Chapter 82: Killing Intent

Chapter 82: Killing Intent

“Uh hey, it’s good to see you, Kotarou...”

“Sure, whatever. Just talk.”

I had neither the intention nor the time to make up and be friends with Masaru again. The one I needed to focus on wasn’t my once friend, but Higuchi, and what he was planning by making Masaru talk with me instead of himself.

“Right, I’ll do that... er, the Boss here was a pretty big guy, and... I guess it looks like a Goliath.”

“By Goliath you mean from UB?”

“Yeah, exactly like that.”

So it looked like that. I guess it wouldn’t be strange to find something like that in this dungeon.

Goliath is a guy who appears in the Old Testament, a 3 meter tall, and buff as all hell, warrior. And David, (you know, the guy with that famous nude statue,) was the one who beat him. This famous statue apparently tried to capture the figure of the biblical hero as he aimed a head-shot on his much larger opponent.

So anyway, over the years, the name ‘Goliath’ has been used in lots of media, and the one we were talking about was a game both me and Masaru had played, UB, short for Undead Bounty. It was a zombie shoot-em-up and had a Boss monster called Goliath. And according to Masaru, the Boss they were up against looked a lot like it.

This UB Goliath basically looked like a gorilla. It had a lot of horns and spikes sticking out of it, and got red, glowing patterns when it went into rage mode, but was otherwise, just a big gorilla.

“Wait, does it also shoot beams out of its chest for no apparent reason? No wait, don’t tell me it gets boulders out of nowhere and starts throwing them at you?”

“No, that’d be just weird.”

Phew. That mystery beam and boulder rush were both insta-kill moves if they hit you in hard-mode. I was glad that this Goliath wasn’t irrational like that.

“But we only fought it for a few minutes before running, so I can’t tell you if it can use magic or not.”

“Okay, fine. Just describe what you know.”

“It only tried to punch or grab at us... but the problem was that it was too big and fast for us to handle. If Ayase-san didn’t help, we might’ve been toast.”

So it was definitely the super strength type. Damn, I’m not actually that useful in melee.

But now I was interested in Ayase-san’s powers.

“And what’s Ayase-san’s Job?”

“Ah, um...”

Masaru quickly glanced at Higuchi like he was asking for permission. I didn’t miss that.

“Reina-chan’s got a pretty rare one,” the Thief answered, “it’s called Spirit Master and she can use fire, ice and lightning magic. She’s pretty much like a master mage. Ah, technically it’s her pets, Guardian Beasts, that do all the work, so she’s more like a Summoner than Mage. You see it in a lot of RPGs.”

Apparently they didn’t need to hide it, so Higuchi explained the basics about Ayase-san himself.

“Uh huh...”

If what he was saying was really true, then she had a really powerful Job as far as mage jobs go. Any other mage I saw had only one specialty element. For Class Rep it was ice, for Nishiyama-san it was wind, and for Souma Sakura, while she was a special case with the Saintess Job, she also just had the light element in her arsenal.

And Ayase-san already had 3, fire, ice and lightning. That meant that she might be able to get more, like wind, or earth, or even light and darkness or some other element I couldn’t even imagine.

And her abilities weren’t simply using the different elements, but using them well. I could guess this from the fact that her magic was strong enough to deter the Goliath enough to let them run back to safety.

Plus, if she’d really been weak, then Higuchi would be treating her not like a princess but like a slave. And since his behaviour towards her was the former, it meant that he also acknowledged that she was not someone to be trifled with.

“Got it. But I still need to see how you all fight in practical terms, so I suggest we try taking out some mobs in the general vicinity. Sound good?”

“Whoa there Momokawa, trynna find a weakness already?”

“I haven’t fought in your team before, so I’ll need to know some stuff. It’s for better teamwork.”

I couldn’t tell whether he really suspected me or was just joking.

“Heheh, I’m kidding, I’m kidding. So you want to go now or?”

“A bit later, I need some more time. I got here right after fighting a Boss too, so I need to get some things ready.”

“OK, pardner.”

