Chapter 69

Chapter 69 \n\nThe two girls who’d finished their short rest, had once again started to advance through the dungeon.

 

“――Ignis・Blast ”

 

Akane shot a powerful, volleyball sized fireball which flew towards the middle of a herd of skeletons and exploded, their fragile bones immediately crumbling.

 

“YAAAAAAAA!!!”

 

Ruri, wielding her sword, began to clean up the skeletons that had escaped the explosion. She was easily able to overpower these enemies without the use of battle arts. Her blade that had been enchanted using Akane’s Ignis・Enchant , easily broke down the skeletons.

 

“Awesome! That’s my Ruri-chan, we won so easy!”

“Of course we did!”

 

Ruri pridefully puffed out her uniform chest where as Akane had on an innocent smile. But in truth, she thought that Akane was much more ‘awesome’ than her.

Currently, she could easily cut down skeletons, but when she first encountered this type of monster, she’d been trembling in horror. She couldn’t do anything.

It was scary. She couldn’t understand why she was in this dangerous other world dungeon. Fear welled up from the bottom of her heart. No, the feeling was actually closer to despair.

Her only salvation came from when Akane appeared, as all she’d done was weep in despair, unable to take a single step past the first room.

But then, her first encounter with skeletons resulted in her being chased down, breaking her spirit.

 

“Hey Akane, let’s just, die together…”

 

She couldn’t continue living in such a place. She didn’t want to attack or be attacked by those awful monsters. It was all a bad dream―― she was so desperate that she’d be willing to commit suicide to escape from it.

If her and Akane killed themselves together, she would do it.

 

“――It’s alright Ruri-chan! I’ll protect you!”

 

However, Kizaki Akane had taken a stand, her hands blessed in fire.

When her tall friend used her Ignis・Sagitta to shoot down the skeletons, telling her it was alright, holding out a hand in a gentle smile, it gave her courage.

 

“I never knew… You’re so strong, Akane”

 

She said, taking that hand. 

 

“It’s because you’re with me, Ruri-chan, so I can do my best”

 

Akane answered, with a smile dazzling like the sun.

She’d always known, that from long ago, Akane always had a stronger heart than herself.

When was it that she’d realized? Was it around when she was in third grade and she noticed Akane had grown taller than her? No, it wasn’t because of the height difference.

She realized that she couldn’t keep pushing her weight around like she did as a kid. She couldn’t be friends with just anyone, as girls would naturally form cliques. It was also getting scary to talk to the boys who only kept growing taller and taller.

But Akane had become stronger. That shy Akane who used to only talk with her childhood friend (herself), had somehow become one of the people at the center of the class. She was also doing great as the ace of the volley ball club.\nSurely, it was her who’d become weak. Neither her heart nor her body had grown.

And yet, Akane… She kept piling on complexes towards the girl. She had a massive inferiority complex towards her best friend.

However, in proportion to that, her desire to be with Kizaki Akane only grew.

I don’t want to be left behind, I don’t want to be abandoned.

Anxiety welled up every time Akane got a new friend. She felt panic as she saw the girl even talking casually with the boys.

She was weak, Akane strong. She knew they didn’t match, but she wanted to stay with her, right by her side, forever.

Her feelings only kept growing.

Then, in the extreme situation where her life was on the line, she finally realized―― that feeling was called love.

 

“Ruri-chan, we’ll definitely get back home”

“Yes, the two of us together, I know we can” 

 

And so, upon reaching the fairy square after their first battle in that dark and dreary dungeon, they shared their first kiss.

Did Akane, really love her back? They’d kissed despite being the same sex, they’d even gone further than that. Was it just a form of escapism, trying to turn away from the cruel reality they were in? Ruri had no way of telling how Akane really felt.

Yet, their current relationship that was well past just being best friends, was definitely what she’d wished for.

Her itching anxiety and unease about how Akane might one day leave her, it all disappeared, when they held hands, locked lips, and connected their bodies. She’d become as precious to Akane as the girl had been for her. She could believe in that.

The momentary pleasure. The base lust. The unproductive deed of two girls loving each other.

Faulty as they may be, those were the biggest reasons that turned Ruri into the brave swordswoman she’d currently become.

For the sake of Kizaki Akane, her sweet beloved, she would fight. She’s told me that she would protect me, so in turn, I’ll do the same.

 

“Well then, wanna get going”

“Ok let’s, skeletons don’t drop any cores anyway”

 

After kicking away an un-undeded skeleton’s head, Ruri looked ahead at the end of the path. There was a crossroad.

 

“Sooo, which way?”

“Wait a bit, let me check”

 

She responded to Akane, who was just behind her, as she checked the note circle that acted as their compass. The shining arrow pointed them left.

 

“Mm, okay, looks like it’s――”

 

It happened the moment she raised her head, turning back towards Akane.

A large, black shadow――

 

“GRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHH”

 

An ugly, beastly bellow. Loud as it was, Ruri heard it quite distantly.

 \n“――Ruri-chan!”

 

Her vision suddenly flipped around. She wondered why that was. She saw that Akane was upside down.

Huh. Why.

With that simple question in mind, Kitaouji Ruriko’s consciousness descended into eternal darkness.

 

“hoHOho whatT a Delicacy! Hot girl Meat is the bEeeesT!”

 

Kizaki Akane doubted her eyes. She didn’t even want to believe it.

Ruri had, died.

The man had suddenly come from the crossroads. He wore a dirty, black outfit tainted with filth and blood, that differed from the stuff the gomas wore. It was something she was familiar with, the boy’s uniform of Shiramine Academy. She also recognized that face, one that basically everyone in class also knew.

