Foreword: We're back!

Well, I'd like to apologize for this chapter taking such a long time. Being a college student is certainly busier than I expected, and starting Genshin Impact doesn't exactly help in that regard. Did I procrastinate on this? Yes. I procrastinated literal years out of this.

I'm sorry for that… and what comes next.

It's just that working on this has left my mind more and more… Otherworldly just doesn't come up in my mind as often.

Neither does thinking about either Oregairu or Danmachi in general, honestly. My life is just too busy right now, and my visits to the document I write it on have been declining in number. I haven't even written all that much over the course of this year since Volume 2, Chapter 7. Just one chapter and several scraps on the side.

It's just that every time I look at it, I don't know what to do. I don't know how to continue writing it. It's been a real struggle to go through this doc and then even more frustrating to realize that I don't know how to keep writing this.

That's why, as unfortunate as it is, I'd like to announce that I am hereby abandoning My Otherworldly Adventure is a Disaster, As I Expected.

To all the readers, I'm sorry.

The rest of the stuff below is just what I wrote out for Volume 2, Chapter 9, and a compilation of my plans and ideas for the story originally that I never got around to actually fleshing out. Heh… who knows, maybe some of y'all will take some interesting inspirations away from what I have left.

Again, I'm really sorry about this.

I hope you enjoyed this story while it lasted.

…

…

…

… April Fools! Well, at least, it was supposed to be…

So really, it's more like "April Fooling Myself Into Thinking I Could Be Productive In the Span of 2 Weeks After Not Having Published Something Since August". Yep, that sounds about right… considering this chapter was supposed to be released in... wait for it... NOT mid-April/May/June/July/August/September/October/November/December/January/February/March. So... it's being released on... wow, April again! It really is April Fools, after all!

And to that, I can only say one thing.

Oops. Teehee! *bonk*

Anyways! Production's been troubling, but you aren't here for that! All you need to know is that I'm trying my best to put Volume 2 to a decently satisfying close and getting started on Volume 3.

Shoutout to Sage_of_Eyes who finished their story after so many years, and thus motivated me to work on this. Genuine apologies for the really, reallllllly long, unintended hiatus.

–One more thing. I do understand that I am ridiculously out of practice. I got swallowed up by a touching side project that will probably never see the light of day for a long while.

Let me know what's good and what's not good. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 9
The body that stands before Hikigaya Hachiman is…

Footsteps sounded out ahead of me. By the sounds of the frenzied whispering and nervous shuffling, both were probably Evilus. I'd take care of them and move along on my way.

Putting on a burst of speed, I dashed out of the alleyway, turning to my left to make sure before swinging. My backhand blow caught the first Evilus person in the chest, blowing him backwards into a wall that proceeded to crumble on top of him, burying him in a pile of rubble.

The other attempted a slash with his sword, but he was far too slow. My blade easily intercepted his, forcing it to the side before I followed up on the opening with a kick. My foot crashed right into his chest and he was sent flying backwards, hitting the wall behind him hard and flopping into a sitting position on the ground. He didn't get up again.

With the scuffle over, I took a quick moment to orient myself around my surroundings. I was now less than half a block away from Twilight Manor.

3 people might've drawn a bunch of attention, but by cutting that number down to just 1 and adding on my Skill, I could slip past the groups of Evilus fanatics without much trouble. There was the occasional enemy that happened to be there, but they were Level 1 and it wasn't hard to knock them out before they went for the detonators on their waists.

But something wasn't adding up.

The red-haired Tamer had already revealed herself. Even if I considered the possibility that she had engaged Loki Familia right away, cutting down Nord and Autumn in the process, she wouldn't have been able to contend with more than 2 of Loki Familia's executives at once. The battle in Rivira was more than enough proof of that.

Despite that, Loki Familia's forces hadn't engaged Evilus in the streets at all. Even if Deimne had been taken by surprise, turning the tide shouldn't have been a problem. The fact that they hadn't pushed Evilus back meant that they were presumably stuck at Twilight Manor, fighting whatever had attacked them there.

