Vol 2 Chapter 16 (1/2)

LEVEL 2: Everything is Precious, Nothing is Replaceable

Chapter 16: Resolution and a Wish

Haruhiro noticed how things had calmed down His ears, rather than his eyes, told him

He and the others had hidden theworht Ranta was, but before, the clamor the kobolds had made around Ranta had been obvious Not anymore

Either the kobolds had caught Ranta or he had gotten away Which was it?

In the latter case, he could possibly even be up to the third stratum by now… such a possibility now occurred to Haruhiro, and the fact that he failed to consider it earlier greatly unsettled hiine the possible scenarios and pick out the most probable Unfortunately, Haruhiro didn’t think hience He could only do the best he could hat he had

Let’s get a ht, and was about to say it out loud too, but clamped his mouth shut

“It’s okay, Haru” Mary put a hand on his shoulder “Just do things your oay”

“That’s right!” Yu him on the head “Be you ’cause you’re you!”

Haruhiro had no idea what she was saying but that was probably because what she said didn’t reallypetted by her sure felt so eood, so whatever

With a grunt, Mogzo got to his feet shi+horu took several deep breaths They ht Ranta was Haruhiro had been right: Few kobolds remained in the area now—and what he meant by feas absolutely zero Not even one It was almost too quiet

As they walked froet a really bad feeling about this It shouldn’t be this quiet, whatever the situation Maybe… Ranta had been caught after all

Ranta! Haruhiro wanted to try calling his name But he didn’t It would just feel weird That wasn’t all though; saying anything in a loud voice probably wasn’t a good idea Looking at the others’ expressions, Haruhiro got a good idea of what they ood, that’s for sure

“We can’t be certain yet,” Haruhiro whispered, realizing only afterwards that the way he said it hardly inspired confidence

He should have said so so apparently half-assed Do it your way, they had told him, and while it made him really happy that his cos needed work But real hue with a flip of a switch

A long howl split the air

Mary halted in her tracks “Was that…?”

“Did we get spotted?” Yulanced around hurriedly

“No,” said shi+horu wide-eyed and shaking her head slightly “Not us”

“Then… Ranta?” Mogzo drew his sword and assumed a defensive stance

But where? To their left The kobold that originally howled had fallen silent, but other howls followed from that direction It didn’t seeuessed The noise was much more subdued than before

What to do?

“Let’s go!” Haruhiro broke into a run

Was this the right decision? He erous situation… What if his guess rong? If it looked bad, then they could just turn back Right Yes It wasn’t like they were at the point of no return Or so he told himself But why did he always tell himself these kinds of back doors? His own indecisiveness irritated him He wanted to be a confident leader, but maybe it just wasn’t in him

If he really couldn’t do that, then what he could do was at least project an ie of confidence Just fake it He’d come off cool and masculine, and everyone else would feel less uneasy to boot

There they were; three or four—no,a lone human at a run There weren’t that et surrounded The husword in wide arcs with his right hand in an atte The huht back to put distance between hiap easily

“Ranta!” Haruhiro cried

When Ranta looked, the expression on his face was like sohost

That’s what I should say, Haruhiro thought, which was the wrong phrase, since Ranta hadn’t actually said anything What was the expression for that then? Not “say”about that

Shocked at everyone’s appearance, Ranta halted in his tracks, just as a worker kobold leapt at him

“Argh!” Ranta grunted as the kobold brought hiround

“We’re co!” Haruhiro shouted

The other four kobolds re any attention to Haruhiro and the others This ht actually work

“Everyone, attack as one!” Haruhiro ordered and just as the words came out of his mouth, the line appeared

The hazy, indistinct line of light ran froer to one of the kobold workers then curved around to end at the back of the elder fore… Haruhiro mused inwardly

He didn’t have to think; his bodycontrolled by soer into the worker kobold’s back, and next the elder Haruhiro couldn’t describe how it felt as his blade pierced both kobolds in fatal spots It was like a sudden tightening in his chest and instant awareness that the kobolds were dead

At the sazo finished another with his signature [RAGE CLEAVE] Mary struck a worker with her staff and shi+horu followed up with [SHADOW ECHO] Yume pressed the attack with [SWEEPING SLASH] and [CROSS CUT] in tandeain

“damn it!” Ranta yelled, as he was forced back by a kobold’s attacks

Haruhiro didn’t respond, but rather drew hirabbed it froer into its throat; the [WIDOW MAKER] technique

“I’ll heal you,” Mary said, helping Ranta to his feet then casting a lightspell immediately

Ranta glared at Haruhiro sidelong, shoulders heaving “Don’t suddenly shout ot me killed from surprise, idiot!”

