Mokushiroku Arisu - Volume 03 Read online

  She said while pressing on her large chest.

  Kujaku looked hard at her in disgust and said,

  "...... to kill your comrades so indifferently as you're shedding your tears, you are a pretty horrible person."

  That confirmed it.

  Kiri did not betray them.

  Kujaku thought that Shinnosuke, Shiro, Yousuke, Himi were all dead. Of course. Kiri could kill them. She possessed the magic to do that.

  But they did not die. They were merely restrained.

  Then, what Kiri was doing right now ---

  "Jeez, Shinnosuke-kun was just too worked-up. At the very last part, I could barely contain my laughter for crying out loud. What the hell's with 『We'll protect you』, gawd...... the brat doesn't even know a thing ~"

  What Kiri was doing right now, was an act to protect her comrades from the Mitsutomo Group.

  Half smiling, Kiri kicked the fallen body of Shinnosuke on the ground. Shinnosuke remained limp. If he was not dead, then he was restrained by a magic that affected even the head, different from them.

  His body appeared lifeless.

  Kujaku then looked at Kiri with somewhat disgusted eyes and said.

  "I just can't bear looking at that...... you're really horrible. It's good that you aren't our comrade. You'll just betray us without batting an eyelid."

  Kiri looked up and smiled.

  "Are you being cynical?"

  "No, I was praising you."

  "Oh really. Well, you should get going right? You don't have time to tarry around here right? You have to quickly go get the rights to Apocalypse Alice."

  But Kujaku looked hard at Kiri and said.

  "No no, we can't have that. According to the agreement with the Kowloon Devils Group, we can use your life freely up till the very end."

  "............."

  Kowloon Devils Group --- that was what Kujaku said.

  It was the name of a huge mafia group that had bases in both China and Hong Kong.

  It seemed like Kiri was a member of the Kowloon Devils Group.

  An assassin raised by a mafia.

  Or someone who had her family held hostage by the mafia.

  He did not know the details of her situation.

  But whichever way it was, right now, she had also betrayed that mafia. If this got out, she would probably get punished.

  Calling them fools and abandoning them, for the sake of protecting these meaningless comrades, right now, she was risking her life.

  Why did she go as far as to risk her life? He did not know. He did not know what she was feeling neither her situations. But, he knew that she could be trusted. And also, her life was already just short of getting snuffed out.

  Their enemies were the Mitsutomo Group and a gigantic mafia.

  Kujaku said.

  "Now Kiri, please be our vanguard. Even though we were told that the difficulty level of the 《Apocalypse Alice》 would be lowered after getting connected to Gunjou's labyrinth...... it's hard to swallow that. A rank 666 sure is scary. So it's better to have a thick wall of flesh. With your pointlessly large breasts, it's the perfect role for you, right?"

  Kiri then looked hard at Kujaku and said.

  "Ah-ha, sounds like it's real cynicism this time, isn't it? From someone with no breasts."

  Kujaku replied.

  "For a person like me who doesn't need to deceive others, I don't need them to be so big...... and I don't feel the need to be cynical."

  "Uwah, that stings. Is that the kind of thing to say to a friend who is hurting and crying from betraying her comrades?"

  "...... who's your friend? Please don't get too close to me. I can't trust the mafia. If you get too close, I'll kill you."

  "............"

  With that, Kujaku gathered her subordinates.

  The guys from Kansai's Valor Team. The other subordinates should be from the five transport choppers. If everyone had survived and arrived here, there were probably a hundred people there.

  And they probably were all people gathered by Mitsutomo Group for the purpose of raiding 《Apocalypse Alice》. Carrying large amounts of water and food with them. Right from the beginning, they were here for raiding an eternal labyrinth.

  After talking for a while, Kujaku looked up and said.

  "My, you're still here? Kiryuu Kiri. You should get going and stand in the front line."

  "....... huh? Am I going to stand right at the front by myself with no team?"

