Chapter 45

Chapter 45

\n

“… Not a thing in there”

Was Mei-chan’s impression upon cautiously peeking into the room. And then I looked, and saw nothing there as well. A desolate room like that first Skeleton room we saw. Or actually, it’s more of a deserted space than anything. The walls aren’t even in stone blocks but have rough, rocky edges sticking out.

“The compass is showing straight through here”

“So we don’t have to bother with the other paths right?”

This cave-like room isn’t that big. The square-footing being around that of half a gymnasium, it’s like a circular hall. Since it’s empty and all, we could see from end to end. There’s the passage that the compass is pointing to, the one just opposite of us, and there are two more going into the 3 and 9 o’clock directions. If I also count the way we came in, this place would be a truly literal cross-roads. Every exit looks exactly the same, and without the compass we’d be impossibly lost.

“I think we’ll get to a fairy square after this”

“Yeah, we’ve been walking for a while, so it’s about time”

But it’s always these kinds of places that are set up as boss rooms. Though at a glance, it doesn’t look like the Orthrus’ room, since there’s clearly nothing here, and it may as well be a simple vacant room. I don’t see any semblance of a transfer circle either.

“I guess… there’s no boss here?”

“Who knows. The floor isn’t stone, so it could even come out from underground”

I’ve seen movies where some disaster class monster attacks people by detecting them through sound. Stuff like the Mongolian Death Worm is kind of a staple in fantasy works too.

“So, what now?”

“We’ll use Rem to make sure”

Now came the time where my little decoy comes in super handy. Never mind being hesitant, I’m absolutely giddy that I can put the mud doll to some good use.

Just as proclaimed in that painfully short description, she has the attribute of absolute obedience. Rem’s more than ready to carry out my scouting order. Showing not a bit of hesitation, she walks into the cave-like room.

I’m simply watching over Rem who’s only acting on orders, but Mei-chan kinda had a look of pity. Who knows, maybe she’ll snap if I gave out too many harsh orders? No look, you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs alright.

As I was uselessly considering these things, Rem kept walking the span of the room when,

“GOoaAAAAAAAAAA!!”

My whole body jumped from that single roar. You think it was simple fear? Nay, even the Orthrus let out this level of volume. The moment I heard this particular cry, I only felt pure terror. The reason? It’s very simple.

It’s because I know the originator of this voice.

“A-Armor Bear…”

It appeared slowly from the 9 o’clock passage, the great, gray form. Shielded by a sharp steel carapace, this is the most powerful monster I know.

As if announcing the continuation of the nightmare from that day, the Armor Bear had appeared before me once again. It had the same look, even the same intimidating aura as back then.

“Kotarou-kun, that’s the—”

“It was literally a miracle I could beat it one time. We need to avoid this fight any way we can”

I already told her about my struggle with the Armor Bear when we first met. With that peculiar appearance it’s got, Mei-chan must have recognized it instantly.

So as not to provoke it as much as possible, I suspended Rem’s movements right then and there. Like a puppet with its strings cut, I stopped it dead still in the middle of the room.

“You aren’t getting her back?”

“The bear’s got a good nose. I think it knows we’re here too.”

Similar to when I dropped my lunch, or my gym jacket, the Armor Bear stuck its nose into Rem’s completely still body, and started sniffing. But both visually and in the olfactory sense, Rem being only a collection of metallic bones was quickly judged as not appetizing at all. The Armor Bear lost interest in no time and—

“Ahh, shit… didn’t work at all”

It roared after seeing us in the passage.

Shifting its large steel body, the Armor Bear slowly, yeah, just like back then, with the dignity of a ruler, it calmly approached us.

“I’ll hold it back”

“No wait, it’s better not to get up close— Rotten Bog“

Opportuning the fact that the Armor Bear wasn’t coming with an all out rush, I make the attempt to try at a defensive battle of deadly acid. I really don’t think it can make a great leap over the bog like a Goar would with the kind of body it has. If I manifest my maximum size, my 5 meter wide bog, it’s gonna have to step in if it wants to get to us.\nAs my blood-red swamp takes shape, the Armor Bear is almost here. Seeing a sudden ominous pool appearing in front of it, it stopped as expected. And again as expected, it got close and sniffed. I was hoping it’d accidentally drink some and go die somewhere but—

“GooAA!!”

I guess I can’t expect it to be that dumb.