And that was a problem. Whatever Evilus had at their disposal was more than just Inferno Stones, the plant monsters, and a Level 5 Tamer, because there was no way that was enough to hold back all seven of the Level-5-and-up adventurers in Loki Familia for this long. If there was a fully-officiated familia operating under the table that could obtain resources from the 44th en masse, there was definitely something else the enemy was holding in reserve.

I wasn't an idiot. Hackard had been right in that heading towards Loki Familia's home base would undoubtedly put me in the most amount of danger; that was where the most enemy forces would be concentrated. If there was any place that red-haired Tamer would be, then it was there.

But at the same time, the chances of me being overwhelmed and cut off without support were just as high. Nord and Autumn's injuries wouldn't have let them make it very far. They had been ambushed and cut down while fighting in Orario's streets, far away from Twilight Manor.

If it wasn't the red-haired Tamer, it was something else just as good as her. And if that was the case, then the greatest measure of safety I had would be with the 1st-class adventurers stationed at Loki Familia's home base.

I needed to keep moving.

~~This is a Line Break~~

I arrived at a scene of destruction.

Twilight Manor was in ruins. Flames lapped at the sides of the multi-storied castle, casting orange firelight onto the battlefield below. Parts of the wall had crumbled into piles of broken stone, and from those holes, combatants poured in from outside.

To avoid being caught in the fighting, I had scaled one of the towers that jutted out from the building with some effort, watching the battle from above.

It didn't look very good.

The formerly pristine courtyard had been transformed into a chaotic battleground; there, two sides were entangled in a brutal melee. I caught glimpses of Loki Familia's members pushing back against the whipping tendrils and thrashing bodies of the man-eating plants, a few white-robed Evilus members mixed in amongst the sea of flames, before I finally found the Loki Familia executives.

My eyes focused on the red-haired Tamer first, occupied thanks to the Hiryutes, who had engaged her in a 2-on-1 melee, fists and kukri knives against a massive broadsword.

Landrock was also caught in battle, but Evilus seemed to have chosen quantity over quality here; the dwarf alternated between repelling a blond man with twin cleavers and volley after volley of vines from the horde of man-eating plants as he shielded over a dozen familia members behind him.

Deimne was locked in a duel against a woman with pink hair styled into spiky tufts, who laughed gleefully as she stabbed and spun with a spear of her own, similarly supported by the man-eating plants that forced the pallum to parry and dodge.

Loga brawled against a white-haired man wearing a sheep's skull on his head, who matched the werewolf blow for blow, every kick met with a punch strong enough to stop the incoming attack dead in its tracks.

Wallenstein was fighting the man-eating plants, and as I watched, she mowed down the swarm in front of her instantly with slashes augmented by magical wind. However, more reinforcements filled the battlefield immediately, keeping her there as the other one-on-one fights continued.

–Something wasn't right.

I had initially planned to leave the orb in Deimne's hands and wash my hands clean of the situation until the entire conflict had finished, but that was pointless now. Going down there right now would just get me caught in between them and most likely killed, meaning I had to wait the battle out from up here. And even then, things were taking too long.

The conclusion should've been clear.

But as I watched, Orario's best struggled. Deimne and Loga didn't seem extremely pressed in fighting the pink-haired woman and the sheep-skulled man, but neither of their opponents were giving much ground, either. Landrock and Wallenstein were practically liquefying the rows of plants in front of them with their attacks, but more always appeared to take their place and the blonde-haired man continued carving away at Landrock's shield.

It didn't make sense.

The battle should've been over already, but to me, it looked more as if Loki Familia were slowly slogging through the melee in an uphill struggle.

There was a loud CRA-CRACK of shattering stone as a portion of the courtyard's wall crumbled, and I watched as a new wave of monsters arrived on the battlefield, taking the place of the fallen plants, who appeared to be slithering away. The new arrivals vaguely resembled giant caterpillars of a sort, with a singular eye or mouth at the center of their head.

Wallenstein was the fastest to respond in the face of these new reinforcements.

Around her, the wind howled as she spun, her sword slicing outwards in flashes of silver before the caterpillars rolled over onto the ground, their legs severed and unable to do nothing more than wiggle helplessly.

