Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 8

by Ryo Shirakome

  “You won’t get past me that easily.”

  As these smoke balls had been compressed, they possessed more force than the usual smoke clouds released by the human-shaped cockroaches. In seconds, Hajime’s shield had started to erode from the constant barrage. Seeing as he wasn’t moving, the cockroaches rushed forward to swarm him. But just as they reached the pair—

  “Asura.”

  A wall of immense pressure slammed down on the cockroaches. A sheet of pure gravity was crushing them from above. Looking up, the cockroaches only now realized that Yue was floating high above them. The shimmering portal behind and below Hajime explained how she’d gotten up there when she’d been standing next to Hajime just a second ago. The wave of pressure bore down on Hajime as well, and he let the force carry him downward, toward the still-open portal. He returned his shield to his Treasure Trove and warped out to safety while the cockroaches continued being pushed toward the ground.

  The reason Hajime had chosen not to dodge and had used his shield instead had been to hide the portal from the cockroaches. It had been a strategic move to give them the high ground advantage. Now it was the cockroaches who were below Hajime and Yue. And this time it was Hajime’s turn to bombard the cockroaches with attacks.

  He brought out 50 Cross Bits and fired a torrent of explosive slugs. The only way he could control so many at once was to activate Riftwalk and focus only on attacking and not maneuvering.

  Crimson flowers bloomed in the dark pit below. However, the superpowered cockroaches had more than enough mobility to escape the barrage of hellfire with most of their group intact. That wasn’t to say they’d come out completely unscathed though. Seven of the monsters had been knocked out of the air by Hajime’s previous barrage. Of the 43 still in fighting condition, quite a few had taken serious injuries.

  In retaliation, the remaining cockroaches flew upward in a line, a wall of corrosive smoke deployed in front of them.

  “Heavensfall.”

  Ominous black spheres swirled around Yue like satellites. Their superdense gravity fields absorbed the wall of black smoke, preventing it from reaching its intended targets. Three cockroaches rushed toward Yue, intent on taking out her spheres. At the same time, three streaks of red light shot at Yue. She waved her finger like a conductor’s baton, and her spheres bent the trajectory of Hajime’s bullets so that they slammed into the three cockroaches instead.

  “Fireball.”

  50 fireballs winked into existence. They glowed pale blue and were all compressed to the size of Hajime’s bullets. Yue had taken the strongest fire spell, Azure Blaze, partitioned it, and created her own spell with far more wide-area destructive might. Any normal wizard would have been shocked speechless by such a godlike display of skill. Naturally, Yue had given this new spell the same name as one of the most basic fire spells on purpose.

  She snapped her fingers, and all 50 fireballs rushed toward Hajime. He put away his Cross Bits and charged Yue. Then, he used Aerodynamic to bring himself right in front of the barrage of fireballs and unleashed a barrage of chakrams to counter it. Half of them headed for the fireballs while the other half went in a completely different direction.

  As planned, the fireballs sped through the chakrams’ portals and slammed into the cockroaches flying at Yue from three sides. Two of the cockroaches managed to barely dodge out of the way, but the last one was too close to Yue’s gravity field to maneuver properly and ended up taking a direct hit.

  Hajime then weaved through the remaining fireballs his chakrams didn’t catch, and they barreled into the cockroaches who had been sneaking up on him from behind. He paid no heed to the enemies he shot down and continued charging forward, flying right past Yue and planted a fist into one of the cockroaches still closing in on her. And after that, he activated his artificial arm’s oscillation and sent out magical shockwaves from his fist. His punch blew straight through the cockroach’s defenses and pulverized it before its smoke could start to rot his arm.

  Another cockroach tried to attack him from the left while his arm was still outstretched. Its four arms moved so fast that for a moment it looked like a 100-armed Buddha. Hajime drew Donner with his free right arm and shot at the cockroach from underneath his left. It used its superhuman speed to narrowly roll out of the way. The moment its attack was halted, Hajime turned his attention to the cockroach coming from the right.

