CH 101

My left hand, which was stabbed with a knife by that bandana lass, is throbbing with pain.

One hundred years ago in mangas, hands were abused as emergency anti-piercing equipment. They would catch knives, arrows, bullets, and the like, pull them out, wiggle their fingers, and say, “Hmm, no problem.”

In reality, of course, not only the flesh, but also the bones and nerves, were cut. I was in severe pain, and my fingers were numb, and I couldn’t move them. Unless you are in the fungi world, this would be a serious injury that would require major surgery and rehabilitation. I’m glad I am in one.

“Red Clam, Yellowtail. Take the three of you and leave. The rest are on standby, we can’t force it.” (Hawaiian Shirt)

A middle-aged man in an aloha shirt standing on the roof gives instructions. Two of the six men in the group, joined by Giggles, leave the circle and hide in the shadows with the three injured men. I knew that man was the leader of the gang.

“Well. I’m sorry for interrupting you while you were basking in the afterglow of your victory. I’ll take care of that hand later if you need it.” (Hawaiian Shirt)

The aloha man says such things while scratching his head, but it’s clear that he’s not at sorry at all. Those eyes behind the sunglasses aren’t smiling at all.

“Brother, you’re definitely a professional hunter, right? May I ask your name?” (Hawaiian Shirt)

His tone of voice and demeanor are relaxed, as if he were making small talk on the street. It is, on the contrary, eerie.

“Sugamo’s… ‘Slime Slayer'” (Shuu)

As a member of the Heisei generation, I still have the minimum security awareness not to hand over my personal information to thugs who would attack me without any questions asked. I also gave Tamiko a look.

“I’m ‘Acorn Eater’ squeak. An adult, squeak.” (Tamiko)

“You’re surprisingly skilled.” (Hawaiian Shirt)

In any case, as I am wary of the people, I surrounded us with [Sensory Spores], I still decided to go along with the conversation. Grasping the current situation, finding out the identity of these attackers, waiting for the regeneration of the wound on my left hand. It was a form of choosing the former after weighing and In addition to these, “Considering the exhaustion up to this point, we should end this as soon as possible.” Also, I’m worried about the hostage, Utsuki.

(I mean, she is a hostage, right?) (Shuu)

(Her restraints are loose for a hostage though.) (Shuu)

Utsuki, who is still in the grip of Hawaiian Shirt, is pale and has a tight smile on her face. This makes her look somehow less tragic. She looks like a schoolboy caught in a ping-pong dash by the landlord’s thugs taking her back to her parents.

“Heh, that’s an interesting nickname. You belong to Sugamo… Well, you can call me Kawataro.” (Hawaiian Shirt => Kawataro)

“You’re using a fake name, aren’t you.” (Shuu)

“Because I’ve forgotten my real name. Anyway, I’ve never heard of those two names. I didn’t know that Sugamo had people as skilled as you. I knew it was a one-man branch with ‘Shooting Willow’.” (Kawataro)

“What about you?” (Shuu)

“Ahahaha. Do we look honest? I don’t think so.” (Kawataro)

“Um, are you a bandit?” (Shuu)

“Hmm… you’re not right, but you’re not far off the mark. I’ve done something similar many times. Well, just think of us as a nameless group of outlaws.” (Kawataro)

Shuu looked around with his eyes only. Everyone was young, except for Kawataro, who was in his forties, and Giggles, who was in his thirties. The others are probably in their early twenties, maybe even in their teens. And then there was the bandana girl, who was obviously the youngest among them, younger than Noa. Incidentally, according to the measurement skill of my “Shuu Counter”, she was A to A+ (Noa is estimated to be F or above)

In any case, there was no “udeochi” like the bandit boss that I fought two months ago.

It’s just an impression, but… I feel the tense atmosphere of a trained child soldier rather than a criminal who went down to the field.

“*Whisper*(――――)” (Tamiko)

“……you’re serious?” (Shuu)

“Huh?” (Kawataro)

“Ah, no. Nothing.” (Shuu)

I was in a hurry to cover it up. Tamiko secretly told me the results of her analysis of the team’s strength, but the results were a little unbelievable.

Kawataro was level 40, Giggles was 33, and the other youngsters, including those who had escaped, were around 30. There is nothing unnatural about this. The only thing was that their leader were at a lower level than expected.

