I Want To See Your Blood

Every day has been fun ever since I started dreaming about that girl. Once she began teaching me swordsmanship, I begged my mother until she finally let me attend a kendo school.

I became more and more absorbed in kendo. It was fun getting better. I was happy whenever I put what I’d learned into practice in my dreams and that girl praised me for it. She was as strong as ever, but even so, I was having fun.

But I think it was around then that my memories of reality began growing increasingly sparse. My mother became even more devoted to worshipping that strange statue, and she started hurting me more often and saying harsh things to me (though I barely remember any of it). The only places where I belonged were when I was practicing kendo and inside my dreams.

I barely remembered anything about school. But I felt like I stopped talking to people very much. It wasn’t fun talking to kids like that anyway. Besides, if I didn’t say anything, I wouldn’t get into fights. I didn’t want to make someone who would hit me like my mother did.

Around that time, I began feeling as though someone who wasn’t me was living my life at school. I didn’t know why, but it felt like another version of me was talking to all sorts of people. Even though Gatari-kun and I were supposedly having conversations, I had no sense that I myself was actually speaking.

It was a strange sensation, but I didn’t particularly dislike it. If some kind of malice had been behind it, I think I would have hated it, but instead, it felt as though something warm was protecting me.

Thinking that this was fine, I kept swinging my sword. If I left everything to it—if I just kept leaving everything to it—I wouldn’t have to experience unpleasant things at home. I could simply remain a good, well-behaved child who never caused trouble. If I didn’t get involved with anyone, no one would have to think I was unpleasant. I wouldn’t have to show anyone my 『true self』, which was probably actually very, very bad. Someone harmless to everyone, yet also an exemplary good child.

I thought that if I could do everything and live up to everyone’s expectations, my mother would praise me. I was sure my father would come home too.

Even Though That Was Never Going To Happen.

~From the Monologue of Konoha Kushibiki~

~Crux Cave, 23rd Underground Floor~

“Agate!”

Konoha swiftly drew Agate and deflected the Minotaur King’s greatsword. Sparks crackled through the air, but she did not flinch, slipping beneath the blade and closing the distance between herself and the Minotaur King. However—

“GROOOOOOOOOOAAAR!!!”

“!?”

Despite its enormous body, the Minotaur King displayed astonishing jumping power. It leaped backward a great distance, regained its stance, and charged again. Fast!!

“《Oni Slayer》!”

As Agate sliced through the air, three slashes struck the Minotaur King. Bright-red blood sprayed from its chest, staining the cavern red. Even that, however, could not halt its momentum. The Minotaur King swung its greatsword at Konoha again and again.

S-Rank: 9 Minotaur King. It was a monster one level stronger than the Goblin King they had fought earlier. Its greatest threat lay in the speed that completely belied its massive frame.

Konoha skillfully used Agate to deflect the greatsword while gradually retreating.

Crunch.

(Did I step on something!?)

As Konoha lost her balance, the Minotaur King swung its greatsword horizontally at her. However—

“Hup!”

Konoha planted her left hand on the ground and immediately flipped backward. She narrowly avoided the greatsword and continued backstepping until she reached the edge of the lake.

When she stared at what she had stepped on earlier—

“Human… bones.”

“Looking around, there are more of them too~. This was probably the graveyard of adventurers who tried challenging this route in small groups.”

The magic item Mermaid’s Tear was expensive, so supplying enough for a large party was impractical. On top of that, considering how deep they had needed to dive, reaching the twenty-third floor from that entrance was extremely difficult. That meant anyone using this route would inevitably have to challenge the Minotaur King with only a small group.

“I wondered why it was taking us so long to arrive, but apparently we’d descended quite far. Konoha, I assumed you were just swimming around randomly.”

“I was swimming randomly, you know? But I did want to take a shortcut, so I followed Heat Detection and Rose-chan’s advice, and somehow we ended up here.”

“So we got unlucky by sheer coincidence. No, considering we didn’t run into that woman, I suppose it could have been worse. All right, let’s crush this thing!”

Meiro took out her Frost Blossom Staff and began constructing a magical formula.

