WARNING: There are some scenes that could be disturbing to view; please read at your discretion.
Kazuma was sat in the guild hall eating lunch with his partner, only this time she sat beside him rather than opposite the table. They hadn't really exchanged words after the 'previous events' and things just sort of came to how they were, but Aqua subconsciously kept close to her companion out of newfound habit, creating a strange air that the young man felt. He tried to decide whether it was a good or bad thing- but he didn't know how to class his relationship with her after what happened and was just making an effort not to create a weird situation, which definitely meant not mentioning what happened.
He looked down towards his plate and tried to think of a way to talk to her as the minutes dragged on, but internally sighed as nothing came to his head.
'I'm not gonna go and say anything to make things weird; I see that too often on TV and it kills me.'
He stole a glance towards her- she was calmly eating away without paying any mind to him, sat just to his right.
'Yeah… As I thought; best not to say anything… but damn… hehehe…' Kazuma's expression changed to a dumb-happy smile, 'I really pulled it off. I mean, I've never felt something like that before; it was amazing- and that Goddess!'
His eyes returned to her, the girl in question displaying elegance and beauty, and yet all the young man could think of was how much of a savage she had turned into.
'I swear I heard it...Benevolent Goddess… I have no idea where that came from but she turned into something else afterwards- It's actually kinda scary.'
His eyes lowered to her thighs, mostly exposed from her miniskirt, running through the memories of the stables in his head and feeling his little man getting excited.
Upon the realisation, he immediately looked right back at his meal and stuffed his face as fast as he could to get the thoughts out of his mind.
'Whoa, whoa, whoa! I gotta calm down before I lose myself in public.'
"Kazuma," Aqua's voice was direct and beckoning.
The young man felt himself tense up, then slowly met her gaze burning into the side of his head.
She gave a very unimpressed expression, "If you're gonna stare at my thighs, at least don't make it so obvious, idiot."
'Shit, she totally caught me… Wait! Is she saying I can look at them as much as I want!?'
He pretended to be unconcerned, "Ahem, Don't get over your head; I was just daydreaming."
Her face gained a spark of mischievousness, "hmmm, Is that why you're a bit lively there?"
The Goddess' light blue eyes drifted down to Kazuma's half-cooked package, leading him to make a strange high-pitched noise after mirroring her gaze, turning his body away from her and casually resting his right elbow on the table.
"Um!- Hahaha! Nah, this is just a natural thing," Kazuma had pretty visible embarrassment on his face.
"Morning wood?- it's already afternoon," the Goddess deadpanned, "Sigh, Well, it's not really a surprise considering I am a beautiful Goddess," she smiled confidently, "But it doesn't look good in public, dummy."
Kazuma swivelled back to see Aqua leering at him with a pout and reddened cheeks.
"S-Sorry," he scratched the back of his head, "Anyway, we really gotta start a new quest before we run out of money, and we have to pay that debt too."
She looked back to her food with concern, "We still haven't got any new party members yet."
"I know," he groaned, "It's hard because you only want advanced classes!"
Her gaze returned to the adventurer, "If we're going to defeat the Devil King, we need party members that will serve us in the long run; I'm not gonna waste time on any morons that will only last halfway!" the Goddess protested.
Kazuma couldn't really argue with that sound logic. He noticed she was making more informed decisions since they arrived at the new world.
"Besides," she crossed her arms, "Wasn't it you who blew that chance with the Crusader?"
The memory of the girl was enough to slightly piss him off, 'That woman would be more of a pain than an asset with that attitude.'
He sighed, "Alright, fine. We're not gonna find anyone here though, so lets search around."
The couple paid their bill and left for the exit.
Kazuma pulled the door for the entrance open, "We'll split up-"
PLOF
"Oof!"
An unknown robed figure clattered into the unsuspecting adventurer, both the victim and aggressor fell to the ground.
"Agh… What the hell…?" Kazuma slowly opened his eyes- and immediately recoiled in a slight amount of fear when he met the gaze of a pair of bright red irises that seemed to stare straight into his soul.
"Wha- What is- Who are you!?" the young man fumbled his words in a state of fright.
"Ah! Oh… O-Oh! S-Sorry!" a light, young female voice sounded, "I was just- Wait, are you an adventurer?"
"Uh, yeah-"
Kazuma was surprised when the stranger quickly grabbed his right hand with both of her own, cradling it close to her chest.
"Adventurer, please! I need your help; my friend- my best friend has been taken by a group of goblins and orcs! I've gone through the whole town asking everyone I could find, but nobody will help me!" the panting, panicked girl clenched her hands around Kazuma's.
"Wait- Wait a minute!" the overwhelmed young man tried to cool the situation, "Before you say any more, I don't even know who you are!"
The young girl still masked in appearance, other than her vibrant eyes, jolted in realisation, "Oh, s-sorry, I've been a bit on edge."
'You don't say.'
"I'll introduce myself:" she let Kazuma go and slowly removed the hood of her cloak, revealing the face of a young and very beautiful girl, "I am Yunyun, a member of the Crimson Magic Clan and I'm in great need of help!"
"Crimson Magic Clan?" Aqua spoke up after witnessing the whole event which, for some reason, got on her nerves a bit.
"Y-Yes," the cute girl moved to a kneeling position in front of Kazuma, who was cross-legged.
"Hm? What's that?" Kazuma was surprised to see Aqua aware of, well, anything in the fantasy world.
"I'm part of a clan of Mages in Belzerg. Following our graduation in becoming Wizards, me and my friend were released but were attacked by a group of monsters after just a week. She was captured, and I barely managed to escape," tears began to build in her eyes, "After that, I ran here and have been trying to find someone to help save her… Please…"
The girl began to sob into her hands, the sight of which made Kazuma a bit uncomfortable. He looked up to Aqua; she returned a sympathetic look, gesturing that the choice was his. He shuffled closer to the girl, reaching out and wiping her tears with his thumb, the act causing her return her gaze to him, with a sorrowful, yet very pretty face.
Kazuma retracted his hand, looking at the ground in thought, "Orcs and Goblins…?" the girl nodded in response, "sigh, Look, we have look after our own backs too, and it's just us."
Worry filled the face of the crimson eyed girl as her last hope looked like it was drifting away from her.
"I-I don't have anything to give right now, but if you help me I'll… I'll do anything for you!" she looked around desperately, patting down her robes and looking for something the offer.
'No wonder nobody helped her.'
She slowly returned a look to Kazuma, before becoming fidgety and growing a blush on her face.
'...Why's she acting weird?'
She shifted closer to him so they were only a few inches apart, "I can even… If you want to…" she took Kazuma's hand once again, but this time she slowly brought it closer to her low-cut blouse, approaching her chest.
His eyes expanded 'Wait, wait, wait! Is she actually- I'm actually gonna!-'
snatch
A third party grabbed Yunyun's hand and stopped the crimson girl's move before she could do any more.
