Awakening to a Special-Grade Explorer

Chapter 12

"To determine the strength of a monster, just look at the color of its eyes."

This is common knowledge for explorers in this world.

The pupil color of the fifth-grade monster is "purple," the fourth grade is "blue," the third grade is "green," the second grade is "yellow," the first grade is "red," and the zero grade is "red and purple."

When an explorer fights a monster one-on-one, he should face the monster of the same grade. If there are two or more monsters of the same rank, the association recommends running away.

"If a monster two or more grades higher than your explorer grade appears, you must escape even if you have to choose your companions' death " is the association's statement.

"Half first grade monster?"

Ujou's voice, which seemed to be unable to accept the reality of the situation, echoed through this place that had become quiet and still.

Everyone here understood the weight of those words.

The highest explorer grade in this raid is the official members of the Chariot.

[The reason Godo has a second-grade calling but a third-grade exploring is that he does not have a pure combat calling.]

[In short, the explorer grade of everyone here is at least two lower than the grade of the monster.]

[If we believe the words of the association, we should escape from this place, even at the cost of our lives.]

[But in this situation, it is evident to everyone that this was not possible.]

"What should we do? Masaki-san. There is nowhere to run."

"Yes, I know that. There is nothing we can do about it,.......We have to be prepared to die and fight."

We all have no choice but to follow the leader's words.

The only way to live is to fight.

"The first thing you need to do is to get good teamwork with the right person and strike a shot. If you can't deliver the killing blow, we'll have no choice but to cut off your tail. Leave you alone here."

".....Are you going to cut off the tail? I'll give it my best shot."

"Until then, we'll all try to distract him. We've got better numbers. It's not hard to do when...................."

Godo was about to say that, but then he stopped.

No, he didn't know what else to do but to stop.

"Glooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Another monster appeared from behind the spider monster.

Its jet-black fur, which seemed to suck in everything, was bobbing up and down, and three heads emerged from a body the size of a cow, which was as big as the spider monster. It had a menacing, bone-chilling look.

A menacing, chilling cry emanated from it, and a black haze gushed from its mouth as if it were breathing.

Two canine teeth so large that they could kill a human instantly with a single bite, and just looking at their strangeness is enough to give you goosebumps.

Behind the black fur were two eyes that shone a divine red.

Red eyes.

It meant that it was a genuine, first-grade monster.

"Ugh, what the hell....... No way. No, no way........"

Someone's panicked voice was heard by all.

And everyone had no choice but to nod in agreement.

"Bu, it's Black Keroberos, right? Huh? Oh, hey! Hey, somebody answer me!"

The young man shouted a little louder as if demanding an answer.

That single action annoyed Black Keroberos.

"Gloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Black Keroberos simply opened its mouth wide in a natural motion.

A black mist swirled spherically in his mouth. It was directed at the young explorer - Uota Keiki, a fourth-grade explorer from another place who was not a regular member of the Chariot.

"Heeeeee!"

Those were his last words.

The moment he saw inside the mouth of the black keroberos, an extremely thin laser shot out from the black sphere. It penetrated his brain as if it were a bullet.

The next thing he knew, a hole the size of a ten-yen coin had appeared between his eyebrows.

The other explorers could only watch.

They forgot to breathe, they failed to blink, they forgot that they were themselves.

They were single-mindedly focused on just how to survive the enemy in front of them.

Everyone stood there, unable to move an inch.

It was at that moment.

"Gloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

"Kishaaaaaaah!"

The monsters began to fight each other.

The black keroberos leaped to bite first, and the spider monster raised its four legs threateningly to the sky to counter it.

There was no way Godo could have missed that moment.

"Now! Run! We must survive at all costs!"

His words had the added effect of the skill "Language Inspiration," which almost forcibly melted everyone's rigidity.

They turned their backs to the deadly bloodthirsty monsters and began to run toward the single road with no end in sight.

At this point, everyone was thinking only of themselves.

