I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 2 Page 9

  “Do you know exactly where he was stabbed?”

  “I... I think it was in the back.”

  “All right. Just give me a second...”

  As Satsuki closed her eyes and began to concentrate, I finally realized what she was getting at.

  Until now, we’d only been thinking about how God had sealed away the Monster. But Satsuki was onto something. He hadn’t just been imprisoned; he’d been defeated.

  If he did have a weak point, this had to be the hint that would lead us to it.

  “...I found it. There’s a spot on Bahamut’s back where God’s spear pierced his hide, and it’s still bleeding.”

  I then remembered the oversized bandage that was on Bahamut’s back when he was in his fairy form. It had totally slipped my mind, but that must have been how he was hiding the wound.

  “But how can we use that to defeat Mr. Elephant?”

  Really, Harissa? “Mr. Elephant”? Wasn’t that a little too cutesy of a nickname for him?

  But she had a point. A wound was just a wound. Without some way to target it, it didn’t do us any good.

  Lea was the only one with the strength to fight Bahamut, but she had been trapped here, starving... No, wait a second.

  “Come to think of it, Lea, how’d you get the power to break the seal recently?”

  From what I’d heard, it had been weakening over the past few years, but Lea should have been too without any food. That meant that she shouldn’t be any stronger than the seal, and yet somehow, it was almost broken now.

  There had to be a reason.

  “How I got my power back? It would be faster to show you,” Lea said and started to lead us somewhere.

  To be safe, we kept Harissa’s invisibility spell up. We weren’t taking any chances.

  And Lea lead us... to a hole in the ground.

  “Th-This is...”

  “When I still had my strength, I used all my power to try and get out. I eventually ended up making this hole. I’d hoped to be able to leave this way, but as you can see, it’s too small for me to get through.”

  Lea sighed. Her huge chest heaved up and down with each breath.

  “......”

  The other girls self-consciously looked down at themselves, but I said nothing. No way in hell was I going to get involved in that.

  Harissa looked like she was crying, though. It’s okay. You’re only thirteen. You’ve still got room to grow.

  Anyway, no one was getting through a hole that small, regardless of how tiny their breasts were... Well, I guess breasts weren’t really the issue.

  “The only thing I can say is that there’s still demand for flat-chested girls in the future.”

  I said that had nothing to do with it! And why did R have to get involved whenever there was talk about boobs? Did she like them or something?

  No, no. That wasn’t what mattered here. Focus, Rekka. Focus.

  What was important now wasn’t the size of anyone’s breasts—it was that this was definitely the hole that had opened up in Tsumiki’s backyard. It had the same black aura. There was no mistaking it.

  But how did this help Lea get her power back?

  “Things from the surface come out here once in a while. I think someone on the other side is dropping them in, or maybe they just fall in on their own. It’s mostly dirt, but lately, a dense energy source that I enjoy has been coming through.”

  Wait... “Dense energy source”? Not a moment later, the black balls I had been wondering about popped out of the hole.

  Everyone stared, but Satsuki and I both groaned.

  This terrible, demonic presence... It was unmistakably Tsumiki’s failed attempt at creative cooking. The very same “food” I’d taken to calling dark matter.

  “Yes, this is it. The dense energy source I was talking about.”

  “Wh-What...?”

  I mean, I kind of figured that was the case when I realized this was the same hole as the one at Nozomiya. But even then, I couldn’t hide my shock that she was actually eating that stuff.

  “Oh, my. So these were made by this Tsumiki girl you were telling me about?” Lea was astonished to learn where the dark matter had really come from.

  “Y-Yeah. It’s a little surprising... I mean, it’s actually a big surprise, but knowing Nozomuno’s cooking, it’s possible.”

  “Huh? But Satsuki... This is just bad cooking, right?”

  “There’s not that much of a difference between cooking and alchemy. They both involve complex recipes, preparing and mixing ingredients... There’s no doubt that stuff Nozomuno made was a wretched poison.”

  That’s right. Satsuki had said the dark matter felt like it had the ominous power of hundreds of sacrifices behind it.