"That won't be necessary," A cold, stern voice sounded from Kazuma's partner.
He looked to his left to see the Goddess giving him a dangerous stare, strong enough to eat into his soul.
The girl's eyes darted between both of them, "Oh, sorry, I didn't know that you two…"
When the adventurers realised what she was insinuating, Aqua jumped in to counter, "N-No we're not like that!"
The girl tilted her head in confusion as if to say: 'What's the problem then?'
Upon reading the expression of the girl, Aqua's cheeks puffed, and she looked like she was about to explode into a rage. Noticing the nuke about to go off, Kazuma abruptly stood up, cutting off the Goddess before the could she say anything.
"Alright!" he began sweating as his head scrambled for something to say while it felt like two laser beams were burning into the back of his head, "There is something you can give us."
"Y-You mean?" she blushed again, gesturing to herself.
"No, not that!"
The laser beams increased in intensity.
Kazuma cleared his throat, "What is your class?"
She stood up, "I'm an Arch Wizard."
"Arch Wizard?! Say, you're willing to do anything for our help right?"
The girl was a bit reluctant, but nodded.
"Then, will you join our party, even if it's just for a couple years, if we help you?"
The girl pondered at the quite gracious offer before nodding quickly with an honest expression.
The adventurer smiled, placing his fist on his heart, "Then you have my word. We'll get your friend out of that place safe and sound."
The relief that came to the young girl in that moment was overwhelming. After hours of running around aimlessly, being rejected in a new, scary environment with scary people after having to abandon one of her closest companions, she finally had something. A hope. Something that, for the first time in a long time, she could depend on.
In her moment of rapture, she began to tear up again, and dove into the young man, embracing him tightly.
'Whoa!'
Kazuma could feel the girl's soft and surprisingly large breasts against his upper body.
"Thank you! Thank you! You're a saviour!" the girl cried into his chest.
"H-Hey, we haven't even started yet-"
SSSSSSS~
The burning of Aqua's gaze was beginning to actually create smoke on the back of his head.
'Please let go of me for the safety of both our lives.'
With all the details Yunyun gave the duo, and from what Kazuma researched himself, they knew it would take around half a day to travel to the goblin camp, there were at least 80-100 goblins and ten or so orcs. It was actually rare for monsters to collude, but it wasn't unheard of. In this world, monsters are classed as 'civilised' or 'wild', among many other things, but in this case it meant that monsters like goblins could be capable of higher intelligence, speech, and could even negotiate truces with humans, but from Yunyun's description, it sounded like they were wild. This did bring advantages, however, as there would be less chance of ambushes, other allied monster groups attacks or any kind of advanced strategies that the party had to worry about.
Kazuma was surprised that an Arch Wizard would need much help from the two adventurers considering how powerful they were, but in Yunyun and her partner's case, they were fresh out of the village and other than the skill points they gained from studying and practice, they were basically level 0. She had learnt the intermediate magic Blade of Wind and Fireball which was actually was not the norm. Usually, leaving the village, any Mage would already know advanced magic, but an 'incident' happened and she stunted her growth by using her skill points early. Instead of having half-assed advanced magic, she just chose to continue improving her intermediate spells and learn the higher tier ones when she became an established adventurer. Her low stats would mean she wouldn't be able to clear out the entire camp on her own, and was why she needed help.
The trio would have to depart immediately for the sake of Yunyun's partner. Wild monsters usually killed people on contact, and would only capture and keep females to be their 'playthings'; the most disturbing stories came from those victims, and was something the crimson Mage was most anxious about.
The three of them set off down a main road on foot. No carriage rider would accept their request to the specified area, as it was just recently known to be dangerous and unreliable, likely due to the work of the aforementioned monsters.
The sun began to set as the adventurers were about halfway to the destination. Aqua was charging ahead at the front, with Kazuma a few steps behind and Yunyun straggling after them. Despite not travelling that far, the red-eyed girl's head drooped forward, her silver staff was dragging across the dirt road and her puffy face didn't look like it could take much more.
"Haah, Haaah," she wheezed.
Kazuma glanced behind and noticed the fatigued Arch Wizard, "Hey, are you okay?"
"Hah, Yeaahh… I'm… I'm okay!"
'Doesn't look like it,' he squinted his eyes in doubt.
The Mage stumbled, barely catching herself before she fell flat on her face. The exhausted girl bent over, holding her her knees weakly while breathless, "It's just... haah! I used a lot of mana when we were attacked; I don't have my usual stamina…"
"Hey!" a relatively distant voice of the Goddess called out, "What's the hold up!?"
He sighed, 'We really don't have time to stop and rest. If we delay even a second, we probably won't make it in time before the worst might happen to this girl's partner.'
He approached the tired girl, turning so that his back faced her, then crouched to one knee.
"Come on."
"Uh..? What's that?" the Wizard tilted her head in confusion.
"Eh? It's a piggyback- wait, you've never done this before?" Kazuma looked over his shoulder in surprise.
"O-Oh, well, I didn't spend too much time with… other people," She twiddled her thumbs embarrassingly.
"Well, there's a first for everyone," He looked back ahead, gesturing his hands for her to hurry up.
She walked over to him cautiously, gently rested her arms on his shoulders, then shuffled her thighs under his armpits. He quickly stood up-
"W-Whoa, careful!"
He couldn't help but chuckle, "Calm down, I've got you."
She clung strongly onto the young man's back in fear, squishing her sizeable breasts into his shoulder blades. He inhaled strongly in reaction, but tried mask his reaction in order to ease the panicked girl.
'Aw man, I really shouldn't be liking this. Now is not the time!'
He couldn't really help it though. Yunyun was a really attractive girl; from the dark brown mid-length twin-tails, the pink miniskirt, sexy blouse and even the golden hair clip- she was totally his type. At first, the red eyes thing kind of freaked him out, but after getting used to them, they were pretty entrancing; sometimes he'd be caught daydreaming into her irises by Aqua, usually earning him a slap on the back of the head. He wouldn't deny that the piggy-back was partly a mutual benefit scenario than a simple helping hand. The feeling of holding her soft, but toned lower thighs was an experience he wouldn't forget.
He saw the look on Aqua's face when she turned around impatiently and noticed what they were doing, before spinning back ahead with an angry huff.
…
Kazuma casually carried his new party member behind the steaming Goddess as it started become night. The road would've almost been pitch black if the party didn't bring some torches with them. Aqua held one at the front, despite not actually needing one, just so the couple behind her could see. The path began to become surrounded with trees as the three of them proceeded further into a forest area. They swished gently in the quiet breeze, and other than the occasional owl or cricket, the adventurers were walking in an ominously silent place.
The Crimson Mage felt a little embarrassed in her new position, "...Are you sure you're okay carrying me?"
