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

by Ryo Shirakome

  “But last time, you couldn’t win even with Limit Break.”

  “T-True, but... I-I’ll win this time!”

  “What makes you so sure?”

  “Because this time, I’ll use Divine Wrath. As long as you guys can protect me while I’m casting...”

  “But if you start casting such a long spell, the demon’ll know something big’s coming, won’t she? She’s sure to do something to stop it. Besides, we don’t even know if that was her entire army or if there’s more monsters.”

  No matter how Kouki tried to reassure them, Kondou and his friends had lost faith in his strength. They began complaining one after another.

  Living with the constant fear of death had eroded their composure. It was inevitable that they’d try to push the blame onto Kouki and start demanding he provide proof that he could win against those ridiculously strong monsters.

  Ryutarou’s aggressive response only served to fan the flames of their resentment. Tsuji and Yoshino tried to break up their argument, but they only succeeded in worsening the situation.

  Finally, it got to the point where Ryutarou and Kondou raised their weapons at each other. Nervous tension filled the atmosphere. Kouki put a hand on Ryutarou’s shoulder, trying to hold him back, but the blood had rushed to Ryutarou’s head now, so he simply glared angrily at Kondou, fists raised. Kondou glared back, his spear at the ready.

  “Everyone, calm down! Whether you like it or not, Kouki’s our only hope of making it out of this alive! We need his Limit Break to have any chance of taking down that demon. There’s no way she’s going to let us go, and he’s the only way we can kill her. Why can’t you get that through those thick skulls of yours?” Shizuku tried to reason logically with Kondou and the others, but they weren’t in any mood to listen. Suzu even staggered to her feet and apologized to Kondou, but that didn’t help either. Just as Kaori was thinking the only way to get everyone to cool their heads was to bind the lot of them, she heard a low growl from outside the room.

  “Grrrr...”

  “Huh!?” Everyone present recognized that voice. They all froze, their frustration transformed into fear in an instant. Everyone knew what those monsters were capable of. They held their breath, afraid even the slightest noise would alert the monsters to their presence. Their eyes were glued to the hidden entrance to their room.

  Claws scratched against the wall. Someone gulped. Endou had erased all traces of their scent from the area as well, so monsters, even high ranking ones, wouldn’t be able to find them that easily. That didn’t stop everyone from breaking out in a nervous sweat, though.

  The party wasn’t anywhere near fully healed. Suzu especially was in no condition to fight. Kaori and Tsuji had taxed themselves to the limit to heal everyone, and had almost no mana left. The vanguard fighters had more or less made a complete recovery, but only half of the rearguard had enough mana to keep fighting. They were all out of mana potions too, so it’d be a few hours at least before they could be of any help.

  The loss of Kaori, Suzu, and Tsuji would be especially hard to make up for. Everyone was hoping against hope that the wolves wouldn’t find them. All that separated them from death was a single door.

  After a few minutes of pawing the walls, the monsters finally turned around. Silence filled the room. No one relaxed until they were sure the monsters had left. Once they could no longer sense the monsters’ presence, the students collectively breathed a huge sigh. Some of them fell to their knees in relief. Most of them were sweating buckets.

  “If you’d kept arguing like that, they would have found us. For the love of god, just stay quiet until we’re all healed at least.”

  “G-Got it...”

  “W-We will...”

  Shizuku wiped the sweat off her face. Kondou apologetically lowered his spear. Their close shave had given everyone a harsh wake up call.

  Then, just as everyone started thinking they were safe...

  “Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” The door to their hideout was blasted to pieces.

  “Uwaaah!?”

  “Kyaaaaaah!”

  It was blown apart with such force that the rubble struck Kondou and Yoshino hard enough to send them sprawling to the ground.

  Shimmering outlines informed the party that they’d been found by a pack of Chimeras, the one enemy they’d hoped to avoid facing.

  “Everyone, get in formation!”

  “Goddammit! How’d they find us!?” Kouki quickly gave out orders as he unsheathed his sword. Without hesitation, he charged forward. Kouki couldn’t afford to let the monsters regroup. Chimeras were impossible to spot when they weren’t moving. Ryutarou stopped at the entrance, determined to prevent even a single monster from getting into the room. However...

