Chapter 22: Midterm Exam (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 22: Midterm Exam (3)
Ever since I was young, I rarely got motion sickness.
Even when I happened to board a fishing boat by chance, I had enjoyed a breezy outing on the water, soaking in the salty sea wind. Even the seasoned sailors had shaken their heads in amazement at the sight.
Perhaps because of that, after warping to Scopuli Island through the Gate, I was the only one who seemed remotely fine.
Chloe and Speed Weapon had each claimed a tree and were busy throwing up their guts, and even Rachel was staggering, clutching her forehead with a deathly pale face.
I glanced at Leon, who was standing next to me. Judging by his slightly pale complexion, he seemed to be holding it together through sheer willpower, fitting for our team leader.
"...Geomma, you seem perfectly fine."
"I don't really get motion sickness."
"...Haha, I don't think this is a motion sickness problem, though."
While my teammates settled their upset stomachs, I shifted my gaze to scan our surroundings.
A refreshingly wide, deep-blue horizon stretched out before my eyes. Birds chirped, and the salty tang of the sea rode the wind, brushing past the tip of my nose.
Scattered tropical trees and stone statues resembling Moai heads on the periphery of my vision lent the place a mysterious atmosphere.
After I spent about five minutes taking in the sights, the team members seemed to have recovered enough to gather around Leon, our leader. Leon swept his golden hair back once and calmly briefed us on the plan.
"Just as we decided in our meeting, Chloe, head toward the 1 o'clock direction first and scout. If there's a pack of mermen, locate them and report back to me."
Chloe gave a small nod. Leon turned his gaze to Rachel and continued his explanation.
"Rachel, you stand at the front of the formation, okay? Since your armament is a spear, you have the longest reach. Don't overdo it, though. I'll support you depending on the situation."
Rachel hoisted her Sky-Piercing Halberd—which she had been leaning on like a cane—onto her shoulder and flashed an OK sign with her fingers. She seemed to have recovered her condition to some extent.
"Speed Weapon, try to prioritize casting buff-type Blessings on Rachel. And Geomma, you watch our rear in case of any unexpected enemies."
Speed Weapon, who still hadn't fully recovered from his motion sickness, covered his mouth and nodded silently. His complexion was pitiful to look at.
My gaze drifted toward Leon.
He was acting as the commander with a level of skill that was hard to believe for someone his age. The sense of déjà vu I felt looking at him—he was the exact image of the protagonist, Leon, whom I had played.
"Alright, let's begin!"
At Leon's command, the team members grabbed their armaments and began to move busily. Chloe, our vanguard, dashed forward with incredible speed. She was so fast that she vanished from sight in an instant.
She seems even faster now.
We followed her path, walking along the trail. Perhaps because it was a tropical region, it was humid and hot. My clothes quickly became soaked with sweat. I loosened my tie, which was suffocatingly tight around my neck.
I wasn't the only one suffering from the heat; Speed Weapon was drooping with his tongue hanging out like a dog with heatstroke, while Rachel was fanning herself aggressively with an annoyed expression.
At least Leon was walking with perfect posture, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword. I asked him,
"Aren't you hot?"
"Of course I am," Leon replied with a bright smile.
"But preparing for any contingency is my role. At the very least, the team leader shouldn't let his guard down."
"...Right."
I couldn't think of a response to words so utterly faithful to the protagonist's role. While he was incredibly reassuring, honestly, he was a bit of a bore. I let out a short sigh and looked ahead again.
The sparse tropical rainforest had grown dense before I knew it, towering thick enough to block the view on both sides.
The ground was also becoming muddy, suggesting a wetland was nearby. The footprints of our five-member team were stamped like seals into the thick, muddy path.
A strange atmosphere brought a creeping sense of anxiety. I subtly felt around my waist. Feeling the cool touch of my Sashimi wrapped in its sheath made me feel much better.
* * *
After walking for a while, we saw Chloe approaching us from afar. The way she hopped from branch to branch made her look just like a ninja straight out of an anime.
