[Trial Monster: Human-Faced Killer Ant eliminated.] [Experience gained ++] [Assisting Slayer: Gojouno Kaguya] [Experience gained ++] A vortex of black dust churned, and the magic [Devourer (monster eater)]—cast while he wore his Goblin form—welled up as a dense black mist from the center of his palm, swallowing the monster’s remains that had been shredded by that incomprehensible crimson blade-flash, along with the enormous magic stone at their core.
[Devourer magic activated] [Special enhanced target devoured—Human-Faced Killer Ant.] [Devourer progress threshold met.
Ability acquired: Killer Ant Transformation.
Additional special ability acquired: Pheromones.] [Trial monster successfully defeated.
Reward acquired: Phasing] A flood of power carrying a vast amount of unknown information surged into Artorias’s mind, nearly knocking him off balance.
Gojouno Kaguya.
The faint impression in his mind overlapped with the silhouette of the girl standing before him now, and he managed, more or less, to recognize who she was.
Like Ryuu, the elf heroine of the fourth season, this girl had once belonged to the Astrea Familia, and in the past she had sacrificed her own life so that the youngest sister of that just Familia might live on.
On a purely personal level, the girl before him was, without any doubt, one of the last people he ever wanted to make an enemy of.
And from a purely practical standpoint, he shouldn’t be provoking Kaguya either—someone a fair bit stronger than even Adi, who had helped him.
Looking at it that way, the smart move was to slip away first, before she made a move of her own.
Yet the sight of the girl’s state, caught at the edge of his vision, froze the step he was about to take.
That black-haired beauty in the kimono, her crimson tachi already sheathed, was standing perfectly still where she was.
Even with a hostile monster right there within arm’s reach, she inexplicably made no move at all.
Instead, her eyes wide with shock, she stared in a daze at some point in empty space, brows knit tight.
It wasn’t until she noticed Artorias’s utterly undisguised gaze that she snapped back to herself, clicked her tongue in irritation, and only then did the eyes recovering from surprise sharpen once more.
Silence.
A deathly stillness spread between the lone human and the lone monster.
Artorias did not draw a weapon, because he knew perfectly well that against swordsmanship capable of instantly cutting down an Enhanced Species, resistance was meaningless—and besides, he had no real desire to fight her in the first place.
But Kaguya across from him made no further move either, only studying him with the eyes of someone examining a rare animal.
“Not planning to attack?
Monster.” “…” Unlike the aloof, untouchable-blossom air of her deep-red kimono, the tone Kaguya used now, speaking directly to a monster, was remarkably offhand—carrying even a trace of an accent from his past life that stirred a pang of nostalgia in Artorias.
“Since you’re not some mindless beast, this becomes a great deal easier.” She pointed at her own temple, her tone turning a little strange.
“That odd voice that just came straight into my head… that was your doing, wasn’t it?” A voice?
Somewhat at a loss, Artorias blinked.
He thought of the line that had appeared before his own eyes when she’d slain that Human-Faced Killer Ant—[Assisting Slayer: Gojouno Kaguya].
Could it be that, as the one who had landed that final blow, she—prompted with Experience gained ++—had seen the very same text he had?
“No need to play deaf and dumb.” “In that instant just now, I clearly felt a surge of strength suddenly, inexplicably, added to my body.” Kaguya narrowed her wine-red eyes, a curl of amusement tugging at her lips.
“I’ve been an adventurer a long while, and this is the first time I’ve felt a distinct improvement without Lady Astrea having updated my status at all.” “Now that is a rare thing… All I did was casually cut down a bug in my way, and it’s as if someone forcibly credited the deed to me and then shoved a reward into my hands to boot.” She walked slowly toward Artorias, her wooden geta striking the ground with crisp, clacking sounds.
The pressure she gave off was far more terrifying than the Killer Ant’s had been.
But against all expectation, Kaguya did not draw her blade.
“Ehh—” She let out a long, unreadable sigh and stopped five paces from Artorias.
“I thought this was just a dull little errand, handling odd jobs for the Guild… I never expected to stumble across something so interesting.” This young lady, born of a Far East line of assassins, was now sizing up with keen interest the Goblin before her—one that neither fled from her nor showed the slightest fear, but instead met her with clear, lucid eyes.
“Movements plainly unlike a monster’s, plus that inexplicable experience just now.” Kaguya tapped the sheath of her blade lightly, a rhythmic tap-tap-tap.
