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

by Ryo Shirakome

  Another eight cats leaped into the air, trying to hit Hajime with a synchronized attack. This time they relied on their claws rather than their tentacles.

  Hajime’s two arms moved independently of each other. With his right, he mowed down the enemies in front of him, while with his left, he shot down everything behind him. With Donner, he took out everything to his right, with Schlag, everything to his left. When he had to take enemies to his right out with Donner, he fired in front of him with Schlag. When he had to take enemies to his left out with Schlag, he fired behind him with Donner.

  Each and every streak of red found its mark without fail. This was the result of Hajime’s extensive training.

  His movements lacked the polish of Meld or Shizuku’s, both of who had trained in styles that had been refined for generations. They were definitely rough around the edges. However, they were effective. Extremely effective.

  He fluidly moved to a corner of the room that was easy to defend, then took out his enemies with lethal precision. Every single one of his moves linked perfectly to the next. They were backed by a level of experience that no amount of martial arts practice could ever reach.

  A smile played about Hajime’s lips. It wasn’t that he was deriving pleasure from trampling his enemies. It was just the happiness that came with knowing he could finally challenge this unreasonable, unfair world. His way of saying “Try and kill me if you dare.” Packed into that smile was his resolve to stay alive and annihilate anything that dared stand in his way.

  Just as both Donner and Schlag ran out of ammo, another wave of Chimeras and four-eyed wolves charged.

  Hajime leaped a few meters into the air, did a somersault, and reloaded his guns while upside-down. He moved so fast that the Chimeras and four-eyed wolves lost sight of him for a second. While they were still looking around in confusion, Hajime dealt them all finishing blows.

  Blood and flesh flew everywhere. Two Super Bulltaurs charged, hoping to take advantage of the moment Hajime landed.

  But he never did. By using Aerodynamic, he launched himself further into the air. He spun around like a top, firing Donner and Schlag in every direction.

  The rain of bullets decimated not only the two Super Bulltaurs, but many of the Chimeras and wolves waiting behind them as well. One after another, the charging monsters fell dead, their inertia carrying them into a massive pile of corpses growing directly below Hajime.

  Hajime landed soundlessly atop the devastation he had wrought. He once again paused momentarily to reload. And just as he finished, one of the monsters let out a strange screech.

  Hajime turned to see Absod staring at him, its mouth opened wide. A blinding sphere of white light was growing inside its mouth.

  It still had all the mana it had absorbed from Meld’s Loyalty’s Promise. Though the spell’s range was limited, it had more than enough force to kill a single person.

  Once it had finished charging, Absod fired. The light cut through the ground as it traveled toward Hajime, carving out a huge groove in the rock. He calmly pulled out his massive, coffin-shaped shield, and attached it to his left arm. At the same time, he activated Diamond Skin. He planted himself firmly into the ground, like a tree taking root, and nonchalantly waited for the light to strike.

  There was an earth-shattering boom as the light struck his shield. The very air trembled in the wake of Absod’s attack. And, to the shock off all the spectators, Hajime didn’t even budge an inch. Still smiling, he tilted his shield ever so slightly to deflect the beam of light. Its new trajectory set the beam right in the demon’s path.

  “Ah!? Curses!” She leaped out of the way. The moment Hajime had started decimating her army, she’d realized she was in big trouble. In order to somehow turn things around she’d began chanting a long, powerful spell. Hajime had, of course, been aware of that, which was precisely why he’d deflected Absod’s attack toward her.

  As she ran, Hajime began adjusting the angle of his shield so that the beam continued chasing after her. The walls behind her were vaporized, and the demon picked up the pace. Her calm arrogance from before was nowhere to be seen.

  Just as she thought she was about to be killed by her own attack, Absod finally ran out of stored mana.

  “Tch...” Hajime sighed. Meanwhile, the demon didn’t even have time to catch her breath. Her expression froze and cold sweat poured down her back.

  There was a huge explosion, and a wave of heat washed over the right side of her face. White feathers rained down around her.

