◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki

  「CHIYUKI-SAN!! THEY WENT OVER THERE!!!」


  Rino shouted at me.

  「ROGER!!」


  I responded by knocking out the incoming ratman with a magic hand.

  「GUEN!!」


  Though I had the choice to fight them with my cane, my psychological resistance prevented me from touching them.

  Maybe because they’re former humans, ratmen have the ability to use weapons. The ratman that just got knocked out was equipped with a short sword and leather armor. Those weapons were the reason Shizufae and co could barely hang in there against them.

  Moreover, those ratman might have gained an increase in their agility after they transformed into their current form. Fortunately, they’re not smart enough to use projectile weapons.

  A ratman riding on the back of a giant rat thrusted their spear.

  「WATCH OUT SHIZUFAE-CHAN!!」


  Reiji sent the ratman rider who was rushing toward Shizufae flying with a light bullet.

  「Thank you, Reiji-sama.」


  Shizufae thanked Reiji in return.

  「Humph!!」


  Novis, who stood beside her, didn’t seem to be pleased by the situation.

  Good grief, how simple.

  I knocked down another ratman while thinking about that.

  And then, we advanced further into the underground waterway.

  A battle ensued as we got ambushed by a pack of the monsters. Moreover, they were composed of nothing but ratmen.

  Moreover, they also got lamia and arachne in the mix.

  Shirone and Decius were fending off those monsters.

  Decius aside, Shirone alone should be enough for this.

  Lamia were a race who inhabited the western part of the continent, they rarely appeared in this region. Their race was composed of nothing but women with lower body snakes. They were the same as striges, living by sucking the blood of other races.

  Though their whereabouts couldn’t be found after they escaped from the arena, it turned out they were right below us all along.

  Both the lamia and arachne were no match against Shirone whose magical power was far higher than any normal human.

  I mean, she is literally taking them down one after another.

  Our side has been overpowering them since the beginning of the battle, and finally, we beat all of the monsters who ambushed us.

  「Are you okay, Decius-san?」


  Shirone asked Decius with a worried look on her face.

  「It’s okay. It just weak poison.」


  Decius’ face was as white as paper. Like hell that was okay.

  The reason lamia could use poison might be because their lower half was a snake. Thus, they’re poisonous by nature.

  「Sahoko-san. Please use detoxification on him.」


  「Understood.」


  Decius’ complexion went back to normal after Sahoko used her detoxification magic on him.

  「Let’s take a break. Shizufae-chan and co should be tired too right?」


  Reiji proposed a break.

  The number of monsters in this place far surpassed our expectations. That’s why even though we could still fight, Shizufae and co need a rest.

  Meanwhile, Rino and Sahoko purified the air around our resting place. We found out a while ago that ratmen seem to carry some sort of virus in their body. So while we’re immune to it, the same couldn’t be said for Shizufae and co.

  「Nevertheless, I never expected for their numbers to be this overwhelming.」


  Shirone spoke with a dejected voice.

  Yeah, though the ghoul that we captured said that there weren’t that many of them, the reality was different from their story.

  If our situation was already this bad, I wonder how the situation with the freedom fighters is with the other teams? One wrong move might cause an entire team to get annihilated.

  I couldn’t help but to think that we were too naive with our preparation for this mission.

  「Nao-san, can you try to estimate just how many enemies are left in this underground waterway?」


  I tried to ask Nao, just in case.

  「Impossible. There’s barriers placed all over the place which are preventing me from sensing the number of enemies.」


  「Uwa~. Then this place must be full with the rat-san.」


  Rino added with undisguised disgust on her face.

  「But we have no choice but to keep going on. Otherwise, who knows what that beauty is trying to do.」


  Rino and Sahoko made an even more unpleasant face once they heard Reiji’s remark.

  Sure enough, though I’m also curious about what that Moonlight Goddess is trying to do, I couldn’t help but get a feeling that it was a really bad thing.

  I heaved a sigh and then looked at the ratman.

  All we did was stun the ratmen after we knew that they were originally human.

  Come to think of it, was there a way to return them back to being a human?

