The timeline is chapter 29 of the main story, and at the end, it returns to the usual area for a bit.
The perspective is from Hagasaki.
“Uh! Something’s coming from below!”
Toriumi said that, but no, I can’t just react on the spot when told like that.
Suddenly, something that seemed like vines or roots extended from the ground and grabbed around my waist.
I tried to use a skill in a hurry, but it was too late.
We were quickly dragged down, and taken underground.
I almost lost consciousness, but, well, there’s the otherworldly adjustment. I felt incredibly nauseous from being shaken so much on the way down, but it could have been worse.
It’s frustrating not being able to grasp the situation at all because it’s so dark. What is this? I’d hate it if it turns out no one else was brought here.
“Is anyone there?”
Oh, so it wasn’t just me. At least Kariya is here.
“I’m here, but?”
When I responded, there was clearly a relieved sense. That’s good. Yeah, yeah.
“I’m here too!”
“I’m here as well. …It looks like the four rear guards were splendidly left behind.”
Katori and President are here too, so I figured it out. The four rear guards were left behind, and the four front guards are safe. What was that? How did the front guards react so quickly? Are they monsters? That’s impossible.
…And I hadn’t thought about the front and rear guards only, but there must be someone even weaker than anyone else.
“Where is Maito?”
No response.
…It’s not unlikely that she’s already dead by the time we were brought here. It’s been clear since we arrived in this world that Maito is exceptionally weak. So.
“Ah, Maito-san was riding on Ketorami-san, so maybe she’s fine. I saw Ketorami-san leaping with great force at the end.”
…Ah, right. Now that you mention it, that was the case. What is it with that guy? It’s annoying how she has such a high-performance vehicle and is the only one having an easy time. And it’s irritating how she’s safe even now.
“By the way, can anyone escape?”
Katori is oddly carefree, but not at all.
“It’s impossible. We rear guards definitely don’t have the strength to tear these apart… And skills won’t activate.”
“I’m the same here… I’ve been feeling weak, like my strength is draining… Uh-uh, if only I could use ‘Laser Shot’, I think it would be over in one hit…”
“Same here. I can’t activate ‘Wind Cutter’ or anything.”
I can’t either.
It feels almost like our MP is being drained. We can’t activate any skills at all.
If there were skills that didn’t use MP, maybe it would be different, but Katori, who has such skills, uses them all for bows or laser guns, so he can’t use them while restrained.
“Ah-ah it’s getting tighter—it’s getting tighter—uh, please don’t tighten too much—though saying that won’t make it understand, huh?”
“My side is tightening too. It’s fortunate it’s not around my neck. If it was the carotid artery, I would have been out immediately.”
“It’s quite tight around the torso too…”
The grip of the vines or roots was getting increasingly tighter.
“Maybe these vines or roots caught us to suck our MP…”
“If that’s the case, we are just food for a monster. Ugh, that’s awful.”
“If being alive is necessary to produce MP, then it looks like our lives are safe for now.”
Being used as monster feed is infuriating.
“Is… self-escape impossible, then?”
It’s rare for President to start voicing doubts.
…Waiting for the front guard to come to our rescue, what is that? It’s really irritating.
“It would be good if we could at least let them know we are safe.”
“It would have been nice to have a mobile phone…”
“Kariya, Kariya. This is no time for jokes. There’s no signal here.”
“Ah.”
Ah, is not the right response.
…One thing I’ve realized since coming to this other world is how valuable means of communication were.
If you carelessly split up, you might never see each other again in this world. Thinking about it, it’s pretty… scary.
“A mobile phone, you say?”
…President seems to be thinking something.
“Then, we have no choice but to try substituting it with a skill.”
“…No. That’s what I mean. Skills. In a state where MP is being drained?”
“Have you forgotten, Hagasaki-kun? In this world, if you think about it, skills will activate.”
President is saying something but.
In this state? In this state where I can’t move and my MP is being drained? That’s insane. Well, it’s normal for President to be out of his mind.
“Using attack skills carelessly might get us killed by this monster. However, a mobile phone… a skill just to let the front guard know we are safe might be overlooked. If we can communicate our situation, it could help the front guard.”
What President says is logical. Rational. That’s usual for him too.
That’s about all we can do right now.
…Well, let’s struggle as best as we can.
“No good.”
“No good here.”
“Not enough attempts.”
…And, we are trying various things, but honestly, there’s little we can do.
Can’t move, no MP. Acquiring a new skill in this state is quite impossible, and it really is impossible.
Still, we somehow focus on the image of making a call.
“Can you hear me… I’m talking directly into your brain now… No good, huh?”
“Please hear me!… No good here.”
“Don’t give up. Increase the number of attempts. What fails at 10 or 100 might work if tried around 10,000 times.”
