God's Blessing on this Wonderful Dungeon
By Icura and Special FX
~o~
Chapter 14: Expedition, the Second Cour
~o~
Kazuma stifled a yawn as he walked down the beaten down path from Rivira toward the staircase that led down to the nineteenth floor. He wasn't alone, of course, since the Vidar Familia party and his own were with him on the path through the forest. Once they reached their destination, they would be heading down to the middle floors.
The next couple of floors were known as the 'Large Tree Labyrinth', and were supposedly quite dangerous due to all of the poisonous monsters and plant life. Even Vidar Familia had only managed to explore some of it before they had to turn back during their last expedition. Though, with how much they had talked up the Goliath and how easily it had actually gone down, was the tree labyrinth really even that big of a deal?
Then again, Vidar Familia were only level two adventurers so weren't they still novices as well? If he thought about it like that, then it made sense why the Goliath was such a big deal to them.
Technically, his group were all only level ones, but for them, they were more like new-game plus characters at this point. Alise and her group were level threes, and they were already considered to be pretty famous adventurers in the city, so wasn't the level cap here way too low? Maybe he should have paid more attention to Rose's primers, but then again, he had never been the best student even back in school so he would probably just zone out again.
"Alright, everyone," Selenia suddenly said as she stopped the group in front of the stairs. "It's going to get a lot tougher from here on out. We'll probably need to start relying more on your party's support from this point on, Kazuma."
"Sure," he nonchalantly replied.
"Let's get going then," Selenia said as she led the way down the stairs.
With that, the rest followed in her wake. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, the sight that greeted them was distinctly different from the floor they arrived from. Ridiculously so.
"Welcome to the 19th floor, the Large Tree Labyrinth."
They were at an elevated position on a cliffside, but that gave them a large overview of the massive jungle that stretched out before them. There were so many trees and foliage that it was hard to see between the canopy, but it was dim enough that it was hard to make out anything. In spite of that, it was teeming with life and activity with the sounds of animal calls echoing throughout. Of course, those weren't real animals; they were just monsters that took on similar forms and behavior.
Another strange part was that the walls surrounding the jungle looked wooden in nature, but he knew from being informed earlier that they were as hard as stone despite looking like the inside of a giant tree. Though, what giant tree would have jungles of trees inside it?
In the walls, there were large holes–tunnels–that led to more huge rooms with accompanying jungles. These rooms would only get larger in size the further down they went, and they were each dangerous in their own right.
"The tree labyrinth will last until the 24th floor so we'll acclimate here for a while before tackling the rest," Selenia said, restating their plan. "Food, water, ingredients for potions. There's a lot that can be found here, and these middle floors are the reason that Rivira can be self-sufficient, but it has its own challenges. We need to make sure that Aqua can cure the poisons before we move further."
As they moved down the stone pathway and into the jungle proper, Kazuma couldn't help but look around him in wonder and apprehension. The trees were large with thick trunks that were covered in aged moss, green all along their length. The floor itself was covered in similar moss, making imprints with their every step and feeling slightly slippery throughout. Despite the sense of unstable footing, the ground beneath the moss–when pressed down harder on–was solid. There was some light that filtered through the canopy, but it wasn't much. Even that little bit was obstructed by high-hanging vines that stretched out from tree to tree, winding around them in a complex and disorganized network.
If anything, all of this reminded Kazuma of the Amazon rainforest. It felt like if he stuck his hand into a hole in a tree, a bunch of insects would crawl out en masse. Except, wouldn't they all actually be monsters? That would mean that they would all probably be feasting on his hand instead.
Just the thought of that sent shivers down his spine.
"Eyes up," Jiruna said tensely. "We got company."
Looking up, just a little ahead, Kazuma saw a multitude of snakes wrapped around branches above them, ready to drop down if they were to walk underneath. Seeing that, only one thought came to mind.
"...can we just burn the whole forest down?"
~o~
It turned out that causing a forest fire wasn't actually possible. Apparently, the moss was flame resistant and contained enough moisture to stop a fire from spreading. Despite hearing that, Kazuma was still tempted to try anyway.
The only thing that stopped him was that it could change or ruin the ecosystem.
This place was a lifeline for Rivira, providing everything to sustain the town plus something extra to bring to the surface for profit. The ingredients from these floors alone have produced enough healing potions and cures that it was invaluable as a resource for past and future adventurers. While the dungeon could probably heal the damage from a deforestation attempt, the plants that should be growing in one area might not be there anymore, leaving adventurers reliant on past predictability and recorded data to be caught off-guard.
That could be a recipe for a disaster in the making.
Vani pulled up his sleeve with unshed tears in his eyes. "Why do I have to do this?"