  I see. I didn’t know anything about magic, but it was starting to come together.

  The reason we came here in the first place was because Lea was about to break the seal even when it still should’ve held. When we left, Tsumiki had said she was going to keep practicing. She’d probably failed and made more dark matter, then threw it down the hole for Lea to find.

  Talk about a weird coincidence, though.

  Who would’ve thought that Tsumiki’s dark matter was at the root of all these stories?

  If we had enough of it, could Lea regain her strength and defeat Bahamut? But how...

  “I dunno what made you think it was okay to eat that, honestly,” I said, half impressed and half shocked.

  “I love bizarre foods. And when I found something with such concentrated nutrition—here, in this barren world—I immediately...!”

  She suddenly fell silent and turned toward the temple.

  I followed her gaze only to see a half-man, half-beast silhouette...

  “Are you over here?”

  “Get down!” Lea shouted over Bahamut.

  The elephant’s trunk waved in our direction, causing a column of fire to rain down from the sky—just in time for Lea to scarf down the dark matter and send out a pillar of water.

  They collided in an explosion of steam.

  “Gwaaah!”

  “Haha! Is that the source of your power? Looks yummy! Give me some, too!”

  I could hear Bahamut’s jaunty voice through the curtain of steam.

  Was he drawn to the dark matter, too? But if he was using a wide-area spell like that, maybe he hadn’t seen us yet. At least that’s what I thought, until...

  “I-I’m sorry, Sir Rekka! The way their magic collided was so powerful that it dispelled my invisibility!”

  “Seriously?! Then can you recast it...?”

  “Not until the magical energy calms down! This spell is delicate!” Harissa was on the verge of tears.

  This wasn’t good. Even if Lea could repel Bahamut’s magic, it would be harder to escape now.

  And Lea was...

  “Hyah! Take this!”

  Her opponent appeared unfazed, but she was already gritting her teeth. She’d just gotten a new source of energy, but it wasn’t nearly enough to stop Bahamut.

  Would more dark matter restore her to her former glory as “The Strongest Beast”?

  “All right, time to turn up the power.”

  Just as I heard Bahamut’s voice, an even larger blast of flame roared through the steam and swallowed Lea’s magic.

  “Uwaaah!” Lea screamed and tried to resist.

  For an instant, her summoned water pushed Bahamut’s flame backwards. He quickly warded off the rest of her attack, but that instant was all she needed.

  “Aaaaah!”

  Just before the crimson pillar hit us, Lea managed to use her water spell to deflect it.

  Thanks to her, we weren’t burned to a crisp, but...

  “Gweheh. You’re leaving yourself wide open.”

  “?!” Lea had used so much of her energy that she was helpless as Bahamut ran up and kicked her with a leg the size of a log.

  “Gwah!”

  Lea’s body bounced along the ground like a soccer ball a
nd slammed into a boulder.

  “Gwheh.”

  Bahamut’s next target... was me.

  A perfectly visible me, no less. Crap.

  “Rekka!”

  “Sir Rekka!”

  Satsuki and Harissa readied themselves at the same time, but...

  “You’re in the way.”

  Bahamut’s words alone were enough to knock them back like they’d run into a huge wall.

  “Bahamut!”

  “Oh, I thought I told you to call me Bah.”

  “Screw you!”

  How long was he going to keep messing with us?

  Bahamut snapped his claw-like fingers and raised the corners of his mouth into a grin.

  “Oh, dear, Rekka Namidare. I wonder how those girls will react to your death.”

  He sounded like he was enjoying this.

  “...I have a question.”

  “Hmm?”

  “Was everything you told us a lie?”

  “Of course.”

  “Did you destroy the surface once?”

  “Yeah, that was a great deal of fun.”

  “...And what about that magical girl outfit?”

  “I just wanted to screw with you, obviously,” Bahamut laughed.

  Honestly, that pissed me off... but it wasn’t the thing that enraged me the most.

