Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 4

by Ryo Shirakome

  The highly trained vanguard expertly repelled the wave of monsters, keeping the more vulnerable rearguard safe. Meanwhile, the rearguard called out a count for how much longer it would take for their next magical barrage to be ready.

  A few of the bats managed to fly past the vanguard, but the ever-reliable Barrier Master kept them at bay with a magical wall.

  “O momentary squall, form an impassable, invisible wall! Rebuff all who approach— Storm Bulwark!” Suzu Taniguchi summoned an offensive barrier to shield the back line. But as the wall of raging wind was invisible, the bats didn’t notice it. Heedless of Suzu’s magic, they charged at the rearguard, thinking only of how they would tear these puny humans to shreds.

  Just before they reached the group, they ran into the wind wall. As they did so, the wall began to bulge outward. Dozens of them rammed into the wall, none of them able to pass through the swirling gusts.

  Once all of the bats were trapped the bulge reached a breaking point and exploded outward. The resulting blast of wind sent the bats flying back.

  The impact was powerful enough to obliterate a few of the bats on the spot. Those that survived the blast died a few seconds later when they slammed into the walls with bone-shattering force.

  “Heh! You’re not getting past me that easy!” Suzu’s shout was loud enough to be heard over the din of the fighting. Just then, the members of the vanguard unleashed some of their strongest attacks. Their goal wasn’t to defeat the enemies in front of them, but to immobilize them long enough that they could get out of the way.

  “Get back!” At Kouki’s command, the vanguard retreated a few steps.

  A second later, the rearguard’s magic hit the crowd of monsters. Their timing was perfect. A massive fireball slammed into the monsters, throwing them in disarray. At the same time, a tornado sprouted from the ground, tearing through their ranks. Stone spires jutted out from the floor, impaling those unlucky enough to still be on the ground. Icicles with points as sharp as knives rained down on the battlefield, skewering everything.

  Nature’s ferocity tore through the army of monsters, leaving no survivors in its wake. The whole attack lasted only a few seconds. But in those scant few seconds, over 90% of the monsters had been killed or mortally wounded.

  “Perfect! Let’s mop up the rest of them!” The vanguard surged forward once more, thoroughly eliminating the few survivors. It didn’t even take five minutes to finish off the weakened enemies. Even after the last monster was dealt with, they didn’t let their guard down. The party remained vigilant for enemy attacks while congratulating each other on a battle well fought.

  “Phew, the 90th floor’s up next... We’ve gotten strong enough to kill the monsters here without too much trouble... Looks like our training mission’s almost over.”

  “But that doesn’t mean we can take it easy. There’s no telling what kinds of monsters and traps are waiting for us on the next floor.”

  “You worry too much, Shizuku. We’ve easily cleared floors no one else has ever made it to. We’ll wipe the floor with anything that comes at us, even if it’s demons.” Ryutarou smiled confidently as he brushed Shizuku’s worries aside. He gave Kouki a fistbump, who returned it and smiled back at him.

  Shizuku sighed, frowning. She massaged the wrinkles that had formed on her forehead. Sadly, she’d gotten used to cleaning up the overconfident duo’s messes. Every time she looked in a mirror she worried her frown wrinkles had become permanent. But even so, she didn’t stop looking out for the rest of the group. Despite her attitude, Shizuku was kind at heart.

  “Hiyama-kun, Kondou-kun, I’ve finished healing you two... How do you feel?” Kaori started doing her job while the rest of the party was talking to each other. Namely, healing all of the injured members. She was the group’s Priest after all.

  Among their 15-person labyrinth conquest party there was one other healer in the group. She split the work with Kaori, and they set about healing everyone.

  “Yeah, it doesn’t hurt at all. Thanks, Shirasaki.”

  “Y-Yeah, I’m fine now. Thanks.” Hiyama replied absentmindedly as he stared at Kaori’s face. It was obvious he was smitten with her. Kondou was blushing to the tips of his ears too. As they were vanguard fighters the two of them often found themselves on the receiving end of Kaori’s healing. Despite that, they still hadn’t gotten used to talking to her.

