“Monsters!? Nagumo, we’ll handle this, you just sit there and watch!”
“I guess this is your first labyrinth battle and all.”
Kouki, Suzu, and Shizuku all unsheathed their weapons. Honestly, Hajime thought they were letting their desire to prove themselves get the better of them, but if he babied them through the whole labyrinth there would be no point in bringing them here. So he just shrugged his shoulders and settled in to watch. This would be Kouki and the others’ first time fighting monsters from the true part of a labyrinth. Shizuku and Suzu both nervously readied themselves behind Kouki.
“This is the sound of wings! Everyone, please be careful! Flying monsters in the sea of trees are especially agile!”
“Good luck, Shizuku-chan, Suzu-chan!”
Shea gave them some helpful advice, while Kaori cheered them on. The swarm of monsters flitted between the gaps in the trees and charged the party.
“Eeek, these things are disgusting!” Suzu screamed.
Normally, she would have erected a barrier right away to protect her comrades, but the monsters attacking them were so disgusting on a biological level that Suzu couldn’t help but shrink back. The closest earth insect they resembled was bees, but they were the size of a human baby, and possessed hundreds of wriggling legs, much like a centipede. Their mouths resembled those of spiders, and they had seven composite eyes each. They had the same alternating yellow and black stripes over their bodies that honeybees did, and their stingers were coated in a toxic green liquid.
Hajime could see why one would be disgusted by such a gruesome creature.
“Suzu, keep it together!” Kouki yelled. Then, he used Supersonic Step to close the distance between him and Suzu, slashing down the bee-thing heading for her. However, the bee-thing easily dodged Kouki’s swing. As Shea had warned them, the insects were unbelievably quick. As it dodged out of the way, some of its green liquid flew off its stinger and splattered over Suzu’s face. She almost fainted then and there. Seeing an opportunity, the bee pointed its stinger at Suzu and rushed forward.
“I won’t lose in speed!”
Shizuku leaped forward and sliced through the bee-thing with her black katana.
“Suzu!”
“S-Sacred Shields!” Suzu finally sprang into action. She used her barriers to split the swarm of monsters in two, then created an opening to lead them down the path she wanted. Despite the tears in her eyes, she cast faster than she ever had before. She didn’t forget to cast healing magic on herself either. The green liquid clinging to her face vanished in a puff of light. Shizuku and Kouki then began cutting down their enemies, making sure to cover each other’s blind spots.
“Celestial Flash!”
The bee-things parted to either side, easily dodging Kouki’s favorite attack.
“Damn bugs, stop flitting around!” Kouki cursed. Their unbelievable agility made it seem like they were ignoring the laws of physics. The bugs then darted to either side of Kouki and launched a machine-gun barrage of poisoned stingers. They grew new ones after each one was shot out, so they could continue firing without pause.
“Sacred Shields, Sacred Shields, Sacred Shields!”
Thanks to Suzu’s timely reaction, Kouki was spared being skewered. Meanwhile, Shizuku used her speed to her advantage and cut right through the bee-things’ coordinated attack. After she’d thrown them off-balance, Kouki launched another powerful assault. However, he was only able to cut down a few of them. As they were currently beset by hundreds of monsters, they were a long way away from achieving victory. Compared to the monsters they’d faced so far, these bee-things were both stronger and more cunning.
“Shit, these guys are strong as those monsters the demons brought with them!” Kouki cursed again.
“Isn’t it the other way around? The demons’ monsters are probably based off of these,” Hajime replied casually.
Kouki frantically swung his sword as he thought back to the nightmare they’d faced in the Great Orcus Labyrinth. They were already being pushed hard right from the outset. Seeing one of the bee-things about to skewer Kouki from behind, Hajime nonchalantly drew Donner and shot it down.
Kouki and the others had been all gung-ho about winning this on their own, but honestly, these monsters were beyond their capability to handle. In fact, they were being pressured so hard that a detachment of bee-things had broken off and started heading toward Hajime, Shea, and Kaori. The three of them easily struck down anything that got close.