  Kujaku smiled.

  "Rest assured. As your comrades, we'll watch your back. Ah, but, since you just stabbed your Hero Team comrades from behind, you can't trust us right?"

  "...... hey."

  "Just kidding. We'll protect you to some extent. Since we have a contract with the Kowloon Devils. So, can you stop making that hurt expression for every little thing?"

  Kiri then said.

  "I'm an actress, right?"

  "Whatever. I have no interest in you. At any rate, our relationship with you, with the Kowloon Devils Group, will end after this labyrinth raid. Now, hurry up. We'll retrieve the magic from 《Apocalypse Alice》 before the Japanese government and Taikou Pharmaceuticals notice this."

  She then raised her hand. Upon doing that, each of the Kansai Valor Team members started to form up at that lead. Kujaku retreated to the back.

  Different from Gunjou, the true lady of Mitsutomo Group retreated to the safest place behind that wall of flesh and then said.

  "But then again, it's because you are strong that I'm having you right up at the front line though."

  Kiri then turned around,

  "I'm left with no choice huh ~"

  While saying that, she turned towards Shiro.

  And met his eyes for an instant.

  Kiri was making a sad face. She did not send any kind of message to him.

  At that moment, from the Valor Team group, a girl with an abnormally short skirt and twin tails jumped out. She was the one who used flame magic if he remembered correctly.

  Her name should be Makoto.

  Makoto said.

  "Something that looks like a rabbit has come!"

  He could not turn to take a look. There was a need to let them think that they were dead.

  What had appeared was probably a monster conjured by the labyrinth. There were not any rabbit-like creatures among the monsters conjured by Gunjou.

  Then, based on the conversation between Kujaku and Kiri, there was a possibility that the monster was from the Apocalypse Alice.

  And if it was a monster from a rank 666 labyrinth, then, the people here would probably be killed in an instant.

  The humans right now could not even last three minutes inside a rank 100 labyrinth.

  But Apocalypse Alice was rank 666.

  They could not survive in it for a second.

  But yet, Makoto jumped out.

  A small guy from the Valor Team by the name of Zakkii if he remembered correctly also jumped out.

  Kiri also jumped out.

  He heard the noises of a battle.

  He heard the noises of magic getting invoked.

  And finally, he heard the voice of Makoto.

  "Wooooaaooorhhh, we did it! Kujaku-sama, Apocalypse Alice is probably already weakened!"

  Kujaku said.

  "Then, let's begin. We shall now commence the raid on the world's most difficult labyrinth, Apocalypse Alice. If we succeed, then the world will be ours. Are you all ready?"

  ""Yes!""

  "Then, let's go!"

  And the Kansai team started advancing.

  Everyone had a nervous look.

  That was natural given that they were about to raid Apocalypse Alice.

  Gunjou did not move.

  Shinnosuke did not move.

  No one looked in the direction of Shiro, Himi, and Yousuke.

  They all had Apocalypse Alice on their hands right now.

  The Valor Team disappeared from the room.

  But still, Shiro did not move
for a while.

  Screams could be heard far away.

  The sounds of battle.

  The sounds of battle faded away. The screams also faded away.

  But he did not move.

  He did not move.

  Without moving, in an unsightly manner, he reduced his breathing until it was quiet, and then,

  "Thousand Deities Flash of Light switch!"

  He raised his voice.

  Instantly, his magic activated.

  Behind him a spear with gigantic drill-like tip appeared. The drill entwined itself with Kiri's sword. And pulled it out.

  "Guh."

  While he felt a strange sense of discomfort when the sword was pulled out, there was no pain. As expected, the magic was not the type that would wound an opponent.

  The sword got blasted away, and fell onto the floor.

  The magic was undone.

  His body could move again.

  He stood up.

  Shiro pressed his hand against his chest and breathed in deeply,

  "Fuuuuhh......"

  After breathing out once, he looked around him.

