This is a fan-fic between KonoSuba and Many series(Mainly KonoSuba itself, Kara no Kyoukai, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and many other things). Disclaimer : I don't own any. This project is for fun only and if you had complain or suggestion, you can post it on review so that I can use it for reference and learning material. Note : spaming or flaming review will be ignored(regular review is fine though).
-o-
Chapter 23 : Blast Em' Off, 「Explosion」 Part 1
Kazuma's POV
"..."
"..."
Right now, I'm in a tight situation... Very tight, I think.
Here I am, accidentally letting myself asleep in the tub during my bath early this morning, forgot to put a sign of there's someone in the bath. This somehow results in pretty much anime cliche where a girl entered the bathroom without knowing the protagonist is there only to be surprised before embarrassingly offered the protagonist to wash his back.
Luckily and yet unluckily, this didn't develop into that, but something much, much more worse...
"Ex-"
Before she could even finished chanting that dangerous spell to my face, I quickly jumped out of the tub and cover Megumin's mouth.
Why did it come to this?
An Hour Ago
I woke up a little bit too early today, huh?
Though, that can't be helped since I pretty much collapsed yesterday after dinner due to the fatigue that I somehow completely ignore during the time I sort out my equipment and buying my new attire. Not getting any sleep or rest the day before yesterday certainly doesn't help much in that department.
I'm rather surprised instead as I recovered from such fatigue rather quickly by waking up this early.
Warming up my body for a bit, I then took a bath and planning to prepare myself for today's quest with Darkness only.
I wonder what kind of quest she wants me to do with her alone? If I see this development like what usually happened in anime cliches, she'd confess her feeling to me or something romantic, but reminding myself that this is Darkness I'm talking about, all that hope went to dust at that moment.
Yeah, like that would happen.
Putting my clothes in the laundry basket, I proceed to wash myself before heating up the water and lay myself down in the wide tub.
This feels good...
I...might...fell...asle-
And here I thought my fatigue was already gone. The next time I wake up, I'm in this damn situation.
"Mmfh!"
"Ssh, please calm down! The last thing I want is that damn goddess and super maso girl came barging in and try to kill me for considering me as a pervert!"
Hearing that, her expression turned into an equivalent of 'Aren't you one?' temporarily before struggling to break free from my grip.
Then, at that moment...
"Megumin!? Are you alright there?" Came Darkness' voice from outside.
SHIT!
I instantly broke a cold sweat upon hearing that. Darkness with her high physical spec will definitely strangle me to death if she finds out about this.
Immediately, I looked at Megumin and gave her an expression of begging to not tell her about this.
She just let her shoulder down and stop struggling while letting something like a sigh.
Either I'm in luck or she is that kind... Wait, why do I feel her expression as if I'm someone pathetic and she pities me for that?
Letting go of her mouth...
"I'm fine here, what is it, Darkness?"
"Ah, nothing. I'm just checking on you. I'm still feeling bad about you have to suffer that when I'm the one supposed to be in your place that time."
?
Oh, I see...
She's still blaming herself for that incident before, huh?
While thinking about that, Megumin said:
"Don't mind me about that, the important thing is that I'm fine right now hehe! And don't you dare feel bad about this, it's in the past!" Megumin replied cheerfully.
!?
Whoa, sometimes she really CAN say something good huh?
Then, in response, Darkness chuckled a bit before replying.
"I see, I understand. But next time, I won't let that happen again! It's my job as a crusader to receive the pain for my ally." Darkness said in a resolute tone. And this girl also could say such cool thing once in a while as well, huh? If only my party could always be serious like this in combat, I wou- "By the way, what does it feels like at that time?" She added.
Both Megumin and I could only wryly smiled at her last question.
Yeah, how could I forgot?
"Ah, sorry for interrupting your bath, I'm going to leave now."
Taking the silence for the answer of her last question, Darkness finally leave.
Phew.
And now, the main problem...
"Err... I think this is both our fault." That's all I could say which caused Megumin to glare at me. "Hey, don't look at me like that, I am at fault for not hanging the sign and sleeping here, but how can you not see my clothes in the laundry basket." I said while raising both hand.
She contemplates it for a moment.