"It's your punishment," Jiruna replied without an ounce of remorse as she held up a huge bee by its torso. The monster's legs had been chopped off, but its enlarged tail and stinger were whipping back and forth desperately.
"What about Kazuma and Bete!? They were there too!"
"You were the ringleader." Jiruna slowly brought the bee forward. "Don't be a baby. Take it like a man."
"You only say that when it's convenient!" Despite his words and reluctance, Vani stretched out his bare arm and inched closer, though he winced with every incremental step.
"It'll be like a pinprick."
"A pinprick?! Do you see how big that thing is?!" Vani turned his face away in distress. "I can't watch. Just tell me when–ow!"
The lion man retracted his arm, practically at lightspeed. His other hand pressed down against the wound, but blood dripped out through his fingers and out the side of his palm despite his effort. Not only that, but the crimson fluid was tinged with distorted purple stripes.
"See? That wasn't so bad, you big baby." Jiruna crushed the large bee in her hand, its spindly body collapsing inward under her grip. The monster's struggles became twitches in its death throes. Dropping the bee to the ground, she stomped on it for good measure.
"Says you!" Vani turned his tearful eyes over to Aqua. "Save me!"
"Hehe, leave it to me." Aqua, upon being called, walked over to him with a smug smile. "Only an amazing arch-priest like myself can handle this after all. Cure Poison! Heal!"
A warm light enveloped her hands and spread over Vani's arm. The lion man in question looked on with amazement as he watched the flesh wound stitched itself together. After a brief moment, Aqua stepped away and Vani flexed his arm a few times.
"Well?" Jiruna asked. "Did it work?"
"Of course, it worked!" Aqua replied, as if offended. "I'm a goddess!"
"A goddess…?" Selenia repeated with a raised eyebrow.
"Not literally," Kazuma quickly pointed out. "Like I said earlier, she says crazy things all the time so just ignore her."
"Kaaazuuumaaaa…!"
Vani moved his arm and shoulder a few more times before he gave a thumbs up. "It feels good as new."
"See!" Aqua crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. "Told you!"
"Well, that settles it," Selenia replied with a smile. "It's not that we were doubting your abilities, Aqua, but we had to make sure and see if there were any drawbacks. There are some adventurers who never mention those kinds of things until it's too late."
Honestly, it was a train of thought that made perfect sense to Kazuma and was something that he would do himself.
They were all taking a short break within one of the many tunnels of the tree labyrinth, so taking the time to verify that Aqua's magic works seemed like a prudent enough idea to him. Monsters wouldn't spawn again until the walls that they emerged from were fully repaired by the dungeon, so they had a buffer period where they could just relax for a bit.
Traveling through this floor was a lot more time consuming than the other ones. It wasn't just because the monsters were tougher now, but also because of the terrain. Having to travel through a biome that was similar to a rainforest had a lot of environmental hurdles to deal with.
Vidar Familia was still able to handle the monsters on this floor pretty well, but the number of monsters was much higher here than the previous floors. There was no more leeway for him to just laze about in the backline anymore, so his bow had seen a good deal of action already. Even Aqua and Megumin had to get involved in some of the melee combat when the occasional monster made it past their front line. Though, it was mainly Aqua punching monsters with her [God Blow] while Megumin danced around to avoid hits, allowing him the chance to snipe them with his bow.
It was definitely a different experience than he was used to.
In fact, this type of party play reminded him of his dungeon raiding days back when he was a NEET living in Japan. Compared to the usual crap he had to deal with back in Belzerg, this was much more accurate to the type of isekai adventure he had initially expected. Aside from that slight hiccup with the Goliath where Selenia had froze up for a moment and he had taken command, things were almost going too well.
In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but think something was going to go wrong at some point.
Why? Because with his party, something always went wrong.
"Alright!" Selenia clapped her hands together, gathering everyone's attention. "I think that's enough of a rest for now. Let's keep going."
"About time," Bete said as he stood back up. "I was getting tired of sitting around."
"Are you sure about that?" Megumin asked with a smug grin on her face. "You looked pretty out of breath earlier to me."
"Shut up, midget!"
"Stop calling me a midget, you mangy wolf!"
Kazuma ignored the two-middle schoolers arguing with each other and stood up as well. "So how much further is the next floor?"
"Once we make our way past the huge tree in the middle of the floor, the stairs to the next floor should be within eyesight," Selenia explained as she picked up her sword off the ground. "We might need to rely on Megumin if we run into a large horde of monsters ahead."
"Should we be expecting more monsters ahead?" Kazuma asked.
"A lot more monsters tend to spawn from the passageways along the walls once we pass the large tree," Selenia pointed out. "We could probably deal with it, but since it's a pretty open area, we could have them chase us for a while until they get all bunched up. Then Megumin's magic could wipe them out in one hit. It'd save us a good deal of time and energy, not to mention the wear and tear on our equipment."