  “It wasn’t a coincidence that your light went out and a rock almost fell on Satsuki’s head on the way down here, was it?”

  “Of course not. She has the Magic of Omniscience. At first I was able to trick her about who I really was, but I would have been in trouble if she’d double-checked, right?”

  “Then why didn’t you talk to me when she wasn’t around?”

  “Hmph. I wanted to do that. But you know, Rekka Namidare... You found Tetra before me, and you had already heard her version of the story. For my plan to work, I had to show up when I did.”

  It was true. He’d shown up at just the right time, and I’d been more than eager to accept his help.

  Come to think of it, it really was too good to be to true. I should have known. I was just in such a tight spot that I’d relied on him without thinking.

  Satsuki had almost gotten killed because I was so stupid...!

  “You’ll pay for this!”

  “Sure, sure. Whatever. Anyway, it’s time for you to die.”

  “Huh?!”

  All the blood had rushed to my head, and I was slow to react. The next thing I knew, Bahamut was right on top of me, slashing at me with his huge claws.

  There was no dodging them. I guess in the end, fighting a monster was a job for a hero or a god, and not a normal person, huh?

  That’s right.

  I wasn’t special at all.

  In the face of sudden death, my limbs wouldn’t move and my vision blurred. I was utterly useless.

  And because of that...

  “Rekka!”

  All I could do was watch as Tetra pushed me aside and flung herself before the onslaught.

  The Monster’s claws bored into her shoulder.

  “Aaah...!”

  “Tetra!”

  Her scream brought me back to my senses.

  “Too bad. She got too close for me to hit hard enough. I was planning on ripping you open with that one,” Bahamut said, yanking his claws out of Tetra.

  Blood spewed forth as she fell backwards to the ground.

  “Tetra?! Hey, hang in there!” I grabbed her, yelling her name.

  “...”

  There was no answer.

  Her eyes were closed and her pale cheeks turned a ghostly white.

  Don’t tell me... No...! It wasn’t possible!

  As I held her in my arms, the elephant monster laughed. He was covered in her blood.

  “What’s wrong? Go on, run. If you don’t hurry, her noble sacrifice will be in vain... Wh-Wh-Wh-What the HELL?!”

  Bahamut’s laughter was cut short by tormented screaming.

  “Gyah! Gwaaah! What is this?! My body’s so hot! I’m... I’m melting!”

  Sure enough, his flesh was starting to smoke and dissolve as if someone had poured hydrochloric acid on him. But it was Tetra’s blood.

  “That’s right!”

  It was Bahamut’s weakness. Tetra had said that the blood of a guardian would burn and rot his body if he came into contact with it.

  Had she done this deliberately?!

  “Tetra! You... You idiot! Why did you do that?”

  “Huh...? Rekka?”

  Tetra’s eyes slowly opened as I screamed at her. She was alive... but her body was still getting colder! The wound hadn’t reached her heart, but the bleeding wouldn’t stop.

  In a barely audible voice, she whispered, “I’m glad... you’re safe...”

  She sounded so happy when she said it. It was as if nothing else mattered to her.

  “You idiot! I’m not that important!”

  “Don’t... Don’t say that. When you told me... that we’d help the village together... that we could all try and think of a way to save it... it made me really happy.”

  Her breathing was shallow. I’d been putting pressure on her wound with my hands, but the blood just spurted out between my fingers. It wasn’t helping.

  I carried Tetra over to Satsuki, ignoring Bahamut as he thrashed around in pain.

  “Satsuki! Satsuki, wake up!”

  “Mm... Rekka? Tetra! What happened?!”

  “We’ll talk later! Just heal her! Harissa! Harissa, can you get up?!”

  “Huh? Uh... Y-Yeah! I feel dizzy, but I’m okay...”

  “Sorry for pushing you so hard, but Tetra’s in bad shape! Use healing magic on her with Satsuki!”

  “R-Right!”

  “Thanks!”

  I didn’t even know basic first aid. There was nothing I could do. I just had to leave it to them...

  “Right! Where’s Lea?”

