Chapter 103
I ran, and ran, and ran some more.
Along the way, I encountered monsters and people several times, but ignored them all.
Since my Skills were active, none of them noticed me.
"Huff... huff... cough... I-I think we should be safe now that we've come this far..."
I caught my breath and checked my surroundings.
I ended up at... a park near City Hall, perhaps.
It was quite large. There were trees and hills scattered throughout it, making it impossible to see the entire park at once.
At the edge of the park, I could see a dry fountain and a convenience store that had been built recently.
(No sign of any monsters...)
'Search' detected nothing, and at least no one was within sight.
They might have been hiding, though...
"...Hm?"
Come to think of it, wasn't this where we were supposed to meet Nishino-kun and the others?
It seemed we'd reached our destination while running around.
There we go.
I set the two of them down.
"Ugh... bleeegh..."
The moment I put her down, Ichinose-san threw up.
Yeah, well, that was more or less what I'd expected.
She'd been forced to keep up with that speed in such an unreasonable position.
I figured this would happen to Ichinose-san.
She must have been desperately holding it in.
The sparkly puke splattered everywhere.
"Are you okay, Nattsun? Want me to rub your back?"
Rikka-chan immediately took care of Ichinose-san.
She put an arm around her shoulders and rubbed her back.
What a kind girl.
"Woof!"
Momo emerged from the shadows.
Momo wagged its tail furiously and leaped at me.
"...♪ (tremble, tremble)"
Aka also shed its disguise and wrapped itself around me.
"Nice work, Aka and Momo."
I'd already confirmed there were no monsters nearby, so I indulged in petting them both.
Their soft fur and jelly-like texture soothed my heart.
"Oh, right. Momo, here."
"Woof...?"
What I took out of the Item Box was a Zombie Magic Stone (Small).
It was the one the Death Knight had dropped earlier.
This time, I decided to give it to Momo.
"Woof...?"
"... (tremble, tremble)"
Momo glanced at Aka for a moment.
Aka quivered as if to say, Sure.
"Woof!"
Momo thanked Aka and ate the magic stone.
Momo's tail was wagging like crazy.
Momo must have been thrilled.
"Ugh... I'm still a little dizzy..."
Supported by Rikka-chan, Ichinose-san made her way over to us.
The fact that she still hadn't let go of her gun was impressive, to say the least.
"I'm sorry. But I thought that was the best option at the time."
"Oh, no, Kudo-san isn't to blame. I'm the one at fault for not being able to run fast enough..."
"That's not true. If anything, I'm the one who should apologize for treating a woman so roughly."
"N-no, that's not it! ...It's not like I minded, and besides, I'm really heavy, so I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"No, I'm the one who should apologize. Also, Ichinose-san, you're not heavy at all. If anything, you're on the light side. I can carry you just fine. No problem."
"No, really—"
"No, no, no—"
As the two of us repeatedly bowed our heads to each other, we heard a cough. "Ahem."
Rikka-chan was giving us a pointed look.
"Hey, you two. I'm here too, you know?"
"Oh, sorry..."
"S-sorry, Ricchan."
"...You two always apologize right away, don't you? What is that—a habit?"
Probably a reflex.
It was a uniquely Japanese Skill I'd developed during my days as a corporate slave: "Apologize first and bow your head."
Rikka-chan probably didn't know this yet, but communication for working adults starts with bowing your head to people.
Then your boss gradually trains you until you become a full-fledged corporate slave.
In Ichinose-san's case, though, it was simply because she was socially awkward.
Well, that wasn't relevant right now.
"By the way, Aisaka-san, I don't see Nishino-kun and the others."
"Huh? Oh, now that you mention it..."
At that, Rikka-chan must have realized this was the meeting place.
She looked around, but Nishino-kun and the others were nowhere to be seen.
There was no chance they were hiding... was there?
One or two people might have been able to hide, but there was no way all of them had 'Stealth'-type Skills.
Nor did I think their levels were high enough to evade Momo's and my 'Search'.
"...Do you think something happened?"
"Ricchan, what about 'Mail'? Have you received anything?"
"Oh, wait. Let me check..."
Rikka-chan operated her status screen and checked her Mail.
"Nothing... I haven't received anything."
"..."
Did something happen?
No, something must have happened.
An emergency.
A situation so dire they couldn't even send a 'Mail'.
