Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou (LN)

Chapter 1 : The Guardian of the Depths

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Chapter 1 : The Guardian of the Depths

There was no question that the Aruraune was dead, Yue was still hurt. After that event, she sucked Hajime’s blood until he fainted. That was successful enough to put her back into a good mood, so they continued their journey.

Their journey continued until they had descended 100 levels from where Hajime first started. Before each level he would check his equipment and supplies. As always, whenever Hajime worked Yue would stare at him working. She was really watching Hajime rather than the work. Even now she was watching him work from his right side while relaxing. Her expression did not suit the atmosphere of the dungeon.

They did not know how many days have pa.s.sed since they met, because there was no sense of time underground. Recently, Yue was displaying a more comfortable expression. She was even acting a little spoiled.

Whenever they were resting at base, she would especially get glued to him. If he laid down, she would cling on his arm while they slept near each other. Yue would embrace him from the back when he sat down. When she fed on his blood, she would cuddle him from the front. She would stay there even after she was done feeding. With a content expression, she would rub her face on his chest.

Hajime is a man. Yue with her 12 years old appearance was charming and should not easily invoke l.u.s.t, but she was older than that. For the one being bewitched from that glimpse, it was troublesome. Still they were in the dungeon, the tension in the helped him bear with it. When they returned to the surface, he didn’t have much confidence in resisting her advances with her adult mode. There may not be the meaning to impart…

“Hajime…as careful as usual…”

“Hmm? Ah, because its the 100th floor next. I thought there might be something there. The upper dungeon is believed to have 100 floors…just in case.”

When Hajime pa.s.sed the 80th floor of this place, he thought there was a possibility that the place they were in was no longer the usual “Orcus Dungeon”. He had the same feeling as when he fell into the abyss. Judging from what he sensed as he traversed this level, this was certainly a bas.e.m.e.nt a way off from the usual labyrinth.

Firearms, martial arts, special magic, weapons, and trans.m.u.tation. After polis.h.i.+ng these skills, Hajime had confidence in himself. He wouldn’t be taken down easily. However, this place was scary enough to kill him even with his abilities.

That is why he prepared as much as possible. Hajime’s current status…

Name

Nagumo Hajime

Age

17 Years Old

Gender

Male

Level

Cla.s.s

Trans.m.u.tation Artist (Synergist)

Strength

1980

Vitality

2090

Resistance

2070

Agility

2450

Magic

1780

Magic Resistance

1780

SkillsTrans.m.u.tationMineral AppraisalPrecision Trans.m.u.tationMineral EnquiryMineral SeparationMineral FusionReplica Trans.m.u.tationMagic ManipulationMagic EmissionMagic CompressionRemote ControlIron StomachLightning CladDivine StepAir WalkFlickerGrand LegsAir ClawsNight VisionFar VisionPerceptionMagic PerceptionHeat PerceptionHide PresencePoison ResistParalysis ResistPetrification ResistanceVarjaMagic PenetrationCoercionTelepathic CommunicationLanguage Comprehension

His status has continuously climbed after his first demon, though he had not received much Special Magic. The stats did not increase anymore from normal monsters, but the boss or high-level monsters still did. Just like the other demons that didn’t get Special magic from eating other demons, and his stats were getting harder to raise in his state.

When Hajime and Yue finished all their preparations, they went to the stair that led them down.

The level they stumbled upon, was a very large s.p.a.ce supported by a vast number of pillars. Each of the pillars where 5m in diameter, and each had spirals designs and vine patterns engraved onto them. Arrangement of each row of pillars was very uniform and had them s.p.a.ced out evenly. There was about 30 m to the ceiling. Unlike the usual rough ground in the dungeon, this place had beautiful flat ground. The room gave off a solemn atmosphere.

They stepped into the room while they admired it. All the pillars started to s.h.i.+ne faintly then. This got them to regain their caution. Pillars lit up sequentially towards the back of the room.

Hajime was vigilant for a while, but they decided to advance because nothing happened. They advanced while making full use of their senses and perception skills. After they progressed 200 m, they found a dead end ahead. No, not a dead end, but a huge door. A double door 10 m tall that had beautiful sculptures engraved onto it. Particularly, some of the patterns drawn on top of the octagon system

“…This looks amazing. By any chance…”

“Abode of Traitors?”