"I agree with this course of action!" Megumin shouted enthusiastically with a raised hand.
Megumin would have agreed with anything that let her fire off an explosion, but that was actually a pretty good plan. Kazuma couldn't help but be impressed. He'd have to transfer over some more mana to Megumin after her attack, but he could just drain Aqua or Darkness for that.
"Sounds good to me," Kazuma agreed. "Let's head out then."
~o~
Bete took point at the front of the party once they reached the 21st floor of the Large Tree Labyrinth.
Even though this wasn't the first time they had ventured into the tree labyrinth, it wasn't like they were veterans of these floors either. Unlike previous floors where everyone pretty much knew like the back of their hand, the ecosystems in this place sometimes changed with monster hordes migrating for whatever reason. He had the best instincts out of everyone in his Familia and this was Eris Familia's first time in the middle floors so it was an easy decision on who should be at the head of the pack.
And it was something that he himself wanted to do anyway.
"Bete," Selenia called out. "Slow down a little. We need to set a more steady pace for them."
It wasn't like he was trying to shield the others from having to take the point man role or anything like that. He wasn't the same person that he was in the past after all, so he wouldn't make the same mistake he had with Reene. Weaklings who couldn't become strong enough should just stay and hide away in their holes instead of trying to reach higher. Otherwise, the only outcome for them was to be devoured by the strong.
That was simply how the world worked. So he had to make them stronger himself. Show them how it's done.
"Bete, you took them out too fast," Vani said. "Save some for the rest of us!"
That way, even the weak could one day bare their fangs and howl. Day in and day out, he challenged them, pushing them to greedily seek out strength. If a random punk kid like him could already claw his way to the front of the pack, then they should be able to do the same if they wanted to run with him.
"What? Why are you all at the front with him?" Jiruna asked before giving off an aggrieved sigh. "Fine then. We all might as well all take the lead together."
The reason that Bete had always taken the front of the formation once they reached this floor was because he was the best at avoiding hits. When the floors consisted of poisonous creatures and plants, there was a need to dodge everything in order to avoid wasting their limited supply of antidotes. However, with Aqua there behind them, guarded by her three teammates, was there even a need for that tactic anymore?
Not at all.
The pace they were setting through the 21st floor was blistering; they rampaged, destroying anything in their path and moving through the newly opened gaps before the dungeon could fill back up. From giant bees to engorged spiders to crystal leopards, they ripped through everything in their path by fists, claws, and weapons. Bolstered by the support of Eris Familia, the Large Tree Labyrinth, which had always been an area where they struggled with, was now more like a cake walk.
By the time that they reached halfway through the 21st floor, it felt like they hadn't really done anything strenuous at all. For Bete, he would usually be tired at this point, from the constant tension and stress of being alone at the front. Fatigued from the constant hyper vigilance in order to avoid any and all attacks. But now? Even when Jiruna got bitten by a snake, a quick spell from Aqua cleared that up right away.
It was freeing and even liberating, this feeling. While it wouldn't be a good mindset to maintain since they couldn't count on always having someone like Aqua available–possibly never again–it felt okay to indulge just this one time.
"The rest area is just up ahead," Selenia announced while the party was currently dismantling the monster corpses for their magic stones.
"I'm not even halfway tired," Bete said confidently, glancing over at his pack members. "What about you?"
"Still good to go," Vani said with a smirk.
Jiruna turned to the Eris Familia members who were chatting amongst themselves. "What about you guys? Want to rest up or keep going?"
"We can keep going." Kazuma threw out a thumbs up, even as he used the knife in his other hand to keep digging into the monkey's corpse. "It's not like we had to do much."
"Hah!" Bete pocketed the magic stone as the frog corpse beneath him began collapsing into dust. Selenia, Vani, and Jiruna finished their duties and lined up next to him, resetting their formation. "Looks like that's settled then. Let's get–"
His instincts suddenly flared.
Before his mind could catch up, Bete grabbed Selenia–who was standing right next to him–and pulled her down with him as he fell forward toward the ground. Fear and adrenaline raced through his body as he fell, his mind seemingly slowing down the reality of the world around him. Even though he couldn't turn his head, falling as he was, his eyes frantically searched.
That was why he saw it.
Two heads, floating away into the air, separated from their bodies.
Vani and Jiruna.
They were still smiling.
The moment he hit the ground, Bete hugged Selenia and rolled over the moss-covered floor. Squishy, wet, soft. The moss stuck to his back and hair, sickeningly moist. He didn't know when, but after feeling that he had rolled enough, he sprang back up to his feet with Selenia still held protectively to his chest.
Standing in between them and Kazuma's party was a bare-chested man with long and shaggy white hair. He was holding a large cleaver, his pose held at the end of a large swing. Blood stained the edges of the blade, dripping down to pool next to the two headless corpses on the floor.
