Sky and all those symbolisms that are related to me. It is one of the many reasons why the ancient Rhozgelians constructed such a massive and spacious Temples in my name. A Ziggurat in the middle of The Capital, only surpassed in height by the Royal Palace and the walls that surrounded the great city. A such, I do not like the fact that we are going deeper and deeper inside this wretched and humid labyrinth. It has been around an hour and a half.

"I must say," The tall Lizardman starts which catches our attention, "Genji-san, was it?" The horns on his head are long, the sharpness in his eyes remains alert even as the Goblin Slayer was leading our front. I think that among his party, he is the wisest.

"Yes?" I ask him without turning.

He gestures his scaly arms and claws around him. "This Field that you created is very convenient. To think that a magic would exist that nullifies the sound on the inside, yet allows sounds from the outside to enter… This is very advanced indeed…"

Many nod at his words, and the Dwarf Shaman walks up beside me. "He is correct! For someone as young as you, this particular spell must have been extremely difficult to learn! I bet only a few have an affinity for this!"

"Young as you" huh…

Your lifespan is a mere blink to me… No. Even shorter than that.I am literally older than the Moons that orbit this planet… My Siblings and I returned to Mother to aid her in its creation. We have no idea how she is capable of such an act, only that she needed to borrow us for hundreds of thousand of years. Perhaps more.

"Oi! Pointy-ears! You should learn a thing or two from him! You're two thousand years old and all you know is firing arrows." He turns and grins behind him where our female companions were. Satou Kazuma and Darkness are on the rear, Goblin Slayer and Aqua at the front while the rest of us are in the middle. Rushia is still on my left holding my hand of course, the sudden appearance of more strangers made her even more shy and afraid.

Our Archer was speaking to the Priestess when she was called. "Haaaah?! I'll have you know that that's not the only thing I can do!"

Utilizing bows and arrows in such a cramped place is asking for trouble. Her long knives should do the trick just fine. Goblin Slayer's equipment is made for this kind of environment.

The two of them start to bicker, which causes the Lizardman and Priestess to break them up. They are acting too lax just because of the Field that I created, but Goblin Slayer is at the front with his torch, together with Aqua so she can guide him. Aqua and I can see quite fine in the dark, and the Elf has enhanced hearing, as with I. Not to mention my sense of smell.

The disgraced Goddess tried many times to make some conversation with the Goblin Slayer, but his replies were very short. That did not stop her from trying to speak to him. He seems to be a very reserved individual. Or perhaps he is not fond of talking to strangers in particular. Maybe even he finds her loud and annoying.

With the noise caused by his other teammates, Satou Kazuma, Darkness and Megumin start to speak to each other in hushed voices.

"I thought this was a manhunting quest? Why are we here anyway?" Satou Kazuma sounds like he is at a loss as he spoke to noblewoman and the Arch Wizard. In all honesty, I am too.

"This is what the scout informed us earlier. They didn't come back to make second contact with us after we arrived here."

"We have to go back with something at least… The other Crimson Demons except for Yunyun had their powers stripped. It's a good thing that the leader of the town even granted us a place to stay outside the walls…"

Satou Kazuma clicked his tongue, and I hear a rock being kicked from behind me. He is distressed and agitated by the topic. "Yeah… We can't keep being beggars… Most of the able-bodied men are helping with the construction while the women are tending to the fields… I feel bad that Komeko-chan is peeling potatoes at that restaurant…"

Megumin lightly hits her partner's shoulder. "Peeling potatoes is nothing to be ashamed of. At least she's doing her part to help, no matter how small it is."

I sense Darkness nod her head at the Arch Wizard's words. "She is right Kazuma. A noble thing like that should not be overlooked just because of the person's age and gender."

Aqua tells the Goblin Slayer that the path divides into two ways, and several seconds later, we stop. She looks at both ways and says that it is clear. He turns and I feel his gaze on my person. Without another word, I walk forward, past them and stop while sniffing the air.

"The left one is more narrow, and the air coming from there is cold which suggests that it goes deeper. On the other hand," I say and point at the right tunnel, "this one here has the same scent and the temperature stays the same. At least at this point."

The Goblin Slayer nods and eyes both paths silently. While we were waiting for him to decide, I instantly snap and stiffen towards the right path as I heard a low guttural groan from its depths. I sense everyone else look at me strangely until the High Elf Archer frowns.

"Pointy ears, Genji-san, did you both hear something?" The Dwarf asks and the both of us nod in unison.

