Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha

――c.r.a.p, I’m done for.

That was what I thought, when I saw a gigantic bright red monster in front of me rushing towards my direction.

There’s a small city called Malt in the most edge of the Yalan kingdom, a frontier kingdom located at the edge of the continent. [TL : That’s just too pitiful]

There’s the lower rank labyrinth called 《Labyrinth of Water and Moon》, in that place I, Lent Fayna, a lower rank adventurer of copper cla.s.s, earned my daily income while doing dull monster hunting, that day too, I was hunting monsters such as goblins and Bone mans(Skeleton), collecting small magic stone and material in the lower layer in the same way as usual.

With that as my daily work, I returned to the town around evening similar to what I do everyday, and then receive my wage which is enough for a few days by bringing the materials to the adventurers guild.

That was what is supposed to happen.

But.

That guy suddenly appeared.

First of all, Since I’m walking in the labyrinth everyday, I shouldn’t lose my way inside, but for some reason today, I discovered that there’s a different pa.s.sage in the route that I pa.s.s everyday.

That was where my luck ended.

That’s right, it was my fault.

In normal conditions, something like that should be ignored.

Though an adventurer is someone who’s adventuring, it doesn’t mean that they should be plunging themselves recklessly without any preparation, like what I did.

But in reality, many people just plunge themselves without thinking, and I’m also a fool who couldn’t omit myself from such a foolish custom.

Anyhow, this is a great discovery if a new room and pa.s.sage is found in the 《Water and Moon Labyrinth》 which was said to be completely explored a long time ago.

It’s possible that there might be magic armor or high-grade magic weapon, though I can’t expect it, I can also gain some income if I make an exploration map to some extent.

That kind of foolish idea is just common, as I was setting my foot into that pa.s.sage.

As a result, I was facing against a giant monster in the square room after a brief walk.

If I’m not mistaken it was, a dragon[western]. [TL : tigrex,] [ED: Kushala Daora]

Dragon is a top-ranked monster, it is said to be an unrivaled monster even against several Divine Silver(Mithril) rank adventurers who rank above White Gold(Platinum) adventurers.

They vary in appearance, there’s your usual giant type dragon, then there’s long and thin-like-snake type, and it seems there’s giant frog-like type too. [TL : Is this parody of Chrono cross?]

It seems that encountering them means that you’re extremely unlucky and won’t survive since the dragon itself very rarely show themselves to people,  because of that encountering them is truly unusual, the people who encounter them throughout history can be counted by your hand.

Its power is comparable to a Demon King which is rumored to be just four of them existing in this world, it’s an existence that is said to be closer to a G.o.d than to a living being.

In short, an eternal copper ranked adventurer like me who accidentally arrived in this place, it’s an opponent who can beat me without even lifting it’s finger.

There’s no way I won’t be surprised when such an existence appears before me.

And, I have no reason to even think of fighting it head on.

So I tried to run away, moving my feet thinking that I’ll die if I don’t escape from it.

――But.

Or should I say as expected, the opponent was a monster.

It noticed that I tried to run away.

IT NOTICED ME.  [ED: Senpai noticed you!]

――My feet, won’t move.

Wrong, my entire body won’t move no matter how much I try to make it move.

“Why did such a thing happen?”, is what a common person should be thinking.

But, I recalled about this phenomenon.

There’s some study that the body will enter such a state when confronting an opponent whose abilities are far greater than yours.

Due to overpowering magical power, the freedom of the body is completely lost .

There was such a case though it’s an extremely rare case.

This is definitely that case.

I, who’s unable to stand against the dragons coercion, became completely unable to move my body.

By the time I realized that, I was already thinking from the bottom of my heart for the monster to ignore me, but I know that kind of thinking is futile.

What I could do at that time is just, wishing in my heart “please don’t eat me” to the monster before my eyes.

But, reality was cruel.

The dragon is opening its big mouth after confirming my position and just like that it was going towards me with such vigor.

――Ah, it seems that it’ll eat me.

I was thinking such an easy-going remark while facing the danger that was threatening my life.

Oh c.r.a.p, though I’m thinking that I’m done for, whichever it is, it’s already too late for me, there’s nothing I can do.

Anyhow, moving is impossible

I’m already 25 years old, it’s been 10 years since I become an adventurer.

To surpa.s.s White Gold(Platinum) and even climb to the top rank Divine Silver(Mithril) is the reason why I continue to be an adventurer.

That’s the dream that I will never let go off, for that I kept training everyday after I have finished my job.

And yet, it seems I’ll be finished in this kind of place.

That was too fast huh.

Both the feeling of regret and feeling of being released are in my heart, thinking that this is my end–.

And then, I was swallowed by the Dragon..

