Jujutsushi Wa Yuusha Ni Narenai

Chapter 169.1: Red Raptor

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After Jajiras Rem was eaten by that mosasaurs-like giant aquatic monster, we walked away from the ocean and then entered the forest that resembled the jungle area in order to build our camp there.
We avoided camping along the coastline which barely had any hiding place for our cover since we found out that jiras frequently went to the land.
And even if the jungle area we choose was far from safe, the current us were focusing on getting away from the jiras.
Those human-shaped fish wouldn’t go as far as entering the forest.

Our campsite became huge spiderwebs sticking from one giant tree to the others.
Rather, we literally slept in Arachne’s nest, made by Rem.

And there was no need to fear it would get torn to shreds since I’ve had first-hand experience trapped as stock food for Arachne.
In short, the spiderwebs were extremely resilient to the point that it was safe for us to use it as scaffolding.
As long as Rem the 2nd AKA Arachne Rem made full use of her abilities, she could go as far as creating Arachne nest without its unique adhesive nature, really user-friendly for us.

It took a long time to create it, but it was worth it.
We needed to guarantee our safety when we built camp outside of the fairy plaza.
I pulled a full stop when it came to going to the bed.

「Great, this should be enough.」

I nodded in satisfaction while looking at the result of today’s hard work along with Arachne Rem.

I went up onto the spiderwebs when it was time for bed.
There was no need for me to climb the tree since I could create a ladder to climb by using a black hair bind.

Mei-chan and I were sleeping on top of the nest while Arachne Rem was on the lookout.
On the ground were Dark Knight Rem and Rem the 3rd.
Just in case, I also summoned skeletons’ corps.
No one was going to aim for my skull collection and clay doll as their trophy anyway.

「Kotaro-ku~n, dinner is ready.」

Ans so, Mei-chan called me just like usual after she was done with cooking dinner.

Today’s menu was crab, crab, and crab.
Well, we found a giant crab by some sort of coincidence.
To be exact, a crab-like monster.

It was an atrocious-looking crab with a pair of sharp pincers with sharpness rivalling that of a mantis blade and carapace as tough as a rock spider’s carapace.
In fact, it was extremely aggressive since it just suddenly rushed at us as soon as it saw us.

But even that giant, atrocious-looking crab was defeated by my charming berserker, Mei-chan, and turned into a full-course crab meal for our dinner.
Man, I was really grateful to all edible monsters.

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「It has a light flavour but… there’s faint umami in it.」

Yup, it was delicious.
The shell that was boiled in the witch’s kettle gave faint umami to the soup just like the king crabs.

It didn’t taste like meat or fish broth, yet was still delicious, as expected of crustaceans.

「And thanks to its huge size, it also has a lot of that delicious crab brain.」

「Yuup.」

I was having my fill of crab brain taken from the atrocious looking carapace with a lot of splinters growing from it.

After the dinner, we did simple maintenance of our weapons, and then I did a bit of study about ancient language while Mei-chan did research about new ingredients then prepared to go to bed around an hour or two later.
We could actually keep the bonfire, but there was no need to maintain it for the entire night.
We slept not long after the sunset, and woke up along with the dawn.
This was basic to outdoor camping.
Well, we’re inside a gigantic dungeon though.

Well then, since it’s been really dark now, good ni~ght.

「Kotaro-kun…」

My eyes snapped open upon hearing the whisper right beside my ear.

Dark.
I was surrounded by complete darkness.
Even though the night had yet to fully come, or wait, was it midnight already?

I couldn’t see anything but I knew that Mei-chan was right beside me.
Maybe, even her face was right beside mine right now.

「Eh, yes?」

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I reflexively replied with a dumbfounded voice.

What could wake her up in the middle of the night? Is it the famous “Reverse Night Crawl” event? Or else, did I wake up right before the deed and realised that all of this was just my dream?

「We might’ve been surrounded by enemies.」

「SERIOUSLY!?」

My sleepiness blew away the moment I heard that it was an enemy attack instead of Mei-chan’s “Reverse Night Crawl”.
I then tried to recall the simulation in case we were raided when camped outside fairy plaza.

「What’s the identity of the enemies surrounding us right now?」

「It’s definitely monsters.
They’re moving in flocks… but it seems they’re stealthy on top of that.」

So that was the reason why Rems had yet to warn us about their arrival.
Meaning that even when she was asleep, Mei-chan’s berserker instinct was still working at full throttle.
I mean, the chance of Rem betraying me was zero.

「The only silver lining in this situation is the fact that the enemies aren’t classmates.
But still, they seem to be strong.」

Rem had yet to notice the incoming enemies, or rather, they were already standing by after hearing what I said, but our enemies might be small fries such as Goma since they went as far as approaching us stealthily.
Did that mean they’re special forces sent by those jiras to attack us? Something like Navy Jiras for example?