The Goblin Slayer gestures his torch to the right path. "Here."

"Wait, I want to check out something in the left path." I say, but I was instantly bombarded with protests.

"I highly discourage that. My Ancestors would look down on my if I were to let an ally willingly put himself in danger." The Lizardman says, and clasps both of his clawed hands and mumbles a silent prayer.

I feel a hand on my arm to see that it was the Dwarf. The wrinkles and beard that he has on his face makes him seem older. His eyes suggest that he has seen his fair share of adventurers who have met an early and unfortunate end.

"He is right. Goblins are at home in places like these… You should never underestimate them." He warns me, and is immediately supported by the High Elf Archer and the Priestess.

"Hey I get it that you're strong, but no need to do something like that. We should stick together."

The short Priestess walks up to me while frowning and clutching her staff. "Yes. Please trust us on this."

I look at the four of them while having a blank expression on my face. The Goblin Slayer quietly shakes his head at me. Satou Kazuma and his party stay quiet, and Rushia pulls on my hand and pleads me not to go. I give out a sigh of exasperation, careful not to make it too strong since the place might collapse if I do.

"I never said that I was going to separate. I am just going to peek at the corner…"

There was a collective sigh of relief at my words, even the Goblin Slayer was not exempt from that. I temporarily leave Rushia with the Priestess and the Goddess, and walk into the left path for several meters until it turns at the corner.

Once I was far enough, I take a deep breath and focus.

I feel like my consciousness multiplying into two as my body shined and glowed with intense light. Once I gained some control, I move into one vessel while leaving my other half.

I look to my left and see an identical copy of me with the exact same clothes. He blinks as he looks at his hands, some of his fingers flickering into fire and bone, until he clenches his fist and it disappears. His ears were that of an Elf's, and he has a third yellow and snake-like eye on his forehead. I realize that my featherless wings had manifested themselves on my back and a portion of my head had a chunk missing. The space that it used to occupy was filled and glowed with brilliant light. When I took a step back, it seems that I also have a black and scaly tail of a dragon on top of my bum.

"I say, this is something new." My twin says in my mind as he continues to stabilize his current form, taking away necessary and incorrect characteristics like his yellow eyes, Elf ears, the long and sharp incisors and the two white and thin horns. As for me, I repaired my head as flesh and bone mend and knit themselves together. It does not feel painful. Rather, it feels ticklish even.

"Yes, it was easier than I expected. Having no form of our own is ironic. We are prone to make many mistakes like these." I reply as my wings and tail glow with golden light before slowly disappearing. "Well, you already know what we are going to do, right?"

He arches a brow at me and crosses his arms around his chest. "I am you, and you are me. Of course I know." Without another word, he walks past me back to the path to where the others are, leaving me alone in this humid tunnel. I close my eyes, and I can sense all that he is experiencing, as if I were in his place.

Gods and Goddesses dividing and carrying over their consciousness into multiple forms is not unheard of, but it is quite dangerous to do since we are more vulnerable to direct attacks by a fellow Divine. If I were to describe it, it would be like controlling a puppet with strings. But instead of just from the perspective of the puppeteer, you are the puppet itself, while being the controller and the one being controlled. I do not need a puppeteer to move, but it gives a certain perspective. Not to mention that I can control many puppets as well.

I am not sure if mortals can understand such a concept. I do not care either way.

After hovering several centimeters off the ground, I make my way forward, deeper into the tunnel, while my other half returns and holds Rushia's hand while conversing with the Elf and Lizardman.

Now that I am away from the others, I can finally use a slightly stronger variant of Life Sense. I only used low-frequency so far, since if I raise its strength, it may have negative effects on my other companions.

Surprisingly, aside from several twist and turns, the path remains single. The same can be said with the course that my other half is making. Several minutes later, I sense a presence up ahead. Their life aura glowed from my vision as I saw them through the rock and stone. He sees this as well, but remains quiet. The distance between my two halves are around fifty or so meters, with Him far above me.

I enter a cavern and smell the same scent from earlier, though more intense. There were several crude huts made from sticks and cloth and the floor was littered with plant and leftover building material. I see many smaller forms inside, there may be at least ten to fifteen in each hut. In the middle of it were larger forms, huddled around the fire.

They stood up to my waist, had green bodies and skinny arms. Their ears and noses were long, and their eyes were yellow with a vertical rectangular-shaped pupil. What little hair they had on their small heads were ugly to look at and made them even more grotesque with their crooked and sharp teeth. They wore cloths over their bodies, and seem to be holding something to their chests.