Acting as if he took my word for it, Higuchi had nothing more to say, so he went away and laid back on one of the fairy walnut trees.

“Uh, hey, Kotarou, can I uh, help with something maybe?”

“No need. You know what, you can fuck off. I don’t want to deal with a traitor like you any more than I have to.”

“O-oh, right...”

Yeah, his plainly sullen face wasn’t going to work on me.

“... Nice, you’re pretty strong yourself Momokawa.”

“No no, that took everything I had.”

Thankfully, I was able to hide my stronger Shaman Skills. I only used the one blackhair tentacle for the makeshift stone hammer, while I completely hid the existence of Rotten Bog and Redhair Twine. They also didn’t know about the Red Knife, my fire enchanted weapon.

Still, I don’t expect Higuchi to actually believe that this was my full strength.

I was tense and nervous as to how far Higuchi had been able to deduce about my other abilities, and also whether he’d sensed my intent to murder him. The both of us displayed only friendly facades as we progressed further into the dungeon.

“―― There. The Boss Room is right after this one.”

We’d arrived at our destination. Splayed out before me was another large, circular hall room, but this one with an ostentatious gate standing on the other end, in addition to a white monolith in the center that looked like a grave stone.

“And what’s that white monolith supposed to be?”

“A save point, duh.”

What a nice dungeon, to kindly set up a save point right outside a Boss Room.

“You mean, you don’t know. Got it.”

“Come on, Momokawa, I thought you’d like that one.”

“That’s what I thought when I saw a Fairy Square for the first time too. This one’s more like a checkpoint.”

“Welp, that’s a real otaku for ya. You know your stuff.”

It almost felt natural how easily he was able to make fun of me. It was still beyond annoying. Someone like me just can’t get along with an honest to god DQN punk like Higuchi.

“Hmm, it really stands out here. Makes me think it has some purpose... did you try putting a core near it?”

“We did yeah. Nothing. My intuition also told me that this wasn’t a trap.”

I touched the stone object all over and without any reserve, which lead to no particular result. I even borrowed a small core from Higuchi and touched it in multiple places, which also showed no reaction.

“Maybe it’s a transfer device?”

But even if that was the case, I simply didn’t know how to use it. I couldn’t find anything like a switch and neither was there any slot or groove to place a core in.

I did have one weird theory where this might be a flag event object that only reacts to the chosen one, like Souma Yuuto. He was the Hero and all.

“Yo, you done yet?”

“Yeah, I’m done. Couldn’t find anything either.”

I returned the core, and after giving the hall one more look over, I was ready to go back to the Square.

“You wanna go take a sneak peek at the Boss?”

“Need more time. Those Skeletons had some good stuff and I need to know what I’m dealing with.”

“Careful ain’t ya.”

“Well yeah, life on the line and everything. Of course I’m gonna take my time preparing.”

“Haah, boring... but you got a point.”

Higuchi accepted my proposal to return and had now turned his back to me.

Now was my chance.

My gut was telling me to go for it, and I believed that it was right. Higuchi wasn’t looking at me, his hands were still in his trouser pockets and he believed that I would be silently following right behind.

Just now, I said that I’d take my time preparing. But the most important thing in a fight is to know when to just go for it.

And I knew that that time was now. Now was my biggest and only chance. If I went along with Higuchi any longer, he’d definitely make me into his pawn. I could honestly say that he was stronger than me. And once he is also sure that I couldn’t do much against him, I’d become another of his slaves. Like Masaru.

Okay, I can do this. Right here, right now, I’ll kill Higuchi.

“Entwine its escape, with weaving hair,”

I chanted that only inside my head. He was a Thief, and would likely hear me no matter how quietly I said it. I wasn’t going to take even the smallest chances.

As for Masaru and Ayase-san... great, they were already outside on look out. They shouldn’t be able to get to him on time.

Calm down, you got this. I have the power and weapons needed to instantly kill one unsuspecting and unarmed human being. I can do it, I will do it. I will kill him.

“――Blackhair Bind!!”

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