The day after I went to bed earlier than usual. My first order of business was to head to a station and catch a train.
Despite being a Sunday morning, there were quite a few people in the station platform. There weren’t as many people as, say, a regular weekday, but there were people in suits and there were also people who looked like they were going to a trip somewhere. Also, even though I described the platform to have many people, that was by the standards of the station near my home. Who knows, maybe this was just the normal number of people here for a Sunday, maybe there was even less than usual.
While waiting for the train to arrive, I took my phone to pass the time.
On the news was, as expected, the events I saw online yesterday. Northern Chiba, Nigata, and Oita. These 3 prefectures had a dungeon of at least C rank overflow undergo what was referred to as a dungeon overflow. It wasn’t yet clear what the ranks of those dungeons were, but it seemed like they all were highly dangerous dungeons.
The specific point of origin of the incidents were also unclear…to put it differently, there were no Dungeon Stores in those places. Which likely meant that these dungeons were not yet verified.
…just like with the Crete Dungeon, these dungeons likely followed the pattern for newly formed dungeons no one knew about.
I had boarded a train and sat down. With my chin on my luggage which I placed on top of my thighs, I shoved my phone back into my pant’s pocket. The article I had read featured the photos of the damages from the incidents, and just looking at those made me feel depressed. I surely didn’t want to, but images of the people who died in the underground shopping center resurfaced in my mind.
Being in a train and all, I chose to stop myself from sighing so deeply. Instead, I just huffed through the nose a bit. When I casually glanced out the window, I noticed that rain was gently falling from the dark clouds above. Water droplets were clinging to the train’s window, but for a moment, I thought saw some blood mixed in with the rain. I also felt a kind of discomfort to the point I felt nauseous for a moment.
It was such an ugly hallucination. I cast my eyes down and finally let out a small sigh. It would seem I was more affected by that incident that I realized.
It would still be a while before I got to my station. Despite going to bed early yesterday, I wasn’t able to get much sleep. So, I figured why not get some shut eye while I had the chance. That was perhaps careless of me, but unlike women, men on a train weren’t subjected to much. At worst, we were targeted by bag thieves. And in that case, my Awakened One body would make sure I could sense any attempts to reach out toward my bag or my pockets.
Heck, I even have my Magic Eye—huh? My eyes are open? No, they’re definitely shut right now. Is this vision because of my Magic Eye? Like how a major league player can see even the stitches of a crazy fast baseball coming their way? Wait, does that mean I really saw that the blood falling along the rain I saw earlier?
My Magic Eye activated and I saw the train car tilt 90 degrees to the side.
Almost by reflex, I donned my Magical Attire. A strong impact sent the bag I was carrying flying faster than I could push it aside. I also heard a discomforting and eerie sound, that of a giant piece of metal scraping against something. I lost my balance, and everything—my surroundings, my own body, and of course my vision—all got tilted sideways. It was exactly as the vision my Magic Eye showed me.
Cries erupted here and there. There were less people right now compared to a weekday’s traffic, but there were still about 20 people in this car. I got them all in sight. It should go without saying that the only people who could survive a disaster like this were Awakened Ones. Them and—
“Hah!”
I undid my helmet and my field of vision widened. Without delay, I rushed ahead in this toppled and tumbling car. I grabbed the nearby young man, woman, salary man, boy, and girl. I carried 2 under each arm and held to the last by biting on their collar.
But what about the rest of them? If former provisional Prime Minister Arikawa was correct, 1 in 100 people was supposed to be an Awakened One. Of the 20 people in this car, how many Awakened Ones could there be aside from me? Simple math would suggest that there was no one else.
I saw each person I wasn’t able to get to. It was shaking all around but my eyes with enhanced kinetic vision thanks to my Magic Eye wouldn’t even let me skip on seeing it all.
A stylishly-dressed woman hit the ceiling and her neck bent in an unnatural way.
A man in a polo shirt hit his head against a pole near the door and was left with a large cavity on his forehead.
A ten year old kid and their mother being thrown out the window.
I was not able to look away from each and everyone of them in this rocking train. I was forced to burn their faces as they died into my memory.
“…!”