 

“…Yokomichi, Hajime”

 

The stain of class 2-7, dubbed Porky, it was that disgusting, unsightly boy.

He howled nonsense. As if he was aroused for some reason. He sounded more like a Goma than a human being. It sounded repulsive and evil.

Fresh blood dripped from Yokomichi’s mouth. It was Ruri’s.

He’s mouth was huge―― it was big originally, but now his mouth could be opened up to the middle of his cheeks―― it looked like that of a monster. And with that mouth, he had chewed into Ruri’s throat.

He must’ve had a skill to kill his presence. Ruri, who’d been getting strong as a swordsman, hadn’t noticed him at all. He had caught them in a surprise attack, in every sense of the term, and had landed a strike on her vitals.

 

“Holy balls, if it isn’t Kizaki AkAne. I must be tRippin’!? I get to fEast on 2-7’s Yuri couple as a pai――”

“UAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!”

 

Akane’s sight was dyed red. It was no metaphor, all she could see was red from the fire that was roaring in front of her.

This was her magic, but at the same time, it wasn’t. Her fiery mana had burst out due to her intense rage.

 

“Shit, shIT, that’s fucking HOT, ya dyke!! Goddamn, Akane-chan, you’re a fucking pyroMancer!?”

 

Unable to take the heat, Yokomichi agilely jumped back, contrary to what his large frame would imply.

 

“RURI-CHAN! RURI-CHAN!”

 

After Yokomichi had left her sights, Akane saw what was Ruri’s, corpse, lying on the cold stone floor. She rushed over and lifted the small girl’s body up from the pool of blood.

 

“AH, Aa, uaaa… ”

 

She was devastated. Couldn’t even say a word, not to mention her lover’s name.

Ruri was plainly, painfully, dead.

Her throat was practically gone, meat and bone and all, only a little bit of skin connected her head to the rest of her. Her head swayed when Akane tried to move her, as if it was on the verge of ripping off, completing her decapitation.

Akane hugged Ruri’s upper body with one hand and supported her head with the other.

Ruri’s eyes were wide open. Her face was stuck in an expression of shock. Never again could she see her friend’s sweet smile.

\nIt was like he was starving and a delicious full course meal had been laid out for him, only to have the table flipped. In the end, the only taste he got was that of Kitaoji Rurika’s neck.

The maddening taste of a lovely girl.

On the way here, all he’d eaten were unappetizing monsters. He could still eat them, but it wasn’t any fun. They were hard, tasteless, smelly, and unpleasant, like dirt cheap chinese fish they sold at the market.

But, his main problem wasn’t taste.

 

“Fuck… if I ate Akane-chan and RuriRuri, I could’a healed this gaping wound in my stomach”

 

The wound once again panged, as he remembered. When he unthinkingly held his flank, he felt the wetness of blood on his fingers.

 

“Fuck, it horts…”

 

That, was where Momokawa Kotarou’s spear had stabbed him.

Most of his wounds healed up if he left them be. If it was deep, all he’d need to do was eat more meat. When he ate the flesh of monsters, their meat became his lifeblood and quickly fixed any damage.

But not this. No matter how much he waited or how much he ate, it wouldn’t close. It wouldn’t heal.

The cause was without a doubt, Kotarou’s peculiar magic. It had the form of glowing butterflies. The moment they touched him, pain surged violently.

He had the Warrior class and so was resistant to pain. And when he’d turned into a Cannibalizer he practically didn’t feel it at all. And yet, those small butterflies reminded him of the human experience called Pain. Quite a lot of it.

 

“Fuck, my status is totally at Bleeding right now…”

 

RPGs always have abnormal status conditions like poison and paralysis, but depending on the game, there was also the bleeding condition. The effect was similar to being poisoned. It drained away HP over time, and damage from enemies would increase, for example.

And currently, he would be well described as suffering from bleeding. The blood would clot and scab over, but the wound would open again for no reason. And he’d once again bleed out little by little.

The only upside was that the blood loss wasn’t too severe. It wasn’t like he was constantly bleeding, and if he simply kept at his monster diet, his current body could actually replenish the blood faster than he was losing it.

But that one wound, it just kept hurting. This pain could even put him at a disadvantage in melee combat with swordsmen and warriors. He needed to get rid of it quickly.

 

“Gotta keep lookiNg for more prEy… Hm, who’re the rest of tHe babes from cLass again?”

 

Since those two, Kizaki Akane and Kitaouji Rurika had turned into charcoal, he’d have to give up on them. Hajime turned and walked away, putting a stop to any sort of regret.

 

“I gotta, I gotta cure This… HeHeh, fucking dEvour you I will”

 

Just remembering put drool on his mouth.

 

“Momokawa KoTarou…”

 

His blood was special. When he’d first eaten Yukiko, it totally blew his mind, but the taste of Momokawa Kotarou’s blood had totally eclipsed that.

If Yukiko and other such beauties were first rate cuisine, then Kotarou’s blood was a drug. They weren’t even on the same level.

As he was a Cannibalizer, by eating girls he could satisfy both his appetite and lust. Once he’d experienced it, he simply couldn’t go back to normal food. Even having sex, which he had longed for all his life, felt uninteresting. His hunger wouldn’t sate without human meat.

Cannibalism was his lifestyle and addiction… But Momokawa Kotarou’s blood, it was something else. In other words, it was different from Food or Sex, it was something, something extraordinary.

He didn’t know what that Something was. He didn’t know, but he simply couldn’t untaste that taste.

 

“I’m soo gonna Eat You Up, Momokawaa, Kotarou-kyun!!”