Jidou Hanbaiki ni Umarekawatta ore wa Meikyuu o Samayou
Author: Hiru k.u.ma
—
Premonition Several more days have pa.s.sed, but we didn"t encounter the Ruler of the Netherworld. It seems like there"s no contact from the other hunter teams, so I"m starting to question whether he"s really still on this level.
But President Bear explained that since they had specially stationed people who have blessings capable of seeing through camouflage and stealth abilities, even with the power of magic and blessing, he won"t be able to fool them if he visits the transfer circle.
President Bear thought that the possibility of the Ruler of the Netherworld taking on human form and using the transfer circles to move around was high. There are no precedents of someone leaving the dungeon without using the transfer circles.
It"s not like I"m looking forward to fighting the Ruler of the Netherworld, but I just can"t calm down. My uneasiness grows as more time pa.s.ses.
Hyurumi"s expression also grows more severe by the day. Unlike my vague thoughts, it looks like she"s reaching some sort of answer.
Late at night, Hyurumi quietly lowered herself next to me, who was s.p.a.cing out near the rear of the boar-drawn wagon.
"Hakkon, got a sec?"
"Welcome."
Unlike her usual voice, her voice is calm without any highs or lows. She most likely wants to talk about that issue.
"I"ve been mulling over the Ruler of the Netherworld"s intentions, but … I"m still only in the middle of my speculations. And so, I"m only going to tell you, Hakkon, since you won"t blab."
Won"t blab, more like I just can"t talk to people, but I"m happy to have her trust.
"What I"m going to say now is just the worst case scenario. Keep that in mind. First, let"s try thinking up a hypothesis for why the Ruler of the Netherworld purposefully overlooked Rami. Why would he do that? That"s to let other guys know that he is here, for example."
It can"t be helped that this talk is going to be a.s.sumptions based on a.s.sumptions, since there"s no proof.
"If that"s so, what will all the people who know about him do? Taking into account what we know about the enemy, the Hunters a.s.sociation will naturally move to subjugate him, just like now."
It actually happened like that, so I have no opposing opinions.
"What would he get out of having the Hunters a.s.sociation get together on the Lamentations of the Dead Level and getting himself subjugated, that"s where the problem comes in. One thing I thought of is that he"s a weirdo who has fun showing off his power. That"s the simplest explanation, but let"s a.s.sume that"s not it. If that"s the case… what if his goal is to have himself subjugated?"
Even if you ask me, there"s no way I"d say the hard-core-m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t-explanation is correct. If you take his words about wanting a hero into account, there"s also the idea that he"s looking for a strong rival to be his opponent.
"Most likely, everything he told Ramis about a hero was just bluff and bl.u.s.ter."
I"m really glad I can"t speak. I would have made a fool of myself.
"If it"s not that he wants to be killed … he wants us to get together to subjugate him. Strong hunters will gather at this level. How about that?"
To have the able ones gather on this level. Yeah, but now what? To wipe out the powerful hunters in one go?
"And then, his aim would be … honestly, I got no idea. It would follow that he"d lay a trap and definitively kill off all the strong hunters, but I can"t think of a reason for the Ruler of the Netherworld to do something like that. The Demon King"s Army"s main base is too far from here. If they"re disposing of people who would be a threat in war, no matter how you think about it, the Empire and the Defensive City should be first."
I"m pretty sure that the country the Demon Lord rules over is at the northernmost point, and to its south is the Defensive City and the Empire"s territory. Further south is the location of this dungeon.
That"s true, if attacking the Defensive City and the Empire is beyond them, then there"s no understandable meaning for them to attack the dungeon.
""nd so, in other words, I don"t get it. I"m also interested in the abnormalities on every level, na. I couldn"t talk through this stuff, since this"d only make everyone confused. My bad, making you listen to this useless, answerless discussion."
"Welcome."
I want to say, no worries, but I don"t have any suitable words to say it. I want to have her drink a hot milk tea to relax, at least.
"Oh, ya didn"t have to. Thanks."
While I watched Hyurumi slowly drinking, clasping both hands around the can, I thought over her words.
—
This morning the sky was dark red, different from its usual cloudiness.
It"s probably a sunrise, but it"s a disgusting color, mottled like blood that"s just about to dry.
"Hmm, the flow of magic is strange." (Gramps)
The early-risers, Grandfather and Grandmother, narrowed their eyes as they looked up at the sky.
"Is that so, Grandfather?"
"Fumu. The magic power in the atmosphere has increased to stormy proportions. This seems troublesome."
Grandfather identified the reason for the sky"s unusual appearance. There was also yesterday"s discussion with Hyurumi. There"s way too many flags raised. For better or worse, it seems like something is going to happen today.
That premonition of mine… completely missed the mark, and we welcomed the next morning with no troubles.
As expected, today"s sky is also dark red. Yesterday absolutely no enemies appeared, so there was an abnormal occurrence after all, but we pa.s.sed an entire night uneasy over why it was like that.
And today, what came to us, who had the uncomfortable feeling like when you have something stuck between your teeth, was a information that we were waiting for. There was communication from a hunter group in another location that they had encountered the Ruler of the Netherworld.
We, who were at a relatively nearby location, rushed towards their location at full speed.
—
About an hour has pa.s.sed. When we had drawn close to a place that was still a little further until the designated area, we could hear angry shouts and the clashes or swords, and even some kind of explosion.
"They"ve already engaged him in battle; Oxy, how is the battle going?"
