Mr. Nobu’s Otherworld Chronicles

After having a simple meal and short rest, I begin to ponder.

At any rate, we"ve got to find a way out of here. I look above and can"t see the ceiling at all. The walls around here crumble easily, climbing them is practically impossible.
Then how about; I look at the tunnels around us. Dunno where they will lead us to, but no choice but to go into one.
However, the fact that they look to be freshly dug, unlike the cave we were in earlier, bugs me.
We should act with the a.s.sumption that something lurks there.

I change my Cla.s.ses back to Fighter and Otherworlder, ready to rumble. Alchemist and such aren"t combat-oriented cla.s.ses, no point in leveling them here. I personally think Otherworlder isn"t one either, but for some reason, the strength of my magic increases ever so slightly with it active. No reason not to use it.

"Kagura-san. For the time being, we have no choice but to go into that tunnel over there. Please follow after me from behind."

"I"m sorry. I am powerless in this form. I cannot even wield my spear."

She"s crammed her clothes and weapons into her magic rucksack and carries it on her back. Even just that already takes everything out of her.

"Please don"t worry about it. Tama-chan, please protect Kagura-san, okay."

Tama-chan bounced around, poyon poyon, like saying, 『Leave it ta" me. Master too, do ya best.』
Wait a minute, why do Tama-chan"s dialect sounded like Kyoto dialect? I approach the pa.s.sages, since this isn"t time to worry about this ever-deepening mystery.

We chose one of the pa.s.sages and went inside. After reaching many dead ends resulting in us backtracking many times, the one we"re in right now seems to go deeper inside. This pa.s.sage feels like it was dug in a hurry by something. It doesn"t seem like it"d collapse on us anytime soon, but I probably should still come up with a way to cope with it.
Kagura-san is following me from behind in silent. As her steps had gotten smaller, I walked slowly without rushing.

After we"ve walked for a while. I heard something echoing at pa.s.sage ahead.

I stealthily tip-toe forward and take a peek at the open s.p.a.ce ahead. What unfolds below me is a gym-sized mortar-shaped cavity. And over there is ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant ant..... there"s more than 50 ants. They don"t look that big from afar, but honestly, this crawling swarm really creeps you out.

Iron Ant Lv6 x 53
HP:18/18 - MP: 1/1
An iron sh.e.l.led ant monster. The so-called worker ant, with the lowest rank in the hierarchy. It has various means of attack, such as brute forcing with its jaws and acid, or using weapons it holds in its multiple hands. By the way, the weapons Iron Ants carry are made from the carca.s.s of dead Iron Ant.

Iron Ant Queen Lv16
HP: 27/47 - MP: 28/48
Iron sh.e.l.led queen ant. It gets stronger and bigger as it ages. Does parthenogenesis by consuming mana.

These guys are the culprits who dug these tunnels huh.
Each one of them isn"t that strong. Queen"s health has decreased for some reason. Is it giving birth or something? The only worrying factor is their number. I"m not confident I can guarantee Kagura-san"s safety if all of that swoop in at once. Which means, I"ve got to deal with them all at once the moment the battle starts.

Hm? One of the tunnels across looks different than the rest. Maybe we can get outside from there. The problem is we"ve got to push through all these ants in the middle to get there.

"Mugugugu, this is quite an unpleasant sight."

Seeing me lost

in thought while peeking down seemed to have piqued Kagura-san"s interest, she also bent forward to look below.

Crumble

As Kagura-san tried to move forward a bit more to get a better view, her foothold crumbled. I caught her staggering hand and pulled her in.

The soil fell down toward the ants below.

GI, GIIIIIIIIII

Oops, they noticed us huh. No time to ponder then.

"Hawawawa, I"m sorry noja."

"I"m not angry, but... Kagura-san, would you entrust your life to me?"

"Alone, I would have perished anyway. I do not know what you intend to do, but I will entrust my everything to you."

I actually didn"t mean much when I asked her that, it was just to calm her and myself. Well, since I got a rea.s.suring reply, let"s do this with a bang!

The ants right under us are running up the slope while letting out unpleasant creaking sounds. We may not have the luxury of time, but let"s do the chant to be doubly sure.

Invoking magic with a chant lower mana usage and increase its strength. Putting my own original chants on my modified magic gives the same benefits. Problems like fine control and power stabilization still remain in my modified magic development, but I"m gonna ignore them this time. No need for minute details coz I"m gonna hit "em with maximum power.

"Flower of life in the valley of waves, Bloom a raging surge whirling in waves!"

">!!"

The magic modified from Aqua Storm created an enormous amount of water that became a wave in front of me, washing and pushing away the slope. The torrent of water swallowed the climbing ants and even the ants inside the mortar-shaped cavity. All the ants have been gathered in the center of the whirlpool. Some had their limbs plucked off or bent in strange directions. Hahaha, look, these ants look like garbage!

Some of the ants spewed formic acid in desperation, but of course there"s no way it"d reach us from there. But acid from huge ants sure is on a different level.

I shouldn"t forget to knead my mana to get to the next step even while thinking something stupid. I gulp down a mana potion and put most of my remaining mana into the next one as the finisher.

"Haihoo-haihoo-chousan-buusan-nakamossan, lightning"s coming. everyone"s close get wrecked, everyone"s far get wrecked!"

">!!"

Forgive me for the weird chant, came up with that after an all-nighter. I mean, I myself can"t recall why the chant turned out this way. Tension"s running weird after an all nighter. I"m definitely fixing it once we get back. I mean, even Kagura-san is looking at me with pitying eyes.

It"s a magic modified from Thunder that completely forgo directionality. Since the opponents have been drenched and are made of iron, it works well without problem.
Using the water and the iron ants themselves as conductors, the electricity is let loose everywhere. Newborn ants have their limbs burned as they fall from the weakened ants. A few minutes later, Electric Parade receded, and heap of ant ant ant ant ant ant ant carca.s.ses laid below in the mortar-shaped cavity. Mmm, arrivederci!!

Kagura-san is at a loss of words at the disastrous scene. Haahaahaa, honestly, I"m probably way more dangerous than the Onifolks.

Tererette...

Yup, and I can"t afford to listen to the noG.o.ddess"s fanfare. I"ve got a bad feeling about this even though I"m the perpetrator.

"No-n.o.busa... DAAAAAAAA!?"

I hold Kagura-san in my arms and run through the pa.s.sage in a hurry. Hurry, hurry. I"m not slowing down while gulping down a mana potion. Kinda feel like my strength"s getting better. Looks like my training with Master wasn"t a waste.

I put Kagura-san down and have a short break along the way since I was losing my breath. I also take only the Queen"s carca.s.s into the rucksack. As expected of Queen. Its body is still intact even after getting hit by the wave. Monster carca.s.s easily gets into the rucksack. Can"t do it when they"re still alive though.

"n.o.busada, you"re not going to take the other ants?"

"No well, there"s something that"s been bugging me, so let"s get across over there quick. We"re running again!"

"Wait, hold, aaaa-------"

I carry Kagura-san once again and rush toward one particular cave.
As the reason why I am in such a hurry. I mean, lots of ants, tunnels that are dug everywhere, a huge hollowed cave, and lastly the grand water magic I did. If you combine everything, there is only one possible conclusion.

GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO

ZUZUZU-------N

Right as we approached another stairs after climbing a slope while gasping, sounds of something collapsing reverberated behind us.

Just as I thought. Guess it"s only right after so many components of a landslide disaster gathered in one place. Even here may not be safe cause we don"t know what after effect may come. I whip my tired body and climb up the stairs.