… Why didn't she kill them?

The answer came a moment later as one by one, those new monsters swelled up, as if sucking in a deep breath. Even the ones on the ground seemed to answer in response, bloating up on their own.

The reaction across the courtyard was instantaneous–mass panic.

The members of Loki Familia that were in the courtyard began fleeing the courtyard, running through doorways or cowering behind pieces of rubble, all thoughts of fighting forgotten.

Landrock immediately struck the ground with his greataxe, blasting a crater in the ground that sent several of the caterpillars and the blonde man flying away before planting his greatshield in the ground, many of the lower-leveled members scrambling towards his position or otherwise running for cover.

Loga let out a roar before detaching himself from his one-on-one, instead diving into the ranks of the caterpillars with desperate fury.

Around Wallenstein, the wind increased in ferocity, a miniature storm swirling to life in the courtyard.

"Everyone, dodge!" Deimne's shout carried across the entire courtyard, but it wasn't nearly fast enough.

As one, all of the caterpillars simply… well, "fired" wasn't the right word, but it was close enough. Shots of viscous liquid jetted out from every single one of the caterpillar's mouths in a volley, smothering the entirety of the courtyard in a blanket of ooze.

–Yes, I know what it sounded like.

Any pretensions of a joke in my head died a quick death though, because as soon as the liquid hit the ground and the buildings, there was a deafening SSSSSSSSSSS as the ground began smoking with alarming intensity.

Grass wilted, and the earth itself begin to foam and churn unpleasantly. In front of my eyes, solid stone softened into shale-colored sludge, the liquid melting its way through the walls and supports in mere seconds.

Beneath me, the ground tilted. The tower I was standing in let out the sound of crumbling stone as several unseen supports gave away, the building sliding diagonally and careening towards one of the main towers of Twilight Manor, which grew larger and larger as the building cascaded towards the structure.

I dove for cover.

My foot kicked open the door before I dove through the doorway, coming up in a crouch before I grabbed onto the closest thing that could possibly stop me from a painful, impromptu hug with Wall-chan: the door.

My feet slid on the floor as the ground tilted beneath me further and further, everything in the room falling towards the opposite side and smashing into the adjacent wall across from me until there was only the deafening KRRGGGRGRGGUUUURMMMMMMMMMM of crumbling stone and then my entire body jolted.

There was a sharp tugging sensation that snapped down my arm and shot into my body and I felt the handle twist beneath my grip and the door bend from its hinges as I rubberbanded from the impact, my legs leaving the ground for a few seconds as I struggled to avoid falling into the jagged mess of masonry that was sitting at a 45-degree angle across from me.

The horrific shrieks of pain that erupted from the courtyard did little to make me feel better. However, eventually I was able to pull myself up through the doorway, propping myself up onto the balcony again before looking downwards.

Below me, several of the Loki Familia members thrashed about on the ground, covered in liquid and smoke, their bodies purple and black from the damage. Some of them clearly hadn't made it to cover in time, and their final moments were… well.

It was like watching decomposition in fast-forward.

One of them, a slim elf in light armor, was the first to die. Gradually, his screams of pain lessened as his flailing weakened, his muscles seeming to quiver with some sort of effort before there was a sudden release and an entire section of his forearm peeled off of his body, landing on the ground with a thick, syrupy schlop and splattering droplets of dark red everywhere.

He seemed to hover there for an eternity before giving way and collapsing to the ground, his body not so much breaking apart as much as it simply… fell apart. Like perfectly cooked meat.

The sight made me want to puke.

One by one, the 6 Loki Familia members with the elf that had also been caught followed, the flesh softening and sloughing off of their bodies to reveal the pale ivory of bone before they, too, fell. The screams of pain quickly faded, replaced not by silence but instead with wet, choked gurgles that I could still hear as the victims' throats melted away.

… Acid.

I tasted bile in my mouth. I hadn't heard of any Lower or Deep Floor monsters that could spit out acid strong enough to melt people alive within the span of a few seconds. If I was struck… well, I was more durable than the Level 1s and 2s that had just died, but that wasn't saying much.