Shortly after that, strangely, I awoke….

Yes, I awoke.(・・・・)

I awakened despite the realization that I was surely dead after being eaten by a dragon.

And then, I noticed.

――Nonono, it must be wrong. Something like this is impossible right？

Was what I thought from the bottom of my heart after confirming my situation right after waking up.

What’s the impossible?

That’s the condition of my body.

I’m looking at my hands.

Thereupon, on that place, there is no flesh.

No skin too.

In that place is nothing but slender white skeleton.

Just that.

And then, it’s not just my hand, my entire body too.

My feet is bone without meat or skin.

Same for my thigh.

My upper arms too.

My face is……Though I don’t know the condition of my face, it’s most likely in the same condition.

in short, it seems that I, the low ranked adventurer of the copper rank, Lent Fayna has experienced cla.s.s change from adventurer to Bone Man(Skeleton) before I realized.

――Impossible right？

Nevertheless, What do i do from now on..

That was what I should be thinking about first.

First of all, there’s no doubt that I was eaten by dragon but, it seems I’m lucky as I’m still alive this way.

No, can this be even called alive？

Speaking of Bone man(Skeleton), they’re one of the immortal type monster but, they’re already dead and being called as monster.

It might be the bishop of the church who said that it’s extremely easy to make them vanish with the purification type magic of temple-something-priest, they’re extremely weak monster.

According to the divine providence, there’s something like “Dead people isn’t something that should exist in this word” , for that reason let’s return this wicked monster Bone Man(Skeleton) by divine providence by exterminating them with purification magic.

It seems there’s a theory to exterminating them with purification magic after they remain in this world by opposing that providence.

Though I don’t know whether this is correct or not for I’m not a bishop nor a temple priest, for the time being, following that theory, the Bone Man(Skeleton) is a dead people, it seems that’s an important truth for me.

I’m dead.

It’s seems that I still exist in this world with this “dead” status.

I’m-really-unlucky.

Though I’ve said that some times ago, I still exist in this world despite being dead, which means that I become the contradiction of the G.o.d providence.

If I go back to town in this condition, no matter how much I claimed myself as Lent Fayna, it seems the first thing will come is called, purification.

In that situation, my existence will completely vanish.

That’s absolutely a NO.

Though my current condition is basically “Boney Everywhere”, I’m, still alive.

Even if I’m a Bone Man(Skeleton), even if my existence is defined as dead, from my point of view, I’m alive.

That’s why I can’t return to the city just to be killed.

But, what should I do then.

That was the problem.

Should I continue to live in this place.

But, this place is a labyrinth.

It’s a place where the adventurers come to subjugate monsters, it might be the labyrinth of the frontier region but, there’s people who’s stronger than me entering this place.

If I’m loitering around, normally I’ll be exterminated.

What should i do…….

When I’m pondering about that, something come to mind.

The current me, is a monster.

Though monster have strange nature, there was a saying that the monster who are going through long years of experience will continue to evolve towards higher existence bit by bit.

Somehow I might be really a monster, though I’m not quite sure about that, at least from the other point of view, I’m truly similiar with the Bone Man(Skeleton)Monster.

In that case, won’t I be able to do that too?

The evolution of the existence.

I suddenly thought about that.

Though I read the study of the monster due to the nature of my job, within that I read that the Bone Man(Skeleton) is the description to an existence in which it will evolve to, a Corpse Eating Demon(Ghoul).

Naturally, the Corpse Eating Demon(Ghoul) also immortal type monster, though it’s cla.s.sified as what is called “Undead Monster”, it’s appearance closer to human than the Bone Man(Skeleton).

It even has meat, well, if I hide my appearance with a robe and a mask, isn’t it possible to look human.

In that situation, I can even enter the city, and I might be able to explain various things to my acquaintances.

Though I know that I’m thinking such absurd things, but the current me has no choice but to do that.

Yosh, I’ve decided.

First, my aim is an evolved existence.

I will become a Corpse Eating Demon(Ghoul) in this labyrinth.

TL : Cnine

ED :Algebra

PF :Algebra

――Now since I’m aiming towards becoming a Corpse Eating Demon(Ghoul).

Now, since I have decided what to do, there is still one problem, “How much battle power do I currently have?”

In the first place, as someone in the bottom place of the Adventurer Guild(Guild), since I was a low rank adventurer of the copper grade, truly rookie of rookie, my ability was a little higher than new iron cla.s.s adventurers.

As for how strong I am, If I must say, I have plenty of margin by facing one or two goblin or Bone Man(Skeleton) and win against them.

That’s how powerful I am. [TL : It’s mean that you’ll die when facing 5 skeleton]

Though it’s a bit hard when I’m facing more than three, it’s not like I can’t win.

