Only I know that this world will end – 076 | Sousaku – 創作

Monster Train

"That should be the last one! "

He shouted and swung his blade at the last one, a gray wolf, decapitating it.
And so, after successfully turning all the wolves into corpses, Akira let out a big sigh of relief.

(We made it through, didn't we? Thanks to the Minotaur's axe, the battle didn't take long.)

It did not even show signs of fracture even when dealing with such a large number of monsters.
Without a doubt, it was the most decent weapon currently available.

(With this, you could easily win even against a strengthened boss, right? )

With this in mind, Akira swung the axe in his hand and wiped away the blood stain that remained on the blade.
As I did so, Nao, who had been standing back, approached him to ask how he was doing.

"Are you okay? "
"I'm fine. What about you, Nao-san? "
"I'm safe too."

Nao nodded her head.
Then she glanced at the axe in Akira's hand.

"In any case, it is tremendously sharp. The Black Wolves were like butter."
"Yeah, I was surprised myself when I used it. As expected of a weapon used by the Minotaur. It is different from any existing, real-life weapons. It was as if the weapon itself was generating a damage bonus."
"Damage Bonus…… In games and such, every weapon has its own attack ability, but is there such a thing for monster weapons? "
"Is that what you think? It seems likely, though."

When told, Akira thought.
If indeed, each weapon had its own attack ability, it would be possible to check that with some skill, just as one could analyze the status of a monster.

"――――Ah. I see, so that's Appraisal for."

And then suddenly Akira remembered that particular skill.

"Appraisal? What's the matter with you, all of a sudden?"

Nao tilted her head at those words.
Akira opened his mouth as he turned his gaze to Nao.

"No, I was thinking that if there is an attack ability for each weapon, we could look at that…… Something like, there might not be a way other than to use the 『Appraisal』 skill."
"Appraisal……? Was it a skill that allowed you to see non-living information? Come to think of it, I heard once before that someone in the SDF had an Appraisal skill."

Nao said as her gaze wandered as if going back to her memory.

"So if I ask that person, I can see the different attack capabilities of different weapons? "
"You might have, before."

It was an implied way of putting it.
Akira frowned slightly and replied.

"Might have? Why in past tense? "
"Yeah. Well, that person…… he's already dead."

Quietly, Nao muttered.
Akira closed his once-open mouth at those words and exhaled slowly to answer back.

"I see…… Do you know anyone else with Appraisal skills? "

Nao shook her head slightly at these words.
Akira mumbled again, "I see......." and kept his mouth shut.

(I doubt many people would prioritize acquiring a skill that isn't going to help them directly in battle…… We could use the Return from Hell to go back in time and have someone who remains in that hospital to acquire Appraisal and look at it in some other life…… But it would be hard to convince them to go to the trouble of getting Appraisal.)

For those excluding Akira, the only way to earn points was to level up. Hence, their points were precious.
If you asked them to go out of their way to spend those points, no one would nod their heads. Still, if you were persistent, anyone would say, "If you insist so much, get it yourself," obviously.

(……For the time being, if I get a large number of points somewhere again, I'll consider getting it myself.)

So Akira concluded and then approached Nao to change the subject.

"For the moment, let's put aside the question of offensive power. There is no doubt that this is a "useful" weapon. If they attack in packs like they did now, I'll take care of them, so let's focus on leveling up, Nao-san."
"Gotcha."

Nao nodded, and the pair began to wander through the city again.

◇ ◇ ◇

It was some time after sunrise when Akira and Nao finally stopped their silent leveling efforts.

"I think it's time for a break."
"At last……!"

This was probably due to the fact that she had used magic many times until then.
Nao, her bangs sticking stickily to the sweat on her forehead, let out a loud sigh of relief as she wiped the sweat off her face and brushed her hair back.

"I didn't expect to be hunting monsters for hours on end.”

Nao muttered with a dismayed look on her face.
At these words, Akira also opened his mouth, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"You took a break every now and then."
"That's because I used too much magic and I couldn't move! "

Akira looked away from Nao's angry stare.
Sure, it may have been somewhat spartan.
But even that leveling was only the beginning. Akira's senses were beginning to shift somewhat, as he had been leveling continuously from midnight to morning at the worst times.

"Don't get angry. Still, that raised your level quite a bit, didn't it? "
"Well, sure…… I know."

Nao's lips pouted at Akira's words.

As a result of endless monster hunting over the past few hours, Nao's level had risen to 23.
Part of the reason was that she had focused on Man-eating Plants as her leveling partner, but it was also significant that she and Akira were dealing with the wolf monsters that attacked them repeatedly during the course of the leveling process.
However, this was as far as this leveling speed would go.
Nao's leveling speed was slowly beginning to decline as she was now almost on the same level as the Black Wolves, the highest-level monsters that were prevalent in the city.
Despite this, her status, which was inferior to that of a Black Wolf, was such that she was fully capable of dying in the blink of an eye if confronted alone with a monster of Grey Wolf's or greater caliber.