Thankfully, the smoke below was already clearing; the tradeoff for the acid's incredibly potent strength seemed to be its short duration. Below me, Landrock threw aside his shield, half of it already melted away, as Deimne hopped downwards from the rooftop he had jumped onto, landing in the courtyard once again.

"Kahahahahaha!" The pink-haired woman cackled shrilly as she hefted her spear over her shoulder and planted a boot onto the sizzling dirt. Behind her, the man-eating flowers and caterpillars prepared to move, but the sheep-skulled man held up a fist and all of the monsters stopped in their tracks. … Another Tamer. "It's been a long time since I've had some fun like this, you know?! Seeing your familia members die in front of your eyes must be horrible, huh, Finn?!"

"It is." Deimne's response was low and steady, but I was surprised to find the slightest hint of anger in his voice as he glared at the woman. "Your actions are unforgivable, but they always have been, so I'm not particularly surprised."

"HA! Don't screw with me, you pretentious bastard!" The maniacal smile on her face grew wider as she bared her teeth at Deimne. "Too bad today isn't the day I rip you to shreds, Braver! But I'll sure as hell take my chances to fuck you over as much as I can!"

Behind her, an army gathered. The blond-haired man twirled his cleavers, the sheep-skulled white-hair pounded a fist into a palm, and the red-haired Tamer lifted her broadsword. Around them, green tendrils waved in the air and the caterpillars swelled up threateningly.

"I'd prefer it if you could say something that you could substantiate. Then again, arrogant claims of no substance have always been your fortitude, haven't they?"

Loki Familia assembled around Deimne's figure. Landrock planted the blade of his greataxe into the ground. Loga's teeth were bared in a snarl as his fists clenched and unclenched. Wallenstein's sword lifted into a ready position, and the Hiryutes lifted their fists and knives, respectively. Behind them, Viridis's staff emitted a bright light and an intricate, glowing magic circle opened up beneath her feet as the other members of the Loki Familia rallied and gathered around them, falling into formation as some dragged the fallen away from the courtyard and into the depths of Twlight Manor.

Both sides sized each other up, and then–

krrch

–a crumbling sound burst out from beneath my feet–

krrrch krrch crak-crak crak-krshh

–the ground slipped away. For a short, short second, it felt as if I was hovering in the air even as the crumbling sound turned into a constant rattling, and then–

krak krak krrch KRSH KRAK KRRCH KRAK KRSH KRAK KRAK

–A deafening roar drowned out every other sound as around me, the world turned on its head.

The ground rose up in a cresting wave, the courtyard and every single building flipping towards me as the ground broke away, and then I was spinning, somersaulting, flying, floating, falling, falling, falling–

And then an impact that smashed against my body, once, another one that crushed me from behind, and then blackness.

~~This is a Line Break~~

This time, consciousness returned in an instant.

I was partially buried beneath a pile of rubble. Shattered stone bricks were scattered across my body before clattering to the ground as I gingerly pulled myself into a sitting position. However, the moment I did so, intense pain spasmed violently across my chest and I hunched down, sucking in a breath with a hiss. A duller ache followed, sweeping across my body and making me stiffen.

Torso injuries seemed to be something of a recurring theme lately. I had poured enough potions on the cut across my chest to close the wound completely and it hadn't reopened, but just gently pressing down on the areas close to the bandages made me wince. The fall had definitely worsened things, at the very least.

I pulled out one of the vials from the holster on my belt, uncapped the cork, and downed the contents instantly, the High Potion searing its way down my throat before I stowed the empty vial away and finished pulling myself out of the rubble.

One of my hands reached up behind me and I quietly unsheathed my sword, feeling its familiar weight settle comfortably in my hand. The other hand went to my pack, only to be met with empty air.

Swallowing the initial wave of panic, I instead began to look for my missing backpack. However, in front of me, dust rolled outwards in a billowing cloud, obscuring everything beyond 5 meters or so. There was nothing more than shuffling footsteps and hazy figures that could've been friend or foe, but that wasn't the most important thing right now.

My pack was missing. It had been separated from me during the fall, so it was still nearby, but that was all I had to go on. The rest was up to me.

