“Oh...” Yue reflexively took the coat offered to her, and looked down at her own body. As Hajime had said, she was stark naked. Every bit of her was completely exposed. She blushed and pressed the coat against her body before looking up at Hajime and saying,
“Hajime, you pervert.”
“Uh...” He realized anything he said would only make things worse, so he wisely chose to remain silent. Yue happily donned the coat he gave her. As she was a mere 140 centimeters tall, it was a bit too big for her. Hajime smiled as he watched her try and fold the right sleeve back enough for her hands to poke through.
While she was wrestling with his coat, he drank some Ambrosia. He felt strength return to his body, and his mind began working again. He used Sense Presence to check his surroundings... and instantly froze. There was one hell of a powerful monster in the room with them.
And it was... right above them. The same time he noticed its presence, it chose to drop down from the ceiling.
He quickly got to his feet, scooped up Yue with one arm, and used Supersonic Step to dash away as fast as possible. He looked back just in time to see the monster crash into the ground right where they’d been sitting a second ago.
The monster was nearly five meters long, and possessed four arms that all ended in razor-sharp scissors. It had a further eight legs that clacked noisily as it scuttled around. It also had two tails, each of which ended in stingers. The closest thing it resembled was a scorpion. Hajime assumed the two stingers contained poison. It was clearly far more powerful than the monsters he had faced so far. Cold sweat began running down his forehead.
His initial Sense Presences when he first entered the room hadn’t discovered anything, but the one he had used mere moments ago had. Which meant that the scorpion thing must have entered the room after he had released Yue from her seal.
In other words, this was the one last trap her captors had placed to keep her from escaping her cell. If it was a trap designed for Yue, Hajime could escape if he left her behind.
He spared a quick glance at the girl he held in his arms. She was ignoring the scorpion thing entirely and looking only at Hajime. Her eyes were a sea of calm, showing nothing but the resolve to accept her fate. They spoke volumes more than words ever could. Yue had decided to place her life in Hajime’s hands.
When he saw those eyes, Hajime’s lips naturally curled up into his usual fearless grin. Though he had told himself he would never care about other people again, he had ended up sympathizing with Yue anyway. She had lit the fire in his heart, a heart he thought he had long since abandoned. And despite the terrible betrayal she had suffered, she chose once more to place her trust in someone. If he didn’t help her, then he didn’t deserve to be called a man.
“Bring it, you bastard. Kill me if you think you can.” Hajime slung Yue over his shoulder, pulled another vial of Ambrosia out of his bag, and thrust it into her mouth.
“Mmmgh!?” The rejuvenating fluid spread throughout her body. Tears formed in the corner of her eyes at the sudden intrusion of something hard into her mouth, but her eyes opened wide as she felt the Ambrosia heal her emaciated body.
He then skillfully swung Yue around, situating her on his back. Weakened as she was, Yue was nothing more than dead weight, but Hajime knew if he just put her down somewhere the scorpion thing would probably go for her first. Still, fighting a monster that strong while protecting someone was going to be tough.
“Hang on tight, Yue!” Though she was far from fully healed, she had enough strength in her body that she was able to cling tightly to his back.
The scorpion’s legs clacked on the ground as it scuttled over to them. He felt Yue’s slender arms clutching tightly to his back, and with the fearless grin still on his face, Hajime boldly proclaimed his intent.
“If you try and get in my way... I’ll kill you and eat you!” As if responding to his challenge, the scorpion thing attacked first. One of its tails swelled up and shot a stream of purple liquid at him. The stream traveled surprisingly fast, and Hajime quickly leaped away. The purple liquid sizzled as it hit the ground, melting the area around it. Hajime suspected it was some form of acid.
He spared the liquid a brief glance before drawing Donner from its holster and firing it.
Bang! He fired at full power. A bullet traveling at three kilometers per second slammed into the scorpion thing’s skull.
