Chapter 7: We Fight

Kazuma looked at her like she was crazy, but he knew that that was their only option. There's no running away now. They have to fight this guy who was apparently working for the demon king, which means he was probably a general. But for some reason, the aura he emitted was much more different than the one he encountered. When he met Beldia, he was a bit scared, but he it all went away when he starting to get fed up with Megumin and Darkness. But this guy? He was whole lot more intimidating. There was no joking around with this man.

"Ok, but like, how are we gonna fight it?" Ferdinand asked, gripping his sword.

"We have to distract it enough till I can get the final blow on it's heart." Chris responded, her eyes still fixated on the necromancer.

"And how are we going to do that?" Kazuma asked.

"Fire as many spells as you can." Chris said as went lurk and disappeared.

Both Kazuma and Ferdinand were a bit confused, with how abrupt and little info she gave. But no matter, they still somewhat understood her plan. Distract it, and don't die. Simple right?

They both ran into opposite direction. The necromancer still standing in the exact same spot.

"I command my sword: Gladiatorum of Astrea!" Ferdinand's sword glowed a bright blue, he slashed his sword downwards and the air around him began to get cold. Then, the direction where he slashed at was then hit with a blinding light, which decimated anything in it's way. The direction: the necromancer.

"Hmm" Hostis hummed a bit, before commencing a spell of his own. "scutum vergiliarum." He said as he lifted his staff towards the attack.

What came was a green shield that formed around him, it glowed for a second before going invisible. The attack which Ferdinand did was blocked effortlessly by the necromancer.

"Damn it," Ferdinand saw how his attack was useless. "now I'm low on mana." He said as he continued running.

"Create fire!" Kazuma shouted from a distance, a massive fireball was formed. He launched it straight at the necromancer.

He looked back to where Kazuma was at and pointed his staff at the incoming attack. "Partum aqua." then a small bead of water launched was launched from his staff in lightning speed. It hit the fireball and produced massive steam in the room, causing Kazuma to lose focus.

"Damn it, I can't see through all this fog." He grumbled to himself.

"Partum ventus." Suddenly, a massive gust of wind hit Kazuma, and he flew back a couple of meters away. "Gagh, gugh!" He yelped as he hit the floor multiple times.

"I command my staff: Arise from Death." Suddenly, the ground rumbled a bit. The necromancer then floated up a bit, and from where he formed came out multiple swordsmen and shielders, all ready to fight for their master.

"Shit." Kazuma grunted out in pain. "This guy isn't messing around. He's the real deal." He said as he got up. He's body ached from the assault, but he still felt like he could fight. He saw the swordmen and shielders now running at him.

"Create wind: blade!" He shouted as he flicked his hand and out came a wind blade which cut some of the shielders, but it did not reach the undeads who were at the back. Kazuma felt the air getting cold, and turned to his left to run away.

"Heagh!" Suddenly, a shout was heard from his back, he looked back and what he saw was Chris whizzing past the undeads and cutting their heads off like butter. She ran and jumped as she sliced the heads of the undeads, her eyes looked sharp, and her movements were calculating. After she finished her assault, she looked back to where Kazuma was standing at.

"What are you standing for? Go and run!" Chris shouted as she saw him being a sitting duck.

It seemed the shout put a sense to him as he recollected himself and began running again.

"Tch, this more tougher than I thought." She clicked her tongue. "That guy has lot of mana, which means he can produce countless spells and spawn more undeads." She observed as she saw her teammates launching attacks an the necromancer blocking them with ease.

"But maybe this is my chance." She saw an opening. She ran straight at him, the necromancer being occupied by the swordman and adventurer. She jumped in the air and trusted herself with luck that she will land a hit on its heart. No, she knows she can do it. She is the goddess of luck after all.

With her two hands holding her short sword, she was ready to plunge it right into it's chest.

When suddenly, Hostis head turned around.

"Clypeus anti." He said. A mysterious force had stopped Chris mid air, her attack frozen in place. But she felt normal. It's just that her body was somehow stopped mid action. Chris saw the necromancer, his eyes looked dead.

"I feel strong holy energy coming from you." He said to her, his voice being more calm and collected. "I do not know why, but I wish to not know. Fighting me is futile, surrender now and I will not kill all of you."

"Grr." Chris growled as she heard the necromancer speak to her. "You think I'll surrender to the likes of you?" She shouted angrily, her eyes pointing daggers at his.

Suddenly, Chris felt like she was moving away from him. She was confused until she was then flung backwards. She flew in the air until her body hits the wall, leaving a dent in it.

"Gagh!" She grunted out in pain. "Her head then hung low. For the first time in her existence, she has felt what true pain was like. Her body ached from the impact. She felt like a million splinters were hitting her body. She could probably feel a couple broken bones now laced in her back.

"Chris!" Both Kazuma and Ferdinand shouted from the distance after seeing their friend being flung to the wall.

"Hah... hah... hah..." She breathed out to recollect herself. "So that's how you wanna fight." She mumbled to herself. "Heal." She said as she placed her hand behind her back, her broken bones and battered body began heal.

After that was done, she jumped down and landed, her eyes aiming towards the necromancer who began spawning more undeads.

