Chapter 40.4

More.

More!!

Haruki enlarged his detection awareness and was able to perceive every single monster in the area.

Which monster was going to attack him at what speed?

Which order should he tackle them? When should he dodge?

He was able to find the best answer to the situation in an instant.

The Owners joined in.

They were smarter.

They were tougher.

Ther were more dangerous.

They could easily dodge simple attacks.

That left you open.

And they would launch a counter-attack.

And so he had to be careful.

However, he couldn’t allow the enemy to attack too many times either.

Not yet.

He could do more!!

He was aware of all of the monsters, and he observed, analyzed, and understood.

He imagined the future and had it reflect on his movements.

Silver Wolves and Owners had different levels of intelligence.

And so he used different attacks for them.

He did the least that was required when fighting the Silver Wolves and went all out against the Owners.

He cut, slashed, pierced, and kicked.

Guarded, dodged, and countered.

“Aoooo!!”

His roar sounded like a beast’s howl. But it seemed to help erase the feeling of sickness that came over him from leveling up.

He felt hot.

His entire body was slightly numb.

He felt that he would be able to move forever.

He felt like he could fight forever.

Maybe it was just the adrenaline.

He was in a state of heightened excitement. He had goosebumps.

He cut, slashed, parried, dodged, and kicked.

When there was an opening, he would send the monsters flying into the air so they would land in a trap.

“There’s no way…we can get out of this…”

Silver Wolves had torn Lars’s arm and his sides. Haruki saw him close his eyes.

“Don’t give up!”

If you give up, you’ll no longer be able to think of anything.

You had to move if you wanted a future.

Despair need only exist in that very last moment.

“…GGRAAH!!”

However, Haruki’s voice did nothing. Before Lars could recover from his despair, a Silver Wolf tore out his throat.

Blood sprayed thickly in the air.

The dungeon suddenly smelled a lot more like iron.

The man who had seemed so strong a short while ago had been killed so easily.

The eyes that had been filled with hate and fear now turned dim.

“La-Lars!!”

Shikama was desperately holding his shield up in resistance, but he shouted upon seeing Lars die.

Of course, the Silver Wolves reacted to this noise, and they all turned to him at once.

Haruki became frantic.

A monster parade and a stampede. And a stampede boss.

He had been in pinches more than once before.

And he had always managed to make it out alive. And he had assumed this time would be no different.

However, after seeing that Adventurer die, the shadow of despair was creeping towards him.

“Daaaamn! What did we ever do! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shi-…”

He used shield bash after shield bash to send the Silver Wolves flying.

But just as Shikama pushed forward again with his shield, an Owner’s arm came swinging.

It hit him right in the side of the head.

His dark eyes rolled up in his head in an instant.

“He…lp…me… Forgive…”

As for the archer, Haria, he had already lost half of his body.

There was no light in his eyes now.

He wasn’t seeing anything.

Several Silver Wolves were biting into him, and every time his head shook, another piece of flesh was torn from his body.

In less than ten seconds, he completely lost his original form.

Shikama and Lars were the same.

The only thing that was left was pieces of leftover meat that were scattered all over the floor.

And even that wouldn’t remain for long either.

The Silver Wolves were licking the ground neatly.

Even though he was still fighting, Haruki was stunned.

If he wasn’t careful, his legs would give in under him.

—He couldn’t help them.

They had tricked Oiso and attacked Karen.

He wasn’t going to forgive them for that.

However, he had still wanted to save their lives.

He wanted to save any life that he could.

He didn’t want to see someone die in front of him ever again…

It wasn’t because of some lip service about ‘all life being equal.’

It wasn’t even about justice.

It was just his own ego.

But it was also Haruki’s sense of responsibility.

What he thought an Adventurer should be.

Without it, they would be just like the beasts.

It was the last bit of pride as a human that he clung to.

That was why Haruki had fought alongside them.

Well, he had tried to…

But what was gone could not be returned.

The scene before him.

The emotion, every detail, he would carve it into his heart.

So that he would not make the same mistake again.

He closed his eyes for a fraction of a second.

And then he switched gears.

“…Rhea. We’re going to use everything we got to get out of here!”

Bleh. Rhea shook her leaves disapprovingly.

Still, she seemed to say, ‘You really are hopeless!’ as she fired the potato stones in the direction that Haruki could not see.

She really wasn’t honest.

Haruki chuckled. And then he focused on the monsters in front of him.

Up until now, Rhea had been restrained, as Shikama and the others were in the room. And now she was free.

With every throw, a Silver Wolf fell as blood sprayed in the air.

Haruki closed his eyes again.

Then he bit his lip hard and charged into the group of monsters as he swung.

He would suppress this horrible violence and trample over them.