"Then, why did you cover my mouth out of a sudden like that?" She grumbled.
"Excuse me for wanting myself not to get killed by your Explosion. By the way, why don't you come in here, the water's still warm and I'll soon get out." I retorted before urging her to get into the tub.
"Wha-!? Are you that shameless or are you really a pervert beyond any redemption?" She yelled at me.
"Calm down, sheesh, this is why you are a kid."
"How dare you calling me a kid!?"
"Of course I dare, if you don't even have the guts to do something like this, of course I would consider you as one!" I retorted back.
Besides, I don't feel attracted to a kid like you, that's what I want to say but went unsaid since I don't want to mess things up further than this.
"You say I have no guts? How dare you, it's just bathing together; you think I am scared?!"
With that, she get into the tub.
Seriously? I just teased her about it and she takes it seriously? Well, whatever, I'm not a pedo or lolicon so I don't feel too awkward or embarrassed... Okay, maybe a little bit embarrassed.
"By the way, are you going to ignore that girl named Yunyun seriously? Hasn't it been a long time since both of you met? Have a little mercy for that poor girl." I opened up the topic of yesterday.
"We will meet again soon enough, knowing her, even if I tried my best to ignore her, she would still find a way to get me. That girl claiming to be my rival loves to chase after me after all." Megumin soaked her shoulders into the water and kept her chin near the surface of the bath tub. Her eyes were close and she seemed to be enjoying herself.
"The name Yunyun might be a bit off, but she looks cute. For an acquaintance of yours, she seemed to have good manners and common sense."
"Are you implying that I lacked common sense? And she is my age, why aren't you treating her like a child?"
While keeping her chin at the edge of the water, Megumin opened one eye and stole a glance at me.
Megumin is the same age as that girl… Then, I promptly take a good look at Megumin who was soaking in the bath.
"… Hey, tell me what you are thinking while you are looking at my body."
"… I am thinking that the speed of growth is different for everyone… Hey, stop that, don't chant explosion magic again here! I don't want to die a stupid death!"
As I said that, I copied Megumin's posture earlier and moved my chin to the edge of the water.
"But that means she is just thirteen years old. My strike zone is two years younger than me, so thirteen is out. If she is fourteen, that would make us middle two and high one, which is borderline acceptable for me." I muttered casually.
"Middle two and high one?… I am not sure what are you talking about, but I will be fourteen next month. You won't treat me like a kid after that?"
Megumin who was relaxing in the bath said with her eyes closed…
"… Huh, are you serious? Your birthday is next month? Eh, fourteen? you're graduating from being a loli character?"
Wait a second... Next month I'm still sixteen, but she'll be fourteen... My strike zone is two years younger than me...
"Are you picking a fight with me!? Don't you dare calling me a loli! And… wait a minute, what's wrong with you? Why are you making that weird expression all of a sudden…"
Someone I thought of as a troublesome imouto was gradually morphing in my mind into a troublesome kouhai…
"W-W-Well, I suddenly think this situation is a bit embarrassing." I said while scratching my cheek.
"H-Hey, don't say something like that out of the blue, now I'm feeling embarrassed too! What's up with you? Is just one year older that much of a difference? And can you stop stealing glances at me so shyly!? Where's that impudent and shameless attitude of yours earlier!?"
Why? It's so strange, and my heart started racing despite my calmness and coolness previously. Is this one of the moment where the saying 'Ignorance is a bliss' should applies?
At this moment, I realized I was in an incredible situation.
"… Neh, why am I bathing together with Megumin? Now that you said that, isn't this situation bad?"
"Why are you saying this now! Don't act like that so suddenly!"
Megumin started inching away from me in the pool.
I also backed away from the other end and told Megumin:
"Not that, I mean if someone see us like this, we can't just laugh it off right? That should be some kind of law or rules governing this. Especially a certain girl who can't read the mood will tend to…"
Before I finished my sentence.
BAM!
"Megumin! Did you see where Kazuma is? I can't..." She said after slamming open the door out of a sudden and trailed off at the end when she saw me and Megumin in the same tub. "...seem to find him..." She finished.
To make the matter worse...