“Dodge all you want, it won’t help!” With each swing of her hammer, Shea unleashed shockwaves that pulverized all the monsters in the vicinity.
“I think I’m getting the hang of this now!” Kaori had gotten much more accurate with her homing feathers as well. No matter how the bee-things tried to dodge, the feathers continued chasing them until they hit their mark. Kaori’s growth was so fast that each barrage ended up more accurate than the last. Kouki grit his teeth in frustration as he watched the trio out of the corner of his eye.
“Kouki-kun, this isn’t looking good! We’re getting overrun!” Tears streamed down Suzu’s face. She replaced her barriers each time one was destroyed, but keeping it up was draining her mana at a prodigious rate.
The intermediate-level light spell Sacred Shields was fundamentally a spell that focused on using multiple weak barriers instead of a single strong one, so it wasn’t too surprising that they were being destroyed so fast.
Still, Suzu was a Barrier Master. The Sacred Shields she deployed were on a different level than most normal ones. Regular monsters would need a few solid attacks to break one. Yet these bee-things were tearing through them like they were made of paper. Suzu was forced to recast her spells faster than ever before.
As time passed, Suzu’s exhaustion caused her concentration to slip, and the bee-things began to close in. Their gradual defeat was affecting Suzu on a psychological level as well.
Even Shizuku’s expression grew grim. As a fighter who relied on speed over strength, she was the best-suited to fight these bees. Indeed, her No Tempo was helping her shred the bees with ease. However, the true terror of these monsters lay in their number. While Shizuku could easily take them one-on-one, she lacked the ability to destroy large crowds at once. Which meant that they were getting pushed back. Seeing Shizuku and Suzu driven into a corner made Kouki hasty, and he charged into the group of bees alone.
“My will is a blade! Light, heed my call and sunder my foes! Radiant Slash!”
White light swirled around Kouki’s sword. It then melded into his weapon and extended a full two meters from the tip of his blade. With his sword transformed into a greatsword, Kouki spun in a circle. Light trailed behind his blade as he spun, and he bisected the group of bee-things surrounding him. However, the cost for his temporary victory was high. He’d rushed into the thick of the monsters and used an attack that left him wide-open. The remaining monsters tackled him one after another.
“Ngh, you little!”
Kouki tried to back off, but the bee-things swarmed him. Their mandibles clacked loudly as they tried to stab him with their stingers. Fortunately, Kouki’s armor protected him, and the needles slid off harmlessly.
After a difficult struggle, Kouki was able to skewer the monsters dog-piling him and broke free. However, the remaining bee-things weren’t going to give him time to get back on his feet. Another group swarmed him, determined to keep him pinned to the floor.
“Kouki!”
“Uwooooooooooooh!” He had no time to reassure Shizuku. Instead, he dropped to one knee and, with a mighty roar, swung his sword. Unfortunately, that was as far as he’d get to go. One of the bee-things ducked underneath his slash and latched onto his back. It brought its face close and tried to bite through Kouki’s neck.
“Wha—!?” Kouki words were cut short. Before it could kill him though, a red streak shot past, blowing its head clean off.
Kouki had no time to process what had happened. Neck still stinging, he hurriedl
y ripped off the remaining bee-things clinging to him. He might barely have escaped death this time, but their situation was dire. Another couple hundred bee-things joined the group already fighting.
Kouki’s expression stiffened. They were being utterly overwhelmed. Just then, he heard a calm voice next to his ear.
“Don’t move, Amanogawa.”
“Wha?”
A barrage of red streaks filled the air. It was as if a meteor shower had suddenly passed them by. Seconds later, a series of dull explosions sounded in the distance. After each explosion, another six streaks of light shot past. It was as if the bee-things were beset by a horde of crimson spears. Each streak of light shot through a monster without fail. This was one of Hajime’s gun-kata skills, Ultra-Fast Quick Draw. He fired so fast that each round of six bullets had only one gunshot noise accompanying it. Furthermore, he’d perfectly calculated all the angles of his shots, so that occasionally his bullets ran into each other and ricocheted off to hit other monsters with perfect accuracy as well.
