Chapter 276 - Whirlpool (2)

The boundary between life and death.

Sometimes that line is drawn slowly, and sometimes in a split second. In the explorer profession, it was usually the latter. Most injuries could be healed with potions or Divine Power. Unless an injury killed you instantly or your entire team was wiped out, you generally survived.

Well, there were exceptions.

"Ugh, please wake up, nyah."

Situations where potions and Divine Power didn't work. Those happened sometimes.

Leor Wuerv Dwalki, the Outcast Team's mage.

As he approached his inevitable death, he had left his final words for those who would remain, and Misha and her companions had been forced to endure a profound sense of loss.

Of course, there was a clear difference between then and now.

"Please? Woman whose name I don't even know. Please... nyah."

This wasn't a precious companion, but a stranger. And unlike Dwalki, her death wasn't certain. There was still a chance she could pull through and survive.

At this crossroads between life and death, which path they took depended entirely on this red-haired woman—and on Misha.

"Oh, just wake up already, nyah!!"

Shouting out her frustration, Misha swung her sword fiercely at the monsters that had crawled up from the shore.

SLASH!

Enemies kept appearing no matter how many she cut down, stabbed, and cut down again. Misha was at her limit now. Unless she got out of here immediately, she might never see Bjorn again.

But carrying that woman on her back was impossible. Her injuries had healed somewhat and her breathing had finally steadied, but...

SLASH!

How was she supposed to carry her anywhere with monsters on every side? The woman at least needed to wake up and be able to follow on foot, however slowly, before Misha could clear a path.

"No, I'm seriously at my limit now... nyah!"

Misha shouted again, praying her urging would reach the woman's unconscious mind.

That was when it happened.

"You..."

The woman who had been lying there like a corpse opened her eyes.

"Y-you're awake, nyah! How do you feel? Can you move, nyah?"

Misha asked delightedly, but the woman merely murmured as though piecing together the situation in her head.

"I see. You've been protecting me all this time..."

"Yes! But I can't keep this up much longer, you know, nyah? Huh? We need to get somewhere safe right now, nyah. Can you manage, nyah?"

The answer came after a very brief pause.

"I can't move."

"Whaaat, nyah?"

"But I can deal with these monsters. Take the item I tell you out of my pouch."

Her voice was far too calm for someone on the verge of death. Misha stopped holding back the monsters and hurriedly retreated, opening the expanded pouch on the woman's belt. She took out the item the woman specified.

"A scroll? What on earth does this scroll do, nyah?"

"Proclamation: Destruction of Evil."

Misha was genuinely astonished. Not just a magic scroll, but one imbued with Divine Power? How had this woman obtained something so precious that they weren't even made anymore?

All sorts of questions swirled through her mind, but none of them mattered.

"Ugh, if you had something like this, you should've told me before passing out... nyah!"

Misha hurriedly tore the scroll, and a translucent barrier imbued with divine energy immediately blocked the monsters.

At long last, a moment to rest.

"Whew, now I can breathe, nyah. Hey, so what's your relationship with Bjorn, nyah?"

She hurried over to the woman and asked the question that had been bothering her. But...

"That barbarian and I..."

"... Yes? You and the barbarian, nyah?"

"..."

"... What? No, right? You're not sleeping, are you, nyah? Huh? Argh! Finish what you're saying before you go to sleep... nyah!!"

Misha found herself shaking the woman's shoulders, then remembered midway through that she was injured and stopped. Sighing, she sank to the ground.

Now that she wasn't fighting for her own life, worries about her scattered companions began flooding back.

"... Everyone's all right, aren't they, nyah?"

A powerful wind blew in from the shore. Cold, so humid it felt sticky, and laden with the salty smell of the sea.

WHOOOOOSH.

For some reason, she felt unusually uneasy today.

* * *

A battle where people crossed weapons to kill each other.

Injuries were common in battles like that, even when no one was at fault or had made a mistake. That was why explorers so easily fell prey to superstition.

They knew it themselves. Injuries in battle were inevitable, and sometimes their severity came down to luck.

"Mr. Jandel, Mr. Urigfried is...!"

What happened to Mister Bear today was much the same. The drake's claws had broken Patzran's sword as he fought on the front line. The broken blade had flown off and lodged in Mister Bear's body.

He hadn't made any mistake. Had he been more agile, he might have seen it and dodged, but that wasn't normally what people called a mistake.

It would be fairer to say he'd been unlucky.

"The blood...! It won't stop bleeding...!"

Some people survived a fall from the tenth floor thanks to a series of coincidences, while others lost their lives simply by slipping.

[Dungeon and Stone] was a game that faithfully replicated that unfair aspect of reality, and I'd found that deeply appealing.

Until I woke up in this body.

"Priestess! Hurry and heal him...!"

Anyway, the problem was where the blade had gone. It had missed his heart, but the sharp fragment had dug into his lung—and hadn't stopped there. It had gone straight through.