"Heh, don't worry about it," Kazuma thought back to the start of his 'adventure' in this world, 'This is nothing compared to hauling all those rocks and mining tough minerals in the scorching sun for hours.'
"You're really light, you know."
A flattered blush appeared on her face, "Oh, th-thank you."
'Wow,' he smiled smugly to himself, 'This is what they mean when they say easy to please.'
Kazuma's calming presence relaxed the fidgety girl, who left her arms loosely slung over his shoulders. Unfortunately for the boy, it meant that she was no longer pressed up against him.
She looked down sincerely at her carrier, "I really can't thank you enough for this."
He leaned his head back to catch her in the corner of his eye, "Wait 'till after this is done to thank us."
"I-I know, but it's just… Nobody's ever gone this far for me; It-It feels almost unreal."
'Geez, what kinda upbringing did this girl have? Not that I can say anything; I've been a loner most of my life, too.'
"What's your friend's name?"
"Megumin."
'Strange name- actually both these girls have weird names.'
"Megumin's your friend right? If you were the one captured there, she'd probably be the one here, coming save you."
When the realisation hit her, the surprised expression on her face turned into a smile.
She leaned into his back, resting her chin on his shoulder, "You're different to the other people in that town… You really are a nice person."
"Oh, y-yeah, I hear that a lot," Kazuma never really received straight compliments from anyone, so he couldn't help but get a little sheepish.
Kazuma and Yunyun's little moment was halted when Aqua signalled with the back of her hand to hold still, before quickly stuffing out her torch. After gently letting Yunyun off his back, the brown-haired boy crept up to Aqua's position at the edge of the road and crouched beside her.
"Look there," she said quietly, pointing further down the road, "Lights."
Kazuma squinted at the distant figures as best he could, there was a broken carriage parked beside them with a wheel missing. The glow of green surrounding the lights could only make him think of-
"Goblins."
He held his chin, 'They're using the carriage as bait? Anyone who stops to try and help would get jumped. If they can't run away or aren't strong enough, they'll be killed on the spot or captured and brought to the camp.'
His eyebrows furrowed; he wasn't really a man of justice like some others might claim, but blatant evils did piss him off.
He quickly turned to the other two with an expression of seriousness never seen by the crimson Mage, but more than understood by the Archpriest, "We don't have time waste on too much planning or observation, but these are the facts as I understand them: Firstly, the small group around the carriage will alert the entire camp if we don't wipe them all out- No survivors. Second, the camp itself should mostly be comprised of mud, thatch and wood. In that case, I'm counting on your fire, Yunyun."
She nodded, listening intently.
He turned to the Goddess, "Aqua, I'll need help from your buffs to support Yunyun when she's casting spells, then stay close so we can protect you, and heal us if we get hurt."
She summoned her staff out of thin air, "No problem."
"Alright, we'll use the darkness to cover our approach to the carriage and camp. We stay low; we move quick; we keep quiet. Got it?"
With a solid nod from both party members, Kazuma peeked around the tree by the roadside to see if they were clear, then motioned for them to cross to the goblin's side of the road with him. The young man activated his lurk, then signalled to the Goddess, she cast both Increase Strength and Improve Speed.
Kazuma felt a strange, but very nice sensation across his entire body, and noticed his muscles partially bulge.
'Whoa… I dunno what I was expecting but this is something else.'
Unfortunately, the cast had a cooldown of an hour, longer than the effects lasted- around 30 minutes, meaning Yunyun or Aqua herself couldn't have the buff at the same time. The trio used the forest to mask their presence as they continued closer to the small group about 50 feet away.
There were lanterns hung on the carriage, with a few held by the dozen or so goblins that lit up their small circle. They were generally facing away from the slowly approaching adventurers, preoccupied with something. There was a small dirt path that split from the main road, dividing the trees, leading further into the forest, where Kazuma could only assume would be the location of the monsters' base.
The lights were bright, and he drew as near as he could while still being in the shadows, his Lurk allowing him to get closer than the girls. He was close enough to notice a strange wet grinding noise. Moving as quietly as he could, he steadily peered around the tree, finally getting a clear view of the dwarf-like humanoid creatures. He slightly recoiled from the repulsiveness, even though he had seen illustrations of their appearance, simply from how nasty they looked in person.
One of the creatures facing away from the party was holding something to its mouth with both arms, the wet grinding sounding more like chewing.
'The hell is it eating?'
As if on call, a noise from another goblin caused the back-facing one to turn to it's side, exposing a-
'Fuck! A leg!' Kazuma's expression turned into pure dread and distress upon further examination, 'It's so small… It's…'
Kazuma's mouth hung open, shaking in torment as the reality hit him. It wasn't just one. His eyes jolted from one monster to another as they crammed the flesh into the mouths, devouring them as if their lives depended on it. Small arms, legs, torsos, in pieces as if they had been ripped apart by brute strength alone.
A sight that was branded into the eyes of the adventurer. A gut-wrenching reminder of the kind of world they entered. The feelings of remorse, penitence, empathy, drifted away from his conscience; those got him nowhere. His fist clenched tight enough for blood to drip from it.
Gasp
The exclamation of the crimson Mage, after having witnessed the same sight as her partner, involuntarily came out, causing both her and Kazuma to immediately dive back into cover. She held her mouth with both hands, unable to stop the tears leaving her eyes; the boy just stayed silent, a face that could mimic that of a mind-sick murderer, slowly and silently drawing his dagger.
'This whole time I've just been fucking around...'
The closest goblin turned toward the sound, dropping the half-eaten leg to the ground.
'But now I've seen it...'
Grunting sickly, it slowly approached the hiding position of the three adventurers within the trees.
'How cruel this world is…'
It sniffed deeply, snorting its nose while twitching it's head to any stimuli around it.
'Impure, brutal, unfair…'
Aqua and Yunyun kept completely silent and still, waiting with bated breath for Kazuma's move.
'Become rich? Famous? None of that matters.'
The creature clenched its blood-covered hand on the tree Kazuma sat just behind.
'I'll cleanse this world; wipe out all scum from the earth- then kill the Devil King with these hands!'
He held his blade up close to his face, examining it with a cold expression, just as the Goblin poked its head around the tree, gawking at the presence of a tall man leering down at it with a glow of red in his eyes.
"Ghak!-"
Slice
"Ghh…" the goblin froze in place, the top half of its head slowly sliding off, splattering on the ground and revealing a perfectly half-severed brain.
Kazuma calmly stood up with an almost unrecognizable look on his face, the look which brought an unsettled feeling in the two girls as they watched scene in awe, and a slight amount of fear- just as the fiend's body collapsed with a wet squelch.
"Stay here," he quietly ordered the two girls.
Aqua couldn't do anything but watch as he slowly walked to the circle of monsters, completely exposed.
...
The young man casually strolled up to and stood right outside the group of small savages- so focused on their meals that the clamouring and gnashing of human meat hid his presence.
