Chapter 69: Chapter 66: Enter the Hero

White. The light was a blinding white.

That intense white light blew away all the insects around me like a storm. Pawn Ants, despite being human-sized, were blasted off, swarm and all. Burned by the light, chopped up, their legs and body sections became individual pieces. The horde of insects literally disintegrated into ash from the white light.

The torrent of light further raged forwards as a gigantic shining sword and gouged into the ground. It split the ant horde and even slashed through the castles of gray, the Rook Spiders, like tofu in a split second.

The two spiders fell and the mantises and ants were reduced to half their numbers. Overpowered. Now this, this felt like real magic.

No, not quite –– this was the power of the Hero.

“I’m here for you, Sakura”

Behind flowing locks of black hair, the light of determination could be seen from the eyes of the handsome and strong boy who stood there, his glimmering sword drawn.

It was the hero. It was, Souma Yuuto.

Shiramine Academy’s most perfect male student. The man most suitable for the title of Hero.

“Nii-san!”

“Thank God you’re safe, Sakura. Everyone too. But, it’s dangerous here, we have to get out quickly!”

As he shouted, he brandished his sword of light again. Then the white light, like a tornado, revolved around his blade, getting bigger and bigger.

There was no technique needed to accomplish his task. Before the destructive power of his light, the relentless ants, and even the mantis Natsukawa-san was dealing with, evaporated.

“Let’s move people! Yuuto-kun has cleared the way!”

Everyone’s reaction was quick, they’d moved even before Class Rep had spoken. Except for me, I was still slightly dumbfounded.

I mean, hell! Souma-kun’s power was way too overwhelming. It made our previous struggles look like child’s play.

Haha, fucking idiot Yokomichi. This here’s the real cheat!

“Let’s go, Kotori!”

“Mm, Asuna-chan!”

Kenzaki-san came to pick up Takanashi-san, easily dealing with the mantis and ants still frozen due to words of rejection. I was completely ignored, She grabbed onto the small girl’s hand and started running.

“Kotarou-kun!”

“I’m okay, handle those ants please”

The only one thinking of me, was of course, Mei-chan. I was so thankful for that, I could cry. But, I didn’t need her to grab my hand like Takanashi-san. Since there were still so many ants, I had to work Mei-chan just a little longer so that the path Souma-kun had cleared out wouldn’t be over run.

“Guys! Over here!”

Souma-kun, though not as intensely as the first time, was still waving around his sword, curb-stomping the horde of ants. Behind him, a huge hole had opened up, one we couldn’t find in our initial search.

So, the passage was actually buried? I see. Souma-kun had come from the other side, he’d broken the wall and created this hole.

Finally finding the exit, I dashed to it with all the speed my legs could muster and somehow managed to slide through.

“I’m the last one! Close it now!”

“Got it, get back a little, Momokawa”

I tumbled to the side to avoid getting in the way of Souma-kun’s attack. Turning around, I saw a scene of countless ants coming at us like a black tsunami.

“HAA!!”

With that shout, came another flash of light. Aiming at the entrance plus any ants there, the sword of light cut –– causing the once open hole to be buried under a pile of earth and rubble.

“....Haaa”

That’s when I could finally sigh in relief.

“Ahh, nii-san, thank god, thank god...”

“I’m sorry Sakura, making you worried and all...”

“.....Haa”

Then I sighed in exasperation. Sure you could say it was a heartfelt reunion between siblings, but I couldn’t give one shit.

“Alright everyone, I know you’re tired, but we should get moving quickly. There’s a transfer circle not too far from here. We should use that to leave this insect cave ASAP”

Everyone raised a cheer. Of course, we all wanted to escape from this giant insect hell.

Even if we stayed, considering the ability of those ants, they could probably clear out the collapsed wall pretty quickly. You really can’t afford to relax anywhere in this place.

With dead tired bodies, we moved along the cave, Souma-kun leading.

“ ––Seriously, it’s great we could all reunite again”

“Even so, how did you know where we were?”

“It was a coincidence really. But when I got close enough to Sakura, the lux elemental showed me the way”

“Eh? Nii-san, you can also use Summon Lux Elemental?”

“Well, when I noticed, I’d learned it already. But unlike yours, it’s more blue-ish”

Like this, he said as he put out his finger, manifesting a light blue phosphorescent light. It flew around like a firefly, then disappeared.