Female…Goblins…?

I hear a cry and one of them stands up and rushes to the hut where the sound came from. It tripped, and the others growled and grumbled in their incomprehensible language at the sight.

Presence Concealment is still in effect, and I float until I hover right on top of their small fire. I feel nothing as the flames lick and pass through my translucent feet. The Goblins seem to be shivering and huddle closer to each other for warmth. Several of them had Goblin infants to their chests, they too shivered as they clutched their mothers for warmth.

This must be a nursery.

I look at them for several moments and contemplate on what to do. After feeling somewhat conflicted, I tell my other half to ask the Goblin Slayer or his companions the proper course of action. It feels strange, controlling and seeing through the eyes of two bodies at the same time. As difficult as it may sound, it came to me naturally that even I was surprised.

After whispering my question to the High Elf, a hard expression forms on her face as she goes on her tiptoes to reply.

"Well, what we usually do when we come across nests with infants in them is…"

"...I see." I sigh and go back to my other body.

I make a soundless barrier that covered the entire cavern, and the Goblins take out something from one of their primitive wooden baskets. They have not even sensed the barrier, and it appears to be a meat of some kind, and they take small bites while passing it along.

One of the embers from their small fire floats in the air, and fall on the closest one's scrawny legs. It yelps from a mixture of surprise and pain.

Instead of immediately disappearing, the ember grows and starts eating away at its flesh and bone. The Goblin screamed and shrieked, its companions trying to kill the fire by stomping or hitting it with the closest thing to them. That was the worst thing that they did since whatever the fire touched, instantly latched onto it and started burning away as well.

Two others were running around with burning hands, while one already had its thin hair on fire. I glance at several others who managed to remain untouched, they were looking in horror and unsure on what to do. I ignite the legs of the closest ones, they jump and cry out as the inextinguishable flames start to eat away their flesh and bones. Three had already dropped dead, their lower halves are gone, what meat remained quickly sizzled, before turning black and becoming ash.

I make the slightest movement with my ring and middle fingers. A split-second appearance of my golden white strings that only my eyes can perceive, and two Goblins had their heads severed from their bodies. They immediately catch fire as the remaining Goblins scream with horror and distance themselves as far away from the fire as possible.

I decide to show myself before them and hover over the flames. More screams follow, some Goblin females run to a hut, and get clubs, rocks and rough spears. With a desperate cry, they start throwing their weapons at me. Upon contact, they bounced off of me harmlessly, not even leaving a scratch. Some harmlessly went through my body because I willed it, they ripple against me before going out of my back. I sense one behind me, carrying a stone axe in its flimsy arms. It runs towards me with a scream, the weapon was over its head as it prepared to hit me with all its might.

As expected, it goes through my body as if I were an illusion. But upon going out, it had turned to dust. I take one using my strings, pulling it towards me at an insane speed and my hand goes around its neck. It tries to kick me, but decided against because of what just happened to its fellow. It's yellow eyes stare into my one fiercely and scratch at my hands to no effect.

Blood starts to drip from its mouth as I squeeze my hands tighter around its neck. The other Goblins continue to throw things at me. A spear was thrown, and I move the one that I had in my hand to take the blow. The sharp point exits from its chest with a sickening sound. Surprisingly, it's still alive. Just barely.

The Goblin's head explodes as I tried to peer into its mind, and I throw its body to the flames in frustration.

Tch, looks like I am still not back to my full power… If I was, then I would be able to see its memories and even understand its language.

I raise the remaining two dozen Goblins into the air before twisting their heads. A chorus of snapped vertebrae echo in the cavern. They ignite and turn to ash before they even touched the ground. There was silence, except for the Goblin infants still in their huts. With no one to tend to them, they cried in their shrill and high-pitched voices. I clench my hand, except for my pointer and middle fingers, then point them at the huts.

A jet of intense blue flame roar from my fingertips, so intense that even the ground below me started to melt. I spray the stream of fire at the huts and everything on the ground. Their cries were drowned out from the howl of beam, like a hungry Vulkan Drake searching for prey in the mountains in the north. I stop after a little while and look around me.

All traces of this place being inhabited are gone. What's left are just ash and semi-melted rock and stone. The Goblins, huts, their weapons and everything have ceased to exist. I see a tunnel before me, and I hover towards it to move to the next place. I use and modify Life Sense and amplify it several times so I can at least see if there are others ahead. A red sphere comes from my body, it disperses and expands everywhere.

