arc3 · 056-ch56

Episode 56: Monster 2

zoo's leader Kirin, watching the battle between Suzuka and the Water Blade Weasel, had this impression: (I thought she was a monster, but I never imagined she'd go beyond that too.)

Nekoyashika using poison magic in that way at the critical moment went beyond Kirin's expectations. Trusting Nekoyashika, who had entered the zone, was the right call.

The moment Kirin saw signs that the Water Blade Weasel was paralyzed, she began withdrawing. Though monsters were still swarming all around, it seemed Parks had drawn many of them along, so escaping from the monster train didn't look difficult.

Maybe they noticed we were fleeing and opened the path. (Grateful. Let's accept their kindness without hesitation.)

(Since there was no need to defeat the attacking monsters, we advanced while parrying them. By keeping the District 3 upper species at bay with water magic as they approached, the outside of the monster circle was close at hand.)

That was when it happened. (Feeling thick killing intent like a blade pressed to my neck, I turned to find the Water Blade Weasel in a frenzy.)

Inurakuse dancing through the air. (With Inurakuse, who covered the rear, gone, the next target would be Nekoyashika.)

Before Kirin and Kotori could turn on their heels, the Water Blade Weasel swung its sharp hand sickles horizontally. Nekoyashika, who hadn't even properly defended herself, rolled across the ground like a fallen leaf blown by the wind.

Scattering fresh blood. Blood was flowing from Nekoyashika's fallen arm, but though she had taken an Area Boss's attack head-on, she hadn't been sliced through. It seemed equipping the full Gale Rabbit armor set had paid off.

(Still alive.) But the Water Blade Weasel was closing in to deliver the finishing blow.

(Determined not to let that happen,) Kirin pressed forward with Kotori to attack the Water Blade Weasel, but several water blades were fired from it, and its tail blade raged wildly, making it impossible to approach. Kotori desperately dodged the water blades while approaching, but the tail moved like a snake, persistently chasing Kotori and preventing her from closing the distance.

"Nyako!! Get up! Get up, please!! Run!!"

Kirin shouted at Nekoyashika, who was trying to stand, but Nekoyashika couldn't move immediately. Her agitation made her hands shake, and she was knocked back by a water blade, putting distance between her and the Water Blade Weasel. Kirin desperately used water magic too, but everything was canceled out by the Water Blade Weasel's water magic.

It felt like time was being stretched as the surrounding scenery slowed down. But in that world, Kirin could only move slowly too, able only to watch the Water Blade Weasel bring its sickle down.

CLANG.

A high-pitched sound like metal clashing echoed, and the Water Blade Weasel's arm, as if rewound, raised the hand it had struck down.

(What? Someone's there...?)

A person who suddenly appeared between Nekoyashika and the Water Blade Weasel. (Before I could even consider who they were, the Water Blade Weasel used its tail blade to pull back at high speed, and the answer appeared.)

"Suzuka-chan!?"

There stood the famous figure known as the "Iron Pipe Princess" at Hachioji Dungeon.

Kirin had met her once before, and the memory of exchanging Gale Rabbit armor with her was a good one. Certainly she had said she would start exploring District 3 at that time, but to think she was nearby.

"No, that's wrong. Not wrong, but also wrong—no, that's not it. I didn't come here to interfere with Kirin and the others. Really. I just thought you looked like you were in a pinch, so I jumped in, but if I'm in the way, I'll go home right away. Should I go home already? Was I intruding?"

For some reason rattling off excuses like someone making excuses before being scolded for doing something wrong. Having come to a battlefield not only overflowing with monsters from the monster train but even an Area Boss, if told she was interfering, she had an atmosphere that suggested she really would go home. Actually, she was already trying to go home.

In other words, leaving this place was probably nothing to Suzuka.

"No, you saved us. To be honest, can you fight the Water Blade Weasel, Suzuka-chan?"

(This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Though only a little, I had grasped her personality when we spoke.)