  I looked towards Lea, who’d been knocked some distance away. She was... She was okay! I could just make her out as she staggered to her feet. But even if I ran over to her, I couldn’t do anything for her either.

  I was just going to have to rely on what I knew I could do...

  “Bahamut!”

  I clenched my hand into a fist and I started to run.

  I ran toward the elephant monster, who was still clutching his burning face in pain.

  “Gwfaaah...!”

  Bahamut turned toward me, and I slammed my fist into his face.

  “Gabh!”

  “Damn, that hurt!”

  His face was surprisingly hard. Hitting it busted open my knuckles.

  But I didn’t care. I gave him another punch with my right arm.

  Then I hit him with an uppercut to his huge jaw.

  My fist smashed into the base of his trunk.

  I was bleeding, and I didn’t like the sounds my bones were making at all, but none of it mattered.

  I’d keep pounding on him until he went down.

  “Take this!”

  My fist was now completely red, but I couldn’t feel it anymore. Instead, I felt the shock in my biceps and shoulder.

  I was panting for breath. My throat was burning.

  I didn’t have any stamina. I didn’t have any power. I didn’t have any skill.

  I didn’t have a damn thing.

  But I wouldn’t stop punching.

  My anger for this bestial asshole who had laughed at their lives— laughed at their stories—wasn’t fading at all.

  So I raised my bloody fist once more.

  As empty-handed as I was, the least I could do was throw all of my energy into this punch—

  “Don’t... get... cocky!”

  “?!”

  BOOM! A sudden explosive wind formed around Bahamut, knocking me into the air.

  “—!”

  I felt my stomach jump up into my throat, and then my body started to fall straight down. I was looking upward, so I couldn’t tell how high in the air I’d gone, but I knew I’d be dead
meat if I hit the ground.

  “Rekka. You know, now’s the perfect time to yell ‘I can fly!’”

  “You’ve always been able to float, so shut up!” I yelled at R as I desperately tried to think of a plan.

  But nothing came to me.

  Just as I was sure I was about to hit the ground, I felt a heavy impact and someone grabbed me. “Are you okay, Rekka?”

  “L-Lea... You saved me.”

  “...I don’t know about that,” she whispered ominously as she set me down on the ground.

  I quickly saw what she was talking about.

  “What is that...?”

  It looked like a lump of meat that was expanding. But upon closer inspection, I could see that it had legs, fangs, a trunk, a tail, and ears.

  “Bahamut is trying to take his true form—the form of the Perfect Beast, the king who once devoured the world.” Lea explained what was happening in a voice that was filled with tension.

  It made sense when I thought about it. Bahamut was, according to Satsuki, big enough that he could cover all the land of the earth. His humanoid form was only a temporary one.

  Until now, he’d just been playing with us.

  But this unexpected counterattack had pissed him off... My little punches probably didn’t do much, but the burns from Tetra’s blood must have caused some serious damage.

  Then a pair of eyes popped up from the lump of meat and turned to face us.

  “Hahh... hahh... haaahh... gwahfah... Man, my head hurts.”

  I heard Bahamut’s voice. There was a strange mix of suffering and excitement in it.

  “Aah... When I take this form, it makes me want to destroy everything. You, this fake Earth, the guardians, the surface—everything! Gwahahahaha!”

  “You bastard! I won’t let that happen!”

  “Gwabahkyah! Waah... aaah... But it’s a shame I won’t be able to go play at casinos, live a life of luxury, or trick people into the pits of despair anymore. You humans are almost as entertaining as destroying things.”

  So that’s why Bahamut hadn’t destroyed the surface after regaining his freedom. He hadn’t changed his ways or repented. He’d just found a new source of amusement.

  “And now you’re going to destroy all that, too?”

  “Bgyahahahahaha! You fool! It’s just soooo much fun to destroy stuff! I was planning on waiting for you humans to grow even more arrogant and for your society to ripen even more. Then when you reached your peak, I was gonna destroy it all! It’s all the more enjoyable to knock down a tower of blocks when it’s big and tall, isn’t it?”