Chapter 86
"Phew..."
I steady my breathing, ready my weapon, and glare at the Dark Wolf.
It moved first.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!"
Dozens of black hands emerged from beneath it and from the shadows around it, accompanied by a resounding howl.
They all stretched toward me at once.
―――I can see them.
I can clearly see the trajectories of the attacks.
Was it 'Hostility Detection,' 'Observe,' or 'Five Senses'?
This must be another benefit of 'Job Enhancement.'
The effects of the Skills I acquired when choosing my Job have been amplified.
If I remember correctly, I acquired seventeen Skills through Job selection in all.
'Ninjutsu,' 'Throwing,' 'Five Senses,' 'Odorless,' 'Silent Movement,' 'Concealment,' 'Night Vision,' 'Vital Strike,' 'Presence Concealment,' 'Appraisal Interference,' 'Hostility Detection,' 'Telescopic Vision,' 'Agility Enhancement,' 'Dexterity Enhancement,' 'Observe,' 'Keen Hearing,' and 'Shadow.'
I can feel that every one of them has been enhanced to an incomparable degree.
My five senses are sharpened, and not even the sound of fabric brushing against fabric escapes when I move.
But,
"Tch..."
A sharp pain shot through me.
I was only dodging the enemy's attacks, yet my body was screaming.
It was probably the price of that reckless charge earlier.
HP: 20/180
My HP was lower than before.
The last time my HP had dropped this low was against the High Orc.
Wait, that was only yesterday, damn it.
Why am I on the verge of death again, just one day later?
It isn't shown in my status, but maybe my Luck is actually ridiculously low.
But I had no time to complain.
If my legs wouldn't move, I just had to move them with something else.
"'Shadow'!"
I manipulated my own 'Shadow,' wrapped it around my injured parts, and forced them to move.
I was using myself as a marionette. This would make up for my sluggish movements.
The pain didn't change, and it only stopped the bleeding to a negligible degree. No, it would probably make things worse.
But perhaps because of the enhanced Skill, the sharpness of my movements had actually increased compared to before I was injured. This might work.
"Aka, I'm going to handle you a little roughly, so forgive me!"
"... (trembling)!"
Aka, disguised in that form, trembled as if nodding to say, Got it!
With Aka in my right hand and the Orc's Kitchen Knife (Fine) in my left, I leaped forward.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
The Dark Wolf was about six meters away.
Not yet. I had to get closer.
That tiny distance felt incredibly far.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!"
The black hands transformed into enormous claws and jaws.
I forcibly knocked away the approaching claws and blocked the jaws with a wall from my Item Box.
But dodging everything was impossible.
I avoided only the attacks that would deal fatal damage.
With 'Danger Sense,' that wasn't difficult.
It hurt, and I was afraid. My HP was being whittled away.
Probably one more hit. If I took one solid attack, I would die.
I had to settle this first and rescue Momo.
The distance had closed.
The Dark Wolf didn't move.
It merely stared at me.
It looked like a king welcoming a challenger.
For a moment I thought, What an arrogant bastard, but that was fine with me.
If my opponent was letting its guard down, so much the better.
I took 'it' out of my Item Box.
I had 3 MP left.
I could activate each type of Ninjutsu only once.
The plan I was about to carry out was, in a sense, a gamble.
But I couldn't think of any other way to defeat that thing.
"Take this!"
I pulled the safety pin, readied the hose, and fired it.
"!?"
The Dark Wolf's eyes widened, then went white in an instant.
I had used a 'fire extinguisher.'
Even if I couldn't use 'Smoke Release,' this could create a similar effect in a smaller area.
White smoke billowed out, hiding both me and the Dark Wolf.
Even so, I knew full well that this level of visual obstruction meant nothing against the Dark Wolf, whose sense of smell surpassed Momo's.
No. That was precisely why it mattered.
This was where it began.
I took 'it' out of my Item Box and activated 'Ninjutsu.'
Even with its vision blocked, the Skill let me confirm the Dark Wolf's position.
I closed the distance in an instant.
A sword stroke that seemed to slice through the white smoke shot toward the Dark Wolf.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
But just before the blade reached its body, darkness erupted from every part of it.