Hajime felt Yue stiffen on his back. She was surprised to see such an unfamiliar weapon, and surprised even more when she saw it fire off an attack that hit instantly. On top of all that, though, she hadn’t sensed Hajime use magic. However, there was a small amount of electricity running down his right arm; he had created it without chanting a spell or using a magic circle. In other words, Yue realized that he had the same kind of mana manipulation ability she did.
He was the same as her, and for some reason he, too, was stuck in the depths of hell. Though she knew now was no time to be distracted, she couldn’t help but pay more attention to Hajime than the scorpion.
Meanwhile, Hajime continued leaping through the air with Aerodynamic, making sure to constantly stay on the move. For once, his expression was actually grim. The reason being that Detect Magic and Sense Presence had told him that his bullet hadn’t fazed the scorpion thing in the least.
As proof, its other tail was swelling up as it took aim at him. Then, once it had built up sufficient pressure, it shot its stinger out at him. He tried to dodge, but the needle burst in midair, splintering into numerous sharp shards that sped toward him.
“Gah!” He screamed in pain, but continued shooting down the jets of liquid with Donner, kicking them away with Steel Legs, and blowing them off with Gale Claw. He somehow managed to survive the onslaught and returned fire with Donner. He then threw Donner into the air, pulled out a grenade from his pouch, and threw it at the scorpion thing.
It withstood Donner’s second shot, preparing to fire another buckshot of needles and set of acid spray in return. But before it could, the eight-centimeter-long grenade that had rolled next to it exploded. And as it exploded it sprayed burning black pitch all over the scorpion.
This was his incendiary grenade. He had made it out of the flamrock he discovered on the tar floor. Right now the scorpion was being engulfed in 3000-degrees flames.
It looked like even the scorpion thing couldn’t withstand flames that hot, as it began flailing around, trying to scrape the tar off it somehow. Hajime used this time to land back on the ground and reload Donner, which he had already caught in the air.
By the time he finished reloading the effects of the incendiary grenade had died down, and the flamrock had mostly burnt out. However, the flames had definitely succeeded in doing some damage, and the scorpion thing screeched in rage.
“Kshaaaaaaaaa!!!” It charged Hajime, all eight legs scuttling rapidly across the ground. The four scissors attached to its front legs suddenly extended forward as if they had been shot out of a cannon and sped toward Hajime.
He dodged the first with Supersonic Step, then jumped over the second with Aerodynamic. He managed to kick the third one away with his Steel Legs, but that threw him off balance as the fourth one headed for him.
However, an instant before it collided with him, he fired Donner and used the recoil from the shot to propel himself backward. By twisting his body, he just barely dodged the fourth scissor claw. Yue was groaning uncomfortably at his violent movements, but she just had to bear it, since Hajime was at his limits just dodging.
He leaped through the air again, this time landing on the scorpion thing’s back. He somehow managed to keep his balance on the rampaging beast’s back, and fired Donner into its shell at point blank range.
Bam! With a deafening explosion, the bullet forced the scorpion to the ground.
However, even a direct hit at point blank range wasn’t enough to pierce its shell, so the bullet had merely scratched it. Hajime ground his teeth in frustration, then swung down with a Gale Claw. However, it bounced
off with a metallic clang, not even scratching the shell.
Fed up with the human on its back, the scorpion thing fired a round of needle buckshot at its own back.
Hajime swiftly jumped back up into the air, firing another bullet at the joint where the tail connected with the stinger while he was in motion. The high speed bullet hit with perfect accuracy and flung the tail back... but even the tip of the tail was protected by the same thick shell, so the bullet did no lasting damage. Hajime just didn’t have enough power to damage it.
As he fled into the sky, the four scissor arms attacked him once more. He flung another incendiary grenade in desperation and jumped away to safety. The scorpion was engulfed in flaming tar for a second time, but Hajime knew he was just buying himself time.
He put some distance between him and the scorpion thing and tried to think of a plan. But before he could even begin, he heard another piercing scream come from its mouth.
“Kiiiiiiiiiiiii!” Chills ran down his spine as he heard that, and he tried to use Supersonic Step to put even more distance between him and the scorpion... but it was already too late.