"Chris are you alright?" Ferdinand shouted as he and Kazuma reached the thief.

"Yes I'm alright." She answered. "Listen, we need to rethink I we can defeat this guy."

"So, did you come up with something?" Kazuma asked.

"He has a multitude of spells. He can block attacks, spawn undeads, and even create a force which stops you mid action." She explained. "So we need to work together to overwhelm him. If we all go at him at once, it will be too much for him to keep up. Making it perfect for me to strike."

"Ok, but how are we going to do that?" Ferdinand asked.

"Just follow my lead." She answered. "Kazuma, use simple spells instead of advance ones. Run around him in a circle while your doing it." She explained to him.

"Ferdinand, I want you to clear any undeads that come at me and Kazuma." He nodded.

"And I will assist you two. When the time is right, you two will launch your most powerful attack on him, and I will jump and stab his heart." She finished explaining. "Got it?"

The two men nodded in determination.

"Let's go!"

The trio then ran together, heading towards the hoard of undeads with the necromancer in the back.

"I command my sword: Undam laminis!" Ferdinand slashed his sword and the wave of blades cut the undeads head off.

"Snipe." Kazuma shot arrow after arrow towards the swordsmen, all of them hitting their target with ease. "create water, freeze." Kazuma spawned a bucket of water which spilled all over the floor, he then freezed it, making the undeads now stuck in ice.

With them being immobile, Kazuma took his trusty chunchumaru out and began swiping the heads off the undeads. He narrowly dodged some of their attacks since only their feet was frozen in place, not their arms.

"I command my sword: Goddess's blessing." Chris then ran at lightning speed, she didn't take out a lot of undeads since she was more focused on reaching Hostis.

Ferdinand swung his sword while Kazuma was launching his arrows. The undeads were no match for the duo.

"Ferdinand," Kazuma said as he sniped more undeads. "Let's go run opposite of each other. We'll overwhelm that necromancer now."

"On it." Ferdinand understood and they both ran. Yhe. circled around the necromancer and began setting off their attacks.

"Create water!" Kazuma launched a small puddle of water at Hostis "Create fire." He then launched small sparks of fire "Create earth: Create wind." He then launched a combo attack of earth and wind to try and blind him. He was trying to occupy him

"I command my sword: Undam laminis!" Ferdinand did the same by launching his signature attack on him. A wave of blades were launched going straight at the necromancer.

Hostis easily dodged all the attacks that were flung at him, but it is getting annoying with how frequent they were. This brown haired adventurer kept launching small puny spells which he blocked, but they he was whizzing around him so fast he got annoyed as more spells came at him.

The there was this swordsman who kept bugging him by launching blades of light at him while also killing all of his undeads. This is getting out of hand, he has to stop them.

"Create water!" Suddenly, Chris casted a spell which formed a ball of water which was then launched straight at Hostis. He said, "Create ignim." A bead of fire blocked the water spell which produced steam.

"Now!"

"Hmm?"

"Create Fire!" "I command my sword: Gladiatorum of Astrea!" Kazuma and Ferdinand both shouted in unison as they launched their most powerful attacks at Hostis.

"Scutum vergiliarum" He said as the same green shield formed and blocked both of their attacks.

"Hhaagghh!" As he formed that spell, Chris jumped up, her blade now aiming towards Hostis.

"Pathetic."

"What?!" Chris was caught off guard when she was then stopped by the same force as before. She was frozen in place, not a single muscle in her body can move.

"You thought overwhelming me would work?" He said to her, "That was a nice attempt, but now you all must die." He then lifted his staff and pointed it at Chris. The gem on it began to glow a bright green.

"I commander my staff:-"

"Hagh!" But before he could finish, Ferdinand had thrown his sword at him. The sword actually hitting him. It struck him on his right arm and into his chest.

"Hmm..." Hostis turned his body to look at Ferdinand.

"Oh shit."

"Create ignim." A bead of fire was then launched straight towards Ferdinand. He ran away but when the bead contacted thee ground, it exploded which caused Ferdinand's back tonight ablaze and his ears ringing from the sudden explosion.

"Aagh!" He yelped in pain as his body hit the ground while his back on fire. He rolled around to try an out the fire out.

"Ferdinand!" Chris yelled out in fear as she saw her teammate getting hurt.

Kazuma saw the swordsman getting hurt, so he tried to return the favor by launching a spell of his own.

"Create water!" He fired back a mountain of water right at Hostis.

"I had enough of this." Hostis grumbled as he saw the spell coming straight towards him. "Creare ignim" He countered as he blocked the water by hitting it with fire. Causing a massive steam output again, which blocked his view once again.

"Fuck, not again." Kazuma said. He knew what will happen if he just stands there, so he ran away to try and outsmart Hostis.

"Create wind." He produce wind to try and clear out the steam. When his vision began to clear, he saw the necromancer aiming right at him with his staff.

"Bottomless swamp." He knew that spell, a spell which made the ground into mud, making it hard to move. He felt as his feet sunk into the mud. It was no use struggling, he couldn't move a single inch.

"This is where you meet your fate." Hostis said as green light began emitting again from his staff.