So you get it right? Coming closer is dangerous, and you should realize there’s nothing you can do about it so just—

“Eh”

The Armor Bear just stepped into my poisonous bog. Naturally, the crimson water with its unbelievable acidity was sizzling like crazy, releasing white fumes all around.

“GAA!!”

But that’s it. The Armor Bear was like, don’t make me walk this filth, punks, and made a cry of annoyance. It was crossing over my certain-kill Rotten Bog like no big deal.

“Get inside!“

“Got it!“

Me from the right, and Mei-chan from the left, we simultaneously leap out from the entrance. I also call in Rem, who was in suspended animation, so she comes back to me.

There’s a good reason why we didn’t retreat deeper into the passage, but intentionally entered inside the room.

First of all, since we saw how Rotten Bog won’t work, we can’t avoid close combat. If we ran back into the passage, there’s no telling how persistently this bastard will chase us. With the Armor Bear behind us, if we add in all the Zombies and Goars we’re sure to get along the way, it’ll be the worst case scenario. I can see no way of us living through that kind of deadly pincer.

So if we’re gonna fight it anyway, I’d rather we concentrate on the Armor Bear alone. And this place is better for Mei-chan too as she can use the full reach of the long axe. In other words, defeating it here, in this room, is our best and only option for survival.

Incidentally, if we try running to the supposed fairy square up ahead, it’d be useless. The fairy square is only a location where monsters inherently don’t approach, but if one sees their delicious prey scampering inside, it can step in with no real issue. It’s not a game-like, absolute safe place, and nor does it conveniently and omnipotently repel monsters and monsters only.

Anyway, Mei-chan perceived my will to settle it here. I don’t know if she understands all the reasoning behind it, but really, someone like her, believing in me without the slightest hesitation, she’s the sort ally I’d pretty much never find elsewhere.

We can do this, me and her. Some Armor Bear, we’ll show it who’s boss any day!

“Entwine its escape— Blackhair Bind”

The Armor Bear comes back from the bog with nonchalant demeanor as always.

It looks at Mei-chan, then me, and Mei-chan again, finally choosing her as its target. You really want that meat huh?

Damn fucking pervert, well I’ll leave the name-calling to the side. The beast is seriously planning to take on Mei-chan, so I’m glad I can concentrate on support. That being said, I make no pause in unleashing Blackhair Bind at max strength. I can currently do 5 braids tops. Just one has the strength to stop a Zombie dead in its tracks, and each have a length of a whooping 5 meters.

Me going full-throttle, five blackhair tentacles bind the Armor Bear. Both forelegs, both hindlegs, and finally the neck, I entwine and restrain each part with a braid. The beast’s advance comes to a grinding halt.

“HaaAAAAAAAAaa!!”

And Mei-chan, fitting the name of Berserker to a T, would never let go of such a perfect chance. As if waiting for my support, just as the restraints looked set, with perfect timing she burst forth with explosive strength and—

“GAAAA!!”

As that sharp roar echoed, I was made to realize the utter meaninglessness of my curse. Every one of my blackhairs that were supposed to be holding the Armor Bear were suddenly torn to shreds, and were miserably blown off.

“Guh!?”

Fearing not the axe that could possibly destroy its helmeted head, the Armor Bear instead bashed against the blade in stark contrast of action. This acted as a counter and tackle at the same time, blowing Mei-chan away.

No matter how big I usually describe Mei-chan as, against a monster that’s length-wise crossing 4 meters, she’s nothing much. Her whole body danced through the air as if she had suddenly become a frail little girl.

“Ah, damn… My axe…”

She flew at quite the momentum, crashed and rolled on the ground, raising dust, but was nonetheless quick to get back up and, that’s what she said. No talk of getting hurt, and not a single cry of pain, Mei-chan wasn’t concerned about her own well-being or anything, but more about the loss of her weapon.

“Uaah, n-no way…”

There’s a lot to say about Mei-chan and the state of her womanliness, but I’m pretty anxious about her loss of the axe just like she is.

The axe was coming at unfathomable speed, and the Armor Bear voluntarily tackling into it, the collision resulting in the sad destruction of the former. The blade had hit a particularly thick spike on the especially bulky shoulder armor. The spike was broken through, and the steel shell was marked with a gash, but that had been the limit for the weapon.