Despite his bravado Ranta looked worse for wear Mary was concentrating her efforts to heal a particularly deep-looking wound on his left aret angry, seeing Ranta in that condition

“Sorry,” he replied sincerely Ranta looked away

“Heeey…” Yuet a better look at Ranta’s face Her eyes widened in surprise “Ranta… are you crying?”

“No, I’m not!” Ranta spat vehemently

“But you’re all teary-eyed…”

“That’s ’cause it hurts all over!” Ranta insisted

“No need to act like sotied you by your underpants…” Yuain”

“I really hoped I would! No! I mean—” Ranta quickly amended, flustered “I ain! I ot all… ot…”

“Got what?” Yu?”

“S-shut up!” Ranta shot back “I don’t want to hear it from someone with a washboard for a chest!”

“Don’t call Yume a washboard!” Yume cried

“I’ll call you whatever I want! If I want to call you a washboard a gazillion times, I will! Washboard! Washboard! Washboard! Washboard!”

“Stay still,” Mary co Ranta under the chin “And be quiet Or would you rather not get healed?”

Mary’s face was expressionless, her tone flat—and it only

“U-uh, n-no…” Ranta sat up raht “Sorry”

“Now you’ve lare fro more Ranta was deathly afraid of Mary, and he remained absolutely still

“I’ to the floor

Mogzo heaved a heavy sigh “Me too”

We can’t let our guard down yet, Haruhiro thought Not at a time like this… They had to stay alert in this situation Their worst eneuard down Haruhiro swept his eyes around the area There! He was right; two,out of a pen in the distance If that was all of them, the team would be able to clean theuarantee more wouldn’t come

“Mary, how’s Ranta?” Haruhiro asked

“He’ll be fine,” she said

“Okay, we’re leaving then Ranta, get up Can you run?”

“Of course I can! Who do you think you’re talking to, idiot!”

Who are you calling idiot? You should be thanking ht but did not say Yume once said that it couldn’t be helped that Ranta was Ranta and he would always be Ranta because he was Ranta Haruhiro concentrated on how o

A long, high-pitched howl filled their ears

That particular hoas the kobold’s alarht would happen Good thing they had already begun to e the fact that they were being chased Again Sure it was still a scary situation, but overreacting posed a far greater danger

“We’re gonna head back to the third stratum!” Haruhiro decided “Sorry Mary, but can you take the lead? I don’t know the way as well as you! Get us to the closest sink well!”

“Yes!” came Mary’s voice

“Ranta, stay with Mogzo and watch our backside!”

“Fine!” Ranta shouted “But it still pisses me off to take orders from you!”

“Quit talkin’ back all the ti Thanks to that, Haruhiro didn’t get as annoyed as he usually did

With Mary leading, their path was clear and certain Haruhiro realized this unconsciously Maybe she had always borne the desire to return here and, because of that, she had reconstructed the layout and paths within the mines over and over in her mind She said once that she wanted to move on, to be free of this place

Was there so left, so that she had always hoped to do but never e In other words…

They reached the sink well The girls went up first, followed by Ranta, Mogzo, and finally Haruhiro bringing up the rear

“Why aren’t we staying to fight?” Ranta protested, despite everything that had transpired

Haruhiro, as much as he trusted his teammates, didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks By the tins of pursuit from the kobolds had disappeared Everyone was exhausted, so they searched for a relatively hidden area devoid of glow blossoms where they could rest

Or that was the plan, at least

It was dark So co; like suddenly being surrounded by a pool of darkness

Haruhiro suddenly stopped “Wait Do you guys hear that? That sound…”

“Sound?” shi+horu repeated, craning her neck

He strained his ears

Clack, clack…

He could hear it

Clack, clack, click…

Clack, clack…

A faint sound But so Not a kobold It didn’t sound like a kobold…

“Hold on,” Ranta said, then ran off somewhere

He returned low blossoms in his arms and started to place them, two handfuls at a ti thelow blossoms revealed… footprints

“G-g-g…” Mogzo shrank back “G-ghosts…”

Yu into Ranta and clinging to hio just as quickly

“Don’t try anything funny!” Yume said to him

“You grabbed me first!” Ranta shot back

“Do you think it could be…” shi+horu grasped her staff even tighter, her breathing heavy “S-skeletons?”

