Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 1 (Premium)

by Ryo Shirakome

  Kaori clung to Shizuku like a drowning man to a rock, wailing so loudly her voice went hoarse. All Shizuku could do for her best friend was hug her as tightly as possible. Praying that she might somehow ease the pain in Kaori’s heart.

  The two of them stayed like that for hours, until the clear blue sky had been stained blood red by the setting sun. Kaori sniffled slightly in Shizuku’s arms, and stirred slightly. Shizuku worriedly looked down at Kaori.

  “Kaori...”

  “Shizuku-chan... Nagumo-kun... he fell, didn’t he...? He’s not here anymore, is he?”

  Kaori whispered in a trembling voice. Shizuku didn’t want to give her any false hope. If she told Kaori he was still alive, that might alleviate her pain in the short run. But it would scar Kaori forever when she finally discovered the truth. And Shizuku couldn’t bear to see her best friend hurt any more than she already was.

  “That’s right.”

  “Back then, it looked like Nagumo-kun got hit by one of our fireballs... Who cast it?”

  “I don’t know. Everyone’s trying to forget it ever happened. It’s too scary to think about for them. Because if they were the one that did it...”

  “I see.”

  “Do you hate them for it?”

  “...I’m not sure. If I found out for sure who it was... I’d definitely hate them. But... if no one knows... then maybe it’s better that way. Because if I did find out, I wouldn’t be able to hold back...”

  “I see...” Kaori spoke haltingly, her face still buried in Shizuku’s arms. Suddenly, she wiped the tears from her puffy, red eyes, and looked up at Shizuku with renewed determination.

  “Shizuku-chan, I don’t believe it. Nagumo-kun has to be alive somewhere. I won’t believe that he’s dead.”

  “Kaori, you...” Shizuku looked down sadly at Kaori. However, Kaori cupped Shizuku’s cheeks with her hands, then continued speaking.

  “I know. I know that it’s foolish to think he survived that fall... But you know, there’s no proof that he died. So what if the chance of him surviving is less than 1% of 1%? It’s still not zero... So I choose to believe.”

  “Kaori...”

  “I’m going to get stronger. Strong enough to protect him even from what’s down there, and then I’ll go look for him. I won’t rest until I’ve confirmed with my own two eyes... what’s happened to Nagumo-kun... Shizuku-chan.”

  “What is it?”

  “Will you help me?”

  “......” Shizuku met Kaori’s unwavering gaze. There was no sign of madness or desperation in her eyes. Just an unbreakable will, one that would not rest until she had confirmed the truth for herself. Nothing could change her mind when Kaori got like this. She was far too stubborn for even her own family to deal with, let alone Shizuku.

  In all honesty, it was probably safe to say the possibility Kaori was referring to might as well be zero. It would be natural to assume anyone who thought differently was simply trying to escape from reality.

  Even her childhood friends, Kouki and Ryutarou, would probably try and tell Kaori she wasn’t acting sane. But that was precisely why only a single answer came to Shizuku’s mind.

  “Of course I will. Until you’ve found an answer you can accept, at least.”

  “Shizuku-chan!” Kaori hugged Shizuku and thanked her over and over.

  “I don’t need any thanks. We’re best friends, remember?” Shizuku replied, ever the manly samurai. The title that magazines had given her was rather apt.

  Just then, the door to the room suddenly burst open.

  “Shizuku! Has Kaori woken... up...?”

  “Yeah, how’s Kaori... doing...?”

  Kouki and Ryutarou came hurtling into the room. They had come to check up on Kaori. It seemed apparent that they had rushed straight over after training, as dirt still caked their uniforms.

  Ever since the labyrinth excursion, the two had trained harder than ever before. They had both been hit pretty hard by Hajime’s death as well. After all, they were the ones who had refused to retreat, which had caused the nearly fatal crisis that Hajime had to save them from. They were both training hard so that they would never do something so unsightly ever again.

  Aside from those two, however, there was a third figure hanging back in the doorway. Shizuku directed a question toward him, her voice full of suspicion.