"Had enough yet?" a foreign voice rang out, immediately silencing the racket, and watching the entire collection of undersized brutes turn to face him.
He raised his dagger, dripping with the fresh blood of the goblin's brethren, "Didn't even notice your pal leave?"
...
'What is he doing!?' the worried Goddess restlessly stared in the direction of the carriage.
Aqua didn't want to go against Kazuma's wishes, but she'd never seen him look like that and was worried he wasn't in the right state of mind.
She turned to Yunyun, who looked back at her with a mix of shock and disgust.
Her eyes widened, 'What did they see?'
"(Yunyun, we have to help him; he could get hurt!)" she said in a hushed tone to the rigid Mage.
"Waaaaagh!" the throaty cry of a goblin sounded from the carriage site, along with scuffling, more shouts from the monsters, and metal weapons clanging. The crimson Mage snapped out of her her fears, quickly stood up and ran to the source of the isolated chaos with Aqua tailing right behind her.
SLASH
CLANG
CRACK
Gory noises, accompanied by more unfamiliar girthy shrieks echoed through the trees around the girls, brought scary thoughts to the girls, especially Aqua, having seen her partner in the worst of conditions.
SQUELCH
SHLACK
BASH
The continued gruesome sounds passed the adventurers as they closed in on the site.
"K-Kazuma! Are you okay!?" the crimson Mage screamed out, panting.
"YAAAGH-"
CRUNCH
A final yell of a goblin was cut short with a sudden and spine-chilling thud. The clamouring noises died down, and upon finally reaching the carriage, the girls completely stopped dead, surveying one of the most grisly sights they had ever laid eyes on.
The entire area was strewn with bodies- goblin bodies. It wasn't the dead that shocked them, but how it was done. The creatures had be mostly cleaved into pieces, like the workings of a butcher. Some gutted, some missing limbs, some with heads completely or partially severed. The blood was thicker- darker than any human's, as if it were wet mud. There were bodies that hadn't even died by a blade, but rather a blunt-force punch or a bludgeoning from a metal hilt.
Then there stood Kazuma. His handle was half inside the caved in skull of the last gremlin-like creature. The brains, body fluids, everything was dripping off of his hand and dagger as he slowly lifted his arm up. The whole body came with it, until the weight of the corpse unstuck cranium of the monster from the blunt handle, sploshing back onto the ground.
The young man himself was covered in the same dirty blood, from his boots, all through his clothes and even splattered across his face.
"Hey,"
The abrupt voice startled both of the party members, moving their gazes toward him.
He gave a cold look to the two girls, "Didn't I tell you to stay there?"
"I...We…" Aqua opened her mouth to talk, but barely got any words out as something caught her eye.
"Is… Is that-" she stared at the remains of the goblin's food, before immediately stepping back, turning and vomiting onto the ground. The girl beside her closed her eyes, holding her hands together as if she were praying.
Kazuma slowly walked over to the posh-looking carriage by the roadside, pausing after holding the doors, taking a deep breath before opening them-
SLAM
The loud noise caused Yunyun to jump for the hundredth time, "K-Kazuma? What did you..."
His face looked totally destroyed. He turned to her, shaking his head.
"You don't want to know..." he fell to one knee, covering his mouth, "Four…"
She gasped.
"Three of them… Kids."
...
The tears returned and continued flowing from her eyes.
"We must've been...What?… Half an hour late?" his eyes were fixated on a small, brutalised arm.
"We could've-"
"Don't blame yourself for this," the Goddess spoke up, wiping her mouth with a grim look, "None of this is your fault."
She looked away from the scene- the sight was too much for her, "Nobody could have predicted this happening… They were just so unfortunate…"
"Unfortunate..." Kazuma repeated to himself quietly.
'Unfortunate huh...? What about all those travellers that knew about the dangerous road? The governors were surely tipped off, but didn't warn anyone because-' his eyes widened in realisation, and a twitching anger, 'Cause closing the trade route would lower profitability…. Is that it? Is that worth the lives of those people...? I'm wrong again, it's not just these things that are the scum of this world, it's us. We're corrupt from top to bottom.'
He clenched his eyes shut, leaning his head back, trying to hold back the unbidden tears as best he could.
He took a deep breath, opened his eyes, then faced forward with an unemotional appearance, "Come on, let's go."
Both girls looked at him abruptly.
Yunyun glanced over the murder site, "But what about-"
"What about what?" he picked up a couple makeshift axes- weapons from the late goblins, almost ignoring the Arch Wizard, "They're gone."
Kazuma's comment made her flare up in anger, grabbing his back, spinning him around to face her, "Wh-What's with you? How can we leave this place like this-"
"Think about Megumin!" he pulled her arms off his dirty shirt, "We don't have time to deal with this now; have you forgotten your closest friend?"
Her manner changed from anger to realisation, passively backing off from the young man
"Come on," he turned, heading down the path.
The narrow dirt path strayed deep into the forest. Tough, dark boreal trees looked like they reached miles in every direction, until a small clearing appeared in the distance; tall wooden walls laid in a large area.
Kazuma crept closer to the fortress, spotting a few guards stationed above a drawbridge-styled wooden gate, a deep ditch dug around the entire perimeter, with patrols of spotters pacing across the front battlements.
'And these are the 'wild' ones huh?'
He turned to the girls, "I'm gonna spy the layout, then we'll follow the plan after I find your friend."
Aqua tilted her head in confusion, "How are you going to-"
He held up the hatchet sized 'axes' he stole from the scout party, "I'll climb."
Kazuma approached the left side of the fort, digging an axe firmly into the wood, reached out and stabbed the other in, and continued until he was almost at the top. He slowly peeked in between the wooden spines, taking in the entire view of the camp. The atmosphere was brownish grey, colourless and smelly. Just like he read, there were circular huts made of the aforementioned wood and mud, with thatched roofs, pathways to different buildings, and what looked like a main hall in the centre of the entire village. The armed goblins looked similar in equipment to the scouting party: Rough-looking short swords, axes, and pikes, but some also wearing light chain mail, as if there weren't enough for all of them.
About half of the goblins visible outside were soldiers, meaning there were probably 50 of them in total. The one thing that irked the adventurer was that he couldn't see a single orc, except one. The large, pig-headed brute stood outside the main hall like a bouncer, a large mace slotted into its belt. It didn't seem to wear any metal, but had thick leather clothing. Most importantly, however, was the petite girl strung just twenty or so feet from the main hall, in the middle of the encampment.
The adventurer couldn't see too well, but her clothes looked like they were mostly shredded, she was covered in dirt, and at random times, he saw the goblins toss stones and other hard objects at the girl in disgust. Despite that, not a sound came from her. Since the majority of noise came from inside the main central hall, he designated it the 'target', before dropping down and recouping with his party members.
"Okay, she's there."
Yunyun's expression lit up, "How is she?"
