Mokushiroku Arisu - Volume 02

  The cursed song fills my brain.

  Before I reactivate my magic, the horn of one of them reaches me.

  "Assassination property!"

  With the 『Assassination property』 of my Demon Sword switch, I search for the weak point of that horn where I shall receive the attack. Found it. I receive the attack at that angle.

  Giihnn, the high-pitched sound of metal striking metal reverberates. I barely parry the horn, but also receive an outrageous amount of impact.

  If I hadn't searched for the weak point with the assassination property and had received the attack just like that with my sword, my arm would have been broken and I would have probably been impaled.

  "...... guh, hurry up...... get the curse filled up."

  Another three come at me.

  "Assassination property!"

  I yell again. I search for the place where I can receive the attack from the three horns. Found them. Small. If I can get my sword in there, that's where I can receive the attack.

  However, there is only just one point. If I make a mistake, my sword will get flung away and death will visit me readily. That's how strong the sharks brought forth by Gunjou are.

  I look at those horns.

  I look hard at the point of intersection of those three horns which only happens for an instant and strike my sword upwards.

  Then, the horns strike against one another and stop. I slip through them.

  Then at that moment,

  "All right, my curse's filled up! Acceleration swi---"

  But, that is the end of my words.

  The migratory birds that had been flying in the wall suddenly fly out. Looking down at me. They start to spin like a drill. The drill descends as if it were lightning.

  I have to dodge that.

  I have to dodge those birds with my Acceleration switch.

  "............"

  I react, but it's fatal mistake.

  Just a moment of hesitation, indecision, hard-headedness will turn everything to naught.

  That's the kind of place a labyrinth is.

  One of the sharks that had been submerged which I was unaware of jumps out. About to impale me.

  I raise my sword to block that. Of course I can't do that effectively. I'm in mid-air. If I am in mid-air, I can't jump to the side.

  Then, the migratory birds descend. I can't dodge that.

  I really can't raid this labyrinth all by myself.

  So,

  "Damn, Yousuke!"

  I holler.

  Yousuke then answers.

  "Which way?"

  "Bring me close to the shark!"

  "Reverse Force switch!"

  Yousuke bellows. My feet are then pulled by a strong force. Pulled by a virtual force conjured by Yousuke. My foot lands on the head of the shark.

  As I got my foothold,

  "Acceleration ..."

  At that moment, Kiri says. While swinging her Japanese sword at the horn of the shark that I am standing on,

  "I will stop all the sharks, so get the birds!"

  I look up at the sky.

  Widen my eyes.

  My eyeballs shake.

  Moving back and forth.

  Searching for their weak points, my target point capture the birds one after another ---

  "Switch!"

  Instantly, my body accelerates.

  One instant, one second, one moment.

  My speed surpasses even that of god.

  My body zips past 6 migratory birds. By the time I zipped past, their lives were already gone.

  I look down.

  11 sharks are assaulting Kiri at the same time, but with just one sword,

  "Ooof!"

  She blocks against the horns. She cancels away all the impact in an instant. It's that kind of magic. Bracing herself, she raises her sword. The stomachs of the sharks appear from the floor.

  And ---

  "Penitence Severance switch."

  Running from behind Kiri, Shiro attacks with his magic.

  Shiro is dragging a large knife in his hand. He raises his long bulky knife that a normal human being can't lift.

  "Cut them aaaaaaalllllllllll!!"

  That knife splits apart the stomachs of 8 of the sharks. And with that, those sharks die.

  The remaining 3 sharks then quickly turn their dorsal areas toward us, hiding their weak points. Their backs are hard. At the very least, a fast fragile knife like mine that has a special characteristic won't be able to go through them.

  However, the knife cuts into their backs, and pull away from the floor.

  The sharks take damage, and roll onto the floor. Jumping from the floor.

  By that time, I have already landed. My acceleration has yet to end. I kick the floor and jump. Swinging my demon sword. And split the stomachs of the 3 unsightly, flapping sharks one after another.

  At that moment, my acceleration ends.

  "...... zeeh, haah."

  I restart my halted breathing, letting go of my held breath, then breathing in.

  I then turn around.

  Looking at Shiro and the rest.

  Even though we have annihilated the sharks, we have yet to move from the entrance.

  Even though we won't make it if we don't clear a floor in 2 minutes, already 4~5 minutes have gone by.

  If Himi can't find the shortcut route, then it's time to Escape.

  However, Himi raises both hands and says.

  "Found it ♪."

  Perhaps, as a result of her forcing herself unreasonably, a trickle of blood can be seen from her mouth. Her knees buckle to the floor.

  "Himi!"

  Yousuke helps her up. Himi makes a weak but somewhat pleased smile,

  "I, I did it...... I found it!! Five floors below here, there's an elevator!"

  I ask.

  "How much time will that save us?"

  But Himi does not answer. While standing up unsteadily, she closes her eyes. And then waves her fingers,

  "Overprotective switch."

  She murmurs.

  Then, before her, an eyeball as large as a rugby ball appears, floating in the air. Looking around its surroundings.

