Chapter 43: It's only natural that nonsense mumbling idiots in rags would be detained by the gatekeepers
Day 24: Evening, Town of Omui
Withdrawing from the dungeon we head to the town. As we approach the entrance, 5 men in extremely tattered clothes are looking at us. For a moment I became cautious, but…
「Kakizaki-kun?…… Why are you so tattered?…… Haruka-kun is not with you……」
「Ah! President!「「「「Sorry for being idiot!」」」」」
The trashed five are Kakizaki-kun and the others. As Haruka-kun called them 『Musclebrained athletic idiots』. They are the group that Haruka-kun went to check on.
Black hair, dark eyes, all in tatters. It seems they got detained by the gatekeepers as they couldn't understand what they were saying. They also seem to be exhausted to the point of barely being able to move.
Apparently, they ran all the way here from the cave in this wrecked state without getting even a bit of sleep or rest, simply running, while chewing on Health Mushrooms.
Their light armor is missing various parts, arms, holes in the stomach area, or being completely nonexistent past knees. The remaining armor is all battered and is just barely there.
Their bodies were probably healed, but they couldn't do anything about the equipment.
Which means that this is how things went for them in the forest. That they remained to stall until they turned into such a mess. They almost died for our sake, that's why Haruka-kun was so eager to go back. Yet we tried to hold him here, while they almost got themselves killed, that's why he left. And Kakizaki-kun and others came to tell us about this. After almost getting killed, almost dying, after already being one foot in the grave…… And now, Haruka-kun is there.
・ ・ ・
The story was the worst. Some girls began crying from just listening to it. We didn't expect this at all. In that case, it might be only natural that Haruka-kun left us here.
Even if we followed him, we probably would've died. Even now, with our current levels.
I thought that the enemy was the group that Haruka-kun called wannabe delinquents, Katsuyama-kun, and his associates.
And that the other boys just went a bit crazy, that while we can't trust them, there is still a chance to make up.
I thought that the problem was in killing other humans.
That's why I couldn't help but doubt.
Is there really a need for Haruka-kun to take a risk like that?
Couldn't we solve it somehow by ourselves?
What if we resolve ourselves, that if we didn't waver, we also could do it.
But I was naive. Such naive thoughts could've gotten all of us killed.
But as it turned out, it had nothing to do with this. Because we wouldn't even be able to fight, the worst kind of situation possible.
It brought to question if there was even a point to Haruka-kun staying there.
Absolutely hopeless, that's the kind of a story it was.
「That is a monster.」
「What was that trash's name? Katsuyama? When we fought him and his group, that guy attacked them from behind. Annihilating 6 of them.」
「Yeah, and then, he began using illusions that Katsuyama was using.」
That is Plunder, my skill. Take skills upon killing. But why does he have it?
「Even without it, we couldn't land a hit on him no matter how hard we tried. Even 5 of us together.」
「And magic doesn't work on him as well, what are we even supposed to do with that?」
「And he also could poison, blind, paralyze, and so on. If we didn't have mushrooms we would've been dead.」
「He used a spear even though he was supposed to have a mage-type job.」
「He also used a sword after killing Katsuyama's group.」
「And since he used a different offensive skill every time we couldn't read him at all.」
「And we could evade and avoid, but even if we dodged, the attacks would land anyway.」
We can't fight someone like that. Kakizaki-kun and others are Lv 43. On top of having almost inhuman abilities, they have an extraordinary intuition. Super Acceleration, Limit Break, Certain Death Attack, Seventeen Slash Combo… Their cheats are of the highest quality. They should be unbeatable in close combat. And yet, they went through a one-sided beatdown, and retreated without being able to do anything. 12 other boys also were annihilated, even though all of them had cheat abilities. All of them were wiped out by just one person.
No matter how much I listen to them, I don't get it at all. The only thing I understand is that he can use Plunder, can cause abnormal status effects, can't be hit in close combat, magic seems to have no effects, and his attacks cannot be evaded.
There is no way such abilities really exist, but Haruka-kun, who had no abilities at all, was doing pretty much the same. At the very least, I never saw him being hit by an attack. He says that he would die if they hit him, all while not taking any hits at all. Even though he had no attacks, he was killing enemies in one blow. I don't understand what the deal is with either of them. It's like there is something completely different at play. That's why he left without us. Because this fight is completely different.
And in the end, Haruka-kun told them to tell us『Sorry for being idiot』…… Then…