Chapter 68: CH 67

Chapter 67 – Kuzuhara’s Power

According to the information from Sol, Ryudou’s forces had split into several units, entering into the labyrinthine buildings. Ryudou had probably had his subordinates bring it, but he was sitting on a black chair, treating himself to a bit of a tea party.

It seemed he had no intention to move until his subordinates first found the Core Monster. He was literally just throwing people at the problem. It was a strategy that purely relied on overwhelming numbers.

In comparison, we were clearly short on people. Each of his units had around 50 people. And he had five of such units. There were five labyrinthine buildings in total, so his plan was to investigate all of them with his forces.

In addition, all of them had weapons of some sort. There were even some among them carrying guns. Ryudou had most likely taught them how to deal with monsters. As soon as they caught sight of a monster, they would have their gunners immediately stand at the front and fire. If the monster died, then everything was okay.

But if that didn’t work, they would first aim for their feet to take away their mobility, then go in with large weapons (like axes or hammers) and smash their monsters’ heads in. If there was a monster that they couldn’t beat, they would have several people bait it away to a further location while the remaining people continued clearing the dungeon.

Seeing the flow of their movements, it was easy to tell that they had done their share of training. Hearing such information from Sol, I found myself surprised by their skill.

I thought he would approach it by throwing a bunch of resources at it while having his subordinates take the best possible actions in the moment. Even though they were weak individually, they would certainly be able to fight somehow.

Ryudou… from framing Kuzuhara for the incident, to the strategy he took towards the dungeon attack, it seemed that he wasn’t just an idiot aiming for power. At the very least, he was more troublesome than someone like Ohsaka.

“….Sol, have you started eliminating them yet?” (Komon)

“No, I was planning to start now.” (Sol)

“Hold off on that for a bit.” (Komon)

“…? Hold off?” (Sol)

“Yeah. We might as well use them to our advantage. Even after they find the Core Monster, it shouldn’t be an opponent they’ll be able to defeat quickly. Once they find it, they’ll surely go tell Ryudou immediately. Take action at that time.” (Komon)

“In other words, we’ll trap them at the place where the Core Monster is, right?” (Sol)

“But then he’ll definitely come after us, no? We might end up clearing it before him otherwise.” (Kuzuhara)

“Don’t worry. I’m planning to have Sol take action at that time. If it gets dangerous, it’ll be no problem for Sol to hold Ryudou in place.” (Komon)

“Ah, I see… You’re pretty black-hearted, aren’t you?” (Kuzuhara)

“This is just the obvious strategy to take. Aren’t you a little too honest for someone who bears the word ‘evil’ on his back?” (Komon)

“Ugh… shut up!” (Kuzuhara)

While his appearance gave off a scary image, his words and actions didn’t come close to being evil at all. In the first place, he probably didn’t even have such a disposition.

As Chake had said, him bearing the word ‘evil’ on his back was a result of the wrong he had committed in the past―letting his lover die and causing his best friend to change completely. After that, he might have held himself in contempt as someone who was neither a good person, nor someone who ever deserved to be rewarded.

“Then what should we do now?” (Kuzuhara)

“….Just wait here on standby.” (Komon)

“….That’s so boring though.” (Kuzuhara)

“Bear with it. Or would you rather meaninglessly waste your stamina?” (Komon)

“….Fine, I get it.” (Kuzuhara)

“It’s fine. But even though we’ll just be waiting on standby―” (Komon)

I shifted my gaze, having sensed two D-Rank monsters called lamias heading in our direction.

“―There will still be guys like this coming for us. Shiki.” (Komon)

His movements were like the embodiment of swiftness. In a flash, he dashed past the lamias. By the time he appeared behind them, their bodies had already been sliced in two.

“A-Amazing…!” (Kuzuhara)

“….I know, right? But Saito-san, Komon, who is accompanied by monsters like this, is even stronger…” (Chake)

Kuzuhara and Chake looked at me and Shiki with expressions of amazement.

“Unfortunately, I’m not that strong. However―” (Komon)

Suddenly, the upper body of one of the lamias, who should have already been cut in two, came pouncing at me.

