Chapter 56

“Gau.”

“Huh?”

“Ahh… Well honey does come to mind when it comes to bears. Destroying beehives might be a forte.” I say.

We’re all taken aback by the sudden appearnce of a path. As there’s now a road, there’s no need for me to use Trasfer.

“Everyone! Let’s hurry!” I say.

“GAU!”

We take the shortcut through the nest that Punching Bear created and soon find Shigenobu’s group. Minori-san seems to be with them as well.

They’re currently engaged in a battle with the boss. Our two abducted classmates are trapped inside a huge container-like bottle, pleading for help.

Was that bottle also made of that mysterious honey?

“Yukinari?!” Shigenobu yells out.

“Shigenobu, are you alright?! I looked everywhere for you.” I say.

“Yeah, sorry! It was an emergency. You probably thought we left you behind, right?”

“I found traces of mamono so I immediately followed them.”

Then, as I’m swearing as I speak with Shigenobu, a loud buzz hums and a swarm of mamono attacks us.

Minori and the members of the battle group who were with Shigenobu have already taken out a significant number of the manipulated mamono.

“How in the world did all of these mamono gather here?” I ask.

“It’s all that thing’s doing.” Shigenobu answers.

Then, a bit farther back from our kidnapped classmates… I see an enormous bee mamono looking at me from the top of a nest.

Sepia Parasite Bee Queen.

This is the boss?

“That thing is controlling the mamono around here to attack us.” Shigenobu says.

“Even though we’ve already defeated it before…” says a member of the battle group.

“We had the advantage with Taniizumi’s flames.” another member complains.

Fire probably does work well against insects.

“Hagisawa, do you have any useful tools for this?” Shigenobu asks.

“Wouldn’t it be faster if Hanebashi got some gasoline and set everything on fire?”

Hagisawa, don’t just throw in the towel!

At best, that would take 10 minutes! On top of that, how long do you think it would take to even buy gasoline?

“Bomb them like always!” I say.

“Yeah, already threw it.” Hagisawa responds.

Hagisawa’s bomb bounces off the ground and annihilates the charging mamono.

The battle group is also doing good. The mamono certainly are being pushed back, but we still can’t reach the boss whose far off in the back.

Those with bows release arrows at the boss, but they are blow away with flaps of its wings.

Someone uses an ability to deal a powerful blow to the boss. The boss, after being struck, orders a subordiante Sepia Little Parasite Bee to bring it honey, which it uses to recover on the spot.

Or at least, that’s what it looks.

“If you won’t move then… Huh?! Don’t fly away!”

I try to use Trasfer on a vital spot for an instant kill, but it keeps moving. I probably won’t be able to hit it like this.

I think I can take it down, but this is an annoying situation where I have to slowly shave away its health.

“We don’t have time to deal with this! Focus on rescuing the prisoners!” Shigenobu says.

“Yeah, except no matter how many times we smash these honey walls, they instantly close up. Not to mention, they’re double layered.” I say.

“The last time we came here, we couldn’t leave until we defeated the boss.” says a member of the battle group.

This is tough!

Even if I can Trasfer myself inside, I won’t be able to accomplish anything. Also, we might end up hitting our classmates if we use Hagisawa’s bombs.

What should I do?

No choice, I guess I have to kill the boss.

Wait, if we make a cylinder out of a plate or something, we might be able to free them with it.

“With Yukinari and the others here, our power has increased! Push through them!” Shigenobu yells.

“YEAAA!”

At that time, Punching Bear takes a step forward.

“What the? Another one!” a member of the battle group says.

“Wait! He’s a friend! He’s the one who made a the way through for us.” I say.

“Huh? What in the world are you saying?” a member of the battle group says.

The members of the battle group exchange glances and discuss the issue.

“GAUU!”

Punching Bear roars as he swings his arms around in circles and leaps at the Sepia Parasite Bee Queen by kicking off the walls with swift strides.

You’ve got to be kidding me?!

Was he able to see through the troublesome Sepia Parasite Bee Queen’s movement, something even the fighting group struggled with?

「――?!」

The Sepia Parasite Bee Queen is struck by Punching Bear without time to dodge while loudly buzzing its wings.

“GAU GAU GAU!”