"She's, well, she's alive," he nodded at her.
The relief that came over the crimson Mage's heart was felt across all three adventurers.
"But she's not looking good; we gotta get her out now."
"Okay," Aqua held her staff ready, "What do we do?"
He looked at the camp for a second before returning to his comrades, "I'll creep in again, open the gate from the inside, then you cast your fireball at the big building at the center," he nodded towards the crimson Mage, then turned to the Goddess, "Aqua, stick behind us and we'll cover you."
She gave a reassuring smile, "I'll heal you guys if you get hurt."
The dark-haired girl still looked concerned, "How are you going to sneak past all those guards?"
"I don't really have to sneak past them," he looked at the patrolling goblins walking above the gate, "By the time they spot me, I should be able to get you guys in, and get the jump on the ones in the big hut."
He turned to the girls, "As soon as you see me up there," he pointed towards the battlements, "Run towards the gate; I'll open it."
Kazuma activated his lurk, climbing up the same length of wooden walls, reaching the peak, and peering around-
"Geh?" a confused, almost dumbstruck goblin stared at Kazuma just a few inches from his face.
'Oh sh-'
Crunch
The adventurer chopped one of the hatchets straight down onto the monster's head at lightning speed, leaving the monster dead where it stood. Kazuma swiftly jumped over the wall, landed on the battlements, then caught the armoured fiend before it hit the ground.
He gently laid it on the wooden floor, 'Shit, talk about my luck… Anyway, I don't have time to complain.'
There were another five or so goblins down the path towards the gate. The lanterns were numerous in the area, but spaced out enough for Kazuma to hide in the shadows in between. He quickly approached each goblin silently, slicing their necks cleanly through, catching their body and leaving them in the dark spots. After ploughing his dagger into the trachea of the last victim up above the gate, he stood nearby one of the lights and waved his arms dramatically outside the fort.
'That should get their attention.'
"Geh? Weh geh?"
Kazuma turned to see one of the unarmed goblins approaching the gate from the ground level, looking up at the numerous 'sleeping' soldiers, and the strange figure above him. That figure turned to face him, and before it could get a better look, the stranger jumped straight down onto him.
"H- Heeeh!?"
Stab
The goblin made a loud squeal before Kazuma could cut him off, pulling the fully inserted dagger out of the top of its head.
"Wah? Neh weh!"
The last few guards stationed near the gate at ground level shouted towards the adventurer. He turned, and without any warning, began sprinting towards them at full pace. They babbled and chattered in fear, fumbling to get their weapons out. Before the guard by the wheel controlling the gate could prepare his pike, a blade slashed across his face, sending him sprawling onto the ground, with his screams echoing through the whole village.
Kazuma heard many sounds of reaction from the entire camp, and knew there wasn't too much time left. The other two unprotected guards charged at him, swinging so wildly and out of control that they were cutting each other in the process. Kazuma swiftly sidestepped both of them, flanking the monsters on the right, before whipping his blade down and decapitating one of the monsters, the momentum enough to still drive deeply into the other's shoulder and chest. It fell to the ground in a heap of agony, while the adventurer snatched the short sword out of its hand.
He approached the now one-eyed goblin by the drawbridge that felt victim to his initial assault, barely recovering from the shock, then delivered a powerful kick to its head, sending the beast flying into the closed bridge, knocking it out cold. He stole the pike from the unconscious body, snapped it in two so that it was no longer than his forearm, then approached the drawbridge wheel. Turning the wheel until the bridge opened would take minutes; minutes that Kazuma didn't have. He jammed the short sword and pike into one of the links of the rusty steel chains that stretched towards the tip of the bridge, and with his heightened strength, began applying leverage into it.
The chain loop slowly began bending, opening wider and wider.
The sounds of movement, nonsensical blathering and chainmail increased further behind the young man.
"Come on…. Come on…! Fuck!"
Clack!
THUD
The chain snapped out of Kazuma's hands and the bridge immediately fell, creating a deafening clunk that silenced the entire camp; not a sound was heard from any of the monsters. He saw his party members standing right outside, waiting just as planned.
Despite not being alone any more, the gravity of the intrusion was fully felt by the adventurer when he turned to see the eyes of every being in the village, including the other crimson Mage, focusing on him. He had become sort of used to the adrenaline of his life being on the line, but this outnumbering was more than daunting.
Breaking the silence, Yunyun stepped forward, pointed her silver staff up confidently, then took a deep breath before casting: "Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!"
Three separate bolts of bright flame illuminated the entire village in an orange hue as they sailed through the air, arching over the beaten, but smiling girl.
FFFFFWOOOOSH
The thatched roof lit up the entire village in a bright, warm, and deadly fire. The flames spread like oil, covering the entire roof in seconds. The final fireball managed to land directly into the open doorway, setting the only exit alight. The clamouring, yelling and panicked inhabitants could be heard across the entire camp. The screams felt so desperate that, despite witnessing one of the worst things he'd ever seen due to the same creatures, the boy couldn't help but feel a shiver up his spine.
He shook his head, 'Snap out of it! I need to focus!'
Kazuma's priority was the girl. She was tied up at the wrists against two wooden poles that forced her to be in a standing up position, in spite of her weakness having her basically hanging by her wrists, with no energy for her limp feet to give her footing.
'The goblins might go for her before think about getting to us; we need to beat them to it.'
"Get to her! Now!" Kazuma screamed at the girls as he ran to the middle of the village.
Soldiers started appearing from inside the huts, in between the huts and everywhere else behind the main hall. They ran in a disordered manor, but with so many of them, it would be a dangerous fight. The nearby villager goblins, crazed in fear and unarmed, jumped at Kazuma, who quickly sliced them up before shoving past and closing in on the girl.
Grunt!
The Orc who stood by the large hut exhaled loudly, as it slowly walked towards Yunyun's friend within the masses. Its left arm was burnt from the flames, and the anger in its creased face was frightening.
'Shit… I don't even wanna know what it'll do it if it gets to her. I need to make it first!'
The gremlin-like monsters were closer to her, but Kazuma was running much faster with his speed buff. He'd maybe just about make it to her, but the random citizens constantly jumped in his way, delaying him even a second to avoid or kill them.
"Blade of Wind!" a voice called out behind Kazuma, then soon after a thin streak of air soared by the adventurer, cutting a large amount of goblins ahead of him in half.
He turned to see the crimson Mage holding her arm out a distance away, right next to Aqua.
"Blade of Wind!" another bolted past, ripping through the last group in the way of Kazuma, allowing him to get his head down and sprint at full pace.
The girl was finally coming just within twenty feet, fifteen, ten!
The adventurer could see the petite crimson Mage properly, a quite dead, but hopeful look displayed on her face as he came closer. There was also a growing stench. The screams could still be heard from inside the main building, but all that exited were monsters burning alive, and the aroma of searing flesh.
