Gate Break (2)
A cave…?
It was a textbook cavern straight out of a movie or a video game. Stone walls closed in on every side, and a single passage stretched ahead into the dark.
…What do I do?
It was pitch black. Right now the light spilling from the Gate let me see a little, but once we went deeper I wouldn’t be able to see a thing.
I had no confidence walking into that darkness without any tools…
Should I just clear it in one shot with a skill?
Hmm… that felt risky too.
There was no guarantee the cave ran in a straight line. Hit a wall and I’d die on the spot.
Is there no way?
Should I go back and buy a flashlight at least?
Ah, but then we’d run out of time…
Seriously, what do I do?
While I was wracking my brain, Ren started walking slowly forward.
“Let’s go, nya.”
“…You going to be okay?”
“About what, nya?”
“Isn’t it too dark to see?”
“Cats see just fine in the dark, nya. Stop worrying and follow me, nya.”
“Ah…”
Right. Cats could see at night.
Whew…
Thank god. Bringing Ren really had been the right call.
Well, technically she’d just followed me on her own.
Still, that meant I’d trained her well enough.
Mm. Mm. Exactly.
“Hurry up, nya. We’re short on time, nya.”
Ren had already gone quite a ways ahead and was calling back in a loud voice.
“Yeah.”
Watching her fidget and stamp her feet, I figured she must be feeling the weight of responsibility. Hearing that hundreds of lives were on the line would make anyone feel responsible…
“If we’re late, the tuna sashimi at home will go bad, nya. It’s summer, so we have to hurry even more, nya.”
“……”
I narrowed my eyes and glared at her.
“…Why are you looking at me like that, nya?”
“…Weren’t we rushing because of the Gate Break?”
“Why would I hurry for that, nya? If things go wrong, you’re the one who takes the blame, nya. I don’t need to feel any responsibility at all, nya.”
“……”
Aigoo.
Figures. My mistake for expecting anything from this little shit of a cat.
When we get back, should I stick her in elementary school or something?
If she hung out with people and got some life education, maybe she’d change a little?
Hmm… that actually doesn’t sound half bad.
I could just ask the Hunter Association to handle the identity papers.
“…Master?”
“Ah—yeah. Coming.”
Damn. I’d wasted time on useless thoughts.
We had to hurry. There really was no time left.
I moved quickly and fell in beside Ren.
“What are you doing? Aren’t we going?”
“…We’re going, nya.”
“…?”
I looked at her face. She was chewing on her words like she had something to say.
“You can say it if you want.”
“……”
She shot me a sidelong glance and kept chewing, then finally:
“…Well, not wanting to watch Master suffer under a guilty conscience could also count as a reason, nya.”
“…Ren…”
“Don’t get the wrong idea, nya. It’s just that if you keep moping, the mood starts to rub off on me, nya. It’s absolutely not because I’m worried, nya.”
She trailed off with something about how I probably wouldn’t feed her properly either…
“……”
I let out a short snort of laughter.
“…Why are you laughing, nya.”
“No reason. Just felt like it.”
“…Weird master, nya.”
“That’s rich, coming from you.”
This hopelessly dishonest cat.
Step. Step.
“Master, stop, nya.”
Ren threw an arm out to block me.
“I smell blood, nya. We should go on alert, nya.”
“Blood?”
“It’s faint, but it’s there, nya. I’ll go first—stay behind me, nya.”
“…Okay.”
Gulp…
I tightened my grip on the sword and followed slowly behind her.
“…Huh?”
Ren stopped abruptly. Panic edged her voice.
“What’s wrong?”
“There’s a monster… dead, nya.”
“…What?”
She shifted slightly to the side, and only then did I see it—an orc’s corpse.
“…Why is it dead?”
“…Master, thinking about it, nya.”
“Yeah?”
“With time this tight, the Association wouldn’t have called you first, nya.”
“…What do you mean?”
“I mean… someone already went into this Gate and then dumped it on you, nya? Time was almost up and the Gate still hadn’t vanished, so only then did they figure out the situation and send people, nya.”
“……”
Was that it?