A penetrating wound, the kind that caused the heaviest bleeding. And an internal organ had been injured, at that.

「Lairin Ersina has cast [Healing].」

The priestess poured healing into him with the tiny amount of Divine Power she had left, but it was pointless.

「The target is currently designated as a [Dragon's Sacrifice].」

「All regeneration effects are negated.」

An active skill belonging to the Grade 5 monster, the drake. That damned summoner bitch had applied it the moment she saw Mister Bear's injury.

"Where are you looking, barbarian?"

Goddammit.

BOOM!

I wanted to rush over and check Mister Bear's injuries, but I didn't have that luxury. And the others were in the same boat.

"I'll watch Mr. Avman, so everyone else focus on fighting!"

Realizing there was nothing they could do for Mister Bear as he hovered on the brink of death, they had no choice but to leave him to Erwin and rejoin the battle.

But things weren't looking good.

"..."

The absence of the mage, Hans J, was already a crippling blow. Then Patzran, pushing himself to fill the gap, had lost his weapon. And misfortune had piled on top of that: a fragment of the broken sword had pierced Mister Bear, further reducing our fighting force.

"You said your name was Nevarche, right?"

"That's right..."

"Here, I'll give you back your bow. You fight too."

"... Are you sure?"

"You don't want to die here either, do you?"

Erwin took the drastic step of putting a weapon in Nevarche's hands, but even so, the situation remained unchanged.

"Let's go, Draggy! Just a little more!"

A Grade 5 drake. And on top of that, a summoner loaded with support Essences that strengthened her summon or provided ranged support.

No matter how I looked at it, this was an extremely difficult fight. At that point, it was practically the same as fighting a Grade 4 monster, while calling our condition a total shitshow didn't even begin to cover it.

Erwin was out of MP and Nature Power, and the priestess was burning through her Divine Power as fast as it recovered. Even Patzran, our frontliner, had lost his sword.

Adding one archer wasn't going to turn the battle around.

'Looks like I can't count on help from them.'

Bitter as it was, I had to admit it now. The situation had changed, so my strategy needed revising too. Originally, I'd planned to play it as safe as possible, identifying my opponent's Essences one by one and dragging the fight out, but...

'There's no time.'

Mister Bear wouldn't last long. I had to end this battle as quickly as possible and get the drake's skill dispelled.

And to do that...

'I'll have to give up what I have to.'

I'd need a little resolve.

What would I sacrifice, and what would I gain?

I'd already finished all my calculations. What about my opponent?

"Getting desperate now that your companion's down, barbarian!"

The bastard was grinning arrogantly as though he'd already won. What would he be willing to sacrifice to stop me?

'I'll find out soon enough.'

I kicked off the ground with a roar.

"Behellaaaaaaa!!!"

The usual rush of vitality didn't envelop my body the instant I shouted. Naturally—I didn't even have enough MP to use [Wild Outburst].

Still, the ancestral god's blessing would be with me. Our ancestral god cherished warriors who charged forward with wildness in their hearts.

Well, if not, never mind.

WHOOSH!

The moment the distance closed, he thrust his sword. It had happened plenty of times during this fight. He thrust, and I raised my shield to block. That alone used up my turn, and he'd stick his sword into my forearm or thigh before backing away.

That had been the pattern until a moment ago.

But...

'Yeah, not blocking that.'

Watching the sword thrust toward me, I swung my mace instead of raising my shield.

Now it was his turn to choose. Well? What would you do?

"...!"

Caught off guard by the sudden change in the fight, he withdrew his sword and hurriedly stepped back.

Come on, let's trade a blow each like men.

'Knew you'd do that.'

I'd expected that, so the instant he backed away, I kicked off the ground and changed direction—toward the drake carrying the summoner.

'Leap.'

I used [Leap], spending the MP that had recovered just enough for a single use.

THOOOM!

A cloud of dust spread from where I landed. Since I wasn't using [Gigantification], the special terrain effect, Rebound, didn't activate.

That wasn't important.

[Grrk?]

The drake opened its jaws at the sight of me emerging from across the forest.

Your breath stinks, bastard.

THWACK!

The instant our eyes met, I slammed my mace into its snout.

[Gwaaagh!]

Its head snapped sideways, but for a creature classified as a medium-to-large monster, it wasn't a meaningful blow.

So what? My target all along was the woman riding it, glaring at me in irritation.

"Oh, seriously! You couldn't even stop this one guy?!"

I kicked off the ground again, springing upward.

And at that moment—

SHUNK.

A sword plunged into my back. No need to look. It was that same bastard.

Whew. Closed that distance already?

"What took you so long?!"

Seeing me go rigid as the sword pierced my lung, the summoner shouted petulantly.

Her reaction only puzzled me.

"Why?"

Why did she think I couldn't move? It wasn't like there was a hole in my throat.

I slid a step forward with the sword still in me.

At the same time—

WHOOOOSH!

I brought my mace crashing down from above, aiming for the crown of that incessantly whining summoner's head.

