Can Someone from a Tradition-Ridden Village Pull Off a Narou-Style Story in a Modern Dungeon? ～The Higher Being Behind Me Is Way Too Much of a Final Boss～ - Chapter 129: Arrival
-Thank you DCRangeRange, Dean Dexter and Cannedbread
Follow me on Patreon via Linktree https://linktr.ee/Mnotia-
"Hello"
"Hello"
"Hello"
"Hello"
Yes, hello!
It would help if you could be quiet for a bit!
And all of you, take those disgusting boxes off your heads!
...If taking them off would be more grotesque, then leave them as they are! Sorry for asking something unreasonable!
"Just a little more, keep running!"
"Yes"
"Alright! Shio, how's the ride!"
"Ughhh..."
"Haa... haa, kohyu..."
"Master, Ei and Shio are each at their limits in different ways."
"I don't mind."
"Ehh..."
How can the three of them keep up full speed for ten minutes?
Isn't it weird for their speed to increase based on the structure of the human body?
I've at least had Sorayodo-sama strengthen my body!
『Sora, I want to run faster. At this rate, with no stamina, I'll be left behind!』
『Your internal organs are gone right now, so you can't run any faster than this. Having both lungs missing really does lead to a drop in stamina.』
『What have you done to me?』
Even among the Osora bye-bye, hasn't this taken everything more than ever before?
『It can't be helped. Those things kill their target by using the crushing of internal organs as a trigger. So if we remove them from the start, we can escape being the target of the curse. That's the logic.』
『Is that really true?』
『These boxes are quite troublesome. Well, if it were me, I could neutralize them immediately by making the inside of the box blank. But if it becomes empty even once, the syntax would probably be destroyed in that instant. That would be bad. The world would lose one piece of content.』
『So you chose the method of getting rid of my internal organs?』
『Yes. This is the safest method, and I also get to enjoy Ei's pained face.』
『So it's killing two birds with one stone! Sora-sama's cleverness has me beat!』
You've gotta be kidding me.
"Ei, are you okay!? You're the only one whose face looks like you've been cursed!"
"Kohyu... kohyu... I can hear... greetings... all the time..."
"Master, permission to activate Hibari!"
"Permission granted."
While running, Senano-chan opened her guitar case.
The moment she did, a small burning bird flew out as if launched from inside.
『Recognition connection, Oath-link disclosure. Confirmed.』
Senano-chan's previously steady running rhythm changed into an irregular one, triggered by that.
It was a ritual prayer and dance made of sound and stride.
While sprinting at full speed, Senano's movements made Hibari grow much faster than usual.
But what is Senano-chan going to use that for...?
"Hibari, grab Ei and fly."
"Kohyu?"
Immediately, something warm grabbed my shoulders and lifted me, and a floating sensation hit.
W-Whoa, I'm flying through the air!
...No, wait, this is a small animal caught as prey!
"I'll have Hibari carry you over there."
"Th...ank you... haa, haa"
"First get your breathing under control. Then answer. What is this 'hello'?"
Still held by Hibari, I slowly steadied my breathing.
I don't really want to think about why I can steady it without lungs, so I stop.
"All over the city there are people wearing boxes on their heads. They're all women, staring fixedly this way. They don't move; they just keep calling out 'hello.'"
"...Master, isn't this pretty bad?"
"It's fine. You'll only have your internal organs twisted off."
"You don't call that 'only,' Master."
"There are countless Enri entities that can repair internal organs. Besides, the closer we get to the apartment building, the more individuals who have kept their reason there will be."
We're really heading toward an ally right now, right?
This is really rough, but that person really is on our side, right?
『Ei with a face covered by a box and convulsing would be nice too. I'd love to show that human.』
I wonder if this god is really okay as an ally.
What should I do if they start preparing a blue box?
"Almost there. Increase speed."
"Yes"
"Alright!"
The three monster athletes accelerated further and headed for the apartment building.
On Minako-chan's back was Shio-chan, whose semicircular canals seem done for. Dangling from Hibari's feet was me.
And so, we managed to keep running for another five minutes from there and arrive at the apartment building.
■
How much time had passed while she was rocked on someone's back?
"See, we're here, Shio."