He looked past her; the approaching small troop of monsters sounded alarms in his enemy detection skill, allowing him no more than ten seconds before they would reach her.
"Hey, please get me out of these before I get cut to pieces," she said in a calm, yet scared tone, "Also, it's stinks."
"I'm trying!"
He finally reached the girl, colliding with one of the wooden poles in order to stop his momentum. He immediately whipped out his blade and chopped the ropes holding her wrists.
"Agh!" she fell, almost collapsing onto the ground, if it weren't for the boy catching her. He put away his dagger and held her up bridal style.
He began to back off from the onslaught of enemies-
"H-Hey! Don't forget my robe and hat!"
"Huh?" he looked down at the girl reaching out towards the damaged clothes by the wooden poles, "Now's not the time to prioritise that! We can come back to it when we're safe!"
'The hell is this girl thinking?'
He looked up, seeing the wave of goblins running towards him, shouting and jeering in their strange language.
'Shit… I can't get away in time while holding her.'
He looked back to his party members still approaching, "Hey guys! Get ready to catch her!"
They both stopped in unison, "What?"
Kazuma crouched, before spinning as if he were doing a hammer throw.
woosh, woosh, Woosh! WOOSH!
"What are you- D-Don't tell me you're gonna!-"
THROW
The dark-haired girl soared through the air, headed straight for her partner.
"AAAAAAHHH!"
Catch!
Megumin slowly opened her strained eyes, seeing a copy of her red irises looking back at her, on a very relieved girl.
Yunyun couldn't stop the tears building up in her eyes, "It's… sniff* good to see you again!"
The small girl smirked cockily, "Heh, I knew you'd show up."
Yunyun sighed, laying her down gently, "I need to help Kazuma. Aqua, can you watch over her?"
The Goddess stood beside the small girl, "Yes, yes- that's fine- Quickly, go!"
…
The fifty or so goblins, armoured, half-armoured, or completely bare, fashioning random weapons: tiny swords, spears, knives, even some with nothing but their bare hands, all headed towards one man.
He sighed, cracking his neck and taking his green mantle off, leaving it beside him.
'No point in falling back any more. If I let them get closer to Aqua and that girl, it's just gonna put them at risk. Now it's time I stand my ground.'
He pulled his dagger out, throwing the sheath on the ground, ready to fight.
He took a deep breath, "You wanna fight? COME ON THEN!"
CLANG
BASH
CRACK
The adventurer was in an all-out brawl with the tiny monsters. They quickly surrounded him, but his superior speed, strength, and reach had him landing all the attacks. The armour was a pain though, leading to many slashes deflecting off the metal. The outnumbering did bring him at a disadvantage, as he always had an enemy in his blind spot. He was relying on his enemy detection to ping him when he was about to get attacked from the rear so that he could dodge, but it didn't always work in time.
A wild swing of a small axe embedded itself in Kazuma's leg.
"Aghk!"he elbowed the little bastard to the ground-
SQUELCH
-stepping on its head with a powerful stomp.
The small brutes swung wildly and out of control to the point it was almost impossible to dodge. The adventurer found out it was better to fight the monsters like a crazed piece of shit himself, and abandoned his defence, grounding his pose, and loading everything into his attacks.
SLAASHH!
His blade pierced through the shoddy chest plate of one of the tiny swordsmen, subsequently decapitating another in a single swing.
THUD
For that, he took a club to his side from another goblin, for which he turned around, jabbing his dagger through its heart.
HACK
A hatchet was jammed into his calf. He tensed the muscle to keep it stuck, as the goblin tried to pull it out, only for Kazuma to rip it out himself, and-
CLEAVE
axed the rascal deep into its temple, using the momentum to throw it into another enemy. He then held the weapon up, tossing it further down the crowd, hearing the wet crunch of a poor little bastard who took it to their cranium.
The cycle continued; take a hit, give a hit; take a hit, give a hit. For every beating the boy took, he returned with at least one dead goblin, or two.
Yunyun finally reached the scene, gasping at the state of her partner. Kazuma was completely covered in goblin blood, and his own as well. His shirt was shredded to the point where he was shirtless, showing a bruised, bleeding and cut up body. He took sharp, deep breaths before swinging his tired arms at the enemies. The bodies of half the small battalion piled in the dampened dirt around him, like a small hill the goblins had to clamber over.
"Kazuma, fall back!"
The Wizard's words weren't getting to him- every fibre of the warrior's conscience was concentrated in the brutal fight.
She positioned herself, pointing her silver staff at the group of attackers, "Blade of wind; Blade of wind!"
Two gusts of razor-sharp air tore through a dozen goblins in total; the Mage was careful not to hurt her comrade, though he didn't even notice the help- stuck in a constant brawl.
"Haaah!" She fell to one knee, gasping.
'My mana is… It's almost… I might pass out,' she panted, looking up at Kazuma brutalising the goblins and himself in expense.
She looked back to Aqua, still guarding the unconscious Megumin, 'I could call her over, but she can't heal him if he's surrounded.'
She clenched her fists, dropping her staff, then pulling a short sword from her waist.
"Kazuma! Don't die on us!" she ran towards the bloody battle.
…
'I can't lose…' the adventurer stumbled backwards, looking around at the puddles formed from the monster's insides, 'I have to kill these things… For the sake of those victims, and any more than could've been… I have to wipe them all out!'
He picked up a short sword with his left hand so that he was dual-wielding, then clashed them together to create sparks, "COME AND KILL ME!"
The barbaric creatures screeched back in unrelenting bloodthirst, jumping at him simultaneously. He tried to deflect their attacks, but it was impossible to defend all sides; a couple goblins stabbed his leg and torso with their small pikes before he could react.
He pulled one out, slowly reeling in the weapon, including the aggressor, before the little demon was right in front of him. He ripped it out of its hands, then drove it into its body, pushing so far that the entire thing was impaled, sliding down to the end where he held the spear. With pure willpower and strength, he turned and pierced a second with the same spear endowed with their own relatives blood. Ripping the other pike out of his leg, he fell to one knee, bleeding as he clenched his hand around the handle, holding it above his head, then throwing it like a javelin, puncturing the lung of one of the last few monsters.
"Heaah…. Haahh…" the young man's consciousness was drifting, and he could barely get himself to stand again. The last few enemies still looked ready to fight, likely due to his condition, but were just the stragglers; they had no armour and only weapons that they could find of their fallen kin, and yet, were the greatest danger to the weakened adventurer. He kept losing blood, and with that his energy and strength drained.
The last couple goblins surrounded him, holding their makeshift metal blades ready. Kazuma slowly lifted his knife towards them, ready for the incoming attack.
"Heh Heh! Wagana!-"
SHLACK
…
A blade protruded from the cocky gremlin's chest, then slowly exited before it collapsed on the wet mud. Yunyun stood above the monsters with her strong, blood-red eyes, and silently cut up the remaining five or so completely flanked goblins.