  「Come to think of it, Sahoko-san. Is it possible to turn these ratmen back to human?」


  「I think it’s possible to turn them back to human since the thing that changed them is something akin to curse… let me to try.」


  Sahoko then recited her spell.

  Thus, the ratman’s face turned back to that of a middle aged man.

  「You did it Sahoko-san!! He became a human again!!」


  Nao was shouting in excitement.

  It seems we can turn them back to humans. Now this was a great harvest.

  「But, we can’t take him along with us, he’ll just become a burden during the battle.」


  Reiji spoke while looking at the man.

  He was right. A big battle might be awaiting for us beyond this point. Thus, we couldn’t risk bringing a non-combatant to such a dangerous place.

  「Yeah, that’s correct. What shall we do now? Do you have any idea, Lord Decius? I’m sorry for saying this, but can you escort these people out of this place along with Shizufae and co?」


  I turned toward Decius while asking such a question.

  Honestly, Decius was just a hindrance for us. It wasn’t a big deal if we’re facing a small number of enemies, but more powerful enemies might’ve been waiting for us beyond this point.

  According to the information we heard from the monster, there was a powerful daemon waiting in the deepest part of this underground waterway.

  We might not be able to protect them while fighting against such a powerful enemy.

  「But, Chiyuki-dono. I can’t help but worry about Sienna. Moreover, I have to confirm with my own eyes about what the Moonlight Goddess trying to do.」


  But, Decius shook his head, refusing my suggestion.

  「But, you see. Decius-do-」


  Reiji signaled me to stop when I tried to persuade Decius.

  「Let me to say it frankly, you’re just a hindrance for us beyond this point!!」


  Reiji spoke frankly to Decius.

  「Protecting you while fighting all those monsters will only slow us down. I’m afraid that by the time we arrive, the Moonlight Goddess will have already executed her plan. Are you sure that you can take the responsibility when that happen?」


  Decius couldn’t talk back upon hearing Reiji’s harsh, yet bull’s eyes remark.

  Few seconds later. Decius bowed his head down after pondering for a while.

  「… Understood. I’ll escort them back to the surface. But, what about the other ratman and the ones beyond this point?」


  Decius was looking at the other fallen ratmen as he asked that question.

  「They might be safe since we’ve yet to undo their curse. No need to worry, we’ll erect a barrier around this area, just in case.」


  「I see, please take care of my little sister when you find her.」


  After bowing his head with a reluctant look on his face, Decius carried the unconscious old man on his back, and walked toward where we came from.

  「I’ll leave Decius-dono to you, Shizufae-san. And don’t take your eyes off from Ainoe-san too.」


  「Yes, leave it to us.」


  Shizufae and co then followed after Decius. Naturally, Ainoe was also with them.

  Though we brought her along since we might be able to use her as our guide, we couldn’t bring her beyond this point since this place turned out to be far more dangerous than we expected.

  Thus, we might as well send her back before it was too late.

  After seeing off Shizufae and co, we were the only ones left.

  「Maybe I overdid it when I told him to back off.」


  Reiji spoke to me.

  「No, I think it’s better to be safe than sorry. He’s the important future leader of Ariadya, after all. Moreover, I think it’s better for him to go back since Sienna-san might’ve been turned into a ratman too.」


  Everyone nodded, apparently they also agreed with me.

  「With this, we can increase our movement pace. Let’s go everyone.」


  Thus, we advanced even deeper into the underground waterway.

  ***

  ◆Hero of Water, Nephim

  「We somehow managed to beat them.」


  We barely survived from the ratmen ambush.

  「We would definitely be annihilated if not for Nephim-dono. As expected of the Hero of Water.」


  A freedom fighter sang praises to me.

  「How many people who can still fight?」


  「Including Nephim-dono, there’s four people.」


  「I see… we’re truly being cornered huh…」


  Our team was composed of twelve people.

  We were entering the waterway from a route different from the Hero of Light-dono.

  After walking for a while, we encountered a giant slug. Following that was the encounter with groups of ratmen.