"Wait, no!" Chris shouted as she knew what the undead was going to do. "Don't you dare do it!" She used every but of her energy to move, to try and escape the invisible force that kept her captive. But it was no use, she couldn't do anything. The only thing she could do was stare back and watch her friend die with tears in her eyes.

"I command my staff:..."

"Stop! I beg you!"

"Vita ad mortem."

The staff which was Hostis was holding then shot out a green beem of light which then shot straight at Kazuma.

"Create fire!" Kazuma wasn't letting his one last chance of living go away. He collected the mana from the air, so much so that he could feel his skin starting to freeze. He then put all that collected mana into one singular spell, which then produced not just a massive fireball, but a blue one. He then launched it at the incoming beam.

It hit, but it was useless as the beam of green light exploded the fireball and still moved forward to kill him. The result made the room bright.

"I guess this is it." He saw the the light getting closer and closer towards him. "This is where my journey ends. For real this time." He thought as he the beam then hit his chest, which caused unimaginable pain to travel through his entire body.

"I thought this journey would last a bit more longer than my last one." He remembered the time where he was having a meeting Chris in the guild hall, discussing the ways on how to become more stronger. "But it seems I was wrong."

Kazuma could feel multiple organs inside his body beginning to fail. "I couldn't even make it past the first hurdle. I was killed by a group of bandits, and now a necromancer."

"First I failed my parents, and now my friend Ferdinand and Chris."

"I truly am weak." Those were his final thoughts as he closed his eyes and his body falling to the ground.

"Nooo!" Chris shouted.

Satou Kazuma had died.

An ambient noise was heard as Kazuma slowly opened his eyes. It was the all too familiar room. He didn't even know what it was called, he just knew that this was room where he would go when he dies.

And as always, he would meet the most beautiful, most trustworthy, most kind girl he has ever met: Eris. But for some reason, he had not met this amazing person. In fact, he was alone. He was sitting in a vast room with no one in site except himself and an empty chair across him.

"That's weird. Normally, Eris would be here to greet me." He said out loud. "Maybe she's busy or something." He proposed as he scratched his cheek, sitting in boredom.

So, now what? He can't really do anything right now. He can walk away from his chair, but he can't really travel anywhere since it's all just void. The only thing he can do now is wait and think.

And he hates thinking.

Thinking will make him remember things in his life. The good and bad. Pleasant memories, and horrible moments. He hated being alone since it would resort to him thinking about something, anything that was on his mind. He liked having friends, he liked having Ferdinand and Chris. They were there to distract him enough so that he wouldn't think. But now, he has no choice.

He guessed that the thing he should be thinking about is the past few days after he left his party. He left his party with Chris. He then set on an adventure with her and Ferdinand, and died soon after. The journey only lasted two days.

Two days?! that is not a lot. How the hell could he die so quickly? Kazuma mentally panicked as he realized how short his new journey actually is.

"God, why am I so pathetic." He mumbled to himself as he began moving on to other thoughts.

He wondered if Chris and Ferdinand were okay. He saw the last image of Ferdinand rolling on the ground with his back on fire and remembered the look on Chris' face as she saw him being killed. He didn't know what happened to them, but he hopes that they were okay and alive. But for some reason, that hope didn't really stick well as he remembered his opponent.

The necromancer. Hostis Dei. What a weird name. He was sure it had some meaning to it, but he wasn't to bothered in finding it. He remembered how strong he was. With the amount of spells in his arsenal. The way he predicted every move his team made. And they ultimately failed at the end. He was a formidable opponent.

There was something that bugged him a bit. His introduction. Hostis said that he works for the demon king empire. Which, wasn't too wild as he can see a necromancer working for an empire consisting of demons and undeads. But it was after he said his name and occupation.

"The last disciple of the king of demons, Pleiades." Kazuma said out loud.

First of all, who the hell is 'Pleiades'? It was said by Hostis that he was supposedly the 'King of demons'. Is there like a difference between the demon king and king of demons? He didn't really know. Also, the last disciple. He guessed that Hostis meant that this king had multiple disciples that lived throughout the world, but somehow died along the way, and apparently Hostis was the last one.

He needed to know who Pleiades is and what his role is in the world. He is sure that the world had some history books talking about this king of demons, but he wasn't too focused on that right now. For now, he needs to focus on what to do now since he's officially dead.

"Sorry!" Suddenly, Kazuma heard a concerned yet comforting voice from nowhere. "I'm very sorry for being late." He looked around to where this beautiful voice was coming from, until he looked back at the throne Infront of him and saw the goddess of luck Eris about to sit down.

"Eris?" He called out.

"Please forgive me Kazuma, I had some urgent buisness to do and I couldn't meet you a few minutes ago. But now that I'm here, I can finally talk to you." Eris explained as she let out a pant and sat down.

"Satou Kazuma, it appears that you have unfortunately died." She said as her tone shifted to that of sadness and sorrow.

"Geez, are you obligated to say that everytime I'm here." Kazuma commented.

"No, I just say it out of respect." She says as she closed her eyes and opened them again. "Kazuma, you really, really, have to take care of your life more better."

"I can't stand seeing you die so much. I can't bare to see you sit on that chair looking all careless like nothing had happened." Eris said as her voice grew desperate on trying to make him understand.

