Chapter 186 - Carried by Gear (1)

The dwarf had said his side would have a much bigger advantage without me around. Now that I could see it, he hadn't been talking complete nonsense.

FWOOOOOSH!

My body shot through the resisting air like a cannonball. From up here, I could take in the entire battle at a glance.

"We just have to hold out until Mr. Jandel gets here!!"

None of my teammates were dead or seriously injured, but they were having a rough time. With me gone, they had lost their wall, multiplying the burden on them. Teddy had been unsummoned, while the undead summoned by the priest of Carui swarmed them from all sides.

"Huh?"

Just then, my eyes met Misha's.

"H-huh?"

"Miss Karlstein! Where are you looking right... huh?"

Then Raven's eyes met mine as well. We were quite far apart, but judging by her gaping mouth, she seemed to be thinking: Why is a barbarian flying?

One correction: I wasn't flying. Falling would be the right word.

I called it the Barbarian Meteor.

KABOOOOOOM!

Bracing my core to keep my balance, I landed on both feet. The footprints I drove deep into the ground were better described as craters.

And then...

A tingling, electric sensation spread through my legs.

If I hadn't built up my Bone Hardness, that might have shattered my bones.

With that thought, I checked my surroundings.

WHOOOOSH!

Dust spread outward in a ring from the point of impact. It was an additional effect of Leap, a mobility skill.

「Jumping power increases tenfold for a single leap, inflicting a powerful impact on the surrounding area upon landing.」

Area damage to everything nearby. Of course, the damage was negligible. Why else would I classify it as a mobility skill? Aside from the small area I actually crushed beneath me, it might as well do no area damage at all.

WHOOOOOSH!

The undead legion went flying as though shoved back by the blast of air. The remnants of the dwarf's team were startled by my sudden arrival, but remained standing unharmed in the fierce wind.

However...

「The character's total weight is at least 500 kg.」

「The special terrain effect [Rebound] additionally applies within the damage radius.」

Sorry, but I had [Gigantification] active.

BOOM!

Like thunder following a flash of lightning, the ground heaved the instant the blast of air faded, launching everything standing on it.

"Aagh!"

"What...!"

Hundreds of undead and the dwarf's remaining allies hung in the air. The sheer rush of it stretched my lips into a broad grin.

'Good. Looks like I weighed enough.'

I'd been a little worried. [Unity] applied [Gigantification] to my equipment too, but I still had plenty of equipment slots left to fill.

Well, even without this, [Leap]'s greatest advantage lay elsewhere.

「Threat stat temporarily increases substantially.」

A brief Threat stat bonus after landing. That meant a great deal to me. In addition to [Gigantification], I now had another skill that increased my Threat stat by a flat amount.

"I-if he's here, then..."

"That d-dwarf bastard! Is he... dead?!"

"He said he could at least hold him off!!"

Looking at the dwarf's remaining allies, whose will to fight already seemed broken by my arrival, I shouted.

"VEHELLLAAAAAAA!!!"

It was also the activation requirement for [Wild Outburst].

「The character's Threat stat temporarily triples, and Physical stats increase in proportion to that value.」

A Physical bonus proportional to my Threat stat.

Yeah. This was it.

I felt as though I'd truly become an Ogre.

[Grrk!]

The summons, which were classified as monsters, began swarming toward me like lunatics. The intelligent folk, on the other hand, reacted differently.

"R-retreat! Retreat!"

"R-run!"

They abandoned their formation and fled as though afflicted with the Fear status effect. Hmm. Was that less my Threat stat and more a perfectly rational decision?

BOOM! BOOM! WHOOSH! THUD!

With my enormous mace and shield, along with two legs that were practically human weapons in their own right, I crushed and battered aside the undead summons as I chased the dwarf's remaining allies.

THOOM! THOOM! THOOM!

As a bonus, every running step sounded like the footfall of a gigantic beast.

"Stop him! Stop him! You're the warrior!!"