I now have a three-dimensional view of my surroundings, and I saw the paths and tunnels that connected with each other, as well as the group quite a distance above me through the rock. Most of them led to dead ends and collapsed portions. The tunnel in front of me goes on for some time and is jointly connected with the main one through another larger cavern further ahead of the group.

The wave of energy that I released was so strong, that the others that my other half was with felt it and caused them to get slightly dizzy, except for Aqua and myself of course. I close my eyes and activate presence concealment, and go into my ethereal form, flying straight towards my other self and through the stone and soil. Once I was one with myself again, I felt lightheaded from the suddenness of it, that I almost tripped on a rock. Good thing that the High Elf Archer held on to my arm just in time.

"O-Oi!" She says and helps me regain my balance, "I guess even you felt it huh, what was that? It felt so…" She lets go shivers and puts her arms across her chest. "That felt so weird! Ugh!"

I take a look at her chest, and then to the other females without turning.

Hmph, only Darkness and Aqua are worth noting. They still can't hold a candle against Mai though. As expected of my own Divine Familiar. Aside from her intelligence and combat capabilities, her beauty and appeal are unparalleled.

…

I honestly miss her. Even the mortal side of me longs for companionship, be it from a human or from a Familiar. I wonder what kinds of renovations is she doing to my Temple…After this quest, I will go back since her magical reserves might not hold anymore. She could always take the life force from higher creatures such as Dragons and Wyverns, but I explicitly forbade her to do so. To kill the very creatures that defended my city for nearly two hundred years would be against the very thing I stand for.

The others nodded their heads and agreed at the High Elf's words. Megumin rubs her shoulders while Darkness and Satou Kazuma frequently look behind them.

"Yeah… It was like cold and ghostly hands going through my body…"

"I thought it was a breeze, but somehow it came from within me." Says the blonde, but for some reason, she starts breathing heavily at the memory while a clutching her abdomen, "I-I don't mind feeling it again, hehehehe…"

Satou Kazuma steps away and looks at her with disgust. "Well, it felt otherworldly. It's definitely the first time that I've experienced something like that…" With my barrier still in place, they converse, exchanging ideas as to what it could have been until we hear Aqua raises an alarm.

"There!" She says and points at a sleeping Goblin ahead. It rests against the wall with a dagger beside it. From the perspective of the others, all they see is darkness since the torch that the Goblin Slayer carried can only do so much. I see the Goblin too of course, Aqua and I are the only ones who can see well in the dark.

Our group stops and everyone goes into their stances. The Goblin Slayer signals us to stand down and turns to Aqua. "How many?" His cold voice resonates out from his helmet.

"Just one."

He nods and motions for the High Elf Archer and the Priestess. "Use Holy Light to give her visibility. The window of opportunity is quite small so you have to be quick." Without further questions, they nod and go into position. The Archer goes down on one knee and readies her bow and the Priestess starts chanting her spell.

A flash of blinding light envelops the passageway, and I cover Rushia's eyes with my hands. Everyone else shields their eyes as I dully and curiously watched the arrow loosen from her grip, before whizzing through the air to its target ten meters away. It flew true and hit the Goblin on its forehead with a crunching sound. A clean and silent kill.

I hear grunting and guttural noises further ahead, and then the footsteps upon the cold rock that we stood on. Two more appeared from the corner, and they were quickly taken care of by the Archer from what little light remained before completely blinking away.

A second of dead silence comes over us as we wait for what happens next. I sense swords and staffs being readied, even Rushia's hands glowed as she prepared to summon a Familiar if needed.

A shrill scream from ahead at the corner, and then the sounds of numerous footsteps running towards us. The vision of the others were only limited to what the torches could provide, so hearing such a mass of enemies scared them.

Aqua takes a step back at the oncoming horde. "T-There's so many! We have to fall ba-"

I interrupt her before she can finish. "Stay calm, all of you. I'll make a barrier." The Goblin Slayer says nothing, but nods at me to do it. Without even moving a finger, I make the entire passageway about a meter before us ripple, as if it were the surface of the water. An impenetrable barrier thinner than even a strand of hair separates us from the swarm of Goblins.

"There, it's done."

Satou Kazuma, Darkness and Aqua are going hysterical, and look like they might turn tail and run at any second. On the other hand, Megumin hides behind Rushia and I. The Goblin Slayer and his companions take the situation with more dignity, but still could not help but take a step back.

