Chapter 51

It was impossible to tell how much of the situation Sumika had grasped, but she was attacking Niki with a ferocity Yuuma had never seen before. Each time her left and right sword arms flashed through the air, another cut surfaced somewhere on Niki’s body, leaving fat splatters of blood in its wake. 24, 23… Niki’s HP and the number on Sawa’s forehead continued to fall at almost the exact same pace. At this rate, when the timer reached zero, Niki would be dead. “Kakeru…!!” Unable to stay quiet any longer, Haizaki, who was maintaining both the Swarming Hands spell and his Guild Leader power from a distance, shouted his friend’s name. “No, Shin, stay back!!” Niki immediately shouted back. “Don’t stop casting!! If you stop now, it will have all been for nothing!!” Haizaki was almost twenty meters away, but Yuuma could have sworn he heard him grit his teeth. Niki’s resolve was admirable—even if he was their enemy. But that didn’t mean Yuuma was going to willingly accept being put under Haizaki’s control. Yuuma knew it wouldn’t make a sound, but he shouted as hard as he could. So hard it felt like his throat was going to bleed. “Sumika!! Finish it!!” As if she could hear him, Sumika split her cavernous maw open all the way to her ears. She bared her numerous fangs and roared. “GWARRGGH!!” Niki froze for a moment, intimidated. Sumika’s right sword arm pierced Niki deep in the gut. Niki’s HP dipped to 20 percent, changing to dark orange in color. 10…9…8… Sumika slowly pulled her blade free from Niki’s torso. Niki’s longsword slipped from his grasp and fell to the floor. He collapsed to his knees. Sumika’s left sword arm twinkled in the air above his head. 7…6…5… “S-stop—!!” With a scream, Haizaki tore his hands from the floor, stood up, and began running toward them. The Swarming Hands that had been holding Yuuma and the others immobile immediately disappeared, and the crests that had materialized on their foreheads crumbled to pieces with a deranged sound. Nunono and the other fourth-floor students slumped in place on their behinds, just like the first-floor students, a look on their faces as if their souls had just escaped their bodies. The countdown—that is to say, the Guild Leader mental control process—had stopped. On top of that, it seemed as if Nunono and the other six fourth-floor students had been freed from Haizaki’s control as well. This was clearly what Haizaki had been afraid of. That must have been why he had tried to avoid catching the fourth-floor students in the Swarming Hands area of effect at the start of the battle. However, the battle was far from over yet. Haizaki was casting as he ran. Blue-black flames swelled from his left hand. Summoning every muscle in his body, Yuuma sprang to his feet and dashed in Haizaki’s direction. At this distance, Haizaki would finish his spell long before Yuuma ever reached him. “Agh…ghhhh—!!” With a scream, Yuuma activated his Quick Action demon exploit, kicking off the ground as hard as he could and jumping forward by more than five meters. The world went blue, and everything slowed. Here in the blue, Yuuma jumped again, landing in front of Haizaki’s face. “Ah…!” Haizaki had surely heard about Yuuma’s demon exploit from Niki, but hearing and seeing were two different things. Yuuma’s right fist collided with Haizaki’s body, as a look of surprise appeared on Haizaki’s face. “Nrgh…!” While Haizaki was still groaning in pain, Yuuma activated his Quick Action ability once more. Haizaki attempted to point his flaming left hand toward Yuuma, but it suddenly slowed down dramatically. Once Haizaki had come to an almost complete stop, Yuuma delivered a hard left jab directly to Haizaki’s right cheek. Yuuma was level 15. Haizaki was over level 20, but Monster Tamers had higher physical stats than Mages, and the force of Yuuma’s blows were also being dramatically magnified by the acceleration from Quick Action. Yuuma’s two punches had reduced Haizaki’s HP by nearly 30 percent and seemed to have given him a slight concussion as well. As Haizaki lost his footing and fell onto his behind, Yuuma leaned over him, ready to pummel him with more blows. That may have seemed cruel, but even if Yuuma didn’t want to kill Haizaki, he still wasn’t going to be able to take his eyes off Haizaki until Haizaki was at least unconscious. Chambering his right fist by his side, Yuuma swung, aiming for Haizaki’s temple. Just then. The unexpected happened, once again. There was a dull thud as Yuuma’s fist collided with something hard and then rebounded. It was the back of one of the girls. She had just dived forward between them from the right side, using her own body to shield Haizaki. Yuuma couldn’t see the girl’s face, but her ultra-short, curly hair could belong to only one person. It was Kanami Iida from the swim team. She was one of the fourth-floor