CH 158.1

Chapter 158.1 : Shaman Vs Archer

I stood by myself overlooking the single bridge from atop a tall building by the riverside.

I wonder just how much time has passed ever since I secluded myself in this place.

It has been three days since the appearance of Futaba-san who transformed into a transcendental beauty babe with a busty rack that was enough to make any man turn his head to see her along with Momokawa who suddenly became a cheeky boy.

「Should I try Momokawa’s drug… No, the risk I take with that option is way too big.」

To be honest, I had no idea whether welcoming them with this kind of hostile air was correct or not. I’d no time to hesitate in this kind of situation.

Momokawa didn’t have potion but he had the drug, believing that was a simple matter. To be honest, such an offer was more than what I expected to the point that I want to accept his offer.

But, my 『Intuition』 warned me that 「Momokawa is bad news」.

Due to my 『Archer』 vocation, my intuition power become really sharp, almost to the point of predicting the future. And 『Intuition』 was one of my passive skills.

But keeping my vigilance for a long time by myself like this did chip away my patience.

If I took that drug, I might be able to heal Saya-chan immediately. Could it be that I actually abandoned the one and only chance to save her?

Currently, I can’t help but always be haunted by such a thought.

But no matter how much I thought about it, my intuition kept telling me that Momokawa was dangerous. And by dangerous, I wasn’t referring to the outer appearance of a baby-faced, girl-like guy who seemed to be always in his own world back in Japan which stayed the same but… I knew that something about him was fundamentally different compared to before.

Well, that change might be just natural. I mean, he somehow managed to reach this far in the dungeon after all. There was no doubt that he went through the baptism of this dungeon to reach this far. This was a mere conjecture of mine but my intuition had warned me that Momokawa had killed someone along the way, which might be one of our classmates, and there was no mistaking this intuition of mine.

And though I couldn’t guess what was so dangerous about him, he boldly tried to negotiate with me despite my warning shot. Maybe he wanted to recruit us to join his party. I had no idea whether he was telling the truth or not, but he stopped spouting cunning words with another warning shot from me.

Though my intuition had already become really sharp, it didn’t mean that I could see through a lie. That’s why I knew nothing about Momokawa’s traveling companions nor did I know about the drug he created. I also had no idea whether the thing he said about the drug was true or not.

Once you suspect something, you might have a hard time looking suspicious. Nevertheless, from the way that guy, Momokawa’s spoke, even if the other party threatened his life, he would shrewdly drag the other party to the negotiation table, no doubt about it. If the other party was quite gullible, he most likely would force them to agree with him, which made him very dangerous.

In a thousand chances, he took Saya-chan as a hostage, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to fight them back anymore.

Even though my intuition understood the situation, I couldn’t help but keep thinking about Momokawa’s drug… That was how desperate my current situation was.

「Haah… God, please, cure Saya-chan…」

Her condition being stabilized, for now, was what I hoped. Though she had stopped bleeding, the painful-looking scars had yet to be closed. That’s why without proper bandage and antiseptic solution, there was the danger of infection. Though I did my best to close her wound, in the end, a potion-like magic drug was necessary to close her wound.

Even if her fever had subsided right now, I didn’t think she would be healed naturally as it is. Maybe because she had lost her appetite, she never touched her meal nowadays.

「What should I do, should I try looking for a potion even if it is just a bit far away?」

I’ve already finished searching the nearby place. I knew that I would expose the wounded Saya-chan by searching around, but I’d no choice but to leave her side to hunt for our food and drinking water.

I wouldn’t find a treasure box with potions inside around this area, but I might be able to find one in a big ruined city. Though I’d prepared myself to leave this place for one or two days to search for a potion, I wished that I’d more options in this regard but…

「Dammit, I can’t lose now, that Momokawa should be still hiding nearby.」

That guy would definitely cross the bridge as soon as he realized that I was already gone, and took the defenseless Saya-chan hostage.

「Should I kill him first then…」

Nope, I shouldn’t jump the gun. There’s a possibility that Momokawa might also be looking for a potion while I did the same.

In short, I’d no way out, sealed in this place.

「Think, think harder. Something… Is there some other way to save Saya-chan――!?」

It seemed I was drowning in my own train of thought, was what my intuition had told me.

Upon sensing hostile existence, my 『Intuition』 skill would work first, locating the hostile party with 『Search Enemy』. And lastly, I would find the exact location of the hostile party with 『Eagle Eye』 or 『Wind Reading』.

Now, I’d already grasped the rough location with 『Search Enemy』.

Well, I was bound to notice sooner or later with such a bold gait. The other party made a beeline across the bridge, straight towards my location.

「Sakurai-ku~n, are you there~?」

The one who shouted my name with his child-like voice was, of course, Momokawa.

「You came huh, Momokawa. Did you find the potion―― is what I wanted to ask but, what in the hell was with that appearance!?」

The one who appeared was, of course, Momokawa. Along with Futaba-san. But, the problem was their appearance.

Futaba-san was holding a tower shield. In addition, Momokawa was crucified right on the surface of that said shield, like a certain person with “J” as his initials.

You, just what kind of crime did you commit for Futaba-san to tie you up on her shield? Did you by chance get found out when peeking at her while she was bathing?

No matter how you looked at it, Momokawa who got tied up on Futaba-san’s black tower shield looked like a witch who was about to receive a trial or burned on the stake, but since the person himself boldly called for my attention, I guess he wasn’t punished by Futaba-san.

「Sorry Sakurai-kun, we’re also betting our lives here. That’s why we come after we made a perfect plan to breakthrough.」

「I-I see.」

Please don’t make it look like you’re enjoying some sort of SM play.

But from his tone, I guessed that he wouldn’t hand over the potion he found so obediently.

「Did you find the potion?」