Bab 17: Impact/Floor 25
It has been a few hours since the fall of both Hajime and Selena, and the students were still coming to grips on the fact that two of their friends have died. While all of them are sad for what has happened, there are a few outliers who either took the deaths harder than the others, or are secretly enjoying the freedom from problems that were in their way. One such person was Daisuke Haiyama who, on the night of their return, went into the city and hid in an alleyway and just laughed.
"Heheheheh… I-It was all his fault. Because of that loser… h-he g-got too cocky… D-Divine p-punishment, that was a-all it was. I-I didn't do anything wrong… S-Shirasaki, it was all for her sake… Now she… she doesn't have to w-waste anymore t-time on that loser… I-I didn't do anything wrong… Hehehehe." He just laughed evilly as he tried to justify what occurred.
Daisuke knew he sold his soul to the devil who told him 'No one would notice if you killed him right now'. He knew that his timing was perfect, he made sure no one would notice that it was his fireball that flew at Hajime. It was impossible to figure out that it was his fireball within that storm of spells. That, and with his particular affinity to wind magic, there wouldn't be any proof that the spell that he cast was altered to hit them.
The more Daisuke fell into his crazed delusions and self-confirmation on what he did was right, he failed to notice someone who came up behind him.
"Huh, it seems fitting that it was you. I didn't think that the first murderer that I met in this new world was one of my own classmates… That makes you pretty rotten, doesn't it?"
"Wha-What?! Wh-Who are you!?" Daisuke quickly turns around and faces the person in a panic. Upon looking at them, Daisuke is floored by who he saw, "Wh-What are you doing here…."
"Well, that is hardly important right now, isn't it? I want to know… how does it feel? To become a murderer? To remove the main, if not the only, love rival entirely from existence by using the confusion from our escape?"
The person just snickered, as if they were watching a funny comedy playing out in front of them. Daisuke knew he couldn't really talk, since he did commit murder, but he was surprised that his classmate was unfazed by the death that occurred. In fact, they had seemed just as exhausted and stunned as all the other classmates just a little while ago, but now here they were, as if that was all just an act.
"...This is what you're really like then?" Daisuke mumbled, completely dumbfounded by their change of personality.
"Pfft, what I'm really like? Oh please, it is nothing to make a big deal out of it. Everyone hides what their true selves are one way or another. But getting back on topic… How do you think everyone will react if they found out? What would she think of you?"
"Wha-!? Th-There's no proof! N-No one would believe it…"
"Hm, that is true, I don't have proof. However everyone trusts me, so I am certain that they would believe me. Even more so if I am accusing you, the one who put us in that mess to begin with."
"Guh," Daisuke reels back, finding himself cornered by their logic. He knew that they were just toying with him, like a cat to an already trapped rat. It would have been impossible for anyone to side with him if he tried to tell anyone about this hidden side of this person. This would have been more believable if he was told that they had a split personality, than that they were this sadistic.
"Wh-What do you want with me?" he asks, trying to gather what little courage he could muster in front of this monster in human skin.
"Hm? Oh don't be like that, you make it seem like I am blackmailing you. I really don't want anything from you right now. Although, if I had to make you do anything, it would be to have you become my hands and feet."
"B-But then…" Daisuke knew that he was placed between a rock and a hard place. He was basically told to be a slave, or have the class know of this sin. His thoughts kept pushing between the choices, until a thought formed in his head, 'I just need to kill them too. Then no one would know.' The figure then threw the ace they had to push him over the edge.
"I can make Kaori Shirasaki yours."
"Wh-What do you…" With that one sentence, all thoughts of killing them vanished, leaving him slack-jawed. With a wicked grin, they continued the honeyed words.
"If you swear loyalty to me… I'll give her to you. I was going to offer Selena Hajime, but obviously they are no longer around. But it seems like you are more suited for this than she is."
"What are you trying to get from this?"
"Fufu, all that should concern you is that our goal is parallel since we both want someone. So, what do you say?"
"...Fine." Daisuke relents, resigning to his fate.
"Perfect! Honestly, I didn't want to incriminate a fellow classmate. Let's get along now, Mr. Murderer. Kahahaha!" The blackmailer cackles as they leave the alley.
As the blackmailer fades into the shadows, Daisuke softly starts to mutter to himself, "Damn it… I couldn't even refuse the offer… But what was that about Selena?"
At his mention of the one who stopped his tormenting of Hajime, he remembered that something strange occurred in the few moments between altering the path of the fireball, and it hitting them. "W-Was Selena… staring at me? Oh god… she knew… B-But how…" He questions while scratching his head, "I-It shouldn't matter. She should be dead now."