(I wish there was some kind of quest like mine, but Nao-san doesn't have that. Currently, without a higher level of Physical Strengthening, it's unlikely she'll ever be able to act on her own.)

Akira muttered this in his mind, and then wiped away her status screen with his hand, which had been displayed in such a way that Nao would not notice it.

(But then again, I can't just keep leveling all the time…… Given the reversal rate, should we wait and see when the monsters will be enhanced next before returning from death? )

As he was pondering this, he suddenly heard someone screaming.
Next came the roar and cry of monsters.
Akira and Nao looked at each other and exchanged a few words in a small voice.

"Someone, it seems, is being attacked by a monster. Is it a battle?"
"……Looks like. What do we do? Do you want to help? "

Akira's brow wrinkled at Nao's comment.

"Good question……"

Akira whispered and hesitated.
Helping would be easy. However, he would like to somehow avoid getting into trouble after helping them.
Because if they acted poorly, he could see a future in which they would be taken advantage of.
However, helping them out here would be a sure way to curry favor. It may return in some form in the future.

"……Let's go check on them for now, shall we?"

In the end, Akira's conclusion was neither "help" nor "abandonment," but rather "wait and see and then decide".
Nao had decided to follow Akira's decision and nodded her head in agreement without any particular objection.

The pair carefully proceeded down the alley toward the direction from which they had heard the shouts.
It happened when he peeked out from the shadows to investigate the alley where he had heard the screams.
Suddenly, a man jumped out from the end of the alley.
The man probably did not expect Akira and Nao to be there.
He looked surprised for a moment, then quickly moved his gaze hesitantly and eventually checked behind him with a look of frustration and fear.
Akira was about to open his mouth to speak to the man.

"――――I'm sorry."

The man muttered in a small voice to Akira and ran off without stopping.

"……What was that? "

At these words, Akira looked behind at the man running away with a scowl on his face.

"I-Ich-Ichijou……! ! "

Nao let out a small, screeching cry as if replacing the man who was running away.
At these words, Akira turns around with a whoosh.
Then, Akira saw the scene.
The monsters loomed from the other side of the alley in great numbers.
The sight of the Black Wolves, Gray Wolves, and other swift-footed monsters, as well as Boars, Killer Bee, Goblins, and other monsters that have appeared in this town, all closing in on them in large packs!

――――That man, he pinned those monsters on us!!

By the time Akira thought that, his body had already begun to move.

"Nao-san!! "

Akira shouted and pulled Nao's hand.
However, Nao's body did not move. She cowered at the sight of it, which she would not normally see.

"Nao-san, hurry up! "

Akira pulled Nao's hand even harder.

However, Nao still did not move. No, she couldn't move.
Nao's terrified gaze fell on Akira, and her eyes were filled with tears.

"No, I c-can't. I can't move. I just can't move……"
"...! "

Akira bit his lip hard at these words.
He then threw down the axe in his hand and held Nao's body up.

――But it was too late for that action.

A Black Wolf in the lead pounced toward Nao.
Akira kicked him in the nose as hard as he could, but was unable to prevent the next attack from the grey wolf that came at him.

"Ow!! "

Nao, who was bitten on the arm, let out a short scream.
At the sight, Akira's eyes turn red with anger.

"――Dash! ! "

Akira shouted, accelerated his body, and went on a frenzied rampage to protect Nao, screaming in fury against the huge number of monsters that attacked him.
However, no amount of physical acceleration could prevent all the attacks from the monsters, now that he had discarded his weapon and furthermore held Nao in his arms, from coming at him in such numbers that they covered everything in front of his eyes.

"Shit!! "

Slowly and gradually.
Nao's body was injured by the attacks, which were delivered from all directions.
With each small scream, Akira's arms are flooded with lukewarm liquid.
Then, unable to prevent it, a poisonous needle from a Killer Bee made Nao's body jump once and then became heavy.

――――――――――――――――――

The scenario 【With You】 is in progress.
The death of Nanase Nao has been confirmed.

――――――――――――――――――

Unique Skill: Return from Hell activating.

――――――――――――――――――

"――――！ ! "

Akira clenched his back teeth in unspoken anger.

"Na―"

Although her name escaped his lips, it was too late for anything now.
In an instant, his vision darkened, rapidly taking Akira's consciousness away from him.
And once again Akira Ichijo was dragged to his death by the death of Nao Nanase.