novelRevival
| ← Ch.088 | Ch.090 → |
Translator: ShiroiKaze/Soyokaze Translations
Beyond the massive door was a room of about 20 meters to a side.
In its center was a throne-like chair, with two kobolds on each its left and right.
Upon the throne... A kobold? The thing seated there was massive enough to make me doubt that, as it asserted its presence on the surroundings.
"Is that... really a kobold?"
"Seriously?"
Me and Alec commented on reflex.
Kobolds are normally 1 meter tall creatures that could be cute if you get used to them. But what stood there was practically something else entirely, far surpassing 3 meters.
That must be... A Kobold Lord.
Recognizing our entry to the room, the Kobold Lord moved its huge body, grabbed the great sword at its side, and stood.
The great sword... The hatchet was big enough to be comparable to Sentinel.
"Here it comes!"
"GOOAAAAAA!!"
The Kobold Lord's roar overlapped with Haster's tense voice.
A heavy, pressing burden could be felt on our spirits. That shout probably held an "Intimidation" effect.
Haster and Alec both dashed forward at once.
"The first strike is mine!"
Their movement stopped as they took up their weapons; aiming for that moment, I released an arrow.
—The target is the one on its right!
Third Eye is tucked away, so it's a normal arrow, not an iron one.
But if it's just a 1 meter tall kobold, then my short bow can do plenty of damage.
The unreliably thin arrow, different from the usual, went exactly towards my target kobold, piercing through its eye and gouging into its brain.
"GIKII?!"
The kobold cried out before collapsing.
With a wound like that, it probably won't be rejoining the battle.
"GURUA?!"
"Not happening!"
After one of its companions was shot, the Kobold Lord turned towards Haster, who had jumped in close to it, and swung in anger.
Alec hit the side of its giant hatchet with Sentinel, deflecting the swing.
With its stance broken, Haster faced its legs and swung his sword once.
The dull blade couldn't tear through its thick muscles, but it did succeed in delivering a wound.
"GUWAN!"
The scream of the kobolds and the creak of bows.
Following those came the arrows of the kobold archers. One each for Haster and Alec, and one more for me.
Alec used Sentinel and Haster used his armor to deflect them, while I ducked down to dodge.
With how small my body is, laying low to the ground is a perfectly viable defensive posture.
Moreover, I often take this position for close combat when I use [Body Reinforcement] to keep three points of contact, so I'm used to maneuvering like this.
Upon dodging the arrow, I follow up by rolling along the ground to change position, and aim for the one getting another arrow ready on the very left.
When I released the arrow, it flew right on target into its neck, rendering another one powerless.
The battle continued in this way for a bit, with Haster attacking the Kobold Lord, me taking out the henchmen, and Alec serving as Haster's guard.
~*~
I think about 10 minutes have passed since the battle began?
"Only 10?" you're probably thinking, but 10 minutes is really long when moving at full power the whole time.
Kendo and karate matches are limited to 5 minutes. Even in sumo, if a match goes on longer than 4 minutes there are times when they'll take breaks.
Haster was breathing more heavily, and he was visibly moving more poorly.
Alec wasn't giving full strength the whole time because he was focusing on defense, so it looked like he could keep going, but as for me, my shooting hand was getting numb.
I've shot the bow 9 times already, and my quiver of normal arrows was down to 3.
The kobold archers were annihilated, and the Kobold Lord was covered in wounds.
Our side is fatigued, and our opponent's movements have dulled from its wounds. Just when it was feeling like a stalemate—
"HAH!"
"GUGEE?!"
Haster's sword dug into the Kobold Lord's armpit, and made it bleed grievously.
Important blood vessels often run through the armpit (this differs depending on the creature, of course), so a wound like that is usually fatal.
Considering the amount of bleeding, it was undoubtedly a vital point for the Kobold Lord.
Swords met between it and Haster 2, 3 more times, but the Kobold Lord's weakness was growing intense. The fight was essentially over.