(She had little interest in others, so she would surely ignore this monster train too. But I felt that once she got to know someone, she valued that connection. The fact that she had generously shared the information from when she fought Rabbit Demon Iron Skin, telling me everything without holding back, was surely the best proof of that.)

(That's why I couldn't let her go. For Kirin and the others to survive, there was no choice but to have her fight alongside us, no matter what reward we had to offer.)

(With that feeling in mind, I asked if she could fight. Her high status was obvious from her well-proportioned appearance, but I needed to confirm whether she was at a level to fight the Water Blade Weasel.)

"Huh, of course."

As if it were only natural, Suzuka nodded that she could fight the Water Blade Weasel. Despite the Water Blade Weasel, an Area Boss, being right nearby, she showed no sign of being nervous at all.

The fact that she could appear before the Water Blade Weasel meant Suzuka was still at the appropriate level for it. If she had exceeded the appropriate level, she shouldn't have been able to reach this place to begin with. In other words, this was also a level range where taking that fearsome blade head-on carried a considerable possibility of death. And yet she was this composed.

(Could it be she had fought it before?)

(I knew Suzuka acted solo. She had said herself that she had even defeated Rabbit Demon Iron Skin solo.)

(I had heard the stories. But maybe I hadn't properly understood them. Perhaps in my head, I had separated it from reality like something on television.)

(The beautiful woman before my eyes—had she already fought the Water Blade Weasel solo too?)

(My mind rejected understanding, as if denying that content.) That was why Kirin had proposed joint battle.

"As expected. Knowing it's asking too much, I want to request—will you join us?"

"Eh! I can fight!? Really? No way, you'd let me have it, Kirin, you're a nice guy! Whoa, lucky, lucky!!"

For some reason looking happy, Suzuka readily accepted the joint battle offer.

(No, wait. Just now, she said "let me have it"?)

When I raised a question about that, Suzuka took off her mantle and stored it in her Storage.

That was the Mimicry Mantle. With Presence Concealment, because she had been nearby, she had appeared suddenly.

Understanding the mechanism behind her sudden appearance, immediately after, something Kirin couldn't understand happened.

"Here, Water Blade Weasel. Player change."

(Thinking such ferocious pressure was being released that I almost involuntarily raised my weapon, her figure vanished.) It wasn't Presence Concealment. (In the place I somehow managed to keep my eyes on, Suzuka was fighting the Water Blade Weasel.)

"Hah?"

She really went to fight alone. Even though there were many explorers here, without any sign of joint battle, and even though there were many other monsters, as if she had no eyes for anything else.

And she was crossing blades with the Water Blade Weasel entirely alone. The Water Blade Weasel fleeing in panic. Suzuka chasing it. The monsters in between turned to smoke as if swept aside with the brush of a sleeve.

(Kirin couldn't take her eyes off that unrealistic scene.)

"N-Nyako-chan! A-are you okay!!"

But Kotori's voice brought Kirin back to her senses.

"Nyako! Are you okay!?"

Nekoyashika somehow lifting her upper body with Kotori supporting her back. From her painfully slashed arm, blood was flowing ceaselessly.

Immediately taking a lower-grade HP potion from Storage and feeding it to Nekoyashika. (Nekoyashika could use recovery magic, but the fact that she hadn't used it until now probably meant her mana hadn't recovered yet.)

The wound closed visibly with the lower-grade potion. It was only barely closed, but (if she rests, it shouldn't open again.)

"Wh-what the hell is she"

(Since lower-grade potions can't heal broken bones, her broken arm remained as is.) But as if that didn't matter in the slightest, even as her already pale face turned blue from blood loss, Nekoyashika looked at Suzuka.

"That's the Iron Pipe Princess?"

Inurakuse, who had been blown away, also came over dusting off the dirt. Since she had properly taken the Water Blade Weasel's attack with her shield, she didn't seem injured.

"Th-that person too, is Acrobat, manifesting?"

Kotori's words made sense too. Amid the miscellaneous monsters pressing in, the Water Blade Weasel was attacking Suzuka, weaving through the monsters.