“Yes,” Mary replied, stepping forward

When Mary tapped the ground with the tip of her staff, a shooh the air

“When the transfor breathes false life into a corpse,” Mary explained “Skeletons are what they becoins to rot away and fall off”

“It can’t be…” Haruhiro stopped, at a loss for words

The skeletons—the people—illulow blossoms, were… they were…

There were three of them Each of them was fully clothed and equipped eapons and armor but their flesh, or more accurately their white and sickly-yellow bones, peeked out froear One was covered in plate arh Another, dressed like Haruhiro, held his dagger out as if guarding The last wore e’s robes, accompanied by a staff

“It’s been a while, everyone…” Mary said

What kind of expression was she wearing? She was standing in front of him now, so Haruhiro couldn’t see her face Her voice was rock steady, though, as if casually greeting an old friend after a long ti before this moment

She had lost three friends down here in the Siren Mines No one had said anything about having come back to retrieve their bodies Even if she’d wanted to hold a proper funeral out of respect for her lost companions, the situation at the time had probably made it impossible She had no choice but to leave their bodies behind

But out here, on Grial’s frontier, a body not cremated three to five days after death was all it took for the Curse of the Deathless King to take hold and begin their transfor of this cruel fate that awaited her former companions

“Michiki Ogg Mutsumi” Mary whispered their names softly “I’m so sorry…”

“Get ready!” Haruhiro shouted as he saw the skeleton e, Mutsumi, raise her staff

A pile of bones shouldn’t be able to talk Mere bones didn’t have voices, but somehow they all heard her voice “Derem… hel… en…”

It sounded more like a rush of wind than words It was one of the s he’d ever heard

“Everyone, dodge!” Mary yelled as she leapt to the side

Haruhiro and the others followed suit after a split second, juht

The skeleton e continued her chant, “Van… alev…”

Wind They were being blasted back by a flurry of wind, but not normal wind It had the heat of fire

“Whoa!” Haruhiro raised his arm to protect his face

The wind felt al The heat defied belief If he opened his eyes, he was pretty sure his eyeballs would melt Probably Maybe not

“I’ to [PURIFY] them froressively et closer!”

There’s no stopping her, Haruhiro thought It was no use telling her to fall back just because it was dangerous Now, it was just about letting her do it in her oay All they could do was support her

“Mogzo, take the warrior! Ranta, the thief is yours!” Haruhiro ordered

Mogzo engaged the skeleton warrior Michiki with a shout, sword swinging

“I got this!” Ranta yelled, leaping at the skeleton thief Ogg

“Yume!” Haruhiro cast his eyes in Yume’s direction

Mary probably intended to use [PURIFY] on Mutsumi first He and Yuet the spell off

“Right!” Yume nodded

Itthat their opponent was a skeleton, but Haruhiro yelled at the top of his lungs and attacked Mutsuoing to cast another spell, but dodged instead That spell earlier was probably [SIROCCO], a fire eleic was offense-based and focused on destruction, so getting hit by one of Mutsumi’s spells meant trouble

“Dereil into the air with the tip of her staff

There it was again Derem hel en, it sounded like the same spell she cast earlier

“Run!” Haruhiro shouted

He dodged left while Yu for all they orth

“…Rig… alev…”

What? Fire Flaht in front of Mutsumi

“That’s [WALL OF FIRE]!” shi+horu shouted with surprise She brought up her own staff and chanted, “Oom rel eckt nem das!”

It was shi+horu’s [SHADOW BIND] spell The shadow ele was about to step The skeleton thief stepped in it and found himself unable to move

“Nicely done, shi+horuuuuu!” said Ranta, extending the last syllable as he charged headlong at the stuck Ogg Ranta unleashed a flurry of attacks

Ogg, however, was the same class as Haruhiro He sisword If the attack had been sozo’s [RAGE CLEAVE] the technique wouldn’t work, but since it was Ranta, even Haruhiro would probably be able to deflect his attacks It didn’t look like Ranta would be able to bring Ogg down by himself

A short distance away, Mogzo grunted as he locked blades with Michiki They pressed against one another with terrible strength Mogzo intended to twist his sword around Michiki’s and folloith [SPIRAL SLASH], but Michiki was also a warrior and knew the sa to be easy to pull thes, Mogzo had a tough fight on his hands

“W-what do we do now?” Yume asked, stopped in front of the wall of fire

Mutsumi was on the other side, but they couldn’t see her behind the flames

“I’ to avoid a ray of light launched from behind the wall

It hit hiht himself dead But he wasn’t It felt like he’d taken a roundhouse to the jaw, and though hurt like hell, he wasn’t critically injured Was that… [MAGIC MISSILE]?