  Kondou’s attitude could be explained away by puberty, and his awkwardness was almost endearing. However, the kinds of gazes Hiyama gave Kaori were far from normal. There was a darkness in his eyes that clouded over his pupils from time to time. And recently, that darkness had been growing stronger. But even those who were close to him, such as Shinji Nakano and Yoshiki Saitou, hadn’t noticed this subtle change in Hiyama.

  Kaori accepted the two boys’ thanks with a smile and walked off to heal the rest of the party.

  A short distance away, the party’s other healer, Ayako Tsuji, was finishing up healing Nagayama. She was wearing her trademark hair clip, which exposed her somewhat large forehead. Once she was finished she sighed and wiped a bead of sweat off her brow. As Nagayama was the party’s Heavy Knight, he often took the brunt of the enemies’ attacks. Thanks to that, healing him was harder than healing the others.

  The rearguard members of Nagayama’s party, the Geomancer Kentarou Nomura and the Invoker Mao Yoshino hadn’t been injured. That accounted for all of Nagayama’s party... Tsuji suddenly felt someone tug on her sleeve. She turned to see Endou showing off the gash in his arm, tears in his eyes. It didn’t look too deep, but it probably hurt a lot. He’d been patiently waiting his turn the whole time, but as always no one had taken notice of his presence and he’d been left forgotten.

  “Crap,” Tsuji blurted out, but it wasn’t as if she’d forgotten about her friend.

  Kaori smiled at the pair and went over to heal Tsuji. After making sure no one else needed healing, she heaved a small sigh. Then, she turned to look at the dim passageway heading forward, a hint of sadness in her eyes.

  “......” Shizuku knew what the cause of her best friend’s melancholy was with a single glance. Kaori was worried. In another ten floors they would reach the end of the labyrinth, at least as far as they knew. And so far, they hadn’t found a single trace of Hajime.

  She was still hopeful, but the despair was beginning to creep up on her. Kaori had sworn to herself she’d only believe Hajime was dead when she saw it with her own eyes. But every time they went down a floor without finding anything, her outlook grew bleaker. Moreover, it had been four months since Hajime had tumbled into the abyss. No matter how strong her will was, even she couldn’t keep her negative emotions at bay for that long.

  She gripped her white staff tight, as if clinging to it for support. Unable to bear seeing her like that, Shizuku opened her mouth to say something. But before she could, the class’ most energetic girl, Suzu, ran up to Kaori and hugged her from behind. It was as if she hadn’t even noticed Kaori’s dispirited expression.

  “Kaorin! Forget about those fools, heal me~ Come on, heal me~”

  “Hwah! Suzu-chan, what are you doing!? And besides, you’re not even injured!”

  “Am too! My poor glass heart’s been broken! So spoil me! Let me have some of those soft boobs of yours!”

  “Wh-Wha... No! Hey, stop that! Yaaah! Shizuku-chan, help meee!”

  “Haaah, haaah, how about this? Does it feel good? You’re pretty sensitive down— Bwah!?”

  “Haaah, cut it out, Suzu. That’s too much stimulation for all the poor boys.” Shizuku delivered a sharp chop to the back of Suzu’s head, and she fell to the ground. She often acted more like a perverted old man than the teenage girl she was. However, Shizuku was too late to save the dignity of the boys in the room, who’d all gotten erections.

  Eri Nakamura, Suzu’s friend, smiled awkwardly as she watched Suzu roll around in pain.

  “Uuu~ Thanks, Shizuku-chan. That was embarrassing...”

  “There there, everyt
hing’s fine now. I’ll be here to get rid of any perverts that try and attack you.” Kaori clung to Shizuku, who gently patted her head. This had become a pretty common scene recently.

  As she ran her fingers through Kaori’s hair, Shizuku examined her expression. Kaori was busy watching Eri nurse Suzu now though, and her earlier somber expression was nowhere to be seen. At least for now, she’d been distracted. Shizuku mentally thanked Suzu for her timely intervention.

