Mob
Kousei No Ore Demo Boukensha Ni Nareba Riajuu Ni Naremasuka: Chapter #60
Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain
Episode 60: What Lies Beyond the Door
We
were absolutely stunned by Renge's words.
.....Irregular,
Encounter? That's absurd.
Was
a takeover of this dungeon taking place at this point in time?
Although
it is common for humans to enter a place where Irregular Encounters lie in
wait, I have never heard of a case where an adventurer was already at the
lowest floor of the dungeon and the dungeon was taken over.
Or
perhaps it was just that it had never been reported before because the
adventurers were killed...... But there was no doubt that this was indeed an
irregularity.
Teacher
shouted,
"It's coming!"
In
our line of sight, the restrained Hellhound was swallowed by a spatial
distortion and vanished.
......No,
no. It was not swallowed by the spatial distortion. The spatial distortion was
generated from the Hellhound.
What
appeared to replace the vanished Hellhound was a wounded Anubis and a......
young woman.
Human ......? Wasn't
it an Irregular Encounter? No, more importantly ......
A
doll-like face. Eyes as red as blood. And ...... too white skin and hair
peculiar to albinos.
The
woman who appeared was—— the saintess of the Star Mother Association.
This
woman, is a hound monster user. Was the culprit, after all, the Star Mother
Association? No,
the Hound Master possessed a magical item that can change one's appearance.
That is not necessarily correct.
The
woman with the same face as the saintess glared at me reproachfully and clicked
her tongue.
“......Tsk, so there's an ambush here too."
Then,
an alarm sounded from our licenses. Rescue call alarm. It was my Teacher who
sent it out.
"......Just now, I have sent a rescue call to the
surface. On the surface, police officers have sealed off the Dungeon Mart.
Other analogous dungeons have been blockaded by adventurers. Resistance is
futile. Surrender quietly."
"I see...you knew that much. Well, of course, if it
is repeated this many times, even an idiot will notice."
The
Hound Master mockingly replied this way. I could sense an emotion similar to
resignation from that attitude.
......Was
she prepared that she would be caught someday? If
so, why didn't she stop committing the crime.....?
The Hound Master was
perfect in the concealment of her information. If she wanted to go underground,
she could have done so anytime she wanted to.
So, why ......?
At that moment, Renge
whispered to me over the Link,
『Utamaro, be careful.
This one seems to be an Irregular Encounter.』
『What? Is she not human?』
『No...... a human, I
think. But there are signs of an Irregular Encounter... honestly, it's creepy.』
As we were looking at
her, the Hound Master said with a somewhat weary air,
"Hu... so
this is it... but the objective has largely been accomplished."
Then she turned to
Anubis, who was covered in wounds.
"You've been working hard so far... Anubis. --Sacrifice."
Just as the Hound
Master said this, *Crack* The
sound of a card being lost was heard.
"May luck, be, with you......."
Anubis' body crumbled
away like sand.
What, the ......? Did
she just, let her card kill himself? Why,
in the world.....?
We were unable to
move due to the baffling behavior.
————Thump!
The space pulsated.
"......Gah?! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
The Hound Master
screamed out.
Her body was being
eroded by a reddish-black shadow.
Eventually, after her
entire body was completely consumed, it overflowed from her body and began to
invade even the space around her.
"Run!"
I don't know who said
it, but we all started running away from the shadows at the same time.
But the speed at
which the mysterious shadow was eroding was far too fast for us to escape.
In the blink of an
eye, we were swallowed by the shadows and ---- the world was repainted.
"Where, is......."
The next thing I
knew, we were standing in an old Western-style building out of the forest.
At the entrance
hall...... I guess? The front door was large and solid, and at the back was a
pair of curved stairs leading to the second floor. Sandwiched between the
stairs was a large pendulum clock that reached the ceiling of the second floor.
"S- Senpai, what exactly happened? The Hound
Master...?"
Anna asked
frightfully.