students who had been under Haizaki’s control. Yuuma thought Kanami and the others had all been freed from their brainwashing as well, once the crests on their foreheads had crumbled. Was that not the case? Was Yuuma going to have to fight Kanami now, too? However, Yuuma wasn’t expecting what happened next. Kanami turned to look at Yuuma over her shoulder, cradling Haizaki in her left arm. “Ashihara, I’m sorry… I won’t ask you to forgive Haizaki and Niki for this, but please…just give me a little time.” “But…Haizaki used his demon exploit on you too…” “I know that. But still… I…,” Kanami whispered, her face pained. “Iidaaa—!!” An angry shout erupted from behind them. Turning around, Yuuma spotted Sugamo sprinting toward them as hard as he could. The other students seemed too scared of Sumika Watamaki, who was still standing in the middle of the lobby, to move, but Sugamo barely gave her a second glance as he rushed their way. “I’m sorry…!” Kanami shouted again. Yuuma turned back to look at Kanami again. That was when he finally noticed—Kanami had already grabbed the unconscious Niki by his collar with her right hand and was dragging him behind her. Even if Kanami was a Warrior and over level 15, there was no way she could have that much STR. With one last glance at Sugamo, who was still running toward them, Kanami stamped the ground hard with her right foot. With a series of dry snaps, several pointed steel spikes shot up from the floor, hiding Kanami, Niki, and Haizaki from sight. A moment later, Yuuma heard the faint sound of footsteps, running away. “I-Iida!” In a panic, Yuuma tried to chase after her, but the row of spikes was more than ten meters long and bisected the floor from north to south. It would take too long to get around them. He peered closer at the base of the spikes. It looked as if the steel support beams underneath the floor had sprouted upward like stalagmites. This had to be a demon exploit, not magic. The ability to freely manipulate an element, just like Aria’s Lightning Transformation—Iron Transformation, so to speak. There was no metal element in Actual Magic, but Yuuma remembered there being earth spells that could manipulate metal. Unsure of what to make of this new development, Yuuma stood there confused until— “Ashihara! Why did you let her get away?!” Sugamo shouted, rushing forward and grabbing Yuuma’s collar with his left hand. Yuuma shook his head slightly. “Iida just took a full-strength punch straight to her back and didn’t even flinch. I think her demon exploit lets her turn parts of her body into metal. There wasn’t much I could do about these spikes, either…” “…” Sugamo gritted his teeth loudly before finally releasing Yuuma. He took a step closer to one of the metal spikes that Kanami had created and smacked it as hard as he could with the flat steel bar he was holding in his hand. There was a loud, hollow clang, but the metal spike did not yield. Eventually, the bar slipped from Sugamo’s hand and fell to the floor. A moment later, Sugamo followed suit, collapsing to his knees. His mouth moved furtively, a hoarse voice escaping his lips. “…Dammit.” He lifted his clenched fists into the air and began beating them against the cracked floor panels, over and over again, screaming in rage with each slam. “Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit—!!” “…” Yuuma turned away from Sugamo wordlessly, directing his eyes toward Sumika Watamaki, who was now standing almost ten meters away. Her arms had already returned to their original form, and her mouth had vanished once again. Sawa and Nagi were standing by her side, their hands on her back. They had apparently been the ones to calm her down. Sawa was probably also the one who had stopped Sumika from finishing off Niki. Yuuma was surprised to see that Sumika had obeyed someone else’s orders, other than his own, but mostly he was relieved. He didn’t want to let Sumika kill any more of their classmates, either. Yuuma lifted his right hand into the air, extended it in Sumika’s direction, and chanted the word of power. “Clause.” A three-dimensional magic circle enveloped Sumika, rotating around her as it shrank in size before returning her to a small card. The card seemed to glide through the air, delivering itself into Yuuma’s hand. “Thank you, Watamaki…,” Yuuma whispered as he embraced the card carefully in both hands before returning it to his inner pocket. There was one more thing that Yuuma needed to do. Yuuma approached Sugamo, who was still doubled over on the ground, speaking to him. “Sug.” Sugamo didn’t move a muscle, but Yuuma continued anyway. “If you hadn’t gotten rid of Niki’s petrification magic…and broken Niki’s shoulder…we would have lost the fight for sure. We have you to thank, Sug. You beat them.” “…” At long last, Sugamo slowly lifted his head and stared at