To avoid giving away my own position, I covered my face with my free arm and narrowed my eyes, waiting for the dust to clear as I began moving, my footsteps quietly crunching across the battlefield with the skritch-skritch of dust underfoot as I scanned the rubble for any signs of the backpack.

However, despite my efforts to avoid it, dust was coarse and rough and irritating and it got everywhere. Particles found their way into my mouth, coating my tongue and throat in a sticky layer that refused to go away no matter how much I swallowed.

The situation wasn't looking good. The fighting had stopped, but it was possible that it could start up again anytime, and this time, I'd be caught in the crossfire. I had to find my bag and the orb, quickly, and get out of the courtyard before something happened.

Something on my left moved and in response, I spun, my sword flashing–

My eyes caught a glimpse of blonde hair as a child-sized figure slipped under my strike, an inescapable grip locking onto my wrist. Faster than I could even blink, a golden spearhead shot to a halt centimeters away from my throat.

"... Hikigaya." Deimne's grip slackened, allowing me to pull free as the golden spearhead vanished from my neck. The pallum nodded at me. "Glad to see that you made it. I presume that it's still with you?"

"No, it's gone." Deimne's eyes widened in surprise before I shook my head, answering the question before he could respond. "Not taken. It's still in my bag, but I was in the tower when it collapsed, and…" I left the sentence unfinished as Deimne's mouth tightened into a grimace.

"I'll help." Both of us began to sift through the rubble again, looking through the shattered remains of the tower strewn around us, and it wasn't long before I caught glimpse of my backpack peeking out from a pile of stone bricks close by. Reaching out, I wrapped my fingers around the straps and pulled upwards… only for there to be a loud CLATTER that echoed out as the pack upended itself, emptying its contents onto the ground from a jagged tear on the bottom.

My eyes widened as I watched the bag strike the ground with a clunk and roll away, just barely out of reach. If I could just–

"Everyone, get down!" All of a sudden, Deimne tackled my side, toppling me over as I lost my balance and stumbled, landing roughly onto the ground. Less than a second later, there was a loud WHOOSH over my head and then a dull crack-thump as green tendrils struck the walls of Twilight Manor and cries of pain rang out.

The man-eating plants. The dust cloud was obscuring everyone's vision, but whoever was using the plants probably didn't care at this point. If they were after the orb, they could just as easily pry it off of my dead body as they could grab it now as it was.

"Violas!" Something from within the dust moved with the voice, but this time Deimne reacted.

"Grab it now, Hikigaya!" A blur of gold swept through the dust around us, and a slimy liquid sprayed through the air, flecks of it landing on my arms and face. The shrieks of the man-eating plants–the Violas–could be heard as Deimne swung his spear with lethal precision, dismembering the plants and any tendrils that came in our direction in a mesmerizing display of trailing gold. "Hikigaya!"

Right.

With my free hand, I reached over the rubble, my fingers wrapping around the drawstring bag before I brought it close, opening it just a little to make sure that it was still there. It was–the strange fetus-like creature still suspended within the liquid in the orb. I nodded at Deimne, who nodded back as his gaze honed in on the drawstring bag in my hand.

"Clear it, Aiz!" Deimne shouted, and then I heard Wallenstein's voice.

"Tempest!"

Around me, air swirled, and a massive gale roared to life in the courtyard. The drifting billows of dust were torn apart in an instant, scattering into nothingness as Wallenstein's magic did its work. As the surroundings cleared, I caught a glimpse of the battlefield–Loki Familia largely huddled up behind cover or laying low on the ground, the monsters that had fanned out across one side from the opening in the wall, and Deimne, standing in front of me, his spear locked with the pink-haired woman.

It happened then.

"aaaaaaaaAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Almost immediately after Wallenstein's magic, there was a deafening scream. I scowled as I realized where the source was coming from, and just why my arm was practically vibrating right now as the sound reverberated around the field.

Figures. It had to be the orb.

I felt another shrill shriek vibrate through my arm as inside the bag, the orb shook. Something was trying to break out. There was a tug, the bag almost sliding out of my hand before I readjusted and redoubled my grip.