“Skill 《Freezing》!”

Frost began spreading across the twenty-third-floor stage, including the lake.

“All right, Rose-chan, I’ll take the front.”

“I’ll provide mid-range support, while Mee-chan handles long-range attacks. That’s a good balance~”

“Yeah! All right, let’s go. Skill 《Oni Princess》! Come forth, Ibaraki-doji!”

At Konoha’s chant, wind began swirling around her. The resulting shockwave forced the charging Minotaur King backward.

“Beautiful…”

Konoha’s hair slowly turned silver starting from the crown of her head, a black kimono appeared over her body, and when she opened her eyes, they revealed a blazing crimson color. Watching Konoha transform, Rose unconsciously whispered.

She radiated an overwhelmingly divine aura. Despite her small stature, she gave off an atmosphere that completely refused to allow any enemy near her. Even the Minotaur King remained frozen for a while, but then—

“GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!”

“…?”

The Minotaur King suddenly began screaming. Konoha looked around cautiously, but nothing seemed to be emerging nearby.

“Th-that startled me. But if nothing’s happening, then let’s keep pressing the atta—”

“Stop, Meiro-chan.”

“Kono… ha?”

“I can hear something. It’s far away, but… footsteps? Rose-chan?”

Konoha asked Rose while closing one eye.

“Yeah, there’s definitely some kind of sound coming from below. And the Minotaur King’s acting strangely too…”

“Wha!? It’s running away!”

At Meiro’s shout, the other two looked toward the cavern passage at the same time. Accompanied by booming tremors, they saw the enormous black figure disappear into the distance.

“Should we follow it, Meiro-chan?”

“Of course. It might be a trap, but not following isn’t an option.”

The three proceeded cautiously down the dark passage. Since there were no lights ahead of them, it appeared this was still an unexplored stage.

“《Illumination》.”

“Skill 《Range Expansion》.”

Rose’s skill spread the light leaking from Meiro’s staff farther outward. The interior of the cave became about as bright as a tunnel in broad daylight.

“That skill’s really convenient! You used it when you fought Meiro-chan too!”

“It’s a skill that expands the area affected by magic. Since magic can be interpreted however the caster wants, there are all sorts of applications~. Normally it only extends the distance magic can reach, but depending on your interpretation, you can even expand the magic’s actual power.”

“Whoa!”

Konoha’s eyes sparkled while Meiro sighed.

“Konoha, Rose is the unusual one here. Normally, the interpretation of magic is fixed. To twist that interpretation, you need the computational skill to decipher the constructed magical formula and modify it. Doing that effortlessly—and at almost the same speed as normal activation—is something only a 『genius』 can manage.”

Magic was activated only after constructing a magical formula. Meiro and Konoha were difficult standards for comparison because of their high levels, but normally, activating magic took much longer.

Furthermore, simply activating magic required only combining several existing formulas, but changing those formulas required modifications based on precise calculations. To give an analogy, activating a magical skill was like assembling furniture whose major pieces had already been prepared. Changing a skill’s interpretation was like building the same furniture from a pile of completely separate parts.

“Ahaha~ It’s really not that impressive~. It’s just that if you don’t use everything available to you, you can’t win. That’s how I’ve always survived.”

Rose lowered her eyes slightly and smiled sadly. Her determination was anything but ordinary.

“Oh, this is…”

“A slope. It’s pretty steep, though.”

“Think it went all the way down there~? Looking at how deep this is, we really were underwater for quite a while~”

“We probably descended around a hundred meters without realizing it. Though strangely, I didn’t feel much water pressure.”

“That’s because I made the swimsuits out of material that boosts the defensive strength of your whole body. But what about yours, Rose-chan…?”

“Well, I’m only half human, so my body’s pretty tough~”

“Your mother was… don’t tell me…”

“We’ll talk about that later~. Look, it seems like this opens into some huge chamber~”

They extinguished their light and peered through the end of the passage into the enormous space beyond. The Minotaur King was sitting there.

“All right, let’s do this.”

“Kono… ha?”

