Chapter 95.3

95 Part 3

“Eh? Was that really the evil god’s messenger?”

“That’s right.”

“So why did the messenger come down to Kamui Rock instead of a god or an angel when you offered the best salmon as a sacrifice?”

“… Oh, dear me!?”

Did she not know why the evil god’s messenger appeared?

Chep leaned with a curious look on her face.

The first thing to do was to organize the information. Haruki put his hand on his chin and started to think.

Chep popped out of the river, and headed towards Kamui Rock.

And after she prayed atop Kamui Rock, the evil god’s messenger appeared from the sky.

If you follow the mythology, it should have been a god, not an evil god’s messenger, that appeared from the sky.

But why did the evil god’s messenger appear…?

— Wait, weren’t monster’s appearing from out of the dungeon in the first place?

He gave it a bit more thought, but he found no answers.

— Should I let Chep pray again?

After thinking, Haruki raised his head and noticed the change in the sun’s color.

As it approached the horizon, the sun began to turn red.

The forest and rivers joined the sun and changed their colors as well.

From atop Kamui Rock, the change made for a fantastic scenic view.

After being fascinated by the scene for a while, Haruki suddenly realized.

“Huh? What was the closing time for the contest?”

As soon as he realized, his entire body went pale and his blood turned cold.

“Wasn’t it over at nightfall!?”

— Damn it!

Immediately, Haruki made off with the black Fishman’s corpse.

It was a little too heavy to carry it by himself, but he had no time to complain about it.

“I need to use all of my strength… All of my energy to get back to the starting point!”

If he were to waste another second…

His score would be zero points…

And he wouldn’t even get the chance to increase his presence!

Hurriedly, Haruki took the Fishman’s corpse in both hands, roughly stuffed Chep into his backpack, and jumped off Kamui Rock.

“Oooohhhh nooooooo!!”

As Kamuikotan became dyed with the colors of dusk, the screams of a salmon echoed across the forest, and soon disappeared.

＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊

At that time, a shock ran across the old Kamuikotan Station Building, which Team Aerial was using as a control room.

“The signal of a powerful monster has appeared in Kamui Rock! It’s Rank B at least!”

Sensing that signal, Becky’s lips started to tremble.

Monsters of Rank B and above were as powerful as the Lizardman they fought against in Chikaho.

At that time, Becky was powerless against the Lizardman. Therefore, she took the threat that signal posed more seriously.

Of course, Kagemitsu was also shaken by the appearance of a monster that was at least Rank B.

But he couldn’t allow himself to show his unrest in front of his companions.

Kagemitsu was the leader of Team Aerial.

If the leader looks composed, the rest of the team will feel relieved.

“Okay. I’ll check it out. Becky should use her Clairvoyance to have a bird’s-eye view the whole thing. Yoshi, Doraneko, and Van go to the site. Let’s meet at the base of Kamui Rock.”

“Y-Yes!”

Becky pushed up her glasses, which were about to fall off her face, and picked up her phone.

While Becky contacted their companions, Kagemitsu quickly put on his armor.

Kagemitsu and his friends had reached the 27th floor of Chikaho.

Though they could have a hard time against them, Rank B monsters weren’t something they couldn’t defeat.

If they deal with it calmly, there should be no problem.

However…

— A monster of at least Rank B suddenly appeared in such a place. What on earth happened…?

It was too unnatural.

Perhaps monsters were still coming out of the dungeon.

Thinking about that possibility, Kagemitsu grew even more uneasy.

An adventurer who had defeated a monster was carefully stripping off its materials nearby.

An Ichibishi employee was fidgeting about as he calculated his appraisals.

— Don’t let them think something’s wrong.

Kagemitsu looked at Kamui Rock, trying to hide his own anxiety.

From his standpoint, there didn’t seem to be any big changes in Kamui Rock.

He didn’t feel that unpleasant atmosphere, like when a Stampede was about to break out.

Suddenly, Kagemitsu was reminded of a familiar adventurer.

With him, he should be able to defeat that monster more safely…

But he was in another team.

No matter how urgent the situation was, he couldn’t call him like one of his teammates.

Besides, he must be doing his best to earn points for the contest.

He couldn’t get in his way like that.

Kagemitsu shook his head as if to dispel the image of the mask that had appeared in his head.

At that moment…

“K… Kagemitsu? About that monster from earlier…”

Becky appeared from the station building, approaching with a half run so as not to arouse suspicion.

— Did something bad happen?

Seeing her embarrassed expression, Kagemitsu became even more cautious.

“I’ve lost its signal.”

“Huh?”

“Maybe an adventurer already defeated it.”

“… Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

The adventurers who gathered for this “Monster Hunting Contest” were all intermediate or above.

Among them, only a handful of adventurers should be able to defeat monsters of Rank B and above.

Rank B monsters are powerful creatures that appeared around the 30th floor of a dungeon.

Currently, other than Team Aerial, who had reached the deepest floors of Chikaho, one or two other teams at best should have been able to deal with something like that.

— Did one of those teams defeat it?

But could those teams have found the monster that appeared on Kamui Rock and defeat it so quickly?

Kagemitsu took a deep breath in order to calm himself down.

Then he turned to Kamui Rock to exhale…

“– Puhoooh!?”

His breath came out from his mouth and nose at the same time after suddenly seeing Kamui Rock split in half.

“… What should we do, Kagemitsu?”

“… Hmm.”

— Let’s pretend we didn’t see anything!

Kagemitsu’s opinion was bluntly dismissed by Becky.