  The raven that had been resting on her shoulder until now had been killed. Since his plan to kill the demon with her own attack had failed, he’d used Donner to kill Absod and Schlag to destroy the raven.

  Absod hadn’t even had time to scream before Hajime’s supersonic bullet had consigned it to the void.

  The raven had also been decimated in an instant, without ever realizing what had hit it.

  The shockwave from Hajime’s bullet had been strong enough to throw the demon off-balance. She tumbled to the ground and absentmindedly touched her cheek. It was splattered with the raven’s blood, and stung to the touch. The friction and heat had been enough to burn her cheek.

  If her head had been just a few inches closer to the raven, she would have died then and there.

  Still, even though she’d survived one attack, it was already over for her. Her supposedly invincible monster army was being steamrolled with unbelievable ease. She knew that boy could kill her whenever he chose to. Her life was utterly and completely in the palm of his hand. Until now she’d had great pride in her unbreakable warrior’s spirit. Faced with Hajime’s overwhelming strength, however, that spirit began to crumble. Nothing she did would be able to even scratch that monster.

  What the hell is he? How does someone like him even exist? And how am I supposed to survive against him!? Questions whirled around inside the demon’s head, but no answers presented themselves.

  Many of those same questions were going through Kouki and the others’ minds too. Most of them hadn’t recognized the silver-haired boy with the eyepatch as Hajime, so they were curious about the identity of this kid who was able to trample these monsters they’d barely been able to fend off.

  “What the... What the heck is he!?” Kouki watched in disbelief, still too exhausted to move. Though they didn’t say it out loud, everyone was thinking the same thing. The one who provided them all with answers was Endou, the one they’d sent off to escape alone.

  “Haha, you probably won’t believe me, but... that’s Nagumo.”

  “What!?”

  Everyone stared at Endou. He could tell they all thought he was crazy. Granted, it was understandable. He hadn’t believed it at first either, but it was the truth, so all he could do was shrug his shoulders.

  “Like I said, that’s Nagumo. Hajime Nagumo. The same Nagumo that fell off the bridge that day. He somehow survived, and crawled his way back out of the labyrinth. He tore through all the monsters on our way here too. It was crazy! I can’t believe it’s really the same guy, but... it is.”

  “Wait, so Nagumo was alive this whole time!?” Kouki shouted in surprise. Everyone turned to look at the boy who was annihilating the demon’s army once more. They all thought “That couldn’t possibly be Nagumo. There’s just no way.” Endou could guess what they were thinking from their expressions, so he decided to provide further proof.

  “I’m serious. He’s totally different now, but I saw his Status Plate.” He smiled drily as he watched the reinforcements he brought tear through the monsters’ ranks. No one could believe that the weak boy they’d all ridiculed had become so strong. One person was particularly unhappy about this development.

  “Y-You’re lying. Nagumo died. I mean, we all saw him! There’s no way he’s still alive! Don’t give me this crap!”

  “Uwaaah, what’s wrong with you!? I saw his Status Plate and everything, it’s him for sure!”

  “I don’t believe it! It has to be some kind of trick! T
hat has to be an imposter!”

  “Dude, what the heck are you on about? Why would anyone want to impersonate Nagumo?”

  Hiyama grabbed Endou by the collar and started grilling him. His face was pale, and he denied Hajime’s survival with an abnormal ferocity. Even his friend Kondou was shocked by how vehement Hiyama was.

  In order to calm him down, someone quite literally doused him with cold water. A mini-waterfall appeared above Hiyama’s head, drenching him from head to toe. This happened just as he tried to suck in a breath, so he choked a little. Coughing and spluttering, Hiyama looked to see who’d done that. Standing in front of him was Yue. She spoke to him in a voice colder than the water she’d just poured on him.

  “Quiet. You’re getting in my way.” Hiyama wanted to retort back, but he swallowed his words when he saw the look in Yue’s eyes. He was nothing more than a bug to her, and if he argued back he had no doubt she would squash him like one.