But the problem is—the thing that’s obviously unbelievable—

I glance out of the corner of my eye. The bandana girl is not looking away from me. It’s as if she doesn’t want to miss the moment when I make a surprise move.

“So… why did you attack us? For money or something?” (Shuu)

“No, no, no, it’s not like that. Well… you have the right to know, don’t you?” (Kawataro)

Kawataro nods to himself.

“The explanation is a bit lengthy… but originally we came here for the training of the younger generation. About 20 days ago, I think.” (Kawataro)

Training?

“Because, you know, there’s an endless supply of goat monkeys here. It’s perfect for young people in training, isn’t it? They are not strong enough in short, but… Then I happened to find someone here who looked good, so I scouted them out.” (Kawataro)

Scout?

“It took several days to finally succeed in scouting, but unfortunately, a group of hunters came to exterminate it. The new goat, or perhaps the new goats, are a big newcomer to this place. It’s impossible, you know. The hunters were pitifully beaten back. We did pick up the bones, though.” (Kawataro)

“…scout…” (Shuu)

The Baphomet?

“There’s not much we can do here, so we talked about going back to the surface tomorrow, but then Brother came to this floor. Hoping that you would serve as both a snack and experience points, I sent Utsuki as an escort.” (Kawataro)

“……Wait.” (Shuu)

Utsuki, you are on that side?

“Oh, I was found out! Waa, I’m sorry!” (Sou)

“Did you seriously betray us…” (Shuu)

“How—could you, squeak?!” (Tamiko)

“We’re you the one scouted? Or is it a coincidence?” (Shuu)

“I had to do it! If I don’t do it, they’ll beat me, slice me into little pieces, and feed me to the goats to chew on! ” (Sou)

“Yes, yes, don’t cry, don’t cry. If you tell them, they’ll understand.” (Kawataro)

Utsuki cries and Kawataro soothes her. As for me, I was getting mixed information, but I was beginning to understand about half of it.

If Kawataro isn’t one scouted, then it’s definitely the Boss Met that Kawataro scouted (does he mean [Training]?), and that Boss Met annihilated the subjugation team. Utsuki was a guide to bring the prey into the wildcat’s feeding grounds without letting them retreat. Though it was not a wildcat, it’s a goat.

“I hope you don’t blame her too much. She was the only survivor of the strike team, and she was begging for her life so desperately that I felt sorry for her. She was so desperate that she was willing to lick an old man’s bare feet. I felt so sorry for her that I took care of her for a while, but…” (Kawataro)

Utsuki’s eyes widened and she choked up, shaking and coughing. Kawataro seems to be putting a lot of force into the one hand gripping her neck.

“…Sou, if you were just watching, why did you lend them a hand? Could it be that you were plotting to get Brother to beat us too?” (Kawataro)

“Th… at… ah, no…!” (Sou)

“Hey!” (Shuu)

When I unintentionally leaned forward, the subordinates around me bent down. It wouldn’t take more than a second for them to jump on me as soon as they got instructions from their boss.

—Well, what am I going to do now?

I had reflexively protested earlier, but it turns out that Utsuki is a hostage (although there is still something that doesn’t add up). It’s safe to say that we don’t need to save her, at least not at our own peril.

Can we escape by ourselves? Even if some of them have mobility skills such as [Leaping], they would not be able to catch up to us considering the difference in level – except for one of them.

(Well, it wouldn’t feel good to just leave her to die.) (Shuu)

(Well, I’d like to hear something from her own mouth.) (Shuu)

She doesn’t seem to be completely one of them, so I should try my hand to at leaser rescue Utsuki.

Besides Utsuki, there are five enemies here. Even if the guy who took the injured comes back, there will be seven of them (three might even return to the front line if they have healing skills of the [Holy Healing]). If there is no ambush, ten people in total.

A little more, but considering the difference in level, it was a little better than when we took on Ouji’s zombie army—except for one.

(The problem is, after all, that child.) (Shuu)

The bandana girl.

I’d like to think there must be some mistake, but that’s where our brilliant Kunoichi comes in. As far as we have been able to confirm so far, her [Risk Counter] has never made a mistake.