Yuuma. Clear beads suddenly welled up in Sugamo’s eyes, spilling over his eyelids and dripping down his face, droplet after droplet. His face crumpled up into childish sobs, almost as if he had reverted to his younger self. He spoke in a battered voice. “Y-Yuu… I… I…” Yuuma hadn’t heard Sugamo call him “Yuu” in years. He took a step closer and crouched down, placing a hand on Sugamo’s shoulder. After taking that direct hit from Air Boost, Sugamo’s HP was below 40 percent. He needed healing. Yuuma began to chant the utility spell, Healing Droplet. Just then, another unbelievable turn of events occurred. Yuuma and Sugamo stared in shock as a massive glowing purple hand, tipped with sharp claws, suddenly flew toward them from the left—from the south end of the lobby. It seized Sugamo around his chest in a talon grip. Sugamo barely had time to whisper, “Kai…,” before his body disappeared, with an almost comical fwoomp, in a wisp of smoke. The purple hand disappeared at the same time. It was the Grasping Hand spell, which was only available to Monster Tamers. But how? Grasping Hand was only supposed to work on monsters. They weren’t supposed to be able to capture other players. Yuuma turned his head in the direction from which the hand had just come. A scrawny boy was standing there, at the south end of the main lobby, near the front of the tunnel that led toward Althea’s main entrance. A smile of pure innocent happiness lit up his face as he extended both hands into the air—it was Kai Kisanuki. A sparkling purple card descended above Kisanuki’s head. Although more than ten meters away, Yuuma could see the image and name of Teruki Sugamo clearly etched upon the card’s surface. After catching the card in his hands, Kisanuki held it lovingly to his chest, just like Yuuma had done with Sumika’s card a moment ago— “Hee-hee…” And then he laughed. “Hee-hee… Ha-ha. Ah-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha!” His laughter steadily grew louder. He held the card aloft once more, every inch of his body radiant with joy as his laughter slowly grew unhinged. “Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!!” Somewhere far away, Yuuma heard Aria scream, “Ruki—!!” The other students seemed to be shouting something, too, either in turmoil or anger, but Yuuma’s own heart was beating too loudly in his ears to make out anything else. At first, Yuuma thought, Kisanuki must have just made a mistake. He must have accidentally cast Grasping Hand on Sugamo. But of course, that wasn’t what had happened. Kai Kisanuki—the only other student in 6-1 besides Yuuma to have chosen the Monster Tamer class. Kai had been waiting. Waiting all this time. For the moment when Sugamo’s HP would drop low enough for Kisanuki to capture him. “Kisanuki…,” Yuuma whispered, picking up the steel bar that Sugamo had just dropped. It was hefty and covered in countless nicks. Yuuma gripped it firmly in both hands and began walking toward Kisanuki. He sensed Sawa, Nagi, Kenk, and Aria running after him from behind. Kisanuki’s laughter came to a sudden and immediate halt. He glared at Yuuma and the others from beneath his long bangs. And then he suddenly thrust his left hand into his pocket and pulled out a different card. He held it high in the air and shouted once more. “Aperta!!” A massive three-dimensional magic circle unfolded. An amorphous blob, two meters across in size, materialized within the circle, landing on the floor with a heavy thud. A vaguely undulous, semitransparent, gelatinous creature. The HP bar that appeared above its head read Mouria the Greedy Blob. “Ah…!” A surprised gasp escaped Yuuma’s lips. This was the boss monster that had appeared in the swamp north of Thula Village. The same massive slime that Kai Kisanuki had pulled all on his own and which he told them had de-spawned. But it hadn’t de-spawned, had it? Kisanuki had captured it while separated from the rest of the party. All in anticipation of this moment. “Mou! Protect me!” Kisanuki shouted. With a fat jiggle, the massive slime created a cavity inside its body that it used to envelop its master. Now protected by a gelatinous wall that was impervious to both physical and magical attacks, Kisanuki began to laugh once more. “Mwa-ha… Ah-ha-ha, ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!” Kisanuki had yet to transform into demon form, but as he twisted in spasms, cackling to himself, a demon was exactly what he looked like to Yuuma. He had just turned one of his own classmates into a card and was laughing with hysterical joy at his success. He was gone. Out of his mind. A demon? Man? Maybe he was both. Demonspawn. “Ah-ha-ha-ha! Kya-ha-ha-ha, kyaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha!!” The twisted laughter of the demonspawn, Kisanuki, echoed across the vast and desolate main lobby. (TO BE CONTINUED)