  It's a trap sensing magic. In other words, she has yet to give up.

  With her eyes closed, Himi says.

  "This floor probably has no hidden traps. Please run!"

  Yousuke grabs Himi's hand,

  "Let's go!"

  And starts running.

  I also start running.

  I have already memorized the map. The route is completely imprinted into my mind. If we run at full speed, we should reach the descending staircase in 15 seconds.

  Provided if there are no hindrances.

  The wall has a peaceful scenery drawn on it as before.

  Rainbow.

  Sky.

  Clouds.

  Sea.

  Gentle waves on the sea.

  The beautiful melody of the roar of waves.

  Then, from the other side of the sea, several sharks start popping out, swimming.

  "The stairs! Let's go down! Ignore the sharks!"

  Shiro yells.

  With that, we descend the stairs.

  ♦

  ♦

  ♦

  95th floor.

  We finally reached it, and are before the elevator.

  "Pant, pant, pant, pant, pant, pant."

  I've already lost my voice.

  I can't even sigh.

  I heave my shoulders, breathing.

  Behind me, is an normal looking elevator like those you find in a department store, but it's locked and won't move.

  Himi is trying to undo the lock with her magic.

  We are protecting Himi here, relentlessly killing the sharks and migratory birds.

  We already know their weak points.

  We already know their movement patterns.

  So it's easy to deal with them.

  It's easy but ---

  "...... how many on earth do w
e need to kill?"

  I groan.

  We have already been fighting here for close to 30 minutes. Shiro and Yousuke in one team, and Kiri and I in another team, taking turns to hold the line.

  Right now, with Yousuke on defense, Shiro is killing off the monsters.

  While trying to catch my breath, I look at them. In order to calm my beating heart. In order to rest my body. And in order to fill my brain with magic again, haah, haah, haah, I pant.

  From beside me, Kiri says.

  "Are you okay? Shinnosuke-kun."

  "............"

  "Shinnosuke-kun, your magic puts a lot of burden on your body and if you continue to use it......"

  "Shut up. You should rest while you're able to. We'll switch with them in a minute.

  Before my eyes, Shiro throws his spear.

  "Pierce through them, Thousand Deities Flash Of Light switch!"

  The drill swallows the sharks.

  Killing several of them.

  But, the remaining few assault Shiro. In an attempt to protect him, Yousuke raises both his hands,

  "Bamboo Grove switch!"

  He yells.

  Several green pillars appear before his hands. The sharks crash into them, and get infected with a green, sticky poison. The poison slows them down, but can't kill them. While retreating backwards, Shiro shakes both his hands. The sharks crash into the green pillars one after another.

  "Guh."

  Crash into them.

  "Uwu......"

  Crash into them,

  "Damn, Shiro!"

  Shiro then bellows.

  "It's all right. Duck Yousuke. Penitence Severance switch.!"

  His knife appears and he raises it overhead.

  But, zeeh, zeeh, Shiro pants, and his chin starts bobbing.

  It's no good.

  He can't last any longer.

  I say.

  "............ fuh, haah...... all right, it's our turn. Kiri."

  "Uhn."

  "Once Shiro steps back, we'll switch and jump forward."

  "Uhn."

  "We'll stick to the same plan as before."

  "I got it. Hey, Shinnosuke-kun."

  "............"

  "Did you realize it? The time is already......"

  I look at Kiri.

  Of course I realize it.

  At the time we infiltrated the labyrinth, the time limit to Gunjou turning into an eternal labyrinth was 68 minutes.

  And we took about 6 minutes to repel the attack of the first sharks.

  We then took 10 minutes to reach the 95th floor.

  And on top of that, we've been fighting here for 30 minutes.

  In other words, that's a total of 46 minutes.

  The remaining time displayed is just 22 minutes.

  But right now, we're still on the 95th floor.

  According to intel, Gunjou is on the 75th floor.

  Even if the elevator were to take us directly to the 75th floor, and we were to board it right now, we would have only 15 minutes to fight Gunjou.

  To face off a rank 42 labyrinth diseased girl, that's really too little time. Even if it weren't so, it's still too tight. Compared to the number of enemies, we have too few members.

  Even if we know how to kill the sharks, we'll wear out if we have to keep fighting. And as our fatigue piles up, the chance of making mistakes will increase. In a labyrinth where you will die in an instant if you make even a mistake, we can't afford to tire ourselves out.

  If this were an eternal labyrinth, we could first use support magic to find a safe area, and rest there for a night if we got tired.

  But this is no eternal labyrinth.

  This is a time-limited labyrinth.

  Thus we can't rest.

  Since we are few in numbers, we also can't conserve our energy.

  Right from the start until now, all of us have been going all out in listening to our magic without stop.

  Kiri says.

  "...... I think, it's better for us to Esc......"

  But then, Himi yells from behind us.

  "It's open! Everyone, please come here!"

  I turn to face her. I can see the elevator door opened. I can see a single horn inside that elevator.

  The horn of a shark.

  "Acceleration switch!"

  I use my magic. Accelerating my body, grabbing Himi's arm. And pull her back.

  "Kya."

