The Failed Awakening
"Abel, I had so much fun today!"
"Yeah, me too. And thanks to you, Yuni, I think I'll do well on the exams. Thank you."
"It's nothing! Besides, teaching you helped me study too."
It was late afternoon. After finishing their library session, the pair were heading back to the academy. Of course, they hadn't spent the entire day buried in books. They'd taken a meal break together, wandered around sightseeing, and even shared a few accidental touches that sparked a strangely charged atmosphere.
Overall, it had been a satisfying day. Abel and Yuni strolled side by side down the quiet city streets.
That was when it happened.
"Out of the way! Move aside!"
A massive carriage came barreling down the road from the far end, driving with reckless speed. It must have been loaded with heavy cargo; the rattling and clanging reached all the way here. The driver was clearly pushing it too hard.
As feared, the accident happened in an instant.
Crack!
One of the carriage wheels struck a protruding stone in the road, bounced violently, and shattered on impact. The carriage tilted sharply, and the enormous object it carried tumbled to the ground.
Boom!
A cloud of dust billowed up as the tarp covering the load flew skyward. Beneath it lay a giant iron cage—and inside, a grotesquely shaped frog-like monster. A Bore Frog.
Stunned by the fall, the Bore Frog pried open the bent bars and scanned its surroundings.
"I-is that a monster?"
"R-run!"
Everyone on the street fled at the sight of the creature. Monsters were normally used as arena fodder in the coliseum. Supplying them required strict legal procedures and hired mercenaries to guarantee safety. In other words, the coachman had been an illegal smuggler.
—Gururuuk?
The Bore Frog inflated its vocal sac hugely as it watched the fleeing people, then hopped after them. Or tried to.
"Stop right there!"
"A-Abel!"
If not for the boy and girl who stepped into its path.
Abel stood facing the Bore Frog and spoke to Yuni without taking his eyes off it.
"Yuni. If we leave it alone, people will get hurt. We have to stop it."
"But…"
"It's okay. We can handle this. It's not that strong. Will you help me?"
The Bore Frog had been unable to break out of the cage under its own power. The two of them should be more than enough. That was Abel's assessment.
Yuni glanced back and forth between Abel and the monster, then gave a firm nod.
"All right! I'll help too."
"Thanks. I'll hold its attention. You hit it with magic, Yuni."
"Got it! Just give me a second!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Yuni entrusted her safety to Abel and began casting. A calm yet commanding flow of mana gathered, condensing into flames in her palms.
The Bore Frog's gaze snapped to her instantly. It had judged her the greater threat.
In that opening, Abel swung his sword to keep its focus.
Thud!
The blade struck elastic flesh with a wet smack. The creature's rubbery hide was tough enough to deflect edged weapons. Still, the attack successfully pulled its attention away from Yuni.
"That's right! Over here! Look at me!"
Had the Bore Frog been a high-ranking monster, it might have ignored him. But it was a low-intelligence creature that prioritized whatever enemy stood directly before it.
—Gururuuk!
With its vocal sac fully inflated, the Bore Frog charged at Abel.
"Deborah."
"I already know. I've laid detection magic over the whole area, so don't worry."
"Good. If you spot anyone suspicious, tell me immediately."
Her confident reply eased my mind. I peered down at Abel through the window. We were on the third floor of an empty building listed for rent. The security had been laughably weak; Deborah's magic opened it without trouble. The price for that convenience was her grumbling about being dragged into something unrelated to her own fate.
"Should be about time."
The fight had been going for five minutes. Yuni's spells had landed several times, and Abel had been knocked rolling across the ground by the creature's tongue more than once. By game standards, the Bore Frog's health was down to half. Phase two was about to begin.
—Gurururururuuk!
The sign appeared right on cue. The Bore Frog inflated its vocal sac to a size far beyond anything it had shown before, then vomited a mass of sticky eggs from its belly. They splattered across the ground, cracked open with a sharp crunch, and released dozens of tiny tadpoles. Strangely, they already had both front and rear legs the moment they emerged.
All of them swarmed toward Abel at once.
"Whoa!"
"Abel, watch out!"
Despite his obvious disgust at their grotesque forms, Abel calmly swung his sword to fend them off. At the same time he had to maintain the Bore Frog's attention and dodge its lashing tongue. The burden had doubled.
The battle had grown far more difficult, yet Abel continued to grow through the pressure.
Those tadpoles really are a sweet spot for grinding.
They were incredibly annoying, but they offered insane leveling speed. In the game, some players would ignore the level-100 kill condition and deliberately farm the tadpoles for hours. The developers eventually patched it so you couldn't go past level 110, turning the tactic into a short-lived early-game exploit.
Whoever had dragged me into this world had clearly paid attention to those details.
I was still lost in thought when Deborah suddenly cried out.
"Found him!"
"You did?"
"Yes. I can't see him from here, but there's a man on the rooftop of a building at three o'clock. He's a cat beastkin. Cream-colored bob cut, amber eyes—"
"Ah, her. Don't bother with that one."