  The floor was completely red from the blood scattered by the Kansai people. Lying in that sea of blood, Yousuke and Himi were pinned down with swords.

  He had to save them.

  Shiro approached them, and pulled out the swords. The pulled out swords disappeared. The sword he had pulled out from himself had also disappeared from the floor. Since its role had ended.

  Yousuke stood up immediately,

  "Damn! We lost to the Kansai guys!"

  He said in a slightly angry voice. Contrary to his bespectacled look, he was surprisingly sore at losing.

  Indeed, they had lost. They had insufficient intel and too small a force.

  But that could not be helped. Since they had to remain covert in this school.

  Himi then stood up and said.

  "...... we were saved by Kiri-san, right......"

  Shiro nodded. He then looked at the two of them and said.

  "Both of you heard what they said? This is a combined undertaking of the military conglomerate Mitsutomo Group and the Kowloon Devils Group."

  "Yeah. This is bad."

  Shiro nodded.

  "Really bad."

  This was something they should report to their organization as soon as possible. This was a big incident that might just change the balance of the military powers in the world.

  But, well,

  "We'll talk about that later. Let's save our comrade first."

  Shiro turned around.

  He looked at the Shinnosuke who had lost consciousness from getting stabbed by the sword, and the standing, unmoving Gunjou beside him.

  If he pulled out the sword, Shinnosuke should be able to move.

  Once he did that, then there was a possibility that Shinnosuke might be able to save Gunjou with his magic.

  In other words, their original objective of 『saving Gunjou』 might be fulfilled.

  "It's Kiri's complete win huh......"

  Shiro muttered, to which Himi said from behind him.

  "But, Kiri-san is really in a bad position."

  "Hm. Then, shall we go save Kiri next? I'm already kind of tired."

  Shiro said with a wry smile. With that, he continued walking towards Shinnosuke.

  Yousuke said while following behind.

  "But there are still things about Kiri that I do not trust."

  "Like what?"

  "Why did she not restrain our brains and heads like what she did to Shinnosuke? If she wanted to protect us, it would be safer to just make us look completely dead. But yet, why did she show us everything? Does that mean......"

  Shiro turned around and said to Yousuke.

  "To show herself to us as a tragic heroine, so as to make use of us?"

  "It's a possibility, right?"

  Of course it was possible.

  Anything was possible in this world.

  But Himi said from the side.

  "But Kiri-san cried, right?"

  Yousuke said.

  "You're really a naive one. A woman can easily shed tears just to draw attention to herself, isn't it ~"

  "I don't!"

  Himi said slightly angrily, but well, he did not know much about those things. However, at the very least,

  "...... those tears looked genuine to me."

  Said Shiro.

  He could tell that those tears were real and were triggered by the heartfelt words from Shinnosuke.

  Yousuke then said.

  "...... yeah. I could see that too. But someone had to play the devil's advocate."

  He was right about that too.

  "Well then, I'll leave that part to you."

  After making the request to Yousuke, Shinnosuke looked intently at Gunjou before getting closer to Shinnosuke.

  He looked at the Mizuiro Gunjou who had became an eternal labyrinth.

  Gunjou did not move.

  She did not attack him.

  Looking intently at that Gunjou, Shiro said.

  "Hey Gunjou."

  "............"

  "Shrimp."

  "............"

  "Flat-chest."

  "............"

  "All right, there's no danger."

  Shiro then approached Shinnosuke.

  Gunjou still did not move. Maybe she was restrained by the knife that Kujaku used to stab her.

  He moved to right next to the fallen Shinnosuke.

  He grabbed the sword pierced into his back and pulled it out.

  The magic should have been undone right then.

  "All right, get up Shinnosuke. Let's save Gunjou."

  "............"

  But, Shinnosuke still did not move. His consciousness did not return. He did not even flinch.

  "Ah? Hey, Shinnosuke......?"

  He called him but he did not move.

  He shook his shoulder. But he did not open his eyes.

  "Hey."