"Aqua! What are you doing!? Don't disturb her ba...th...like...that..." Darkness said before seeing both us and trailed off. "What kind of play is this!?" Then she blurted that at the end.
"Wait, before you are acting rash, let me explain th-"
"Ohohoho, you don't need to bother doing that, you perverted loliNEET."
"Wha-? Are you implying I'm a loli too!?"
Hey Megumin! That's not the main problem right now!
"I thought it was one thing for Kazuma to bath with me before, but I never expect he'll do it with Megumin as well..." Darkness murmured with her usual flushed face which unsurprisingly, worsen the misunderstanding.
"Perverted loliNEET! ! !"
At this moment, I knew... I fucked up.
This is just GREAT...
-o-
Few minutes after that whole debacle(and getting assaulted as I predicted), everyone finally calmed down despite still looking at me with disgust... And yes, that even includes Megumin herself who baths with me and Anna the ghost...
I feel like crying right now.
And now, I'm preparing my equipment for the quest I'll do with Darkness today to distract myself from this situation.
"Ne, Darkness. Be careful out there, if Kazuma did something to you, don't hesitate to strangle him." Aqua whispered to Darkness LOUDLY as if wanting me to heard her not so called whisper.
"Eh? I'd be glad if he did, but considering he who always cower at the most crucial moment or having no balls to take the initiative, I doubt he'll do something like that." Darkness said with a sigh.
Hey, I'm here, you know? Mocking me as they please...
"Hey Darkness, quit mocking me and let's go!" I said while sheathing my katana into it's sheath on my hip.
Pretending herself to never know the previous conversation, she replied:
"Okay!"
-o-
Adventurer's Guild Hall
After leaving the mansion, we immediately head toward the adventurer's guild hall to take the quest. Incidentally, I let Darkness choose the quest for us as my way of apologizing about that incident. Though, I hope it won't be something crazy dangerous...
Looking at the quest board, she contemplates which quest she should choose from many of them.
It seems like since winter will pass soon, the weaker monster slowly came around which results in many quest to deal with them.
"Have you find a quest yet?"
"Ah, I think this one will do." She muttered before showing me the quest.
Hmm, exterminate a winter drake...
"Darkness, what kind of monster this winter drake is?" I asked just to make sure it isn't something too powerful for us to handle.
"It's a small dragon that usually migrate in group from one place to another, following winter which is why they're named winter drake. They're usually harmless as long as no human disturb or enter their territory which is usually in deep mountains, but this year, their lai-"
"Just wait a second there, you said 'their', does it means that we'll be dealing with many of them?" I interrupted.
"No, there's only one left in that lair. Apparently, the other winter drake that terrorized townspeople and adventurer that wander around their lair was already exterminated by a group of adventurer, but it turns out that one of them weren't present during the extermination and reported to terrorize townspeople and adventurer again." She explained while looking at the quest description.
I see...
"Just to be sure, how big is this small dragon?"
"Hmm... It's around the size of three giant toad combined."
That seems manageable.
"Well, I think this is fine. Let's go."
With that, we leave the guild hall and headed to its lair.
-o-
Winter Drake's Nest
"Uh, Darkness?"
"What is it Kazuma!? I'm rather busy here!"
"You said the winter drake's size is around three giant toad..." I trailed off while looking at Darkness who is clashing against the claw of that thing. "Then, why does that thing size almost reaching a house size!?"
"I don't know! Ha!" She yelled while parrying away the claw, ending the clash between her and the drake.
"Next time, I will be the one to choose the quest!" I yelled before charging forward with katana in hand and activating my Mystic Eyes.
How did it come to this?
Few Minutes Before...
Standing in front of the cave where the winter drake sighted to live, we promptly prepared our equipment to battle it.
After gearing up, I tossed the pebble inscribed with combination of Sowilo and Inguz rune to create a medium explosion which will make the winter drake came out of its hiding place... And also because I don't want to face any monster in the place where the have advantage over us.
"Sowilo-Inguz!"
With that chant, a loud 'BOOM' noise reverberated inside the cave for a few second before being replaced by a roar.
Here it comes...
...And damn, it came fast.
A bluish blur came out of that cave and headed toward us. Reacting quickly, Darkness stood in front of me to block that blur which turns out to be a claw of some huge creature.
