Chapter 101: Pursuer

Chapter 101: Pursuer

TL : Cnine

ED/PF : ImmortalZoDD & Kouka

「Momokawa! MOMOKAWAAAA!」

「Randou, stop! It's already too late to save him.」

All party members were thrown into disarray when the spider-like monster kidnapped Momokawa Kotaro in the blink of an eye.

Even the somewhat optimistic Randou Anzu was shaken, as shown by her crying out loudly in panic for the first time ever since the group had entered the labyrinth. Julia and Maria had tried to chase after the kidnapped Momokawa in a hurry but to no avail. The monster that kidnapped Momokawa was positioned too high up and close to the open hole in the ceiling. It was dozens of metres higher than the topmost floor of the tower. Just a glance at the terrain of the underground lake was enough to convince anyone that chasing after the monster was impossible.

Even Kotaro's skeleton familiar, Rem, could only look around restlessly, unable to find a way to save her master. She couldn't find a way to move towards her master’s position.

「DON'T JOKE AROUND, TENDOU! MOMOKAWA IS――」

「You saw it right? That guy got killed by the monster.」

Ryuuichi confronted Anzu's overwhelming anger with the bitter truth.

「HE'S STILL ALIVE! HE'S NOT DEAD YET, MOMOKAWA IS DEFINITELY STILL ALIVE!」

「If we start catching up now, we might be able to save him!」

The spider had vanished into the hole in the ceiling, leaving them with no way to save Kotaro.

Though they might be able to meet him again later due to the intricacies of the dungeon’s structure, just how big was the possibility of them finding Momokawa?

The thing that had taken him wasn't someone asking for a ransom, it was simply a monster looking for its meal. Seeing that Momokawa was caught for food, there was no reason for the monster to keep him alive for a long time. It wouldn't be strange if his head had already been bitten off right now.

「Hear me out, Randou. We won't make it in time even if we do find him.」

Tendou Ryuuichi was powerful. Though he had reached an unbelievably high level both in skill and physical ability from eating monsters, he wasn't clairvoyant, nor could he fly. It was clear for everyone that they couldn't do anything in this situation.

「Anzu... Tendou-kun is right.」

「We can't save Momokawa.」

Having accepted the bitter reality of the situation, Julia and Maria pacified Anzu, who was losing her cool.

「But, I mean.... I, Momokawa is.....」

She couldn't just give up like this. Especially for someone as emotional as Anzu, there was no way she could bear the grief of losing someone.

「It'll be alright, Anzu.」

「That's right, despite his appearance, Momokawa is quite the tough person, he might be able to do something about his situation.」

They had no other choice than to deceive her with impossible hope. As long as one stayed positive, they could go on with their struggles.

「I see, so you won't go...」

「GUGAGA!」

Finally, Anzu calmed down. Rem then resumed her task. It seemed like she had decided to go by a different route instead of through the hole in the ceiling.

Rem couldn't speak, but for some reason Ryuuichi seemed to be able to understand her.

「Here's a parting gift from me, take it.」

「GA?」

The thing that Ryuuichi took out from the golden magic square of 『Treasure Warehouse』 was a skull. Though it looked like the usual head of a skeleton you could find anywhere in this dungeon, it was no doubt a genuine human skull.

Yes, it was the skull of the male class rep of 2-7 who had met his end after he tried to kill Ryuuichi with the dragon he controlled thanks to his 『Summoner』 Vocation, Azuma Shinichi.

Rem didn't understand why Ryuuichi entrusted it to her. But she took the ominous skull of the classmate, thinking that it would be needed later on.

「Then, from me too.」

「You should also bring this with you.」

Julia and Maria gave their respective weapons to Rem who was going to chase after Momokawa. Both their spear and axe were made of the finest quality material. Rem’s specs should be high enough to use both of them.

「GUGA, GAGAGA?」

「We'll be fine, we'll be looking for our new weapons later anyway.」

「Don't feel so reserved, use it to your heart’s content!」

Though the gals didn't understand what Rem was saying, they replied with what they thought was a proper reply. Despite her appearance and origin, Rem was their comrade who went through life and death struggles in the underground lake along with them.

「How about you, Anzu?」

「Just give anything you have on you.」

「Eh... I... don't have anything useful to give though....」

Sorcerer Anzu didn't carry any armament since Kotaro had his knife for when push came to shove. Both Kotaro and Rem each had better weapons than Anzu, so it was meaningless to be armed.

After searching through her bag, Anzu couldn't find a better item to give than this,

「Uhn, I choose you then!」

「My bad though, I just defeated the boss of this place. You must wait till the next one comes out or try another route.」

「HAAAAAA~H!? There's also a choice of taking me along right?? Oi oi oi, YOU REEAALLY HAVE NO INTEREST IN HELPING YOUR CLAASSMATE WHOO YOU HAVE JUST MET AFTER A LOOONG TIME!?」

「Nope, you're smelly after all.」

Ryuuichi frowned as if to emphasize his discomfort about the foul smell. Due to his sharpened five senses, he could already sniff the foul and offensive smell of Yokomichi's dirty gakuran.

「Te-Te-TENDOOOOOOOOOO! HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT SOMEONE SMELLS WITH SUCH COOL FACE! IT HURTS YOU KNOOOW, IT REALLY HURTS MY FEEELINGS WHEN YOU SAY SUCH WORDS YOU KNOOOWW!」

Maybe because he accidentally stepped on a landmine, Ryuuici seamed fed up with Yokomichi’s smelly mouth and the smell that was spread around due to his fiery rebuttal.