  He slapped his cheeks. But he did not open his eyes.

  "Hey, stop playing! Wake up Shinnosuke."

  He grabbed his hair and twisted them,

  "Hey you, stop joking around. I'm telling you to get up."

  But, Shinnosuke still did not open his eyes. It was not like he died. He was still breathing. He had a pulse as well. However, his consciousness did not return.

  Shiro turned to his comrades behind, and said.

  "Hey, this guy isn't waking up."

  Himi came over anxiously and said.

  "I-I'll try using my healing magic!"

  And she started invoking her magic.

  Shiro stood up.

  Yousuke then said.

  "Can I said something that's dreadful and rational?"

  Shiro knew what Yousuke was going to say but he still nodded.

  "Say it."

  "This is one thing that adds on to the possibility of Kiri making use of us."

  Shiro scowled.

  He was right.

  If the reason as to why Shinnosuke would not wake up was attributed to Kiri's magic (and it would be 99% because of that), then they would have to go after her. Since they could not save Gunjou if Shinnosuke did not wake up. Only Shinnosuke had the magic to save Gunjou.

  In other words, if they were to Escape here, then they would have gone back empty-handed, abandoned their comrades and escaped.

  "And the Mitsutomo and Kowloon Devils will get their hands on Apocalypse Alice too......"

  Yousuke then said.

  "But there's also an advantage on our side. The Kansai guys think that we are dead."

  "That's part of Kiri's plan right?"

  "But if we are actually Kiri's comrade, it's to our advantage, right? We would be able to raid Apocalypse Alice to our benefit."

  Shiro looked at Yousuke on hearing that.

  He then considered.

  He pondered about their current situation.

  When Yousuke was talking about the advantage
s and disadvantages, he was not referring to the labyrinth raid.

  He was referring to the people ---

  Indeed, when it came down to killing people, they probably had the advantage this time.

  But he did not have too much time to think.

  Since there was a voice coming from the entrance to the hall.

  "Yaah yaah. yaah yaah."

  He looked in that direction.

  There, stood a rabbit. A rabbit holding a pocket watch.

  That rabbit said.

  "Yaah yaah Mr. Human, it's time to die......"

  "Everyone, be prepared for battle!"

  Shiro hollered, and then ---

  The raid on 《Apocalypse Alice》 started.

  * * *

  Chapter 4 - Wonderland

  Gunjou's story ended.

  The story that took place after I lost consciousness.

  A story about what happened to Kiri, Shiro, Yousuke and Himi.

  Her story was well organized, crisp, and easy to understand.

  After that, Shiro and the rest fought the rabbit and won. During then, he saw Gunjou protecting Shinnosuke and decided to just go on ahead leaving them there. Since it was dangerous to bring the immobile Shinnosuke along as they advanced in the labyrinth.

  Thus, after Shiro told the unresponsive Gunjou that they would find Kiri and ask her to undo her magic on Shinnosuke, they disappeared into the inner parts of the labyrinth.

  As I listen until here, I ask.

  "All that happened a month ago?"

  "...... yeah."

  Gunjou nods.

  "But no one returned."

  "Yeah."

  "Then everyone has already died?"

  But on hearing that, Gunjou points to my left arm. To the armband where 『Class 5』 is written.

  ☆ marks are present on it.

  There are five ☆ marks.

  The same number as those who infiltrated the labyrinth.

  It is showing that Shinnosuke, Shiro, Himi, Yousuke and Kiri are alive and active in the labyrinth.

  Somehow, everyone is alive.

  On looking at it, I can feel a sense of relief from the depths of my heart.

  "Aah, I see. I have this. I have never had comrades so I forgot about it."

  I then look at Gunjou and say.

  "Ah, but there is no ☆ representing you, which means you aren't a comrade."

  She ignores me.

  Gunjou says.

  "So what're you going to do?"

  I answer.

  "There is only Escape, right? Only a fool will risk his life for the sake of others."