Incidentally, that happened to be another one of Hajime’s gun-kata skills, Polygon Rebound. To an observer, it looked almost like the enemies were themselves willingly jumping into the bullets’ paths. Normally, there would be a slight delay every time he reloaded, but because he teleported the bullets right above the cylinder and reloaded by spinning it rapidly, it took less than a second. Plus, Donner and Schlag would always be aiming in different directions and shooting down separate foes.
His skill with guns was practically godlike. In less than ten seconds, the hundreds of monsters lay dead. Kouki and the others watched, dumbfounded, as Hajime casually holstered Donner and Schlag, and walked over to the remnants of the bee-things. After examining them for a bit, he dropped a bombshell of a statement.
“Tch. Doesn’t look like I’ll get much for eating these...”
“E-Eating!? Nagumo-kun, you plan on eating these creatures? Are you serious?” Shizuku was shocked out of her reverie. She pulled a face and backed a few steps away from him.
“Did I not tell you guys? If I eat a monster stronger than me, I can learn whatever unique magic it had. Oh, but don’t try it yourselves. You’ll die for sure.”
The only way to survive eating monster flesh was to have the legendary Ambrosia on hand, and the willpower to stay sane after experiencing having your body destroyed and remade hundreds of times. Hajime’s supply of Ambrosia had dwindled to almost nothing now, and restoration magic didn’t heal someone from their injuries, it returned them to a previous state, meaning it was useless in this case.
Kaori’s strongest healing spells might be enough for someone to eat it and survive, but it was still possible she wouldn’t be able to regenerate their body before it was destroyed completely. Hence why Hajime didn’t recommend it. For someone like Hajime, who’d already had his body transformed, regular healing spells were enough to keep him going after eating monster meat.
“Don’t worry, we don’t want to. But the more I hear about you, the crazier it all sounds...” Shizuku muttered, a troubled expression on her face.
While Hajime was reliable, the way he’d gained his strength sounded so painful that Shizuku couldn’t find it in herself to be happy about it. If anything, she felt more pity than awe.
Hajime just shrugged his shoulders. This time, it was Suzu who asked him a question. Like Shizuku, she looked somewhat disgusted.
“B-But then, why won’t you eat this one? I mean, I’m glad I don’t have to see you cooking this disgusting thing, but...”
“Like I said, it has to be a monster stronger than me. These guys are too weak to get anything out of.”
“I see. So these monsters are just small fry to you, Nagumo-kun. I get it now, ahahaha.”
“Suzu, I get what you’re feeling, but please come back to us. Don’t break over just this.”
Shizuku sighed and brought Suzu back to her senses.
“.....” Kouki looked down at the corpses scattered across the ground and curled his hands into fists. These monsters had nearly killed the three of them, and Hajime had single-handedly wiped them all out like they were nothing. Whether he liked it or not, he was forced to accept the difference in strength between them.
Though he kept a straight face, the inside of his heart was filled with negative emotions. Hajime noticed Kouki was just standing there and turned back to him.
“Amanogawa.”
“Wh- What?”
“For now, just focus on finding your friend. You can worry about everything else after you’ve done everything you can.”
“You don’t need to tell me. I know already.”
Though his tone was snappy, Kouki still took Hajime’s words to heart. With a weary sigh, he braced himself and considered where Ryutarou might have gone. After observing him for a few more seconds, Hajime shook his head and turned back to the monsters.
He’d already guessed what was going through Kouki’s mind right now. Jealousy toward Hajime’s strength, and mixed feelings of inferiority and impatience. All feelings that Hajime had once felt himself.
It was rather ironic that Kouki, the boy who had everything, would feel that way toward Hajime of all people. Thanks to his personality, Hajime had been able to overcome those emotions himself in the past. But he wondered if Kouki, who’d never experienced being inferior to others before, would be able to master himself as easily.
Well, I guess it’s not my problem. Hajime decided to just ignore Kouki’s issues. Besides, the fact that he’d told Kouki to focus on Ryutarou showed that he was being more considerate than he used to. For the monster of the abyss, even that slight concern was an improvement.
