Book 2: Chapter 55

Book 2: Chapter 55

Chapter 55.

A swarm of over a hundred Needle Mouse had completely surrounded Tenji and the others.

Mizue looked as if he had made up his mind that there was no way out alive.

Rikka was still shaken from the turmoil but was looking for a way out.

In the midst of all this, Tenji was beginning to think that the only way out was for him to act now. He was planning on summoning.

[Even if I summoned two Goblins, I don't think that they could handle this number. There are way too many Needle Mice to fight.]

[But the Goblins are indeed strong.]

[Maybe they could afford this battle after fighting daily against the fourth-grade demons in the Hell Realm.]

However, when Tenji compared the number of Goblins to the number of Needle Mice, it was obvious that he would be outnumbered and jittery. Tenji had experienced the advantage of having huge numbers, many times in the dungeon.

Even if there was a strong explorer in the party, if you are outnumbered by monsters, everyone will often end up in a bad situation.

If there are three targets to protect there, even the Goblins will be very limited in how they can get around.

[How on earth I can do anything but to hope for the benefit of a better leveling up?...]

Tenji was desperately accelerating his mind to somehow find a way to survive from here.

Running away, fighting, praying for help, all of them were not going to work.

------- And that's when it happened.

Mizue smiled gently at his friends Tenji and Rikka, who were in back-to-back formation with him.

"I'm afraid this was not Chariot's test. Looks like we all had the right idea."

"Mizue-kun?..."

"Even if we had good weapons for an average person there's no match for a swarm of fourth-grade monsters. This is common sense. That's the enemy that's now in front of us in countless numbers, and no matter what anyone thinks, it's an enemy that's beyond our ability to handle. There is no way Chariot would bother to prepare such an enemy.... Am I wrong?"

"............"

"............"

"I've always been told that silence is a positive thing. I'm trying to find out. What do you say? Do you want to try to resist a little or fight??"

"Oh, when you say resist... What do you want me to do against this number of monsters?" Tenji said.

"If you don't get needles through your eyes, brain, and heart, you won't die. You have to protect them and be prepared to be pierced by needles all over your body. Or another way, you can just die without fighting."

Mizue's words of contemplation made Rikka's face turn pale and her mouth shut.

When she thought of herself dying today, she felt an overflow of regret because she had so much left to do. At the same time, she was filled with an inescapable sense of dread at the sight of the Needle Mice gathered in front of her.

"No, no! I don't want to die! I don't want to die here!!!" Rikka screamed

"Was that what you were prepared for? If you want to be an explorer, you should at least be prepared to die. If you can't, then you can't be an explorer." Mizue exclaimed.

"Yes, I know! But! This isn't right! Why do I have to die just for an entrance test?"

"You can't tell me that, all you can do is listen to me. It was bad luck, this is what our destiny was all about. Neither of us deserve this. But. We can't change the fact that we are surrounded by these monsters."

"I'm going to die because of bad luck!"

"Yes, embrace it. That's what explorers are for." Tenji exclaimed.

"No!"

"You're a selfish bitch. Then what do you want at the end? What do you want? I've heard a few stories of people awakening to their calling at times like this. All you can do is pray for that. If you don't fight now then you can never become a true explorer." Mizue spoke some strong words to Rikka.

Both Mizue and Rikka's faces turned pale at the unimaginable answer heard from Tenji's mouth.

There were no more words to be spoken. It was a method that only a clearly mentally deranged high school student could have used to hide in a corpse and survive for four days.

Or someone who was willing to die trying to escape death.

But Tenji quickly spins his next words.

"-- and this is a false testimony given to the Association." Tenji said.

"What?"

"What? What do you mean?"

"The truth is that I awakened to an unknown calling and defeated Black Keroberos."

They both open their mouths wide at Tenji's words.

"So, please keep what's about to happen to me in secret... Don't ask too much and don't tell anyone. Also, this is a very high stakes fight, so you must follow my instructions. Is that clear?"

[The young man in front of me defeated Black Keroberos.]

[It is too hard to believe, but if it were true, I might make it through this place alive.]

They quickly came to the same thought.

"I get it. It's obvious there's nothing I can do now. I'll ask you about it later, but right now, I need you to do everything you can to fix this." Mizue said with a calming voice to Tenji.

"Yes, I'm going to trust Tenji-kun now too." Rikka said to Tenji.

"Thank you. Then, Mizue-kun, can you hold this sword for me?"

Tenji thanked them for their immediate decision and forced the Iron Sword in his hand towards Mizue.

"Yes. Are you sure? You can use my double-stroke sword if you want."

"I appreciate it, but don't worry, I have stronger weapons."

The three of them had been in a back-to-back position until now, but Tenji stepped forward from his spot.

The Needle Mice swarm was unpredictably silent waiting for the three to make a movement.

He summons a sword as he flips the 'Book of Enma' in the air.

He had already verified that he doesn't need to say a word when summoning them. However, in order to show the two of them what he is about to do with words, Tenji dares to put his demands into the 'Book of Enma' aloud.

"Come out, Red Demon Sword."

At that moment, Tenji had a red-black sword in his right hand.

Rikka also instinctively had goosebumps from the summon.

"What? From where?"

Rikka was surprised at the phenomenon aloud.

But Tenji's actions did not end there.

He thrust his hands forward, preparing to exercise another ability that is the essence of Hell Beast Summoning.

"Summon-- 'Goblin'"

When he said those words--

Two small portals with a disastrous purple color appeared on the ground.

[TLN: This is my favorite chapter so far. Now I really want the Goblins to demolish all the Needle Mice.]