As the scream echoed throughout the room, the ground around him began to warp, and with a thundering roar, spiked cones flew out one after another.
“Dammit!” This was a completely unexpected attack.
He desperately took to the sky once more, only to discover that there were spikes closing on him from behind too. In order to protect Yue, he twisted his body around, but that completely destroyed his balance. He still managed to repel the remaining spikes with Donner and his Steel Legs, but he was forced to stop moving, giving the scorpion thing time to aim another buckshot.
His face stiffened in horror.
An instant later, a barrage of acid and spiked needles came hurtling toward him. He made a snap decision. He realized dodging both in his current situation would be impossible.
Using Aerodynamic, he jumped out of range of the acid spray and covered his vitals with his right arm and left stump. His face he protected with Donner’s barrel. Then, using his mana manipulation ability, he strengthened his body to the limit and clenched his muscles.
Moments later, dozens of needles pierced through Hajime’s body.
“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” He screamed in pain once more, but he managed to avoid taking a hit in any vital areas. Because Yue was clinging to his back he made sure to stop the needles with his body and keep them from piercing her as well.
The force of the impact flung Hajime backward. Assailed by pain, he slammed into the ground and rolled over and over. The impact threw Yue off his back too.
Ignoring the pain of the countless needles that pierced his body, Hajime clenched his teeth and pulled out a flash grenade that he threw at the scorpion thing. It flew in a neat arc through the air before exploding right in front of its eyes.
“Kshaaaaaaaaaaa!!!” It screamed in pain as the light seared its retinas, and took an involuntary step back. Considering it had followed Hajime with its eyes this whole time, he had guessed, correctly, that it mainly used sight to track its prey.
Hajime bit down on the vial of Ambrosia he kept in his molar and pulled all the needles out at once.
“Guuuuuh!” He bit down on his lips from the searing pain, and a moan escaped his lips. But he withstood the pain. He had suffered so much already that he was used to it. Something of that level was nowhere near enough to break his spirit anymore.
As he continued to pull needles from his body, he looked around, searching for Yue. But before he could find her, she found him.
“Hajime!” She ran over to him, worry etched on her face. Her usually expressionless mask had crumbled and she looked like she was about to burst into tears.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine. More importantly, that thing is way too damn hard. I can’t think of any way to beat it. If I try to go for its eyes or mouth, those stupid scissor things’ll get in my way... Do I have no choice but to try for a suicide rush and just accept that I’ll take some damage?” He put Yue’s worried face out of his mind for the moment and concentrated on finding a way to defeat it. But he became distracted when he heard Yue’s murmured words.
“...Why?”
“Huh?”
”Why don’t you run?” Yue’s words implied that Hajime should already have realized he could leave her and escape by himself. He looked at her, evidently dumbfounded.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I haven’t fallen so low that I’d leave you behind to die just ’cause the enemy we ran into’s a little stronger than usual.”
In order to survive, Hajime would use anything at his disposal, whether it was ambushes, tricks, traps, lies, bluffs, and all sorts of other cowardly tactics. Aside from the one fight he had with the Claw Bear, he honestly thought fighting head-on was just moronic. Hell wasn’t so nice a place that you could survive with a code of honor. Nor did he feel guilty about his chosen fighting style. That was just how much he’d transformed over the course of his time here.
Still, he hadn’t sunk so far that he’d abandon someone. Even now, after all this time, he still had some semblance of morality. No, rather it was more accurate to say that he had regained some semblance of morality. And the one who had reminded him of that, of who he really was, was none other than Yue.
Hence why abandoning her was not an option. When she had given him that look, a look that told him she had placed her life in his hands, he had made his decision. At the critical turning point that decided whether or not he became as terrible as the monsters he consumed, he had chosen to remain human.
Yue saw in his expression the words he didn’t say and nodded in understanding before suddenly hugging him.