I clenched my mouth shut to stop a scream from leaking out and also to secure my hold on the boy’s collar. If I let go of him in that short span of time—the span of time it would take one to blink their eyes—he would certainly have met his early demise.
I ignored my bag which made a direct hit on my head and instead kicked the ceiling open. I didn’t have the luxury of time to worry about how the impact of my kick would affect the people I was carrying since staying in the train could kill me too.
And so, continuing with that momentum, I jumped out. I even used my Magic Power Discharge to propel myself farther. I kept propelling myself forward like that until I placed my foot in front and used Magic Power Discharge to slow my descent. While I tried my hardest to lessen the impact of my landing, I planted my feet on the ground and scraped off part of the road that ran parallel to the rail tracks.
By the time the two lines I had drawn on the paved road was a few meters long, I managed to stop. As cold sweat dripped down from my brow to my eyes, I breathed out a sigh of relief at having escaped death, at least for the meantime.
“Kyaaa!?”
“W-what!? What’s going on…”
Screams erupted from the people under my arms and under my mouth. Before anything else, I put them down on the ground.
“Just, just what…”
“What the heck was that!?”
It was understandable that the five people with me broke into a panic. Some of them looked in blank amazement toward the railway tracks, from which loud noises could be heard; some looked at me with a tense face and was even trying to distance themselves; some were frozen in place, their heads burried in their hands.
They were all safe. They looked to be at least. They might have been hurt a bit in the process, but they simply must accept that this was better than dying. If they had complaints, they were free to direct them to somebody else. If anyone was willing to take that much responsibility.
I wore my helmet again. With my vision narrowing, I began to count under my breath.
“One…two…three…”
Calm down, Kyotaro. If I let myself falter like I did before, they, no, we will all die.
At the moment, my body was trembling. I couldn’t tell why exactly. Was it due to elation after saving someone else, due to the dread of seeing the faces of those I couldn’t save, or was it simply due to my heart beating excessively fast after my survival instinct kicked in? But now wasn’t the time to wonder why. For now, I needed to move.
“Layla! Yukine!”
“Yes, master!”
“Here!”
After summoning the two, I took a look at the derailed and toppled over train. I didn’t know when it stopped, but I headed for its frontmost car which was about 10 or so meters ahead of me.
“You two keep watch of the surroundings while also doing what you could to rescue people! I’ll go gather information!”
““Understood!””
The train had been thrown far away from the rails it was supposed to run on and looked almost like the corpse of a truly gigantic snake. Despite hearing groans and screams from here and there, I hurried along the tattered ground and looked for the head of the train.
I figured I could learn something about this situation if I asked the train driver. Even if they didn’t know anything, just having someone who could organize the people here would raise everyone’s survival rate!
I honestly had no idea what was going on. I didn’t know if my actions were the best call or not. But if that particular day thought me anything, doing something like this was miles better than doing nothing at all. By “that day”, I was referring to the day I had my first actual adventure.
Before I knew it, I reached the head of the train. I could see the head car. Or rather, I was seeing what used to be the head car.
“……”
I was at a loss for words.
Amidst the sound of falling rain, I could now also hear the sound of chewing.
Its source was something that had a large body covered in seemingly tough, blue scales. This thing was hunched over and pushing its head against where the head car used to be.
But then, that thing reared its head toward me. It had emerald eyes with vertical slit pupils. Its body looked like a reptile’s. And even without its tail, it had a length of 6 meters. With wings that doubled as its forelimbs, it dug its claws into the asphalt ground and put itself on guard.
“Gyaoooooooooooo!!”
It roared toward the heavens. It was a high-pitched roar, yet it made the pit of my stomach rumble so heavily.
This creature was a dragonkin which everyone knew of. A [Wyvern]. A flying dragon classified as a B rank monster.
With its mouth soaked red, it fixed a glare at me. Before I could think, I found my body already on the move. I drew my sword out as quickly as I could, not even bothering to undo the latch on the belt and instead just tore it off. But before I could hold the sword in both hands, the Wyvern was already slamming its long tail down on me. That sent debris of the asphalt road flying all over.
I quickly moved back, but by the time I did, the Wyvern already launched itself 10 meters into the air. It spread its wings and flew rather deliberately, circling around while it looked down at me.
What should I do now? Jump up there and slash at it? I don’t think that’ll work though. The sky is its territory, after all.