  “Why are you—”

  “S-Sorry!”

  “I-I’ll leave now!”

  The figure hurriedly apologized, overruling Shizuku’s words. Looking as if they’d seen something they shouldn’t have, they hurriedly left the room. Kaori looked at them in confusion. However, the clever Shizuku realized what the cause must have been.

  Kaori was currently sitting on Shizuku’s lap, and holding Shizuku’s face in her hands. To an outsider it must have seemed like they were about to kiss each other. Shizuku, too, was holding Kaori by the small of her back and her shoulder, like a lover.

  It must have looked like a very romantic scene. Had this been a manga, there would have no doubt been flower petals everywhere in the background. Shizuku sighed deeply, moving away from Kaori, who was still staring blankly in confusion.

  “Hurry up and get back here, you moron!”

  Chapter III: The Golden Vampire Princess

  “Dammit, why can’t I find it...?” It had been three days since Hajime had killed the Claw Bear, and he had spent every waking moment scouring the labyrinth for a staircase leading upward.

  At this point he had mapped over 80% of the floor. After killing the Claw Bear, Hajime’s stats had made another huge jump, so there was no longer anything on the floor that posed even a mild threat to him. As such, even though the floor was vast, his search progressed rapidly, and without incident. Despite that, he was unable to find any stairs no matter how hard he looked

  Actually, that wasn’t strictly true. While he had been unable to find any staircases leading up, he had already discovered the staircase leading down two days ago. As the labyrinth was strictly divided into floors, it stood to reason that there had to be a staircase leading up as well, but no matter how he searched, Hajime couldn’t find it.

  He had already tried transmuting his own staircase up to the floor above, ignoring the rules of the dungeon. The only thing he had discovered as a result was that past a certain point, whether he tried to climb up or down, the walls around him simply stopped responding to his transmute skill. He could transmute as much as he liked within the confines of the floor, but the layers that separated the floors seemed to have some kind of magical protection cast on them. The Great Orcus Labyrinth had been created during the Age of the Gods. So it wasn’t that odd for it to have some mysteries still.

  Which was why Hajime had spent his time searching for the actual staircase, but he was soon coming to realize that he would need to make a choice about what to do if he couldn’t find it. That choice was whether or not to delve deeper instead.

  “...Another dead end. At this point I’ve investigated all the pathways. What on earth is going on here?” Hajime sighed tiredly, forced to accept that he wasn’t going to find a staircase leading up. Resigned, he began heading back to the room where he’d found the staircase leading down.

  The staircase he’d discovered two days ago was very roughly carved. It was closer to a bumpy slope than an actual staircase. Moreover, there was no green glowstone lighting the way, and the descent was steeped in darkness, giving off an ominous atmosphere. The darkness and shape of it made the entrance resemble the gaping jaws of some humungous beast. It felt as if once he entered, he would never be able to come back out.

  “Hah! Bring it on! I’ll devour anything you throw at me!” Hajime ridiculed himself for his trepidation, and smiled fearlessly. And without any further hesitation, he stepped foot into the darkness.

  Once he started down the staircase, the darkness enveloped him fully. While it generally made sense for an underground labyrinth to be dark, every floor he had passed so far had been lit with glow
stone. Even if it hadn’t been bright, it had never been so fully dark that Hajime couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face.

  However, there was no glowstone lining the staircase. Hajime stopped for a while, hoping his eyes might adjust, but no matter how long he waited, all that his eyes took in was black.

  Left with no choice, Hajime dug around in his makeshift rucksack, created from bear leather and transmuted wire, and pulled out a green glowstone to light his surroundings.

  Carrying a light source in the darkness was tantamount to suicide, but Hajime reasoned that he had no other means of moving forward. However, he decided to make sure to at least keep his right hand free, so he tied the glowstone to the stump of his left arm.

  After a while of walking forward, Hajime saw something glint in the darkness, deeper down the passageway. He strained his senses, suddenly vigilant.

