Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy
Iris
While recasting the magic from time to time, we proceeded deeper into the tunnel. Once we were in a somewhat open area, we took a short break and dispel everyone’s concealment magic.
“Now that we’ve gotten this far, does anyone realize something’s off?”
“Pardon?”
I tilted my head at Nii-sama’s sudden remark.
“First, the blockade at the entrance is heavily corroded, and from the looks of it, it looks like this tunnel was closed quite some time ago… Yet this place is so clean.”
“Clean, you mean?”
“That’s right, for a place with a collapse warning, there isn’t that much rubble around. Not to mention the pathway…”
“Oh, I see.”
The pathway here felt like it had been stepped on and cleared constantly for frequent human traffic… to the extent that even I didn’t particularly struggle to walk on it.
“Here, come take a look. Iron tools get rusty pretty quick, but the ones lying around here look like they could be used right now.”
Reiji-san unceremoniously pulled out a shovel that was propped up beside him and inspected its cutting edge.
The rust on the shovel, which was sticking out of the ground, seemed awfully thin for a shovel that was supposed to be in contact with the soil for several years.
“If you ask me, I think the blockade is just a dummy to conceal whatever mining operations still going on here… but we can’t sit here and think about it, let’s move on.”
“Okay, then…”
The moment I tried to chant “Sneak” again…
With a booming sound, the wall of the road that we were just about to advance on blew away with a cloud of dust.
“Woah?!”
“Enemy attack?! That’s ridiculous, did it just detect us through the wall?!”
As the two of them quickly prepared themselves, a gigantic figure, perhaps more than two meters in height, appeared from the wall in front of them.
Back in the game, there were four ways the enemies would detect players: sight, hearing, life force detection commonly found in spirits and similar beings, and lastly…
“Magic detection…?!”
“Is that a troll?!”
…Magic detection. As in sensing the activation of magic as the magical power fluctuates.
But such a detection method was only available to magical creatures, not a normal, living organism like a troll!
“Now that we’ve been detected, we have no choice but to run when there’s an opening!”
“On it!”
Reiji-san was the first to get back on his feet and jumped to the frontline with Nii-sama. Meanwhile, a scream resounded behind me.
“Ah… Waaaaaaah?!”
Hayato-kun had used some means to conceal himself and disappeared from the corner of my eye, but that’s okay, as heartless as it may seem, it is more convenient for him to escape first.
“Let me support you! Everyone, full speed ahead!”
I unveiled the light wings on my back, and the inside of the tunnel was brightly illuminated. As I cast magic in rapid succession, the two of them were enveloped in the multicolored light of various support magic.
At any rate, the enemy in front of us… was the same kind as the “thing” we fought in the town before… as the severe headache told me.
Hayato
I ran away. Again.
When I came to my senses, I was running at full speed, leaving everyone behind.
Back there, Nii-chan and the others must be fighting. Even that Princess-neechan, who wasn’t that much taller than me, or even below me in stature.
What the hell am I doing?!
That was just too uncool.
I was the one who asked them to help me find Aini-neechan. I was the one who brought them, who should have nothing to do with this, into danger, so why was I the only one to run away?!
Back when it was still a game, just being exposed as an elementary school student changed the way some people looked at me. In VRMMOs, where the attitude directly bled through, I could see it, whether I wanted to or not.
The eyes that assumed I was nothing but a nuisance even if I had done nothing wrong.
Eyes of disdain.
Eyes of contempt.
Eyes that constantly looked for mistakes.
And when they found even the slightest flaw, they looked at me with triumphant eyes as if they’ve just hit a jackpot.
I despised those eyes. Those who did worse than I would still look at me as if I was a noob because I was younger than them.
So, not wanting anyone to look down on me, I desperately tried to hone my skills, raise my level and pursue efficiency to not become a loser.
Eventually, people did consider me less of a noob, and I made a name for myself as a young but self-reliant player.
I thought I had become superior. I didn’t care about some lousy adult shaming me for being a kid to cope with the fact that they’d lost to someone younger.
But they couldn’t cope forever if a young boy like me was able to reach “that class” before they did.
Then the game became reality.
No matter how well I did in the game, could I still do it when it’s my new real life?
I couldn’t talk to strangers, couldn’t go shopping alone, and when it came to fighting, I couldn’t even muster the courage to go to the aid of the person important to me.
In the end, it was I who had to cope with the fact that I was nothing but a kid acting cool in a boxed yard where safety was guaranteed.
A kid like me could do nothing.
As always.
…So frustrating.
……I’m sick of it!
“Dammit, dammit, dammit! What the hell am I doing?!”
Did I grind my level for this?
Did I kick everyone else out to get my unique class for this?
I touched the handle of the weapon hidden in my coat. This was no child’s toy. It’s a lethal weapon.
When the town was under assault and I had to hide, the very same red-haired Nii-chan dashed in front of the endangered soldiers and mowed down the enemy horde in the blink of an eye.
I wanted to be like that too.
I’d always had a dream of becoming the hero like the protagonist of mangas and video games.
I can do it…!
“Goddammit! What did they feed this thing?!”
Reiji-san and Saul-niisama were desperately fighting off the enemy troll, but it’s clear that the troll was too powerful even the two of them… We couldn’t hold on forever like this!
“Use the chaff!”
“Got it!”
For caution’s sake, I reached inside my bag for a tube-shaped object.
Magic Disruptor, nicknamed “chaff” by the players. It’s an escape item that scatters flash of light and magic-powered shards to temporarily disable the enemies’ magic detection.