The axe’s blade cracked apart. And what’s worse, its wooden handle had snapped from the middle. It’s clear that it won’t be functioning as a weapon any longer. Mei-chan now only has this stick in her hand that was even worse than a wooden club.

“Mei-chan! The sword!”

The weapon switch-up turned out for the worse. The steel sword that is likely the only thing we got that can take on the Armor Bear is currently with me. If Mei-chan still had it, she could’ve counter-attacked right away.\nThe only weapons she has remaining are the fairly dull hatchet and knife, one each. Compared to the sword, the quality is like heaven and earth. And that difference is being demonstrated clearly right now, in this life and death battle.

So I started running, meaning to get it to her by any means.

“NO, Kotarou-kun!“

“I’ll be fine! The Bear’s still set on you!”

Glad she’s worried for me, but if I don’t put my life on the line here, we’re both done for. The bog’s poison was ineffective, and my blackhair restraints were easily broken through, putting a definitive end to whatever curses I had in mind for support. So the least I can be useful for is delivering a good weapon to her.

Clumsily taking out the sword from its scabbard, I shout out my orders.

“Go, Rem!”

Forget the body-guarding, and go help Mei-chan. I imagine it impossible for her shabby Goma’s spear to do anything to that tough armor, but just diverting its attention for a bit would be enough.

“GoaAAAAAAAAAAAA!!“

As I attempted to move, the Armor Bear furiously chased after Mei-chan. After having slammed her with a tackle, it accelerated its large frame into a charge, and planned to take her down while she was still half standing.

“Kuh…”

Mei-chan had already corrected her posture, and nimbly dodged the rushing Armor Bear like a matador. But without any real weapon, she had no way to follow up with a stab to its defenseless back.

The Armor Bear swerved around in that posture, and bearing knife-sharp claws extending from its paw, it swung its massive foreleg like a storm. I’d be literally minced faced with that, but Mei-chan who’d since gotten a great grasp of her Knight skill, Foresight, dodged it by a hair’s breadth.

“Dammit, goddammit… running out of time”

There’s no telling how long Mei-chan’s god-tier dodging will last. She’s having to concentrate so much on this seemingly never-ending burst of one-sided attacks that she didn’t have any way to counter with her knife of hatchet either.

Naturally, I can’t just waltz into that sort of war zone, and hand over the sword to her. Even using Rem as a decoy seems iffy. I would fail the mission, and Rem would get destroyed meaninglessly.

Feels like I’m missing something…

“I got nothing to lose, so take this— Red Fever”

I use it on the Armor Bear anyway. But as it hasn’t eaten any redshrooms of the like, I think a little heat won’t bother it the slightest. It’s already fired up and raging around, so a bit of extra body-temperature won’t even be a bother.

But that’s no biggie. That was only for the heck of it anyway. Here’s the real deal.

“I’ll distract it for just a bit alright!”

If it’s Mei-chan, I’m sure she’ll get what I mean. The only good thing about fighting monsters, you can shout out all your plans and there’s no problem.

That being the case, I fire up my Blackhair Bind one more time. This time, I’m not making 5, but putting all that power together, making it bigger, longer, into one huge braid— no, weaving the threads precisely, I make it into a sash. The jet-black, glossy sash moved nimbly like the usual tentacles, and caught the Armor Bear from behind.[1]

“Gauh— ”

Freely moving according to my thoughts, the tentacle wrapped around the Armor Bear’s head. Winding around over and over and, after just moments, it had made a turban for the beast.

But this bastard can easily cut up my hairs with the spikes in its armor. The reason my binding on all its limbs were shredded almost simultaneously was because they had caught into those thorns in its shell. Its head that looks like its wearing a helmet also equipped this manner of pointed protrusion, so my current means of restraint will be broken apart soon enough. Even without the spikes, it could use its fangs, its claws, just anything really.

But this definitely did blind the bastard, and stopped its attacks on Mei-chan.

“Thanks Kotarou-kun!”

Mei-chan swiftly takes distance from the Armor Bear, and runs towards me.

The Armor Bear looked boiling mad, scratching around its face as if it got mites, it quickly tore apart the blackhair belt.

But when the bear regained its vision, Mei-chan had already arrived. We’re completely out of the Armor Bear’s range. And in one more step, I can hand over the sword I’m holding out.

“GaAAAAAAAAAAa!!”