Rushia reopens her telepathic link with me. "Nii, are you going to summon a Familiar like last time?"

"I'm thinking of calling one right now."

"But Lily won't fit here… I mean Liz. You call her Liz but Lily sounds cuter."

She giggles as I fondly ruffle her hair. "Well let's leave it at that for now. What Familiar should I summon, Rushia?"

Three arrows whizz out of the barrier, released by the High Elf. Three Goblins drop dead with an arrow each on their foreheads. The mass temporarily stumbles but continue on with renewed vigor. The Archer clicks her tongue and draws more arrows and fires them. She might not be able to see quite clearly in the dark, but she is able to score many lucky shots.

Rushia sports a thinking expression while blankly looking at the darkness before her that hid the Goblins from view. "We're in a tight space so it will be hard if you something big like a Drake or a Dragon. Oh, how about a slime? Their bones can be used as a catalyst."

"Good idea."

I open a tiny summoning circle from within my fist and open it. A small blueish-green blob moves around, while starting to grow. I kneel down and carefully place it on the ground as the Elf and Lizardman look at it curiously.

It was now the size of a large ball as two darker eye-like spots on the surface form. I pet its head and gesture it to the right direction as the telepathic link that connects Master and Familiar activates.

"Hello Master, it looks like we are not in The Capital this time… Where are we?" A young girl's voice echoes inside my mind. Suu, along with Liz, are one of the numerous magical creatures that pledged their services to me. When I first met her on the day that she arrived at the foot of my Temple to pay her respects, she was the size of a large house and had eight tentacles thicker than a full grown man.

Of course, Mai became jealous. Reason being that I am entering into a contract to have more Familiars at my disposal is cheating on her. Which is completely unreasonable.

"We are in a cave right now." I reply as she looks around to see strangers in her surroundings.

Even though she has no proper face to see emotions, I can sense her bafflement from my words. "Huh? Underground? But Hachiman-sama, don't you hate underground places?" I sigh and nod while Rushia quietly looks at the two of us. She knows that I can communicate telelpathically, but unfortunately for her, the magic that allows one to communicate with animals us inaccessible to her.

"Yes yes I know. But I have a task for you." I say and calmly point at the oncoming horde of Goblins. "Suu, consume everything but their bones, cloths and weapons."

"Roger that!" The slime nods and starts hopping away to exit my barrier, where she slowly starts growing and growing…

"Suu… You did well." I say as bubbles start to form inside her. She feels pleased from my words and makes a nodding motion. Rushia pets her as well after picking up some of the bones and storing it in a summoning gem that I bought for her. Satou Kazuma and his group look at the slime warily, as if she may leap and attack them.

The High Elf kneels and also touches my Familiar. "It's feels cool and not wet at all… Like I'm touching something waterproof that holds liquid inside." The slime turns and then hops onto her shoulder, causing a yelp of surprise from the High Elf.

"O-Oh! It's surprisingly light… Hehehe, you're really cute."

Rushia excuses herself to collect more catalysts, and I turn around when I hear a crunching sound to see that the Goblin Slayer had stepped on some bones.

"That thing is very convenient…" He says in a low voice while looking around us. The floor was littered with bones and it is hard to make a step without stepping on one. The Lizardman is currently helping the Dwarf pick out desirable ones so he can fashion some useful things from them.

He looks around the passage way that was filled with Goblins mere moments ago. "It ate them, all two and a half dozen Goblins within a span of a few seconds…" The Goblin Slayer says and looks at my Familiar on the High Elf's shoulder. It hops over to him, and starts spreading all over his arms, helmet and legs. He stands absolutely still and turns to me.

"She says that your armour smells like a Goblin so she's taking away the odour." He sighs at my reply as the others behold the sight. The blueish-green slime melts and eats all the impurities on his protective metal armour, getting to every nook and cranny that even the most skilled Smith would not be able to amend. After some moments, she reforms on top of his shoulder with a bounce.

The Goblin Slayer looks down and inspects himself. The Lizardman and Dwarf come over after seeing what just happened, voicing out how impressed they are. "Oh! Bread-cutter! You look good as new! Your armour looks as if it's been polished by the greatest craftsman!" He says and gives him a friendly pat.

The Lizardman takes a whiff from the air and nods with an amused-look on his scaly face. "Yes, the stench is gone as well. No offence of course." His companion, clad in newly polished armour, shakes his head to indicate that none was taken.