He had a feeling this was the room with the last boss. Hajime’s instincts were sending him warnings, while there was no reaction from his perception skills. It was going to be bad ahead. Yue seemed to feel it too because there was sweat on her forehead.

“Isn’t this the great? We finally reached our goal.”

Hajime disregards his instinct and puts his bold smile on. He had no choice but to keep going, no matter what was behind there.

“…Hn!”

Yue stares at the door with an expression that told him she was prepared for it.

The two finally walked past the last pillars and advanced towards the door.

At that moment, a huge magic formation about 30 meters wide appeared between them and the door. Crimson light emitted from the magic, and it pulsated.

Hajime recognized this magic. He couldn’t forget it, it was the magic that triggered because of the trap that day and caused him to fall into the abyss. But the magic formation for the Behemoth was just 10 m in diameter. The magic formation in front of them was 3 times larger than that, and it was a lot more complex and detailed.

“Hey hey, what’s with this size? Is it really the last boss?”

“…It’s fine…We won’t lose…”

As expected, Hajime smiled. Yue caught one of his arm tightly with a determined expression on her face.

Hajime nodded at Yue’s words, and glared at the magic formation. Seems like they wouldn’t be able to advance if they didn’t defeat the monster that came out of that magic formation.

The formation s.h.i.+ned more and more till it finally burst. Hajime and Yue held up their arms to prevent the light from blinding them. When the light disappeared, it was there…

A monster 30 m in length, 6 heads with long necks, sharp fangs, and dark red eyes. Comparably to the Hydra of the myths.

“”””””Kuruuaan!””””””

Those six pair of eyes stared at Hajime as it gave off a strange roar. It seemed to want to bring judgement upon the intruders who didn’t know their place. A fierce thirst for blood, that would have stopped an ordinary man’s heart, was flung at Hajime.

One of the heads with a red crest on it opened its mouth as flames emitted from it. The flames were already on the scale of a huge wall.

Hajime and Yue jumped to the right and left to start their counterattack. Hajime fires Donner at the red head. The bullet blew off the red head.

When Hajime pumped his fist in the air at his victory, one head with a white pattern shouted. White light wrapped around the red head and restored it fully, like time had been reversed. The white head seems to be able to use healing magic.

Yue had launched an ice shard at a green head and blew it away. However, the result was the same as the red one when the white head casted its spell.

Hajime started to speak with Yue through the “Telepathic Communication”, while he tsked.

(“Yue! Aim for that white head! Or it’s endless!”

(“Okay!”)

The head with a blue pattern shot out a gravel of ice from its mouth. Hajime and Yue were aiming for the white head while they avoided the shot.

Bang!

“”Scarlet Spear”!”

A flash of light and a blazing spear shot towards the white head. However, the moment when it was about to hit, the yellow head quickly went into the line of fire and bloated. The head s.h.i.+ned yellow and took both of the attacks head on. After the attack settled, there was a flawless yellow head glaring at them.

“Tsk! A s.h.i.+eld. That head s.h.i.+elds the healing head, a nice balance.”

Hajime threw an incendiary grenade over the heads. At the same time, he fired Donner at the White Head with full power. Yue helped by firing off her “Scarlet Spear” in rapid succession. Her “Azure Sky” may have surpa.s.sed the yellow head and hit the white head, but she would be easy prey after using such a strong spell that would exhaust her. She may be able to recover fast if she drank blood, but the heads were probably not going to allow the chance. Unless the number of heads could be halved, she couldn’t use her best spells.

The yellow head was taking all their attacks. But soon it was showing signs of damage in its previously flawless head.

“Kuruan!”

Its white head heals the yellow head at once. The head performed its healer role perfectly. However, at that moment the incendiary grenade exploded over the white head. Tar at 3000 degree centigrade was scattered around. When it poured onto the white head, it screamed in pain.

Don’t miss this chance! Hajime sent this message telepathically. They planned for a simultaneous attack. Before they could execute, a scream sounded. Yue’s scream.

“Noooo!!”

“!? Yue!”

He quickly tried to rush over to her, but was intercepted by wind blades and fireb.a.l.l.s fired by the green head and red head respectively. Yue was still screaming, Hajime wondered what was going on with his teeth clenched. The black head, he realized it had done nothing this whole time.

