Chapter 93 - Tobio Ikuse (2)

Suddenly, Tobio heard a young man's voice from behind. The owner of the voice, followed by the sound of footsteps, appeared beside Tobio. The boy was dressed in what seemed to be a grey sweatshirt and simple sweatpants. He was tall, taller than Tobio by quite a bit, and had peculiar silver hair tied back in a bun.

Tobio was sure that this guy was the one who had saved him before, it was obvious from the big bow hanging down his back. The only doubt left in Tobio's head was this.

Where was the boy going to get the arrows?

As Tobio looked at the boy, he stepped forward.

"I will be your opponent."

He said to the lizard, with his hand out in front. His tone of voice was mocking as if he didn't put the lizard in his eyes. He had his rude smile that turned his face devilish.

Responding to the provocation of the mysterious boy, Sasaki gave the lizard monster an order with his hand. The lizard tried to attack him with its tongue.

In an instant.

The tongue had been cut into four different parts.

Tobio could not see it clearly, but seeing that the bow was no longer in his back, but in his hand, he could deduce that it had been the boy's doing once again.

Who exactly was he?

An instant later, Tobio continued to see nothing. There were three flashes of light coming from the arch, and the lizard stopped moving.

The monster's tongue fell silently to the ground. There was no cut on the monster's body, only a single hole in the center of its forehead. Tobio didn't know why, but he was sure that the three arrows had passed through that very spot.

The monster's body lost all its strength and collapsed to the ground. As if he had lost consciousness at the same time, the person who looked like Sasaki also collapsed in place.

Still shrouded in fear, Tobio was too confused to understand what had happened. The lizard monster... died. An organism like that shouldn't exist. Even if it did, it would at least defy common sense...

"Tsk, just as I thought. Those two things are the same existence. And I thought I could get more points..."

Tobio did not listen well to the words of his saviour or thought he had not heard them well. He was too dazed to see the great bow turn into particles of light and disappear as if nothing had happened.

Was that magic? Was the person who had saved him a wizard?

He still had his doubts, but Tobio was delighted to have survived. He sighed softly.

His relief was fleeting, however, as Sasaki, lying on the ground, was enveloped by a mysterious light phenomenon. It also enveloped the now deceased lizard monster. It was a blue light, emanating from something circular on the ground, that was carved with unknown characters. ...as if it were something like a "magic circle" that was often seen in games and on sleeves. The magic circle-like thing emitted a more dazzling glow that made one want to cover one's eyes. After the glow stopped, he looked up at the place, where the lizard monster and Sasaki no longer met.

"Shit, so they had a safety plan after all."

After a phenomenon similar to being pinched by a fox, what had unfolded before Tobio's eyes left him so surprised that words failed him completely. The mysterious boy who had saved him was cursing in the air, but that was of no importance to him at this point.

"Ikuse...kun, right?"

After he calmed down, the mysterious boy turned to ask Tobio.

"T-that's me... And you are?" Tobio answered with another question.

He was stunned to see the boy's face. Mostly, those heterochromatic eyes and... Horns?!

Were those horns coming out of his forehead?

"You can call me Drako. Nice to meet you."

The mystery boy, Drako, reached out to Tobio. The Canis Lycaon user hesitated a bit, but finally decided to say greet Drako back.

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(Drako's POV)

[200 experience points have been obtained.]

[Because of the effects of Title Skill [Walking Egg]. Another 200 experience points were obtained.]

[The level of [Nephilim Dragon] raised from 36 to 37.]

That's what I received after killing this Utsusemi. Those monsters are weak, but it seems that killing one of those is enough to make me level up. Not bad, really.

And there are 233 of them, or so I think. Even if they're all the same level, the experience I'm going to get is going to be around 90,000 experience points. I think all that experience is more than enough to make me evolve once again.

Now I have to deal with this brat. SlashDog is nothing like the top character that's going to become in the future. He's got a long way to go before he gets that.

"Boy, I'm in a good mood. Want to get some ice cream?"

"No, thank you."

Well, it seems the idea of eating ice cream is not the best I could have come up with.

"Well, is there someplace you'd like to go?"

"Home."

…

Is he mocking me?

"You don't seem to understand your situation, kid. You're in danger, and I'm here to help you. Now, you're going to follow me if you don't want to lose your life in the future."

The emotions in Tobio's face and eyes are complex. He seems to be hesitating between believing me and not believing me, but it seems that he finally opts for the former.

"It's okay, I know a bar in the area."

"What are you waiting for? Lead the way!"

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"For me, I'll have a beer. Errr, what do you want to order, Tobio?"

Although I called him by Ikuse-kun the first time, this time I skipped it and called him directly Tobio. I don't see any sense of disgust in the boy's face, so he must be okay with it.

Although, honestly, I don't give a shit what the brat thinks.

"No thanks, I'm fine."

Tobio shakes his head.

"Can you follow me to the bar? You can pick up your beer mug there."

I follow the waitress and come back with my beer mug.

After I sit down, it's Tobio who opens the conversation.

"What do you want to tell me?"

"What?"

To Tobio's question, I answer with a light tone. With a slightly annoying attitude, Tobio frowned and asked again.

"What was that all about? What's the story behind it?"

Oh, so the boy is curious. Well, I can say there are two kinds of people in these situations.

The first one wants to pretend he's hallucinating and pretend what happened never happened.

The second is how Tobio, who's curious and wants to know more about it.

They say curiosity kills the cat.

"The truth is, this is the first time I've ever come across anything like that. But I can tell you at a glance, that was a monster and its master."

And I kept talking before Tobio could ask again.

"That thing you seemed to know is nothing more than an artificially created being called Utsusemi. I gather they're a prototype of Independent Avatar Sacred Gears, or so it seems. That "human" being and the monster are one and the same entity, both are the same Utsusemi."

I take a sip of beer while waiting for Tobio to absorb the knowledge I just imparted to him.

"Utsusemi?"

Being an unknown term, it's natural for Tobio to be confused.

"Don't overthink it, it's just a name I know how to call that thing. Just like you're Tobio, that thing is Utsusemi. Right now I'm like you since it's the first day I've heard that term."

As far as I can tell, Tobio is speechless.

"Although I don't know the exact details, thanks to a good friend who doesn't feel like doing his job well, I've deduced that they're creating Utsusemi from the 233 missing students."

I'll give the beer another shot while I go back and wait for Tobio to digest the relevant information.

Even after half a minute, Tobio seems to be in a daze.

Sighing lightly, I put the backpack I've been carrying all this time on the table.

"I know it may seem incredible, all these strange things I'm telling you. Anyway, since you're going to hear this again later, for now..."

I take the round white object out of the bag. The egg the size of a football.

"My role is to deliver this to you."

I put the egg on the table, and Tobio reaches out to get it.

"Uwah!"

With a pathetic scream, Tobio dropped the round object on the table.

"You have to be careful with it. You don't want him to die."

As he put the empty beer mug on the table, I said without hesitation something sinister.

"Die, what do you mean?"

The worried Tobio protested my ominous choice of words.

"The Utsusemi, it seems, were meant for the students who survived the trip by not participating."