  Meanwhile, Yue looked down at the cockroach Hajime had left behind, and shot a flurry of golden sparks at it. It was in the middle of attempting a counterattack when the sparks landed on its forehead. A second later there was a deafening boom, and electricity enveloped every inch of the cockroach. The high-voltage blast sent the monster’s head flying before it even had a chance to scream. The other monster on Hajime’s right was too surprised by the fact that he was ignoring the pincer attack and going straight for it that it failed to dodge Hajime’s point-blank barrage in time and was ripped to shreds.

  “What happened to your dragons?”

  “These enemies are too fast for large attacks. Surely even a moron like you can figure that out.”

  Another swarm of cockroaches charged the pair from above. Hajime and Yue dashed off in opposite directions, and the swarm passed harmlessly between them. Yue then held them in place with a gravity sphere, and Hajime shot them all down.

  “You’ve already split up your other spells, why not just summon a thousand small dragons instead?”

  “Because it’s not efficient. Just how stupid can you get? Do you want me to kill you?”

  The two of them glared daggers at each other while they effortlessly dispatched the monsters behind them.

  “If that’s not efficient, then there’s gotta be some other spell that is, right?”

  “So what if there is?”

  “Hurry up and use it, then!”

  Four sickle-shaped arms bore down on Hajime as he yelled at Yue. He blocked them with Donner, Schlag, and two of his Cross Bits, using Diamond Skin on his weapons to keep them from rotting. Yue then flipped around in midair and shot a fireball through the gap between his legs. The cockroach tried to flee to safety, but Hajime instantly put Schlag in his Treasure Trove and grabbed one of its arms with his prosthetic, holding it in place. It screamed in pain as fireballs incinerated it from head to toe.

  Hajime didn’t even bother to watch it die and turned his attention behind him. A few well-placed shots from Donner shot down the cockroach attempting to tackle Yue.

  “I’m working on it. It’s not as easy as it sounds.”

  Yue scoffed as she flipped back around and entrusted her rear to Hajime. The reason Yue hadn’t used any large-scale spells since defeating the first cockroach was because she’d been focusing her attention on constructing a new one. As she surveyed the battlefield Yue spotted another cockroach constructing another magic circle a safe distance away. Her mage’s instincts were telling her whatever that spell was, it was a bad idea to let the cockroach finish it.

  Meanwhile, Hajime had to deal with a flood of cockroaches who were all attacking out of formation. They shot out smoke balls at random, making their attacks difficult to predict.

  Yue needed more precision, while Hajime needed more destructive power. The moment they realized that, Yue and Hajime ignored the threat in front of them and swapped places. No signal passed between them, but their movements were so casual, it was like they weren’t at all concerned about the enemies at their back.

  They both trusted each other to handle the mess they’d left behind. Once they’d completed their turn, they once again pressed their backs against each other and spoke simultaneously.

  “Like I’ll let you.”

  “Not happening.”

  The two of them were in their element now. Every spell possessed a core, and if that core was destroyed, the spell unraveled. Normally that core was invisible, but Hajime’s Demon Eye could see it clearly. And so, his bullet flew true, striking down the cockroach’s spell’s core with pinpoint accura
cy.

  On the other hand, Yue created another swirling sphere of dark energy. It swirled around her like the others, but this one sucked in all of the nearby cockroaches. This wasn’t a Heavensfall, but a Spatial Severance. The cockroaches’ attempt to scatter was thwarted, and they were all sucked into Yue’s sphere of death.

  “Looks like we’ve only got 30 or so left.”

  Realizing they were at a disadvantage, the cockroaches put some distance between Yue and Hajime and themselves. They started circling around the pair, seeking an opening. Hajime tapped Donner impatiently against his shoulder and turned to Yue.

  “So, Yue, how long’s that spell of yours going to take?”

  “Mmm... If you can protect me the whole time, Hajime, 20 seconds.”

  Hajime grinned as he noted the change in her tone.