I breathed a small sigh of relief, and in that exact moment—
Haster suddenly pulled back the sword he was going to defend with, and the Kobold Lord's last attack hit his body... And split it. In two.
"Eh—"
I'm not sure what just happened.
This doesn't make sense. Why is he in two pieces?
Alec screamed something and delivered the final blow to the Kobold Lord.
Now only an upper half, Haster went into convulsions—
"N-NOOOOO!!!"
I threw my bow away, and ran over to him.
Haster's eyes were clouded over, and probably couldn't see anything anymore.
Of course his breathing stopped... It makes sense, since the diaphragm he would need for breathing isn't attached anymore.
I clung to his corpse and lost my composure, unable to do anything about the miserable scene in front of me... All I could to was hold him.
"What done happened?!"
Lastly, the door opened and Miss Levy came running.
She must have guessed something happened from my scream.
"Aah... Uwaa! Waaaaaah?!"
I couldn't even form coherent words at this point, and turned into something which could only let out sobs asking for help.
"Kh?! Th-this ain't... Ergh, over here, bring 'im this-a-way!"
"Got it. Sis... Come on, let's go!'
Following her orders, Alec carried me, and Haster's remains.
After that... I don't remember.
~*~
When I came to my senses, there was a house of ice inside the labyrinth.
It was made using a cavity in the passageway, caging ourselves inside, making the walls using [Water Wall], then solidifying them using [ Freeze].
That was probably the choice because there's no ground inside the labyrinth to use [Earth Wall] with.
The ice walls prevent enemy intrusion, and if they're broken, the cracking ice will make a bunch of noise to act as an alarm. Its constructed in that fashion.
Unlike [Earth Walls], they also transparent, so we can see what's on the other side of them.
It's a little cold, but considering its convenience, that's a small price to pay.
"Where are..."
"Just a small corner o' the labyrinth."
"What time..."
"Been'round four hours since then."
"... Where is he?!"
What about Haster?! I was too distressed to think about it at the time, but he's "Immortal".
He shouldn't die just because he was sliced in two!
"It looks like his body is done regenerating. It's a lot slower than yours, sis."
"To think ya'll had the "Immortality" gift..."
Miss Levy sounded amazed.
"Heart's gone back to beatin' too. Just gotta wait for him to wake up now."
"Thank goodness..."
Along with his relief, Alec looked at him with a trace of umbrage in his eyes.
He was supposed to be acting as the guard... Is probably what he's thinking about.
"No, actually... This might sound like an excuse, but I feel like Master pulled his sword out of the way on purpose right then, didn't he?"
"And why would he have to do something like that?"
"The hell if I know!"
My tone made it sound like I was blaming him, so he raised his voice in refutation.
But we can't have something like this happen again. Let's pursue this a little deeper.
"If he pulled his sword away, a fatal wound was guaranteed. Everyone there knew that. So why would he have to do it in spite of that?"
"I just said I don't know... Ask Master yourself once he wakes up."
I wanted to pursue this calmly, but it would seem my voice came out more coldly than I was trying for.
Alec must have guessed I didn't mean to sound that way, as the force behind his voice quickly withered.
"I understand. We will leave that for later. But we can't have this..."
"I know. We can't have this happen again; I won't let this happen again. I would even swear it on this World Tree."
To my cuttingly cold voice, Alec put strength and determination behind his reply.
~*~
One hour later, Haster opened his eyes, safe and sound.
"Haster! U—uwaaaaaah!"
"Eh... Aah, guess I worried you."
Upon jumping directly into his chest and immediately crying, he gently, but firmly, hugged me.
My face is touching where he regenerated at. The skin there is exposed, and smooth like a baby's bum.
By the way, everything below his chest is buck naked right now.
"—What's the situation?"
"After you died, Master, we rushed out of the room. Right now we're camping in a cavity at the side of the passageway."