(No that’s wrong, it had already done something.)

Hajime fired Donner at the black head, while he dodged around with “Flicker” and “Air Walk”. With the sound of firearm, the black head that was staring at Yue was blown away. Yue collapsed at the same time. He could see that her face was pale even from a distance. The blue head opened its big mouth and stretched its head towards Yue to swallow her.

“Like I’ll let you!!”

Hajime prepared himself to get damaged in the storm of wind blades and fireb.a.l.l.s as he used his “Flicker”. A potentially fatal attack was avoided with the use of Donner and “Air Claws”. At the last moment, Hajime arrived between the blue head and Yue. But there was no time to counter, so he quickly triggered “Vajra”. Hajime could not use this skill while moving. That is why he stood before Yue to block that attack. The magic covered his body at the same time the head bit him.

“Kururu!”

“Guu!”

While raising a low growl, the blue head swallowed Hajime whole. When it tried to close its jaws, Hajime leaned forward and braced his legs to prevent it from closing. He pushed Donner against the head’s upper jaw and pulled the trigger.

The blue head erupted from the blast and bits of its brain flew off. Hajime used his “Grand Kick” on the motionless head. Then he threw a flash grenade and sonic grenade at the Hydra.

“Sonic Grenade” was developed from a demon that could emit ultrasonic waves that they met on the 80th level. The demon had a special organ inside its body that generated these sounds to attack. Hajime did not get any special magic for defeating this monster, but he was able to use its special organ as materials for his new grenade.

Those two grenades covered the Hydra in intense light and ultrasonic waves. Hajime carried Yue and hid behind the pillars with the chance those grenades provided.

“Hey! Yue! Get it together!”

“…”

She didn’t react to his words with her paling expression and trembling body. What the heck did the black head do to her? While he cursed, he slapped Yue’s cheeks. Hajime called out for her telepathically and gave her some sacred water. After a while, light began to dwell in her hollow eyes.

“Yue!”

“…Hajime”

“Yeah, its me. Are you alright? What happened?”

Yue confirmed Hajime’s existence with blinking eyes. She extends out her small hands and touched his face. A relieved sigh escaped her lips as she realized that Hajime was really in front of her, and tears began to collect at the edge of her eyes.

“…What a relief…I thought I was abandoned…alone in the dark again…”

“Ah? What are you talking about?”

Hajime was perplexed at her state. Yue said she saw a scene play out where Hajime had abandoned her and resealed her. When she saw that, a strong sense of insecurity struck her. She became bound by fear then it paralyzed her body and mind.

“Tsk! A debuff spell? Seems like the black head can induce panic into its opponent. s.h.i.+t, that monster has a good balance of skills!”

“…Hajime.”

Yue watched Hajime curse at the troublesome enemy with her anxious eyes. It was a frightening scene. Being abandoned by Hajime. He was the person to risk his own life at unsealing her after 300 years. He who didn’t treat her differently after she told him she was a vampire, and allow her to fed off of him day-by-day. It was unavoidable that her heart yielded.

The only place for Yue was besides Hajime. How nice it was when they promised to return to Hajime’s hometown together. She didn’t even want to imagine being alone again. Therefore the planted nightmare was stuck in her head and ate her up. Hajime stands up at the sign of the Hydra recovering from the confusion. Yue detained him involuntarily when she grabbed his clothes.

“…I…”

She was shaking with an uneasy expression that was close to crying. Hajime finally understood what nightmare she saw and what she was currently thinking. In his usual manner, he was able to perceive her feelings. Either way, he had promised to take her to j.a.pan. There was no reason to pretend not to know.

He would probably be able to comfort her with words, but there was no time for that. If he said some half-hearted words, she would still fall prey to the black head’s magic. There was a possibility that Hajime would mess up, but at that time he will follow Yue. While he thought of that excuse, Hajime scratched his head and squatted in front of Yue to meet her eyes.

And then…

“?…!?”

Hajime inclined his head and kissed Yue.

Their lips only touched a bit, but Yue had a dramatic reaction. She just seriously stared at Hajime.

He diverted his eyes bashfully, and led her to stand with his hand.

“We will kill that beast and survive. Then, we will reach the surface and return home…together.”