“Originally I meant to cut you down along with the rest.
A monster is a monster, after all.” “But… to owe a favor to a monster in such a murky, unresolved way, and go home carrying that awkward feeling, would only get me pestered with questions by Lady Astrea.
What a bother.” The girl’s eyes narrowed to slits.
“You there—you understand human speech, don’t you?” “Why don’t we strike a deal, you and I.” It was phrased as a question, but the tone was that of a firm statement.
Having no reason to refuse in the first place, Artorias put on a show of hesitation, thinking it over for a moment, and then nodded.
“I knew it.” Seeing him give a clear affirmative, Kaguya understood that Artorias did indeed comprehend human words, and the smile on her face deepened.
“Come lend us a hand, monster.” Straight to the point—a conversation that should never, ever occur between an adventurer and a monster, natural enemies to each other.
“If my guess is right, those rumors from the upper floors—about someone attacking adventurers yet never killing them—that was your handiwork too, wasn’t it?” No longer treating it as any sort of secret, Artorias confirmed it.
“Hmph, I knew it.” Kaguya folded her arms, her expression turning a shade more serious.
“If you truly possess reason, then you must have sensed at least some hint of it: the surface right now—Orario—is far from peaceful.” “Even the number of adventurers exploring the Dungeon is far smaller than before.
Because there is a [malice] more sickening than any monster running rampant through this city.” At those words, a cold light flickered in Kaguya’s eyes, her voice brimming with hatred for the malice she spoke of.
“And you—despite having power, you’ve never gone out of your way to take human lives.
Even facing opponents far weaker than yourself, you show mercy.” “I don’t know the reason, but for us, that is good news.” “So here is my proposal: if the chance ever comes in the future, my Familia and I would like to borrow your strength to fight the human scum harming this city.” A thinking monster with no record of harming people was far more trustworthy than the filth stained with the blood of their own kind.
So said Gojouno Kaguya.
“Of course I won’t have you risk your life for us for nothing.” “Beyond sparing you here, I’m willing to offer what help I can—whether it’s magic stones you want, or information about other monsters—” “I don’t need any of that.” Artorias’s slow voice cut Kaguya off, his gaze coming to rest at last on the deep-red tachi at her waist.
In his mind, one image replayed over and over—the crimson higanbana hue that had bloomed in that single instant.
It was a god-swift strike his eyes couldn’t even follow, a pinnacle of skill that no amount of merely stacking numbers could ever let him reach.
It was exactly the decisive blow he had lacked when facing an enemy like the Masked Killer Ant, whose stats surpassed his own.
And so he voiced this wish to the Kaguya before him: “I want to learn that sword technique you just used.” The air froze for three seconds.
“Huh?” Kaguya, who a moment ago had worn such an unruffled expression, was stunned.
Never in her wildest imaginings had she expected the first words out of this monster’s mouth to be that it wanted to learn the very move she’d just performed.
“You mean… you want to learn [Five Lights]?” Artorias nodded once more.
“Pfft—” And then a burst of wild laughter, utterly unbecoming of a Yamato Nadeshiko, erupted through the Dungeon corridor.
“Hahahahaha—” Kaguya clutched her stomach, laughing until tears nearly spilled from her eyes, as if she’d heard the funniest joke of the century.
“Marvelous—truly, truly marvelous!” “To think the day would come when a monster wanted to learn the secret art of the Gojouno house.” “You really… you’ve got some nerve, saying that.” She cut off her laughter abruptly, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and appraised Artorias anew.
“Monster, do you have a name?” “Artorias.” “Artorias?
What a strange name.” “My name is Gojouno Kaguya, born of a certain [Assassination] lineage in the distant Far East.” A teasing smile hung at the corner of Kaguya’s mouth as she drew her beloved crimson blade, Higanbana, a little way from its sheath.
“You probably have no idea, do you?
That Five Lights just now was no ordinary sword technique.” “It is an inheritance my Gojouno clan tempered over a thousand years and carved into our very blood.
In other words, it is bloodline magic that no one without Gojouno blood could ever possibly reproduce.” Watching this monster make such a bold declaration in utter ignorance of the truth, Gojouno Kaguya—rarely, before anyone outside her own Familia—felt the urge to toy with and tease him a little.
The Far East beauty leaned slightly forward, a hint of allure and danger in her soft voice: “Monster called Artorias, you want to learn that?” “What is this—could it be you wish to marry into our Gojouno house and become my husband?”