"Fuck, how am I supposed to stop th—"

The fleeing elf archer drove a dagger into the Therianthrope swordsman's thigh.

"Aagh! You fucking bitch...!"

His momentum sent him tumbling across the ground.

"H-huh...?"

A moment later, I had him in my hand—a hand more than large enough to enclose a person's head.

"... I-I surrender. I surren—"

I slowly tightened my grip. Was it because of [Wild Outburst]? He must have invested in Physical Resistance and the like too, but...

CRUNCH!

He felt softer than a watermelon.

'Next, then.'

Before long, [Wild Outburst] ended, taking that wildly surging vitality with it, but the chase posed no problem. The third chapter wasn't even over yet. A barrier sealed off the area within a five-hundred-meter radius.

Besides, I had a mobility skill now.

KABOOM!

When I used [Leap] to block their path, the dwarf's remaining allies dropped their weapons and surrendered without a moment's hesitation. They'd decided they were better off throwing themselves on my mercy.

Well, they did have some grounds for it.

"P-please spare us. I'll do anything. Y-you'll n-need us to defeat the Guardian. Right?"

That was something I'd have to think about. For now, with the help of my teammates who caught up behind me, I disarmed the survivors.

I could turn off [Gigantification] now.

"Bjorn! What was that just now?! Me too! I want to do that too!!!"

Was it a barbarian instinct? Having witnessed [Leap], Aynar's eyes burned with desire—so much that the look she'd given cotton candy couldn't even compare.

Not bothering to hide my satisfaction, I made her a promise.

"Heh heh. I'll find you something similar someday."

"Really?! That's a promise!!"

"Yes. A promise."

There was something similar to [Leap] in Aynar's planned build. It was a rank-three Essence, so obtaining it would take a few years, though.

Of course. A barbarian ought to be able to jump, at least.

"E-excuse me! P-please help!"

Huh?

The voice came while I was stripping the dwarf's allies of their equipment. I turned and saw a woman.

'Oh, right. She's alive too...'

The new Guide from Hans G's team. What was her name again...?

Asking was too much trouble. Guide Girl would do.

"A potion! Please, let me borrow a potion. I've given him what I had, but..."

Following Guide Girl's gaze, I saw the blunt-weapon warrior collapsed on the ground.

"He's alive?"

"Y-yes!"

She nodded fervently, as though she'd glimpsed hope.

I thought for a moment. Saving him was a given, but using a potion might be wasteful.

Then I grabbed the priest of Carui.

"E-eek!"

What a scaredy-cat. Who said I was going to kill him?

Holding the priest, I strode over and set him down in front of the blunt-weapon warrior.

"Heal him."

"Y-yes!"

Though they served an evil god, priests of Carui could use ordinary Divine Power too. Well, without that, they couldn't disguise themselves in the first place.

SHHHHH.

As Divine Power flowed into him, the burns covering the blunt-weapon warrior's body slowly faded. His breathing had grown much steadier.

"Thank you. Thank you so much. Really..."

"More importantly, what happened to the mage?"

"H-he passed away."

"Are you certain?"

"Yes. By the time I checked, his heart was already..."

"I see. We'll take care of him, so stay here until this one wakes up. He'll be confused too."

"Y-yes! Thank you...!"

When I returned to my teammates, they had finished turning the dwarf's remaining allies into prisoners. All of them were wearing little more than underwear.

"... Where did you get the gags you put on them?"

"I've been carrying them with me."

What? Why gags?

When I asked out of genuine curiosity, I received an unexpected answer.

"I'm interested in this sort of thing too."

"Uh... I-is that so?"

I was genuinely flustered. But reacting like that might hurt Raven's feelings.

"Right. That sort of thing... i-isn't bad, either, is it?"

To avoid any misunderstanding, I made it clear I had nothing against it. But what was this?

"Isn't bad? Are you interested in monster studies too, Mr. Jandel?"

"Monster studies?"

When I tilted my head, Raven tilted hers as well. A possibility suddenly occurred to me.

