ch261-ch280 · 275-ch275

Chapter 275: Can't Log Out

"Haruki-san! Haruki-san!"

I want to wipe it, but the gauntlet's in the way......

The blood-splash seems to have hit the upper right of my face, then trickled down into my right eye.

I can't open it.

It stings like crazy......

Like it's burning me.

"Retreat...... the job, pick a......"

It hurts—I can't—my thoughts won't come.

Can't pick......

"Hh. Snake venom...... You two, retreat! Pick your jobs! Quickly!"

Kasumi-san supports me as I sink to one knee.

It's not just the right eye—I can't keep the left one open either......

"I'm okay! Wait—Soushi, what are you doing!?"

"Said if it's poison, we'd be needing this!"

"I see! Of course you'd know! Be careful not to touch the blood. ......Haruki-san, we're going back. Can you summon the 'Left Hand Gate'?"

"......te】"

I somehow lift my trembling hand and summon the 'Left Hand Gate.'

"Watanabe-san! That—!"

What is that?

"Hh!? ......That is something we anticipated! Let's leave here at once!"

What?

Ah—the temperature changed.

We're back at the warehouse......

Ah...... the greatshield......

Did someone pick up my helmet?

"What's wrong? Hey, little boy? With me? Haru-kun? Kasugano Haruki! Well, he's conscious, at least. 【Heal・High】. 【Analyze・HP】"

Oh?

The pain's gone?

"It's poison. He was splashed with the Manticore's snake venom around the right eye."

"Water! Flush it out first!"

"【Conversion・Water】, 【Water Manipulation】"

Whoa—ice-cold water!

Water splashes over my face, and the next moment it concentrates around my right eye.

I strip off the gauntlet and the Shield Gauntlet and scrub away.

Several rounds of fresh water later......

"Thank you. It feels much better now."

I still can't open the right eye, but the pain has receded.

Did it heal?

【Heal・High】 is amazing.

"【Analyze・HP】. Nope, no good. His HP is dropping. If it's poison, there's nothing I can do. At this HP nothing will happen right away, but let's get him to the hospital."

HP 3299/3300

She's right.

It had fully recovered with that 【Heal・High】 just now, and it's dropping again.

Honestly, it hadn't even dropped 100—it just hurt like hell.

"It can't be helped, then. To Dr. Amamiya's."

"I'm fine, I can stand on my own."

"No!"

I try to get up by myself, but Kasumi-san scoops me up.

The princess carry, this is.

Something like this happened before, too......

︙

︙

"Oh my, Haruki-kun. You never come see me, so I was worried. What brings you here today? Overused your skills again?"

"Poison! Treatment, please!"

Kasumi-san answers, cutting over Dr. Amamiya's words.

"Oh my, that IS serious. You seem awfully lively for it, though? ......I see—keeping things stable with Shiraishi-kun's 【Heal】, are we. But were there any poison-using monsters in Chiba? Without knowing what poison it is, there's no way to treat it. Now, the situation—"

The doctor glances at Shiraishi-san for just an instant and seems to grasp what's what.

"Natsukawa-san, that thing."

Prompted by Kasumi-san, Soushi holds out the bag wrapped in layer upon layer.

"Oh-ho, the monster's already restrained, I see. Let's have a look. Hyah—it made eye contact with me! ......A snake? A new species, perhaps?"

"Dr. Amamiya, the information......"

"No need to worry. As I said before, this is my castle. There is no one here but my own people. The only outsiders who could leak anything are you and Ishikawa-kun."

Ishikawa-san is the 'scout'—an HQ staff member—who went up to Floor 30 with Kasumi-san back during 'the Saint in question's request.'

Strictly speaking, the upper job is a melee one, so maybe that's 'scout-sub-job-san'?

That Ishikawa-san is currently attached as the former Akiyama-san's bodyguard, seconded to this hospital.

(【Presence Detection】. Whoa—dazzling. They're here, all three of them.)

A purple presence right beside the former Akiyama-san's dazzling one.

That should be Ishikawa-san.

A white presence in a separate room.

That would be Umemoto.

Together with a blazing-red presence, huh......

Human experimentation in progress, I see.

"This snake is the tail of the Manticore, the boss monster of Floor 40."

After a back-and-forth or two about Ishikawa-san's current location and such, Kasumi-san starts explaining the situation.

"Oh-ho, so this is it! Just the thing I was looking for. Hm-hm, looking closely, it has a rather cute face, doesn't it. Hm? Why would Haruki-kun be poisoned by this snake......? Actually, you're lucky to be alive, you know."

Cute?

I mean, I haven't exactly looked closely......

There's a lot I'm going to have to explain here.

Everything except the 【Gate】 business—would it be all right to be honest?

"It was not a bite—he was merely splashed. Around the right eye."

Kasumi-san explains for me.

We knew a bite would mean death, after all.

The plan was to take it down from long range to begin with.

But I never imagined it could still move in that state......

"I see—let me have a look, shall I? ......Ah-h, it's bright red. Can you see? Try following this light with your eyes. Any pain?"

A hand in a medical glove pries my closed eye open.

The light is blinding.

But I can see properly.

What a relief—

"It hurts a little when I move it."

"And how is the HP loss? Can you tell how fast it's dropping?"

HP 3299→3297

"It's been over ten minutes since we last checked, and it's only dropped by 2."

"Hmm-hmm. Not a bite, so only a small dose of poison? No—you're Triple like them, aren't you? Should I put the high poison tolerance down to high Magic? Or perhaps Endurance? And yet poison ought to be MORE potent inside the dungeon, yet the opposite is happening...... Hmmm......"

Dr. Amamiya has slipped into muttering to herself.

Soushi and Aikawa secretly help with treatment at this hospital, so the doctor knows they're upper-job holders.

Asked whether I'm Triple—well, my license is still Double, so no.

But I did just come back from Floor 40.

I couldn't get the upper sub-job, but I'm Level 44.

I could probably pass for Quadruple, no?

"Doctor! Will he recover?"

"Hm? Ah—sorry, sorry. If it's a Manticore, I have serum on hand from a snake with similar venom; we'll use that. That will slow your HP loss further. And as long as we keep using 【Heal】 like this, it should heal up naturally before long. We'll need to flush the eye properly, too. Oh, and one more thing—if you leave the dungeon, you die. Until I say otherwise, do not leave the dungeon."

That last line was, very casually, something enormous.

"DIE!? Doctor!!"

The one panicking more than me is Kasumi-san.

"It's a plain-and-simple deadly poison, you see. You three should change clothes and wash up right away—check your HP too. Shiraishi-san, please cast 【Heal】 as needed so nobody dies. I'll ask Ai-kun later as well."

Inside the dungeon, the status corrections keep you from dying, apparently.

One worry set aside, for now.

"Hey. How long is 'naturally'? Tests start Monday—are we going to make it in time?"

Ah, right, that too.

At Aikawa's words, everyone's eyes converge on the doctor.

"No chance. Confirming the poison is fully gone takes time."

"D-Doctor! The serum? Can't you make a serum?"

Right—we went to the trouble of bringing the tail-snake back, so with this, something like an antidote......

"No, no—a normal animal couldn't survive this venom. Even one that could would take weeks. Making serum from HIM would probably be faster."

Ah-hah-hah, and with that......

I'm done for.