Punching Bear roars and rains down an onslaught on the Sepia Parasite Bee Queen who is trying to shake him off. He smacks the bee across the face several times and then bites and tears off its wings which then fall to the ground. Finally, he pulls his fist back as far as he can, clads it with a massive Wind Punch, and swings down on the Sepia Parasite Bee Queen.

“GAUUUU!”

Then he twists it… The same attack that I used against the Punching Bear boss is thrown out by Punching Bear.

The Sepia Parasite Bee Queen’s head cracks and it transforms into light.

Come to think of it, Punching Bear… Doesn’t he have the special ability, Insect Killer?

“Whoa… Amazing!”

“GAUU!”

Punching Bear lifts his fist in the air to declare victory and then runs back to me.

“Gau.”

Due to him turning towards me as if as if wanting to be praised, I rub his head and he cries out in pleasure.

Perhaps because the boss has vanished, the bottle like prison holding our classmates shatters.

“W-We’re safe.”

“This bear is without a doubt the MVP.”

“Its owner, Hanebashi, too.”

“I mean, how did you even become friends with him?”

Everyone asks me questions.

“Let’s find a safe place first. I still need to handover the things you requested… While we’re all eating, I’ll explain.” I say.

“You’re right… There’s no point in talking here.” Shigenobu says.

“After all, we were moving with the intention of leaving the forest.”

Everyone agrees with me and we leave the beehive, returning to our resting point. The food has cooled down, but we eat what I brought back from Japan and finally relax.

“Dang… I sure panicked when we were suddenly attacked like that… And to think that boss would even run off with two of us.” Hagisawa says.

“Weren’t we attacked by large mamono in the end? It really got a bit dangerous.” Shigenobu says.

“Like I thought, I… shouldn’t go to Japan anymore…” I say.

To think that something this dangerous happened when I looked away… In addition, I ended up acting on my own for too long.

As I mutter that, Shigenobu flicks me on the forehead.

“Like we keep telling you, don‘t worry about it.”

“GAU!”

Shigenobu pats Punching Bear.

Punching Bear makes a happy face.

“Thank you. We were saved because of you.” Shigenobu says.

“I agree. You really did help us out there.” I add.

Punching Bear puts his hands on his cheeks and writhes in bashefulness at my compliment.

What kind of reaction is that?!

“Gauuu.”

“I want to thank him somehow… What do you think would make a bear happy?” Shigenobu asks.

“Won’t food do?” I say.

“Something like a delicious steak?” Shigenobu asks.

“Gau?”

Without us noticing, Punching Bear had begun licking honey from a tiny honeycomb that he had picked up from the beehive.

You want that as you reward?

“So he can even take care of his own food?” Shigenobu says.

“We can also try feeding him mamono meat.” I suggest.

“Are bears carnivors? I think the honey suits him quite well.” Shigenobu says.

I have the impression that they’re omnivores, but… I don’t know what laws the mamono of this world follow. Should I just test what he can and can’t eat later? Furthermore, food from Japan is definitely tastier than what can be found here.

“By the way Minori-san, you gathered enough materials, right?” I ask.

“I did.”

Minori-san comes to where Shigenobu and I are after healing everyone and begins to play with Punching Bear. For some reason, Minori-san roars, so Punching Bear plays along by roaring as well.

What in the world are they doing?

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“It looked fun.”

“Oh, well… if that‘s all.”

“Anyway, back to what we were saying. There is something like a material? Over where the giant bee turned to light, a large needle and wings fell to the ground.”

With those words, Minori-san takes out the needle and wings from her Item Box and shows them to us.

“We might be able to make a weapon from this.” Shigenobu says.

“Will it be a good weapon?” I ask.

“Seeing how Taniizumi and the others had defeated mamono from here…They may have had a boss class like weapon.” Shigenobu says.

They already had such a weapon?

“Boss mamono respawn right? How long does it take?”

I ask a member of the battle group.

“It’s not like we’ve timed it down to the minute, and we haven’t encountered it that often, but we should be good for about a week.”

“That’s great if that’s the case…” Just as I say that, a wave of exhaustion washes over me.

Somehow, I manage to keep myself from staggering.

“Gau.”

Punching Bear comes forward to support me from behind.

“I’m fine. You’ve really helped us a lot today.”

“Gauu.”

Yuck. Don’t lick my face.

The honey is sticking to my face and it smells sweet.