With Ryutarou
Five days have passed since the fall of Hajime and Selena, and the students have made it back to the castle. Some were not as eager to fight, and others worked even harder to prevent another incident like that from occurring again.
In the training courtyard of the castle, the trio of Kouki, Ryutarou, and Endou are found training. While Kouki was just practicing to improve himself, Endou was watching Ryutarou to make sure he didn't go overboard on the training dummy. Soon after arriving at the castle, instead of resting like the rest of his classmates Ryutarou threw himself into training, not wanting to repeat losing someone close to him. The mix of emotions, frustration, anger, and grief for losing someone he had known since middle school. Even though Selena was always so cold to most, he saw that she really cared for those she did talk to.
The more he punched at the training dummy, the more frustrated he got, and the more force he threw into his strikes. Constantly remembering the feeling of weakness before the Behemoth, along with the helplessness as he watched Selena fall.
"....Ryu… Ryuta… RYUTAROU!"
Ryutarou was forcefully turned around seeing the concerned faces of two of his friends looking back at him. "What is it?" he asks, confused as to why they interrupted him from training.
"Hey, man, I think that the training dummy has taken enough of a beating, don't you?" Endou asks as he gestures to said item.
Turning around, Ryutarou sees the training dummy he was using, or rather, what was left of it from his onslaught with his gauntlets. What he saw was an armor-covered scarecrow that had its chest and helmet caved in, along with many dents all over different parts of the protective equipment.
"Oh. Um, I guess that I went a bit overboard there, heheh…" He says while scratching the back of his neck, embarrassed that he lost himself to his training.
"Hey Ryutarou, let's spar." Kouki speaks up, putting himself into the conversation.
Ryutarou and Endou look at each other confused on why Kouki wanted to spar right then. Ryutarou looks back towards Kouki and agrees to spar with his friend.
The two of them stand in the middle of the small arena that is within the training field, Endou looks at Ryutarou concernedly from the middle of the arena.
"Start!" with the swing of his arm, Endou starts the spar with the fighters dashing towards each other.
Kouki reacts first and swings his sword diagonally downward on his left. Ryutarou swings his right fist out and catches the sword between the knuckle spikes of his gauntlets, while retaliating with a left jab to the gut.
Sliding back a few feet from the force of the jab, Kouki quickly gathers his breath before reading to continue the clash. As a way to get Ryutarou's full attention, Kouki decided to taunt him.
"Oh come on, you are starting to hit like Selena! You don't want to be as weak as her now, do you?"
Endou quickly looks to Ryutarou to try to stop the coming storm that is his fury, but was too late to stop him, as Ryutarou rushes at Kouki. Kouki stepped back in surprise at the sudden burst of speed, and was unable to stop any of Ryutarou's strikes.
For Ryutarou, the moment that Kouki taunted him, it was as if the world turned red, and the only thought left was to pummel the scum that tarnished the memories of a great friend. Ryutarou just kept throwing punches and hooks wildly at Kouki, no longer caring about form or the damage that he could do, just wanting to punish him for the insult to his friend, and getting more furious every time Kouki dodged the attacks.
Kouki realized something was wrong with Ryutarou the moment that his eyes started to have a red glow in them. As he was about to ask Ryutarou what was wrong, he was surprised when Ryutarou disappeared from his spot, only to appear in front of him. Ryutarou swings left and right, and Kouki quickly back pedals to try to avoid them. This kept going for a little bit, until Kouki's back hit a pillar; with the only thing left to try to do was dodge to either towards the left or right. With a quick roll towards the right Kouki hears the shattering of stone, as he turns around and sees Ryutarou completely destroying the pillar.
"Um… I think we should end this spar…" Kouki nervously states, not looking forward to getting hit by those punches. Ryutarou turns towards Kouki, takes two steps towards him, then passes out.
Endou, seeing Ryutarou losing his mind and swinging wildly at Kouki, was worried about what he could do. He knew that one punch from Ryutarou would heavily damage him, but became even more concerned when Ryutarou destroyed the pillar in one hit.
"Ryutarou!" Endou yells as he rushes to him when he collapses. As he checks on him, Endou lets out a sigh of relief when he finds that Ryutarou is just asleep. Endou drags Ryutarou by his legs to take him to the infirmary to recover. "Man Ryutarou, why are you so heavy?"
As they left the field, Kouki stood up and wondered, "Man, what was his beef?" Kouki was lucky that Ryutarou couldn't hear him anymore.