I’ll run when facing more than four.

It’s checkmate if I’m against more than five.

Something like that right.

――So weak.

I don’t want to say it you know？

But it can’t be helped..

Even though I became an adventurer 10 years ago, no, it’s around 20 years if I added the time before I became an adventurer since I always training very hard.

Even so, I don’t want someone to pity me since I always train to become nothing but this level.

I wonder why I couldn’t become stronger than this even though I train with everything I got, speaking of it, the answer is extremely simple, my body couldn’t hold high amount of sacred spririt or, will power or, magical power.

Moreover, I have poor control of what power I have, yet, it could be said that it was rather good fortune that I could become an adventurer.

It’s to the degree that I want to be praised.

By the way, when it comes to something like sacred power, will power, or magical power, first, magical power is necessary to use magic or sorcery, to the extent that it’s the source of miraculous power which they have by nature for many humans.

In a simple way, if you have magical power, you can make wind and create fire, move earth and produce water.

If you become a magician and have power for it, you can do even more complex operations.

It’s an extremely convenient power.

1 of 50 people was born with this kind of ability. So it’s not rare.

But, when it comes to degree of magical power till the level where you can become a true magician, I can say that it might be around 1 of every 1000 people who have this kind of magical power.

If there’s a bit magical power, one can use lower grade magic such as Fire Ball(Fotia Borivas)* or Earth Lance(Gi Beros)*, and need talent of 1 in 1000 to use higher degree of it. [TL* : Author Original, so don’t blame me on this]

Incidentally, though I have magical power, it was nothing but at the level where one can do nothing but incline their head when I say that I successfully became a magician.

The type of attack magic is nothing but one use only, even if it’s a lower grade magic. [TL : Megumin]

Now you should know the level of my talent right.

But, well, I think it was some kind of blessing, since I could somehow use it to make a fire or produce water to drink.

But, unfortunately it’s completely useless in battle.

After that is, willpower, it has many names, like Ki[気], chakra, prana, it is a power that originally comes with the life force of most living creatures.

Since it was originally the life force of the living creatures, this is really different with magical power, everyone has it.

If one can make use of it, one can strengthen their physical ability, produce strong power, and have extraordinary stamina.

But, a normal person can have difficulties in consciously using it since they mostly use it unconsciously.

Even if for example one could use it self-consciously, they will need to have enough talent and considerable amount of training necessary for it.

Though I could use this power self-conciously, I couldn’t make use of it perfectly due to insufficient talent in practical use.

Even so I make it into my trump card, since I could increase my offensive power to 1.5 times once a day, though that was a wonderful power, there’s no doubt that it was a mere child play when seeing it from the natural users after all.[TL : Itto-Shura have better effect than this]

And the last one is sacred spirit, first, I can say that this ability is unrelated to a common person.

It’s recognized as a special ability which is quite rare to gain divine protection of the spirit or G.o.d, the people who have that power mostly become a clergyman.

As for the way to use it, it’s more famous for mainly healing and purification.

Curing the illness and wound as a basic skill, the person who is skilled in it could do something such as erasing the monster from the immortal group, and purifying huge plot of land.

And, since it’s power gained because of a divine protection, the person who gains it can communicate with a G.o.d or a spirit.

First, it’s a power that you won’t get if you live a normal life.

To tell the truth, I also have this power, just a bit though.

But, as expected, there’s no need to say that it was nothing but a weak power.

As for the reason why I have this kind of power, a long time ago, I repaired a small and abandoned roadside shrine in my hometown village and it seems that the spirit living in that shrine gave me a little divine protection.

Though I can use a bit of sacred spirit, at most I could make muddy or dirty water to be clean and drinkable, I can also purify a wound so that it won’t fester, but purifying the land or closing a wound in an instant are too much for my power.

Even so, it’s useful in it’s own way, since this power is truly useful during this ten years, I want to say that I’m truly grateful to the spirit who gave its divine protection at that time.

But, it was truly harsh to make a living as an adventurer with just this, that was how the life was.

In other words, it just means that there’s not much of magical power, willpower, or sacred spirit inside me.

In short, to say it bluntly, I’m not even suited to become an adventurer in the first place.

Well, since a human who have those three kind of power are extremely rare, I have never met such an existence other than myself.

But, number is not everything, it’s the quality that matters.

And then, in conclusion, I really am not blessed with that quality.

Which means that people who become adventurers are people who have accomplishments in their own way, none of them are as diminutive or half-baked like me.

Since generally it is an occupation where one is not fighting in a city or village, one could say that they are finishing their lives for having this kind of occupation.[ED: Adventurer = death, i suppose]

But, it was a big dream which become a trouble for me.