「Yeayeahyeah, just get out of my sight already. I'll overlook you just this once.」

「TCh, StOp RiGhT ThErE! TrYinG To EnD ThE TaLK Huh! We'Re JuST AbOUt To BeGIN YoU KNOW! 」

「You girls, gather close to the transfer magic circle.」

「O-O-O~I! Wait A MinUtE!! WeRe YoU IgNOrINg Me! TrYInG To LeAve Me AloNe! You GuYS aRe BuLlIeS, yOu kNow, ReAlLy ReAllY Bad BuLLieS YoU KnoW! ? 」

Maybe because they really ignoring Yokomichi, did as Ryuuichi told them, gathered around the transfer magic circle as they completely ignoring Yokomichi’s meaningless rambling.

Because just a look at his appearance and attitude was enough to convince that no one would even consider add Yokomichi into the party. Nor they wanted to get along with him in the first place. It wasn't the problem like Between cooperating due to emergency or abandoning for the sake of survival.

They just silently distanced themself from a phsycologically disgusting person.

Therefor, Yokomichi only need power to detain them, no question asked.

「YoUUUuu BAStAaaAAARD, YOUr GAzE is JusT LikE ThOSe PeOPle WHeN THeY'Re LooKINg At Me IN TE CLAAASS! Don'T GeT CoCKy YoU ShiTtY BiTChES AnD F^CkInG DQN―― GAAA! 」

Yokomichi vomitted something from his mouth as he said those words. Though it was something like ball of water fired with magic, the others felt for a moment that it either his filth or poison due to its urine-like color.

Predation Skill

『Paralysis Venom』 : Purified Venom that will cause moderate paralysis once touched. He developed poison gland to increase the secreted volume of the venom.

Despite that sudden breath attack, its traveling speed wasn't that fast. In the meantime, Juria and Maria who has sharp intuition and fierce legs power had long since left that place.

But still, it was impossible for the Sorcerer like Anzu to dodge that attack in time. But, there was another person who stood still in his place like her, Ryuuichi.

「Tch, TAKE A BATH WILL YA」

Wall of water appeared at the same time as he said so. The gushing water current that suddenly sprouted from the ground former into severals metres tall water wall surrounding the four side as if to protect Anzu who stood behind him.

Yokomichi filty breath collided with the water wall. The undulating water wall acted as if protect both of them by washing away the extremely amonia stink and paralysis venom hidden within the water ball.

「HAAA! ? WhAt ThE F^CK WiTH ThAT WaTeR MagIC! 」

「Yeah, I can finally use it a while ago.」

The giant crocodile-like lizardman, the boss of this area wasn't just using its raw power as its attack method, it could use water magic that was centered around the manipulation of water current.

Predation Skill

『Aqua Magia』 : Allowed the user to user every low ranking magic of water element.

Naturally he gained the skill of water magic when he ate the boss.

「He, But, WaTER MaGiC, HuUUUuH! FuHeHe, FuHiHiHI, ThAt TeNDoU of AlL PeOPle...... BeCAME A 『Hydromancer』」

「Hah? 」

It seems that he mistook Ryuuichi vocation as 『Hydromancer』 when he saw Ryuuichi water wall.

Though he made a mistake due to such hasty judgement, Ryuuichi didn't have any obligation to correct it either.

「BuheHeHe, ArE YoU An IdIOT, ThE MoSt PoWeRFuL VoCATIOn InThiS OthErWorLD Had BeEn DeCIdeD. BuFUuH, HoW DaRe YOU AcTInG So CoCkY JuSt BEcAUSe A ShiTTy MoB VoCaTIon LiKe『Hydromancer』, TeNDoOU! In ThE End, YoU DQN WeRe AlL An IdIoTS! 」

Yokomichi raised an even louder laughter.

Ryuuichi who utterly fed up heaved a sigh with 「Good grief」, and said to him.

「Oi, if you're that cocky, then give me all you got.」

「OH? OOOOH? SurE? ArE YoU SuRe? ThE ShiTtY TeNDOU-KuN wITh His ShiTtY HyDrOMaNCer VoCATIoN Is DArE To CHaLLaNge me? The maIN LeAD WiTH ThE MoST PoWerFUl CHeAT VoCAtION Of AbSOlUTeLY The BESt StaTUS CORREcTioN!!! ? 」

「You girls, fall back till the tower. It's dangerous here, or should I say, too filthy for you girls.」

It was faint but Juria and Maria could felt something that couldnt be described with anything but fighting spirit were leaked out from Ryuuichi's body.

「Yeah, it's just Yokomichi anyway, Tendou is stroooonk you know. Oh well, let's retreat for now.」

But, the blockhead Anzu who has yet to felt the sign of impending battle was a real angel inside, therefore she told him so purely due to her worry.

「Uwaa, are you stupid! ? 」

「Wait a minute Anzu, that's! 」

JuriMari stopped her in hurry and forcefully dragged Anzu who has yet to notice her verbal slip toward the tower.

And then, the matter that shouldn't be noticed by the gentle Anzu was surely――

「H.... Ho.... HOW DARE YOU UNDERESTIMATE ME, YOU BIIITTCHH!!!」