Chapter 141

Chapter 141

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“Yeah, I won’t let you down”

I took in everyone’s well intended blessings and replied through a cool facade. You guys too, don’t die on me.

I then put on my white ghillie suit and sat down against the wall in a small depression near our destination. I laid still, closed my eyes, and concentrated on controlling the clone.

“I have visual”

“Uoh! Don’t talk so suddenly with that thing”

“Kinda feels a bit gross with two Momokawas around”

“Eh~, seriously? I’m hurt”

Looks like they got a fright when my clone that was still bobbling on top of Raptor suddenly came to life.

Though I admit having two of the same person in the same place would creep me out too. This clone is neither transparent nor has any sort of ‘Player 2’ tinting, so appearance-wise at least, you can’t tell the difference.

Wait, what if they see through this fake with the flow of mana or a 6th sense or something. I suddenly got concerned if the plan will really work.

But I’m already in standby mode, and there’s no way we can backtrack now. We’ll reach our field of battle in under 30 seconds.

“There she is”

“Reina-chan…”

The door was ajar and we confirmed Reina’s presence, as always, flirting with SOUMA. I’ve seen this for three days now so I’m used to it, but Yamada was devestated at the scene.

It’s his usual immature jealousy, but I’ll be glad if it will work in fueling his hate towards guardian beast SOUMA in this fight.

“Ok. Operation start”

I call it, the Reverse Ama-no-Iwato! It’s pretty similar to the story you hear in grade school: When Amaterasu the sun goddess stayed reclusive in her cave, everyone threw a grand party outside which caused her to be caught when she curiously peeked out. But instead of catching her interest with fun, we’ll be acting as villains to coerce her into coming out. Basically, we’re threatening her.

Alright, time to get my villain on.

I stood at the entrance to the square, inhaled, and loudly declared war.

“REINAAA! YOU STUPID NEET, GET A JOOOBB!!!”

Reina, in a cat-like reflex, instantly shifted her head towards my yell in a fluster. That goes the same for SOUMA who was embracing her.

“You lazy spoiled brat! I’ll beat that uselessness out of you if it’s the last thing I do! You better be ready!”

I was shouting my heart out.

It’s meant to be threatening, so I can really go all out, and the others won’t bat an eye.

“Now, everyone together”\n“Reina-chan! Come back to uuuss!”

“You’re better than thaaat!”

“The Souma-kun is a fake you knooow!”

“COME AT ME SOUMA YOU BASTARD! I’MMA FUCKING KILL YOU DEAD!!”

Yamada was similarly speaking his heart, so at least he gets a pass on intimidation.

Now, what’ll she do…

“NO WAY! Why, why does everyone keep getting in our way! I hate this, I hate you, get out!!”

“Sure thing Reina. I will, no, we will quickly remove these pests for you”

As expected, Reina cried out like a mentally unstable child. And heeding her emotions, SOUMA stood to face us. At the same time, the space left and right of him lit up in magic formations.

One, a torus that blazed like an inferno, and the other a square that crackled with purple lightning. These were of course, the summoning circles that called forth Reina’s primary battle force: The infernal lion, Engard, and the thunder hawk, Ramdane.

Just as I thought, she isn’t calling Seyram, her water spirit.

“Yuu-kun, En-chan, Ram-kun… protect me ok”

“Of course Reina. I’d never forgive anyone that made you cry. I’ll be back right away after quickly defeating them”

SOUMA, still looking the exact replica he was, put on a refreshing smile while Engard and Ramdane roared their fury.

Looks like shouting won’t do anymore. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t get Seyram out too, but we can settle for this.

“What’s wrong ‘beasts’? Scared of losing to us superior humans! You’ll make fine pelts after we’re done with you!”

On my cue, Rem launched an arrow. I didn’t tell the others, but I’d instructed Rem to aim first and foremost at Reina.

Now if only we could get a one-shot kill here –– Of course, we won’t.

“I will remove anything, that hurts –– ”

SOUMA silently cast wind magic to steer Rem’s arrow staggeringly off course. There’s no time to fire a 2nd.