With Shizuku and Kaori
Elsewhere in the castle approaching late evening, Shizuku looks at Kaori and hopes for her best friend to wake up. At the same time she didn't want her to wake up as well since she doesn't want her to suffer from depression. Looking at her, she went down memory lane. It was just like any old day. She was hanging out with Kouki, Kaori and Ryutarou after practice one day. It just so happened that Kouki had managed to get into another fight with strangers that were harassing a woman. She watched as him and Ryutarou were fighting, exasperated, but at that moment a policeman broke up the fight and she noticed Selena pointing at them. "Hey Selena what are you doing here?"
"Me? Well I guess, helping? I didn't know that Kouki resorted to violence to protect the woman instead of just deescalating the situation.
Well he is helping people?
Really then why do you look annoyed? Hehe" Selena giggled at the expression on Shizuku's face with her eyes twitching.
It is because this tends to happen a lot more than I like to" Shizuku says while grimacing. You know Shizuku, that punch first asked questions later mentality will get Kouki in trouble one day.
As Shizuku reflects on the memory of the past, it is at that moment Kaori has started to finally wake up.
"Ugh."
"Kaori, Kaori, are you okay?!"
"I'm fine Shizu. My body feels a bit heavy though." Kaori says, humming to herself while trying to recall what had happened to her.
"Oh, are you thirsty? Let's get you some water." Shizuku walks over to the pitch of water and pours some into the cup, hoping that she wouldn't remember what happened so soon.
"Hey, weren't we in the dungeon Shizuku?" Kaori asks with shaking hands.
'No, no, please' Shizuku thinks while handing the cup to Kaori, unsure how to respond to her, "Well, ummm...."
"Wait, where are Nagumo and Selena? We did all get away right? Nagumo is just training right now. We all got out right?"
Shizuku was unable to answer her question, only grimacing at her friend's mini breakdown. In a panic, Kaori tries to get up and move off the bed, but at that moment she finally realized her legs were asleep as she fell on the ground.
"No, Kaori, they're both gone!" Shizuku hugs Kaori and tries to comfort her friend.
"No, they are both alive, especially that devil" Kaori's mood flip-flopped from sad to angry at the fact she didn't go down the dark hole.
"Why are you so sure?"
"It's because Selena always seems like she had a plan. Ever since we got here, she cares a lot more for us and talks even more than before. She was very kind to the princess every time we were around."
"You could be right. Even back in Japan she always seems to be totally focused on her training, not skipping a day if she can help it." Shizuku stops to remember the last moments just before Selena and Hajime fell beyond her sight.
"What are you thinking about?" Kaori asks with a dangerous aura surrounding her.
Shizuku retells Kaori of the events that occurred, both during Kaori's visit to Hajime and during the two's fall.
After hearing all the news she missed, she began to hug Shizuko tighter. 'That harlot is also making a move on my best friend too? So Hajime isn't enough for her now?' Her thought process went in a very strange direction unbeknownst to Shizuku.
At that moment, the door burst open with a beat up Kouki entering the room followed by a tired Ryutarou, a concerned Endou, and a seemingly concerned Daisuke skulking behind them.
"What happened to you?" Kaori asks as she saw the state Kouki and Ryutarou were in.
Kouki rubbed the back of his head, "Well some things kinda happened while we were training earlier today, and Ryutarou got free good hits in." Downplaying the events of how pissed off his friend was with his thoughtless comments.
Quickly changing her mindset when she sees one of friends hurt. She quickly chanted a healing AOE spell when she saw that Ryutarou and Endou were equally tired as well.
"Thank you Kaori," the three said together.
After that everyone started to notice how Shizuku and Kaori were hugging, like they were lovers. Kouki awkwardly walked out of the room with a lot of thoughts rushing through his mind of yuri and girl's night and a lot of other pointless stuff. The other three turn and start to follow when Shizuku calls out to Ryutarou.
"Hey Ryutarou, can we talk? Also make sure to close the door," Shizuku says while glaring at the other boys to get lost. Getting Kaori on her bed so she could rest her body that barely began to wake up after being asleep for 5 days.
"Sure," Ryutarou turned around and went back over to the girls, while Endou closed the door behind Daisuke and himself. Daisuke was gritting his teeth, jealous that it wasn't him.
"What up Shizuku?" Ryutarou asked, confused at being asked to stay.
"Can you tell me about when you met Selena back in Japan?"
"Mmm," Ryutarou tries to think back, while scratching the back of his head. "She was very different from the one we are used to nowadays."
"What does that mean?" Shizuku was confused at the odd statement.
"Well, I knew who she was, since we were in the same class back in middle school, but back then she was big into being a part of the class." As he tries to recall the foggy memories that he had not thought about in years.