"Do you really think that your life is easily replaceble? That you think you will come back to to life all happy? The way you die, with regret. You throw out your life like trash!" Eris aid as her desperation turned to anger at seeing the ignorance Kazuma was showing all this time.

"Stop thinking that your life is worthless Kazuma! Please, please don't think that way."

"..." Kazuma looked at her in shock, then looked down at the floor in shame. It felt like he was a kid who got told off by his mother. He didn't really have anything to say or do, instead, he stayed sitting on his chair.

"Kazuma," She says as she got up from her chair. "I think there's something I should tell you."

"What?" Kazuma looked up at her, his voice squeaking out.

"I..." She started, "I..." but her voice faded out, her mind growing second thoughts. "I..." She looked at him, her mind in doubt if she should tell him or not.

"What? What is it Eris?"

"I..." She then looked down at the ground, "I'm sorry. Kazuma."

"I can't. I can't tell you. Not yet at least." She thought.

"What? What are you sorry for?"

Eris then walked up to him and kneeled, he cocked back to his chair out of surprise and shock.

"Listen Kazuma," She says as she placed her hands on his lap. "I will be breaking every rule that Heaven set out for me. So don't tell anyone I did this. Not angels, gods, or Aqua." She then looked up at him.

Kazuma was confused in all of this. The common words be said to her just now were 'what', and now he's gonna ask, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Chris will use resurrection on you, and I'll open the doors for you to live again." She said.

"Wait, Chris is an adventurer. How could she knows and perform a powerful spell like that?" Kazuma asked as he knew who Chris was. She's a thief. They can't do spells like a healer does. Let alone an advanced spell like resurrection, which, the only one he knew was capable of performing that spell was Aqua.

"She can do it, I know she can. Listen, I know you're confused right now, but trust me." That all to familiar last line somehow comforted him. It reminded him of Chris too much.

"You trust me right, Kazuma?"

"Of course I trust you Eris." He says. He hesitated if he should place his hands on hers or not. He feared that this time was not right. Maybe another time at least.

"You can place your hands on them Kazuma."

"Wh-what?!" Kazuma panicked, but soon calmed down. He then eventually grabbed Eris' hands. It was smooth and soft. It felt like heaven. "Say," he spoke, "is Chris and Ferdinand okay?"

"Fortunately, they are both alright. Ferdinand is unconscious and Chris is performing resurrection on you." She explained.

"Hmm, that's good to hear." Phew, he thought they died or something. "Though, I'm still confused on how Chris is able to perform resurrection."

"Well, there's a reason for that." Eris said, "But it's a secret." She then winked at him. For some odd reason, that wink felt way too familiar to him.

"Well, you're time is up. It's time to go back." Eris said as she got up and slipped her hand off of Kazuma's. "I can't believe I became my sempai, so please be grateful that I'm giving you this once in a lifetime chance."

"Thank you, Eris. Thank you for everything." Kazuma said as he got up from his chair.

"You're welcome Kazuma." She says as she connected her hands together and rested them Infront of her crotch. "Be careful, my hero."

Then, Kazuma suddenly floated up from the ground and and went straight up to the light above.

"I can't believe it. Another chance at life, without Aqua, this is awesome!" He thought as he ascended.

"You will meet Chris when you wake up, and when you do, don't freak out okay?"

"What?" Was all he said as he disappeared into the light, returning back to the mortal realm.

"*Sigh* What am I going to do with him." She let out a sigh as she went back to her throne and sat on it, her head resting on her hand.

"I hope the higher ups aren't mad." She prayed to herself that both her and Chris won't get anymore devine punishment.

"Kazuma..."

"Kazuma."

"Kazuma!"

"What?" Kazuma opened his eyes and saw Chris frantically shaking his body with her face showing that of concern.

"Jesus Christ Chris stop shaking me!" He yelled as she wouldn't stop shaking him. Though, him saying that was a wake up call as she stopped her violent method of waking someone up.

"What did I say of watching your damn mouth!" She yelled, Kazuma just looked on confused.

"Ugh, it doesn't matter. Anyways, welcome back to life." Chris said as she got up.

"Damn," He mumbled as he felt his body being alive once more. "Still can't believe I was given a second chance. Or third. Or... Actually, how many times did I actually die?"

It doesn't matter, what matters now is that he is alive and back.

"Say Chris, how'f you perform resurrection?" Kazuma said as he got up.

"Oh, you really want to know huh." She said out loud, she intended for it to be her thoughts.

"Uh yes."

"Fine, I guess there's no lying to you anymore." She sighed. "Kazuma, I'm actually -"

"So it seems that you possess resurrection." But before she could finish that line, Hostis had let out his dark and deep voice for them to hear.

"I'll tell you Later Kazuma, we still have a necromancer to kill." She says as she turned around to face him.

"Wait, what about Ferdinand?"

"He's still unconscious. We just have to wake him up." Chris concluded as she saw his body laying on the floor behind Hostis. It seems that he didn't notice that he was still alive.

"Listen Kazuma, I think I know how to kill this guy." She says as she got her short sword out.

"Well that's good to hear, so how do we do it?"

"You know a way to drain his mana?"