The members of his pack.
Memories of his destroyed village that he had locked away into the depths of his mind resurfaced once more. White hot rage seared through his conscience, threatening to overpower any form of reason and restraint he had left. The only reason he didn't rush over right away was the shivering bundle in his arms, keeping him afloat at the edge of his consciousness.
Men and women in different styles of armor and dress moved into view from behind the surrounding trees, encircling the two parties and the bare-chested man. Having no masks nor cloaks, they didn't bother hiding their identity at all. There were fifteen of them; some of them looked on with grins while others watched with mild boredom, but all of them had their weapons out.
"How unfortunate. I wanted some privacy, but it seems I made a mistake," the bare-chested man said as he lowered his large cleaver. However, his glare–aimed at Bete and Selenia–exuded tremendous killing intent. "I want to rectify that mistake so very badly, but I don't have the time so keep your mouths shut and you may live a little longer."
"You…!"
"Bete!" Selenia grabbed his arm, stopping him. She looked pleadingly at him.
"Grrr…" Bete was gritting his teeth so hard that he could feel gums bleed.
Ignoring all of this, the bare-chested man turned his back on the two so that he was facing Kazuma and his party.
Feeling Bete tense up, Selenia squeezed his arm harder to stop him from doing something foolish. Even with his back turned, that man was still dangerous–probably level three or higher–and there were too many surrounding them who were itching for any excuse to run them through. Still, in spite of all that, being so close to him, she heard him begin to whisper.
"Chained Fros. The first wound, Gelgja…"
The beginning of a chant…?
~o~
The Eris Familia members were in formation with their weapons at the ready. Darkness was at the head while Kazuma stood at the rear, keeping Megumin and Aqua in the middle between them. However, seeing how they were surrounded on all sides, it was still a bad position. In the midst of all this, the bare-chested man nonchalantly walked up to the party.
When Kazuma's party tensed up and prepared for a fight, the man simply dropped the large cleaver in his hand, discarding it as if it was trash.
"I had been hoping for a chance to speak to you sooner, but alas, the stars did not align," the man said. "...until now, at least."
A myriad of emotions went through Kazuma's mind in a flurry. Confusion, shock, fear, and even anger. He kept his bow notched and his arrow pointed at the bare-chested man who had so brazenly killed Jiruna and Vani. He hadn't known them for long, but they were a good bunch and didn't deserve this. Once the initial rush of emotional whiplash passed, his mind finally settled down and he focused on the current situation at hand.
A number of questions plagued his mind.
Who were they? Why had they attacked them? And how did they not trigger his [Enemy Detection] skill? He didn't have the time to ponder though as the seconds continued to pass by. The man seemed to want to talk, so he would oblige, if only to buy more time to think of a way out of this situation.
"Who are you?" Kazuma questioned. "And what do you want with us?"
"I am Olivas Act, though you may know me by my alias, Fanatic," the man replied with a mad grin. "I am one of the true faithfuls to Goddess Eris, and you, my dear future friends, have piqued her divine interest."
"What a farce!" Darkness angrily replied with a swipe of her hand. "A fiend like you could never be a member of the Eris Church!"
Kazuma was inclined to agree.
He had never seen this 'Olivas' person before in his life, and he doubted that Eris knew who he was either. Even if Eris did know him, she'd never approve of someone who was willing to murder innocent people like that anyway.
"Friends, I am not referring to your goddess of fortune," Olivas answered, smiling magnanimously. "I serve Lady Eris, the goddess of strife and discord, and we all are a part of the congregation known as Evilus. But enough about that. You desire to know our reason for being here today, do you not?"
The man known as Fanatic spread out his arms, as if welcoming them.
"Our goddesses share the same name, and they reside over domains that are close in aspect. The chance of the dice and the probability of chaos. Aren't they so very similar?" Olivas tilted his head slightly up, staring off into the sky as if looking at the heavens. "What is the likelihood of two goddesses from different pantheons being so similar? But then again, no one has ever heard of your goddess' pantheon, have they?"
"What are you getting at?" Kazuma asked, discomforted by the situation.
"Perhaps they are related. Not by blood, but by origin. Even if not, my goddess believes that friendship is inevitable between our two Familias. There is not nearly enough strife and discord in the world these days, and she deeply yearns to find another of the divine persuasion who can intrinsically connect to her. You understand, don't you?"
Kazuma's mind worked through the problem.
Not the one that this absolute loon was getting at, but more of how they managed to avoid his [Enemy Detection] skill. There hadn't been any pings to alert him so he wasn't able to prevent what happened to Vani and Jiruna. It must have been because Olivas and his crew didn't have hostile intentions toward him. In fact, all of their hostility was probably focused solely on Vidar Familia right from the start.
