“I manipulated these monsters because I wanted to see your skill in action. You know, if a student dies during one of these training exercises, the odds of the Dungeon Association canceling them are pretty high. This might be my only chance to steal from a student, but your skill is oh so worth it. Thank you for your cooperation, Amane Hana.”
Like a serpent, his mouth split into a grin. “Enough preamble. Time to clean up.”
The system suddenly spoke inside her head.
“Oh—?!”
“You have been chosen as the Plunderer’s target.”
“This decision cannot be rescinded unless the target and the activator agree.”
She was doomed. He’d chosen her as his prey, and there was no going back.
“Target set,” he taunted. “I do have to touch my chosen target, but when you touched me to activate Stock, that condition was fulfilled. Now, shall we get on with things?”
Leisurely, Yanagi ambled toward her. If she didn’t escape, he would kill her for sure. Hana spun and dashed away on trembling legs.
Whoa! she thought as she careened forward. She could run much faster than she expected. That’s right! I leveled up!
Defeating the treants raised her level significantly. As much as she disliked using a borrowed skill to beat them, she couldn’t hate it anymore. Her top priority was to get out of the dungeon.
Sadly, it wouldn’t be that easy.
“Oh, no, you don’t. Treant, catch her!” he shouted.
The treant launched countless branches and vines at her. She was a sitting duck—wait. She had one last option!
“Bullet!” she cried, hands outstretched. That black mana launched from her hands, exploded the branches and vines, and sent the treant’s body tumbling. Yanagi drooped and raised his hands in disbelief at the sight.
“What in the world? I thought you drained your MP—wait, no. You used the MP you gained from leveling up, didn’t you?”
Now’s my chance!
While Yanagi was occupied, Hana sprinted off again.
“Oh, where do you think you’re going?” he called after her. In a flash, he slid in front of her and blocked her path.
She skidded to a halt. “How?!”
One deft kick from him sent her crashing to the ground. Pain unlike anything she’d ever felt flared inside her, but it didn’t incapacitate her. Not yet. She willed her newly stat-boosted body to keep fighting.
In the corner of her vision, she noticed her HP bar had fallen to half.
One more kick and I’m done for?
Chills crawled like spiders down her back, paralyzing her. Yanagi smirked down at her.
“Oho. You endured that hit? Your level rose higher than I expected.” He hummed, clearly enjoying himself. “Might as well test this out.”
A large ball of fire swirled out of the air into his upturned palm. The heat flickered across Hana’s skin even from a distance.
“This fire magic comes from the LV 9 Advanced Magic skill I stole from Katagiri,” he monologued. “I think it’ll be overkill, pardon the expression, but I’m excited to see what it does to you!”
He sounded certain that he could end her life in one strike. He wasn’t even looking at her anymore, consumed in his own world as he stared into the fire.
In her head, hazy as it was with pain, Hana knew the truth: Yanagi was about to kill her. There was nothing she could do to stop him.
I don’t want this…!
As much as her mind understood the fate that awaited her, her heart rebelled inside the cage of her chest. Wasn’t there some kind of hope? Until this day, she had lived a safe and comfortable life. She’d never felt the shadow of death pass anywhere near her. Now, it was cast directly over her, blocking out all but the faintest light.
Years of her life—years of memories—rose up in her mind’s eye.
She may not know death, but she knew loss. When she was younger, her mother and father went missing in a plane crash overseas. The cause was a monster attack. After a dungeon collapse on an uninhabited island, the monsters had escaped and wreaked havoc. Something forced the plane to crash-land on the island, a place where no adventurers could protect the passengers. Everyone inside the plane went missing.
Hana wasn’t so young that she failed to understand missing meant presumed dead. Old enough to understand they were gone, but not old enough to control her emotions. The sudden weight of loss left her crying for what felt like forever.
And her brother, Amane Rin, was her rock in the midst of a wicked storm.
He always held her hand and remained by her side. Thanks to him, she found she could rise again, no matter how many times she fell. She was beyond grateful, and she made sure he knew it. She only had one regret.
Did oniichan…ever cry?
As she drifted through her memories, she saw him again and again, strong and secure. Not once had she seen him cry. Her heart swelled with sorrow. She wondered if he thought he couldn’t cry in front of her. Had she robbed him of his chance to properly grieve?
“I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I’m sorry, oniichan.”
Her guilt would never reach him, but she had to say it. Tears overflowed from her eyes and pooled on the ground. Her cries bounced off the cold walls of the dungeon.
“Ah…”
Through her tears, she saw her red ribbon had fallen near her hand. It had come untied when Yanagi kicked her away.
An uneasy feeling overtook her, as if she’d forgotten something very important. She reached for the ribbon as if to reach that memory. Once her fingertips found the ribbon, it rushed back.