"So?" Shizuku presses on.
"Well she was the vice class rep, an extrovert that was ready to help everyone, part of the planning committee for events and whatnot. But the following year it all changed after the summer break. She dropped out of being class rep, but it wasn't like she became unfriendly; it was just she didn't go out of her way to help anymore. It was like all her aura changed from the bright and stern self that we had to the cold aloof persona we know nowadays."
"That sounds like you were not close to her then though," Shizuku says.
"Well, soon after she joined my judo club and I slowly got to know her bit by bit. But it wasn't till Endou and I met her at the liquor store."
"Does that mean she was there to buy something?" Kaori asks, seeing that she clearly was missing something.
"No, she was working there." Both Shizuku and Kaori were at a loss since they had come up with a few conclusions. "My guess is she was an orphan." Ryutarou brings back both the girls' attention back to himself. "It was the first time I got a good look at her eyes but she seemed to not be whole there at the moment."
"What do you mean?" Kaori asks with concern.
"It wasn't till a few weeks in the dojo that I noticed it, but when she started practice she was horrible at it. But the thing was she was wholly focused in the moment once again when she learned the stances for all the basics.
'Thinking back it was the same thing when I introduced Yaegashi style to her at the start of high school.' Shizuku thought.
"We hung out a few times also, and I was surprised to find out she was into Gurren Lagann. I thought she would think more about her clothes, boys and what not." Ryutarou felt the cold shiver when he felt the glares coming from his audience and quickly moved on. "She was easy to talk to and never got awkward. It was as if she was one of the guys. Back then it made me wonder why she cut herself off. But all she would do is change the topic or glare at me till I ask something else if I ever brought it up. And in highschool you know the rest she made first real friend in freshman year after meeting Hajime although I'm not sure how she did it." He ended with a confused look at that part with a "Ugh" being heard from the background.
The girls were at a loss after hearing what Ryutarou said. They both could not understand Selena's motives as of yet but the next time they saw her, boy was she in for it or so they thought at the time.
-----
Back in the Dungeon
----
As Selena led with Hajime in the back going down the 24th floor to the 25th floor. The temperature drops drastically from hot and humid to biting wind cold air. Hajime "Fuckin really piss from just escaping a hot hell to exchange it for sheer cold winds." As the sweat from his body stuck on to his skin. Shaking it off all beads of water put on the bear cloak to keep warm from the wind.
Selena, put her wolf pelt on, not too bothered from the temps all around her. "Aw come on Hajime it's not that bad" smiling devilishly, grab a handful of the snow on the ground and throw it at him only to miss piss off Hajime.
"Really now of all time you choose to do this" exasperated at the fact Selena isn't taking this seriously!!
At first glance they can only see about ten feet in front of them. The wind on the floor keeps blowing the snow and visibility is bad. Luckily both of them have sense presents that go out 25 feet ahead of them.
Hajime 'from the looks of it there is a lot of snow and rock.' "We sure take care and watch our footing, we don't want to slip and fall on rock." Walk straight forward and hope to get out of this floor as soon as possible.
"It could be worse, you know Hajime" pouting at his rash choice in direction.
"Stop raising fuckin flags stupid !!"
As the ground began to rumble and they saw four very tall figures come at them.
"What did I tell you '' pulling out hit gun fire at the unknown monster, trying to kill it fast as hell. A booming howl was all they heard as the bullet stopped mid-flight and fell to the ground. "Tch, tough bastard" reloading his gun as runs forward and tries to get a close shot off.
"Wait for me stupid!!" Grab her newly made black sword made from the same ore as their weapons she set down her pack and ran towards the big monster.
When she could finally see what it was, they saw ice trolls. It swung the club it had on it towards Hajime and tried to kill him before he could approach him. Hajime doges all the attacks coming at him from the four trolls that were bunched up together .
Seeing Hajime needing support, she sheathed her sword on her hip and started weaving hand signs for the ice bomb. Fine easy to mold the snow around the first troll on the left ice bomb. At that moment both ice trolls activated their booming howl to stop all ice shared from screwing them.
Seeing his opening Hajime fired six shots into the closest troll to kill him, targeting his head.
Seeing their fellow troll fall, two of them rush at him. As he dash back reloading his gun while using a super sonic step to stay away from the rushing trolls.
The last troll ran at Selena smashing down its rock club at her. Using a quick step to get underneath its legs, she pulls out her sword and cuts the troll's tendons out, causing it to fall on all fours. She quickly jumped on its back while the troll body was using its magic to heal its cut tendons, running up to its head. As soon as she got there, she used a lighting field on her whole body as she stabbed the blade into its head, frying the troll's brain and killing it.