Right as the mad roar beat into my eardrums, a shock ran through my body. A dull pain erupted throughout.

I didn’t even know, what happened. Like what even. It felt like I was suddenly punched out of thin air.

“Uu, Aa… Aaa…”

When I came to, I was on the ground. Shit hurts. Not cause I hit my back falling, my whole body… no, more on my left arm, side, and thigh I guess. My whole left side is stinging like crazy. Like that time I was in a snowball fight in gradeschool, I got hit with a snowball right in the stomach. That ball had a rock inside which I swear was full of murderous intentions, and that’s the sort of pain I’m currently feeling.

\nBut I do have its attention now. Just like the time I encountered those delinquents from Kuro high downtown, at first, me and the Armor Bear are in a fierce stare down. It wouldn’t be strange if those giant paws make my neck fly any time.

“What’s wrong, you chicken!? If you’re gonna do it, then do it, just don’t kill me ok? Pretty please!!”

If it doesn’t kill me, then I have Pain Return as my last defense. Those claws can cut me up, but if it’s not fatal, then I can return that damage back. If I can at least get a gash across that shell, Mei-chan’s chances of winning will go up all at once.

That’s why, the only action I can take is akin to a suicide bomber.

Look at it Momokawa Kotarou, observe every millimeter of its attack. You avoid a fatality here, and the Armor Bear’s as good as dead. So look at it, and make sure to—

“Ah”

I sounded, by which point, those huge claws were right in my face. They looked heavy enough to sever me into multiple sections. Like a large knife, they’d start from the tip of my shoulder, sending my meat, bones and entrails to an all expenses paid trip to dissection land.

It’s totally over-the-top overkill.

And though I knew all that, I didn’t more an inch. I couldn’t move I should say. Leaving aside curses, it wouldn’t make sense for a weak ass highschooler like me to actually dodge from a real monster.

My plans were all naïve.

“—aAA!”

Blood sprays. The feeling of something hot grazing my body is the same as back then. Yeah, that feeling of a sharp claw slicing into you, it’s more of a heat than pain.

“AA! AAAAAAAA!!”

And the excruciation comes right after— wait, it’s strange, it looks like I’m kinda alright. My uniform is still on me, and I haven’t dropped my insides either.

In contrast, there were dregs of black bone sticking to me.

“Ah, AAAh… Rem!!”

And then I finally put it together. Rem had tackled me with all her might, and thanks to that I managed to avoid the Armor Bear’s finisher.

I was saved. And in return, Rem became a sacrifice. Her skeletal structure left only from the chest up, everything below was scattered here and there.

Rem wasn’t moving anymore. Still clinging to my fallen body, all her functions had ceased.

Sorry Rem, and thanks… You really were super useful.

“GoaaAAAAAAAAAA!!”

Looking at the roaring Armor Bear, I could see 4 gashes going across its body. It’s thick chest armor shred apart, the lines ran down till its abdomen. Seems like those the tips of it’s claws traced shallowly all along my upper body.

Me and the bear both shed blood from our wounds, and both cried out from the consequent pain.

“Tch, it still wasn’t enough, damn…”

It’s a level of damage where even I can stay conscious. Even if it’s shell is a bit cut up, the Armor Bear is A-OK.

Looks like, it’s prided armor being broken, its blood being caused to shed by some smallfry really got on its nerves. It was glaring at me like no tomorrow.

It raises its log-like, no, its massive steel pillar-like paw. Once that comes down, I’m dead for sure. I’m still lying on the ground here, and in no posture to move away.

Shit, its recovery speed is too damn fast— that’s all I could think as I stared tear-blurred at the paw raised over me, not even ready to accept this stupid death.

“—GAA!”

But that death didn’t come however long I waited. Before I noticed, its paw was lowered without cutting a thing, and as if it was completely oblivious of my existence, the Armor Bear was looking elsewhere. I could even tell from down here, those sharp eyes were cautious.

Just once, that huge Armor Bear, actually shivered.

Huh, literally what could be there that made this damn monstrosity scared? As I turn myself around with that question in mind, right there was Mei-chan, standing.

Her arms still dripping in blood, shrouded in a crimson aura, she was there, standing.

“Mei-chan, don’t tell me… you used Reagent X!?”

 

[1] So sash, or obi err… have you seen Tsugumomo? It’s super interesting~ The manga is even better.