  Though we beat every single one of them, their numbers were simply too overwhelming. Thus we decided to evacuate as soon as we felt that we couldn’t beat them anymore, but since our way back was blocked, we decided to take a different path.

  Thanks to that we’re strayed right now.

  As if to add salt to injury, we kept being ambushed by those ratmen. With the total number of freedom fighters being less than two hundred, that war potential was far from enough to fight against the overwhelming number of ratman.

  I don’t think the government was cheating us about the number of ratmen either.

  Maybe even the general had no idea about this situation.

  But, this blunder dealt great damage to our war potential.

  The other parties might be experiencing the same situation.

  I readied my spear once I felt a presence approaching from in front of us.

  「Everyone take your weapon. I feel some presence coming from ahead of us, it might be another group of ratmen.」


  I squinted my eyes to see the depth of the underground waterway.

  Soon enough, I saw light coming from the torch. I heaved a sigh, knowing that the one who came was human.

  「And here I’m wondering who’s the people ahead of us after seeing the light of your torch, it turned out to be you huh, Hero of Water, Nephim.」


  「Hero of Earth, Godan huh.」


  The one who approached turned out to be the Hero of Earth Godan, our comrade.

  「It seems you guys were in pinch too.」


  「Yeah, by the look of it, you guys too huh.」


  「There’s a lot of ratmen.」


  「Yup, at this rate we won’t be able to escape.」


  Both of us made a bitter face as we spoke to each other.

  「We can only rely on the Hero of Light.」


  Godan was right, at this rate, it was only a matter of time before we got annihilated.

  If there’s someone who could save us from this pinch, it was only the Hero of Light.

  The Hero of Light, as a fellow man, I was really jealous of him who was always surrounded by beautiful women. And his group was really powerful on top of that. That’s why we had no choice but to believe in him.

  We looked at the ceiling while muttering those words.

  ***

  ◆Valkyrie, Shizufae

  「Wait Novis!! You change place with Decius-sama to carry that unconscious middle aged man!!」


  I spoke to Novis while we retraced our way back in the underground waterway.

  Novis was more powerful than Decius-sama. That’s why Novis should be the one who carried the unconscious middle aged man who got his curse undone.

  「Eeh, why should I do that, Shizufae? I don’t mind if it’s cute girl but, please spare me from the torture of carrying that stinky middle aged man.」


  Novis replied to me with a reluctant look on his face.

  「It’s okay, Shizufae-dono. Novis-dono is far more powerful than me. Considering the possibilities that we might encounter monster along the way, we need to preserve Novis-dono’s strength as much as possible.」


  Novis showed an elated look on his face upon hearing Decius-sama’s remark.

  「See that, Shizufae!! Master Decius also agreed with me!!」


  「Muu――!!」


  I gritted my teeth in frustration upon seeing that annoying expression on Novis’ face.

  「Pipedown already, you two. We’ve yet to reach safe place.」


  Leylia-san told us so with a dumbfounded look on her face.

  「Humph, I don’t care even if you’re doing your lover’s spat in this kind place. But release me at once!」


  Ainoe-san spoke with an irritated voice as she looked at us.

  「Sorry Ainoe-san. We cannot let you escape.」


  Big sis Keyna spoke to Ainoe-san while pulling the rope that bound the latter.

  「Are you sure about that? I think it’s better for your own safety if you release me right now.」


  Ainoe-san showed a daring smile as she spoke those words.

  「Everyone stop!!」


  Nora-san shouted to everyone to stop.

  「Is something the matter, Nora-san?」


  Nora-san squinted her eyes to get a better view of the scenery ahead of us.

  We used the light on Madi’s cane to illuminate the path ahead of us. This was something cast by Chiyuki-sama to help us on our way back.

  But, different from the magic of the light system, illumination magic only illuminates our surroundings, not the path beyond us.

  Thus, we actually had no idea what was waiting in the darkness in front of us.

  「To think that you managed to discover me, as expected of an elf.」


  The one who was hiding in the darkness finally showed his figure in front of us.

  From his silhouette, he seems like a human.

  But, the part above the neck was clearly not a human head.

  The part above his muscular body which was at least one size larger than a normal human was the head of a black goat.