"Are those... gags for monsters?"

"Yes. Why? I was thinking of capturing one to study if I got the chance. No, wait. Then who did you think I'd use these on, Mr. Jandel...?"

As she trailed off, her face flushed bright red.

"... Don't come near me from now on."

"How near?"

"One meter."

"... Understood."

With our half-joking agreement to keep our distance settled, I approached the prisoners and removed Hans G's gag.

There was something I wanted to know.

"I have a question."

"Yes? Oh, yes! A-anything!"

"How did the dwarf find out you were an evil spirit?"

"... What?"

Hans G looked at me as though the question was strange. Still, rather than risk upsetting me, he obediently answered.

The truth was utterly unexpected.

"H-he was a P-Player too... No, an e-evil spirit."

The dwarf was from Earth too. That was how he'd recognized Hans G's identity just by watching his behavior.

"Tell me exactly what happened between you two."

I heard the details. Apart from his constant stammering, it wasn't a particularly long story.

During their night watch, the dwarf had contacted Hans G through a magic device. He had then revealed his identity by mentioning things only someone from Earth would know. Delighted, Hans G had admitted he was one too.

But it was a trap. The magic device the dwarf used recorded their conversation.

With that held over him, Hans G had accepted the dwarf's threatening proposal to make a big score after defeating the Guardian.

There had been carrots to go with the stick, too. Something about splitting the loot fairly and taking responsibility for bringing him to Noark if things went wrong.

"I-I refused. B-but then... M-mmph!"

He was clearly about to launch into pathetic excuses, so I ended the conversation and put his gag back in. I'd learned everything I wanted to know anyway.

'Four Players out of fifteen people? Seriously?'

The elf archer, Hans G, the dwarf, and me. It was ridiculous, but in the end, I was the winner.

... Though the final battle still remained.

On that note, I moved straight to the next item on the agenda, after turning on team voice chat first.

"I'd like your opinions."

"On what to do with these people?"

"Yes."

I wasn't putting it to a majority vote. Once I made a decision, all my teammates would follow it. But before that, I wanted to hear their thoughts.

"They attacked us! Of course we should kill them!"

"Hmm, I'm not sure, nyah. If we can clear the rupture ourselves, then killing them is obviously right, but..."

"Would they really cooperate properly?"

Most of their opinions were similar. They were hard to trust.

"As the saying goes, an ally you can't trust is more dangerous than an Ogre."

Even if we fought together, it would defeat the purpose if worrying about their betrayal kept us from fighting properly.

"Still, the ones from Noark are somewhat better."

"Better?"

"Once we leave the rupture, we'll never see them again, will we? If we promise to spare them, there's at least a chance they'd choose to bet on that."

Raven's gaze turned toward the elf archer and Hans G.

"But those two are different."

Evil spirits. Beings who, in a way, seemed even more wicked and disturbing than explorers from the underground city.

"That's right! The chieftain said so too! Kill evil spirits as soon as you find them!"

"Yeah... I didn't understand before, but after today, I definitely do, nyah. Why people say never to trust evil spirits..."

"They'll do anything to keep their identities hidden. It's wise to dispose of them when the opportunity presents itself. The fate of someone who trusted an evil spirit is right over there for us to see."

Every word felt like a dagger driven into my heart. What would they do if they discovered my identity? Would they look at me like that too?

"So what do you think, Mr. Jandel?"

Shaking off those pointless thoughts, I gave them my conclusion.

"I think it's better to kill them now."

I'd never had the slightest intention of letting them live. The only question was whether to kill them now or after defeating the Guardian.

I had already adapted splendidly to this world.

"Can we defeat the Guardian by ourselves?"

"We'll have to find a way."

That might sound reckless, but it wasn't entirely without foundation. For one thing, the blunt-weapon warrior was alive. That brought our fighting force up to six. There were bound to be more immediately useful items among the loot, like the Guard Corps' Symbol I'd just acquired.