He lightly pats the slime, and Suu makes bubbles from within her body. "Thank you."

While we are not moving yet, I have an eye out for the passageway from where the Goblins came. I can hear some shuffling and guttural sounds from ahead, not one tried to do rush at us like before. After I reform the soundproof barrier once more, we push on for some time until we exit a large cavern.

The Goblins have been waiting, and arrows fly towards us, which harmlessly bounced off the Field that I made over the first one. They were hiding behind rocks above, and crudely-made wooden tables. The cavern had small platforms dug into the walls, from which the Goblins built with ramps that led above. There were some bonfires nearby that provided some light, but still not enough for a normal human being to fight in.

"It's too dark, I can barely see anything… We're at a disadvantage." The High Elf says, and is supported by the others. The Priestess offers to cast her Holy Light again, but everyone knew that a few seconds of light will not be enough to face such a large number of enemies. Suu on the other hand, hops from the Goblin Slayer and onto my shoulder and asks if she should go in and take care of the rest. I tell her to stand down as we retreat back into the tunnel and until the rain of arrows stop.

I look down on Rushia, who is jumping up and down excitedly while the others speaks of possible strategies to act on. Satou Kazuma surprises everyone by revealing that he has an array of many situational skills such as Lurk, Concealment, Escape, Snipe and Farsight. The only problem is that he cannot make full use of them because of his inability to see in the dark. He was called out for his cowardice by the disgraced Goddess. They go into a slight squabble but their two friends immediately stopped them from progressing further.

Rushia opens the telepathic link with me once more. "Nii! Let me try something out!" She says in my mind gleefully while smiling from ear to ear up at me.

"Hmm? What is it?"

The little green-haired girl rummages into the inner part of her robes and takes out the summoning gems. "I want to see if my spell will work!"

I turn to the others to see what they are doing. Satou Kazuma and Aqua seem to have finally calmed down and are exchanging ideas with the Dwarf and Lizardman. The rest are more or less just listening in. The High Elf Archer motions Rushia and I to go and join them, and I give her a nod.

"Okay Rushia. Go and do your thing."

She smiles and nods vigorously, taking five of the summoning gems from her pouch that can hold two low-level undead each and throws them on the ground.

"Hear my words! Do my bidding and slay all those who oppose me! Rise! Lesser Undead!" She exclaims with all her might.

A dark magic circle forms above and under her, which shortly goes to the summoning gems on the ground. The others had not expected anyone to make a move, and were surprised at the chanting coming from the little girl.

"FUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! YES YES YES! IT WORKS!" Her cackle echoed all around us as the gems glowed. Dark purple energies are released, which then in turn start to form into shapes. They materialize into Goblins of the same colour. Their skin is cracked as poisonous gas escape and cloud the air around them, almost completely hiding themselves in it. They had no weapons, for all they need are their sharp claws and teeth to do the job for them.

The ten of them turn around and give Rushia a bow. I go down on one knee as well and pat her head. "Good girl, I knew that you could do it." She giggles and hugs me back. I stand up to see that the others were staring at us with startled expressions. The Priestess in particular, look terrified.

"G-Genji-san! Rushia-chan! What are those things?!" She exclaims in shock and points a finger at us. I glance at Rushia's undead Familiars, before looking back at her and shrugging.

"Is there a problem?"

The Priestess is stunned at my words, and holds her staff tighter. I sense Aqua's magical energy rise as she takes a shaky step towards us. "Undead undead undead undead undead…"

I arch my brow at her, and stomp my foot. A small slab of rock rises from the ground and she trips on it, but with a quick twitch from my fingers, I summon my non-lethal strings for her to not completely fall over. Satou Kazuma rushes to her side and apologizes on her behalf.

"Sorry about that Genji-san, Rushia-chan. Our friend here has a nasty history with undead." He says and holder her arms tightly. "She's developed quite a strong dislike for everything undead and can't help but attack on sight."

Everyone eyed us wary with mistrustful gazes as we felt the obvious tension in the air. Except for the low groans from Rushia's minions, we were all silent. I sense Aqua's growing power stop, and then go down, to which I relaxed my finger. I look into each of their eyes as Rushia waits for my command, before speaking.

"Since no one here has a better idea…" I patiently wait for any of them to voice out their words, yet none came. Without turning behind me, I flick my fingers, and a Goblin that tried to sneak in is vertically cut in half by my strings. The two separated pieces fall on the floor, sizzling from the heat of it.