“Hajime-san, I got rid of the monsters up ahead.”
“All done here, too.”
Shea and Kaori, who’d gone off to eliminate the remaining monsters in the area, returned triumphantly.
“Perfect. Let’s get going, then. Yue and Tio can handle themselves, but I’d still like to meet up with them as soon as possible. As for Sakagami... Well, let’s hope his luck holds out.”
“Hey, don’t you think you should care a little more about Ryutarou? I mean, I can get why you’d be more worried about your girlfriend, but...”
Shizuku gave Hajime a complicated look, while Kouki just glared at him. But they said nothing more, and the group set off in search of their missing comrades.
After another two hours or so of walking, the entire forest was suddenly dyed red. The air trembled, the earth shook, and great gouts of hellfire started consuming the forest. Earthquakes followed one after another, and it truly seemed like the end of the world.
The screams that Hajime and the others heard in the distance were likely the other monsters in this forest burning to death. Their cries were a mixture of fear and panic. And at the same time—
“Take that, you bastards! Burn with the whole goddamn forest!”
The owner of the crude voice that rang out was naturally none other than Hajime.
Yes, because he was the one carpet bombing the forest. He mercilessly fired rockets from the Orkans he held in both hands. Something had clearly gotten him riled up.
“U-Umm, Hajime-san, don’t you think that’s enough?”
“Y-Yeah, Hajime-kun. I’m sure all the monsters are dead by now...”
Shea and Kaori timidly tried to stop him as they watched him fire hundreds of missiles and use his Cross Bits to unleash a truckload of cluster bombs on the ground below. Hajime turned to them.
“Hm?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
“We’re sorry for bothering you.”
The moment they saw his bloodshot eyes, the two of them hurriedly backed off.
“Aww... I’m scared. Shizushizu, stop hiiim.”
“You’re asking for too much, Suzu. I don’t want to die just yet. Besides, I don’t blame him for being angry...”
Suzu hid behind Shizuku, tears in her eyes. In response, Shizuku just sighed and patted Suzu’s head to calm her down
. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that Kouki was still squatting on the ground and covering his eyes with his hands.
“My eyeeeeees! Damn you, Nagumo! What the hell was that for!?”
His current appearance resembled that of a certain colonel who loses his sight near the end of a certain series. Incidentally, the one who’d poked him in the eyes was Hajime.
As for why Hajime had nearly left Kouki blind and started burning down the forest in a crazed frenzy— The answer had to do with the monkey-like monsters he’d encountered a few minutes prior. They’d been armed with stone knives and clubs, and had used their superior dexterity to leap between the trees and run circles around Kouki, Suzu, and Shizuku. Like the bee-things, they hadn’t been any match for Hajime and the others, and they’d easily dispatched any monsters foolish enough to attack them.
The remaining monkeys had been scared off by that and had changed tactics. Unfortunately, that crude intelligence of theirs became their downfall. In an attempt to outsmart Hajime’s trio, they made a most unwise choice. Their unique magic was the same as the rust slimes Hajime had killed before, mimicry. And they’d possessed same memories of Hajime and his comrades that the slimes had. With their limited knowledge, they’d decided to transform into the person they thought would most rattle Hajime’s psyche... Yue.
One of them had transformed into a beaten, disheveled Yue, and the other monkey monsters had dragged her fake out for Hajime to see. As with the slimes, the fake Yue’s appearance looked every bit like the real thing. But of course, Hajime was still able to tell with just a glance that the Yue they’d brought out was not the real Yue.
That having been said, the things they’d done to even a fake Yue were not something Hajime was willing to forgive. Not one bit. First, he’d used Supersonic Step to run over to Kouki and blind him. Since the fake Yue had looked like the real thing, he hadn’t wanted to let any other guys see her in such tattered, revealing clothes.
At that point, Hajime was already on the verge of snapping, but the monkeys hadn’t stopped there. Instead, they sneered and started pummeling the fake Yue with their clubs. It was then that she looked up at Hajime and begged, “Save me, Hajime...” Everyone present heard the sound of his reason crumbling when those words were uttered.
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 8 Page 9