It was the wrong move.

Maybe my grip was too tight, or maybe the orb itself had weakened, but there was a brief feeling of brittle resistance before something gave way and the orb itself shattered inside of my hand. But that wasn't all. The bag itself collapsed, cloth tearing as I watched the creature that should've been inside the orb rip its way free and slither out in a spray of crystal shards.

It shrieked loudly again before flinging itself through the air right at Wallenstein.

No bare flesh.

Was it trying to merge with her of its own accord?

Before I could shout a warning, however, the creature's midair trajectory was intercepted as a hand snatched it out of the air. It squealed, flailing about wildly in its prison until the red-haired Tamer tightened her grip, causing its eyes to bulge outwards grotesquely.

"Finally… I've got you," I heard her whisper. The creature opened its mouth, most likely to loose another scream, before the red-haired Tamer jammed her finger into its mouth, stifling its cry.

With that, she raised her sword into the air. "It's been retrieved!"

Those words seemed to act as some sort of trigger. Around me, suddenly, the one-on-one duels stopped.

"Wellllll, it's a shame I couldn't take out more of your precious familia… " The pink haired woman grinned sadistically as she leapt back, landing atop the ruined wall. It wasn't long before her compatriots joined her, one by one. "... but the fun ends for now!"

"... Do you think I would let you escape?" Deimne asked.

"Ha! You think that's up to you, you little fuck?" A twisted grin grew on the pink-haired woman's face. "Hey!" She gestured at the sheep-skulled man, cutting her hand across her neck. "Do it."

"Violas! Virgas!" A ripple ran through the horde of monsters, each one shuddering as it seemingly straightened to the booming voice of the sheep-skulled man. "Kill them all. Don't stop until they're all dead."

"You bastards! Don't think you can–"

I didn't hear the rest of Loga's snarled shout. Instead, 2 green tendrils shot past my body as I dodged, barely missing me before I moved, swinging my sword and slicing both of them apart.

From in front of me, I watched as the rest of the man-eating plants pushed forward, attacking indiscriminately. Tendrils whipped at the members of Loki Familia even as they attempted to rally themselves, Loga and Wallenstein rushing to the forefront of the battle.

I had my own problems. In front of me, a man-eating plant snarled before blurs of green erupted outwards, clearly aimed at me. I didn't bother blocking, instead ducking low before abruptly twisting to the side, all 6 tendrils missing their marks and impaling the ground instead.

Taking the opportunity, my blade flashed out, scything down the vines before I broke into a sprint for the plant's head. Aiming my blade, I pulled backwards, preparing to finish the plant in a single strike.

However, instead of the thrusting stab I needed, there was a tearing sensation in my chest. Something cold trickled under my clothes, and my lunge turned into a faltering stumble as pain tore through my body. I barely managed to recover, dodging to the side and narrowly avoiding the plant's jaws as it rushed at me.

That tearing sensation… that wasn't anything good. I needed to end this, fast.

Putting distance between the two of us was a bad idea. There wasn't enough space for me to strafe the plant or back away without running into someone else, meaning there was only one option left.

As the plant snarled towards me, its tendrils whipped through the air, aiming directly at me. Instead of blocking or dodging, however, I moved forward, pushing off of the ground and making a dash straight for the plant's body.

The vines overshot, rushing past me as I dodged and leaving the plant's head wide open as I came to a stop directly in front of it. It snarled and tried to crush me by slamming its head downwards, but I was faster, shoving my blade upwards. I struck home with ease, the plant's momentum carrying its chin straight into the blade before it roared and began dissolving into ash.

As it fell, I slipped a finger through the gash mark on my breastplate and felt around. My finger didn't find anything wet or sticky, which was good, but that just meant that the cut had opened inside of my body. Less good.

I drew out another vial of High Potion from my belt and emptied it into my mouth. This time, the warmth spread in a diagonal line from my shoulder to my waist along the cut, slightly numbing the pain as I scanned the courtyard for a way to escape.