That had to be it, since that was the only explanation he could think of for bypassing his detection.
"All that I understand is that you're insane," Kazuma replied as his eyes looked around for any kind of opening he could use. The enemies were all too close for Megumin to cast an explosion without catching the rest of them within the blast radius, but he still had his secret weapon.
"My goddess would never ally herself with a fiend like you who casually murders innocents!" Darkness all but shouted in response. "And as a crusader, I could never allow myself to abide such evil!"
"Hmm." Olivas pursed his lips. "A pity, but my lady is nothing if not magnanimous. Might I suggest a parley then? My lady would love to speak to your lady of fortune and have a chance to convince her of our way of thought."
"No way!" Aqua angrily replied as she pointed a finger at Olivas. "Stop trying to corrupt my junior with your crazy psycho goddess!"
"An insult to my goddess?" Olivas muttered before pointing back at Aqua. "It looks like your lady hasn't properly disciplined her. Hand her over to me, and I'll make sure that she's–"
"Bare your fangs—and devour all! Hati!"
Bete suddenly appeared behind Olivas, his hands and feet wrapped in flames. However, the man known as Fanatic moved in an instant. Olivas ducked under the fiery swipe and lashed out with a side kick, slamming his boot into Bete's stomach and sending the werewolf flying away from him.
Kazuma had wanted to buy some more time, but he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to attack while the enemy was distracted.
"Snipe!"
The arrow zipped through the air straight at Olivas, who snatched it out of the air mid-flight. What the hell was that? He hadn't even been looking at it! The man then proceeded to crush the arrow in his grip, shattering the shaft, before dropping the broken arrow.
"I suppose this is a breakdown in relations. A pity." Olivas picked up his cleaver sorrowfully, even as all of his surrounding Familia members began entering the fray. "Kill the werewolf and his companion. Leave those of Eris Familia alive, but they need not their limbs before we prostrate them before our goddess. She'll know what to do with them."
It was only now that Kazuma's detection skill finally alerted him to the threats, though far too late to be of any real use. However, it did tell him that there were more waiting out of sight. It let him know just how much worse the situation actually was. Despite his reluctance, the time for hesitation was over.
He needed to aim to kill.
"Snipe! Snipe!"
If the boss's ranged defense was too high, he'd take out the mobs first.
Unlike with Olivas, his two targets didn't have the reflexes or skill needed to stop the sudden attack. Under the shocked gazes of their nearby companions, the two fell to the ground with arrows stuck in their skulls. Even though it gave those Evilus members pause, Olivas didn't stop for a moment and dashed toward Kazuma.
"Darkness, intercept him!"
Darkness moved to block his path but Olivas–knowing that the blonde was a frontliner–deftly leaped over her. However, Aqua suddenly appeared in his landing zone.
"God blow!" Aqua's fist smashed into his chest, rocketing him back to Darkness.
As Olivas went flying to Darkness, she dropped her sword and the moment that Olivas slammed into Darkness' chestplate, she wrapped her arms around him in a bear hug and squeezed.
"Gah!" Olivas wreathed around in her grasp, unable to break out of her ever tightening embrace. His bones creaked and his muscles compressed under her immense strength. "R-release me!"
"No! I won't let you hurt anyone except me ever again!" Darkness shouted as she squeezed with all her strength.
Bones began to crack as Olivas's eyes started to bulge out of their sockets. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn't break out of her hold. How was it possible for a level-one adventurer to possess such strength? It was only a matter of seconds before she would snap him like a twig. But then, a bolt of lightning struck Darkness in the back, catching her by surprise and stunning her for a brief second.
However, that brief moment of respite was all Olivas needed to slither out her grasp.
Kazuma spared a second to look at the direction where the lightning came from. Emerging from the tunnels were most of the hidden Evilus members that his enemy detection skill had detected earlier. Some of them held onto long wooden staves, crackling with magical energy as they started to chant.
Enemy mages.
"Megumin, take care of them!" Kazuma shouted as he dropped his bow and pulled out his sword, blocking an attack from an incoming Evilus member's axe.
Megumin was currently busy avoiding attacks from another Evilus member, however.
"Fireball!" Kazuma used his free hand and unleashed a small fireball from his hand, setting the enemy's face in front of him ablaze as they screamed in pain.
It wasn't strong enough to kill, but it distracted the guy enough for Kazuma to plunge his sword into his chest. He didn't allow himself to think about what he had just done, pulling out his sword and letting the body fall lifelessly to the ground. There wasn't any time for that right now. He ran over to Megumin and engaged the Evilus member that had been chasing her around in close quarters combat.
Fortunately, Megumin, after having worked together with him for so long, knew exactly what he wanted.