“ –– My Reina”

“Get baaack!!”

The guardian beasts rushed us, and I immediately ordered a retreat.

Everyone, ready and reacting instantly, turned and ran like their life depended on it. It was now ‘Tag, you’re dead.’

“Aqua Shield – dwaahh!?”

The enemy simply had more speed. So to slow them down, Shimokawa quickly cast Aqua Shield but it was instantly nullified by Engard’s fire breath.

Damn, this is looking tougher than I’d planned. At this rate, we might lose one of us before we all escape.

“Run!”

I shouted from Raptor’s back. I’m the only one guaranteed to be safe, and they’re already running desperately as is. Obviously, I’m being redundant.

“Shimokawa-kun, get ready –– Rotten Bog!”\nMy curses work fine even as a clone. But it’s through a proxy so it feels slightly different. The casting speed falls a bit and since I have to maintain the clone, I have that much less mana going into the curse. If I push too hard with the curses, the clone won’t break from the pressure, but it will break from the lack of mana.

Anyway, I’m the decoy so I’ll have to do enough to make it believable.

“Awwright, eat shit, Acid Shieeellld!!”

Trap number one. We waited till they were close enough to a spot I previously dropped my blood on, and Shimokawa erected an Acid Shield.

“GRRRAAAAAA!!”

Thanks to Shimokawa’s superb timing, Engard, who’d been the closest saw that he couldn’t blast it away with fire from so close, probably thought a mere shield like this was child’s play for him, and attempted to bust through physically.

And, there! With a loud sizzling particular to rotten bog, toxic scarlet scattered everywhere. That of course was the sound of Acid Shield that couldn’t withstand Engard’s powerful tackle and dispersed.

But the acid should have had some effect.

“I hope… ”

Engard emerged, roaring furiously, from beyond the shower of acid and deluge of white smoke. He looked like he hadn’t taken any damage… But he was a bit slower.

Only temporarily though, as he quickly regained his vigor and continued to give chase.

“He’s tougher than I thought. Looks like we’ll have to really squeeze through this one”

We were treading on thin ice, so anything to slow their assault was helpful. Right as Engard got out of the Acid Shield, Rem shot another arrow, causing it to flinch. It wasn’t meant to damage but merely surprise, and it worked.

But we weren’t so lucky that they would only be chasing us. They had magic too.

“Aqua SheyaAOU!?”

“Uoh! Close call!!”

SOUMA launched wind blades, and Ramdane used thunderbolt. Shimokawa’s spell was interrupted, and Yamada skillfully blocked the deadly attacks with his high defenses.

“Fuck dude, they’re really laying it on us –– Aqua Shield”

Having escaped that close shave with death, he cast his barrier spell anew. But this wall of water spread out to block the passage was also instantly broken.

This time it was a large Aer Sagitta from SOUMA that cut apart his shield. This strong… It must have been a mid-tier variation.

“Oi Momokawa, they catching uuup!?”

“We gotta do something dammit!”

The pressure emminating from our pursuers was intense. Ueda and Nakai, who weren’t supposed to do anything but run, cried out impatiently. I feel the same, to be honest.

We’ll soon be at the widest area on this path. It’s the place with that pink gas.

Come this far into the passage, and the guardian beasts had to consider their attacks so they didn’t hit friendlies. That goes double for Engard and Ramdane since, if they used big AOE attacks, the whole cavern could be scorched or electrocuted. Doing that was a sure fire way to beat us, but they could hardly stand damaging their friends against ‘small-fry’ like us.

They’re underestimating us, but that’s good. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have gotten as far as we have.

But the place we’re about to reach is pretty wide. Once there, they’ll lose the handicap of accidental friendly fire. And worse. They could use the area to split up and surround us.

Engard, who was the biggest of the bunch, was first in the line and covered almost the whole width of the passage while SOUMA and Ramdane were following behind in single file. The ceiling wasn’t too high so Ramdane couldn’t shoot down at us either.