I pulled out the pin and threw the tube over the enemy’s head.
“Cover your eyes!”
As soon as I shouted, I covered my own eyes as well. Those two must have gotten the message, right?!
Instantly, a flash that could be felt even from behind closed eyelids filled the space.
I waited three seconds and opened my eyes to see the enemy troll holding his eyes and writhing in agony as countless shards of rainbow-colored shards fluttered down.
“Alright, let’s go…”
When Nii-sama was about to give the order to retreat…
“Aaaaargh?!”
“What?! Stupid Hayato, turn back!”
Out of thin air, Hayato-kun appeared behind the enemy and swung his previously-concealed weapon half in frenzy… a kodachi.
I could only recognize his slash as a flash of light.
With perfect timing and more than enough energy, Hayato-kun cut through the troll’s supposedly strong muscles and spine without even allowing him to resist.
Assassin-class’s special skill “Assassinate.”
Of all the physical damage skills, this skill boasted the highest multiplier if it caught the enemy off guard.
“I… I did it… I did it! See, fighting’s no big deal after all…!”
As Hayato-kun cheerfully confirmed that he had definitely finished the enemy with a single blow, the troll’s body slowly tilted in front of him, unable to support his huge body now that his back and spine had been severed, and collapsed into his knees.
Such is the power of “Assassinate”.
For the moment, we almost felt relieved. Almost.
Because the enemy was no regular living being to begin with.
The troll’s feet stomped on the earth again with a thud.
“……….Eh?”
In front of the stunned Hayato-kun’s eyes, “crystals” grew out of the troll’s wound and covered the upper half of his huge body like a grotesque breastplate.
“Eek?!”
The enemy turned his gaze on the little shadow that inflicted pain on him… he’s targeting Hayato-kun!
“’Chain Bind’!… Huh, it doesn’t work?! Hayato, run!!”
The troll’s whole body was entangled in Nii-sama’s magical chains, but he didn’t even bat an eye as he ripped them off and headed toward Hayato-kun.
Nii-sama’s skill wasn’t effective enough, and the troll’s bloodshot eyes of anger never left Hayato-kun, who he recognized as the biggest threat.
As if in slow motion, a fist covered with crystals, like a gauntlet, was raised to Hayato-kun’s eyes, who was still frozen by the unimaginable event.
Because he was within my reach, I impulsively pulled the rigid little body and dragged him behind me.
“Nee-chan?!”
Hayato-kun’s eyes widen in astonishment as he sat on his buttocks.
The enemy’s fist was now coming right in front of me. Time seemed to stretch out infinitely as I looked at the fist with a somewhat calm mind, despite it being probably fatal if it hit me cleanly.
It’s fine, though, I was prepared to take at least one hit from this.
I closed my eyes and protected my head in preparation for the impact that will come the next moment.
“Gah?!”
The impact didn’t come; instead, there was Reiji-san’s grunting and the sound of sword clashing.
When I fearfully opened my eyes, I saw his usual back standing there.
“I knew you’re gonna pull this crap again… dumbass!”
The enemy’s fist, raised again, had a dangerous gleam in it. Immediately, I cast a protective spell on both of us.
“’Wide Protection’!”
I felt my wings spreading behind my back.
Magic enveloped our bodies like a protective coating.
“Uooooohhh!!”
The protection was scraped away, but it bought Reiji-san enough time to narrowly parry the troll’s fist.
But the resulting shock from the impact shook the entire tunnel, and the ground beneath our feet cracked… A collapse?!
“Reiji-san?!”
In the blink of an eye, the supposedly thick layer of bedrock completely collapsed, opening a pitch-black hole with no bottom in sight.
While I managed to escape with my wings, Reiji-san, who was at the center of the collapse, had already fallen far down.
He’s going to die.
By the time I came to, I was already flying frantically down to him. Debris from the collapsed tunnel was raining down on me, and I suddenly had the illusion that somehow my body was moving on its own through the slowly flowing space.
A mysterious sensation of myself calmly overlooking my surroundings and frantically moving my body based on this information.
My body, which had been practicing but had not yet been able to fly properly, dodged the falling debris and, like a ray of lightning, caught up with the falling Reiji-san.
“Idiot, stop putting yourself in danger and go back!”
Why is this guy still like this even if he’s falling to his death?
I didn’t give a damn, I just kept flapping my wings and reached for Reiji desperately.
“Screw it! Just grab my hand already, Reiji!”
Even if I was shouting, I felt like I was in a trance or something.
For some reason, Reiji-san, who looked astonished, involuntarily grasped my hand, and at the same time, I clasped his hand with both of mine, flapping my wings to slow his fall.
“Argh…!”
A tremendous load was placed on my shoulders, and I felt a nasty shock coming from the right side. My sense of reality instantly returned.
“Hey, Iris, enough of this! I can figure something out, just let go…”
“NO! I’ll never… absolutely never let go of you…!”
The adrenaline rush dulled my pain, but my body was still shaking profusely and sending out dangerous signals that I am not in proper condition. But I’ll never let go of his hand…!
“…Iris, above you!!”
At Reiji-san’s sudden yell, I looked up, half in a daze…
“Ack?!”
A violent shock through my head…
My body went limp…
My consciousness was swallowed by darkness…
“Iris?! Iris!!…! …?!”
I could no longer hear anything as my consciousness completely sank into darkness…
APM - Translation 