Instead, I was greeted by the sight of more tendrils waving in the air, more monsters streaming in through the holes in Twilight Manor's walls and filling the courtyard even as Loga and Wallenstein mopped up the stragglers of the 1st wave. Just how many monsters did they have?

"Virgas!" I stiffened as I heard the call of the sheep-skulled man. He seemed to be the only one left on the battlefield, aside from the monsters. As I watched, the sheep-skulled man, who was still standing atop the wall, pointed at the towers. "Fire at the tower bases."

"No!" I didn't know who shouted it, but their cry went unheard as the caterpillars bunched up and then fired right at more towers at the sides of Twilight Manor. Within seconds, the sound of crumbling stone could be heard, one of the towers slowly falling down as the acid melted through its foundation.

"Gareth, Tiona, Tione!" Deimne was quick to respond. With nothing more than a call, 3 of Loki Familia's executives peeled off from the main group, running towards the towers.

"I don't think so… !" With a grunt of effort, I watched as Landrock collided with the falling stone structure that was rapidly gaining speed… and brought it to a halt in an instant. The tip of the stone spire swayed back and forth, but the building remained standing as the dwarf propped it up with nothing more than his bare hands.

To his left and right, the Hiryute twins were doing the exact same to other stone towers.

Despite that mind-boggling display of strength, however, the sheep-skulled man didn't stop, continuing to issue commands. "Virgas!" His hand swept down. "Concentrated volley on the courtyard."

"Bete! Aiz!" Loga and Wallenstein leapt forward in response to Deimne, boots and sword flashing as they tore into the ranks of the caterpillars, but none of them stopped. Rather, any that could move began to squirm, bloating up like a pufferfish.

You didn't have to be Deimne to know what happened next.

But there wasn't anything I could do about it.

There wasn't any cover left, not after the first volley of acid. Everything had already melted away. There wasn't enough time to run, either. Those caterpillars had covered the entirety of the courtyard the first time.

As I watched, the caterpillars fired, and a viscous wave of acid cascaded across the battlefield.

~~This is a Line Break~~

The sizzling was the first thing to register in my mind.

It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. I had curled into a ball on the ground to minimize the amount of acid that would reach my body, shielding my head with my arms, but I had barely been hit. Something had blocked most of it from touching me.

"Oh, man…" A strained voice spoke up. "That… hurts… more than I… thought…"

No–someone. I knew that voice.

My eyes opened.

Maris Hackard stood in front of me, arms spread-eagle, back facing away. Her expression was one of intense pain and something else I couldn't identify.

She hovered there for an instant before softly toppling onto the ground.

I felt my blood turned to ice.

"Hackard!"

Afterword: There's a lot to unpack here, but let's just toss out the entire suitcase instead.

This was originally meant to be one chapter, but I very, very, very much underestimated both how long it would be and how much time this would take me. Thankfully, since it's now split up, I don't have to worry about production eating into release times, since all I have to do is revise and proofread the next chapter. So no, don't worry about the next chapter releasing like, (1 year and) 5 months after this one.

Haha... unless... I'm just that good of a good procrastinator, you know?

I even forgot the Omakes. Or the Interludes. Although I have actually started some planning in regards to the Timeskip, and as a result have come up with a handful of Omake Chapter ideas.

I don't know what to do with these chapters.

I could bundle them up into a Volume 2.5 or a Volume 3.5 of some sort based entirely around these incidents in the Timeskip, but I feel like that might affect pacing. Or, well, the reader's feel of the pacing. It might feel disorienting, I guess?

Alternatively, I could make Volume 3 longer and put the chapters in-between every "regular" chapter of Volume 3, but then that probably fucks up Volume 3, since I haven't looked at the planning of Volume 3 with that sort of structure in mind.

Another option is that I could make Omake Chapters, considering I kinda forgot to do that for Volume 2, and those would be about the Timeskip… but again, I dunno, kinda jarring in terms of pacing?

It occurs to me now that no matter what I do, pacing will be affected. I really dug myself into this hole, didn't I? Oops.

Let me know what you think I should do. I'll try to take the suggestions about this into account moving forward. And let me know how this chapter went! It's been awhile since I've posted something, yeah, so any advice would be really helpful!

See you around!