"About how long has it been?"
"Been'round five hours."
"That long, huh..."
Alec's voice was tinged with criticism. Moving his sword out of the way to take a hit on purpose... That action kept Alec from being able to fulfill his role. He's probably angry about that.
Haster must have guessed that too, as he replied back to us in an explanatory voice while scratching his cheek.
"Yuuri, Alec, sorry about that... I just had to try it now when I had a chance. To see the performance of my "Immortality"."
"Then you should at least tell us beforehand!"
"If I said something, would you let me? 'I'm going to die now, don't interfere' for example."
"... Urk?!"
There's no way I would let that happen.
But still... That's horrible, you know?
"Well, let me explain a little bit. The "Immortality" abilities of Bahamut and Yuuri have vastly different times on their regeneration. While exploring the labyrinth, when we encounter some unexpected situation, knowing how long it will take for me to recover may be very important information. Which is why I wanted to test the performance of "Immortality" now, when we have relatively more leeway."
"And that's why you suggested we limit our magic and weapons for this?"
"Well... Yeah."
So that's why it felt like a nonsense reason, when he gave the unusually forceful advice to intentionally be negligent in our battle.
It was in preparation so he would have a chance to die.
"Ya didn't have to go up against a boss just for somethin' like that."
"I wanted to try it at the safest time possible, but to get killed I needed something strong enough to be considered an "enemy, " so... Well, it was a balance between those."
After listening up to that point, something inside of me snapped.
I swung my arm with every last ounce of strength I had, and slapped his cheek.
"Yeowch?!"
"Just how worried do you think you made us?! How worried I was! How worried Alec was!"
"Yuuri, don't be forgettin' about mee."
"Shut up!"
I roared back at Miss Levy's interruption, and had her clam it.
"I understand that testing "Immortality" was necessary! But wasn't there a better way to do it?!"
"I'm really sorry. I'm reflecting on my actions."
"Don't you dare... I don't want... To ever see something like that... Ever again... Please."
"I promise. I won't do it again, and you won't see that again."
Saying that, he hugged me and planted a kiss on my cheek... The kiss was clearly an attempt to restore my mood, but I'm easy, so my sourness dissipated a bit.
"I understand. I hear you, but... I'm still mad, okay?"
"Yeah, not much I can do now, but sorry."
I paid him back by hugging him tight and digging my nails into his back.
He seemed to take it pretty nicely and—
"Hey, you two mind?"
Alec decided to butt in.
The mood was just getting good; don't get in the way now. A little more and I would have toppled him.
"What should we do about today? I know it would be hard, but I'd like it if we could get back."
Now that he mentions it, it's already 9:00p. m.
Since we've cleared the 5th floor, we should be able to return by midnight if we really push it.
And Marle will probably be worried, since we didn't plan on camping in here...
"I suppose, yeah. It would probably be best not to push it, but... Shall we do an after-regeneration physical check while we head back?"
"Now you're being dangerous again!"
"It's alright, I really won't do anything reckless this time."
"That bein' the case, let's get hurryin' on back... Time starts feelin' kinda ambiguous inside the labyrinth, but if we can get back, then it'd be best to go back."
Miss Levy stood up, and dispelled the [Water Wall] and [Freeze] magic.
Meanwhile Alec doused the campfire and made preparations.
"C'mon, Haster, ya'll too. That "manhood" o' yours needs to go away, yeah?"
Everything below his chest is completely bare, so, well... It's in plain view.
He looks like a 12 or 13 year old boy, and yet his prided "thing" is very adult.
"Uwooooaaaah?!"
He looked to be even more disarrayed in his panic than when he took the Kobold Lord's attack.
And so, on our 10th day we ranked up from "Novices" to "Beginners".
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Author's Note: I think it's a little distorted, but if I didn't put in a scene where his regeneration is measured, then I felt like it would have consequences later on, so...
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