But that too would end once we enter the next area. They can and will come at us with the full range of their strength and dexterity once we get there.

\n“End of the line”

With a cluster of wind blades, the Acid Shield set at the entrance was broken down. As one of Reina’s he probably knows that this place is a dead end. SOUMA entered the fairy square with a composed gait.

“GRRR”

“KYYOAA!”

After him, Engard entered with with a low growl, his fur slightly unclean from continuously bashing into acid, and Ramdane let off sparks as if to intimidate me.

“Heeey, relax man. Let’s talk about this”

It’s great that they aren’t in a hurry to kill me. So I used this chance to strike up a random conversation with SOUMA hoping to drag this out as long as I can.

“Momokawa, you are an enemy. We kill enemies.”

“No I’m not. I’m Reina’s friend you know? If I died, she’d be missing a lot of conveniences, right?”

“Reina wishes for it. So you must die”

“Don’t you see? I was intentionally playing the heavy role of villain, for her. You guardian beasts are strong, I’ll give you that. But can YOU cook a variety of delicious food and instantly prepare a hot bath? If I’m not there, Reina won’t have any of that luxury in this dreary dungeon. Who knows, she might not even be able to survive without those you know? Ah, I got an idea, flash of inspiration really. You’re a fake but you’re still Souma-kun right? So maybe she’ll listen to you if not us? Tell you what, you go back to her right now and tell her to listen to what I say. How about it? If she comes here and give me a genuine ‘I’m sorry’, I might just start thinking about kind of slightly forgiving her. You get my flow?”

“Reina only needs me. Anyone who interferes is an enemy. You are an enemy. I will kill you. Here, now.”

Hmm. Guess no more talky time.

This guardian beast SOUMA may look and talk like a human, but deep inside, it’s the same dumb monster as the others. He couldn’t even consider what Reina, as a human being, needs in order to survive in the dungeon. He only acted on her wishes with no semblance of a will. He was less her dog and more an unthinking slave.

Our back and forth just now happened probably because, as SOUMA was made to feel human, he was instinctively compelled to hold conversation. He came here under orders from Reina to kill us, and probably didn’t possess any thoughts besides that. He was not angry thinking how selfish my speech was, nor could he think I may have a point. He didn’t have a ‘heart’ to consider Reina from; practically, like a robot.

In the end, he was still that cloud creature that Reina forced into servitude with her Spirit Master powers. It’s better for me if he isn’t too bright.

“Alright, have it your way, faker. You, that stupid mutt, and the dumb bird too. You’re in for an ass whooping”

I talk smack to get the three guardians ready to focus only on me.

I didn’t need to though. They’re primary target was me to begin with since Reina hates me the most out of all of us. So these beasts that are so in tune with her must hate my guts just as much.

“GRR, GOAAAAAA!!”

Engard leapt at me before any of the others.

Looking back, he was the first guardian beast I had the misfortune of meeting. When I’d killed Higuchi and activated the sacrifice portal, it was this mangy mutt that attacked me as Reina stole my portal. The next time when we encountered Reina in the jungle, the bastard again attacked me and turned superior Rem into ash. Quite honestly, I’m itching to tear him a new one.

And I make due on my grudges ––

“GAAA!!”

“Uggh!?”

Yeah, guess I should mention this. I have no real way of actually beating this thing.

Engard pounced at me like a real lion, not with magic, but with it’s teeth and claws. I couldn’t do anything to stop the huge but agile monstrosity.

I was easier than a baby deer. Easily knocking me down, Engard buried his claws into my body, and bit down on my neck with it’s large maw lined with razor-sharp teeth.

I would be literally dead, if I wasn’t a clone. There’s no pain. Obviously there’s no pain.

That in itself is a tremendous plus, but the lack of Pain Return would be a minus. That and Intuition Pharmacy and any other curse that uses my body, I couldn’t use with the clone.

But it’s enough to do the job. I’ve completed my role as decoy, so I calmly gave the final go-ahead.

“It’s all on you now, guys –– ”