They say nothing.

"I thought as much. If you'll excuse me. I'll deal with these pests. Rushia, make them inflict as much chaos as possible." She nods and commands them to kill every Goblin that they see. They quickly go on all fours towards the exit. Shortly afterwards, a hail of arrows are released but they are too fast to track and difficult to shoot at because of the poisonous smog that they exude.

I start walking calmly towards the exit as screams and shouts from the Goblins start to echo in the tunnel. The ones who loosened their arrows earlier now have their hands full with keeping their undead brethren at bay. Some are wildly swinging their weapons while covering their long noses, eager not to inhale the poisonous gases. Some that are bit or scratched by Rushia's undead, quickly spasm and collapse on the ground. Once their hearts stop beating, necromancy overtakes them as they rise and become one of the undead as well.

An arrow flies towards me, which is quickly absorbed and eaten by the Slime on my shoulder. "Suu, go and help out."

The slime nods and hops down, growing and growing in size. Eight tentacles sprout from her main mass once she is about three meters tall, and she moves in and starts dissolving and eating Goblins that are unfortunate enough to be within her reach. The ground beneath me trembles, before rising and forming into eight humanoid shapes. Their bodies made from the ground and their arms harden to turn into sharp blades made from rock. The inside of their chest glowed with gold from the temporary form that I have given them.

"You lot as well. I don't feel like fighting." My Golems nod and start running towards where the main fighting is. More Goblins come from the inner rooms and tunnels, with some of them being taken by Suu's tentacles to be digested. They throw their weapons at her, but it only melted once it entered the slime. I raise the ground behind me and cross my legs to watch the scenes unfold before.

I sense the others finally catch up, beholding all that is happening around them. Rushia, while carrying Chomusuke in her hands, casually walks ahead of them and sits on my lap after fixing her robe.

"Nii! It works! My spell works!" She says cheerfully while I rub and pat her head. Rushia giggles from my touch and sways her legs with delight

"Yup, congratulations…" I say in a drawled out manner, watching my Golems wreak havoc on the Goblins. Their weapons had no effect against its hardened skin, and soon they were cut down like wheat to a scythe. One Golem changed its arm blades into claws and climbed on the walls to reach a Goblin perched on top of a small watchtower. The small green creature screams with terror and jumps off to avoid it, only for the Golem to leap after and slash it while in mid-air. A head and the rest of its sliced body falls onto the ground.

Another lone arrow flies towards us, and I cut it into several pieces with a twitch from my finger. I raise ten more Golems since there are more Goblins that I expected. Rushia's undead have doubled in number as well, the poison doing inflicting much of the casualties among the Goblins.

"Genji-san! What's happening?!" Satou Kazuma is the first one to take in the scenes around him, and exclaims while jogging up to where I am. He stops beside me with his bow drawn, and I am once again reminded that only Aqua and I can see well in the dark. I can always call on a large ball of light to illuminate this cavern, but I have already revealed too much of my abilities

"Oh, I just summoned a few Familiars." I say boredly. Four Goblins break free from the undead and my Golems, and start to run towards us. Satou Kazuma switches to his shortsword and looks around, sensing the danger but unable to see where it is coming from. I sigh, and cut the hearts of the Goblins from the inside with my strings.

The four drop dead just on the edge of what his vision can provide him from the darkness.

"AAAHHH!" Satou Kazuma makes an unmanly scream, and the little girl on my lap laughs while pointing her finger at him. A bright light erupts behind us, and I automatically adjust my eyes to see that it was the Priestess casting her Holy Light. The High Elf Archer immediately starts loosing arrows here and there. Unfortunately for the Goblin Slayer, Dwarf and Lizardman, they can only fight the Goblins in areas where the poisonous gas from Rushia's undead have dissipated.

Darkness, Aqua and Megumin are unsure on what exactly they should do, and slowly make a protective circle around the Priestess. I suddenly get an idea, and wave at the her to come to me. She seems to have let go of our earlier commotion, but I can sense her displeasure because of Rushia making use of necromancy.

Cold sweat forms on her forehead as she finally comes. This skill of hers must use a large portion of her magical energy. Rushia hops off from my lap as I stand up.

"Genji-san, you should not have run off on your own…" I ignore her words as I inspect her staff.

"Is it fine if I touch it?"