Yue started at Hajime in utter amazement, then her usual deadpan expression broke down to gently display a beautiful smile.

“Yes!”

Hajime cleared his throat to gather himself and informed Yue of the strategy.

“Yue, I’m going to use the Schlagen. It can’t fire continuously, so please cover me.”

“…Leave it to me!”

Yue is suddenly full of motivation. Her quiet mutters were gone, and in place was a voice full of ambition. All the anxiety before vanished completely.

It seems like there had been a breakthrough in various ways. Hajime recalled his usual lack of independence, he thinks about the future, maybe he acted rashly. However, the Hydra performed an explosion. The beast roared as it pelleted the area Hajime and Yue were at with fireb.a.l.l.s, wind blades, and ice shards.

Two people jumped out of the shadow of the pillar and started their counterattack.

“”Scarlet Spear”! “Imperial Cannon”! “Frozen Rain”!”

The trigger for the magic was activated rapidly. Magic built up at an impossible speed, an ice tornado accompanied a spiralling spear with vacuum blades whirling around it and a sharp needle attacks the Hydra all at once. She had aimed for the gap when they attacked and launched it towards the red, green, and blue head to force the yellow head to act. But it didn’t move as the yellow head noticed Hajime aiming for the white head, it raised a roar.

“Kuruuan!”

Then a nearby pillar waved and it transformed into an impromptu s.h.i.+eld. This yellow head seems to be able to use a skill similar to the scorpion’s, though the scale was smaller.

Yue’s magic hit the stone walls, it blasted through the vanguard of walls. The magic directly hit three of the heads.

“””Guruuuu!!”””

Three of the heads screamed and wriggled. When the black head’s eyes caught Yue’s it started to use its debuff magic.

Uneasiness wells up in Yue again. However, Yue remembers her kiss with Hajime before she is crushed by the uneasiness. Then, her body got a pa.s.sionate feeling and it washed away her anxiety.

“…It doesn’t work anymore!”

In order to cover Hajime, Yue was casting spells rapidly and was emphasizing the number of spells rather than the power of them.

The red head that received healing, blue head, and green head resumed their attacks, and Yue contended with them by herself. They tried to counter each other.

While the three heads were occupied with Yue, Hajime approached the beast with a dash. He was going for a single killing blow, because it would be troublesome if the beast had emergency measures it had yet to use. When the black head realized its magic didn’t work on Yue, it looked for Hajime. The pain, hunger, and anxiety of his time in the abyss rose inside his chest. But…

“So what?”

It was the pasted that he endured a long time ago. Feeling those days were not a big deal now. Hajime blew away the black head with Donner.

The white head tried to recover the head in a split second, but before it could Hajime jumped into the air using his skills and aimed his Schlagen.

Just as he had a.s.sumed, the yellow had stood in the way of the shot for the white head.

“Then break together!”

Hajime creates a spark in the Schlagen with his “Lightning Clad”. The bullet was a full metal jacket, the Tauru ore being covered by the Stall ore from the scorpion. Stall ore had a high affinity to magic and it suited “Lightning Clad” well. All the compressed combustion powder was ignited with the spark.

Bang!!

The red bullet was electromagnetically accelerated through the 1.5 m barrel with a tremendous explosive sound. This gun was 10 times more powerful than Donner’s maximum output. With his simple calculation, this rifle was 100 times more powerful than a normal anti-matter rifle. A monster weapon that was not possible without this world’s special ore and magic.

When it was fired, the bullet made a red trail like it was a thick laser. Once, they thought Kouki’s spell that was shot at the Behemoth was the trump card, but this made that look like child’s play. Yellow head met the bullet directly as it burned through the air.

Although the yellow head had a defense like “Vajra”…but the bullet reached the white head like there was nothing there. The bullet penetrated through everything like nothing as it blasted through the wall in the rear. Vibrations violently wracked the whole level as if an earthquake had happened.

What was left was two necks that looked like two heads had not even existed there. The open wound had been cauterized by the heat and made it seem like it never had those two heads. Debris was littered everywhere, and no one knew how long that bullet kept going only that it left a huge hole in the wall.

