“Oh? Good timing. Bro, there’s girls too.”
“Lucky. Let’s take care of this before someone annoying shows up.”
Two men who appeared to be in their early thirties spoke ominously. As stated, they were siblings.
One had light armor and a black robe, with a staff in his right hand. It seemed he lost his left one, and it was bound so as not to get in the way.
The other wore a black armor and helmet, and it was clear the dark purple spear in his hand was his weapon of choice.
“Can’t we have fun?”
“Stop it, the women will get away.”
“Tch, what a waste. They’re both cute.”
As they watched this threatening conversation, Hajime got a bad feeling and signaled to run away.
Hajime’s Danger Detection urged him to get away from the air around those two.
They all backed away, not wanting to turn their backs.
The two men saw these movements very well.
“Hey, where are you going? That’s cold.”
Hajime drew his twin swords, and just barely blocked the spear, but the twin swords were broken and flung away.
“Gah!?”
“Ooh, not bad. Nice reaction for someone that’s not a pro. But die.”
He closed the distance in no time and was already attacking.
Hajime crashed against a tree and vomited blood.
“Hajime!?”
The man with the spear ignored the others to finish off Hajime, but someone stopped him.
“Can you stop? That’s our dear scout.”
A man with a longsword enveloped in wind stopped the spear.
The man did not like that, and used his strength to move Toufu away.
Toufu’s stance did not break, and he grabbed Hajime to pull him towards the others. The man spit, and glared at him.
“Don’t waste our time. Your end has already been decided.”
“Can we make a deal? You can have all we have, just let us go.”
Toufu felt the difference in their power from that attack.
They could not win. They could not go toe to toe.
Even if the spear man was alone, their party would be wiped out, and there was also the mage waiting.
It was a desperate situation. Even if they ran, the movements he just saw told him they would not get far.
Toufu asked to negotiate, feeling flustered.
“Idiot, I told you your end’s been decided.”
“Is it necessary to take lives needlessly?”
“Don’t worry, it’s not needlessly. Just settle down and die!”
The man held his spear, tired of waiting. That made it clear the previous attacks were not so serious.
“…So negotiations have been broken?”
“They never started.”
The man was about to move.
If that dreadful blade was swung, someone would die.
And so, Toufu attacked preemptively.
He focused magic energy as they talked, and activated Wind Magic.
He controlled the intense gust of wind and sent it towards the spear man. It was also supposed to hit the mage standing back.
“Run!!”
He yelled towards his partners who had their weapons in hand, choosing to run to extend their lives as much as possible.
It was all they could do. It was clear their enemies were strong even for pros.
Surely they had passed the fortieth floor.
Toufu thought as they all ran.
Or he tried.
“I told you you weren’t getting away.”
That irritated voice was right next to them.
The first one targeted was Ruri the mage.
Perhaps he was wary of the mage, since they tended to have the most firepower in a party. Perhaps she just happened to be closest.
With slow movements, the spear approached Ruri to pierce her.
She could only watch, as the others also looked on with despair.
Except for one.
“Uoooh!!”
Her fiance Takeshi moved faster than ever before to protect his beloved, and stood between her and the spear.
He held up the tower shield and blocked the spear.
He thought he made it in time, but after the impact came a sharp pain.
“Guh!?”
“Not bad. But you’re done.”
He said as he pulled the spear, and faced the two coming at him.
Toufu and Naito attacked him to try to save Takeshi.
Takeshi fell to his knees, and thought it was strange.
He had been hurt and suffered serious wounds as he fought monsters, but being stabbed never stopped him from moving.
Something was not right.
“Take!? Chisato, hurry, potion!!”
“Yes!”
Ruri noticed the abnormality, and took a potion from Chisato. She fed it to Takeshi quickly, but it flowed out of his mouth as though he had no strength in his body.
“Stop it, you’re not gonna save him. Or him.”
The man proclaimed the uselessness of that action.
He lightly dealt with Toufu and Naito, and stabbed Naito in the stomach.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re all gonna die. What’s the point of asking?”
“Answer me!!”
Ruri’s magic energy intensified in response to her anger, and two magic circles activated. Increase and Gather.
She had fire and wind magic skills. By mixing them, she could create a ball of azure flames.
Its power was boosted by a magic circle, and the dispersing magic energy was concentrated by the other to send it towards the spear man.