―Swish!

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I drew my favorite katana―[Sakuranami-hime], and slashed the approaching lamia upper body right down the middle.

“I can do this much, at least.” (Komon)

“”……….””

It seemed that my strength was once again out of their expectations as they stared at me in mute amazement.

“Milady, that was splendid. However, this one must apologize for not finishing it off earlier.” (Shiki)

“Fufu, no problem. Either way, you were ready to kill it at any time, weren’t you?” (Komon)

Even if I hadn’t drawn my katana, it was clear that Shiki would have immediately taken action. But because I had already moved, he respected my decision and stayed his hand.

“But to think they can continue to move after being cut in half… Such surprising vitality.” (Komon)

“Yes. But next time, it’ll be different. It will be fine as long as this one dices them into small pieces so they will never be able to move again.” (Shiki)

What a terrifyingly reliable Familiar. I’m looking forward to your continued support in the future.

“You guys… especially Shiki, are on an entirely different level, huh?” (Kuzuhara)

He must have understood just how skilled Shiki was from those movements just now. He was an opponent that no one could possibly fight against without a weapon. Even if they had guns, he had such fast reaction speed that he could see all of the bullets and avoid them, and his carapace was incomparably harder than a human’s defenses.

“Even still, you’re really strong, Komon. But I won’t lose to you.” (Kuzuhara)

Kuzuhara struck his fists against each other to show his fighting spirit. Come to think of it, I had never seen what level of strength he had. He seemed strong in a fight, but probably only in terms of human limits of strength.

“Oh right, there’s something I haven’t told you yet. It’s always been us being surprised up ’til this point, but it’ll be your turn this time.” (Kuzuhara)

Surprised? It surely wouldn’t come close to being as shocking of an existence as Sol or Shiki. But he seemed to be confident in himself, so I found myself somewhat interested.

“Perfect timing. I’ll take care of those pig goblins wandering around over there.” (Kuzuhara)

I looked over in the direction of his gaze and saw an orc. And it wasn’t just an ordinary orc, but a blue orc, a type of higher species. Their entire body was blue, and they were a size larger than ordinary orcs. They were D-Rank, by the way.

“That one is stronger than goblins and ordinary orcs. Are you planning to take it on alone?” (Komon)

It was about as strong as those lamias, and it had overwhelmingly more pure strength than an ordinary human. By the looks of it, Kuzuhara hadn’t brought anything like a weapon. Is he really planning to take it on barehanded?

“Of course. A 1v1 is what a fight is all about! Well, just watch me.” (Kuzuhara)

While saying that, he approached the blue orc with an imposing demeanor.

“….No helping it, I guess. Shiki, be ready to support him at any time.” (Komon)

“Yes, as milady commands.” (Shiki)

As long as Shiki was on guard, the worst case scenario wouldn’t come to happen. Even still, where does his confidence even come from…?

Noticing Kuzuhara approaching, the blue orc gripped the axe in its hand tighter and began to charge at him while breathing heavily through its nose. In terms of physique, the blue orc was over two times larger. It didn’t look like he would normally stand a chance in a close-quarters brawl, but…

Kuzuhara showed no signs of shrinking back, widening his stance as if he was planning to receive the blue orc’s attack head-on.

Hey, hey, don’t tell me you’re not planning to dodge?!

No matter how you looked at it, it was way too reckless. Even I wouldn’t be able to block the head-on attack of a blue orc barehanded.

“Gigyyaaaahh!”

The blue orc brandished the axe in its right hand and swung it down towards Kuzuhara’s head.

Just as I was about to order Shiki to cut off its arm―

“―<First Impact・Air Wave>!” (Kuzuhara)

Kuzuhara unleashed a beautiful thrust with his fist. But the reach wasn’t enough. The fist didn’t look like it would reach at all, and from an onlooker’s perspective, it just looked like a foolish attempt.

―However.

“Guuuugyyaa?!”

Suddenly, the blue orc was sent flying from the place where it stood.

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