B & C

We reached the nearby river to lick our wounds.

Well, just metaphorically. The stench of blood and dead animals had been so pungent I could nearly taste it, though…

Besides, something like that might attract bigger predators, so we hurried up to leave the area ASAP.

Kai also said something about Diane giving him tips about how to recognize and avoid the wolves’ paths, so our trip to the river went smoothly.

I briefly feared an attack by some crazy piranhas or something—I really wouldn’t be surprised at this point—but eventually joined my companions.

The water felt cool as it stung my skin. We couldn’t really afford a full bath or anything (probably the mere suggestion would have caused Saga to behead us both), so we settled for cleaning and bandaging our wounds. There probably wasn’t a single spot on my body that didn’t hurt right now.

Were we really going to be fine against One, at this rate?

“Say, C,” asked Kai all of a sudden. “Got any healing spells or something?”

Now that was an idea. “Huh, now that you mention it… I’ll try.”

I actually had programmed a healing spell into the game, though it was higher level than the rest. I didn’t want the early game to be too easy.

Still, I should be able to cast it, the same way I did with the others.

I put a hand against an area of my skin that almost got flayed and focused my energy.

Motes of lights came from my fingertips, entered the wound and started closing it. I smiled in satisfaction, but the next moment I felt like I was about to faint. I nearly fell with my face into the river.

“…Hey, you alright, C?” Kai asked from the side. Saga glanced at me, then went back to dipping her blade in the water.

I nodded him away and groaned. “This magic thing really takes a lot out of me… I can heal, but it looks like it’s really taxing. Don’t count on me too much,” I explained.

That being said, I think that my MP reserves or whatever were growing larger when compared to how things started yesterday. There was still no menu or stats or anything, but maybe I was raising my levels after all.

“I’ve been wondering, but…” Although remaining silent up to this point, Saga came up with a surprising question. “Why do you call him C?”

Was Saga actually interested in me? What a shocker. She seemed to direct that question at Kai, but I decided to answer.

“It’s just a nickname, that’s all.” I shrugged. “I’ve had it since middle school and I use it online too.”

“Sounds kinda neat. No real reason,” added Kai.

“Hah,” said Saga and went silent again, perhaps having lost interest after all.

I also used this time to rest my legs and eat a little of our rations—mostly bread that still remained fresh—before Saga got up and started walking.

“Let’s get moving. We still need to find One.”

Was she expecting the man to pop out like some random encounter?

That made me wonder, though.

One couldn’t be the actual name his stupid parents gave him, right? It had to be some sort of nickname, just like mine.

But that didn’t really matter. What I really wondered about was whether he controlled all these animals by magic. If so, would it be possible for me to hijack that, somehow?

After bearing their assault on my very flesh, I had to admit having an entire army of furry creatures did have its charms.

We kept going until noon or so with barely any breaks as we heard yet another sound. Many sounds, in fact. Many, many sounds.

At first I even wondered if it was some sort of distant thunder, but the sky was clear and the sun was as hot as always. I then realized it was both the flapping of wings as well as the angry buzz of insects.

From all around us emerged swarms upon swarms of flying beings.

Bees, birds, and even bats.

All of them combined created a cacophony of battle that caused me to shudder.

“Really? What the hell is going on?” said Kai, shouting to get over the absolute racket as the cloud of flying critters descended on us.

At a first glance this looked horrible. While most attackers were smaller than those from earlier, they were also much more numerous. What was Saga even going to do, cut a bee in half like some sword master and then get stung by a hundred? Would Kai be able to hit even a single bird?

However, things weren’t that bad, this time. I had a winning card just for this occasion.

“Die!” I shouted, shooting bolts of lightning from the fingertips of both hands.

I could feel my energy draining fast from this attack, but it was also very much worth it. Things worked exactly as I imagined them to.

Struck by electricity, entire swarms of bees were charred black, while birds fell to the ground, twitching. Bats screeched and perished.

Since they were trying a concentrated attack, they were packed rather close, thus close enough for the current to pass through them.

It was beautiful. It almost looked like some firework show. Purple electricity arced into a web of destruction for those who were too unfortunate to choose to fly too close together.

I shot another strike like that, laughing all the while.

The next moment, however, I heard a scream.

“W-what are you doing, idiot! Grah!” It was Kai. Glancing to the side, I saw him twitch and drop the bow from his hands.

“…Oh, oops,” I said.

I hadn’t considered this, but apparently this web stretched all the way to my fighting friends.

Saga’s sword had a few crackles running about it, but whether she withstood it or just wasn’t affected, she said nothing at all and kept slicing every bird or insect that went after her.

I might have overdone it… I was feeling very faint right now. Well, that meant I wouldn’t be able to launch another strike like that even if I wanted to.

Since the vast bulk of enemy forces was exterminated, however, I could just blast the remnants at my leisure. Kai seemed much more affected by the electricity than I assumed, but me and Saga were enough for that.

Just as I was going to congratulate myself for a work well down, one huge bee flew right into my face and I flinched.

I almost fell as a flash of steel appeared right in front of my face, slicing the bee in half.

Saga’s perfect white blade passed a fraction of an inch from my nose.

With a completely blank face, she said, “Hah. The B nearly got C.” She then lowered her blade and went away from me as if nothing happened.

I blinked a few times and even Kai looked quite confused at what happened here. Did… did Saga just made a joke? An extremely bad pun?

I was never going to understand this girl.