President really says some amazing things, but honestly, the hope is slim.
While we were struggling, suddenly, the ground beneath our feet lit up.
“…What’s this?”
At our feet, a golden pattern emerged and was shining. Thanks to it, we could vaguely make out everyone’s positions. Not that it makes much difference.
“Ah… it’s Maito-san’s, isn’t it?”
…What was it again? This one. “Prayer Song,” right? It’s said to increase defense.
“Ah, I feel like the tightening has weakened a bit.”
“Our defense must have been increased.”
The intense constriction felt a bit loosened. It became a bit less painful. And then, slightly warmer.
Even though the “Prayer Song” has always been playing, this might be the most we’ve ever felt its benefits.
We’re rear guards, after all. Normally, we don’t get attacked. So, we hadn’t really noticed an increase in defense.
…Maybe this has been somewhat useful after all.
“This is it.”
President, illuminated by a golden light from below and looking a bit eerie, eyes wide open, said,
“Let’s acquire the ‘Prayer Song.'”
“…Huh?”
“‘Prayer Song’ is a skill that Maito also uses. This means it must have a very low MP cost. Maybe even we can use it now.”
Well, that makes sense. Maito couldn’t be using something that consumes a lot of MP.
“And as a means of communication, it should at least help to convey our safety.”
Indeed, at least now we know Maito is safe… And before, when we were on an expedition and the effect of the “Prayer Song” was interrupted. At that time, we suspected something might have happened to Maito. In fact, a lot did happen.
“…So,”
Then, President said something.
“Everyone, please do your best. I will give up on acquiring this skill.”
“…Who was it that was talking about trying over and over again?”
“Hagasaki-san, have you forgotten when we went to karaoke together?”
“Your repertoire was extremely limited.”
“Exactly.”
“You can’t sing pop songs.”
“Correct.”
“But you can hit high notes, and you’re not bad.”
“Singing high notes here might provoke the monster.”
…President.
He doesn’t really listen to music… or rather, pop songs. So when you take him to karaoke, he has so few songs in his repertoire it’s almost pitiful.
It’s not that he’s a bad singer, but he’s more suited to choir singing than pop music.
He can reach high notes, but that’s inconvenient now.
“So that’s how it is. I won’t be much use, but I’ll try my best to hum. Everyone, please do your best to sing.”
…The fact that he’s settling for humming really makes it hard to tell whether President is smart or not.
…And so, Kariya and Katori obediently start singing, and as he declared, President begins to hum Beethoven’s Ninth. It’s subtly hilarious, so I wish he would stop.
I guess I have no choice but to sing something random.
Hopefully, something with a high success rate would be great. I’d like to succeed in one try. I don’t want to have to sing over and over.
What was Maito singing again? And why did Maito choose those songs? Wasn’t she selecting them based on ridiculous criteria like “This sounds like it could increase defense!” or “This sounds like it could boost attack!”
…Anyway.
Why did Maito even acquire such a skill?
“…Ah.”
A bluish light mixed with the golden light.
Looking down at my feet, there was an additional pattern on top of the golden one.
“It seems we have succeeded.”
“Blue… that must be Hagasaki-kun.”
“It’s Hagasaki-kun indeed.”
…Among this group, I’m the only one who can use water attribute skills, so whenever it’s blue or something similar, it’s all credited to me, based on some unclear judgment.
“Probably, this has also activated for the front guards above ground. If so, our safety has been communicated…”
“All that’s left is to wait for help, right?”
Yes, this concludes our struggle. There’s nothing more we can do. We just need to be careful not to get strangled while waiting for help.
“…By the way, didn’t President sing a song of joy in a hum earlier?”
“He did.”
He did, indeed. I wish he hadn’t because it was quietly amusing.
“Then shall we all hum the song of joy and wait until help arrives?”
“Sounds good, there’s nothing else to do anyway.”
Are we really doing this?
In the end, until the monster moved again and the front guards arrived underground, a mysterious hum flowed through the underground.
By the way, the humming did not turn into a skill.
Then, much later.
With our skills increased, being rear guards didn’t mean getting caught by monsters so often anymore.
During such times, when Maito was cooking while singing, I randomly remembered and decided to ask something that was bothering me.
“Maito.”
“Yup?”
“When you acquired ‘Prayer Song,’ what were you doing?”
She answered while moving her knife at an incredible speed.
“Hm? I was singing, of course.”
Figured as much.
“So, what were you thinking about?”
This time, Maito stopped chopping and thought for a moment.
And then, she answered immediately.
“I was thinking about you guys.”
“Why bring this up all of a sudden?”
“No, just checking the answer.”
Maito seemed a bit puzzled, but then she resumed chopping.
I decided to head back to the lecture hall and take a nap until dinner.