  Though her stare chilled him to the bone, Hiyama couldn’t help but admire Yue’s perfect figure. He wasn’t alone, either. The other students, Kouki included, had all been entranced by her doll-like features. Suzu even let out a very unladylike whistle. Despite how young Yue looked, there was an air of maturity about her that inadvertently drew people in.

  Just then, at the demon’s urging, a few of the monsters split off to attack Kouki’s group. She was trying to take them as hostages. Since there was no way she could beat Hajime in a head-on battle, she’d resorted to this.

  Suzu hurriedly tried to put up a barrier, but her exhausted body cried out in protest. She’d been casting almost nonstop since waking up. Still, she bit her lip to keep herself from blacking out and continued chanting. Eventually, Yue gently put a hand on her head to stop her. Surprised, Suzu stopped chanting.

  “Don’t worry.” Though there was no reason for that to suddenly make things okay, a wave of relief washed over Suzu. Suzu herself didn’t know why Yue’s words felt so comforting, but she seemed to know she could trust Yue.

  Yue stared down the monsters bearing down on them. With their claws, tentacles, and maces inches from her face, she calmly mouthed two words.

  “Sapphire Serpent.” A pale-blue sphere, about one meter in diameter, appeared directly above her head. The fire mages in the party instantly recognized it as one of the strongest fire spells: Azure Blaze, a spell so powerful it incinerated everything in its vicinity.

  It was unthinkable that anyone could cast it instantly without even an incantation. The mages of the party all stared dumbly at the massive fireball floating above them.

  However, this was just the beginning. Next, the sphere uncoiled itself, transforming into a snake. The flaming serpent swallowed a Super Bulltaur whole, leaving not even ash in its wake.

  The serpent then sprouted wings, completing its transformation.

  A flaming sapphire dragon stood where the sphere had been.

  The thirty meter long dragon coiled itself around Kouki and the others, forming a protective barrier. The burning blue blaze was so hot that the monsters couldn’t even get close to it. The dragon then opened its maw wide, surging forward.

  Graaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Its roar shook the room. The monsters were all lifted into the air and flung into the dragon’s waiting jaws. They struggled desperately, but it was futile. One after another, they were thrown into the furnace of hell and incinerated beyond recognition.

  “What is this...” one of the students muttered. None of them had ever heard of magic that could control the bodies of others in a manner like that.

  That made sense. After all, Sapphire Serpent was a spell Yue had created herself by combining Azure Blaze with gravity magic.

  The reason she’d picked Sapphire Serpent over her usual Draconic Thunder was because she wanted to get more practice with her control. Summoning a massive fire dragon in an enclosed space meant she had to regulate how much oxygen she let it consume, or everyone would suffocate. It required far more precision than Draconic Thunder.

  However, Kouki and the others didn’t know that. They all turned back to Yue, intent on demanding an explanation.

  But when they saw her regal figure, calmly guiding the dragon like it was nothing, they swallowed their words. A few of the students, Suzu included, fell for her then and there.

  The demon despaired when she saw the dragon. She’d thought it was only one crazy monster she’d had on her hands, but it seemed this mysterious boy’s companion was just as dangerous. Quickly running out of options, the demon looked at what was left. The only other people she could feasibly target were the bunny girl next to the half-dead knight, and the two girls hugging each other a good distance away from the group.

  Still, the demon would soon find they weren’t easy prey either. One swing from Drucken took a charging Super Bulltaur’s head clean off. Shea used the momentum of her swing to turn in a complete circle, crushing the four-eyed wolf that had tried to pounce on her from behind.

  Meanwhile, Chimeras and cats surged toward Kaori and Shizuku. Shizuku gritted her teeth and valiantly held up her shattered blade, but before her enemies could reach her, Hajime’s Cross Bits took action.

  Shizuku watched in amazement as the floating crosses took aim at the Chimeras and let out a bang.

  What on earth is that thing!? Something whizzed past her cheek and fell to the ground with a metallic clang. On the other side, the same thing happened next to Kaori.

  Still confused, the two turned toward the monsters bearing down on them, only to find they’d all had their heads blown off. They looked back at the Cross Bits, understanding finally dawning on them.

  “Was that... gunpowder?”

  “Wait, so this is... a gun?”

  The two girls exchanged a look. Then they turned toward Hajime. The guns in his hand confirmed their suspicions. The weird floating crosses protecting them were also weapons of his.

  “A-Amazing... When did Hajime turn into a human gundam?”

  “I’d say he’s more like a Newtype than an actual gundam...”

  Now that the immediate threat had been dealt with, and it was obvious Hajime was in no real danger, the two girls had managed to calm down some. Hajime’s Cross Bits also had a recording function built into them, so he’d heard what they’d said. He was pretty surprised the two of them knew so much about Gundam. He wanted to make a comment about it, but decided to refrain.

  “Unbelievable... What is he?” The demon muttered to herself. All of her schemes had been destroyed by simple brute force. Despair got the better of her, so she resigned herself to her fate. She didn’t have many monsters left, and the outcome of this match was clear.

  As one last-ditch attempt, she flung the strongest spell she could muster at Hajime and made a break for one of the exits. The spell she’d used was the same one that had caused the other students so much trouble, Dark Gaol.

  Hajime spared the gray sphere a brief glance, and then judged it not to be a threat. He ignored the spell entirely and continued slaughtering monsters. The sphere exploded next to Hajime, enveloping him in petrifying smoke. Kouki and the others gasped, while Kaori screamed.

  The demon watched them out of the corner of her eye as she ran.

  However, just as she made it to the exit—

  “Haha... Looks like you were one step ahead of me the whole time.”

  “That’s right.”

  One of Hajime’s Cross Bits was waiting for her at the exit, its muzzle pointed directly at her. She realized now, she’d been doomed from the moment she’d decided to attack him. For some reason, the thought struck her as funny, so she started laughing. Hajime slowly walked up to her. She’d come to hate that overly calm demeanor of his.

  She turned around, giving up for good. Hajime hadn’t been affected one bit by her petrification spell. And to add insult to injury, he was radiating mana in waves toward another exit to blow the smoke away. He could have avoided it if he wanted to, but he’d just taken the hit to make a point.

  “Yo
u damned monster. Are you really human? No measly human can do those things.”

  “To be honest, I’m not really sure anymore. But I don’t really mind being a monster, so let’s go with that.”

  He stopped a few feet away from the demon. She looked around the room and saw all of her monsters lying on the ground, dead. She smiled bitterly and mentally berated herself for picking a fight with him.

  Hajime slowly took aim with Donner. The demon’s expression was oddly relaxed. There was nothing else she could do. All that was left for her was death, and she’d come to terms with that.

  “Normally, I’d ask if you have any last words, but... sadly, I have no interest in what you have to say. Though, I guess there is something I want you to tell me... What’s a demon like you doing down here? And where’d you get those monsters?”

  “What makes you think I’ll tell you? Why would I give information to our enemy? Just kill me and be done with it.” The demon sneered at Hajime. He glared coldly at her, and without warning shot her in the leg.

  “Agaaaaah!” The demon screamed and tumbled to the ground. Her screams echoed throughout the room. Kouki and the others watched silently, shocked at Hajime’s callous cruelty. Hajime ignored them all and continued talking to the demon.

  “I have no interest in your stupid war, or this world. I’m not asking you as a member of the human army. I’m just curious. Now answer me.”

  “......” The demon gritted her teeth and stared Hajime down. Realizing she wouldn’t break, Hajime decided there was no point in interrogating her any further.

  “Well, I can more or less guess. The reason you’re here is because you want to conquer the true labyrinth that lies beneath this one, right?”

  The demon’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Noting her reaction, Hajime continued.

  “And those monsters were controlled using magic from the age of the gods... Bullseye, huh? So the demons managed to conquer one of the Seven Great Labyrinths, and are using the magic they found there to tip the scales... That means the reason you’re here isn’t just to extend an invitation to the hero party, but also to clear the other labyrinths?”