No one had enough time to check their surroundings.

Yes, even Masaki Godo was so occupied with himself that he could not afford to worry about a mere luggage carrier.

"What?"

Tenji's crazy voice rang out.

Tenji turned around with a bloodthirsty look and started running at his full speed with Godo's instruction.

Soon, however, the three students were overtaken by professional explorers.

This is because when one has a calling and the other does not, the difference in original ground power is as huge as the difference between heaven and earth.

The last three in line were, inevitably, the three student groups.

Asagiri was instructed by Godo to carry one bag as a former luggage carrier at the place closest to the escape route, so she did not see the two people behind her.

No one had time to care at this point.

The two who were really running last were Tenji and Rui Inagaki.

As instructed by Godo, Rui was carrying two bags that belonged to Tenji, and Tenji was still unable to run well due to the threads that were still clinging to his body.

Even so, he was desperately running away.

At that moment, Rui bumped into Tenji violently.

Tenji was suddenly tackled from the side. Because the threads were tangled all over his body, his legs naturally became entangled, and he fell over alone.

Rui looked down at him with cold eyes.

(Sorry, Amagi. As my uncle said, I need to cut your tail now.)

Tail-cutting.

It is a slang used among explorers and one of the cruel means with a meaning taken from "skalengeck's tail cutting."

In other words - they needed a sacrifice to survive.

This is a means of reversing the habits of monsters, and it makes incredible sense.

An American university has published a study showing that monsters attack humans to strengthen themselves by eating them whole.

This is highly plausible: if it is faced with a situation in which it must flee, the monster will act to spend time eating by leaving a live human behind.

It is said that it must be a living person because it is more efficient to become stronger.

That is why Rui Inagaki had decided to find the most suitable human being in this raid to sacrifice.

For Rui, that person was a person with luggage named Tenji Amagi

There was not much food left, and it would be a waste to distribute food to a person who could not fight.

Even the unique abilities were useless, and anyone could play the role of luggage bearer.

"Even I could play the role of a luggage bearer."

That is what Rui thought.

As a result, he decided that it was appropriate to sacrifice Tenji here.

Although he felt sorry in his heart, Rui looked down at Tenji with cold eyes.

With the momentum from his fall while running, Tenji rolled around on the uneven ground of the dungeon and stopped when he hit his head hard.

"What? Wait a minute--"

Unsure of what had happened, Tenji hurriedly put his hands on the ground and tried to stand up.

Then Tenji finally realized.

(...... Did Inagaki just roll me over?)

Tenji's brain was a jumbled mess as he realized this fact.

It was as if his thoughts were two unraveling threads, so tangled up in each other that even he did not know what he was thinking.

Still, his body tried to escape, and he naturally got up on one knee.

But it was already too late.

"GROOOOOOOO!"

Tenji's body was so terrified that it became wholly rigid and immobile.

Although his will told his body over and over again to "move, move, move, move," his muscles were so stiff that his feet could no longer leave the ground, and he was afraid to breathe.

[The faces of the eight dead explorers stuck in my brain and wouldn't leave.]

[I will never forget his last face, the one pierced through the brain. His dead eye and cold white skin.]

[I kniw that I am next.]

"GROOOOOOOO!"

Tenji could only hear the sound of the black keroberos as it began its leisurely walk.

Then, at the edge of Tenji's vision......, right next to him, near his face was the face of Black Keroberos.

Black Keroberos looked right into Tenji's face from the side and started circling around to inspect the bait.

The sound of it stomping through the pool of blood with a pitter-patter was unnervingly frightening.

[I know that this blood was his, which had pierced his brain, but I couldn't stop the chills that came over me that it was my turn to create this pool of blood next.]

And then--.

With a snap, the Black Keroberos stopped in front of Tenji.

"GROOOOOOOO!"

Its large, black mouth opened wide, revealing two fangs that could easily pierce Tenji's stomach.

It bit into Tenji's stomach.