"Let's send Nishino-kun a 'Mail' first. We might get some kind of response."
"Okay, got it."
Rikka-chan immediately sent Nishino-kun a 'Mail'.
"And just in case, let's search the area. They may be hiding."
"Yeah..."
I didn't say so, though I thought that possibility was unlikely.
The three of us searched the park.
We ran into monsters once along the way, but they were only two goblins, so we defeated them without difficulty.
But in the end, we couldn't find Nishino-kun and the others.
"Where are you, Nissy...?"
When I looked up, an overcast sky stretched overhead, as if mirroring her feelings.
―――A little earlier.
Around the time Kazuto and the others encountered the Death Knight, Nishino's group was running desperately, trying to shake off a huge army of ants.
"Huff... huff... Shibata, are there any over there?"
"No, I don't see any over here."
"Huff... huff... Doesn't look like there are any here, either..."
Shibata and the old man Goshogawara answered.
The three of them were hiding in one corner of a shopping district.
Technically, it was a central district near the station and City Hall, but suburban big-box chains had stolen its customers, leaving it a desolate, shuttered shopping street with little foot traffic.
Although there had never been much foot traffic to begin with, there wasn't even a hint of human presence now.
Well, there were signs of monsters here and there...
"We've gotten separated from everyone again..."
"Yeah..."
Nishino immediately sent a 'Mail' to the other members.
Several of them replied right away.
"Good, everyone seems safe... They're nearby too. Let's regroup as soon as possible."
Even when scattered, 'Mail' let them contact one another right away.
Nishino sincerely felt grateful that he'd taught everyone this Skill back then.
(The ones who haven't acquired 'Mail' seem to be staying with someone who has, too.)
That was another rule Nishino had drilled into everyone.
If they ever had no choice but to flee separately, anyone without 'Mail' had to stay with someone nearby who had acquired it.
Even that allowed them to move in ways very different from before.
Nishino felt relieved that the members were following his instructions.
Incidentally, although he hadn't realized it yet, this was actually the result of a bonus effect from the Job 'Commander'.
Those with the Job 'Commander' could make their words leave a strong impression on their comrades.
It wasn't as powerful a brainwashing effect as Igarashi Toka's 'Charm', but it could still sway their actions somewhat toward his own aims.
"So, Nishino-san... what do we do?"
"What else can we do? We head for the park."
It wasn't far.
They could get there in a few minutes if they ran.
(Conversely, that meant it was only that far away—well within those ants' range.)
Nishino looked grim.
The sheer number of them was the problem.
Even if they regrouped safely, could they really survive?
(Damn... just when I thought we could take advantage of our strength in numbers...)
Acquiring 'Mail' had made it much easier for them to coordinate.
That gave them an advantage against monsters that were stronger as individuals.
And just when he'd thought so, they encountered these monsters.
They weren't merely 'a collection of individuals' like the ones at school yesterday; they were social monsters that had formed a genuine 'swarm'.
(Let's sort out the information...)
The enemy was a swarm of ant monsters.
Each one's level was probably lower than his.
But there were probably dozens in the swarm—possibly more than a hundred.
They looked like black carpenter ants enlarged to one meter in length, with red eyes and jaws powerful enough to crush a convenience-store floor.
They ran slightly slower than his group.
Like ordinary ants, they had exoskeletons, and their bodies were hard enough that an iron pipe wouldn't inflict a fatal wound.
The Skill 'Command' could restrain them, but only three or four at a time.
The fact that 'Command' worked meant they could hear 'sound'.
And since they had emerged from underground, there was an extremely high chance that their 'nest' was somewhere nearby.
(For now, that's all I know... I need to watch out for surprise attacks from underground.)
The more Nishino thought about it, the more he realized how precarious their situation was.
A world like a game? No way.
From his perspective, the game-like systems and Skills, the monsters that appeared—in short, everything—reeked of nothing but 'malice'.
It was as if the whole thing were designed to provoke battles and make people kill one another.
He wanted to shout at the top of his lungs, "Don't screw with me!"
(But I refuse to give up...)
I will survive. No matter what.
He refused to die in this incomprehensible world without knowing anything.
That was why Nishino racked his brain.
He needed to find a way to break out of this goddamned situation.
Keeping watch for attacks by ants and other monsters, they began walking through the shopping district toward their destination.