I am also concerned about her unusual speed. Even though I had released my [Sensory Spores], I couldn’t even feel her presence until she was behind me. Is it an acceleration skill, or is there something to do with the mind?

(Either way, fight or flee.) (Shuu)

(I should only be careful of that kid.) (Shuu)

My left hand—is the blue-black mold still desperately trying to plug the hole? My fingers are still numb.

Is regeneration a little slow? No, it can’t be helped since even my bone has been cut. I’ll be damned if I complain—

“By the way… hey, Toroko.” (Kawataro)

Kawataro calls out to the bandana girl.

“How are you feeling?” (Kawataro)

The girl’s and my eyes meet. She looks a little sad for some reason.

“…well, it’s been a while, but…” (Toroko)

—Throb.

For just a moment, my body was shaken from the inside.

“…it looks like it’s here.” (Toroko)

“Bu, ah…?” (Shuu)

“Abeshuu!?” (Tamiko)

—What is this?

The strength drains from my body. I almost fall to my knees. I support myself by clinging to the [Katana].

“…what is this…” (Shuu)

Dizziness, chills, and nausea – no, not even close.

The feedback of [Sensory Spores] is gone.

“Oh no, brother. You’re overly strong for a man of your skills, but you’re not very smart, and your knowledge and experience are unbalanced. Are you also a virgin?” (Kawataro)

“How did you know he’s a virgin, squeak?!” (Tamiko)

“I’m done with your nonsense… Guh…” (Shuu)

Aside from the frustration of not being able to throw a comeback to my satisfaction, there was something obviously wrong with my body. I’m having a hard time even breathing.

“Good-natured brother, come on. Even though we’re facing each other in an armed state like this, when that old man says, ‘Let’s talk,’ you should think about it, right? The possibility of buying time. Come on.” (Kawataro)

I know. I thought about that, too, and I took the chance that it would be in my own best interest.

“Then why do we need time? Are we preparing a large-scale attack or a gimmick that will give us an advantage over time. For example… poison?” (Kawataro)

I know. I thought about that too.

No, not the former. If there was such a thing, they would have prepared while I was fighting Boss Met, and I should have been blown away with their first move.

I doubted the possibility of the latter. The bandana girl’s knife—the one on her left hand was a hypha weapon [Dagger], but the knife on her right that pierced my hand was the real cause. A dark brown blade, and if I guessed the reason for her using it, I could assume the possibility that it was a poisoned weapon.

That said, it was convenient. From the other person’s point of view, the poison probably wanted time to flow through his body, but from my point of view, the [Immortality] anti-poisoning effect would detoxify it as long as I had time. Even the demon’s poison that tormented Giran didn’t work on me, and a little poison here and there is no different from cholesterol—even though it should be.

Or rather, there had been no sign of it until just now.

Why is this happening all of a sudden?

Why was I unable to create [Detoxification] at my fingertips?

“Brother, for someone as strong as you are, it’s not surprising that you might have [Poison Resistance] or [Detoxification]. If that were the case, you would have taken advantage of it. I wonder if even Brother didn’t know about it? About the ‘Curse’.” (Kawataro)

—hypha balls won’t come out.

(Why?) (Shuu)

The feedback of [Sensory Spores] has ceased. No [Detoxification], no [Holy Healing], no [Warhammer], no [Ashura].

No matter how much I concentrate my consciousness, no matter how hard I focus on my palms, no sensation of mycelium moving inside my body appears.

[Leaping] is also no good. No power gathers in my legs and feet.

(This is—a curse?) (Shuu)

Even in New Tokyo, I have never heard of such an occult thing being practiced.

But-in fact-this is what’s happening.

(Are you serious?!) (Shuu)

Fungus-can-not-work-anymore.

“Oh, no, no, we don’t have to talk anymore.” (Kawataro)

The wound on my left hand has stopped healing. In other words, [Immortality] is also nullified.

The lifeline of the blue-black mold that protected my life even when half of my body was melted down is gone.

In other words—fear slowly spreads through my chest.

If I get hurt now, my life will be in danger.

“I’m leaving it at that. So—do it.” (Kawataro)

T/N: Overconfident Shuu strikes again. You’re an MC so you won’t die. But-You-Are-An-Idiot! Tamiko is once again worried.