The other heads did not think that almost half of its heads could be extinguished in a single moment. Even Yue was staring at Hajime in utter amazement and had forgotten her enemy. Hajime landed flat on the ground, There was smoke rising out of Schlagen’s as the round was ejected. When the sh.e.l.l it the floor, the three heads regained its senses. All three pair of eyes glared at Hajime, but their previous opponent was not someone to take their eyes off of.

“”Scorching Heaven”!”

Once the Vampire Princess. The existence that caused fear into her own people because of her talents, and caused them to seal her. Power pours into the spell and it was like Heaven’s vengeance was being turned against it.

Immediately after, electric discharge started to gather around the 3 heads and soon 6 lightning spheres surround the heads. Soon the electric discharge lengthened and connected all the spheres together, and created a huge lightning globe in the center.

Zugagagagaga!!

When the globe burst, it rained down lightning of great power within the the limits of the 6 smaller spheres. The three heads tried to run, but the surrounding lightning spheres were acting like walls. As the wrath of G.o.d poured down from the sky, flashes and thunder filled the room.

Helpless, the three heads screamed in agony as it was charcoaled and erased by the superlative magic that lasted more than 10 seconds.

Like always, Yue collapsed into a sitting position after using that strong of a spell. She was breathing heavily at her magical exhaustion and in her expressionless face was her eyes that conveyed satisfaction; she gave Hajime a thumbs up to show her satisfaction. Hajime returned the gesture with his own thumbs up and smiled. He began to walk while he carried the rifle on his shoulder. The remaining parts of the Hydra was to the rear of him now that he made his way to Yue.

Just after that.

“Hajime!”

Yue’s desperate voice sounded out. When he considered what was up, he followed her line of sight. There in the Hydra’s remains rose a seventh head that glared at him. Hajime stiffens unintentionally.

However, the seventh silver head, s.h.i.+fted its gaze to Yue and it let loose an aurora without any preparations. Like the Schlagen shot, the aurora shot towards Yue in an instant. She couldn’t move because of magic exhaustion.

The moment the silver head turned to Yue, Hajime had jumped out as his body was attacked by chills.

Just like with the blue head earlier, Hajime was able to jump into the line of fire to save Yue. This time the results were different. The aurora was swallowing Hajime whole. Yue’s body was blown away by the aftereffect of the hit, even if it wasn’t a direct hit.

Soon the aurora calmed down, and Yue sat herself up as her whole body was in pain. She searched for the figure of Hajime, as he had been swallowed by the aurora after he forced his way through to take the attack.

Hajime had not moved from the place he blocked the attack. He was in an imposing stance as smoke blew from his whole body. On the floor was the wreckage of the melted Schlagen.

“H-Hajime?”

“…”

He did not answer. His body just shook and fell forward.

“Hajime!”

Yue quickly rushed over to him, ignoring her aching body as she is driven by uneasiness. Because of her magic drain, she couldn’t gather any strength and fell. With a suppressed impatient feeling, she took out her sacred water and drank. Her vitality returned slowly and she rushed to Hajime this time.

Blood gradually begins to puddle under Hajime’s stomach. The attack had penetrated Hajime’s “Vajra” and did a lot of damage. If he had not used the Schlagen as a s.h.i.+eld, he most likely would have died. Luckily, his Schlagen was a weapon made from the sh.e.l.l of the scorpion that endured Yue’s “Azure Sky”.

When she turned him on his back, Hajime’s condition was severe. His fingers, shoulder, and flank was burned and festering. Some of the parts even had bone exposed. The right side of his face was burned and his right eye was bleeding. There was not much damage to his legs, it was a blessing in disguise.

Yue was going to give him sacred water, but the Hydra wasn’t going to allow that. The beast was shooting innumerable b.a.l.l.s of light, 10 cm in diameter, this time. Its intensity could be comparable to a gatling gun.

She quickly held Hajime and exerted all her strength to hide behind the pillars. b.a.l.l.s of light was shot one after another at the pillars, and causing the pillars to be shaved. It would not last even 1 more minute. Each of the light ball was loaded with terrifying energy.

Yue quickly dropped the sacred water into Hajime’s wound, and tried to get him to drink another one. However, Hajime didn’t have the power to swallow it, so he choked on it and spit some out. To get Hajime to drink it, Yue placed it in her mouth and kissed him. She forcibly made him drink it.

But the sacred water was not able to restore the wounds. Usually, the restoration began immediately, it seems like something was inhibiting it.

