arc3 · 198-ch198

Chapter 198: Free-for-All ⑤

While I kept Queens' members occupied with Shiden and Hayate, I watched the whole battlefield from above through Asahi.

The fight between Sieg and the two leaders was quite the spectacle. When Sieg's fist punched through Jim's shield, I couldn't help throwing up a fist pump. And the way he brushed off Onodake's full-power strike like it was nothing — that's the world's number-one explorer for you.

The fight between Nishikyo-san and Dokumamushi had gone entirely at Nishikyo-san's pace. Dokumamushi and his knives couldn't slip beneath Nishikyo-san's spear and seemed hard-pressed just handling the mid-range attacks. All that big talk, and he's not much after all. He did spit a cloud of poison mist from his mouth at one point, but Nishikyo-san dodged it coolly, so he should be fine now.

The fight between Kitora-san and Hasumi and Tokoyami was an ultra-close-quarters affair of fists, daggers, and folding fans. That Hasumi woman seemed nothing special, but this Tokoyami fellow had A-rank-caliber skill and was somehow hanging on through Kitora-san's furious assault. That Hasumi woman does have the Charm skill, it seems, but Kitora-san is dealing with her without letting their eyes meet even once. Impressive as always.

The magic duel between Shinonome-san and Kuranohayashiin was a spectacle too. But for all the flash of that lightning magic, it turned out to be a poor match against the earth attribute. Shinonome-san's chanting was slightly faster as well, and the wounds kept piling up on Kuranohayashiin's side alone.

With Elsie neutralized, I figured I could handle Mikey and Vivvi with Shiden and Hayate too. Thanks to Sieg, this was all going to end without disaster — that's what I thought, when—

"SS, watch out!"

Sieg's sharp voice cut through the air. I hurriedly checked Asahi's 360° camera feed — and there was a sword coming straight up at us from below.

GAKIIIN!

A shrill metallic clang, and Asahi's feed distorted. Looks like it took a blade from directly below. Who on earth?

"Tch — made of mithril, huh."

That voice — Ohsaki? I slipped up. He hadn't shown the slightest sign of moving until this very moment, and I let my guard down. But call it a mercy of misfortune — it seems the mithril body took no damage. That's President Yamamoto's reinforcement work for you. Thank you, President!

Now then — what do I do about this Ohsaki guy? Everyone else has their hands full, so I have to deal with him somehow... Fine. Time to bring this one out.

I summoned Gekkou directly above Asahi. From Ohsaki's angle it should be in his blind spot, invisible. Then I put the Wind Blade Wall to work and sent Asahi charging straight at Ohsaki.

"What's your problem!?"

The instant Ohsaki swung his sword to keep Asahi away, I climbed for altitude and fired off the Capture Net from above.

"I saw that coming!"

The Capture Net that shot out of Asahi got sliced apart by Ohsaki's sword — but in that window, I successfully swung Gekkou around behind him. Ohsaki hadn't noticed a thing.

I drove Gekkou's Poison Needle into the back of the knee of Ohsaki, who stood glaring at the Asahi floating right in front of him.

"Ow!"

He must have felt the needle's sting — Ohsaki's hand flew reflexively to the back of his knee. And the poison was already starting to spread, it seems; he staggered and dropped to one knee. His legs might not be taking orders anymore.

Only then did Ohsaki finally realize he was under attack — he felt around him and spotted Gekkou.

"What the!? A drone? That's straight-up cheating!!"

Ohsaki shouted at the sight of the ultra-small drone Gekkou. But there's no such thing as cheating in a world where it's win or die. Sieg would have spotted my Gekkou, after all.

Thanks to Ohsaki's shouting, everyone started looking our way, so I dismissed Gekkou, its job done. The poison I'd put into Ohsaki was eating into him for certain — he looked ready to collapse at any moment as he groped for an Antidote Potion inside his bag.

(Not a chance.)

I fired a Sticky Bomb straight at Ohsaki. The capsule smacked dead onto the head of Ohsaki, who was rummaging through his bag with trembling hands, and the sticky liquid came pouring down.

"Whoa!? Wh-What is this stuff..."

Entangled in the sticky liquid, Ohsaki lost what little freedom of movement he had left. In this state, getting an Antidote Potion out of that bag won't be easy.

"Gh... someone... somebody, help me..."

At last Ohsaki fell face-down to the ground and began convulsing. And there was no one left to help him.

"Ugh... a shame, but hah, this is where we hah, hah... call it quits. Ngh... e-everyone, gather round."

Jim, who'd taken the shockwave of Sieg's straight punch in the gut and was vomiting blood, called his allies to him.

"L-Listen up, you lot — we're bailing. Ngh... w-we're using that thing."

Onodake, slammed into the wall and bleeding from the head with one arm hanging limp, gave the order to retreat too. But how exactly do they plan on getting out of this one?