Konoha drew Agate and slowly advanced. Step by step, she gradually increased her pace, eventually breaking into a light run, and then—

“Bye-bye.”

“Wha!? Konoha!?”

She attacked from the Minotaur King’s blind spot, coming in from behind its left side and aiming a slash beneath its arm.

But at that moment, something crossed Konoha’s field of vision. Was that… a needle?

“______!?”

Shubabababa!!

Countless black needles shot toward Konoha. The black weapons assaulted her before her eyes could adjust to the darkness.

“Defense Skill 《Barrier》!”

She instantly deployed a barrier and avoided disaster, but several needles still embedded themselves in Konoha’s shoulder.

“Ow…”

She pulled out the needles and examined them. They were thin and black, and probably coated with some kind of poison.

“Here’s one back.”

She held a needle between her fingers and threw it toward the direction from which the attack had come. At that moment, she heard a faint sound.

“Something’s there.”

“Konoha! Don’t go too far ahead! Ngh!”

The Minotaur King noticed Meiro, leaped into the air, and brought its greatsword crashing down.

CRAAAAASH!!

The surface of the cavern floor peeled apart, sending dust billowing into the air.

“What ridiculous strength!! Skill 《Freezing》!”

“I’ll support you~! 《Magic Capacity Enhancement》!”

Rose’s skill dramatically increased the power of Meiro’s attack skill. As a result, the temperature inside the cave rapidly plummeted. Then—

“《Noise Cancellation》~!”

Rose’s skill took effect on the Minotaur King’s greatsword. Immediately afterward, she noticed its arm suddenly droop.

“Just as I thought, that’s a magical weapon~. Come forth, Honikazuchi!”

A pitch-black spear appeared in Rose’s hand. The blade at its tip split apart, and several bladeless-handled fragments began floating in the air.

“Stay back until Mee-chan finishes spreading the ice~. After that,

I’ll handle it.“

Rose’s lips curled into a grin. Taking a spear-fighting stance, she faced the Minotaur King.

“I’ll kill you dead~”

Something was wrong. Why had it screamed? Why had it come down here? What were those black needles from earlier? And what was that thing moving behind the unknown creature that had fired the black needles from behind me?

“Oh, I get it.”

Konoha produced flames from Agate and illuminated the surrounding area. Her field of vision gradually expanded. At the edge of it stood an enormous beast. And emerging from behind it were—

“Ogres, was it? They’ve got pretty funny-looking faces.”

Ugly faces. Green, bipedal pigs that inspired even more disgust than goblins. Each carried iron weapons in its hands as they advanced with leering smiles. Disgusting.

“I see. So we really did walk into a trap.”

The beast confronting Konoha had doglike ears and fangs, enormous yellow eyes, and a gigantic pitch-black body covered in bristling fur. Its hair fell out with every step, but whenever one of those hairs hit the ground, it made a sharp metallic clink. It was probably hardened.

“The Dark Wolf King. And coming from behind…”

The moment the Ogres spotted me, they rushed toward me, each trying to get ahead of the others as though they had finally found prey they’d desperately wanted.

(No need to rush, okay? I’ll make sure to)

“Cut every last one of you to pieces♪”

I kicked off the ground and charged forward. An Ogre came at me.

(Ah, your neck is completely exposed.)

Slash! Slash slash slash!!

(See, if you all bunch up together like that in front of me—)

“You’re aaall going to die, you know? 《Oni Slayer》!!”

Several dozen Ogres fell apart into pieces. At last, I had a clear view. That meant I could clearly see what was approaching me now as well.

“Ogre Lord.”

A gigantic body more than eight meters tall looked down at me and licked its lips. Did it think I looked delicious? Its face was incredibly ugly, and green liquid occasionally dripped from its mouth.

“We were completely lured in, huh? So, what should I do?”

I didn’t feel particularly afraid. More than that… what was this? Something almost like exhilaration. Konoha unconsciously licked her lips. It didn’t look appetizing in the slightest. Her blood was boiling. Somehow, it felt as though the blood in her veins had begun flowing faster.

(Ah, Hurry.)

“I want to see your blood.”