Its tail blade took advantage of its long reach to attack from various directions, and the raining water blades gave no time to rest. Yet Suzuka deflected, dodged all the attacks, and counterattacked.

When the Water Blade Weasel appeared before Suzuka and unleashed a combo of sickle attacks with both hands, Suzuka's power in deflecting the sickles was so strong that the Water Blade Weasel couldn't connect to the next attack as it wanted and couldn't help but step back.

"Hey hey hey! It wasn't like this before! Is your stomach acting up or something!? I'll pat your tummy for you, come over here!!"

Suzuka showed no sign of fighting a fierce battle with a strong enemy. Even though her opponent was an Area Boss, she fought as if she were enjoying it, like it was a game.

Rather than reacting adaptively to her opponent's attacks, she continued moving on her own initiative and never surrendered control to her opponent. Suzuka's fighting style was that of a forceful, powerful warrior.

"That's poison magic...".

Just as Nekoyashika said, poison fog was overflowing from Suzuka's surroundings. Maybe because she wasn't used to it yet, she couldn't produce effective fog, but Suzuka was wielding poison magic.

"Anything goes, huh.".

To Inurakuse's words, Kirin agreed too.

(Protecting herself from every approaching attack like Inurakuse, showing she could dodge any attack like Kotori, manipulating poison magic like Nekoyashika, able to force her own pace on her opponent like Kirin, and possessing attacks more powerful than any of zoo's members.)

(It's ridiculous. I thought she was strong. But I didn't think she was this far beyond common sense.)

(Is it that one cannot become a Special Rank explorer without becoming this strong?)

Inurakuse and Kotori, who usually separate others as others and aren't influenced, seem to have thoughts seeing Suzuka's battle too, wearing complicated expressions of frustration and yearning.

(If I had been able to move faster, Nekoyashika might not have been injured. If I, the tank role, had been able to suppress the Water Blade Weasel, Nekoyashika might not have been exposed to life-threatening danger.) Precisely because they think that, toward Suzuka who possesses that power, envy and jealousy mix.

Nekoyashika goes without saying. She seems particularly shocked that Suzuka is using poison magic. Since poison magic is a rare skill even among magic and few people have it, Nekoyashika had a special attachment to poison magic.

(It was because she had poison magic that she could defeat Rabbit Demon Iron Skin, and because she has poison magic that she can challenge the Jūryō Frog, a District 3 Area Boss famous for its sturdiness. Nekoyashika, feeling as if that specialness had been stolen from her, while feeling gratitude for being saved, was driven by intense jealousy.)

And Kirin is no exception. This time, Nekoyashika nearly died. If it weren't for the irregular existence called Suzuka, she certainly would have died.

(The danger to party members' lives is entirely the leader's responsibility.)

(I had no intention of changing my exploration schedule even after meeting Suzuka-chan. The current method works well enough, and Suzuka-chan's method was one that would either hit a dead end or cost her life along the way.)

(But seeing Suzuka's battle before my eyes, I revise my perception. I can't see any vision of Suzuka hitting a dead end. Probably she will keep charging forward like that, and while bearing the risk of being alone, she'll continue growing to the maximum.)

(In that case, we need to follow too. What we aim for is overwhelming strongest explorers. If Suzuka-chan is ahead of us, then we have to surpass even her to be the strongest.)

(When I heard Suzuka's story, I purely thought she was insane. And the actions born from that lack of common sense had something in common with the strongest Special Rank explorers I know.)

But realistically speaking, Kirin is an ordinary person, and her sister Karin and their parents, First Rank explorers, were ordinary people too. Because there are only ordinary people around her including herself, there was no one to use as reference. (That's why I had planned an exploration plan that raised risk as much as possible.)

(Because of that, even though I met a genuine madman, I measured her by the scale of ordinary people. She'll probably die like that eventually. We should do our own exploration, I thought.)

("What sheer ignorance I was in. I'm ashamed to the limit.")

(My proud thoughts make me squirm with shame. That's why I want to look away from Suzuka, who calls to mind my shameful memory, but I don't look away from Suzuka, my benefactor who made me realize it.)