SHUNK!

My body flinched as the sword was pulled from my back, but my arm didn't stop.

In that split second, though—

WHOOSH.

He thrust the sword he'd withdrawn once more.

SHUNK!

It pierced the elbow of my mace arm. Not only my skin but the joint itself was smashed, loosening my grip.

Bastard was really showing off how much experience he had fighting people.

Well, I supposed that went for both of us.

'Flesh Explosion.'

I readily gave up the arm that was useless anyway.

BOOM!

He'd noticed [Acidic Bodily Fluid] during our fight, but had he not expected my body to explode?

SIZZLE!

"Aaaaargh!!"

Covered in my blood and flesh, he groaned and staggered backward.

This was why the Corpse Golem Essence was good. It was rare, so hardly anyone knew about it. And using HP instead of MP as its cost was pretty useful at times like this.

CLATTER.

Just then, the mace I'd been holding fell and rolled across the ground.

It didn't matter. Even if it wasn't as good as a mace, a shield was an excellent weapon too.

THWACK!

Struck by my shield, the summoner shrieked and fell out of the saddle, rolling across the ground. One of her arms was bent at an unnatural angle.

A bit of a shame. A blow to the head could have killed her instantly. The drake had thrashed at precisely the wrong moment, keeping me from smashing her dainty little skull.

'... I'll just do it again.'

Taking a lesson from the barbarian who fell seven times and smiled eight, I jumped off the drake's back.

But what was this now?

WHOOSH!

My falling body suddenly shot upward. The drake had grabbed the back of my neck in its jaws and flung me away.

The summoner rapidly receded from view, but it wasn't all bad.

SHUNK!

Patzran had taken advantage of the drake's sweeping movement to drive his broken sword into its chest.

[KIEEEEEEEEK!!]

Had he hit its heart?

The drake thrashed violently, then dissolved into light. Its summoning had finally been canceled.

The status effect should have ended too, which meant Mister Bear could now be healed with Divine Power.

That was the first thing I'd wanted accomplished, at least.

BOOM!

Thinking that as I crashed into the ground, I hurriedly hauled myself upright.

It happened in that instant.

SHING!

A gleaming sword was leveled at my throat.

"You monster."

Whatever glowing praise he offered, I didn't have the strength to block or dodge that sword.

Still, for the first time in a while, there was a silver lining. Right now, he couldn't kill me.

"Everyone, stop! Unless you want to see him die!"

He shouted to my companions, who in response leveled their weapons at the unconscious summoner's throat.

"You're the one who should lower that sword, unless you want to see this woman die."

It was almost like a hostage exchange. As that strange silence settled over us...

Footsteps sounded, and two women emerged from the forest.

"B-Bjorn...?! Wh-what's going on, nyah?!"

One was Misha, whom we'd searched so desperately for.

"You look to be in quite a predicament, barbarian."

The other was Amelia Reinweils.

Why were these two together? What on earth had happened?

All sorts of questions surged up at once, but I focused on just one thing. Was their arrival a favorable development or not?

"Amelia Reinweils. So you survived after all."

The man spoke to Amelia, keeping his sword at my throat.

"All the better. Help us now."

"If you're saying that to me after what you did, you must have a reason."

"Of course. We've hidden that item somewhere on this island. If we die here, it'll be lost forever. Is that truly what you want?"

Amelia's expression tightened at his words. Having met this woman several times already, I recognized it at once.

'Motherfucker.'

That was the face she made when weighing her options. Our fate would probably depend on her choice. Unable even to speak, I stared at Amelia.

"Belverson Erfner. Do you know the two ways to make someone angry?"

"... What?"

The swordsman gave a dumbfounded response to the utterly incongruous question. Regardless, Amelia continued.

"The first is to stop talking halfway through. Unfortunately, I never heard the second. But if I had to guess..."

"... Guess?"

The swordsman took the bait, unable to suppress his curiosity. And I was no different.

Did this woman know the answer?

"..."

All attention focused on her in the peculiar silence. Without so much as blinking, Amelia continued.

"It is..."

"..."

"To hit them from behind while you're talking."

Ah.

TAP-TAP.

The moment Amelia finished speaking, I heard movement behind me. What it was was obvious.

「Amelia Reinweils has cast [Autoreproduction].」

Belatedly realizing what was happening, the swordsman shoved me aside and turned around.

But...

「Amelia Reinweils has cast [Asura Kick].」

It was already too late.

KABOOM!!

Amelia's clone appeared behind him and drove a kick into his temple.

THUD.

The swordsman collapsed to the ground, his eyes unfocused, and mumbled.

"Wh... why...? That... item, to you..."

"Yes. It's what I've wanted my entire life."

"Then why..."

Amelia had already approached. She pressed her foot down on the swordsman's head and said,

"It doesn't matter even if you really did hide it. I can get it out of that bitch of a younger sister of yours. There's no way she'll withstand interrogation."

She really was a very rational woman.