“Giiiiiii!!”
It released an unpleasant cry and opened its mouth wide at me. Immediately after, something hit me and my surroundings. My Resistance stat nullified the [Gale Slash] for me, but it still affected my surroundings. The ground around got gouged out.
My instincts told me I mustn’t stay stationary. But when I tried to move, the Wyvern swooped down at me. At once, I jumped toward and over the incoming Wyvern, did a forward somersault, and landed on my feet. I then heard a boom behind me. As rubble hit my back, I turned around with a swipe of my sword.
“Gyaaa!?”
The tip of my sword tore the Wyvern’s right wing. No blood came out, but my intuition told me that the magic circle floating faintly on the wings’ membrane stopped functioning. With a body as large as that, it would normally have been impossible for the Wyvern to fly. It owed its propulsion to a kind of Green Magic.
The Wyvern glared at me. With its overflowing hatred on display like that, it repeatedly swung its forelegs down at me. While I pointed my sword forward with both hands, I retreated in an S-like zigzagging pattern. I avoided the first and second attack, and when the third attack dug out the ground, I leapt forward. With all my might, I drove my sword into the monster’s head. Its tough scales were shattered, its flesh was cut open, and I even reached bone. However, that was as far as it went. The blade was tucked into the swelling flesh, but I was no longer able to push or pull it.
“Gi, aaa!”
A cry of both pain and fury arose from the Wyvern. It supported its body with its left foreleg and used its right to swipe at my neck. We were each having a go at each other’s head.
I saw a vision of the Wyvern’s sturdy claws digging instead into my back, but I could not dodge or put up a guard against it.
“O, ohhhh!!”
Whether that was a shriek or a roar, even I wasn’t sure.
Regardless, I activated Magic Power Discharge. The foreleg that dug into my back was knocked away by a whirlwind of magic power. Simultaneously, the flesh around my blade got shredded away and the skull was smashed. That was the end of the Wyvern. Blood sprayed from the blown up head and dyed me in red.
I was on my knee the next moment. I thought it was due to intense pain, but it seemed like like my body’s wounds have closed up. My Magical Attire was also fixed with my magic power. And I looked…physically, I looked completely healed back to normal.
So, was I just imagining it? Was it just some kind of phantom pain? But even if I believed that it was, I really did feel a nausea-inducing pain. The same kind of pain I felt a month prior.
I grit my teeth and used my sword as support to stand up. The sweat under my helm felt disgusting. I could also smell blood on my back. And once I was up…it might have been just a mental thing that made my vision so narrow, so focused before that I didn’t realize. But I was noticing it now.
My senses were telling me the reality of the situation.
The city was burning. The screams I had been hearing weren’t just from the nearby houses and from the passengers of the derailed train. Screams were coming from all over the city.
Black smoke was rising to a sky full of flying dragons. Counting only those I could see from my vantage point, there were already a whole lot of them. Moreover, there was also a black dome up there that was extending slowly but surely.
Perhaps it was because my location wasn’t yet completely swallowed up by the dungeon, rain passed through the black film and fell down on us. It was while I was bathed by that drizzle that the dragon I killed just earlier began turning into particles of magic power and eventually disappear.
Man…this again, huh.
Roughly only a month had passed since then. On that day, I almost got killed by a Minotaur for trying to go on a date with Layla. And this time, I was playing with the idea of going out to town with Layla and Yukine—a flower on each arm.
Ahh, is this divine punishment for a mob-face guy like me wanting something like that?
At any rate, I took a deep breath, taking in the stinky smell of sweat and blood on me. Afterwards, I turned to where the driver’s car was. It was pretty much what I expected. Only “something that used to be human” remained there.
A radio with exposed wiring was dangling there, and from it came only noise.
I had much to whine and complain about, but I should leave those for later. For now, I had to move. I had to survive.
This was my second time being caught up in a dungeon overflow. There was no way I was used to it, and I didn’t think I ever would. Bile had risen up to my throat but I did what I could to keep it down.
I decided I should reunite with Layla and Yukine.
“No way I’m going down here!”
I uttered so as I put my sword on my shoulder and glared at another incoming Wyvern. Truth be told, those words were more for me than anyone else.
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