“Why!?”

Yue took out all the sacred water on hand as she began to panic.

The factor that was inhibiting the restoration was Hydra’s poison in the aurora; the poison melt the flesh. It usually would have melted a being without resistance. However, the sacred water’s restoration was faster than the dissolution speed of the poison. The speed was slow but with Hajime’s enhanced body it would just take time to heal, but the right eye had evaporated with the auroral light. He would not be able to get it back because the sacred water could only restore, not regenerate.

Soon the pillar will be crushed, and it did not seem Hajime will be able to move until then. Yue stares at Hajime with a determined expression as she kissed him. She took Donner and stood up.

“…This time, I’ll save you…”

After her words of determination, she jumped out from behind the pillar. She only had a little magic and the sacred water was used up. With the body of a vampire that relied on body strengthening, she could only use Donner and her unreliable “Auto Regen”.

The silver head glares at the Yue that had jumped out of the pillar it was bombarding. Since her magic reserve was low, she did not choose to fight it with magic. Instead she chose to dodging and run because she couldn’t fire Donner like Hajime. Originally, Yue was not good with close quarter combat. Instantly she was driven into a corner.

Finally, one of the b.a.l.l.s. .h.i.t Yue in the shoulder.

“Agu!”

Groaning in pain, she endured it and resumed her running after retaining her momentum. The moment she stopped because of the pain, would be the time she collapsed. Her “Auto Regen” began, but it was slower than usual. Seems the poison was even effective against her regen. The vampiress’ magic reverse is cut again. In this situation, the magical power used to enforce her body will disappear soon.

Yue tried to approach it but the density of the barrage prevents her. She wouldn’t be able to shoot Donner if she couldn’t get closer. A plan was needed to close the distance between her and the beast. However, the barrage was merciless and it finally cornered her.

In desperation, she pulled Donner’s trigger to try to break the situation. Yue used a lightning spell to subst.i.tute the need for “Lightning Clad” acceleration. Count it as beginner’s luck, the bullet went through the gaps of the barrage to hit the silver head’s temple.

But,

“Eh”

Her voice leaked unintentionally. The blow should have some power even if she didn’t have sufficient acceleration, but the silver head did not suffer much damage. Shadows of despair fell over her expression, but her defeat meant Hajime’s death. She grit her teeth and prepared to evade again.

However, such a pattern couldn’t continue on forever. The silver head’s eyes s.h.i.+ned and another aurora was shot that jarred the surrounding s.p.a.ce. Yue’s evasion route was limited by the light ball barrage so she choose to get blown away by jumping into the light bullets. This allowed her to avoid the aurora.

The price for that was a light bullet to the abdomen and a slam into the ground.

“Uu…Uu…”

Her body couldn’t move. If she didn’t move, a barrage of light bullets was going to hit her. Yue knew this and struggled desperately, but her body doesn’t listen. Her regeneration was too slow. She started to shed tears, unawared. It was mortifying, so unavoidably mortifying. Can she not protect Hajime by herself?

After the head had confirmed its victory over Yue, it roared and shot its bullets of light.

The bullets of light approached Yue, but she did not close her eyes. To show that at least it hadn’t defeated her heart, she glared at the head. Soon, her whole vision was being taken by the flash from the bullet. If it hit directly, it was death. She tried to apologize to Hajime for failing to protect him, as she said that she would go first.

An instant…a gust of wind blew.

“Eh?”

Yue realized that she was in someone’s arms and the bullet stuck to the side. When she looked at the person, she couldn’t believe her sight. It was unmistakably Hajime. He was breathing heavily from his wounds and one of his eyes was shut, but he gave Yue a tight hug.

“Don’t cry, Yue. It’s your win.”

“Hajime!”

She embraced Hajime filled with emotions. Most of his injuries had not healed. He was standing with pure willpower.

Hajime gazed at the silver head. The head glared back while making a bullet of light float in the surrounding. It threw the bullet so there would be no more discussion about who escaped death.

“So slow…”

Hajime did not move until the last moment, he fell down and evaded the bullet.

The head narrow its eyes and started to attack with numerous light b.a.l.l.s.

“Hajime, run away!”