"Actually, I do."

"That's good to hear. First, we need to save Ferdinand first." She says as she got ready. "Follow my lead." She then leaped forward and ran straight towards Hostis. Kazuma did the same as well and caught up with Chris.

"Kazuma, I want you to get Ferdinand up and regroup. There, I'll explain the final plan to kill this necromancer once and for all." She says as she saw Hostis summoning more undeads from the ground.

"Got it!"

"Good," She then whispered to her short sword, "I command my sword: Goddess's blessing." And ran forward where Kazuma could not catch up to her no more.

"She seriously needs to teach me that." He mumbled as he ran forward and dodged the arrows that flew right at him.

"Creat water, freeze." He spawned water which spilled onto the legs of the shielders, he then immediately froze them.

"I don't really have to kill these guys," He thought as he saw Chris slaughtering the undeads with ease. "I just have to reach Ferdinand is all."

Though, his mind is still filled with thoughts as he jumped and ducked the incoming attacks. Especially the one where Eris was criticising him just earlier.

"I can't stand seeing you die so much. I can't bare to see you sit on that chair looking all careless like nothing had happened."

God, did she really think like that? If so, he really needs to stop. For someone to hold that much grudge on him dying, the least he can do is try and live a long life. Also, was he careless? Did he really act like nothing happened, like all of that was normal?

"Do you really think that your life is easily replaceblreplaceablee? That you think you will come back to to life all happy? The way you die, with regret. You throw out your life like trash!"

No, he did not think his life is replaceable. At least, that's what he wants to think. Maybe he unconsciously thought that yes, he can replace his life with all the resurrection spells Aqua performed on him. But he didn't want to think that way. It was gross to assume that you can replace your life all willy nilly. But man, that last line, throwing out his life like trash. The way she said it really hurt him, she yelled with pure anger. Guess she really was disappointed at him.

But...

"Stop thinking that your life is worthless Kazuma! Please, please don't think that way."

While she was disappointed, she really did look out for him. After all, why would she say those things, if she didn't care for him. It was hard to believe, but inside him he knew, that Eris cared for him. Like a mother. A mother much more better than his real one.

"Man, am I really getting emotional in a fight right now?" He spoke in his mind. He used numerous spells to dodge attacks coming from swordsmen, to archers.

"Create wind: blade!" A incoming shielder was sliced by a blade made of wind, he ran forward and was soon approaching Ferdinand.

"Create ignim." But he forgot that in order to reach him, he had to face Hostis. The necromancer launched a bead of fire towards him.

"Shit!" He panicked internally as he saw the fireball in the corner of his eye. "Create water!" He countered by launching a ball made of water which connected to the bead of fire.

"Hgh." He grunted as the steam caused his body to warm up. His vision also being blocked.

"Create wind." With the spell clearing the steam Infront of him, he could finally see Ferdinand laying on the ground.

"Bottomless-"

"Not on my watch!" Chris suddenly cut him off by throwing her short sword at his staff while whispering 'snipe'. Unsurprisingly, it hit and knocked his staff, disabling the spell. Hostis grunted in dissatisfaction.

"Thanks for the save Chris!" He yelled out

"You're welcome!" She says as she slided under Hostis to grab her sword back.

Now, with the road being clear, Kazuma ran as fast as he could to reach the unconscious swordsman. He eventually reached him by sliding on the floor and hitting him with his leg.

"*Ough*" Ferdinand grunted out as he felt his body being kicked. "Gagh, what the hell was that?" He yelled out in confusion.

"Sorry about that Ferdinand!" Kazuma apologized as he got up from the floor. "Listen, the necromancer is still alive but Chris has a plan to kill him." He quickly explained to the confused Ferdinand.

"What?" Ferdinand responded, still in a daze after he was rudely woken up from his coma.

"The necromancer is still alive!"

"What!" Ferdinand now picking up the pace, immediately got up and tried to grab his sword. He soon find out that it was nowhere near him.

"Hey, do you know where my sword is?" Right, he forgot. He now remembers before he got knocked out from the fire, he threw his sword at Hostis to stop him from killing Chris. So that must mean...

"It's under that guy." Kazuma saw his friend's sword near the necromancer.

"Looking for this?" Hostis suddenly called out to them as he pointed his staff towards the sword that's on the ground. He then lifted it up by using his magic.

"How the hell did he know?" Ferdinand questioned in disbelief. It seems this necromancer was more cunning than he thought.

"Good luck trying to-"

"Steal!"

Suddenly, before Hostis could finish his sentence, Kazuma yelled steal and pointed the palm of his hand towards the necromancer. A bright light shined, blinding Ferdinand, Kazuma, and Hostis. After a few seconds, the light dimmed out, and Kazuma could feel something was in his hand.

"Holy Eris," Ferdinand saw the item which his friend held. "I didn't think that would actually work."

"What?" Hostis said, a bit dumbfounded. He saw his enemy holding the sword which he took away. The craziest part? He used steal. Steal. That dumb spell which only worked if your luck was high enough. And this guy did it on the first try! What the hell was this?

Kazuma knew his steal would work. He always had faith in it due to his absurdly high luck. He passed the sword onto Ferdinand, the swordsman grabbing it hastily.