I’ll became a Divine Silver(Mithril) rank adventurer, no matter what.

Because I yearn for it since my childhood, always, continuously chasing after that dream.

Something like giving up is something that I couldn’t do.

Well, I can’t say anything about turning into a Bone Man(Skeleton), but it’s not bad that I was able to sacrifice myself for my dream.

Moreover, it’s not like I’m completely dead, I still have a body that can move even if it’s a mystery, so it’s better to say that my luck is not that bad.

As a human, if I somehow was able to survive..

I can still do something.

That was how I live so far.

Though I ended up becoming a Bone Man(Skeleton), I’ll have to think hard about this.

Well, for the fundamental problem, I really don’t know whether I’m alive or not, still it seems that I can still move.

It’s not so bad for thinking about perservering because of this.

As a test, the power which I has when I was alive, sacred spirit,will power, magical power and the result of the experiment is, I can use all of it without any problem.

I know that it’s plenty enough with just this.

At least, a Normal(・・・)Monster like Bone Man(Skeleton)can’t do that.

I thought that I can fight.

By the way, even if my current goal is aiming at Corpse Eating Demon(Ghoul), it doesn’t mean that I’m not feeling a little d.a.m.ned in hearing just that, it’s not like I want to eat decaying meat of people, but just for sure, I’m aiming for that since it’s appearance is closer to human.

In addition, though I say Corpse Eating Demon(Ghoul), even if I become that, it doesn’t mean that I will start to eat people’s meat.

But there might be a time where I will start to eat people because of instinct.

I feel like doing it secretly as much as possible.

Well then, after confirming my power, and decided the general plan.

The next thing is to keep doing my best while aiming for Corpse Eating Demon(Ghoul).

For that I need to beat down the monsters in this labyrinth..

Why if it come to that way I can easily say it like that, because they’re monster, by gathering experience for months and years, I can raise my rank toward higher existence, or so how it’s explained.

An example for a being that becomes a higher existence due to the pa.s.sage of time are the dragons, from a very young dragon till they grow to become a Thousand Years Dragon(Ancient Dragon), in the first place high leveled monsters would have a high leveled ability.

In this point, a Bone man(Skeleton) would continue to be a Bone man(Skeleton) no matter how many years pa.s.s by..

That’s because immortal type monsters never change no matter how many years pa.s.s by if they just live normally which means getting stronger after many months and years is said to be impossible.

At any rate, it’s because they’re made of  bones. They’re not growing.

In that matter, what should i do.

It was by piling up experience.

Anyway I need to battle to gain experience.

It’s said that if a monster beats another monster, they can absorb the opponent’s power for themselves.

This is not just exclusive for monster, it was the same with people.

That’s why, even though adventurers and soldiers who have been fighting for a long time can show great power, there’s still a fundamental difference between monster and people because people are still people now matter how much monster power they absorb.

Contrary to that, when a monster gathers a certain amount of experience, there’s a case where they can evolve to a higher existence.

That’s what I’m aiming for.

Of course, there’s a problem wether I am considered a monster in the first place, I’d like to work hard knowing that i can evolve to a higher existence, since it is something that I can check if I try.

That’s why the first thing I should do is to beat monsters that are within my level.

That means, the monsters within the same level of a Bone Man(Skeleton) in this labyrinth are Slimes, goblins and also other Bone Mans(Skeleton).

Though I’m currently in the untraversed area of the《Water and Moon Labyrinth》, I still remember about how I beat down the monster along the way till I arrived to this place.

Though there’s several opinion for this detailed theory regarding the labyrinth monster, the matter regarding them reviving after fixed interval is confirmed.

It is said the the phenomenom called Re-Sp.a.w.n(Re-Pop) or reconstruction could take several days to several years for strong monsters, but for weak monsters, it won’t even take one day.

I don’t know how much time has pa.s.sed since I was killed by the dragon, but it seems that the time required for Re-Sp.a.w.n(Re-Pop) was met.

When it comes to that, I have to go back to the road as fast as possible to find the monster that I want to meet.

I decided to move my Bone Man(Skeleton) body, step-by-step to the return pa.s.sage.

In reality, my body feels heavy when I’m moving it, as I thought, I can’t fight like how I used to, but I’m still relieved for the fact that I can move this much.

For my weapon, it’s not a problem since I’m still wearing my favourite armor and one-handed sword when I’m still alive from the very beginning.

And the other thing is, it seems I have no choice but to confirm it during the actual combat.

And then, 5 minutes after treading the return pa.s.sage.

I meet the first monster.

This opponent――Was of the same species as me and it didn’t have any weapon or armor, the Bone Man(Skeleton).