chapter2 · 027-ep27

Episode 27: Job-Exclusive Achievements

Beyond the brush, something moved.

The next instant, what burst out was a beast-type monster.

Close to a wolf.

But a full size bigger than any wolf I know, its coat less gray than the dingy brown of tree bark.

There was even moss stuck along its back.

Way too committed to blending into a forest, buddy.

No — it actually did blend, big-time.

"Wood Wolves. Three."

Takamiya said it quietly.

On those words alone, everyone moved.

Natori stepped out first.

Takamiya watched the whole from a little behind.

Mibu stopped in the rear and raised one hand lightly forward.

Rio slid half a step to the side.

And Nanami, beside me, let out a soft breath.

"All right, Ren-kun — watch closely."

"Yes."

Where Nanami and I stood was the team's center.

Not too far forward, not dropped too far back — the spot with reach on everyone.

The "Enchanter's spot" Nanami had mentioned.

One Wood Wolf, staying low, lunged at Natori.

Fast.

The moment I thought it, Nanami had already moved.

"First — Endurance, going in."

Nanami raised a hand overhead.

And a thin presence spread through our surroundings.

Sensed more than seen.

A feeling of something spreading out around me.

This, most likely, was the Enchantment Domain.

Somehow, it felt like the very density of the air had shifted, faintly.

Right after, the Wood Wolf slammed into Natori's shield.

A dull sound.

Natori's body barely moved.

He received it.

No — he stopped it.

Pressing down on the head of the wolf that tried to bite, Natori pinned it under his shield.

Beside him, Takamiya was taking the second Wood Wolf.

No weapon.

Bare hands.

Takamiya had caught the lunging Wood Wolf by the neck with one arm.

...Huh?

Bare hands?

No, no, no.

That is, quite objectively, a monster.

The Wood Wolf bared its fangs and dug its forelegs into the ground.

Even so, Takamiya didn't lose the push.

If anything, the next instant he'd broken the wolf's stance.

Wait, which of these is the monster again?

At this point, the man is simply too much gorilla.

"A great help, Nanami-san."

Takamiya said it briefly.

Plenty of room in his voice.

But that reception had to exist because of Nanami's Endurance enchant.

Probably, that's how hard the Endurance buff was working.

With the enchant in, Natori can stop one with his shield.

And Takamiya can take one bare-handed.

Put the other way: the same moves without the enchant might have been dangerous.

No — by now, I want to believe that.

"With a buff on, you too can grab a wolf bare-handed" is a line I'd honestly like to hear from the man himself.

"Hah!"

A short breath from Takamiya.

The body of the Wood Wolf he held was, the next instant, slammed into the ground.

Dull sound.

Damp soil scattering.

The wolf's body bounced once and burst into grains of light.

Yeah — still far too much monster.

"Natori-san!"

Mibu's voice snapped out.

Natori changed his shield's angle.

Pinned under the shield, the Wood Wolf couldn't move.

Into that opening —

red light kindled in Mibu's palm.

An arrow of flame.

Slim, keen, loosed in one dead-straight line — it skewered the Wood Wolf's torso.

Fire burst.

Not a showy explosion, but evidently the power was enough.

Two down.

Felled in no time flat.

But it isn't over.

From a little behind, the last one was pressing in.

Circling in from the flank, running low.

Its target — probably the formation's center.

Meaning: us.

My heart jolted.

Crap, crap!

By the time I thought it, Rio was already moving.

From his spot between rear and flank, Rio cut straight into its path.

"Nanami-san!"

"Got it."

At Rio's voice, Nanami responded instantly.

The next moment, Rio's speed climbed a full gear.

In a forest with footing this bad, he advanced as if a path existed there alone.

Stepping on roots, kicking fallen leaves, swinging around to the flank of the onrushing Wood Wolf.

Fast.

Rio was fast to begin with.

I know that well — I've fought him twice.

But the quality of his acceleration had clearly changed.

The moment I thought so, Rio's blade was already streaking in from the side.

The Wood Wolf's body split in a single horizontal flash and dropped to the ground.

The last one.

Processing complete.

The fight was over.

By the clock, probably under a minute.

But subjectively, it lasted far longer.

I watched the whole thing.

I'd watched it, and still it felt like I hadn't tracked all of it.