Looking at the owner of that claw, I could only mutter a simple 'Eh?'.
Which brought us to this situation.
CLANG!
The voice of steel clashing can be heard. Though, the truth is, that's the sound of my katana being deflected after I tried to slash that thing's line of death.
Noticing my failed attempt at wounding it, the dragon temporarily turned it's attention to me and fired a huge icicle at me. Luckily, I barely avoid it by the means of 「The Void Act I」's teleportation sort of ability.
Darkness, who immediately used her taunting skill as Crusader, redirect the aggro of the dragon back to her, allowed me to disengage after reappearing a bit away from combat.
"Damn, the skin's too tough for my blade to cut through! And what the hell was that!? A magic!?" I yelled out.
"That's not magic, it's just an elemental breath commonly possessed by any dragon!"
Then, it fired the similar icicle at Darkness who immediately crushed it with a single parry from her greatsword before blowing the following slash.
"How is that a breath!?" I retorted while activating the enhancement rune on my boots.
"Since that icicle was formed from ice, I think its breath is strong enough to create that icicle!"
"That's just bullshit!"
I kind of wished that Megumin and Aqua here, at least both of them are the only ones who possess a very destructive attack in the party.
Dashing forward, I summoned 「The Void Act II」.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA KARA ORA ORA ORA!" Delivering barrage of punches, I used my Stand's power to nullify the durability of its skin before aiming to slash its side again.
But this time, it worked as blood sprayed out of the wound followed with a growl of pain from it.
Good, now if we could dragged this battle long enough till it bleeds to death since cutting the line of death at non-vital part is still quite lethal since I 'kill' that part, that thing won't have a chance to regenerate that wound.
"Darkness! Let's stall the battle! That thing will die if-"
My sentence was cut short when I saw the unexpected thing it did...
Leaping a short distance backward, it looked at the wound before spraying a bluish wind from its mouth, freezing the wound and stopped the bleeding completely.
What a pain in the ass...
First, the dragon that supposed to be three giant toad sized turns out to be as big as a house.
Second, it can use its elemental breath that could perform something very close to magic.
And lastly, this thing isn't stupid.
Also to make things worse, that thing now focused on me despite being affected by Darkness' skill.
Yeah, things are going swimmingly...
-o-
Megumin's POV
Outside of Axel Town
"'Explosion!'"
As soon as I chanted that, a loud 'BOOM' noise erupted from the distance as I cast my spell.
It's been rather a while since I cast my one and only trustworthy spell since all the ruckus happening recently, so the feeling of seeing an explosion in the distance caused by me is good despite my currently laying in the ground state.
"Ooh, not bad Megumin."
And yeah, instead of Kazuma who usually accompanied me to cast explosion, it's Aqua for now since that guy leaves with Darkness for a quest. He said something about Darkness wanting to do it alone with him. I wonder what's up about it.
But it sure is not as fun as when I did this with Kazuma since he'd make a great commentaries about my explosion.
"Ah thanks, can you carry me back to the mansion?"
With that, Aqua lifted me up and carry me on her back.
Despite her looks, it seems like she possess a great deal of strength behind that body of hers.
On our way back, we met Yoshikage and his party who leaves to do a quest and he asked about my rival, Yunyun.
Saying that we are just an old acquaintance and were just having a reunion, he accepted it.
Though, he did explain that Yunyun saved him and his party from being overwhelmed by giant toads yesterday and leading her to the mansion as a thanks...
Arriving in front of the mansion, we found someone standing in front of the gate as if waiting for someone.
"Uh, what are you doing there?" Aqua asked.
"Ah, where's the owner of this mansi-"
Turning back to Aqua, the owner of that voice, to be precise, Sena the prosecutor got her sentence cut short due to the surprise.
"Err, Aqua-san, what happened to Megumin-san?" She asked while pointing at me who was given a piggyback ride on Aqua's back.
"I practiced my explosion magic and got exhausted..." Came my tired reply.
Though, I think I'm able to at least stand on both legs already.
"Uh-huh... By the way, can I meet Kazuma-san? There's something I need him for."