Once she arrived, she took a deep breath to catch her wind before speaking.
"About 500 meters ahead, there's a pack of roughly fifty mermen gathered around a large pool of water."
"Fifty, huh... That's more than I expected."
Leon stroked his chin, lost in thought. Even if they were D-rank mermen, which were considered weak, a pack of fifty could still be quite a handful.
Of course, with our current lineup, subjugating fifty or even a hundred mermen wouldn't be difficult, but there was still risk involved.
Generally, when subjugating a pack of magical beasts, a hit-and-run strategy is preferred. One couldn't rule out the possibility of more hidden beasts lurking nearby.
However, if we wiped out that many at once, first place would practically be guaranteed. Leon was likely weighing his options in his head right now.
Take the risk, or play it safe and take a detour? The decision rested on him as the team leader.
Having made up his mind, Leon's expression hardened as he turned his gaze to Rachel.
"Rachel, can you do it?"
"Of course! Even if a hundred of those fish-heads show up, they won't stand a chance against me!"
She squared her shoulders and thumped her chest with a clenched fist, as if telling him to leave it all to her. Chloe shot Rachel a sullen look.
Pleased with her confident answer, Leon wore a satisfied smile and spoke to Speed Weapon.
"Try to focus all your buffs and healing on Rachel or Chloe. I'll be fine."
Then, Leon added, looking at me,
"Geomma, you watch our rear for any potential ambushes, just like we planned."
I nodded readily in agreement.
This was the ultimate free ride. There were moments when I regretted getting involved with Leon, but seeing him act as such a reliable pillar made me suddenly think that joining this team was a great choice.
But since a moment ago, a faint tremor had been running through my entire body. A fierce sensation, like needles pricking my skin, kept bothering me.
Was I the only one feeling this? There was no sign of tension or anxiety on the faces of the other team members. Even Leon showed no change in expression, as if he didn't sense anything at all.
Swallowing hard, I followed behind my teammates.
Soon after, we reached our destination, and about twenty meters ahead, the mermen surrounding the large pool came into view.
Ugh, shit.
The moment I saw them, my stomach, which had survived the warp perfectly fine, began to churn. It was bad enough that they were bipedal fish, but of all things, their heads looked exactly like the salmon I had eaten for breakfast. Just looking at them felt like taking internal damage. I shuddered from the nausea.
Leon gave Rachel a quiet nod. She glanced back at me, flashed a quick wink, and then dashed toward the pack of about thirty mermen, her blonde hair tied in twin tails fluttering behind her.
Crack—!
Incredible leg strength, fitting for a physical powerhouse. The muddy ground caved in where Rachel stamped her foot. With a spirited battle cry, she swung her Sky-Piercing Halberd with immense force.
With a gruesome crunching sound of the blade catching on bone, three mermen were sliced horizontally in a single strike.
Only then did the mermen notice us, their gills flapping as they charged in unison.
A raw sensation I was experiencing for the first time. However, the other team members, seemingly used to it, rushed in right behind Rachel.
Speed Weapon brought the recorder hanging around his neck to his lips and began to play. As for the sound... well, I was completely tone-deaf, but even I could tell it wasn't a very pleasant melody. It reminded me of a horribly off-key rendition of the Titanic theme song I had heard somewhere before.
At his playing, the corners of Rachel's mouth curled up into a wide grin, and she swept through the mermen, swinging her spear even more violently than before.
Crunch.
The sound of the spearhead colliding with bone echoed.
With every whoosh of the air being sliced open, severed fish heads flew into the air.
Crazy.
With each swing, blood splattered off the blade with a sharp splat.
Watching Rachel's martial prowess left my jaw hanging open. Wherever her movements took her, mermen split in half cleared a path.
Standing side-by-side with Rachel was Chloe, whose katana pierced precisely into the gills of three mermen.
Squelch— Squelch— Squelch—
The fish eyes instantly turned cloudy. Even amidst the chaos, Chloe's swordsmanship was faster and more precise than before.