"I don't know......."
When I shook my head,
Renge said with a grim look on her face,
"It's an Irregular Encounter. Be careful, this is
already ...... their garden."
After all, ......it's
like that, huh? They are the only ones I can think of that can rewrite the
field.
But .......
"Does that mean... the Hound Master summoned an
Irregular Encounter?"
"I...... have never heard of such thing as a card
for Irregular Encounters. They shouldn't drop cards."
At my words, Anna
shook her head with a pale face.
But, unbelievable as
it may seem, it was the only thing I can think of.
Renge said that she
felt the hints of Irregular Encounters from the Hound Master. The Hound Master
was transferred as if replacing the original dungeon boss, the Hellhound. And
then there was the rewriting of the field.......
None of these were
things that ordinary cards could do, and they were straight out of the
characteristics of Irregular Encounters.
".....No good, huh? It seems that none of the
teleportation-based magic cards can be used. And the rescue call is
also......."
Oribe, who seemed to
have been trying various things, shook her head.
......Confirmed, huh?
"...But even if it's an Irregular Encounter, this is
an F-rank dungeon, so this is not a big problem,......, right?"
Anna pinched the
sleeve of my clothes as if seeking my nod as she asked me that question.
Certainly, normally
speaking, even Irregular Encounters would only have a combat power equivalent
to E-rank in this place and should not be an issue for us right now.......
I silently took out
Eliza and Mea's cards and summoned them.
......The summons, I
was able to do it.
""Huh?!""
Anna and the others
who saw this hurriedly began to summon their respective cards.
As a result, it was
confirmed that a maximum of eight cards could be summoned.
Eight monster
cards...... meaning that the limit on the number of cards that can be summoned
was equivalent to that of a C-rank dungeon.
"H- how come ...... this is supposed to be an F-rank
dungeon."
My Teacher answered
Anna's question,
"Perhaps the Irregular Encounter card that the Hound
Master got was B-rank. ...Or maybe there's some significance behind Anubis
destroying itself just before."
Anubis is a B-rank
monster. The fact that this place was equivalent to a C-rank dungeon suggests
that the enemy was likely to have the same combat power as a B-rank monster. At
least, the ranks match up.
Plus, there was the
last word that the hound master said: ...... Sacrifice. Sacrifice, huh? I don't
think it's irrelevant.
"So? What are we going to do now?"
There, Renge, who had
been silently watching the development, inquired to me.
What to do, huh……. Since this is within Irregular
Encounter territory, the only way to escape is to defeat the enemy...
"We should wait for reinforcements here. Defeating a
B-rank Irregular Encounter is indeed a tough task for us right now.
Fortunately, we have already sent a rescue call. My sister is probably on her
way here, and we can expect reinforcements from other adventurers in the
area."
We nodded our heads
in agreement at my Teacher's words.
It was true that you
cannot send a rescue request on a normal Irregular Encounter, but we had
already sent a rescue request.
There was no need to
force ourselves to defeat the enemy here.
Just when we were
starting to feel a sense of relief, we heard it,
----Bam! Bam-bam-bam!
Suddenly, knocks
resounded from the front door.
As we stared with
bated breath, the knocker shouted out to us,
"Excuse me! Can
you please open this door?! I'm
being chased!"
We looked at each
other.
The owner of the
voice seemed to be a young woman. The voice conveyed feelings of impatience and
fear. The manner in which she was speaking was so earnest that it was hard to
believe that she was lying or acting...... but the timing of her appearance was
indeed too unnatural.
When I was wondering
if I should answer.......
".....I'm sorry, but who are you?"
Oribe asked.
...... Are you going to have a conversation? No, but
there is a possibility that the owner of the voice is a well-intentioned
rescuer who came to help us.
The professional
adventurers may not be able to make haste from their spot in the analogous
dungeons, but at least the team can send some three-star adventurers of their
team immediately to provide help here.