  Sticking to the shadows as much as possible while he advanced, he suddenly felt an ominous feeling approach from his left side. He quickly jumped to the side, then pointed his left stump at the source of the feeling. Illuminated in the ghastly green light was a massive two meter long gray lizard, and its golden eyes were staring right at Hajime.

  The lizard’s golden eyes flashed brightly. An instant later...

  “Huh!?” With a strange cracking noise, Hajime’s left stump began turning to stone. The fossilization spread to the glowstone, and seconds later the petrified glowstone made a cracking noise and crumbled away. Without his light source, Hajime was once more surrounded by darkness. The petrification had continued, reaching all the way up to his shoulder.

  Hajime clicked his tongue, pulled out a vial of Ambrosia from the monster fur and transmuted thread holster strapped to his breast, and downed it in one gulp. As he had hoped, the petrification came to a stop, and slowly began reversing back down his left arm.

  Now you’ve done it! Hajime pulled a flash grenade out from the pouch at his waist and flung it at where he’d last seen the lizard. He saw another flash of golden light appear from the darkness. Despite his inability to see clearly, Hajime quickly used Supersonic Step to dash away.

  When he glanced back, he saw the rock behind where he’d been had changed color, looking far more weathered than it once was. That literally petrifying gaze was going to be quite troublesome. The lizard closely resembled the kind of basilisk Hajime saw in RPG games.

  Hajime pulled Donner out of its holster, and held it in front of his face while tightly shutting his eyes. A second later, the flash grenade exploded in a riot of green light with a quiet bang.

  “Kraaaah!?” The Basilisk probably hadn’t ever experienced light so bright before, and writhed around in bewilderment. When he opened his eyes, Hajime could barely make out its silhouette in the darkness.

  He fired without delay. His bullet found its mark, tearing through the skull of the basilisk, pulverizing the contents contained within. The bullet passed cleanly through the back of the basilisk’s head and drilled deep into the rock wall behind it with a loud hiss. Because his bullets were electrically accelerated, they came out at a very high temperature and burned everything they passed through. It was only thanks to taur’s resistance to heat that he was able to fire such powerful rounds.

  Wary of his surroundings, Hajime carefully approached the basilisk. Once he confirmed it was dead, he quickly cut up its flesh and retreated to safety. He could hardly eat it there, where he couldn’t even see what was around him. Hajime decided to prioritize scouting the new floor first.

  He continued walking through the darkness. He searched for dozens of hours, but was unable to find a staircase leading down. He continued defeating enemies and picking up the rocks he found on the way, and before long he found himself laden with more things than he could easily carry. That was when he finally decided that it was time he made a base for himself.

  He put his hand on a nearby wall and transmuted it. The wall opened up easily enough, and he walked into the passage he had made for himself. Hajime continued transmuting the area around him until he had a space about six tatami mats wide. Then, before he forgot, he took the basketball-sized pale blue crystal out of his rucksack and placed it onto a cavity he had carved out for it. He had, of course, brought the Divinity Stone with him. He had also brought along containers to hold the Ambrosia that he set underneath the stone.

  As Hajime was unaware of the stone’s real name, he had taken to calling it the “potion rock” and the Ambrosia that spilled from it “potions.” While it was true that potions were the standard healing items in most games, Ambrosia’s effects far surpassed that of a measly potion. The insultingly basic moniker he had chosen just showed how little thought Hajime had put into naming it.

  “Now that I’m all settled in, it’s time for a feast.” Hajime took all the meat he had collected out of a stone container he had fitted to his rucksack using transmutation. Then he grilled it all with Lightning Field. The day’s menu consisted of roast basilisk meat, roasted whole owl with half its feathers still sticking on, and roasted whole six-legged cat thing. There were no seasonings.

  “At least I have food.” As he worked through his meal, he began feeling that familiar pain in his body. The pain meant his body was being forcibly strengthened once more. Which meant that the monsters here were at least as powerful as the Claw Bear had been, if not more. That made sense, as the combination of their special magic and the darkness had made each of them quite difficult foes to face. However, Donner was able to pulverize anything it hit, so Hajime hadn’t really noticed that they were that much stronger than their counterparts on the floor above.

  He drank some more Ambrosia and ignored the pain as he continued eating. He had suffered so much since losing his arm that such a measly level of pain didn’t even faze him.

  “Mmmf, haah, thanks for the meal. Now then, let’s see how my stats changed...” Hajime took out his status plate as he said that. His current stats were as follows...

  * * *

  * * *

  Hajime Nagumo Age: 17 Male Level: 23

  Job: Synergist

  Strength: 450

  Vitality: 550

  Defense: 350

  Agility: 550

  Magic: 500

  Magic Defense: 500

  Skills: Transmute [+Ore Appraisal] [+Precision Transmutation] [+Ore Perception] [+Ore Desynthesis] [+Ore Synthesis] — Mana Manipulation — Iron Stomach — Lightning Field — Air Dance [+Aerodynamic] [+Supersonic Step] — Gale Claw — Night Vision — Sense Presence — Petrification Resistance — Language Comprehension

  * * *

  * * *

  As he had expected, his stats had risen dramatically. And he had learned three new skills. As he looked around, he realized he could indeed see a little better in the darkness.

  Must have been the effect of Night Vision. It might not have been a very useful skill for the rest of the monsters in this hell, but for the floor he was on at least, it was a godsend. His other new skills did as their names suggested. Though Hajime was somewhat disappointed that he had gotten Petrification Resistance, and not the basilisk’s actual petrification skill. He wondered why that was.

  “Man, it would have been so cool to get ‘Basilisk’s Eye’ or something...” Hajime lamented dejectedly.

  Once he finished his meal, Hajime began transmuting new supplies for himself.

  Crafting even a single bullet took a great deal of concentration. His bullets needed to be extremely precise. In order to make use of Donner’s rifling, he had to get the size and shape exactly right. And he couldn’t make a single mistake in compressing the blastrock packed within them. Each bullet took about thirty minutes to make, but Hajime was still proud of his skill with the craft. Humans really are creatures that display a terrifying amount of strength when they’re desperate, Hajime thought, impressed with himself.

  Besides, though it took time, his bullets were powerful enough that he had no reason to complain, and each one he made trained his transmuting ability to n
ew heights, so it really wasn’t a waste.

  Thanks to his training, he was now able to purify any mineral or ore of impurities, and he could even decompose an alloy into its composite parts. He also had the power to fuse ore together to create new alloys. Hajime’s current transmutation skill was on par with the kingdom’s best blacksmith.

  He silently continued his work. So far, he had only descended a single level from his starting point, and he had no way of knowing how much further this abyss continued for. He planned on returning to his search the moment he finished transmuting. If he wanted to get home, he couldn’t afford to waste time lounging around.

  Once he resumed his search, Hajime stopped only when he needed to return to base and replenish his supplies. He had no way of knowing how long his search would take if he let himself rest while searching. Thanks to his Night Vision, he no longer had any problem seeing in the dark, and Sense Presence let him know when there were any monsters within a ten meter radius. His scouting of the floor progressed swiftly.

  Finally, he discovered the stairs leading down to the next floor. He stepped forward without hesitation.

  The ground of the floor below was sticky, like tar. In fact, the entire floor resembled a huge swamp. His legs easily got stuck in the ground, and Hajime had a hard time moving. He frowned as he saw how difficult it was to move, then proceeded to climb up a protruding boulder. From there he used Aerodynamic to advance through the sky.

  As he continued moving forward he constantly used Ore Perception to look for new minerals. Among the ones he discovered on this floor, one was of particular note.

  * * *

  * * *

  Flamrock: A glossy black mineral. When heated, it melts into tar. It melts at 50 degrees Celsius, and catches fire at 100 degrees Celsius. When it burns, it can reach temperatures of up to 3000 degrees Celsius. The length it burns depends on the quantity of tar.