  “Uwooooooooo!”

  “Ngh!”

  A Super Bulltaur slammed into Ryutarou with the force of a tank. Ryutarou grappled with it for a moment before being overpowered and pushed to the ground.

  Dozens of cats with tentacles took that opportunity to dart into the room. They lashed out with their numerous tentacles, taking the rearguard by surprise. A barrage of tentacles headed toward Kondou, who was still standing dumbfounded at the same spot he’d been when their argument had ended. He desperately tried to fend the tentacles off with his spear, but there were too many of them. However, just as he was about to be turned into a living pincushion...

  “Sacred Shields!”

  “Sacred Shields!”

  Thirty or so glimmering shields appeared in front of Kondou. They appeared at an angle, deflecting the storm of tentacles. Kaori and Suzu’s instantaneous reactions, plus the fact that they were able to cast the spell with barely an incantation, were truly impressive. Together, they’d managed to put out thirty shields in the span of less than a second.

  Still, because Suzu barely had enough strength to stand, and because Kaori was practically out of mana, their shields were more brittle than usual.

  One after another, the shields of light shattered. Even though they’d been summoned at an angle to deflect the tentacles and not take them head on, they still didn’t have enough strength to endure the tentacles’ onslaught. The ones directly in front of Kondou were repelled, but a few of the others made it through, heading straight for Nakano and Saitou.

  They tried to dive out of the way, but as mages their physical stats weren’t very good. Though they managed to avoid any fatal wounds, they still took a considerable chunk of damage. One of the tentacles grazed Nakano’s shoulder, while another slammed through Saitou’s thigh, pinning him to the ground.

  “Shinji! Yoshiki! Fuck! Daisuke, back them up!”

  “O-Okay.”

  Ever since they’d escaped, Hiyama had seemed lost in thought. Kondou hadn’t said anything to him because he’d wanted to give him some space, but the time for contemplating had long since passed.

  Kondou dragged Nakano and Saitou to Suzu’s side. Though Suzu’s physical condition was terrible, she’d recovered a considerable amount of her mana. He figured they’d be safest next to her. And because Kaori was next to her, she could heal them easier too.

  “Kouki! Use your Limit Break and fight the monsters outside! We’ll handle the ones in here!”

  “But Suzu can barely move...”

  “At this rate we’ll just be overwhelmed! Please, you’ve gotta cut open a path for us!”

  “Leave things here to me! No one’s dying on my watch!”

  “Got it! I’ll be counting on you, then! Limit Break!” Kouki hesitated for a moment, but Shizuku and Ryutarou managed to convince him. He realized if he didn’t do something soon, they’d all be dead.

  This was his first time activating Limit Break twice in a day. As expected, it put a great deal of strain on his body. Normally, he could maintain Limit Break for around 8 minutes, but he suspected it wouldn’t last that long the second time around. That meant he needed to focus on defeating the demon as fast as possible. He dashed out of the room at top speed.

  Whe
n he emerged into the octagonal room, he was met with a disheartening sight. The demon was staring coldly at him, protected by a veritable army of monsters. A white two-headed raven sat on her shoulders.

  He could feel his anger boiling up. She was the one who’d hurt his comrades. She was the one who’d had them hiding like cornered rats. And she was the one he needed to defeat if he wanted his friends to survive.

  “Hmph, you certainly wasted a lot of my time. I’ll have you know I have missions far more important than dealing with you...”

  “Shut up! I’m gonna rip that arrogant tongue out of your mouth! Prepare yourself!” Kouki began chanting a short spell. Without the full incantation, he doubted his Divine Wrath could harm the demon, but he was confident it would at least be powerful enough to cut open a path. His sword began to glow.

  The demon sneered at him. At her command, two of the Super Bulltaurs pulled something out from behind her.

  Kouki went slack-jawed when he realized what that “something” was. He was so shocked he even lowered his sword. Wide-eyed, he spoke in a trembling voice.