"AHAHAHAHA!! This is fun!! This is fun, isn't it! Weasel-chan!!"

Suzuka's voice occasionally heard is stained with madness, making listeners feel like their hearts are being chilled.

(Is that some kind of skill too. It feels similar to the Panic from Madness Serpent Mimics.)

(Suzuka, who is probably over level 40, feels like she has speed beyond her level. Being able to run alongside the Water Blade Weasel, which invests in Agility, is undoubtedly movement beyond original stats.)

(As a possibility, she's probably equipped with items that raise Agility like the Protection of Water Blade Weasel or Protection of Gale Rabbit dropped by the Water Blade Weasel. Speaking of that, the poison magic is probably from the Ring of Twin Poisons. At least when we met before, poison magic wasn't manifested, so for it to become usable in District 3, that's all I can think of.)

(But this ominous pressure and the madness that even makes zoo's members with their high stats tremble—no such item exists even including Area Bosses up to Floor 1 District 3. Since treasure chests don't appear in this area either, the item theory is probably thin.)

(Then there's only skill. It's likely a Unique Skill class.)

(Probably, instead of putting herself in a status abnormality close to berserk state, it's a skill that raises her stats. Because there are disadvantages, the power gained seems great too.)

(Because of that skill, she's forced to act solo. Seeing her fighting now, the risk of fighting alongside her is immeasurable. Because it's a berserk-like fighting style like Madness Serpent Mimics.)

Rumors also circulated that she used to act as a pair, so it's plausible that the reason the pair disbanded was the skill.

(The reason she's fighting alone now is probably because of that too. But even so, she's gained strength enough to fight Area Bosses alone. As explorers, we can't help but harbor feelings of admiration toward that.)

"Everyone, let's watch carefully. That's the explorer we need to surpass."

(The current zoo is still level 25-26. Still and all, in terms of explorer levels, it's the very beginning of the beginning. From here on, we need to stretch our stats and strengthen our skills so we can get even a little closer to Suzuka, no—so we can surpass her.)

(Before I knew it, there were no monsters around except the Water Blade Weasel. The last remaining Water Blade Weasel was madly pouring attacks on Suzuka. Not only water blades, but wrapping water blades around both hands' sickles and its tail blade too, sometimes extending its reach, sometimes firing water blades directly from its sickles, it was performing varied attacks.)

(But Suzuka blocked every one of them. Dodging attacks at such close range it seemed like she was being hit, and when she deflected attacks, they had enough power to make the Water Blade Weasel recoil.)

(I don't know how much body reinforcement she's doing, but while Suzuka is large for a woman, her physical strength is unimaginably high from her appearance.)

(As if using the Water Blade Weasel as a practice partner, Suzuka maintained that state. Like Kotori, whose dodging was all she could manage, perhaps she can't transition to attacking. Since she was yelling that she wanted to raise her Swordsmanship level, maybe she thinks of it as practice or something.)

"HAAH!! Too weak, my skill isn't going up!! If you don't gear up, I'm gonna kill you!?"

Suzuka shouts to provoke, but the Water Blade Weasel doesn't change. No, it can't. The Water Blade Weasel has long since raised its gears to the limit and is attacking, and if possible, swinging its blades wanting to slice the explorer before its eyes to pieces.

(Growing impatient at the Water Blade Weasel that showed no change, Suzuka finally stepped forward. The brilliantly shining magic iron pipe she swung down struck the Water Blade Weasel's face.)

(Suzuka delivered a follow-up attack to the Water Blade Weasel, which had been smashed into the ground as if penetrating it. The Water Blade Weasel also stabbed its tail into the ground, trying to escape with tricky movements, but Suzuka didn't allow that.)

(Suzuka chasing and striking the fleeing Water Blade Weasel. If that continued a few times, the Water Blade Weasel's movements slowed, and Suzuka's attacks accelerated exponentially.)

And then, the Water Blade Weasel, which had been an incarnation of terror, all too easily transformed into smoke.