「Let’s leave this place and go out to the beach.」

Since our opponent came in the midnight, they were most likely nocturnal.
And yet, they could move stealthily in this forest as if they’re used to it.
That’s why there was a chance that they were going to abandon their raid if we stepped out of the jungle and into the beach area.

Though moving on to open sandy beach without any cover looked like a poor decision against an opponent whose number was superior to us.
For us, being besieged on the sandy beach was much better than being besieged in the forest, our opponent’s home ground.
I mean, we couldn’t shake off the darkness no matter how many torches we kindled in the forest, and we’re not used to this jungle.

「Let’s go, Kotaro-kun!」

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Mei-chan put on her equipment in a flash, and then carried me along with her shield she held in her left hand.

With the side benefit namely glued to her soft and tender body, that satisfying sensation blew away immediately due to the sensation of being carried at high speed.

It seemed the enemies were about to rush at us anytime now that’s why Mei-chan carried me and jumped from the Arachne nest.

I felt an extremely strong impact upon landing.
But it was okay since the impact was killed as my head buried into extremely soft gigantic mounds comparable to the most luxurious air-bag.
It was so amazing, my face was buried soooo deeeeeeeeeep in it to the point that I could barely take a breath.
Sorry, but can I ask for an encore?

「We finally got away from them! Now light the torch!」

Even though all this non-stop action was wearing me down, I looked at Rems and the skeletons and shouted at them.

All of them carried a torch with them as our bodyguards during the nighttime.
Though there was no need to use the torch since they could kill all the small fries who dared to approach us during the night, now wasn’t the time since we had to intercept the other party.
Rem had no problem with seeing in the dark, and it seemed to be the same for the skeletons.
That’s why they had no problem with their vision even in the darkest of the night but hey, we’re the ones who actually need them, you know?

The light from our torches illuminated our surroundings.
At least we didn’t have to worry about stumbling due to the roots of trees when fighting in this open space.

Mei-chan in the front, Rem-the Dark Knight and Rem the 3rd at the sides, and Arachne Rem to the rear… with the skeleton squads right behind.
They started to form a column formation as they ran in the forest.

「KYOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

A piercing roar resounded in the forest.

「HUMPH!」

The sound of a sharp halberd strike could be heard along with the usual harrumphing voice of the lovely berserker who ran in front of me.

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It was then followed by the death throes of the targets who got hacked to death by Mei-chan.
Did we manage to break through their encirclement? Or did they simply just chase after us who was trying to escape? It was hard to know which one it was, but one thing for sure, the number of incoming enemies kept increasing.

「Raptor huh.」

Though the fella who got hacked to death by Mei-chan was thrown back while raising spray of blood, I managed to catch a glance at its dinosaur-like appearance.

And due to ot the torches that illuminated our surroundings, I could see that the raptors that were encircling us were raising noisy warcries.
Yeah, there was no mistake about it, all of them were raptors.

I heaved a sigh of relief upon finding that we were fighting against familiar opponents.
I mean, the scariest opponent was the kind of opponent that we had no idea about.

Raptor was amongst the strongest monsters in the small fry category.
They were quick-witted, equipped with sharp fangs and claws, and protected with scales.
Maybe the only monster who could win in a group battle against them was gore.

According to Mei-chan, this was the first time we had gotten surrounded by so many monsters, but Mei-chan who experienced tremendous growth as a berserker, Rem whose power had been upgraded by the living armour’s equipment, and  “PLUS α” such as the skeleton squad and me, we could pretty much get through this situation with ease.
Once we managed to leave the forest and entered the beach where we were free from the threat of accidental death such as having those raptors aiming for me using our blind spot, our victory would be guarante――

「Kotaro-kun, the exit towards the beach is――！？」

Mei-chan stopped running once we got through the thicket and entered the sandy beach.

When I was about to ask “Is something the matter?” to her while turning around, I stopped upon seeing the situation behind us.

「No way, three giant crabs… at such timing!」

Waiting on the beach were the figures of giant crabs-whose kin had turned into a delicious dinner some time ago- waiting for us with their pair of sharp-looking pincers.
And three of them on top of that.
Even though we only met one of them during the day, were they actually moving in crowds too?

One of them wouldn’t be a big deal.
Mei-chan could insta-kill them with ease.
There was no problem even if the two of them came out together.
I mean, Mei-chan could take care of one of them, while Rem-The Dark Knight would take care of the other one.

But, of all things, three suddenly decided to have a reunion.
Insta-killing them was pretty much impossible in this situation.
I mean, one of them would be free while Mei-chan and Rem-The Dark Knight were taking care of their opponents.