  “M-Meld-san?” Indeed, what the Super Bulltaurs had dragged forth was Captain Meld. He was drenched in blood, and obviously on the verge of death. In fact, if it wasn’t for the fact that he was groaning occasionally, Kouki would have thought him already dead.

  “Y-You bitch! Let Meld-san—!?” Kouki’s anger overrode his common sense and he charged forward. Having predicted that would happen, the demon was already prepared for his attack. Just before he reached her, he found his way barred by a looming shadow. He looked up with a start and saw a massive fist bearing down on him with inhuman speed.

  He instinctively held up his left arm to shield himself. The giant fist blasted through his puny arm with ease, then connected with Kouki’s torso. Kouki felt like he’d just been hit by a truck. The blow sent him flying so far he slammed into the wall behind him. The force of the impact was large enough to leave a Kouki-shaped hole in the wall.

  “Gaaah!” The air burst from his lungs and he slid to the ground in a pathetic heap. He slowly raised himself up with his remaining good arm, blood dripped from the corners of his mouth. That attack had been powerful enough to damage his organs.

  From the looks of things, it had given him a concussion, too. His vision blurred as he looked up at what had hit him. A huge, three-meter-tall monster stood before him, its fist still outstretched.

  The monster had the head of a horse with tusks, the torso of a man with four arms, and the lower half of a gorilla. It glared at Kouki with bloodshot eyes, steam billowing from its snout. This monster was on a completely different level from the ones they’d been fighting so far.

  The horse-head monster retracted its fist and mercilessly charged Kouki. He stopped mere inches from Kouki’s face and brought its hands down in a crushing blow.

  Kouki, who was still on all fours, trusted in his instincts and rolled to the side at the last second.

  The monster’s fists slammed into the ground a second later, reddish-black shockwaves spreading outward from the point of impact. The ground literally exploded, a huge crater forming where the monster’s fists had struck.

  This was this monster’s special magic, Mana Burst. It was as simple as it sounded. It just created shockwaves of mana at the point of impact. However, just because it was simple didn’t mean it wasn’t powerful.

  No longer reeling from his concussion, Kouki finally rose to his feet. Still, before he could do more than raise his sword, the horse-head monster was in front of him, swinging its fist down.

  Kouki tried to block the blow with his sword, but his left arm was broken, and his right arm alone couldn’t bear the impact. He was blown away once again, barely avoiding a fatal blow. He continued desperately defending against the monster’s four arms, and the shockwaves that came from each Mana Burst. His movements grew duller, and he couldn’t find a single opening to launch a counterattack.

  “Ngh! How strong is this thing!? I’m even using Limit Break!”

  “Graaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

  Even with Limit Break active, Kouki was being easily overwhelmed. If he kept defending, eventually he’d just be beaten down. And so, he steeled himself to take a few hits, then went on the offensive.

  However...

  “Ah!?” Before he could launch an attack, his legs gave out. His Limit Break’s time limit was up. The recoil from using it twice in a short span of time was so great that he couldn’t even stand anymore.

  The monster mercilessly pressed its advantage. As Kouki sunk to his knees, it slammed its fist cleanly into Kouki’s stomach. There was a massive boom as its fist connected.

  “Gaha!” A spray of blood spewed from Kouki’s mouth as he flew back into the wall. The strain from using Limit Break, plus the damage from that last attack was more than his body could handle. He fell to the ground, unconscious. The only reason he wasn’t dead was because the monster had held back on its final attack.

  It walked up to Kouki and gruffly lifted him by his collar. It presented the unconscious boy to its master, the demon. She nodded in satisfaction and recalled the monsters she’d sent into the students’ hideout.

  A few minutes later, Shizuku and the others cautiously stepped outside. They despaired when they saw a massive monster more powerful than anything they’d faced before staring them down, a defeated Kouki in one of its arms.

  “No way... Kouki... lost?”

  “Th-This can’t be happening...” Shizuku cried out in disbelief.

  Kaori and Suzu were too shocked to even say anything. They just stood there in stunned silence. Seeing that they’d all lost the will to fight, the demon coldly addressed the students.