Called by name, Shio took in the building before her anew.
It seemed they had arrived at their destination.
"Thanks... urp."
"You did well not to throw up! I'll give you tea later!"
Since speaking any more right now might make various things come out, Shio expressed thanks with her hand and climbed off the back.
The solid feel of the ground felt strangely long overdue, so she lightly stamped her feet in place a few times.
"Phew, that was good as a warm-up."
"Senano-saaan, please put me down."
"Hehe, Ei looks like laundry right now. Can I take a picture?"
"Of course! Peace!"
The dispatched elite group apparently wouldn't give up over something like this.
One of them had exposed a lack of stamina, but otherwise there seemed to be no problems.
(That person saw it the same way I did, huh.)
What Ei had described on the way was likely the same event she herself had experienced.
That was why she couldn't believe that Ei was making a peace sign with a calm face right now.
(As I thought, if you're going to live as an Enri Bearer, you have to be this thick-skinned. Wow.)
Shio seriously thought that while watching Ei, still hanging from Hibari, having a photo shoot.
Before she knew it, Minako had also gone over there and was taking pictures too.
Apparently she was the only one who had had no composure on the way here.
"...A dispatched employee mixed in with Enri Bearers stands out way too much."
Muttering so no one could hear, she looked up at the apartment building.
The eight-story apartment building, with parts of its outer wall peeling and its railings slightly rusted, showed signs of having been exposed to the sea breeze in this area for a long time.
A child's bicycle lay discarded at the edge of the bicycle parking area; how long had it been unused? Its once-vivid color had faded, blending quietly into the surrounding scenery.
Shio only noticed it because there was a child wearing a box beside it, but she immediately averted her gaze.
She'd had more than enough of that feeling.
"The eighth floor after all. ...You're serious, Happou Fusagari."
Above the grimy glass door leading to the entrance, a plate engraved with "Maison de Hakkai" was installed.
Shio swallowed down the lingering fatigue and dizziness in her body and listened to Nene's words.
"If we go inside, it'll be safe. If it's Hakkai, Hachiko should be there, and she'll guide us."
"Hachiko? Master, is Hachiko a friend of yours?"
"That's right."
Nodding at Ei's question, Nene stepped into the apartment building without hesitation.
The others saw that and followed, but they did not let their guard down.
Because Nene still held Kamikiri in her hand.
"Come, follow me. This time I can't climb the walls. The elevator is also off-limits to non-residents, so..."
"There you are, you thieving cat!"
"...Oh, you came."
The moment they entered the entrance, they heard the sound of someone running down the stairs and a voice clearly not welcoming them.
That person leaped over the railing at once and attacked Nene.
"I'll kill you."
"Thanks for the warm welcome, Hachiko."
Nene caught the swung-down arm with Kamikiri.
Instantly, a chewing sound echoed, and the caught arm was devoured whole.
"Ah, it ate it again!"
Having lost the arm, the one landed in front of Nene and glared at her resentfully.
Except for the arm she had just lost, she was an ordinary girl.
She was a maid-dressed girl with chestnut hair tied into voluminous twintails.
She was glaring sharply, but her innate cuteness had not completely vanished, and her round eyes made her look especially like a small animal looking up.
Or rather, she was short to begin with.
(She's smaller than me. ...About 140cm maybe.)
Standing in front of Nene, they were like a giant and a dwarf.
She continued to glare at Nene and shouted like a wary stray cat.
"You came to seduce Hacchan again, didn't you! Didn't you! You lowly thieving cat!"
Faced with a soul-shaking cry that seemed like it might echo through the entire building, Nene turned to Shio and the others without a change of expression.
At that moment, Hachiko attacked again, but she was easily blocked, and her other arm was lost instead.
"As you can see, she is my friend."
"You! Are you making fun of me! I'll curse you! I'll definitely curse you!"
Toward the angry Hachiko, Nene looked expressionless but somehow proud.
『Heh, so you used them lavishly and made that mock human, huh^^ Interesting.』
『Stop saying creepy things right after we enter.』
-Thank you DCRangeRange, Dean Dexter and Cannedbread
Follow me on Patreon via Linktree https://linktr.ee/Mnotia-