“I never thought, it could work for searching”

“You got it, maybe because you also use elementals? The others don’t look like they understand”

And, after going over some details on how he happened to rushed over, Souma-kun turned towards me.

“By the way, that’s Momokawa, and the person next to him...”

Before this, Souma-kun was already partied up with her sister, meeting the others along the way. Mei-chan and I were certainly the new faces here. Well I guess he needs a greeting?

“I’m a Shaman. And this is Futaba-san, she’s a Berserker”

I told the truth. We couldn’t exactly lie anymore since Takanashi-san possessed a skill to see others’ calling and skills. So there was no longer a point in hiding Mei-chan’s calling.

“Is it your calling that made you so, slim”

“I, I guess... Uhm, hello”

Souma-kun looked a little, no, quite bewildered actually.

Well, it’s no surprise, when any classmates saw the current Mei-chan, they had a similar reaction. Since it’s a totally dramatic before and after effect, like the ones you see in those fishy dieting advertisements.

“You really saved us back there, Souma-kun. Thank you”

In front of the school’s no.1 "Ikemen", Souma-kun, Mei-chan wasn’t shy or nervous. She expressed thanks and showed a genuine smile. I wonder if it’s because she’s been accustomed to battle, that she could act so brazen?

Maybe she’d already fallen for Souma-kun who appeared super cool from the earlier rescue.

Women are said to be realistic creatures. It wouldn’t be strange if she abandoned a weak shaman like me for a braver, more reliable and cool hero.

She might be interacting with me normally now, but soon enough, she’d start to subtly take distance and.... Fuck, it’s depressing just thinking about it.

“There’s the room we want”

Apparently, we’d arrived at our destination. The place he pointed to was, I see, it was another one of those places where the cave bits end and stone dungeon starts.

As we entered, we were on a path leading straight to the boss room. Similar to the one in the Orthus’ room, I could see a faintly glowing magic circle engraved on a platform.

“Ah, I just remembered, we didn’t collect the cores from the Rook Spiders”

“Don’t worry about it class rep. Since I already defeated the monster that was already in this room, we can use its core”

“I’m impressed, Yuuto-kun”

“It was weaker than the Cerberus, so maybe that’s why I could solo it. Anyway, let’s quickly get inside. If this works the same as the previous ones, then we should be able to teleport to a fairy square”

We were in dire need of some rest, so his suggestion was welcome. We’ll be humbly making use of the core Souma-kun had.

Everyone entered the circle in practiced movements. Finally, Souma-kun, who held the soft ball sized red crystal, the core, spoke,

“Okay, I’ll start it up”

The core reacted immediately, letting out an ample volume of light. As if melting into the light, the core began to slowly crumble. At the same time, the magic circle below began it’s own flickering. When that light got intense enough to blind us of our surroundings, that’s when we’d get teleported.

So basically, we’re out of here in less than 10 sec ––

“ –– Wah!”

Suddenly, I felt a force on my body. I was pushed. From the back, strongly.

I yelled like an idiot as the hard stone floor made its way to me, all I could manage to do was pull up my hands so that I wouldn’t land face first.

“Ouch!?”

It was falling damage. I’d pitched forward and fallen to the floor. I was just standing normally, how come I suddenly fell?

The reason was obvious. I was pushed –– but by who?

“Ke-Kenzaki-san… ”

I turned around to find, Kenzaki Asuna, with both her hands stuck out, she’d stiffened up in that posture. Her expression could be described as stupefied, or perhaps blank, herself not understanding what she’d just done.

That, was the last I saw of them.

“Kotarou-kun!?”

“No, Futaba-san! It’s dangerous to jump out now!”

All around me was already white. Beyond that, there was Mei-chan’s desparate voice calling to me, and also Souma-kun’s voice trying to stop her.

“A-Ahh –– ”

Before I could return any words, there was only silence. After that, I could see again.

There was only the faintly glowing magic circle.

No one else, nothing else.

“No, noo… ”

In other words, I’d been left behind.

Editor here. This chapters ends Momokawa's perspective for 3 more chapters, after which this arc, lion mask called it 'Cannibalizer', ends. Don't worry, the next arc ends worse. Also, next weeks chapters may be late.