CH 92

“Haru, there is no way out. We’re going to get out of here alive, no matter what it takes.” (Kei)

“Yes!” (Haru)

I aim at the Fake Chimera Gluttony. Spells are thrown to the chimera one after another. At the same time, I used the registered three spells and skills in [Shortcut].

“[Slow] [Loss] [Unprotect] [Curse]” (Kei)

All the debuff spells I can use.

“[Shortcut] Haru, go for maximum firepower.” (Kei)

Using [Bind], thorny vines began appearing like they are growing from the space around the chimera, and while wrapping around the chimera, the numbers increase a hundred-fold wrapping the chimera over and over.

[Bind], [Chain] and [Positioning] are now registered in [Shortcut].

By using [Positioning] I can target where the spell will land and activate, the thorny vines of [Bind] appeared from around it, and it multiplied because of the effect of [Chain].

Even if that chimera has the power to blow me away. I will be able to stop it from moving with that number of thorny vines. Then for Haru.

“Here I go. [Rampage].” (Haru)

A blast of magical power came from Haru. Haru holds her Morning Star like a spear and began sprinting towards the Chimera.

“[Barrier].”

The Chimera swung its arm, but it was deflected by the [Barrier] that was activated in a slant, but she ducked her head.

Still, Chimera’s arm breaks through the [barrier], and the arm passes just above Haru’s head.

“Take this!” (Haru)

Haru charges straight towards the Chimera and pushes her Morning Star against its belly.

The chimera’s body seems soft and hungry enough to swallow half of the Morning Star.

“[Decaple] [Impact]” (Haru)

Along with a strong light, the belly of the Chimera that Haru hit with the Morning Star expands and explodes with a loud boom.

Half of its body is blown away by the explosion. Everything below the waist disappears, and the abdomen and chest are well scooped out. My [Bind] was also completely blown away.

“Hurt, No, Eat, Eat.” (Creature => Gluttony)

The chimera still crawled and moved, picking up and eating the scattered pieces of itself as it shouted. As it did so, bubbles began to erupt from the lower part of its missing waist.

“Unfortunately, I have a method for your recovery. Haru, move back. [Seal].” (Kei)

When I invoked that magic, I could feel the magic power drain out of me at a tremendous rate.

However, it seemed to be quite effective. The regenerating foam stopped, and the foam that have lost its shape fall to the ground.

The Chimera reached out to scoop up the fallen foam, but it turned into a mist and disappeared before it could reach its hand. After a few attempts, when the bubbles were completely gone, it slowly raised its head and its eyes met mine.

“Are you ready to lose your whole body?” (Kei)

I swung my scythe, though it was difficult to use since I only had my right hand. It’s a treasure weapon, so it’s very powerful and has a longer reach than a sword.

“Hungry, Eat, Hindrance” (Gluttony)

The chimera strikes at me, changing the shape of its arm thus changing its reach. It seems that even though the regenerating foam is a skill, being able to transform its body is an innate characteristic.

I match my scythe to the swung arm, parry, and slash at it. Even so, I’m no expert with a scythe, and it seems to have been too much for me.

My hands gradually went numb from the impact, and I couldn’t move them. I was out of breath, and my headache was getting worse.

“Haru, can you take over for a moment?” (Kei)

“Okay. Can you stop the chimera from moving?” (Haru)

“Roger that!” (Kei)

I met its attack many times, looking for an opening, and at the best time, without using the scythe, I entered the Chimera’s range. And then.

“Got you!” (Kei)

The scythe’s blade pegged the chimera’s body into the ground. I stopped [Seal] so that Haru could use her magic. By that time, I had no more than 10% of my magical power left.

“Brother, good job [Prison Gate]!” (Haru)

A huge hole appears underneath the chimera that is fixed to the ground. However, the chimera is probably too strong, and instead of completely entering the hole, it is flailing about on top of it.

“Haru, push it in!” (Kei)

I pulled out the [Intangible Armor] that was broken by the Chimera earlier and wrapped it around Haru’s Morning Star, which was driving at the Chimera, to form a hammer.

“”Go!”” (Kei & Haru)

With a loud sound like the rumbling of the earth, the Chimera’s body sunk and we broke the stalemate.

“Hungry!!!” (Gluttony)

Chimera was sucked into the [Prison Gate] after that unnerving cry.

The [Prison Gate] that completely swallowed the chimera shrank slowly, before disappearing.

From where the [Prison Gate] disappears, a black magic circle and a purple jewel remained.