She arches a brow a the strange question, but nods silently. The others around me look at me with bafflement, as to how I can look at such an intense source of light without covering or shielding my eyes. I lightly touch the staff with my fingertips, analyzing and recreating the magic that powers it. Once I have a grasp of the inner workings of the spell, I let go and hold out my hand. A white glowing white orb of light escapes from my skin and lightly hovers over it.

The Priestess gasps with amazement. "T-That's-! Impossible! Without an incantation-?!"

I hold our new light source with both hands, compressing some of my power into it, before throwing it upwards into the roof of the cavern far above us. We follow it fly upwards through the darkness, and it sticks there for a few seconds.

And then it increased in size until the entire cavern was lit with its light. Like a small Sun.

"There, that solves your little problem."

With the new light, Satou Kazuma and the High Elf Archer climb on top of the jagged rocks that raised from the ground earlier and start firing arrows at the Goblins. Aqua and the Priestess cast support spells on the Lizardman, Dwarf and the Goblin Slayer, greatly improving their combat effectiveness. I also inform my Golems that they are allies, and should avoid accidentally hitting them. The Crusader tries her best in fighting along side them, but for some reason, her attacks are not hitting.

It was too pitiful to watch, so I turn away from her.

The only idle ones are Rushia, Megumin and I. Oh and Chomusuke too. The stony ground beneath her rise as I fashion a seat for her. "Arch Wizard, you should sit down."

"O-Oh, thank you…" She meekly does so while watching the scenes of carnage around her. A pout forms on her lips as she fidgets uncomfortably. I sense her being restless, being unable to do anything but watch.

"..."

"It's fine to sit this one out. If you use that spell of yours, the whole cave will collapse in on us." I say dully while playing with Rushia's cheeks.

Megumin frowns while holding her staff tighter. "I know that… But more importantly…" She turns to me with a suspicious-look in her eyes. "How did you discover that? I didn't reveal anything like that earlier…"

I shrug. "I have an attuned eye for magic casters and their reserves."

Just as I had said that, a lone Goblin with its left arm missing and dripping blood, screeches at us a small distance away. On its right hand was a spear, and it throws it at our direction. The Goblin smirks, when it thinks that I am going to be hit. A second later it gets thrust into the air with a stone spear arm from one of my Golems, and another leaps in and slices its head off. Megumin yelps in surprise and attempts to push me away.

Hmm, how stupid. She does not even know me, and yet she would sacrifice her life to save mine?Someone like her only has one life, unlike a God like me.

The movements around me slow down as I use my Mystic Eyes of Time Perception when the thrown weapon is near enough. The Goblin's aim was a lucky one, a direct impact to my chest, barely missing Rushia's head. I open a Gate and take the polearm, reopening it directly under the Goblin's headless corpse still in mid-air.

I deactivate my skill, and my perception of time returns to normal. The Goblin's body is violently impaled by its own spear thrown mere moments ago, and is flown upwards until it gets transfixed to the ceiling far above.

"Genji-san! Get down!" And Megumin's body resumes its earlier movement, tackling my side which causes both of us to fall onto the ground with Rushia and Chomusuke between us.

Her scent invades my olfactory senses, and Rushia starts pushing her small body away from me. "Hey! Get off! You're heavy!" Chomusuke hisses as well to show her displeasure at being sandwiched between the two girls.

The Arch Wizard looks down on my unimpressed and bored expression, and quickly sits up and scoots away from us. From the corner of my eye, Satou Kazuma has a look of slight irritation on his face. With the telepathic link that I have with my Familiars, I command them to hurry up so we can leave this place and get a move on. My Golems give me their acknowledgement, as they move and strike faster to follow my will.

I pat Rushia's head to get her attention. "Recall your minions. Suu and my Golems will do the rest."

19/01/21NEW OVA FOR THE SERIES CONFIRMED TODAY LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! AAAASOHJGOPHEPOGHE3784785985uoiHDSFDJN! #%*(

References so far: Konosuba, Goblins Slayer, No Game No Life, Fate, Ushio No Tora, That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime and Monster Musume.

Btw if you're still confused about Hachiman's string powers, just look up Souei from the Slime anime. He and Hachiman share the same Seiyuu, Eguchi Takuya. Or Donquixote Doflamingo from Once Piece.

If you're curious on who the characters from Oregairu will be in this fanfic, try searching their Seiyuu on their other roles in fatnasy anime, hehehehehehehe….If you have some things to recommend, feel free to write it down in the review section! Favourite and follow if you want as well!See you next time!