Chapter 27: Catastrophe
Seeing its body dissolve soon after, Haru sighed. Although the fight was not difficult thanks to the information he possessed in advance, It was indeed a mortal challenge. If it had succeeded in calling its companions, it would have been a real deadly situation for him.
Within seconds after this thought, however, Haru was forced to concentrate on the room again as he heard other Killer Ants. But they were not only a small party as Haru understood an entire swarm was close to his location. It was worrying, as these creatures were not at all easy to defeat. Before he had time to reflect on a concrete motivation for why they would be crossing this room, he saw how they came out of some holes from the walls, and at that moment, his thoughts were confirmed, they were not only a couple of them. There was all the swarm he had heard a few seconds ago, that as they examined the area, promptly managed to find the enemy who had killed their companion.
Haru was shocked at the sight of so many Killer Ants. A shiver passed along his back, reaching up to his head. His hands immediately on the sword, now in an attack position.
Even before he could wrap his head to understand the reason why this was happening, Haru found himself dodging blows of those he assumed to be the comrades of the previous Killer Ant he had killed.
With the presence of so many enemies, Haru felt he had no chance of survival, yet as he dodged blows and tried to attack, it came to his mind that the only thing able to save him from this situation, was to cut their chance to attack him. If the enemy concentrated on trying to crush him with the numerical quantity, then what Haru had to do was eliminate the possibility the latter could attack at all. It was hard to get rid of one of these monsters without having to stop, but as long as it was a matter of cutting off their arms and claws, then Haru could hope to get out alive.
It's with this quick thought that Haru decided on how to attack the almost indefinite amount of Killer Ants that came out of those holes in seconds. He could have escaped, but before his brain could process that notion, the monsters had already blocked the way out...
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"The monsters on these floors are weak..."
At the man's words, a voice in a tone of disapproval made a complaint.
"There are people in our party who have yet to rise to the next level, Captain Ouka. I'm pretty sure taking their time to get into this floor is the most reasonable decision..."
Yet at the woman dressed in a purple kimono with a sarashi underneath along with a dark red sash and thigh-length boots, the person she was indirectly referring to shook her head.
"...I-If Captain Ouka says so, monsters are weak. Considering them strong is a p-part of my weakness..."
The woman who spoke, wearing a lavender kimono with red cloth wrapped around her waist, had a lot of faith in her captain, so if the latter said the monsters were weak, then they were.
The captain, wearing a red, gold, and black Kamishimo top along with brown pants tucked underneath long white bandages in black boots apologized as his words did not mean he underestimated or considered weak monsters of the first floors. He referred to the fact his parameters would probably not increase at all during their exploration.
The group belonging to the Takemikazuchi Familia was heading towards the entrance of the seventh floor, but even before they could enter, the woman who had previously rebuked the captain, named Yamato Mikoto, stopped their descending.
"I can hear noises, many noises of Killer Ants, their number does not seem less than 40 units..."
Her words shocked both the captain and the person who the latter had referred to as weak called Hitachi Chigusa. A similar number of Killer Ants was considered very rare, and more than that, it could only be found in a room when an adventurer could not kill a Killer Ant in time, allowing the monster to call for its companions.
Thinking quickly about their course of action, the captain immediately had a clear idea of the matter.
"To remain in the vicinity of such a dangerous number of monsters is comparable to suicide. We can go back outside, so we can inform the Guild. However, any people who could be there would have been dead and devoured by then..."
The captain's reasoning made no difference. Since most likely someone had been in a rather unfortunate situation, for him the only possible alternative was to avoid involving as many people as possible in this, yet the woman known as Mikoto had a rather serious expression on her face.
"It's very likely that together we could fight the Killer Ants. We are both level 2, after all..."
Even if the captain had this idea almost set in stone, Mikoto did not want to abandon someone to their fate. She knew the latter might need help. It would have put her own life at risk given the number of Killer Ants present, but unlike any adventurer who had failed to stop the Killer Ants from calling their companions on time, she was of a higher level, and the difference in level was one of the few things that were hard to fill, if not rising one's level.
The captain knew what Mikoto said was true. Right now, he was acting like a coward, but he desired to see his familia always shining and healthy. If he could preserve that by ignoring someone else's life, The only thing he could do was repent his choices while considering them right at a later time.