  “Hmph, I never thought it would be this easy. Looks like... you really were nothing more than overconfident brats after all. And here I was worrying I may have underestimated you.” Pale-faced, Shizuku nonetheless bravely asked the demon a question.

  “How did you do it?”

  “Hm? With this. See, look.” She nodded to Captain Meld, who was still held by the two Super Bulltaurs. When Shizuku spotted the half-dead knight, she realized instantly what must have happened. The demon had used Meld to distract Kouki and hit him with a sneak attack. Anytime Kouki saw someone he knew hurt, he was liable to lose his cool.

  The demon must have realized that as well from their last battle. And so, she’d hidden her strongest monster with the Chimera’s magic, and then baited him into range.

  “So what do you want with us, then? There has to be a reason you didn’t just kill us all when you had the chance.”

  “Yep. Looks like I was right, you really are the brains of this outfit. Don’t worry, it’s not some crazy request or anything. I just thought maybe I’d try inviting you guys over to our side one more time. Last time your little hero started waving his sword around before we could really talk. Unlike him, some of you actually seem pretty skilled, so I thought I’d ask again. Well, what do you say?”

  A few of the students hesitated. Shizuku watched them out of the corner of her eye and asked her second question.

  “What are you going to do with Kouki?”

  “Fufu, you’re a sharp one. Sorry, but I can’t let your hero friend here live. I doubt he’ll change his mind about switching sides, and you guys probably can’t convince him to either, right? He’s one of those guys who thinks he’s better than everyone else, after all. He’ll have to die here.”

  “I take it the same holds true for us if we refuse, correct?”

  “Naturally. There’s no way we can just let a future threat go, right?”

  “Aren’t you worried we’ll go along for now and then just betray you later?”

  “Of course. So, if you do agree, we’ll be putting you on a leash. Don’t worry. We’ll just make it so you can’t turn against us, but otherwise you’re all free to do as you wish.”

  “So semi-free slaves, basically. We can do whatever we want as long as it’s not attacking you guys.”
>
  “Bingo. Thank god at least one of you has a brain. Now, I recommend you use that brain of yours to make the logical choice, unlike your poor hero friend.”

  The other students listened to Shizuku and the demon’s conversation, a mixture of unease and fear in their eyes. If they refused, they’d be attacked by the same monster that had easily defeated Kouki. They would almost certainly die. However, if they agreed, they’d be muzzled like dogs, unable to ever fight against the demons again.

  In other words, they would no longer be “Ehit’s chosen warriors.” Even if they returned to Heiligh, they doubted the Holy Church would be willing to shelter a bunch of kids who were no longer useful for the war effort, which also meant they’d likely never get to return home. Either way, their future looked bleak. Finally...

  “I-I think we should take her up on her offer!” Eri was the first to speak. Trembling, she voiced her opinion. Surprised, Shizuku turned to look at her friend. On the other hand, Ryutarou went red with rage, then rounded on Eri.

  “Eri, you backstabbing bitch! You’re just gonna abandon Kouki, huh!?”

  “Hiii!?”

  “Ryutarou, calm down! Eri, why do you think we should say yes?” Eri shrank back in the face of Ryutarou’s wrath. Shizuku only just managed to restrain him in time. Eri took a deep breath and clasped her hands to her chest.

  “I-I just... I just don’t want everyone to die... I don’t want Kouki-kun... to die either, but... Hic...” Tears began spilling from her eyes. Everyone else’s hearts began to waver as well. Another one of the students backed Eri up.

  “I’m with Nakamura. There’s no way we can win. Our options are annihilation or survival. The choice should be obvious, right?”

  “Hiyama... So you don’t give a shit about what happens to Kouki, huh!?”

  “What do you want us to do, Sakagami? Die together with Amanogawa? That’s the only other option.”

  “No! That’s not what I meant!”

  “Then unless you’ve got a better plan, shut the hell up! Right now our priority is making sure as many of us get out alive as possible.” Hiyama’s words convinced even more of the students. Like he’d said, the only way to survive was to agree to the demon’s conditions.