Chapter 101 : Pursuer

「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 cla.s.s 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 s.h.i.+nichi.

Rem didn"t understand why Ryuuichi entrusted it to her. But she took the ominous skull of the cla.s.smate, 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!」

In less than a moment after she brought it out, she crammed the item into Rem"s rucksack.

「Eh, Anzu, what did you give her just now?」

「Tell us wha~t it is!」

「… It"s a secret. I"ll kill you if you try to peek.」

Anzu had a blush to the tip of her ears, suggesting that something inappropriate was given to Rem.

「GAGA, GUGAGA!」

Thus, Rem departed to look for her master with the farewell gifts.

「BE CAREFU~L!」

[ED: It"s her panties right? :>]

「DO YOUR BE~ST!」

「PLEASE SAVE MOMOKAWA~! YOU DEFINITELY MUST SAVE HIM!」

Rem received a pat on her back as she departed towards a cave that was headed to who knows where.

「Well, let"s get going too.」

「Uhm, Tendou, you"re surprisingly not a cold person.」

「I did what I had to do. Moreover, we"re fated to meet Momokawa again later as long as we advance onward.」

「Well, that"s true, bu~t.」

The four who parted ways with Rem gathered around the magic square and began walking towards their intended direction.

「Su~Ha~」

Everyone then heard a monster-like breathing sound.

Momokawa was ambushed by a spider-like monster just a while ago. It wouldn"t be strange if another monster appeared.

The four who had just won a battle for survival reacted immediately.

The Juri-Mari combo raised their vigilance towards the direction of the sound as they raised weapons collected from the corpses of the Jiras. Anzu also raised her arms, ready to fire stone bullets at any given moment.

Though Ryuuichi was the only one who still kept his hands in his pocket, he was more vigilant than the rest of them.

Under everyone"s watchful gaze, the monster appeared.

「KUNKAKUNKA, SU~HA~」

Just like a police dog chasing after a criminal, or more like a pig to be exact, sniffing for mushrooms on the ground, the monster walked on all fours while sniffing the ground.

「KUNKAKUNKA… THIS SMELL… SSMMEELLLLL.」

The monster could also talk.

It wasn"t a monster, it was a human.

「N, AAAAA~H! THIS SSSSMMEEELLLL! This, sweet, SMELL. THIIIS SMMEEELLLS LIKE MYY HOONEY, DEFINITELY.」

From crawling with all four limbs, the man wearing the male uniform of s.h.i.+romine High stood up on his legs as he screamed bizzare things.

He wasn"t that tall, his figure grew to the sides instead, and it was an ugly figure. The male student went towards the island of the underground lake, saying disgusting words every step of the way.

「You are…. Yokomichi huh?」

「OOOH!? WHAATM, YOU ARE―― UGGHHEEARGH! TEENDOUUU!」

Tendou Ryuuichi was facing off against Yokomichi Hajime.

As if the so called cla.s.s caste had reappeared in this world, Yokomichi clearly trembled when he faced Ryuuichi"s cold gaze.

But then again, this wasn"t that peaceful cla.s.sroom, this place was a monster-filled dungeon of another world. Yokomichi"s experiences while travelling this world had changed him.

Yes, his past reason for fearing Ryuuichi, the most bada.s.s delinquent, was gone.

「He~, He…. UeHeHeHeHe! Tendou, you are, TENDOU RYUUICHIIIIII!」

「You seem to be quite lively huh. Did you really want to see me that much?」

「CAAN"T YOU SEEE!?! YOU WANT TO UNDEERSTANDD WHY I WAANT TO MEET A ＤＱＮ BASTAARD LIKE YOOUUU!?」

If it was back then in cla.s.s, it would be absolutely impossible for him to curse at Ryuuichi. The current Yokomichi could do that with ease, though Ryuuichi himself didn"t seem to care about it.

The thing he paid attention to was Yokomichi"s clothes.

「Hey, don"t ya think that Yokomichi has this dangerous feel to him?」

「Yeah, that thing is bad news.」

The Juri-Mari combo who had grown together in battles with their 『Knight』 and 『Warrior』 vocations felt something wrong with Yokomichi.

「Yes, that thing has definitely never taken a bath even once for sure.」

On the other hand, Anzu, whose growth as a 『Geomancer』 had just begun, didn"t felt any kind of danger aside from being disgusted by his extremely foul smell due to Yokomichi extremely dirty appearance.

「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 CLAa.s.sMATE 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 reb.u.t.tal.

「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 att.i.tude 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 CLAAa.s.s!　Don"T GeT c.o.c.ky YoU s.h.i.+TtY b.i.t.c.hES 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 gus.h.i.+ng 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 was.h.i.+ng 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 c.o.c.kY JuSt BEcAUSe A s.h.i.+TTy 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 c.o.c.ky, then give me all you got.」

「OH？ 　OOOOH?　SurE?　ArE YoU SuRe?　ThE s.h.i.+TtY TeNDOU-KuN wITh His s.h.i.+TtY 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!!!」

TN : Bi-Monthly Till Catching up With Seigensou

(~".")~To Be Continue In The Next Release Xp~(‘."~)

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