  “There’s still ten more floors. Hang in there, Kaori.” Shizuku squeezed Kaori’s shoulder and looked her in the eyes. “Don’t break on me now,” her gaze seemed to say. Realizing how pathetic she must have looked, Kaori slapped her cheeks and looked back at Shizuku. Her gaze didn’t waver.

  “You’re right. Thanks, Shizuku-chan.” Once again, Kaori realized just how much she relied on Shizuku’s support. As she expressed her thanks, her gaze softened. Shizuku too, dropped the intensity from her glare and nodded.

  To everyone else they looked like passionate lovers staring into each other’s eyes, but neither Shizuku nor Kaori noticed. They didn’t notice Kouki looking around awkwardly, either. After all, they only had eyes for each other.

  “Do you think... I could protect him now?”

  “Definitely. I know you can. You’re stronger than you were back then. I mean, look, your level’s even higher than Captain Meld’s. Hehe, but you know, he might have gotten even stronger than you. He was the one who saved us back then too.”

  “Fufu, jeez, Shizuku-chan...” Shizuku had just meant it as a joke, but in truth, Hajime had grown far stronger than either of them could have imagined. Though they wouldn’t come to learn that until later.

  As Kouki and his party’s stats had long since eclipsed that of Captain Meld, he and his knights were waiting on standby in the 30th floor. They remained guarding the magic circle they’d discovered that connected to the 70th floor. As of now, they ranked among Tortus’ strongest humans. Their stats were:

  * * *

  * * *

  Kouki Amanogawa Age: 17 Male Level: 72

  Job: Hero

  Strength: 880

  Vitality: 880

  Defense: 880

  Agility: 880

  Magic: 880

  Magic Defense: 880

  Skills: All Elemental Aptitude [+Light Element Proficiency] [+Speed Casting] — All Elemental Resistance [+Increased Light Resistance] — Physical Resistance [+Improved Healing] [+Impact Mitigation] — Composite Casting — Sword Mastery — Herculean Strength — Supersonic Step — Foresight — High Speed Mana Recovery — Sense Presence — Sense Magic — Limit Break — Language Comprehension

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  Ryutarou Sakagami Age: 17 Male Level: 72

  Job: Monk

  Strength: 820

  Vitality: 820

  Defense: 680

  Agility: 550

  Magic: 280

  Magic Defense: 280

  Skills: Close Quarters Combat Proficiency [+Body Strengthening] [+Partial Strengthening] [+Focused Strengthening] [+Penetrating Strikes] — Supersonic Step — Physical Resistance [+Diamond Skin] — All Elemental Resistance — Language Comprehension

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  Shizuku Yaegashi Age: 17 Female Level:72

  Job: Swordmaster

  Strength: 450

  Vitality: 560

  Defense: 320

  Agility: 1110

  Magic: 380

  Magic Defense: 380

  Skills: Sword Proficiency [+Improved Slashing Speed] [+Improved Drawing Speed] — Supersonic Step [+Continual Steps] [+Steel Legs] [+No Tempo] — Foresight — Sense Presence — Invisibility [+Illusionary Attacks] — Language Comprehension

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  Kaori Shirasaki Age: 17 Female Level: 72

  Job: Priest

  Strength: 280

  Vitality: 460

  Defense: 360

  Agility: 380

  Magic: 1380

  Magic Defense: 1380

  Skills: Recovery Magic Affinity [+Improved Proficiency] [+Increased Casting Speed] [+Image Supplementation] [+Piercing Spells] [+AoE Proficiency] [+Remote Healing] [+Improved Status Effect Recovery] [+Reduced Mana Consumption] [+Improved Mana Efficiency] [+Chain Casting] [+Multicasting] [+Spell Retention] [+Effect Multiplication] — Light Magic Affinity [+Speed Casting] [+Improved Proficiency] [+Increased Spell Duration] [+Chain Casting] [+Multicasting] [+Spell Retention] — High Speed Mana Recovery [+Meditation] — Language Comprehension

  * * *

  * * *

  Kaori’s recovery magic and light magic skills had been honed to the limit. Especially her recovery magic. Among the four, Kaori had started with the least amount of skills, but with the addition of her derivative skills, she now had more than even Kouki.