Yue told Hajime with a desperate expression, but Hajime was indifferent. He even embraced and danced rotations with Yue. They unsteady fell and avoided the bullets of light. When a light ball avoided Hajime, she seemed to have misunderstood.

She widen her eyes.

“Yue, suck my blood.”

His silent eye and quiet voice urged her. Even normally, she hesitated to take his blood. While dodging the light bullets, Hajime embraced Yue and exposed his nape.

“Your magic is the last resort…Do it, Yue. We will win.”

“…Okay!”

His strong words dwell within her, and she nodded. She believed in him and buried her face into his nape with her fangs. Yue’s body is rapidly healed when Hajime’s power flowed into her. The two of them were dancing around and avoiding the light bullet storm, while they embraced each other.

Now, the world grew dull in color from his view. In the world of the monochrome, all things moved slowly. Only Hajime was moving as usual.

Hajime looked. The scene of Yue fighting by herself while his wavering consciousness tried to hold on. She was fighting desperately with his gun in one of her hands. When she fell on the ground and the beast started to emit the aurora to finish her off.

Fierce anger filled Hajime. What does he have to do? Would he be satisfied just sleeping here? To permit such unreasonableness to take his partner in such a place? Was he going to yield to such a beast?

Nay! Absolutely not! An enemy threatening his, no, their survival! The enemy,

“Kill!”

At that moment, Hajime felt a spark run through his head and awaken one of his skills. The final derivation of “Divine Step”, [Light Speed]. By expanding the cognitive functions, it increased the efficiency of all the skill a.s.sociated with “Divine Step” dramatically. Hajime has once again, “exceeded the wall”.

Hajime arrives next to Yue in an instant with this skill and gently dodged the bullets of light.

Eventually, Yue finished sucking his blood and completely regained her powers.

“Yue, when I give the signal, cast “Azure Sky”. Until then, put your heart and soul into evading.

“Okay…and Hajime?”

“Me, spadework.”

Hajime dropped Yue off behind the pillars and ran towards the silver head.

He dodges the incoming barrage of light and fires off Donner while using “Flicker”. The beast wasn’t able to stomach being hit again by the bullet so it dodged them. Bullets from Donner end up making holes in the ceiling.

Hajime kept changing the area he shot at, but all the bullets only made holes in the surroundings. A sneerful glint was in the silver head’s eyes. Yue was becoming uneasy but she believed in him. She waited for the signal to cast her spell.

He jumped into the air with “Air Walk” and fired off Donner. His delicate steps became possible which had not been possible in the match. Hajime jumped around in the air near the ceiling, dodging the barrage.

Irritated, the silver head gave off an aurora attack carelessly. Naturally, Hajime dodged it easily with a grin. Hajime had fathomed. The head became stiff while it did its aurora attack. Then he reloaded Donner and shot at 6 different places. An intense explosion and shock occurred on the ceiling. After an instant of silence, it began to collapse in one go. The debris was 10 m in diameter and weighed dozens of tons. That large ma.s.s crushed into the silver head.

Hajime opens a hole in the ceiling with Donner, and prepared a grenade while he evaded. He made parts of the ceiling fragile with his trans.m.u.tation. Then he shot at the 6 places and it exploded.

His attack did not slack. If just simple debris could defeat this monster, he wouldn’t have that much trouble. Hajime approached the trapped and crushed silver head with “Flicker”. Using his trans.m.u.tation, Hajime quickly changed the debris into restraints. At the same time, he created an impromptu blast furnace around the Hydra. He threw pouches containing incendiary grenades into the furnace and shouted.

“Yue!”

“Okay! “Azure Sky”!”

A pale sun appears in the blast furnace and melts the silver head that was restrained. There was a chain explosion inside, the power broke through its defense and the silver head suffered not negligible damage.

“Guuruaaa!!”

The death throes of the silver head. It tried to violently run away and shoots off the light bullets randomly. Walls started to break but Hajime was there to repair them to prevent its escape. Hydra tried to use its aurora attack but the silver head melted in the high heat and was unable to shoot it.

Hajime’s perception could not longer sense the hydra, as it disappeared from his senses. This time he was convinced of its death and collapsed backwards.

“Hajime!”

Yue crawled to him as her body had lost the ability to gather energy.

“Indeed…I’m spent…”

Hajime parted from consciousness slowly as he felt Yue embracing him.

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