The darkness changed into thin, sharp spines and protected its body like a porcupine.
And the moment it skewered the dummy, the Dark Wolf's expression changed.
"!?"
Naturally.
What it had skewered was a mannequin―――a store dummy.
Using 'Shadow' in the same way I had used it to control my own body, I had made the mannequin wield a weapon and controlled it.
I knew it would fall for that.
After all, the clothes it was wearing and the weapon it held were saturated with my 'scent.'
With its vision blocked, it had no choice but to rely on its sense of smell.
No, precisely because its sense of smell was so good, this classic trick had worked.
The Lesser Wolf and Shadow Wolf had both seemed absolutely confident in their 'sense of smell.'
I knew that because I was the one who had suffered at their hands and 'Observed' them so thoroughly.
So I used that to my advantage.
In the instant that created, a blade rose from the ground and pierced the Dark Wolf's abdomen.
"Graa...h?"
―――'Earth Release.'
It was a Ninjutsu that allowed me to move through the ground as though swimming.
Its range was only a few meters, and it could move only in a straight line, making it difficult to use, but at this exact moment, it had produced its maximum effect.
A surprise attack from the 'ground beneath its feet,' where the Dark Wolf was likely least wary.
"Honestly, that was a gamble with terrible odds. If your darkness had extended into the ground, it would have been over for me right there."
More than anything, I had no idea whether attacking the darkness from below would cause me to be absorbed.
That had been the biggest unknown.
I had been prepared to lose an entire arm at worst if it failed.
It was a plan full of guesses, full of holes, and dependent on luck.
But,
"...Without going that far, I couldn't reach you."
"Tch..."
I had no choice but to cling to that possibility.
Anything that touched it was absorbed. Even bullets were automatically blocked. It had a barrier covering a wide area and attacks capable of handling close, medium, and long range. Honestly, it was absurd beyond belief.
But I had won the gamble.
Its 'darkness' was merely clinging to the ground.
And its entrances existed only on the surface.
Anything touching it from the underside seemed to be repelled, but while covered in 'Shadow,' I could pass through. It was a lesser version of that ability, but perhaps the compatibility between them was high.
"It's over...!"
I put force into the knife buried deep in its abdomen.
I could feel that the blow that had pierced the Dark Wolf's stomach had landed solidly.
This would finish it.
No, if I didn't finish it, it would finish me.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
But the Dark Wolf fought desperately, wrapping darkness around my body.
I was squeezed with vise-like force, and my body screamed.
My body gradually sank deeper into the darkness.
"Guh..."
Agonizing pain shot through my entire body, and I could no longer move properly.
My vision blurred, and my consciousness grew hazy.
No. Hold on.
What had I fought this hard for?
"Mo...mo..."
That's right. To rescue Momo.
Aka, disguised as the knife, trembled.
―――Keep going, it seemed to say.
That's right. If I died here, Aka and Ichinose-san would die too.
Momo would be taken away as well.
I was standing here bearing everyone's lives on my shoulders.
"―――Oooooh, ooooooooooooooooooooooh!"
I let out a war cry and swung the knife with the last of my strength.
The Dark Wolf's eyes filled with astonishment.
Perhaps it was wondering where I had found the strength to do that.
The darkness tightened around my body, growing even deeper.
But just before that―――just a moment sooner―――
"This ends nooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!"
My full-force blow cleaved through the Dark Wolf's body.
At that moment, its body lost its shape and sank into the darkness in a viscous mass.
At the same time, the darkness binding me disappeared.
"Haa... haa...!"
The knife slipped from my hand.
At that moment, the disguise came undone, and Aka returned to its true slime form.
It pressed itself against my feet, seeming somehow worried about me.
"~~~ (trembling)!"
"Haha, I'm fine... Aka..."
With a vague smile, I checked my status.
HP: 3/180
This was bad.
I was completely on the verge of death.
I had automatic HP recovery, so I might recover to some degree if I waited a while, but even so, I was really at the limit.
If I hadn't been using 'Shadow,' I wouldn't have been able to move even a finger.
"But now..."
At the edge of my vision,
there was Momo, still unconscious and collapsed on the ground.
I forced my legs to move and headed toward Momo.
"Momo..."