  She’d trained harder than anyone to make sure that this time she wouldn’t fail to keep her promise. This time, she’d protect Hajime. Her strength was the result of ceaseless training. She’d even lost sleep to practice her magic.

  “I’d like to keep going... Are you guys good?” Kouki awkwardly tried to get Kaori and Shizuku’s attention. Ever since he’d seen the two of them hugging in Kaori’s room, Kouki’s behavior had become odd at times. Kaori hadn’t really paid it any mind, but Shizuku had easily read what was going through his mind. She glared at Kouki, her eyes clearly spelling out “Don’t jump to any weird conclusions, you moron.”

  Kouki pretended to ignore her glare and started gathering the rest of the party up. They’d already explored most of the 89th floor. The passage they were heading down now was the only place they hadn’t mapped.

  After ten minutes of walking, the party discovered the stairs leading to the 90th floor. The group descended down the dim spiral staircase, warily examining their surroundings for traps. Ten meters worth of steps later, they found themselves on the 90th floor.

  Every ten floors usually marked a turning point, so the party remained extremely vigilant as they stepped into the passageway. However, as far as everyone could tell, the 90th floor was no different from the 89th. They quickly started mapping out the area. Even if the overall structure of the labyrinth hadn’t changed, they were bound to meet stronger monsters. They couldn’t let their guard down.

  At first the party’s search progressed smoothly. Despite that, one by one, the party members began to grow suspicious.

  “What the heck is going on?” The party arrived in a large empty room, and Kouki finally voiced the suspicions that had been growing in the back of his mind. Everyone else stopped and nodded. Confused expressions flitted over everyone’s faces.

  “How have we not seen a single monster even after exploring so much of the floor?” Excluding a few side paths, the party must have covered half of the floor already.

  So far, they’d always run into monsters strong enough to at least slow them down on each floor. Normally it took them around two days to map out half of a floor.

  This floor they’d managed to get through half of in just three hours.

  At first Kouki had assumed they were lying low and observing the party from afar, but no matter how many times he tried to use Sense Presence and Sense Magic, he didn’t find anything. Something strange was afoot.

  “This is really starting to creep me out. Does this floor just not have monsters?” The others started muttering to each other, but no one could come up with a plausible explanation. Their confusion only grew.

  “Kouki. Maybe we should head back for now. I have a bad feeling about this. And it’s possible Captain Meld might know something that’ll help.” Shizuku was clearly worried.

  Kouki hesitated for a few seconds. He too had misgivings about continuing on like this. If they were intent on proceeding cautiously, the best course of action would indeed be to go back.

  However, at the same
time he didn’t want to head back just on some baseless premonitions. Besides, whatever obstacles they faced from here on out, they’d probably be able to overcome them with their strength. After all, they’d been able to clear out the 89th floor with ease.

  As Kouki was waffling, Endou started scouting out the room. Spotting something, he stooped down and called out to the group in a nervous voice.

  “Guys... this is... blood, right?” He ran his finger across the ground and held it up for everyone to see. Kouki started scrutinizing the walls and floor. As he did so, he noticed something.

  “It’s kind of dark so it’s hard to tell, but... there’s definitely blood splattered all over this room.”

  “Man, this is... a lot of blood...”

  Nomura and Nagayama stared grimly at the blood plastered over the walls. Both of them were now on high alert.

  Everyone’s faces paled.

  “Amanogawa, I think Yaegashi-san has a point. We should leave. This is monster blood. And it’s fresh.” Endou’s voice was uncharacteristically assertive. However, Kouki still wasn’t convinced.

  “Judging by the amount of blood here, whatever monster it was that did this killed every other monster on the floor... But even if there’s something that strong here, we have to defeat it to move forward, right?” Nagayama shook his head. His size rivaled Ryutarou’s, but he was a far more cautious person than him. On top of that, he was good friends with Endou. Nagayama was inclined to trust in his judgment. He had all of his senses heightened to the max in case of a surprise attack. However, he was hoping to retreat without a fight.

  “Amanogawa, listen to me. There’s no way monsters only lived in this room. We should have found traces of them on our way here too. But we didn’t. In other words...”