"I think we should run." Kazuma suggested as he saw the necromancer getting more and more aggravated with not only him, but his entire party.

"Create ignim!" Hostis said with his voice being more angered than before. The two adventurer split up to dodge the incoming fireball. The flame barely scraped their backs as they fully sprinted in opposite directions.

"Hey guys!" Chris suddenly called out to them. "Regroup!" They both nodded. They ran towards the awaiting thief, narrowly dodging spells that were flung to them. When they got close to her, they slided a bit to stop, leaving a trail of smoke as the halted.

"Okay, listen up!" Chris wanted to explain this as quickly as possible, "Me and Ferdinand will try and distract it as much as we can, while you Kazuma will try to get under him. When I go and try to stab him, you will take away his mana" She quickly said her plan as fast as possible.

"Got it?" She asked hurriedly as she saw Hostis reading his staff.

"Got it!" Ferdinand and Kazuma both said, their voice filled with determination.

"Then run as fast as possible!" She said as Hostis launched a fireball right towards them. The fireball bursted into flames as it impacted the ground, luckily, the group ran away quickly, escaping from being devoured by flames.

"I command my sword:-" Both the swordsman and thief said in unison, "Undam laminis!" "Goddess's blessing!"

A blade made of light and a blur as fast as lightning came towards the necromancer. Hostis blocked the incoming attacks by summoning undeads and a shield. He blocked them with ease, but the two adventurer were a lot more persistent than what he would like.

"Heagh!" Ferdinand grunted as he threw his sword towards the undeads, the spinning blade sliced many of them.

"Hagh!" Chris swiped many of the swordsmen that were close to Ferdinand. She then whizzed passed him to kill more.

"Chris! Grab my sword!" Ferdinand shouted.

"On it." She said to herself as she passed many of the undeads while slicing their napes as she ran towards the sword that was on the ground. She slided on the ground as she grabbed his sword. She stabbed the ground using her short sword to stop the momentum.

"Ferdinand!" She shouted, "Catch!" She then threw the sword in the air towards him.

Ferdinand saw the flying sword and jumped atop an undead to catch it. He succeeded by grabbing it and landing on the ground.

"Heagh!" He swung his sword, blocking multiple swordsmen and striking those that were open.

"Grr," The necromancer was getting more and more aggravated with these adventurers. "Bottomless swamp." He casted the spell onto Ferdinand, not caring for the undeads that were stuck with him.

"Create ignim." He didn't even bother to monologue or something towards his enemy, he just wanted them to die.

"Please Eris, give me strength." He silently prayed, "Hagh!" He then threw his sword at the fireball, the blade spun in the air fast.

Luckily, Eris had heard his prayer as the sword had blocked the incoming ball of fire, exploding it int eh air. But it was at the cost of his sword as he saw the blade being melted into bits and falling on the ground.

"Sacred dispell!" Chris came out of nowhere and struck her short sword on the ground, breaking the bottomless swamp spell and freeing Ferdinand and the undeads.

"Thanks Chris," He gave his thanks to her. "Now then." Both he and Chris looked at Hostis, the necromancer looked back with fury in his eyes.

Before, he was more calm and collected. Sure, it was annoying for a bunch of adventurers to snoop into his underground city and kill a bunch of his undeads, but he could shrug it off by killing them. He saw these adventurers as mere annoyance. But now? Now, he was really mad. Furious, angered, wrathful. How could these puny little things survive this long and counter his spells? He was a necromancer for goodness sake. A disciple towards Pleiades! It was embarrassing. And he knew who the culprits were.

"Okay, I think now he's really pissed." Ferdinand commented. He can read his eyes like a book.

"Die!" For the first time since this battle began, he yelled in anger for them to meet death by launching a bead of water. The duo ran as the bead impacted the ground, leaving a pretty huge crater on the floor.

"You three have bothered me for long enough! It's time for you to meet death itself!" He said in anger.

"This is it." Chris spoke in her head. "Ferdinand, help me jump up to him!" She requested for Ferdinand to assist. He nodded in agreement.

"I command my sword:-" She saw Ferdinand putting his hands together for her to step, "Goddess's blessing!" She then ran straight at him. She stepped on his hands and jumped in the air towards Hostis.

"You'll never learn do you?" Hostis saw the same trick over and over again, he kinda grew tired of it. "Clypeus anti." As expected, Chris was stopped by an invisible force.

"That's where your wrong." Hostis looked at her confused.

"Drain touch!"

Suddenly, Hostis had felt his mana being sapped away in seconds. As he felt his mana slip away, he also felt that something was grabbing his leg. He looked down and saw a green hooded gremlin looking up at him with a mischievous grin.

"What the-?" Before he could fully process on what's happening, he looked up to see that Chris was inching closer and closer to him.

"What's the matter?" She cheekily asked, "Ran out of mana?" She felt the invisible force growing more and more weaker. It seemed that due to his mana being taken away, his spell would grow weaker. This, this invisible force as well.

"Get off of me you rat!" He shouted as he pointed his staff towards Kazuma, ready to castle a spell onto him. "Create ignim!" But it was no use, as what came out was just a puff of smoke.