  “Looks like the spell’s worn off.”

  “Yeah... Is it gone for you too?”

  “You bet. I don’t hate you now, just think you’re an annoying little brat.”

  “How mean... Hic...”

  “Hey, what’s with that reaction!?” Hajime had expected her to throw a quip back, so he grew flustered when she started crying. So flustered that he committed one of the cardinal sins of battle and took his eyes off the enemy. But when he turned to her, he found Yue grinning.

  “Hehe, you’re getting so worked up.”

  “......”

  He hadn’t actually hurt her feelings, she’d just been messing with him. Hajime knew he should be angry, but he couldn’t find it in himself to get mad. The playful, joyous look Yue gave him was too precious. He felt his heart start to pound, but he focused his attention back on the fight at hand.

  “Alright I’ll cover you, so get that spell ready.”

  “Okay...”

  Hajime sighed, irritated at himself for letting Yue lead him around by the nose so easily.

  At his signal, Yue closed her eyes, the other action that should normally never be done in a battle. Hajime could tell she was concentrating intensely. Which meant that she’d entrusted her life entirely to him. The last traces of negative emotions still lingering in his mind were washed away. The darkness that had shrouded his heart was swept away, and light took its place.

  At the same time, the cockroaches decided on their next plan of attack. A few of them remained at a distance, while the rest rushed Hajime and Yue. Tornadoes and spheres of black smoke shot out of their mandibles, threatening to engulf the pair.

  “I won’t let you bastards anywhere near Yue. Limit Break, final derivative skill, Overload.”

  A pillar of crimson mana shot out of Hajime, reaching all the way up to the ceiling. For as long as Overload was active, his stats were multiplied by five. Mana surged from his body in waves, sending ripples of power across the room. He’d enhanced the mana unleashed when he activated Overload with shockwave properties, so those ripples held actual might behind them. As they spread out, they blew away the barrage of black smoke.

  Even someone with as much mana as Hajime could only keep Overload activated for a limited amount of time. And once that time limit ended, he’d be left so exhausted he could hardly move. However, he wasn’t the least bit worried. After all, his partner had told him twenty seconds was all she needed to finish her spell. Hajime trusted her to end the battle, so he had no reason to think any more than twenty seconds ahead.

  All he needed to focus on was protecting Yue until she was ready, which was why he holstered Donner and Schlag, then pulled out two Metzeleis. He held one in each hand, and let the gatling guns rip. Their barrels spun into action, each gun spitting out 12000 bullets a minute. The bullets traveled so fast they looked like spears of crimson light. The remaining cockroaches scattered. Considering their speed, a gatling gun’s imprecise barrage shouldn’t have been too difficult to dodge.

  “Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!?”

  However, the stream of bullets ricocheted off each other, changing trajectories in mid-air, and accurately striking down the fleeing cockroaches. Hajime had activated Riftwalk in combination with Overload, heightening his senses to unparalleled levels. As he was now, he could snipe even with a gatling gun.

  A few of the remaining cockroaches circled behind Hajime, hoping to attack from his blind spot. But even there they were met by 14 of Hajime’s Cross Bits, each firing with perfect accuracy. In front of them lay a storm of bullets, while behind them lay an army of autonomous weapons. Hajime had created a veritable fortress around Yue. None of the cockroaches could hope to get close. However, that didn’t pose too much of a problem to them. After all, the group attacking Hajime and Yue was just a diversion.

  Just then, the group that had been hidden safely behind the Grand Tree let out a piercing wail. Countless wings beat along the walls, creating a cacophony so loud not even the roar of Hajime’s Metzeleis could drown it out. From the sound of it, the human-shaped cockroaches had summoned forth every cockroach within the labyrinth.

  “Of course you’d pull something like this out at the end.”

  Now that the emotion reversing magic was wearing off, Hajime felt nothing but disgust at the sound of billions of cockroaches rushing forward. His lips twitched, and he muttered, “Is this supposed to be some kind of warning? Like there’s as many apostles as there are bugs?”

