Mr. Nobu’s Otherworld Chronicles

It"s the same situation as before. But this time, n.o.busada ain"t like his past self.

"Stone Wall!! Mitama, Kagursan, stay behind me."

While the stone wall is blocking the arrows for us, I cast a spell toward the archers and the men at the stairs.
This time, I"m prioritizing speed. From the result of my testing, this spell may look subdued, but it"s very well suited for anti-personnel combat.

"Bubble Bombs!"

I cast Bubble Bombs put with a lot of mana. At the same time, the second floor and the stairs are getting filled with numerous softball-sized bubbles. The archers seem to be in panic, they"ve stopped shooting here.

"What the h.e.l.l"s this? Ya think these bubbles could get you out of this?"

One of the men coming down the stairs made fun of the bubbles. Then the coiling bubbles stick to him and covered his whole body. The man who had enough with bubbles tried to slash them with his one-handed sword.
But the moment his sword hit a bubble, it burst open with a huge popping sound like POP. Along with the sword. Broken splinters blown by the explosion pierced the man"s body.

"Ugaaa.... aaaa."

The man who"s bleeding all over his body staggered.
Other men who saw that halted their attempt to slash at the bubbles.
But that wasn"t the end of it. Like a chain reaction, the bubbles began to pop open one after another.

"GYAAAAAAAA, it hurt ow ow owwwwww"

"Aaa, hand, my haaaaand"

"Oaoooua"

Meat, blood, and even bone scattered about in the pa.s.sage filled with bubbles.
Some on their face, some on their hands, some on their feet. Trying to fend the bubble with a weapon would render the weapon useless.
The men with shields frantically tried to block it, however bubbles that came flying behind them blew the meat on their back. Moreover, the bubbles continue to increase as soon as one burst open.
Before long, the popping sounds

stopped, none among the men could stand nor groan as they have all turned into lumps of meat.

Even I"m a bit taken aback by this. The idiotic brat and Dave are... not here!? Tch, they got away eh? Tamchan is standing by outside. She should send a signal if they went over there. First of all, I"ll do something about Futsuno-san.

"Mitama, Kagursan. Let"s go save Futsuno-san. Let"s get closer to that cage."

The two nodded. Their faces looked a bit pale, but I shouldn"t mind that.

And of course the cage where Futsuno-san is held is locked. Come to think of it, it"s weird how Futsuno-san isn"t showing any reaction after that much furor. She should have been quite expressive. That her waist looks a bit slimmer compared to when I saw her before bothered me a bit... No, nevermind that. Discerning-sensei, full throttle again please.

Name: Futsuno - Gender: Female - Age: 19 - Race: Golden Foxkin
Cla.s.s: Miko Lv18 - State: Subordination
t.i.tle: None
【Skill】
Fire Magic Lv3 - Wind Magic Lv4 - Life Magic - Barrier Art Lv3 - Dagger Lv2 - Cane Lv3 - Negotiation Lv4

【Unique Skill】
Golden Fox Seal Art Lv2 - Protection of Ametoris 

【Protection of Ametoris】
Mark of having been bestowed with protection by G.o.ddess of Nature and Harvest, Ametoris. Increase vitality and resistance against all kinds of abnormal status effect.

Subordination!? But there"s neither slave collar or crest on her!? There"s also something else I"d like to retort, but let"s save it for later.
For now, we should get her out of the cage and ask Mitama to change her clothes afterward.
I focus on the lock and cast a spell concentrated on a point.

"Flare Bomb! (Pinpoint version)"

Boom, an explosion occurred on the lock. The lock was destroyed by the explosion and heat, and the door opened with a creaking sound.
I stopped Mitama when she tried to get close and signaled to her with a wink, telling I"d go in first.

first. We"ve arranged beforehand that I"ll go on ahead if my appraisal, which I had told them, detects something weird.
Mitama is anxiously looking at Futsuno-san.

Futsuno-san herself is sitting down while leaning on the cage. Her eyes look hollow without focus. She looks like a doll, as if she"s not even the same person as her full of smiles self.

I approached her to get her out of the cage, and right then. Futsuno-san stood up sluggishly. She walked toward me unsteadily.
And then, she stabbed my stomach with a small knife in her hand...

...or how it looks like.