If so, the dead orc made sense. The advance team would have been a force the Association judged capable of clearing a B-Rank Gate.
Dying to an orc wouldn’t add up.
But… that means our odds of clearing this just went way up.
I didn’t know how far the advance team had gotten… but it was still better than starting from zero.
Was that a glimmer of hope?
Then what happened to the advance team?
Did they get scared of the boss and run?
Or…
No. Don’t think negative thoughts.
I slapped both cheeks—smack, smack—and banished the pessimism far away.
“Let’s move.”
“…Got it, nya.”
Leaving the orc’s corpse behind, we hurried on.
Step. Step.
“…Another monster corpse, nya.”
“Just keep going.”
“Another one, nya.”
“Keep going.”
“…Another.”
“……”
Just how far had they cleared this place?
We’d been walking for over twenty minutes and all I could see were monster bodies.
Not a single person in sight…
“…There’s a person, nya.”
“What?”
“Over there…”
“…I can’t see anything.”
I looked where Ren was pointing, but the darkness showed me nothing.
“You’re sure someone’s there?”
“I’m sure, nya. Don’t underestimate a cat’s night vision, nya. But her condition looks a bit…”
“…Who’s there?”
A woman’s voice drifted out of the black.
…So there really was someone.
“Are you here to help?”
“For now…? Could you come this way first?”
“Ah… I’m sorry, I can’t. As you can see…”
Flash—
“…one of my legs is gone.”
“……”
Light spilled out and revealed her, and the sight was nothing short of horrific.
Her right leg was missing below the thigh. Both arms were gone entirely.
Ugh—!
I nearly retched.
Somehow I forced it down, then made myself look at her face and speak.
“How did you… end up like this…”
“The boss monster got me. I tried to fight it somehow… and wound up like this, so I barely escaped with a teleportation spell. Left my teammates behind… Pathetic, right? Me?”
“…Are the others all dead?”
“Probably. I’m sorry. Because of us failures, you got stuck with the cleanup. We’ve been a nuisance.”
“…It’s fine.”
“Haha. You can be honest, you know. You’re kind.”
“……”
What was I supposed to say?
Should I tell her it was an unavoidable choice? Offer comfort?
Or reassure her that everything would be okay?
I didn’t know. I’d never been in a situation like this.
But I knew formal words wouldn’t make her feel any better.
I knew that better than anyone.
I bit my lip hard and lowered my head.
“Can you stop the Gate Break…?”
“…I’ll try. No—I’ll do it.”
“Thank you. Ah, be careful. The boss room had a ton of goblins and orcs in there too, not just the boss.”
“…I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Then… I’ll just…”
With those last words, the woman closed her eyes as the light faded.
“……”
I walked over to her.
Even in the dark, the tear tracks on her face stood out clearly.
“……”
I wiped away the tiny droplets still clinging to her eyes.
“Rest easy.”
I took off my coat and laid it over her.
Then I clasped my hands and closed my eyes—to show the greatest respect I could to someone who had died fighting monsters inside a Gate.
“…Let’s go.”
“…Nya.”
We walked in silence.
We walked and walked, until my black shoes had stepped over countless corpses and were stained red with blood.
And at last… a massive stone door came into view.
The atmosphere alone told me. This was the room of the boss that had killed her teammates.
“…Ready?”
“I’m always ready, nya.”
“…Then…”
Creeeak…
Watching people die… I still couldn’t get used to it.
And forgiving the ones who killed them…
“KRAAAAAH!”
…was something I would never, ever do.
Thunder Dragon
I shot skyward at the speed of lightning.
Blue lightning wrapped around my body.
I couldn’t see the shape of that lightning… but I knew.
Right now, I had become a dragon’s head.
I reversed my grip on the sword.
No particular reason. It just felt like the right thing to do.
Heavenly Annihilation
BOOOOOOM—!
I plummeted in a straight line at impossible speed. The sword punched into the ground and unleashed a colossal shockwave.
Monsters toppled backward one after another. Their bodies convulsed, then went still.
“The price for taking human lives…”
I slowly drew the sword free from the earth.
And as I leveled it at the enormous, hideous thing far ahead—
“…you’ll pay with your own.”