Natori stops them at the front.

Takamiya receives and one-shots.

Mibu threads a wolf through.

Rio slams home a flash.

And Nanami underpins every last piece of it.

Busy.

Just watching was busy enough.

What's it like on the doing side?

"...Incredible."

It slipped out.

Nanami let out a small breath and let her shoulders down a little.

She was edging back toward her usual softness, but her eyes were still sweeping the surroundings.

"That was Enchanter basics."

"That was basics?"

"Mm. The task itself is simple. Watch the field, and put the necessary buff on whoever needs it."

Saying so, Nanami looked to where the Wood Wolves had gone down.

"The Wood Wolves were fast, so first I shored up our defense and watched. Then I sized up the enemies left and the ally who could move the shortest distance — this time, an Agility buff on Rio-kun. Like that."

"...I see."

I couldn't claim I understood everything Nanami saw and decided, but the general flow made sense.

You're never the one shining directly.

But you're in both the defense and the offense, shaping the whole party's flow.

A midfielder in soccer, as it were.

What an Enchanter does is probably close to that.

Not that I know soccer all that well.

But it feels like that, somehow.

Plain, and busy.

And — interesting.

Far more interesting than I'd imagined.

"Ren-kun?"

"Ah — sorry. I was thinking..."

"Was Big-Sis Nanami's talk that boring?"

"N-no — not at all!!"

This person's sense of distance is genuinely close.

A brown-haired big-sister type peering into my face, head tilting, brows worried.

This is dangerous, okay?!

Why it's dangerous — even I couldn't tell you as I said it.

"Surroundings checked — no monsters in the immediate area, it seems."

Takamiya swept his eyes around, said so, and started forward again.

The rest of us walked in time.

Eh.

How does he know there aren't any?

Wild instincts?

Smell?

Either way, scary.

"Takamiya-san's Job is Fighter — he can apparently read hostility and movement around him very well."

Maybe it was all over my face; Nanami quietly filled me in from beside me.

"Fighter, huh?"

"Mm. Good at close combat, can fight up front, and can handle scouting-ish stuff too — that kind of Job, I guess?"

"And Takamiya-san's had tons of field experience to begin with, so his judgment's crazy good too~"

A low, sweet voice from behind, all of a sudden.

Rio.

Bonus info came raining down from Rio.

"Huh. That's impressive."

To sum up what I'd heard so far:

Takamiya Seiji —

excellent at close combat as a Fighter,

can scout,

and excels at whole-team judgment.

How do I put it — strong as a boss, in the plainest sense.

The absolutely-rely-on-him type if you had him at a workplace.

Not that a lone high schooler knows thing one about workplaces or bosses — but anyway, I now understood that I was tagging along with a very strong party.

And the moment I relaxed into that, a thought struck me.

Ah — right.

I'm in a dungeon, for once.

About time I grabbed some achievement or other.

I mean, yes: what am I even saying, mid-expedition.

Not the thing to be thinking seconds after watching that fight.

But I am that kind of person, so it can't be helped.

If anything, not peeking at my achievements field here would be the unnatural move, for me.

With a shield-bearer and a recon goril— ...a Fighter on the team, safety is more or less guaranteed.

So: one thing for me to do.

Walking along, I turned my eyes to the edge of my vision — the achievements field.

If I could just get to the next dungeon, there was actually an achievement I wanted to grab.

So saying to myself, I scrolled through the list.

And there.

An entry I'd never seen before slid into view.

"...What?"

I nearly stopped in my tracks.

It got to the point even Nanami was worrying about me.

"Ah — no, I'm fine. Seriously."

"...Hmmm? Fine, if you say so."

She's giving me a hugely dubious look.

I'm probably just bad at masking my face.

I could never cheat in my whole life.

Not that I would.

No — this is no time for that.

Priorities: the entry I just saw.

Scrolling through my usual achievements field, a brand-new section had, for some reason, been added.

【Job-Exclusive Achievements (Enchanter)】

Yes.

In all likelihood, these were achievements for strengthening your Job.

In other words: an Enchanter has Enchanter achievements.

The instant I saw that string of characters, I fought like mad to keep the corners of my mouth from curving up on their own.

...They even have those, huh.

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Oh — I've posted a supporters-only article.