"Hahahaha, you really went and fell for it. That little magic of yours surprised me a bit, but now that you"ve been stabbed by that dagger, there"s no saving you anymore. That thing has been smeared with a Curse Poison I painstakingly made. The moment you"re stabbed by it, you lose any hope of recovery."

The idiotic brat was laughing like he had won near the door. He went down through another pa.s.sage huh. Dave and an unfamiliar adventurer-looking girl are standing next to him. That"s probably Kurei-san.

It must have looked like I was surely stabbed by the knife from over there. But too bad for you. That never happened.

"And?"

I nonchalantly turn around toward the idiotic brat. Holding the knife Futsuno-san had. I"m gripping the blade part though. In order to bear the brunt of Master"s touki, both my Mana Clad and overlapping protections have gotten quite solid. Attacks from someone at the level of the current Futsuno-san would just bounce off me like CLANK. It powered up during the numerous times my life was in danger in Master"s hard mode training. I don"t want to die yet!

I hug the struggling Futsuno while throwing a look of disdain at the idiotic brat.

"I

/>
"I expected nothing less from a rotten former n.o.ble-sama, you sure have your ways of doing things. What were you trying to do making such an impotent curse poison anyway. Now then, are you out of tricks already? I guess you"re ready to beg for your life then? Ready to tremble in fear in the corner of the room? Well, even an idiot like you should understand that there"s no way we"re letting you off easily after doing this to Futsuno-san, don"t you??"

I threatened the idiotic brat while putting in a little bit of murderous intent.
He shrunk back while shrieking "hiii", and then talked back while sounding nervous.

"H-hmph. It"s 10 years too early for a barbarian like you to talk to me. Besides, look what happens if you try doing any funny business to me. Like this."

The idiotic brat stabbed his finger with a dagger after saying that. What"s this, did his hobby include self-harm?

However, the dagger didn"t have a blood on it, the idiotic brat"s finger is also completely fine. Right when I was puzzled at what he was trying to do, I heard a dripping sound right next to me. Looking there, blood is dripping from Futsuno-san"s right hand. What the heck is this? I cast Heal in a hurry to close her wound.

"Hmhm, get it now. All the damage you inflict on me will be hers to bear. By the effect of magic item 『Corset of Domination』. Even I cannot take that thing off. Therefore, it is not possible for you to harm  me. And that woman retains only her consciousness. The deeper her despair the better my domination will be. Isn"t this all oh so fun."

The idiotic brat put up a disgusting smile as he said that.
Corset... That"s why her waist slimmed down huh. Rather, even the one who put it can"t take it off, this thing is absolutely cursed.

And it doesn"t look like we can simply get away while taking Futsuno-san with us now.
The idiotic brat/>The idiotic brat chanted something, and then a full armor that was on display near the front door began to move.

Living Armor
HP, MP: Depends on the pract.i.tioner"s mana
Armor possessed by a soul through Darkness Magic. Its strength and ability are affected by the base soul, the armor"s material, and the pract.i.tioner"s skill. To defeat it, either destroy it completely or break its link with its pract.i.tioner.

This kind of feat is possible if you raise Darkness Magic level huh.

"This thing is the best manservant I"ve ever created. I made it with the soul of a Rank A adventurer I got trapped with debt. Lower ranked guys like you can"t possibly win. Thoroughly suffer for all the insult you threw at me, ahahaha."

This guy really is dangerous. What to do now. And is he not going to make Kurei-san move. He looks to be quite a coward, he"s probably afraid to go without a bodyguard. We"ve come here to save her tho".

"Sheesh, ain"t y"all lively. It got me pumped up too. I stayed by this little boy to monitor how far he"d break things, but it"s gotten quite interesting after y"all came. Kihihi, don"t think y"all can die easily. Now then, let me have a go with the little oni over there. Unlike that time before, this body is pretty good. Kuhihi, let"s see how long will you last."

Dave seems to be quite eager too, he"s facing off against Kagursan. Then I guess I"ll play with that huge thing and leave Futsuno-san in Mitama"s care.

"Mitama, hold Futsuno-san down. I"ll do something about this situation."

"...Nn. Please, n.o.bu, don"t lose."

"Yeah, I"ll beat "em real quick and go home with everyone."

I draw Lunar Cat and take the Defensive Form. It"s been a week since that time, one week it may be. The time I spent doing special training was very dense it"s like I just got out of the hyperbolic t*m* chamber. I won"t let it end like this.