“Ahh!” Yume cried She’d been hit by the spell too

[MAGIC MISSILE]’s rays of light were flying everywhere Haruhiro backed away froetting hit by the spell He didn’t even know that spells could be combined like this

Suddenly, Mogzo shouted Is Mogzo doas the first thing that cazo was able to barely avoid getting hit Michiki And that technique Haruhiro only caught a brief glimpse of it, but it looked like Michiki had perfor his sword down at the same time It must have been a warrior skill, but Haruhiro didn’t realize warriors could possess such acrobatic techniques

Mogzo immediately moved to counterattack but Michiki leapt back swiftly, and the tere deadlocked once again Michiki So strong He was h in terth they were pretty much even

If the fight ree Already he was beginning to get pushed back If Mogzo went down, no one else would able to take Michiki on Sure, they had the advantage in nued to take thezo up

The moment Haruhiro came to that conclusion, shi+horu fired another spell

“Oom rel eckt vel das!” she chanted

[SHADOW ECHO] The black seaweed-like eleh The spell ht have made Michiki tre significant Maybe the [SHADOW ECHO] was less effective on skeletons

“shi+horu, use [SHADOW BIND]!” Haruhiro said

At the sa off!”

Haruhiro looked and saw that Ranta was right Ogg was ly toying with him The duration of [SHADOW BIND] was about twenty-five seconds Had it been that long already? No, Haruhiro had a feeling that it had been less than that He wasn’t really an expert on ic worked better on so on the caster’s strength of will, a other factors, a spell could sometimes be less effective

“N-now! Oom rel eckt neain at the spot where Ogg was about to step next

This tih her He stepped over the spot on the ground where the shadow elemental had fixed itself and pressed the attack on Ranta

While all that was happening, [MAGIC MISSILE] rays never stopped shooting out fro theonna do?

“Mutsumi!” Mary shouted her friend’s name

“Wait, Mary!” Haruhiro cried in disbelief “What are you—”

What was she doing? What the hell was she thinking? Mary had leapt straight into wall of fire No way! She was going to get burned to a crisp She was going to die, doing so crazy like that Haruhiro wanted to stop her, but there was no way he would reach her in time She disappeared behind the flames

“O light, under the divine grace of Lord Luminous… [PURIFY]!”

Haruhiro heard Mary’s voice and an to die out, then disappeared altogether Mary crouched low At her feet a e’s robes, hat, and… a pile of ash

Haruhiro’s voice caught in his throat He had no words for this

“It’s alright,” Mary said, getting to her feet

Alright? Haruhiro thought to hiht now at all Her hair had been singed, her face and other places burned raw red But it wasn’t just that Mutsumi was her teammate, maybe they had even been friends, and with her own hands, Mary had… she had… Hoas that alright? How could anyone ever say it was?

But any sort of consolation would have to come later

“Yuzo!” Haruhiro said

“Got it!” Yume replied

“O-okay!” said shi+horu

Leaving the two of the up a position behind Ogg But Ogg was a thief too; heRanta in check while careful not to let Haruhiro get behind hi a skeleton, Ogg’s motor skills were far superior Skeletonsundead

Haruhiro would lose, maybe even quite easily, if they went head to head I hate to do this to you, Ogg, since you’re Mary’s old friend and all Yeah, I’ alone!

“Ranta!” Haruhiro cried

“Let’s go!” said Ranta sharply

Ranta and Haruhiro switched places The two of thely in tune with each other at tiood

Ogg appeared confused for a , Haruhiro attacked Ogg deflected with [SWAT], then counterattacked, and this ti attacked, Haruhiro used [SWAT] When Haruhiro attacked, Ogg used [SWAT]

Around the fourth ti thathad beenhis [SWAT] skill so that on the fourth ti Haruhiro drop his weapon

I was right, Haruhiro thought I can’t win against him But he didn’t have to Haruhiro suddenly stepped forward and thrust his dagger out [SWAT] was, at its best, a defensive technique meant to block an opponent’s attacks In order to execute it, you had to devote the entirety of your concentration to your opponent’s movements for at least a ot used to it, and executing it became somewhat habitual

In other words, you ended up using it auto or not

Ogg used it now, against Haruhiro’s sudden attack

“Take this!” Ranta ca attack i

To be honest, chills went down Haruhiro’s spine He and Ranta hadn’t coordinated anything beforehand, but still… Ranta, you knew exactly what I was thinking It made Haruhiro feel a little dirty, actually