“H-Huh? What’s up?” Hajime stuttered, confused. Considering the circumstances, her actions seemed oddly timed. The effects of the flash grenade would wear off any minute. Plus, Hajime’s wounds had finished healing. He needed to return to the fray as soon as possible.
Yet in spite of all that, Yue wrapped a hand around his neck.
“Hajime... trust in me.” As she said that, Yue kissed the nape of his neck.
“Wha—!?” No, not kissed. Bit.
Hajime felt a tiny pinprick of pain. Following that, it felt as if the energy was being sucked out of his body. He was about to shake her off, when he remembered Yue had said she was a vampire, and realized she must have been sucking his blood.
When she had said “trust in me” she meant she wanted him to put aside his initial fear and revulsion at having his blood sucked.
Smiling wryly, Hajime wrapped his arms around Yue and supported her tiny body as she drank his blood. She twitched in surprise, but after a moment she hugged him even tighter and buried her face into his neck. It might just have been his imagination, but it looked as if Yue was happy he did that.
“Kshaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” The scorpion thing’s roar echoed throughout the chamber. It appeared the time he’d bought with the flash grenade had run out. It must have found them already, as the ground shook once more and began to warp. This must have been its special magic. It could freely control the earth around it.
“Unfortunately for you, that’s my specialty too.” Hajime placed his right hand on the ground and began transmuting. The ground stopped warping in a three meter radius around him, and instead rose up to form walls that protected him and Yue.
Myriad spiked cones slammed into the walls, aiming for Hajime, but his barriers kept them at bay. Each wall was only able to withstand a single attack, but he transmuted a new one after each broke.
The scope, strength, and offensive power of the scorpion’s earth manipulation were far above Hajime’s, but his transmutation speed was far faster. The range of his transmutation ability had stopped growing at three meters, so he assumed it had reached its peak. Also, he still couldn’t fling spikes or do anything purely offensive with the skill, but when it came to defense, there was none better.
Hajime focused his all on defense, keeping the monster’s attacks at b
ay until Yue finally removed her fangs from his neck.
Her face was flushed as she licked the last few drops of blood off her lips. Despite how young she appeared, the gesture, combined with her flushed face, looked rather seductive. In the span of a few moments, her emaciated body had become healthy, and her porcelain-white skin glowed with new vitality. Her cheeks, once gaunt, were now a rosy pink. A warm, gentle light dwelled within her crimson eyes, and she caressed Hajime’s cheek with a slender hand.
“...Thanks for the meal.” Suddenly, Yue got to her feet and brandished a hand at the scorpion thing. As she did so, a tremendous amount of mana, golden in color, poured out of her tiny body, chasing away the darkness.
Then, clad in a wondrous golden light, with her golden hair fluttering around her, she muttered a single phrase.
“Azure Blaze.” A massive blue-white fireball, at least six or seven meters in diameter, appeared directly above the scorpion’s head.
Though it didn’t score a direct hit, the fireball must have still caused quite a bit of damage, as the beast backed away, screeching in pain.
However, the vampire princess of the abyss did not allow it to escape. She stuck an elegant finger out, waving it around like a conductor’s baton. The fireball then followed her finger faithfully, chasing after the fleeing scorpion... and slammed into it.
“Gagyaaaaaa!?” It screeched in pain, letting out a noise Hajime had not heard before. It was clearly suffering. As the fireball smashed into its target, the entire room was filled with a blinding white light, temporarily robbing everyone of their sight. Hajime covered his eyes with his arm, and gazed dumbfounded at the grand display of magic.
Eventually the magic wore off and the pale blue fireball vanished. Once the flames disappeared, Hajime could see the scorpion writhing around in pain, its shell pulsing an angry red, and noted that parts of it had fused together from the heat.
Hajime wasn’t sure what was more praiseworthy: Yue’s magic, which had harmed the shell neither his 3000 degrees Celsius incendiary grenade nor a point blank railgun shot from Donner could even scratch, or the monster’s shell, which had somehow managed to withstand the blast.
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 1 (Premium) Page 18