"Explosion!" Megumin yelled as she pointed her staff at the direction of the tunnels. She hadn't even bothered with a chant as a firestorm of flames lit up the Large Tree Labyrinth like a Christmas tree, blasting away a large part of the wall and anyone unlucky enough to be within the vicinity. The nearby tunnels collapsed on themselves, burying their entire length under tons of rubble.
All of the energy left her body as she fell lifelessly to the ground immediately after unleashing her spell.
Kazuma needed to run over to her before someone took advantage of her helplessness, but the nameless Evilus member in front of him wasn't letting him through. Steel met steel as his sword clashed against the other adventurer's own sword. Now that he was in the thick of things, he was all too glad for Alise's overbearing sword fighting lessons and her overpowered skill now. He felt faster and stronger than he had ever been before–thanks to that skill he stole from her–and it was that which allowed him to stand his ground against these enemies in close combat.
After another brief exchange of blades, he leaped backwards and reached into his pouch, pulling out one of his secret weapons. In one smooth motion, he tossed the tinymite at the Evilus member's face and pointed at it as the explosive flew through the air. "Tinder!"
A spark emitted from his fingertip and lit the explosive's short fuse before it promptly blew it up in the other guy's face. The blast created a plume of smoke and dust which Kazuma used to his advantage in order to mask his movements. Tinymite might not have enough firepower to kill an adventurer, but it still did some serious damage. He took a gamble and ran through the smoke, catching the wounded enemy off-guard and cutting him down.
Immediately afterward, he ran over to Megumin and found himself standing between her and a group of Evilus members.
Fighting them one at a time was possible, but fighting a group of them all at once was more than his measly sword skills could manage at the moment. He didn't have any one-shot AOE spells he could use either. There was Explosion, but he couldn't use that spell unless he wanted to blow himself up as well. The group of enemies began to slowly encircle him and Megumin, most likely wary of his magic and tinymite.
He could stall with a Create Water and Freeze combination, but–
"Die!" Bete roared as he suddenly smashed into the group of enemies like a wild beast. The flames that had once been wrapped around his limbs were now engulfed around his entire body. The werewolf tore through the Evilus group like a knife through hot butter, burning them all alive. The stench of burnt human flesh caused him to wrinkle his nose in disgust, but he was glad for the assistance nonetheless. "Kazuma! Give me some flames!"
Give him some flames?
Was he able to absorb fire or something? Was that why fire seemed to wrap around his body like a second skin? Whatever. He didn't have time to question it, and Bete seemed to know what he was doing.
"Fireball!" He poured the rest of his remaining mana into the spell.
The ball of fire hit Bete squarely in the back, only for the fireball to be devoured by the very flames surrounding him. Fire absorption or magic absorption? Kazuma didn't know, but it seemed to have empowered the werewolf as the flames around him only grew in size. The werewolf quickly went back into the fray.
Now that he finally had a bit of breathing room, Kazuma glanced over the battlefield and took stock of everyone's current status. Darkness was still engaged in a one on one against Olivas. Selenia and Aqua were fighting back-to-back, dealing with their own group of enemies. Bete was rampaging through another group of enemies like an inferno while Megumin was out for the count until she could receive a sudden mana injection.
Kazuma didn't have nearly enough mana to replenish Megumin, but fortunately, he had come into this expedition prepared.
He reached into another one of his pouches and pulled out a mind potion–this world's version of mana potions–and popped open the cork.
"Here, Megumin," he said as he pressed the vial to her lips and poured its contents down her throat.
"...thanks, Kazuma," Megumin replied after she finished drinking the bitter potion with a sour expression on her face.
Kazuma popped open another potion and gulped it down himself before carelessly tossing the vials away. Unfortunately, it wasn't replenishing his mana anywhere as fast as [Drain Touch]. That meant that unless he was able to link up with Aqua, there was no way to get another explosion out of Megumin.
"Megumin, use this if you get into trouble." Kazuma placed some tinymites into her hand.
"Blegh!" Megumin made another sour face. "My arch-nemesis!"
"Nemesis, my ass! Don't you dare throw them away!" He quickly caught her wrist to prevent her from doing just that. "Right now, they can do a better explosion than you can."
"Traitor!"
"This isn't the time!" Kazuma released her wrist and stood up. "If anything happens, use them. I'll come right away."
"You're leaving?"
"I need to go grab my bow."
"Why don't you just take that one?"
Kazuma blinked before looking at where Megumin was pointing at.
Next to one of the nearby dead bodies was a bow along with a quiver of arrows attached to that woman's back. He stared for a moment before running up to it. Grabbing the bow and slashing the quiver free, he took both and brought them back to where Megumin was now sitting up. He had a ranged weapon now so he could help out while protecting Megumin, but he wasn't that great at archery without [Snipe]. Even with the mind potion, his mana hadn't recovered enough to use that skill more than two times.
Bete's flames had drawn the attention of most of the enemies and he was still rampaging around, but it was apparent that he was starting to slow down from his numerous minor injuries piling up. Selenia and Aqua were still engaged in a melee with a smaller group of enemies while Darkness continued preoccupying the enemy leader.
Of course, the decision on who to shoot was already decided.
"Snipe! Snipe!"
Two of the enemies that had been assaulting Selenia fell down to the ground, courtesy of an arrow to the back of the head. The fight that had been in a sort of stalemate quickly turned into their favor. Not only that, but the surviving minions were now aware and wary of his arrows, causing them to become distracted and make more mistakes. Selenia took advantage of that and switched from defending into attacking while Aqua continued to heal her.
Kazuma grimaced as his mana dropped back down to zero once again.
If this had been a video game, he would have gone after the boss instead, but quite frankly, it felt like it would have been a waste of valuable resources. Darkness wouldn't be able to deal enough damage to finish off the enemy leader even with the distraction that his arrows could provide.
"Megumin."
"Yes?"
"Do you have enough for another explosion?"
"Nope."
Kazuma frowned.
He would have liked to get some mana from the living battery known as Aqua, but she needed to keep assisting Selenia. Those Evilus members weren't exactly pushovers and fighting a group of them all at once was a tall order for anybody. Bete only managed it because of his strange magic empowering him, but even then, he was starting to slow down.
If only he had some Manatite stones on him, then he could have easily replenished Megumin's mana…
Wait, stones…?
Kazuma glanced down at the pouch on his waist. Opening it up, he pulled out one of the magic stones that was stored inside. It was a long shot, but he didn't have much of a choice right now and theoretically, it made sense in his head.
"They use these as an energy source, don't they?" Kazuma mumbled to himself.
"What? Yes, but this isn't the time to waste on–wait, wait, wait!" Megumin's eyes popped wide open as her intelligence stat showed its true potential. "You don't mean…"
"Drain touch."
It wasn't as easy to pull the energy from the magic stones as it would have been with Manatite, but the fact that it was possible at all was a light in the darkness. Despite its small size, there was a surprising amount inside. However, it only lasted for a moment before it crumbled into pebbles and dust in his hand.
More than he was expecting, but less than he was hoping for.
The good thing though was that he had a bunch. He stuck his hand into the pouch and yanked out a handful of magic stones. Unlike his cautious attempt before, he went for outright recklessness by draining them all at the same time. They soon turned into powder that sifted through his fingers.
"Kazuma, Kazuma, give me mana!"
"And do what? Blow them all up? You're going to hit everybody else too." Kazuma picked up his bow and nocked an arrow. "No, I have a better idea. Snipe!"
Even before the arrow could hit his target, Kazuma loaded another into his bow.
"Snipe!"
The most efficient grinding method was to maximize experience points in the lowest amount of time possible.
"Snipe!"
One shot kills qualified in that regard, especially distracted as they were.
"Snipe!"
If this had been a game, he would have camped the area and spawn-killed all the mobs in a mechanical and repetitive way that would have eventually got him accused of being a bot.
"Snipe!"
However, this was the real world. Each life that he took here was permanent. There was no respawn for them, but honestly? They didn't deserve it.
"Snipe!"
Before this, he had never taken a human life. He had the morals and the consciousness of a person from modern Japan after all. But in this one battle alone, he had already broken those morals, and he had done it enmasse. The battle was not over though so he would have to shatter those morals even more.
"Snipe!"
Right now, in this heated moment filled with adrenaline, he could ignore it all by not thinking about it.
"Snipe!"
He would deal with the consequences of that later.
"Snipe!"
However, he would never regret his choice.
"Snipe!"
Because everyone was counting on him…
"Snipe!"
…to pull their asses out of the fire!
"Snipe!"
By the time that Kazuma lowered his bow, eight human beings had fallen. Four had survived somehow, but shaken and wounded as they were, they wouldn't be able to last very long. Even the ones that he hadn't shot at were on their last leg now that the majority of them were littered all over the ground as corpses.
He stuck his hand into his pouch, not even bothering to take the magic stones out.
"Drain touch."
Of course, just when the situation was starting to look hopeful, that was when things made a turn for the worst.
"Watch out!" Darkness yelled in a panic.
Olivas Act suddenly appeared in front of him, mid-slash.
Despite leaning to the side, the cleaver sheared through his bow and his left shoulder. If it weren't for his armor, he was almost positive that Olivas would have cut his shoulder clean off. Through the pain, Kazuma's thoughts focused on one thing. How did he get past Darkness? The aforementioned woman was rushing over, but there was no way with her slow build that she would be able to make it in time.