"That may be true, but what would we gain to save someone we don't even know? Risking our lives for strangers is not what I want at all."
At his words, Mikoto sighed. It was indeed true that they would gain nothing and risk their lives for strangers, but she nevertheless chose to ignore his attempts to persuade her, for if she had not at least controlled what was happening, Her conscience would never forgive this to herself.
With these motives, she chose to move on and check how the situation was proceeding. As she was further descending the stairs to help the adventurers who were in such a dangerous situation, the captain expressed his opinions once more as the group followed Mikoto down...
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Haru continued to attack, dodge, and attack again in a cycle that seemed endless. His body covered with sweat caused both by the anxiety of being killed and by the force he was exerting to move incessantly within a circle that was now narrow enough not to allow him to make complex movements.
From the monsters' point of view, he was able to disable only 8 of them, yet the number of monsters he should have disabled would have been probably equivalent to 50 or 60 units. However, that was not all. He also had to do the whole operation at a certain speed because if he was too slow, the Killer Ants would regenerate thanks to the mana conferred by the Dungeon. In that situation, his low chances of getting out of this alive would turn into a fateful 0%.
From the number of times he had swung his sword against his enemies, Haru almost couldn't feel his wrists properly. They didn't even need to receive commands to move anymore, yet they just did, using all the strength they could burn to cut through the joints with care because a mistake would involve a waste of energy that he absolutely could not afford at this time.
Avoiding the blows once again, Haru realized in the middle of the fight that using a counterattack against an abnormal number of enemies was not a wise choice. If he was too busy avoiding a single attack to respond with one, his concentration could not remain at the same time focused on dodging attacks behind and beside him. Haru would then be vulnerable to attacks from these blind spots, which made using a counterattack in this situation a total suicide.
Stopping for a moment, Haru brought the sword back to hips length. The most efficient way to attack them was to use the weak points. Yet now he needed a stronger technique, able to cut the monster's arm completely without having to waste other precious energies and time, yet no particular technique came to his mind. Using what he knew on the sword, however, Haru brought it to hips height, holding it firmly with both hands. Having certain familiarity with the horizontal cut, Haru could use the sword as he wanted to try the cuts he preferred most. Also thanks to his understanding of how balance worked, Haru had an idea of how to obtain the power he needed. The key was to stop caring as much as before about accuracy.
For the first time, Haru was attacking first. Throwing himself at a Killer Ant. As the latter attempted to attack him back, Haru used this movement of his own that originated from all his knowledge. With the sword cutting the monster's arm and claws, leaving it alone with one arm.
He could see that his cut had not been precise since he had only cut half of the arm, however, it had managed to manifest a higher power. Before he could fully observe how and with what precision he had cut through, Haru was already up against another Killer Ant. His goal, was to use another technique now that the sword was at the top. If before the blow was low but aimed upward, now Haru knowing a guard that rested the sword high, could continue swinging his sword without having to worry about the time needed to return the sword to its original position.
Given his skill [Swordsman] now in rank H, Haru successfully managed to change the direction of the sword during his quick movement to the other Killer Ant. If it first looked up, now the sword looked down on the monster while Haru was ready to swing the sword.
In doing so, Haru confirmed with confidence that this was possible. Although it was just a mere thought, he had learned something new once again, but before he could rejoice, he was already on another Killer Ant. If necessary for his survival, he would continue without stopping a single second, continuing to change direction to the sword and using what he had dubbed as a combo in his mind...
However, he didn't expect someone had been watching the fight for a while. As two bluish-purple eyes peeked from the wall trying to understand how Haru could fight against such a huge number of monsters. Yet she was determined to help him if he showed any sign of needing it...
As usual, when an adventurer needed a hand, the letter could be seen visibly frightened, but excluding such cases, usually 'stealing' the monsters of another adventurer could be considered as breaking the law. If the guild knew there could also be repercussions, which is why Yamato Mikoto's eyes were waiting, she certainly did not want to save someone who did not seem to desire for someone's help after all, as that would be nothing but disrespectful...
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(...Obviously there's an explanation for this. But did someone seriously thought I was going to describe how Killer Ants behaved in that way and then skipping them...Yeah, how about no. By the way, my discord.gg/y8VBZAp)
(Sorry if I'm late lmao as usual chapters need a lot of proofreading and such...)
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