I’m not sure if it’s fatigue, but my vision seems to be spinning in circles.

Nevertheless.

“We won.”

I reach for the purple jewel that fell in front of me and feel my vision spin around.

This is not good.

My consciousness disappeared as I realized such a trivial thing.

I slowly open my eyes.

I wonder where I am. An unknown room. White ceiling and walls. I’m lying on a bed.

And next to the bed, an IV drip.

“Oh, a hospital?” (Kei)

I close my eyes and feel a weight on my stomach. I try to reach out with my left hand, which doesn’t have an IV in it, but then I remember I don’t have a left hand.

I had no choice but to lift my face and look to see Haru sleeping soundly with a peaceful look on her face. She was sitting on a chair next to the bed, her head resting on my stomach.

I couldn’t move my right hand and didn’t have my left, so I lifted my leg gently to shake her.

“Haru, wake up.” (Kei)

“Hmm, morning?” (Haru)

Haru rubs her eyes sleepily and stretches when she wakes up. She then looked at her surroundings again and wondered what was going on.

Of course, she couldn’t see anything because her eyes were closed, but this seemed to be a habit.

She stopped moving for a few seconds, then slowly opened her eyes, looked at me, and opened them again. Her mouth opened as well.

“Brother, you got up. I’m glad you’ve finally woken up.” (Haru)

As if she was truly relieved, Haru plopped down on my stomach again and repeated over and over that she was glad. I was a little annoyed that I couldn’t even pat her head.

When Haru was back to normal, I asked her what had happened so far. Incidentally, I was touched to see that Haru’s eyes were moist when she looked up, and she began to act cheerfully to hide it.

“First of all, why did I collapse? I want to know the reason.” (Kei)

“It’s anemia. You lost a lot of blood if you think about it.” (Haru)

“So what did you do with me when I collapsed?” (Kei)

“I carried you. I carried you in my arms like a princess because I was physically strong enough to run. I took off our black hoodie because it could expose us, and put it in my item pouch.” (Haru)

“Oh, thank you.” (Kei)

Even though she was in a hurry, she seemed to have taken all the necessary measures to prevent our identities from being exposed.

It seems that we are seen as the brother, me, who lost his left hand when he was defeated by a monster, and the strong sister, Haru, who can away from the monster while carrying him.

Before I knew it, my reputation was slipping.

“Was that the last one. Is Stampede over?” (Kei)

This is what I wanted to ask the most. If the stampede was still going on in Tokyo, there was no point in us going there.

“It’s over. It’s over, Tokyo is the last one in Japan, and most of the world seems to be over too. It seems that the government is trying to support the explorers and weed out the monsters because it would be a disaster if something like this happened again. In other countries, there have been many cases of very strong monsters leaving the dungeon.” (Haru)

Haru opens her phone and shows it to me. On it was written testimonies from several explorers.

We were fighting three rather powerful monsters called Unique Monsters in the forest on the 16th floor. At that time, two people in black clothes came to our rescue.

They easily damaged the monsters, pulled them away from us, and disappeared deep into the forest.

With that kind of strength, I’m sure they’re still alive and returning to the surface. Without them, there was a good chance that we would have died.

So we send our greatest thanks to them.

Thank you so much for saving us.

“Oh, we were able to help.” (Kei)

“Well, even if we couldn’t be the Hero, we could still be their savior, right? We achieved our goal.” (Haru)

“Our goal?” (Kei)

I tilted my head at the unfamiliar words.

“You see, you told me at the beginning. You said that we could be shadow heroes.” (Haru)

“Oh, yeah that happened.” (Kei)

I think the first time I said that was when I wanted to do something against Stampede. At first, it was a word that came to my mind when I thought about entertaining ourselves, but we arrived at this point.

“We did it because we became strong. Before we knew it, we were the strongest. We were even stronger than the Angus Mercenary Corps.” (Haru)

“At first it was for fun.” (Kei)

There is a rattling noise, and the door of the hospital room opens.

“Oh, Kizaki-san, you’re up. I’m calling the doctor now, so please wait for a while.” (Nurse)

When the nurse came in, she looked a little surprised when she saw me, and then went out of the room again.

“Well, I’m stepping out for a while because I think I’m going to get in the way. I’ll buy myself a drink.” (Haru)

Haru gave a small wave and walked out with light steps.

I muttered to myself about what had happened and the current situation.

“Well, we’re going to be the strongest while we’re searching for entertainment. What am I saying?” (Kei)

I closed my eyes again and was woken up by the nurse who came in again.