Above all, if my prediction was right, we'd have another mage too.

"Then all we need to do now is find the doppelgänger."

"Yes. It'll be a while before another Stone of Truth appears, and since we've decided against working with them, we can just kill them all. If they're in a state equivalent to being offered to the altar, they'll be released later, right?"

"Turn off Voice Control."

After asking Raven to turn off our team voice chat spell, I approached the prisoners.

A silence that felt cold yet strangely heated.

"..."

Questioning eyes, filled with both hope and fear, focused on me.

Well, if they had any sense, they'd know our discussion was over and we'd reached a decision.

There was no need for a long speech.

"It won't hurt."

Probably.

"Mmph, mmph! Mmmph!!"

The prisoners, who had been waiting for me to speak, thrashed about and tried to say something, like flickering candles yearning for life.

Without hesitation, I swung my mace.

First was the priest of Carui at the very end of the line.

CRUNCH!

Next, the spellcaster.

CRUNCH!

Hans G.

CRUNCH!

And finally, the elf archer. I struck each head hard enough to kill instantly even if it housed the doppelgänger.

CRUNCH.

The entire process took barely five seconds. Those who had been thrashing more violently than anyone else fell impossibly quiet.

Four corpses lay with their mangled heads against the ground.

Looking at them, I had only one thought.

Good thing we'd gagged them.

"Mr. Jandel! How could you just smash them like that?!"

Huh?

"They may be made for monsters, but you could still break them!"

Oh...

But wasn't there something more important right now?

"You're calm."

"What? What do you..."

"Considering you're the only remaining doppelgänger suspect."

Nine people had resisted the verification magic. Of them, only Raven and I were still standing unharmed. But I'd been tested with the Stone of Truth, so I was out.

Had the situation finally dawned on her?

"Oh...!"

Raven's eyes widened as she shouted.

"It's not me! Why would I be the doppelgänger?! No, this can't be right...? There must be some mistake..."

So that was how she was going to play it.

"Raven is the doppelgänger. Everyone, get back!"

At my shout, the three standing beside Raven jumped back in alarm.

"I-I can't believe you were the doppelgänger... I never dreamed it, nyah."

"Give Aruru back!! She's a human and a mage! But she's still my precious teammate!!"

The melee sisters were utterly horrified.

And...

"I-it really isn't me. Believe me. When the Stone of Truth appears tomorrow, I'll use it right away to prove it! Please?"

"Trying to make us waste a Stone of Truth even when it's all over. What a cunning monster."

Mister Bear quietly raised his crossbow and took a defensive stance. Raven looked ready to burst into tears.

"N-no..."

So she could make a face like that too.

"I-I'm telling you, it's really not me!!!"

Come to think of it, I'd never heard her shout this loudly either.

'Now this... is a rare sight.'

It wasn't something I got to see often, so I was tempted to keep going... But she might actually cry if I pushed any further.

Time to end the joke.

"You're the only one left. If it isn't you, who could it possibly be?"

"W-well...!"

"Weren't you the one who said the doppelgänger would be released if its host died, even without being offered to the altar?"

Pretending to corner her, I slipped her a hint. I figured that would be enough for our mage to think of one possibility.

"M-maybe!! Someone could still be alive!! Doppelgängers are supposed to be good at playing dead!"

Those were the words I'd been waiting for.

"Someone could still be alive..."

"W-where are you going?"

Raven called out in confusion as I started walking.

I came to a halt before long, beside the unfortunate mage whose shoulder the dwarf had hacked apart—the spot where Parteian lay.

First, I bent down to check his pulse.

"... I-is he alive?"

"Be quiet a moment."

His heart wasn't beating. He wasn't breathing either.

TAP, TAP.

I stood up and kicked his wound.

"..."

Not a twitch. Hmm. Could he endure this much?

I took out a bottle of potion and poured it over him.

HISSSSSSS.

Bubbles seethed as the wound closed.

"SKREEEEEE—!!"

Right. Even you couldn't stand a potion.