Maybe such a
three-star adventurer was attacked by the Irregular Encounter and fled to this
Western-style house. Such a possibility was not zero.
The owner of the
voice answered,
"--I am Shoko Sato! When
I came to the lowest floor, I was suddenly attacked by a strange card!"
... ! ?
I felt my blood run
cold.
There was someone on
the other side of the door, who was pretending to be somebody who had died.
It can't be her. I
know that. But there was only the eeriness of the unknown ...... why this
impostor was pretending to be the dead person.
The person who
pretended to be Shoko Sato kept knocking on the door.
"Please, please! Please
help me! Why won't you open the
door?! Open it! Please open the door! I'm
going to be killed!"
The cries for help
gradually turned into words of resentment when the door was not opened at all.
"I don't want to die! Help
me! Ahhhh! Open the door! Hey! I know you can hear me! You
bastard! I will not forgive you! I’ll curse you!"
A resentful voice
pounded on our chests along with the sound of a banging on the door.
Even though we told
ourselves it was a trap, that it was fake, it still ate away at our spirits.
".....Hii! N,
no! Please, open up, open up,
open up! Gaaaahhhh!"
The voice and the
desperate scream receded.
Silence returned. A
chilling silence.
Eventually, Anna
muttered, as if talking to herself,
"That wasn't her real spirit...... or something like
that, was it?"
No one could answer.
That desperation was
too real to say it was fake.
There was no doubt
that it was a trap. But, Irregular Encounters can use the souls of those they
kill. I know this from my battle with the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
Considering that,
that one was.......
————Bang bang bang!
Again, there was a
banging on the door. My heart jumped with a sense of foreboding.
"Is anyone there?! Open
the door! I'm being
chased!"
This time, it was the
voice of a young man. The voice sounded familiar, and I couldn't help but
mumble,
"Shishi, dou ......?"
"...... Kitagawa?! Is
it Kitagawa?! Oh, thank God! Please open up!"
A frightened voice, something
unimaginable from Shishido who was always confident and strong.
Shishido was indeed
dead. We also confirmed his body. But ......
I was about to take a
step forward at the sound of my classmate's voice when my Teacher grabbed my
arm with a firm grip.
"Don't open it! I've discovered the enemy's true
identity. This enemy's fairy tale is ...... The Wolf and the Seven Young
Goats!"
My eyes widened.
My brain started to
connect the dots.
The ability to enter
other dungeons. The ability to transform. The ability to cheat the gate's entry
and exit controls. The Anubis sacrifice. The preference of Hound Master who,
for some reason, used only dog-related cards...
The Wolf and the
Seven Young Goats was a story about a wolf trying to trick the young goats into
entering a house by using deception.
If, as the anecdote
suggests, it had the skill to 'trick' people and machines and was able to use
that skill even outside the dungeons... it would explain all the Hound Master's
beyond human abilities......
It would also make
sense why the Hound Master insisted on using dog-type cards, assuming that it
was so that she could sacrifice them in case of an emergency.
If that is the case, we can never open this door.
In the book, the
little goats get tricked and devoured by the wolf......
"Hey! Why
won't you open it, Kitagawa?! Could
it be that you're mad at me?! I,
I'll apologize! It
was just as you said! I shouldn't have become an adventurer! I can get down on my knees in front of the whole class! Please forgive me! I
don't want to die yet!"
......As I thought,
the one behind this door was the man himself.
Because I can hardly
believe that this was an act.
This was Shishido
himself, who had not yet realized that he had died ......
"Kitagawaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Don't be a fool! You
murderer! Aaaaaaah!"
So, this voice of
resentment was true, and it was also true that I had abandoned Shishido.
The voice faded away,
and eventually, silence returned with the final sound of a decimated voice.
"Senpai, it is not Senpai's fault that Shishido-san
died, and the culprit is responsible for all the blame--"
"--I know!"
Oribe tried to
comfort me, but I interrupted her with a loud voice.