  Himi gets flung back. The horn that was aiming for Himi threatens to stab into my shoulder. But it's slow. Such a slow horn won't be able to touch the accelerated me ---

  "............"

  That's what I thought.

  But, my movements are slower than before. Slower than the time I entered the labyrinth. The tip of the horn pierces into my left shoulder. Impaling it.

  "Gah, damn."

  Kiri swings her sword at that horn. Stopping the force of the horn. Thanks to that, I manage to escape death.

  At the same time, I stab the stomach of the shark with my sword.

  The shark disappears.

  "Shinnosuke-kun!"

  Kiri looks at my shoulder worriedly. Blood flows out from my shoulder. It's not a fatal wound. But if the blood flows out, my stamina will further decrease.

  "Hey, let me see......"

  But, just as Kiri wants to touch my shoulder,

  "Don't touch it. I'm fine."

  I say to her.

  But Kiri,

  "This is no good...... is there any need......"

  Her words stop there.

  I know what she wanted to say. Is there any need to go this far, to the point of receiving such a wound, to save Gunjou? Is there any need to go through such danger to advance in this labyrinth?

  About that.

  "............"

  I too don't understand. What in the world am I doing? What am I doing right now?

  Looking at my own wound, I find it interesting and smirk without thinking. I myself don't even know what I am so desperately fighting for.

  Why are these fellows putting their own lives in so much danger? I don't really get it.

  Jeez, what the hell is this?

  Is this a world full of such good guys?

  Kiri looks intently at my shoulder, anxiously, sadly.

  "............"

  At that moment, Shiro and the rest run up to us.

  "You got wounded!?"

  He is worried.

  Himi looks at my wound, and uses her magic.

  "Band-aid switch."

  While saying that, she presses on my wound. The name sounds dumb, but it's probably a curative magic. A magic that stops the bleeding. My pain rapidly subsides.

  Himi says with a teary face.

  "I-I'm sorry...... I let my guard down. I...... I'm always dragging you down......"

  But I cut her off, glare at Himi with half-opened eyes, and say.

  "Jeez, that's true."

  "...... awuh."

  "You really are dragging me down too much...... frankly, if you weren't here, I really don't feel like saving Gunjou."

  Pohn, I give Himi's head a tap, and pull away from her. My bleeding has stopped. In that case, it's enough. I enter the elevator.

  An instant later,

  "...... eh."

  Himi turns around in surprise, and behind her, Yousuke and Shiro have grins on their faces.

  Yousuke says.

  "Shinnosuke, you are kinda roundabout these days......"

  "Hurry up and get in, idiot."

  I say in disgust.

  Then, while saying,

  "The one who calls others idiot is an idiot ~"

  Yousuke smiles.

  Shiro also smiles happily.

  Jeez, this isn't the time to be chattering idly right? Are these guys really idiots?

  No, they probably are.

  They probably are idiots.

  And slowly, I have caught that idiocy germ, I think. Scary. Dangerous. If I continue to get myself involved with them, I might ju
st die.

  While thinking those things,

  "...... my, even though we've come all the way here, we might already be too late......"

  I mutter to myself.

  Kiri looks at me.

  Then, Shiro looks at us.

  "What did you say?"

  "Nothing."

  But, maybe because he misheard the words, 'too late', he asks Himi.

  "Hey Himi. Will we be in time?"

  While manipulating the elevator, Himi answers.

  "From the map I saw, this elevator will reach the 76th floor in 10 minutes."

  "Slow."

  I say, and Himi nods apologetically.

  "Sorry. But, during the time when we are riding this, we won't be attacked."

  In other words, we can rest for 10 minutes.

  And when we reach there, we will have 10 minutes left.

  We have to clear the last floor and enter Gunjou's room and save her in 10 minutes.

  But, this is probably the shortest, the safest, and the most efficient route that Himi has chosen with the Picnic switch.

  If we were to continue clearing each floor as before, we would probably run out of time by the time we are done with 8 floors. Or, we would have died from getting caught in several traps.

  As I thought, if Himi weren't here this time, we couldn't even proceed, and even outside of this country, it's hard to find a magician who can use such a wide range of support magic like her.

  I look at Himi, then Shiro and Yousuke. They are really an amazing team, probably. If they really become my comrades --- no, given how we have entrusted our lives to one another all the way up till here, we may already be able to call ourselves comrades though --- if they would really become my comrades,

  "............"

  I might be able to move forward and save my little sister......

  For me to be able to think about that, that's how good they are.

  And that goes the same for Kiri.

  If she weren't here, I would have died many times in this labyrinth.

  Normally, she will keep a safe margin and avoid making unreasonable moves while helping me out.

  She knew very well that this is a labyrinth where she shouldn't have come. With her logical mind, she probably knew that she shouldn't ride on the hype and come, but yet she followed me here.

  "...... u~hn."

  I fold my arms.

  All this while, I have never done anything as disgusting as making comrades so I don't really know what I should do now

  On top of that, for 10 minutes in this elevator, nothing is going to happen as we continue to descend.

  Spending 10 minutes with my comrades in this tight space.