"W-Weh! Neh!" the last held its hands up in surrender, surprising the Mage. She slowly lowered her blade, inciting relief for the little monster, but instead she brutally cut across its abdomen, instead. Guts fell out of its belly; it held its arm up as it gargled on itself, before it finally stopped twitching.
She exhaled, wiping the blood of her cheek, before turning to her partner.
"Kazuma!- Gasp! KAZUMA! BEHIND YOU!"
"Uh?" he slowly got up, seeing the crimson Mage running toward him, while blurting out echoey words.
He smiled, "Yunyun…"
Her face was in turmoil, continuing to shout at him, "...AZUMA... BEH...ND!"
He leaned his head, 'Why's she so panicked? We won...'
PING PING PING
'Behin-'
WHAM
The enemy detection skill screamed into Kazuma's ears; the adrenaline jetted through his veins, but he couldn't react in time to the large, metal mace that slammed into him, sending him reeling twenty feet away.
"KAZUMA!" both the Archpriest and the Crimson Mage screamed.
"Gahk!" he vomited a stream of blood.
Voices in his head kept calling his name, but his blurred vision further fell into darkness, until he passed out.
Aqua ran over to the unconscious boy, seeing his completely shattered ribcage, "Oh my God- Heal, Heal, Heal!"
The large pig-like monster stared at the dark-haired girl, grunting violently with the look of death in its eyes.
She looked back at her teammates; knocked out, injured and healing. She was the only one who could fight left. 'What do I… It's gonna kill me… I should run…'
The crimson Mage faced the others to escape, but stopped.
…
'No, I can't,' she turned back to the ogre-like creature, 'I'm not going to run this time. For everybody, I need to beat it right here, right now!'
She held her blade up towards the beast, "I will take you myself!"
"Grrrah!" it snorted in rage.
"Heal, Heal, Heal!" The Goddess kept repeating the spell.
The cuts and bruises were starting to fade, but the adventurer was still out cold.
'What's happening…? Normally he would be awake by now, but his blood isn't… His blood!'
She looked over to the area where Kazuma fought the goblins, before grabbing him under his shoulders and dragging him across the camp.
"Damn, when did you get so heavy!?" she fell back, panting.
She grabbed the unconscious adventurer, throwing him into the bloody pit, then continued her casting, "Heal, Heal, Heal!'
The muddy puddles started to shift strangely. Pure red blood streams filtered out of the thick, nasty remains, and slowly entered through Kazuma's cuts before they started closing up. His feet began twitching in discomfort as his ribcage pieced itself back together, and his battered organs were replenished.
He coughed a couple times, before slowly opening his eyes, and noticing a very familiar face.
The crazed, bloodthirsty monster swung its deadly mace with incredible power, barely being dodged by the Crimson Mage. She trained hard to be capable both in close combat and at range, but never mastered the art. She could only land one insignificant cut for every few life-ending attacks she'd narrowly dodge.
'This isn't good; at this rate-'
"GRRRAH!"
STOMP
The large brute stamped the ground with incredible force, unbalancing the surprised Mage, before it swung the mace towards her left side. She held her short sword to guard the attack, but-
BAM
"Agggh!"
-the force of the strike slammed with too much power; she flew a few feet, landing on her chest.
"AAhg!" A bolt of pain shot up her spine as she tried to get up.
A shadow of a large figure spread over her and her surroundings; the orc paused, leaning over her back, grunting deviously.
"Kazuma! Aqua! Help!" the young girl's heart was rapidly beating; she couldn't see or hear her party members, and the primal fear was burning through her body.
The wild monster paused, "Grah… GRAH!"
thump
It dropped its weapon, before coming just inches away from the girl. It crouched down behind her.
'What is it…?'
"Huh….Huh?"
GRAB
"Mmmmgh!" the crimson Mage's injured back was pressed down into the ground by the beast, while it grabbed her thigh with the other.
"What!? What is!? What are you!-"
Its hand moved up, grabbing her pink skirt before yanking it down her legs.
"No! NOOO! KAZUMA! AQUA! PLEASE!" she struggled against the giant. The fear of death was replaced by the prospect of something worse.
"Grrreeeh!" the monster tried to handle the frantic kicking of the girl, while pulling her closer to it by her foot.
Tears began rolling down her eyes, "KAZUMA! KAZUMAAAAA!"
The petrified girl heard the sounds of the beast messing with it's leather straps; well aware of if its intentions. The fear she felt- it was something worse than death- it was beyond anything she could've imagined.
The beast grunted impudently, gripping her panties and ripping them off as if they didn't exist.
"NOOO! SOMEONE! PLEAAAASE!" her once pure, innocent voice was now a broken screech, bellowing out into the quiet and dead camp with only the sound of burning flames around her.
Both her thighs were gripped painfully tight- the only direction she moved was back- back in the direction of the monster, closer, closer, closer.
Her eyes were blank in shock, "N...N-No...No…!"
She'd lost her voice; couldn't even scream for help.
She was pulled closer….Closer….Closer…. She felt it- It was there- It was about to-
"Hey," a cold masculine voice sounded.
SLICE
"GRAAAAAAAAAAGH!" a shriek of agony that rivalled the Mage's resonated across the entire village. She couldn't see anything behind her, but the nasty thing was gone from between her legs. A pair of hands- much different, much gentler and caring- dragged her a few feet away.
"Rest easy Yunyun, you're safe," the same voice continued, "I'm sorry; Just close your eyes, I'll take care of things."
The girl was in such relief, such lingering fear, that she all she wanted to do was close her eyes and be safe. She continued hearing sounds- this time a much more unsympathetic tone from the same voice.
"You wanna get off, huh? How's the worked out of you- You fucking pig-"
SLASH!
"GAAAAAAGGHRAH!"
A wet splattering was heard from the beast; every time it screamed out, it was like another ton of weight lifted from the Arch Wizard's shoulders, but the terror remained.
She heard steps from the adventurer disappearing in the direction of the burning hall, which created a level of anxiety in her heart, even knowing that she should've been safe. Once she heard him return, the presence of safety returned to her stiff body.
"Here, I got something for ya," the gentle sound of a flame was heard by the young girl, "If you liked what I did there, you'll love this."
STFFFF- BWOOOSH
"HHAAAAAGREREAAAH!"
A sizzling sounded, followed by an engulfment of flames that consumed the straggling, squealing creature.
The footsteps then approached Yunyun; her eyes still shut tight- even knowing that she was safe. For some reason, her heart continued to beat faster as the presence didn't say a word to her for the lingering seconds it stayed.
"Heal," The pain in the young girl's spine almost immediately ceased, with just a tiny tingle left.
"I'm sorry…"
The voice sounded miserable- depressed, even. The girl opened her eyes slowly, and met the gaze of Kazuma. He sat down quietly beside her, sighing, dropping his blood-stained dagger.