"Huh?"
"I already know her. Anyone else?"
"...Not yet."
"Then keep looking. There has to be one."
"Y-yes..."
She had just delivered a result, only to be told I already knew the person. Deborah pouted and hung her head. I felt a twinge of guilt for being so curt with someone I was using, but I didn't have time to coddle her right now.
Bang!
"Ugh!"
"Abel!"
A tongue whipped in from Abel's blind spot while he was occupied with the tadpoles, sending him flying. The way he clutched his side suggested broken ribs.
This is bad...
In the game, attacks only reduced an HP bar. Here, they had real consequences. Abel's movements had grown sluggish, and the power behind his swings had dropped noticeably. The balance of the fight was tipping further and further to one side.
I prepared to step in using Deborah if it came to that. Fortunately, the worst outcome was avoided.
The problem was that the salvation came from an unexpected source.
"Abel! Move!"
"Huh? Whoa!"
Yuni's mana density suddenly surged. A blazing spear of flame materialized above her head.
Fourth-circle magic—Flame Spear. A spell mages could only use after reaching level 100. But its size was abnormal. What should have been roughly two meters long was closer to three. Its power was also far beyond what someone who had just entered the fourth circle should possess.
Did she gain Fire Affinity?
Reaching level 100 granted not only better stat efficiency but also a new unique skill. Yuni normally chose between Fire Affinity and Flame Explosion. It looked like she had taken the former this time.
The important part was that the current Yuni was incomparably stronger than she had been moments ago.
The Flame Spear shot past Abel's head and buried itself in the Bore Frog's mouth.
Whoosh!
The condensed heat inside the spear spread through the monster's entire body in an instant, incinerating it from the inside. It let out a surprisingly cute shriek, thrashed wildly across the ground, and finally lay still—charred completely black.
An utterly anticlimactic victory.
"Yuni, that was incredible! Did you just have a breakthrough?"
"Yeah! Let's finish off the rest of them first!"
As I watched Abel and Yuni mop up the remaining tadpoles, a heavy unease settled over me.
Abel never awakened.
Starting with chapter two, the battles would only grow more intense. I wasn't sure he could keep up like this. Inside my head, the same image kept replaying—Abel charging ahead recklessly only to collapse pathetically.
Fuck.
I was busy trying to come up with a plan when Deborah suddenly blurted out.
"Bald wig!"
"...What? Where did that come from?"
"A bald man wearing a wig was watching the fight from the alley. He drew his sword like he was about to jump in, but the moment the Bore Frog died he clicked his tongue and started leaving!"
"You should have said that first! We're going after him. Lead the way!"
"Ah, yes!"
We burst out of the building and sprinted toward the alley where the man had been.
"Where is he?"
"One moment."
Deborah placed her hand on the ground and sent out a tracing spell. After a few seconds she stood up and shook her head.
"I'm sorry. There are no traces."
"No traces at all? Is that even possible?"
"...If his magic skills are higher than mine, yes. But he looked like a swordsman. Maybe he used some kind of special artifact?"
"An artifact..."
I didn't know the exact method, but there were certainly ways to erase tracks. Is he a transmigrator? If so, acquiring an item that could wipe away traces would be child's play. I could think of at least two off the top of my head.
The problem was that I had no confirmation. The Bore Frog looked like it had been headed for an illegal underground arena. He might simply be connected to that business.
"Deborah, how old did he look?"
"Huh? Oh, about our age."
"Then he's probably an academy student..."
A fellow student. A bald swordsman wearing a wig. No clue could be clearer.
Time to start investigating.
Whoever you are.
Meanwhile, on a nearby rooftop, Pernia frowned as she watched the scene below.
"What the hell? He didn't awaken?"
She had arrived an hour early to witness the first major highlight of the Abel Chronicles with her own eyes. Instead, she had watched the hero get protected by the heroine.
The disappointment of a devoted fan was one thing, but her greater concern was something else entirely.
"At this rate, can we even reach the ending?"
Cat beastkin Pernia. Also known as Chiara Ancelotti. A former pickpocket working under an Italian mafia family, she wanted nothing more than to return home. Her brother was waiting for her there.
Abandoned by her parents and raised as an orphan, he was her only remaining blood relative and her emotional anchor. That was why she had forced herself to use that ridiculous cat-like verbal tic to get close to Abel. Now all that effort seemed wasted.
"This won't work."
She could no longer afford to simply wait and trust in Abel. There was only one path left.
I have to do it myself.
She would grow strong enough to walk toward the ending on her own two feet. For that, she would need to use every scrap of knowledge she possessed. And if necessary, she would use the protagonist's party as well.
Pernia stared at Abel with narrowed eyes.
"A perfect idea just came to me."
She had put it off because doing it alone would be difficult, but since she had decided to cast aside all restrictions, she might as well test her theory and reap the benefits at the same time. Inside her mind, the plan rapidly took on clearer, sharper detail.