Following Jim's orders, the Queens members gathered around him and laid a hand on his shoulder. Half the Ouroboros members gathered around Onodake, the other half around Kuranohayashiin, laying hands on shoulders in the same way.

And in that instant, every one of their figures vanished. Just like when a Transfer Stone is used inside a dungeon.

"Tch — so they were carrying those things after all. Wastin' money on garbage like that, the hell."

Sieg seemed to know exactly what they'd used; he glared venomously at the spot where they'd stood.

"Ngh... n-no way... B-Bos..."

And then came the groans of Ohsaki, abandoned by his Ouroboros comrades. His face had already turned green — he looked like he could die at any second.

I maneuvered Shiden and thought about dropping an Antidote Potion down on him from above...

"Don't bother. That man crossed a line that never should be crossed. You owe him no rescue."

Sieg's one remark froze Shiden in place. I see. Even if I saved him, he'd just go and do the same thing again. And yet — I still wasn't ready to become a killer that easily.

"Even so, I want to save him."

Quietly, I moved Shiden to a point directly above Ohsaki.

"Hah. Blinding, you know. I don't dislike that way of thinking of yours — but as choices go, you picked the wrong one."

Saying that, Sieg straddled Ohsaki in a blink-and-miss-it flash of movement and punched straight through his heart with his fist.

"Guhah..."

With that single blow, Ohsaki breathed his last.

"Sieg-san!? What are you doing!?"

I couldn't help raising my voice at the unbelievable sight.

"Yeah. You're seeing it right. I snuffed this one out."

Sieg pulled his fist back and answered, calm as if nothing had happened.

"You didn't have to kill him..."

"In America, anyone who commits a crime in a dungeon is executed. No exceptions."

"This isn't America!? Japan has a Special Prison to hold Awakened criminals too!"

"And that Special Prison — wasn't it what Onodake there cracked open? What happened when he did? A whole crowd of criminal Awakened got turned loose on the world, and plenty of people paid for it, didn't they?"

"Th-That's..."

Sieg's sound argument left me fumbling for words.

"Say you carry this one out alive, the same thing happens again, and he kills innocent people. You telling me you wouldn't regret it?"

At Sieg's words, Kohazuka came to mind. If my drones hadn't made it in time, that woman would have been thrown off the building.

"And more than that — say a monster attacks while you're carrying him out of here, he interferes with our fight, and someone from Kokushi Musou dies. How exactly do you plan to take responsibility for that?"

Sieg's calm voice came through the drone to me. The Kokushi Musou members seemed to be listening to his words quietly too.

"This place might not be America — but it isn't Japan either. It's a dungeon. And the law can't bind the Awakened who can set foot inside one. Remember that."

I had nothing to answer back with. So this is what it means to resolve yourself to being an explorer, I thought. And at the same time, I felt Sieg's kindness too. So that I wouldn't have to become a killer just yet, he'd dirtied his own hands for me.

"...Thank you."

I packed all sorts of feelings into those words of thanks to Sieg.

"Ah, don't mention it. I just did the job Arihara asked of me. I'm getting paid proper for it too, so no worries."

Out of consideration for me, Sieg chose to take it as thanks for beating the Terror's Symbol. World's strongest, AND considerate on top of it — just how big is this guy's heart?

"Still — who'd have thought they'd be carrying Transfer Stone Shards. Those almost never drop, you know."

Sieg filled me in: the thing they'd used was an item called a Transfer Stone Shard, something that drops only very rarely on a dungeon's deep floors. Using one teleports you to the Transfer Stone room on the first floor of the dungeon where it was found.

It's a disposable item, good for one use each — but as you saw, the effect is nothing to sneeze at. For explorers diving the deep floors, it's a prize they'd give their right arm for. Incidentally, put one up at auction and the price doesn't stop at a mere hundred million yen, apparently.

With both Queens and Ouroboros having transferred to the Transfer Stone room of some other dungeon entirely, they'd be hard to catch, Sieg said. All we could do was give up on them. To us, feeling a bit deflated at letting the enemy slip away despite all that fighting, Sieg — gathering up the Magic Stone the Terror's Symbol had dropped — turned with a face like a mischievous kid and asked:

"More importantly — hey. You wanna see something?"

"Eh? See what?"

I asked back, having no idea what he meant.

"Whatever's deeper in."

Sieg pointed down the path leading onward from floor thirty-three.

"Deeper in is uncharted territory, right? We already trashed the Lich and the Terror's Symbol. Nobody left to stop us! Let's push on as far as we can go!"

And with that, Sieg took the lead and started walking. The Kokushi Musou members traded glances with one another — then broke into a jog to follow.

I watched Ohsaki's body get absorbed into the dungeon, then followed after with my three drones.