Chloe quickly withdrew her sword, leaped high into the air, and unleashed a rapid flurry of strikes from above. Shadows of her blade rained down upon the pack of mermen. Fountains of sticky blood erupted, splattering in all directions.
The two beautiful girls slaughtered the mermen as if competing with each other. Whenever their eyes met, sparks practically flew between them.
Leon, who had been watching, drew his sword halfway before sheathing it again and shrugging awkwardly. There was simply no opening for him to step in.
"...Impressive."
"Yeah. I didn't expect them to be this good. I guess my worries were for nothing," Leon replied with a chuckle when I muttered.
At some point, Leon and I had crossed our arms, simply spectating the salmon-filleting show put on by the two girls.
Watching Speed Weapon standing between them, completely absorbed with his eyes closed as he blew toot, toot on his recorder, made me chuckle. I knew I shouldn't laugh at someone doing their absolute best, but it was just too funny.
A few minutes passed like that, and the once-massive pack of mermen had turned into dead fish, giving off a pungent, fishy stench.
The blood seeping from the cold corpses formed a small stream, trickling down toward the pool. The sight felt a bit chilling, making my shoulders shudder slightly. I blinked, staring at the corpses, before shifting my gaze forward.
Rachel wiped the sweat from her forehead with a refreshed expression, while Chloe quietly harvested the mermen's tail fins. Speed Weapon also looked satisfied with his own performance, a look of relief spreading across his face.
Rather morbidly, the exam was graded based on the number of tail fins collected, so Leon stepped in to help Chloe with the harvesting.
Honestly, I hadn't done a single thing. Feeling a bit disappointed, I clicked my tongue softly.
The team members quickly finished harvesting and gathered. The number of defeated mermen was forty-eight. This was a performance that would easily land us in the top three, at the very least. After carefully counting the fins, Leon spoke.
"I think we just need to defeat a few more mermen we run into on our way back."
Just as we were about to leave the area with light steps—
A sudden presence from behind sent goosebumps running down my spine.
The moment I turned my head, a sharp slash echoed.
Fresh blood splattered before my eyes. Leon's side was deeply slashed, and he collapsed forward, coughing up blood. The sudden turn of events left everyone wide-eyed in shock.
""""!""""
A faint ringing echoed in my ears. My gaze instinctively tracked the source of the sound.
"T-That's...!"
Speed Weapon trembled violently.
A figure rose above the pool of water where we had just been standing.
Its skeletal structure was similar to a human's, but its entire body was covered in scales, its pupils were slit vertically like a snake's, and webbing filled the spaces between its fingers and toes.
A Majin Mermaid stood atop the blood-red pool.
To think the source of the spine-chilling anxiety I felt was actually a Majin. Of course, no such event had occurred when I played the game. Then again, in the original timeline, I wouldn't have been in Leon's team in the first place.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—!
Before the shock could even fade, a deafening roar that shook the ground echoed through the trees.
In a situation already made despairing by the sudden appearance of the Mermaid, a pack of roughly a hundred mermen immediately blocked our retreat.
Speed Weapon fell flat on his backside, while Rachel and Chloe could only gape in sheer disbelief. Leon was gasping for breath, coughing up mouthfuls of blood.
I was the only one left with a clear head.
Ah, shit.
I shook the dazed Chloe by her shoulders to snap her out of it.
"Chloe, first, find a way to get to another team nearby and call for backup. Hurry."
Chloe flinched, nodding blankly in response.
I immediately turned my gaze to Rachel and Speed Weapon, speaking as calmly as possible.
"Speed Weapon, pour all your healing Blessings into Leon. And Rachel, you keep those fish bastards from getting anywhere near Leon, no matter what."
With those words, I turned my back and headed toward the pool.
"I'll leave the small fry to you guys."
"G-Geomma, don't tell me...?"
"Hey, are you out of your mind, you bastard?!"
Rachel and Speed Weapon's voices trembled.
"Big fish happen to be my specialty."
Shring—