  Before he could think any further, the walls of their subterranean cavern erupted. Or at least, it seemed like they did. The cockroaches clinging to every inch of the walls shot outward, making it seem as though the room itself was shrinking. The mass of cockroaches blotted out the walls, the ceiling, and even the Grand Tree. Hajime couldn’t even see Shea and the others, so he had no way of knowing what had happened to them.

  From the outside, it appeared as though a massive, writhing, black sphere had trapped Hajime and Yue. They were inside a living cage. Instinctively, Hajime could tell this was a message from the Liberator who’d created this labyrinth.

  “Don’t fight apostles head-on. Take out their source, or you’ll find yourself overwhelmed.” That was what the message seemed to be.

  “So you’re telling me there’s some kinda ‘source’ where all these things are coming from? And that’s what I gotta destroy?”

  At the very least, that seemed to be the logical conclusion. Haltina appeared to be saying that the only way to win against such numbers and complete this trial was to discover the location of the cockroaches’ source and destroy it. However—

  “I don’t see why I have to play by your rules.”

  Hajime dashed to Yue’s side and hugged her from behind. He then gathered his Cross Bits around him and created a triple-layered barrier to protect the two of them.

  “Just five seconds left.”

  An instant later, the cockroach prison contracted around them with a sickening crunch. There were so many cockroaches that combined they were able to exert more pressure than an entire ocean. Even the hardest metal couldn’t survive in such harsh conditions. The remaining twenty-odd human-shaped cockroaches watched impassively from outside the cage.

  After a few minutes, one of them flew forward. The mini-cockroaches parted to either side, creating a tunnel for the human-shaped one to travel through. It advanced through the tunnel slowly, until finally, it arrived at the center where it had expected to find two crushed people... so what it saw came as a surprise.

  “Kiii?” With a confused cry, it drew closer to the pale blue light shining at the end of the tunnel. The light was faint and flickering, like that of a will o’ the wisp, yet at the same time as clear as a pure blue sky.

  A second later, it instinctively backpedaled away from the light. It ignored its duty as a labyrinth guardian and its murderous impulses as a monster, choosing to flee as fast as it could. Something primal and instinctive inside of it was telling it that blue light was dangerous. Fear swept across the monster in waves. The final bit of the tunnel slid away to reveal Hajime and Yue.

  Two of the three barriers Hajime put up had been destroyed. The last remainin
g one had been compacted by the pressure, and Hajime had been forced to support it with his body to keep it from crushing the two of them. The blood vessels in his eyes had burst, giving them a bloodshot look, and blood dripped from the corners of his mouth. Faint wisps of crimson mana flickered around him, the last traces of his Diamond Skin activation. White smoke jettisoned from his artificial arm, proof that it had taken on a massive burden. Hajime had squeezed out every last ounce of his strength to protect Yue from the cockroaches’ assault. The monster of the abyss had succeeded once again.

  “...Time’s up.”

  Nestled safely inside Hajime’s arms, with not a scratch on her, Yue opened her eyes.

  “Cull.”

  That was the lone word she said as her eyes opened. She held her hands close to her chest, as though she were praying. The vivid blue light spilling from the cracks in her fingers pulsed. Invisible waves of power spread outward, striking fear into the hearts of the human-shaped cockroaches. Yue slowly spread out her hands, as if unveiling something fragile. A tiny flame sat in her palms. It twinkled with a deep blue light, a drop of burning sapphire.

  It’s like she’s holding a tiny earth in her hands, Hajime thought to himself. The growing pulses of light certainly did make it seem as though a planet was being born in her hands.

  Yue held her hands up, offering her blue jewel to the heavens. Illuminated by the light of her own creation, Yue looked almost divine. Hajime hugged her from behind, and she leaned into his arms.

  Finally, the cockroaches returned to their senses. Screaming in panic, they once again ordered their servants to crush Hajime and Yue. Unfortunately, they were too late.