While that was happening, Hajime was done reloading but he could not stop moving away due to the two trolls trying to bash him into the ground. Pulling from his pack he threw two make-shift grenades to try to make another opening. Seeing the small projectiles coming at them both trolls were not stupid and hit both away causing an explosion in the distance.
"Tch, why couldn't it be her to be chased instead of me." See no way in short term to kill them fast enough without taking a few blows he just ran hoping Selena would catch up already.
Lucky for him Selena was already close enough to him. With expanding most of her mana she used quick steps more time than him in the short term to catch up.
The troll that was slightly further back was about to step when he impeded himself on all spikes that appeared out of nowhere. Cause him to howl in pain both the troll and Hajime turn and see that the other troll's foot was mutilated with so many holes coming from where foot once was. Seeing his chances he unloaded three rounds into the back of a troll head that was looking back at its hurt companion. Exhausted from having to expend so much mana and chakra at the same time Selena just sat there and watched as Hajime used air step and quick step to get in front of the last troll and shot the last three rounds into the last troll face to kill it too.
"What took you so long?"
"Oh I'm sorry for have to deal with the present you left behind for me"
Changing the topic with the grace he thought he had. "Where's your stuff" as he picks out the meat for tonight's meal.
"Umm, I kinda left behind thinking there would be more" she says while scratching her head. After a good bit of time they reached where the altercation had started.
"Um Hajime, it kinda walked away"
"What do you mean it walked away" he asked, following close behind.
"I mean, that I placed the pack right here, and now it's gone"
With an annoyed look, Hajime stares at Selena for a bit. "And you didn't think to look for the footprints that lead away from the pack" He states gesturing to the aforementioned prints in the snow.
"Tch," She looks away and starts following the footprints left behind by the monster that stole her supplies with a smirking Hajime right behind her.
As they get to the foot of the cave, they see where the footprints lead Hajime pointing his hand "Now you go and get it back."
"Ugh, you know that the both of us together can get it done faster"
"I don't care. This is your fault, so go in there and kill everything yourself. I will watch your back."
As she walks into the cave, smell shit comes from the inner cave. "I hate you Hajime. Where is my knight shining armor, waiting to save me"
"Dead, just like you will be if you don't get our stuff back. You were carrying some of our heal rock water."
When they reach the end of the cave she sees the five yeti play with all her makeshift panties and wear them on their heads. "NOO!!! You disgusting bastards!" She weaves the hand seals for the ice bomb and blows the five yeti into ice particles along with all her makeshift clothes.
Seeing her reaction from behind, Hajime wisely thought, 'I'm just not going to ask what happened until she calms down.'
Selena walk out in a foul mood look at Hajime with dead eyes on verge of tear
He casually walks in a random direction and not saying anything, believing it best not to open that can of worms.
Hajime made a makeshift camp for the night since they couldn't find the exit to the floor. They pulled out the ice troll meat with a little grimace, knowing that it was not going to taste good no matter what they did. After eating some of it, they felt a burning sensation in their throat that water wouldn't calm down. Within a few minutes, the burning feeling went away, making the two concerned about what they might have gotten. With a quick glance at their plates, they noticed a new skill called Howling added to their list that they were not sure what it does.
Hajime looks at Selena, who has been quiet for hours. "So, do you want to say what happened back there?"
"I blew up all my panties you made for me down there."
As he hears that he try to keep the stoic look on his face but fail and smile try not to laugh at her
"I can see that, stupid. Go head" she says, huffing
"Haha, that made my day!" not holding back on her rolling on the ground
The next day
"Okay just keep the skin of next monster we see"
"No we need to kill more yeti" Selena says with an evil aura coming off her as she thinks of what would be best for her new panties.
"Okay just don't blow them up again…" Hajime sighs, knowing that they will be on this floor a bit long looking for yetis.
After that day there were no more yeti on the 25th floor going extinct due to rage inducing moment she had
"You know Hajime, sometimes you have to wear your enemy's skin to truly conquer them"
With another sign he is praying for those poor yetis, seeing all of their looks of horror from the last few yeti they met as Selena slowly crush their heads in front of the others.
Smiling as they finally found the stairs with a pack of 20 ice salamanders, who were the guardians of the stairs.
Too bad for them they met their match and most of them got heads blown up and decapitated by sword wielding maniacs with a smile on her face. All the while Hajime just kept shooting from a safe distance with a stoic face at what this floor has unleashed upon itself.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone