Strange Phenomenon

The perspective returns to Akira's side.


Gore warning.
I apologize to those who are not comfortable with this.




　After a while, Akira's party finished their break and changed their target to the Man-eating Plants.
　That said, what they had to do remained the same.
　Akira first headed for the center of the Man-eating Plant, which was spreading its vines as if parasitizing the side walls of buildings, vending machines, and abandoned cars, and chopped off all the vines that attacked him with a hatchet.
　After the Man-eating Plant was completely incapacitated, Kashiwaba relentlessly beat its limp body to gain experience points.
　And here were the results of a full day of power leveling. By the time the sun went down, Kashiwaba's level had reached 18.

"Kashiwaba-san. It's getting dark, so let's call it a day."

　Akira exhaled deeply as he watched the vermilion-colored office building cast long shadows across the city, then called out to Kashiwaba, who was sitting in front of the carcass of a Man-eating Plant.
　Kashiwaba was dismantling the remains.
　Unlike Akira, who had once haphazardly torn apart the remains of a Man-eating Plant, Kashiwaba carefully slid the knife between the withered vines and cut off parts of its body.
　The carcasses of the Man-eating Plants that she cut up were different from the ones Akira had easily broken apart before. They had become hard and stiff, like firewood.

　Kashiwaba, who was focused on dismantling, stopped when she heard Akira's voice. Lifting her face, she squinted at the surroundings bathed in the setting sun, nodded slightly, and stood up.


"……Got it. I'm sorry, I was also gathering materials, so it took longer than I thought."
"No, that's fine."

　Akira shook his head as he said this.


　Kashiwaba said that she planned to acquire production skills in the future, so considering that, she should not stop collecting materials. Rather, since the only way to obtain materials was through dismantling, it was understandable that she would want to collect as many materials as possible when she had the opportunity to come into contact with so many monster corpses.


"If you're going to use those materials to make armor and weapons for us someday, I won't stop you. On the contrary, please do so. ……For me, who hasn't acquired dismantling, monster corpses are useless."
"Hehe, thank you very much. When I learn how to make weapons and armor, I will give them to you first, Ichijou-san."


　Kashiwaba laughed at Akira's words.
　However, her smile was short-lived, and she quickly changed her expression and muttered apologetically.


"However, it feels like I wasted our time…… I wasn't able to gain enough points today to raise my dismantling skill level."


　Apparently, you needed 15 points to reach dismantling level 2. To get that many points, she'd have to level up six more times.
　Certainly, if Kashiwaba had remained silent and focused on delivering the final blow without dismantling, her level might have been a little higher.

　――――Still, Akira didn't think that Kashiwaba could raise her level that much in just one day.

　The monsters that showed up in this city were too uneven in strength. Monsters such as goblins, killer bees, and man-eating plants have relatively low endurance, while monsters such as boars, grey wolves, and black wolves have high endurance.
　The perfect monster to fill that gap was the Rock Bird, a strange flying monster, but at the moment there was no way to attack these flying creatures.
　As a result, people living in this area must either spend points to increase their strength or fight Man-eating Plants and Killer Bees until they reach a certain level.
　Kashiwaba, who had decided to spend her points on skills, was bound to come to a standstill at this point.

　Akira shook his head at Kashiwaba's words and explained.


"No matter what, you can't level up that much in just one day The monsters in this city are clearly divided into those that are easy to defeat and those that are difficult to defeat. It can't be helped."
"But we started this originally because I couldn't dismantle the Werewolf…… It won't mean anything to you unless I raise my dismantling skill level."
"That's not true. Didn't you say before that the stronger you get, the easier it is to dismantle things, Kashiwaba-san? For example, how about allocating all the points you earned today to strength?　Kashiwaba-san's current strength level is 27. With nine points, if you allocate all of them to strength, your strength value will be 54. ……With that kind of strength, shouldn't you be able to dismantle the Werewolf to some extent? "
"Hmmー……yeah. You're right."

　Kashiwaba thought hard about Akira's words with a serious look on her face. Then, she muttered something, as if to remind herself of the werewolf she saw this morning.

"Maybe, I guess. I feel like even that won't be enough to dismantle that monster. At this point, I feel that the only way to dismantle that monster is to improve my dismantling skill level. ……Excuse me, this is just my gut feeling."

　Akira shook his head at those words.
　Kashiwaba probably didn't know this because she didn't have the analysis skill, but the Endurance of the Werewolf that he asked to be dismantled was over 250. The reason why she decided that it couldn't be dismantled at that time was probably because her 『dismantling』 skill determined that it couldn't be dismantled.
　With that feeling in mind, Kashiwaba said that even if she allocated all her points to strength, it would still be impossible to dismantle the Werewolf. In that case, there was no reason to doubt her words.

"Then, so it's like that. You still can't dismantle the werewolf."
"……That's right. My bad."

　Kashiwaba apologized sheepishly.
　Hearing this, Akira shook his head again and ended the conversation by saying, “Don't worry about it”.


　Then Akira's party set off for the hospital.


　Despite being attacked by monsters, they continued walking on the uneven pavement for several tens of minutes. Then, Akira's party arrived safely at the hospital.


"Thank you very much for today."

　Kashiwaba spoke as they walked toward the front entrance.


"I was able to obtain various materials, which was a great help."
"Not at all. If it's okay with you, Kashiwaba-san, I'd like to help you level up again. The werewolf's corpse will disappear after a while, and I want you to increase your dismantling skill level before then, Kashiwaba-san."
"That's certainly true. If it's okay with you, Ichijou-san, I'd love to come again."


　Kashiwaba smiled at Akira's words.
　However, that smile gradually faded.
　Because as she stepped through the glass door and entered the entrance hall, she saw a vast pool of blood covering the entire floor.


"――――Eh? "

　A stunned voice escaped from Kashiwaba's mouth.

"What happened……"

　With trembling lips, Kashiwaba muttered.
　And then, those eyes saw a certain scene and widened.


　A sight that caught Kashiwaba's eye.
　It was a piece of what appeared to be human brain matter scattered across the pool of blood.


"――――Ugh, uhh! ! "


　Kashiwaba covered her mouth and crouched down on the spot. The scene was so shocking that she couldn't bear it. She vomited the contents of her stomach and let out a sound that was neither a scream nor a sob.
　Akira, on the other hand, felt something sour rising from the pit of his stomach, but managed to endure the sight and sharpened his gaze to try to understand what had happened.

　The entrance hall was a scene of utter devastation, like something out of hell.

　The floor was covered in bright red liquid. A pungent smell of blood filled the air. Fragments that appear to be human body parts scattered everywhere. Here and there, strangely contorted objects lay scattered on the ground, once regarded as human bodies.
　Normally, there would be Self-Defense Forces personnel standing guard, alert for monsters trying to enter the hospital, but there was no sign of them.
　No, most likely. That officer must be the one over there.


"――――This is."


　Small and quiet, Akira muttered.
　Then, suddenly realizing something, Akira let out a loud cry.


"Nao-san! ! "


　Before he knew it, Akira's body began to move.
　But right before that, someone grabbed Akira's arm tightly. It was Kashiwaba.
　After vomiting everything in her stomach, Kashiwaba stared at Akira with a bloodless face and said clinging to him.


"……Wait. Please wait a minute. Don't, leave me here."


　Hearing those words, Akira bit his lip hard.
　This situation was abnormal. There were no monsters capable of doing something like this in this city. In that case, it was highly likely that the creature attacking here was a different boss monster, similar to the werewolf that had once tried to enter this city.
　If a boss monster was attacking, he had to hurry to save Nao. Every second counted. He didn't have time to worry about her.

　――But, that doesn’t mean......

　He couldn't just leave her there. Just because the situation was unusual, he couldn't abandon her.
　If Nao were to find out later that he had abandoned Kashiwaba here, she would be furious and saddened.
　Nao was also gaining strength. At this point, Nao's magic was powerful enough to take on a boss.


　――――It's okay. It'll be fine. Nanase Nao won't die so easily.


　This is what Akira told himself. He cooled his heated head and managed to regain his composure.


"……I'm sorry. Let's go together. Can you stand up? "

　Akira quietly spoke to Kashiwaba and reached out his hand.


"Thank you very much."


　Kashiwaba muttered with trembling lips, took Akira's hand, and stood up.
　Akira's party silently crossed the entrance hall, which had been turned into a sea of blood, and headed for the room where Nao was. Along the way, Kashiwaba saw pools of blood spreading across the hallway and pieces of flesh scattered on the floor, and each time she saw them, she trembled slightly.

　The hospital was deserted and quiet everywhere they went.

　It was as if everyone left behind had died.
　Such an unbelievable silence prevailed there.


　――Eventually. Akira's party arrived at Nao's room.


　There was no door in that room. As if struck by a powerful force, the door was blown open and slammed into the wall of the hallway, caving it in.


"――――."


　Just then, Akira rushed into the room and saw it.
　Nao collapsed in a pool of blood scattered across the floor and walls.

"Nao-san! ! "

　Nanase Nao's body was crushed and half of her face was missing.

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 ToC    

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