That was the idea behind the magic circles.
Ruri looked at the man’s face, which still had a grin and showed no intention of answering her.
She was fed up, and controlled her magic energy to shoot her magic.
But a shadow became a blade that cut her arm.
“Eh?”
She was unable to process what happened, until she looked at her fallen arm and the magic dispersing.
She pressed the wound and fell to her knees, and looked up at the person suddenly in front of her.
“Stop playing around, Akira. I told you, we need to finish before someone troubling comes.”
The mage. The older brother of the spear man named Akira.
“I thought we could at least tell them how they’re gonna die.”
“Stop that nonsense, there are still three left. We don’t have time.”
“Yes yes, but we could just kill that dark nerd.”
“Don’t be stupid, that guy’s a monster. The two of us couldn’t even scratch him. There would be no point fighting him. If you’re not doing it, I will.”
“…Okay, I’ll end it. Hey, this spear has basilisk poison. If it wounds you, you die in minutes. Got it?”
Ruri was the first to understand. She looked at Takeshi, who looked pale and seemed to have rashes. His eyes and mouth were open, as if he was unable to close them.
His breathing could still barely be heard, but it was quiet, as if it would stop at any moment.
“Chisato! Antido…”
She yelled, ignoring the pain from her missing arm. But she could not finish.
A dark blade ran through her neck, cutting it.
“Noisy woman. That shrill voice is giving me a headache. Ah, that’s right, as a fellow mage, I will warn you that you shouldn’t stretch your arm when casting a spell. It makes the trajectory easy to read, and you’ll have your arm cut like me.”
The mage’s words were an unpleasant background music that made her want to shut her ears.
As Ruri fell, she looked at Takeshi.
Let’s go check out venues when we get back, she wanted to say, and was sad she could not.
She cried, and tried to smile, but thought it was weird to smile and cry.
Takeshi had no senses left. Still, tears overflowed.
It was sad that they could not hold the one they loved.
And both thought of each other as they drew their last breath.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Aaah!!!!”
He swung his sword with rage. The friends that walked alongside him for four years were dead. Killed by the men in front.
Naito, his friend’s younger brother and his pupil, was close to death.
He was not moving, and his breathing was shallow. He would be following his older brother shortly.
Hajime administered an antidote, but it did not appear to be working.
“What’s wrong!? Get more fired up!”
The spear man was having fun, not thrusting, and instead attacking with the blunt end. Toufu precisely blocked, and twisted his body to swing the longsword.
But a kick from Akira broke his armor and sent him flying back.
He landed where Hajime was, and Chisato was in a stupor over their partner’s death. Neither was moving.
And Naito was already…
“Hajime, take Chisato out of here.”
He said quietly, and he focused his magic energy without waiting for a response.
Toufu was no mage. He could not use magic circles like Ruri, and his firepower was not that high.
Still, he modified it to be easier to use in a close range battle.
He drew a screw with the wind on his sword, which turned into a small tornado.
The sword would mince and crush anything it touched. It was Toufu’s special move.
Of course, he did not expect that to defeat them, but at least buy them some time to escape.
If it hurt those two a little, that was good enough.
“Kamikaze Crush Blade!”
Akira chose to block Toufu’s special move.
The mage standing a little further away showed no signs of intervening.
That was perfect, and the blade of wind slashed Akira’s leg.
“Guh!? Damn you!!”
He knew that was not big damage. It just needed to slow him down a little.
And so, Toufu swung his sword.
The special move wounded Akira. The wind blade caused an upset.
Still, most of that power returned to the skies as a tornado. The attack did not end Akira’s life, and it was easily blocked as the spear broke the sword.
And it pierced not just the longsword, but Toufu’s body as well.
“Gaha!?”
“That was nice at the end, you should be proud of hurting me. Take that pride to the next world. Not bad, right?”
“Eat shit.”
Toufu fell on the ground after the spear was pulled back, showing no sign of getting back up.
The poison coursed through his body, eating it away. He lost the feeling in his body, until eventually it was all gone.
Suddenly, he felt fear. And regret.
Regret over becoming a seeker. Over getting the others involved. Over important people being killed.
What happened with Hajime? He only bought a bit of time.
Did he get away with Chisato? Was all he thought.
Hajime!?”
He heard Chisato’s voice as his consciousness faded.
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