Chapter 95.2

95 Part 2

Suddenly, a small white and black orb emerged from the Fishman’s body and began to float in a spiral.

When it reached the same height as Haruki’s standpoint, it stopped rising.

“W-What’s that?”

The orb fired itself towards the dumbfounded Haruki.

— A magic attack!?

Hurriedly, Haruki crossed his arms over his chest in an attempt to block it.

The orb ignored Haruki’s arms, and touched Haruki’s chest.

There was no impact.

After coming in contact with Haruki’s chest, the orb burst open.

A small piece of the bursted orb was sucked into Haruki’s chest, like foam being sucked into a drain.

“What on earth was that…?”

Haruki stood in shock, confused by what had just happened.

It had been an unusual phenomenon.

— It’s like when I first picked up the Skill Board… No way!?

As he took a deep breath, Haruki noticed that his body was trembling.

“…?”

His body wasn’t the only thing that was trembling.

“Kamui Rock is shaking!?”

Was it an earthquake?

A loud rumbling echoed in the confused Haruki’s ears.

*Kerrrackkk!*

The tremor sounded like thunder.

“–Waaah!?”

Coincident with the loud noise, the ground at Haruki’s feet cracked open.

It was a fissure that looked like the crevasses that happened in snowy mountains.

Haruki hurriedly steps back.

He tried to put distance between him and the crack.

After the crack had become about three meters wide, it stopped growing.

At the same time, the rumbling sound disappeared, and the area regained its silence.

“Huh… What’s this?”

Nervously, Haruki looked into the crack on the ground.

The bottom of the crack was filled with a cloud of dust, and nothing can be seen.

The crack itself seemed to be running in a straight line from one end of Kamui Rock to the other.

It seemed that the cliff that used to be one had been split into two.

The section had very few irregularities.

More than being cracked open, it seemed as if it had been sliced open.

“What’s the meaning of this… Ah.”

Haruki held his tongue there.

When Haruki jumped and attacked the black Fishman.

Weakness Exploit caused a light to shine.

And the Fishman hadn’t been the only thing that shone with that light.

As he recalled what happened, Haruki went pale.

— No… No way… That can’t be…

He tried to deny it many times, but his memory, as vivid as if he was watching a video recording of it, was proof of the reality.

At that time, along with the black Fishman…

… Kamui Rock itself was shining.

Back then, Haruki was completely focused on the Fishman, and didn’t expect that he would cut through Kamui Rock, even if it shined with Weakness Exploit’s light.

Who could have guessed that a cliff that was several tens of meters tall could be cut in half with a short sword?

“Yeah… Something like this can’t be normal. It’s not me. It’s not my fault.”

Haruki kept on whispering and mumbling excuses.

Desecrating a sacred place for the Ainu was sure to be met with some divine punishment, even if it was done so in order to defeat a monster.

— What should I do?

— Should I try to pretend I don’t know anything about this?

At the end of Haruki’s line of sight…

“–Blegh!!”

Chep’s face emerged out of a pile of rubble.

“Oh, you were still alive?”

“Don’t count me off just yet!!”

Chep seemed very angry.

Seeing her, Haruki’s racing heart suddenly calmed down.

Wasn’t there anything to harvest that was related to the dungeon? That thought fleeted past Haruki’s mind.

Sighing, Haruki asked Chep.

“Why did you need to come here, Chep?”

“That’s because I’m the best salmon.”

“What happens if the best salmon comes here?”

“The best salmon is an offering to the gods. You understand that much, don’t you?”

Haruki was irritated by the “are you stupid or what?” look on Chep’s face.

— How far can I kick you off this cliff?

“Uwaaahh!”

Chep quivered, probably because she had noticed Haruki’s murderous intent.

— But why do you droop every time?

“So, where did you come from?”

Asahikawa’s dungeon, Kamuikotan, had 10 floors in total.

Normal monsters appeared all the way up to the 9th floor, but no demihumans should appear there.

Therefore, Chep shouldn’t be one of the monsters that escaped from Kamuikotan during the Stampede.

So where did this demihuman come from?

“Where were you born?”

“I’m a salmon, so I was born at the river like all the other salmon, and then swam upstream.”

“There are more salmon like you in Ishikawa River!?”

Haruki shivered as he imagined a demihuman salmon swimming upstream in a butterfly stroke.

— What a wicked sight…

“Do all salmon in Ishikawa River have limbs like you?”

“Even if that were the case, I’m a spirit.”

Chep stood there arrogantly, as if saying “I’m different from those normal salmon!”

She might have been different from other spirits, but pressing that point wasn’t even worth the effort.

Haruki swallowed his words and asked another question.

“If you’re an offering to the gods, how come you’re still alive?”

“THat’s because you defeated the evil god’s messenger.”

“The evil god’s… messenger?”

“Yes. That was the messenger of the evil god who once brought calamity to Kamuikotan. In order to defeat that messenger, I was planning to offer myself, the best salmon, as a sacrifice, as well as a prayer so that a god could descend upon this earth and destroy it. And yet, you…”

— So it was in order to defeat that messenger…?

Chep brought one of her hands to her cheek and smiled, as if saying “You really got in my way, you!”

Though it was a very lovely smile, it was still the smile of a fish.

It didn’t resonate with Haruki’s heart at all.