"I let everything get to my head, and when you needed me… I..." he looked down in silence.
She slowly got onto her knees, lifting the adventurer's chin so he was looking straight in her eyes.
His hands were sweating in guilt; he could barely get himself to keep eye-contact with her.
She shuffled closer to him, then closer, all while both of them continued to gaze at each other.
Internally, he was starting to lose his mind; he had no idea what she was thinking, and didn't know if the girl was inconsolable, or burning with rage, or-
hug
"Huh?" he froze up at the girl's embrace, 'Or…. She just needs some comfort.'
"Thank...Thank you… Thank you…!" tears, not of sadness, but of solace fell down her cheeks onto the boy's bare chest.
He slowly returned the gesture and stroked her hair gently, which just made her cling onto him harder.
"I've never been so scared. I've never been so scared, Kashumaaahahaha!" she bawled.
"I know, I know, it's over now. I promise. This is over."
...
"Itz over?"
"It's over."
A good few minutes of peace passed before someone approached the couple.
"Wow, Yunyun, you've bagged yourself a boyfriend now, huh?"
The girl in question let go of Kazuma with a slightly embarrassed look, before smiling at her childhood friend.
"No, silly," she stood up, wiping her face and embracing her friend dearly, "God, I was so scared of what could've happened to you."
"Hehe", Megumin chuckled smugly, "Those masochistic bastards wanted me to scream for my life, but no matter how many stones they threw, I didn't make a sound."
"Oh… that's good… I guess?" Yunyun pulled back, looking at the condition of her friend, "You're okay now, right? When did you wake up?"
"In time to see your boyfriend light the orc on fire."
"He's not!- sigh…"
"The blue-haired chick's an amazing healer, though."
"My name's Aqua!" the person in question pouted, drawing the attention of the reunited Wizards, "And a 'thank you' could suffice, you know."
Megumin separated herself from her friend, turning to the Goddess, before completing a dramatic bow, "Thank you very much, may the blessing of Eris-"
"Alright, that's enough," the ticked off Archpriest couldn't bear to hear any more.
"Oh, by the way," Megumin turned to her best friend, "You might wanna cover yourself up."
"Huh?" the crimson Mage looked down, noticing she was completely bare from waist down, with exception to her boots and socks.
Her face reddened fully, quickly glancing at the male adventurer, who was facing away, whistling innocently.
"Ahem, well, you guys looked like you were having a moment so… Didn't wanna say anything…"
"Ah… Aaah…!" she held her face in embarrassment.
Kazuma scouted out the entire village, finishing off any remaining stragglers and searching for anything of value. He investigated the burnt up town hall, where at least thirty goblins died, and seven orcs. If those monsters had made it outside, the raid could have easily turned against the adventurers.
He picked up and wore his green mantle again, which felt really weird on his bare chest.
"…I look like one of those people who enjoy getting whipped or something," He sighed, walking back to the entrance where the rest of the girls were.
"Alright guys, we're done here. Let's go-"
Ping
"Huh?"
…
PingPingPingPingPingPingPingPingPingPingPingPingPingPing-
Aqua looked over to the open-eyed frozen adventurer, "Kazuma, what's wrong?"
She followed his gaze, looking towards the open gates.
A distant sound of movement rumbled from the same direction. The entire party slowly turned to the source, where a giant troop of fully-armoured soldiers appeared.
From between the ranks, a tall, well-endowed man stepped out.
"Hmm? Kazuma…?"
…
"Joshua..."
The man's expression of confusion twisted into a simple smile, "Well, well, I didn't expect to see you here."
Aqua sighed in relief from the appearance of the couple's business partner, but as she looked to Kazuma, his face was anything but relieved.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Hey now, is that how you greet a friend?"
"Don't play stupid. Those aren't men; you're working with monsters!" he slowly pulled out his dagger, "I know there aren't any alliances with monsters in this entire region of Belzerg, but you're here with Goblins and Orcs. That only means one thing," he pointed to the smartly dressed man, "You're working for the Devil King!"
Kazuma's party reacted, holding their weapons out to the small army of much scarier looking enemies.
Joshua raised his eyebrows, before chuckling to himself, "Satou Kazuma-san. You really are something special, but knowing that isn't gonna save you."
'Shit… Even if we tried to fight, Yunyun and Megumin are exhausted; they wouldn't be able to cast more than a couple spells, and then that just leaves me to fight this whole army.'
The strength and speed buffs had worn off the adventurer by now, and weren't available to be reapplied. He simply couldn't find a way out- well, fighting, that is.
"Psst. On my mark, we run to the back of the fort and break through the walls."
Aqua hesitated, "How are we-"
"Yunyun's fireball will burn it, then we'll have to just ram it 'till it gives."
She sighed, "Sounds like a Kazuma kind of plan."
"Hey, hey," Joshua called out from the entrance, "What are you bickering to each other about? Don't tell me you're gonna try and escape me?"
"Couldn't even think of it," Kazuma shrugged his shoulders, while slowly changing the grip of his dagger from the handle to the blade.
"Anyways, about our debt, I think it's best I just return it to you!"
Kazuma threw the spinning dagger straight towards the tall man as the whole party took off to the other side of the camp, but as it was about to impact him, a soldier jumped in the way, deflecting the blade with its armour.
The smile on Joshua's face deformed into a creepier one, "Yes… Keep running; I love me a challenge."
He calmly pointed towards the group of adventurers, and the ranks behind him shifted almost immediately, a row of crossbowmen appeared right beside him, aiming their weapons forward.
"Keep them alive."
Right after the words were said, the small unit all fitted specific darts onto the weapons.
"Fire."
…
Kazuma looked behind him, noticing no pursuers of any kind, 'What? They're letting us get away?'
'No, he wouldn't do that… Are those…!?'
"Everyone, get down!-"
FFFT, FFFT, FFFT-
"Agh!"
Kazuma fell straight onto the ground, with a sharp, numbing pain on the back of his calf. The sounds of his whole party collapsing on the dirt brought a torrent of fear into his heart. He spun onto his back, looking at his teammates, all immobile, with darts stuck into them.
'From this far away!?'
He pulled it out of his leg, but couldn't get himself to stand up again.
'Shit… I'm getting dizzy…'
He could just about see the rest of the girls passed out around him as he felt his muscles relaxing, and the surroundings becoming more echoey, like the noise of steps that approached him slowy.
"Tut, tut, tut. Very naive, Kazuma." a sly, nasty voice rang in the adventurer's head.
The figure of a blurry Joshua appeared above him.
"You...You….!" Kazuma's voice slurred.
"I was just on my way here to kill all these creatures, but you did it for me. How nice."
Kazuma's eyes widened.
"Yes, that's right. I'll have plenty more uses for you," he chuckled, as Kazuma's vision darkened, quickly fading to black