"I know... I'm sorry, but please don't say anything
now..."
".....Sorry."
......It was the worst
feeling, including the fact that I took it out on a younger girl.
Rationally, I know
this was the right thing to do. This was obviously a trap and it should not be
opened.
As for Shishido's
death, I advised him not to dive for the time being, and there was no way I
could have helped him unless I had dived with him. I was able to save
Shinomiya-san because she was not attacked by the Hound Master herself, but by
her underling who got out of control, in other words, it was just luck.
Now, Shishido is
already dead, so there was no way I could have saved him by opening the door,
and I by no means abandoned him.
In other words, it
wasn't my fault. I can't be responsible for the life of a casual classmate who
I didn't even get along with very well.
Yes, I knew that
logically in my head.
But my emotions were
different.
I couldn't get
Shishido's reproachful voice out of my ears. No matter what the excuse, I
deserted him. Not his life, but ...... his heart, his soul.
Truly, what malicious
trap this was? Even if I choose the proper answer, it will kill my heart. It
was so evil and so horrible that it made the Pied Piper of Hamelin look
adorable.
At that moment, the
badges of the Adventurer's Club emitted a sound,
"Hey! Can you hear me?! ”
The voice belonged to
Akira. Teacher quickly responded,
"Nee-san! We're
fine over here! Where
are you?"
"You're okay! I've
just arrived at the bottom floor with reinforcements. What the hell
happened?"
"Unknown, the Hound Master, has summoned an
Irregular Encounter."
"Summoned an Irregular Encounter, you said? That's absurd...... No, that's for later. Do you know the
identity of the enemy?"
"Probably The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats"
"Okay, then you're in the building now, aren't you? All right, listen up. Do not open the door at all until I
get there. The signal will be given by using this magic item. Any voice through
the door will be regarded as lies!"
"Understood."
Teacher nodded and
ended the communication... at the same time,
A third banging on
the door began.
So they have
come,...... and the air that had loosened at the news of the reinforcements
tensed up.
The Wolf was probably
in a hurry to settle the score before the arrival of Akira-san and the others.
But, having come this
far, we will not be fooled now.
In the fairy tale,
the little goats opened the door on the wolf's third visit. In other words, if
we survive this third visit, there is a good chance that we will be able to say
goodbye to this vicious trap.
Now, who's next? I was waiting with a sense of challenge, when I heard----
"Oi! Utamaro! Open this! I'll
die if you don't!"
————It was the voice of Renge,
who was supposed to be next to me.
"What...?"
I looked at Renge who
was standing next to me.
"I see, the Wolf thought it would be tough to set
the same trap, so it wanted to stir up distrust. Hey, you know it, right?"
"Yeah, I know."
There was no way I
would fall for such a blatant trap.
...However, it was
also true that a slight doubt arose in my heart.
Even though I knew in
my head that it was a fake,...... there was something about this voice that
attracted me.
"Hey, listen to me! This
is not a trap to get you to open the door! It's
a trap to keep you in there!"
"Don't listen to it. The most effective way to deal
with this kind of crap is to cover your ears."
“Three
times, Utamaro! I don't know how many times you've made a mistake already, but
the third time is probably your last chance. Open the door!”
“Remember
the fairy tale of the wolf and the seven little goats! What happened to the
little goat who opened the door?”
Two identical voices
addressed me alternately.
I should believe the
Renge next to me...... The Link line was also connected to this one. Looking
back at the flow so far, this is a trap designed to get us to open the door.
"Didn't you hear me, huh?!"
But ...... why? Why
is this voice ...... so dear to me?
“Trust
me————Utamaro!”
Thump. My heart
jumped.
I was convinced, not
by logic, but by intuition. The real Renge was behind the door.
"!? You idiot, stop it, Maro!" "Senpai!
Stop!?" "Don't be fooled, Senpai!"
I jumped to the door,
dodging everyone's attempts to stop me.
And ----
***
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