"No." For the first time in his death, he felt fear. Panic, worry, all the emotions of fear envelope him as he saw all of his spells and trucks were useless. He looked back and saw Chris ready to break free from her prison.

"Any last words, Hostis?" She asked him, her eyes starring daggers at him.

"All of you will soon learn the truth." He spoke ominously. That was his final words as Chris broke from the grasp of the force and struck Hostis in the heart.

"Heagh!" She twisted her blade, making sure to make his death as painful as possible. When she saw his eyes finally showed no light. She pulled her short sword out and hopped back on the ground.

Thud*. Hostis' body fell to the ground. Kazuma saw the dead corpse Infront of him and let go of it's leg.

"Is he," Kazuma spoke, "is he dead?"

"I can confirm." Chris pulled out her adventurer card. "He is in fact, dead." Her card showed her latest kill: Hostis Dei, the necromancer.

Kazuma let out a sigh of relief after hearing that. "So, that means all of this is finally over, right?"

"Yes Kazuma, it's all over. There's nothing to fear now."

Kazuma finally collapsed on the floor.

"Kazuma!" Both Chris and Ferdinand yelled out in concern.

"Hagh..." He moaned, "Finally, we can finally leave this darn place for good."

The swordman and thief wiped the sweat on their foreheads. Just a false alarm. Kazuma felt the satisfaction of defeating a large scale and hard quest. It was definitely satisfying. Having to plan strategically and kill a hard boss. Would he do it again if he had the chance to? He

"I am never doing that again."

"Well Kaz, I know your all tired and all that, but you still have to get up and go home." Ferdinand said to him, his face looking down at the tired neet.

Right, home. He almost forgot about that. He felt like he was in this cave or city for days on end. Even though it was only a few hours. He guessed the stress of constantly fighting enemies and dying got to him, breaking his sense of time. Oh how he can't wait to finally return to his inn and crash on the bed.

Kazuma got up from thee floor, he dusted off the dirt that was on him.

"Come on Kazuma, let's go home." Chris offered, the former neet nodded in glee.

The journey of going back to Maine was an uneventful one. Nothing really happened in their journey home, of course, not that they were complaining or anything. But something was on one particular mind while they walked home.

"All of you will soon learn the truth."

Kazuma had heard what Hostis' final words were. It was pretty ominous. What kind of truth would they learn? Would it impact their lives? Would it have consequences on the world itself? The country? Himself? He really didn't know. He wanted to forget about it since there really wasn't anymore clues or words to base it off of. But they just stuck to him. He couldn't shake it off. It just felt like some important information he must find out and remember.

"Yo Kazuma?" Chris suddenly called out to him. "What's with that intense look on your face?" It seems he was in deep thought.

"Oh, it's nothing." Kazuma brushed it off. "Just thought about how tough our battle was out there."

"It sure was wasn't it?" Chris commented.

Kazuma shrugged it off and looked at the horizon, it seems they approached their destination as he saw the walls of Maine looming over the grassy hill. It also seems that the dead toads he killed were cleared out. Guess it was to prevent some type of disease from spreading.

It also worth noting that the trio arrived just as the sun was rising, meaning that they were in that underground city for an entire night. They saw the sun just peaking above the walls.

"Finally, home." Kazuma said to himself. It was weird calling Maine his home. Since he just arrived there two days ago. But it seems that this will be his new home for a while.

They walked past the blasted holes and burnt grass and approached the gates of Maine. They past the guards, smiling at them as a sign of respect. Since it was morning, not many people were walking on the streets. Many of the shops were just opening, while many were still setting theirs up.

"Woah." Kazuma was a bit startled as a little girl ran past her. It seems she was chasing after a geese.

"Sorry Mister!" She apologized as she ran after the geese.

"Haha, kids." Ferdinand chuckled a bit and preceded onwards, Chris following suite.

Kazuma walked forward as well, but he felt an air of melancholy swirl around him. He remembered back when he was in Axel, a girl just similar as her was chasing after a geese. It sure humored him, seeing someone chase after an animal, but it all faded as those memories were tainted by bad ones back in Axel. It all reminded him to much of it. He wasn't depressed about it or anything, he just wanted to forget about his bad experience in that starter town.

The trio soon arrived at the guild. They walked inside and it was pretty busy as usual. The adventurers inside were having breakfast, ready to start their day of quests.

They walked to the counter where a lovely looking lady was waiting.

"Hi there, how can I help you?" She asked them.

"We wanted to cash in." Chris answered by pulling the flyer of their quest.

"Ahh, clearing the basement of that fortress. So, did you three do it?"

"We did." Chris said, "But we got a bit more than just clearing it." The lady looked confused at that.

After a few minutes of explaining, the lady at the counter looked a bit shocked to say the least. First, the abandoned fortress had a underground city under it, and second, the city housed a freaking necromancer there. Honestly, she was surprised and glad that these three adventurers were willing to kill it and conquer the fortress.

"Wow," She didn't know where to start. "I'm honestly lost for words."

"It seems you three deserve much more than what the quest offers. The original offer was 200,000 eris, but now I will add in an extra 800,000. Making the total count being 1,000,000 eris." She explained to them.