With my thoughts clouded by pain and my body on the verge of collapse, I vaguely pictured myself petting Momo's fluffy fur.
Petting Momo really did make me feel happy...
Momo was warm and soft, and sleeping together when it was cold let me sleep comfortably in the warmth.
Haha, what am I thinking at a time like this...?
"Huh...?"
It was then that I suddenly noticed something strange.
I had defeated the Dark Wolf.
So why wasn't the experience-gain announcement playing?
Why couldn't I find its magic stone?
Why―――had the 'darkness' at Momo's feet not disappeared?
"..."
An unpleasant sweat trickled down my cheek.
A chill ran down my spine, and my brain sounded an alarm.
No... no, no, no―――.
The next moment, the darkness beneath Momo's feet spread.
From within it, the Dark Wolf emerged once more, completely unharmed.
"...No way, right?"
The wounds I had inflicted moments ago were nowhere to be seen.
"―――"
I stood there, staring at the Dark Wolf.
...Ah, I see. Now I understand.
I suddenly grasped the true nature of this thing.
My first impression of it had been correct.
This thing was―――'darkness' itself.
Its true body was probably within that darkness.
And what I had been fighting all this time was a 'clone' it had created.
In a sense, it was similar to my Clone Technique.
What an ironic reversal.
The Dark Wolf's tactics were similar to the strategy I had used to drive it off the first time.
"...Damn it."
I had given it everything and risked my life, yet I still―――hadn't reached it.
"Momo, everyone... I'm sorry..."
Even so, I tried to take at least one step forward.
―――That was where my consciousness completely cut out.
The world fell utterly silent.
At its center, the Dark Wolf―――Schwarz―――stared at the human collapsed before him.
'―――Magnificent.'
He praised him from the bottom of his heart.
Although he had been unable to make full use of his newly evolved body, this should have been a battle he could win with ease.
But before he knew it, the battle had become a close one.
That was undoubtedly an achievement brought about by this human.
A tiny possibility, heavily reliant on chance, like entrusting the outcome of a gamble to the heavens.
The human had seized that possibility and delivered a sure blow.
'It was a magnificent battle.'
If his own core had not been inside the darkness, there was no doubt that he would have been the one defeated.
He could only thank the new 'Trait' he had gained.
This was a human who had defeated him twice and had even managed to reach his evolved form.
There was nothing he could do but praise him.
'Let us end this.'
He took one step forward.
He would deliver the finishing blow.
That was the victor's duty.
At the very least, he would deliver a painless strike and kill him instantly.
'...Hm?'
A slime stood in his way.
Its tiny, frail body trembled with all its might.
For an instant, Schwarz wondered whether this slime was being controlled by a human, as he had once been.
But he immediately rejected the idea.
This slime was in its right mind.
It was standing in his way of its own free will.
Standing before him, an absolute superior.
'...Why do you interfere?'
"... (trembling)"
The slime did not answer.
It merely trembled and stood in his way, trying to interfere with him in even the smallest way.
Another small gunshot rang out.
The automatic defense provided by the darkness blocked the bullet.
When he turned his gaze toward the shooter, he saw a female human.
She, too, was trembling, yet desperately glaring at him.
If either of them had wanted to flee, they should have been able to.
Even so, they did not try, most likely because of this male.
They held their ground, desperately struggling to resist.
'I see... What a fine pack.'
A pack that did not look up to an absolute superior, but supported one another and advanced together.
So this, too, was a way to live.
'...Very well.'
The shame of defeat had now been washed away.
Then they would settle things in their 'next' battle.
They would each form a pack, grow stronger, and clash with everything they had at their full strength.
'And when that time comes...'
He turned his gaze toward the fallen Shiba Inu.
He could sense the presence of his mate within it.
To be honest, he had wanted to take Momo away immediately, but Momo showed no sign of waking yet.
He needed time and strength.
Then there was no need to hurry.
No, in that case, it would probably yield a 'better result' to leave Momo in this human's care for now.
And when the time came, he would return to retrieve Momo.
'We shall meet again.'
Schwarz smiled, splitting his lips at the corners, and looked up at the sky.
The darkness of night stretched into the distance, while a crimson sky spread overhead.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!"
Then he raised a resounding howl and left the area.