"You…!" Olivas raised his large cleaver up high like an executioner's blade. "Everyone's dead because of you! I should have killed you from the–"
"Create water!"
A jet of water splashed into Olivas' face, causing the man to shut his eyes and sputter mid-rant.
"Freeze!"
The water on his face froze. In Olivas' moment of surprise and hesitancy, Kazuma grabbed a handful of tinymites out of his pouch and jammed them straight into the man's frozen and still open mouth. He kept his hand in there to prevent the explosives from falling out.
"...tinder."
With a power equivalent to a miniature Explosion spell, both Olivas' head and Kazuma's hand erupted into flames. The man's head burst open from the concussive force like a balloon. Even Kazuma's burnt hand couldn't withstand the force, being ripped off his arm and sent flying away from him as the blast knocked him back at the same time.
His vision turned white and there was a dull ringing in his ears. He hit the floor hard like a rag-doll, and rolled around until his body finally stopped, but the impact barely registered with him. His barely processing mind supplied that he had been hurt much worse before. However, despite that, pain was definitely something that he could never get used to.
The disgusting smell of burnt flesh and the sharp agony were the only things still keeping him conscious.
"–zuma!"
He could feel someone shaking him, barely.
"Kazuma!"
Opening his eyes, he saw Megumin on top of him, shaking him while crying. The fact that she was screaming his name was starting to grate on his damaged ears.
"Kazuma! Kazuma!"
"...yes, yes, I'm Kazuma." He moved to push himself up, but he had forgotten about his wounds so he pushed his burnt stump against the floor before he realized it. "Ow!"
"Stupidzuma! Idiotzuma!"
"I liked it better when you were yelling my real name–ow, ow! Stop hitting an injured man, ow!" Ignoring Megumin's punishments and realizing that he needed to do something about his wounds, Kazuma gathered his remaining mana. "Heal."
It wasn't doing too much, but it was better than nothing.
"Heal. Heal. Hea–"
"Sacred heal!"
Oh, that felt much better.
Kazuma could feel his dearly departed hand growing out of his stump, courtesy of Aqua's [Sacred Heal]. Aqua had already arrived, standing above him. He felt something wet fall onto his face. There were tears running down her face as her lips quivered, and unlike normally, he actually found himself feeling a bit guilty for making her cry this time.
"Kaaaazuuuuumaaaaaa!" Aqua bawled as she tackled him into a massive hug. "I-I thought you were going to die!"
"...yeah, yeah. I'm still here, aren't I?" Kazuma gave her a wry smile and patted her head. "Just like I promised."
Darkness was the next one to approach, carrying his discarded bow. The one that Tsubaki had crafted for him, not the one that he had picked up amid the battle. There was a worried look on her face, but for once, she decided to remain quiet as Aqua continued to smear tears and mucus all over his cloak while Megumin continued to softly bang her fists against his chest.
The battle was finally over.
Corpses littered the battlefield, some of them dead from arrows and some of them burnt beyond recognition. It wasn't a pretty sight to look at, and he felt his stomach threaten to empty its contents so he looked somewhere else.
Selenia and Bete were standing off to the side. She looked mostly unharmed–courtesy of Aqua's healing–though her armor was covered in blood. Bete, on the other hand, was littered with numerous cuts and burn wounds all over his body. Did his own flames burn him as well? If so, that didn't seem like a very viable spell to use in combat. His eyes moved down, to see what they were looking at, and that was when he saw Jiruna and Vani's headless corpses.
Kazuma didn't know if the adrenaline had finally worn off or if his stomach had finally had enough, but he shoved Megumin and Aqua out of the way before he promptly vomited to the side.
"K-Kazuma!?" Came the three worried voices of his party members.
Damn it.
The reality of the situation finally dawned on him. Jiruna and Vani were dead, and they weren't coming back. Even though he had just been talking with them a little while ago and played cards with Vani the day before.
This…wasn't the type of adventure he wanted, damn it.
~o~
It wasn't long before Bete and Selenia quietly made their way over. They were each carrying a headless body along with a bundle that was wrapped up in cloth resting in each body's arms. Kazuma opened his mouth to say something, but he found that he didn't know what to say.
Sorry? My condolences?
It seemed wrong to say it right now so instead, Kazuma put his hand inside his pouch and used [Drain Touch] to finish off the last of his magic stones. With that done, he climbed to his feet to stand up.
"...ready to go back?"
There were silent nods all around, though Darkness kicked Olivas' corpse so that it would roll over closer.
"Teleport."
~o~
Authors' Note:
Icura: RIP Vani, Jiruna, and our schedule. From here on out, no more deadlines! It'll be posted when it's done.
Special FX: I must admit, I have succumbed to the video game devil and have been playing too much csgo2 lately.