"So congratulations, adventurers." She clapped for them.

Honestly, the trio was too tired to celebrate their bumped up reward, but they were still grateful nonetheless. They accepted the money and split it up into three. They then sat together at a table.

"Well, I'm glad she gave us extra." Ferdinand said as he shook his purse, the coins in it clanked together to make noise. "I need to buy a new sword."

"Honestly, I'm just glad it's all over." Kazuma commented as he rests his arms on the table. "This money was just a bonus."

"Couldn't agree more with you Kazuma." Chris said ass she leaned back at her chair, her eyes closed.

"So, what now?" Kazuma asked the two of them.

"Guess we'll find a new quest." Chris answered, "What do you say Ferdinand? Tomorrow, next week?"

"Sorry, but I'm not going for another quest."

"Hmm? But why?"

"Well, it's just that..." He paused for a moment, "I'm not going to be doing it with you guys."

Kazuma and Chris looked at him a bit dejected. Ferdinand saw this a need for explanation.

"Listen guys. It was really fun working with you two, having to know you two better, fighting alongside each other. But I think you guys forgot, I was never apart of your party. I'm a freelancer."

"Right, forgot about that." Chris mumbled to herself. "Sorry about that Ferdinand, I actually thought you were apart of our team."

"No, don't be sorry." He waved his hand in dismissal. "It's not like I'm going to stop working with you or anything. If I have the chance, we'll go on a quest together."

"But I don't think that will be happening anytime soon."

"Why?" Kazuma asked.

"Well, do you remember how I talked about how I would hope from town to town?" Oh, now he knew where this was going. "Well, I'm gonna be leaving this place."

"Damn, that's a bummer." Kazuma mumbled to himself. "Well, I can't really force someone to stay with me. When will you be leaving Ferdinand?"

"Tomorrow."

"Then I guess we still have time to say goodbye." Kazuma commented. "How about we meet each other one last time before you leave?"

"Sounds good to me." He gave them a tired smile.

"Alright, why is it all sad all of a sudden." Chris suddenly barged into their conversation. "Come on, be a little bit more happy. We just killed a necromancer for goodness sake."

Ferdinand and Kazuma both chuckled at this. Guess they really needed to cheer up a bit more.

"Yeah, we should." Ferdinand said. " Hey waiter, give us three ale please?"

After an hour of drinking and laughing, Ferdinand and Kazuma stopped after they felt their bladders couldn't take it any longer. But Chris looked as fine as ever. actually, she was still drinking.

"Man, you two are weak." She commented as she set her mug down on the table. "Come on, how about another drink?"

"No. No more, please." Kazuma said as he leaned back on his chair. "I think we should all go home." He suggested.

"Yeah, we definitely should." Ferdinand agreed as he slumped on his chair.

Chris chuckled a bit at seeing her two friends being hung over. She got up and went over to the counter to pay. She went back to their table to notify that they should leave.

As the the trio walked outside of the guild, Ferdinand walked forward and turned his body to look at Chris and Kazuma.

"Well, I guess this is where I go. See you two tomorrow." Ferdinand said as he waved his hand goodbye. The other two returning by waving their hands as well. They saw the swordsman walking in the distance, and soon disappeared in the mass of people now bustling through thee streets.

"Well, I guess we should head back to our inn eh?" Kazuma suggested.

"Before we do that," Chris looked at him, "I feel like there's something I should really tell you." She remembered their conversation back at the underground city where Kazuma was just revived. She was about to tell him before they were interrupted by Hostis.

"What is it then?"

"Let's go somewhere private shall we." She then grabbed his hand and walked towards somewhere. Kazuma blushed a bit by having his hand being held by a girl, but he tried to shrug it off since this must be pretty important.

The duo walked hand in hand through Maine, passing by many people from young to old. Man to woman. They soon walked out of the gates and onto the grassy and burnt field.

"Hey Chris, shouldn't this be far enough?" Kazuma asked as he saw that they were pretty isolated and far away from any people.

"No, we need to go further." She dragged him with her to this more private place. They didn't need to walk far as they soon approached a lone tree that was behind a hill. Meaning that no one would see them from Maine.

"Alright, this should do." She says as she let go of his hand. "Now then," Chris turned around to look at him. "I think it's time to tell you."

"This must be pretty important since you dragged me so far away from people." Kazuma observed his surroundings, seeing nothing but grass and a forest in the distance. "So what is it?"

"Kazuma, to tell you the truth,"

"Is it just me or does this sound like a love confession?" Kazuma tried to brush that thought away since he remembered what this conversation truly entails. But he just couldn't shake it off, it sounded too much alike.

"I'm actually..."

"Go on..." Kazuma leaned just a centimeter closer.

"I'm actually Eris."

.

.

.

.

.

"...What?"

To be continued...

Author's note:

The climax is getting more and more closer. The end for this arc is just two or one chapters away, and after that, a new arc. Yes, this book will have multiple arcs, meaning multiple villains which Kazuma will have to face.

The next chapter would be quite interesting, and I think I'll be squeezing in the end of the arc on the next chapter. It isn't confirmed, but it might happen.

Anyways, that's all from me, hope you enjoy reading this chapter, and I'll see you in the next chapter.