"There"s one being that looks like it could be the Ruler of the Netherworld. As for the bone-people demons, flame-rook-head demons, and corpse demons, as well as their superior versions… about one hundred, perhaps."
It seems like the battle"s circ.u.mstances are clearly seen by Princ.i.p.al-sensei, with her head shadowing her eyes. I can"t see anything but the horizon.
So the enemies number one hundred in total? It"s an abnormal number, but the elders are keeping calm.
"The hunter side numbers about 20, ne. At this moment, the Ruler of the Netherworld is watching from above without partic.i.p.ating in the battle at all. There"s no visible casualties from the hunters, and they seem to have the advantage."
"Understood. In that case, we will circle around to the enemy"s rear and attack. The other hunters nearby should also be coming to join us. We"ll end this in one go."
Everyone nodded their heads to show their agreement with President Bear"s instructions.
A pincer attack on the enemy from the front and back. It"s a typical strategy, but with the ability and numbers we have a.s.sembled, it"s the most effective strategy. The war strategies book I read in the past also said that if you have the numbers, rather than using some clever scheme, causing the enemy to defeat them by lowering their caution with a frontal attack is a very effective method. Or something like that was written there, I think.
Another few minutes had pa.s.sed and we had circled around to the enemies backs, and Grandfather and Principle-sensei"s long-ranged attacks … oh geez, this magic and arrow rain is on a level where I have to retort that it should be called sh.e.l.ling.
The attack that was just supposed to pin the enemy down offed around ten of them. I have nothing more to say about the heights of these two"s battle abilities.
Of the monsters that were deployed as if to surround the Ruler of the Netherworld, about twenty of them realized we were here and came running over.
"Grandfather, Oxy. Please leave those ones alone, ne." (Grandma)
"Yah, got it. Do what you want." (Gramps)
Grandmother sprinted from the wagon and leapt lightly onto the unasusu (boar thing)"s back, readying her sword cane and lower her posture.
Running parallel to each other without getting on the wagon, Ramis, Leader Keryoil, the gatekeepers" eyes were concentrated on Grandmother. They weren"t going to miss seeing that instantaneous sword handling.
As the enemy closed the distance, although the unasusu"s back trembled violently, she wasn"t shaken off and stayed with her sword cane readied, continuing to stare ahead.
And, when the distance had become just a few meters between them, at that moment there was the sound of a ringing scabbard and numerous silver sword lights flew.
The upright monsters ran the distance towards the boar drawn wagon. I put myself on guard, but I realized that all of the monsters convulsed and stopped moving.
Kachiri; there was the sound of the blade of the sword cane being sheathed, and the monsters split in two from the crown of the head downwards and fell to the ground.
"It"s troublesome to split them in quarters when there are so many, my apologies."
Grandmother lowered her hand along with her face, probably as a memorial sign for the monsters she had cut up.
I"ve seen that strength in front of me many times, but I"m a little surprised that I"ve come to accept it like it"s normal.
No matter how you think about it, that wasn"t the distance for a sword, but the enemies were split into pieces; it seems to be a flying blade technique. This is a world of magic and blessings, so if I throw away my common since, I can understand it to be something like that.
I"ve seen manga and anime, and there are things like this in games, so, yeah, okay, it"s like that.
We"ve destroyed almost fifty enemies since we started partic.i.p.ating in battle but it doesn"t seem to matter; I can"t see that the enemy"s numbers are being reduced. It"s like the monsters are rus.h.i.+ng out of the ground one after another.
"Hyurumi and the wagon will stay on alert here. Oxy, s.h.i.+merei, please give us some cover from here." (Pbear)
"Please leave it to us."(oxy)
"Should we spread it out?" (gramps)
Reliable responses came at President Bear"s instructions.
"Karios, Gols, I ask that you guard the wagon just in case. Are you able?"
"If it"s guarding, there isn"t a person better than us. Naa, Gols?" (karios)
"I don"t think it"s necessary for these two to guard, but I"ll take it." (Hyurumi)
If it"s the two who specialize at defense, they"ll be able to buy time even if a high ranking enemy appears, and during that time if the two with high fire power make their move, this place will be like an iron fortress. There won"t be any worries leaving Hyurumi here.
"Ramis, be careful. As best as you can, don"t get near the Ruler of the Netherworld. There"s a lot of valiant people this time, so there"s no need for you to do risky things. I"m asking this of you as well, Hakkon."
"Un, I"ll do my best!"
"Welcome."
Unlike last time we have more than reliable comrades and talented hunters in droves, so there really is no need for us to risk it.
"The rest of us will charge together. Our goal is to defeat the Ruler of the Netherworld, but don"t force it. Our comrades are increasing. It"s fine to take our time defeating that guy."
Just as President Bear said, you can tell the other hunters are quite capable with just a look. They have almost no wounds while safely clearing out the enemy. It feels like they have the more than enough ability to fight with the small fried no matter how many hours it takes.
"Now then, let"s show them our power."
The corner of President Bear"s mouth went upwards into a smile, and all the vanguards followed suit with a smirk.
Rather than an intense smile it gives off an evil feeling, but let"s not comment on that. With these faces attacking them, I kind of feel sorry for the monsters.
Even so, we only have this composure because the Ruler of the Netherworld hasn"t moved. If THAT moves, the situation will change immediately.
The four-armed, silver skeleton in my sights is only quietly watching the battle, but I guess it can"t be helped that it"s still creepy.