"Eh? Did he make another trouble!? Prosecutor-san, I can assure you that we are not involved in anything that hikiNEET does! Please believe us!" Aqua exclaimed.
Kazuma, what did you do this time?
Few Minutes Later...
After explaining that Kazuma didn't do anything wrong this time, but only asking for his assistance regarding the dungeon where we came before, we sighed in relieve.
"I see... I knew Kazuma wouldn't do something stupid too often."
"Ignoring that statement aside, I wonder if you can accompany me to that dungeon?"
"Well, I don't think I'll mind. Megumin, are you fine staying alone in the mansion?" Aqua asked me.
I just get down and flexed my body a little bit before replying:
"I'll come along since my power wouldn't be needed inside a dungeon."
"That settles it, let's go." As Sena-san said that, we departs to Keele's Dungeon.
-o-
Kazuma's POV
"「Act II」!"
Summoning my Stand, I made it touch my ice-encased left hand to nullify it's solidity which unsurprisingly, revert the ice back into water.
Right now, me and Darkness are currently hiding from the winter drake because that damn dragon only gets more trickier to deal with as we further injure it.
"Are you okay Kazuma? I'm sorry for not being able to take its attention from you." Darkness asked with her head down.
This girl...
"Stop it, Darkness. It's not your fault this time. That thing is too smart for my liking to be able to do those ridiculous stuff. In fact, I have to thank you for capable of distracting him at that last moment else I'd be turned into an ice sculpture now." I replied while using a healing rune on my defrosted hand.
As the feeling returned to my defrosted hand, I sighed in relieve. Seriously, if only Megumin and Aqua were here, that thing would be easily defeated, tough skin or not. And once again I wonder why every time there's a situation where those two might be useful, they weren't present. Though, me and Darkness are to be blamed for this.
While formulating a plan on how to defeat that thing, Darkness called me out.
"Kazuma, what should we do to defeat it?"
Just as she asked that, the ground shook a bit. Realizing what would likely to be the cause, we both turned back from the bushes where we hid to see that damn thing again with a pissed off expression plastered over its face.
"For now, RUN!"
I immediately grabbed Darkness' hand before quickly dashing away from the compromised location. With my rune enhanced boots, I could outrun it for a few minutes, but since I have a limit regarding my stamina and that thing probably doesn't, it will always catch up with us. Escaping is not a option else we might brought that thing back to Axel with us which is not a good idea.
After few minutes of running, we stopped before losing our stamina completely.
"I think I have a plan for this, but you're not gonna like it." I said while unsheathing my katana.
"Well, it's better than nothing. What is it, Kazuma?"
By the time she asked that, I'm already dozens meter away from her.
"Wait, are you trying to sacrifice me to be ravaged by that dragon? Although I don't mind that, but-" She said with an excited expression.
"Idiot! Distract him for a while till his aggro fully focused on you so that I can jump in to launch the killing blow without any risk!" I cut her off before she muttered too much stupid thing to give me another headache to deal with.
Seemingly agree with my plan, she turned back to face the incoming dragon while I dashed away far enough and cast 'Hide' before slowly approaching them again.
Looking at them, I saw a brave figure of a Crusader gallantly facing a big dragon whose most of its body covered in ice and missing both of its wings from our battle before which is why it's pissed off and really wants to turn me into an ice sculpture for it to smash.
Turning its head around to inspect the area to see if it can find me, it found none but Darkness in front of it. Considering her to be the one receiving its rage, it promptly attacks her.
Few seconds passed as I watched Darkness engaging with the dragon. Every attack that came towards her were far faster than before, yet she managed to parry them all effectively.
"Ha! Verdia attacks better!" She taunted the dragon.
I could only facepalm from where I observe them.
The dragon's attack is actually stronger and faster than Verdia's, but the reason why Darkness doesn't have any trouble parrying it is because while it's strong and fast, the attacks are inaccurate due to the dragon attacking in a blind rage while Verdia's attack aren't as fast or strong, it's very accurate and hard to evade.
Closing in to them, I noticed that Darkness fought it easily compared to before.
It seems like my strategy is correct.
By fighting without needing to worry too much about her ally(me) who keeps being attacked before, she could focus the fight in front of her. Though, she never deal any damage at all with her abysmal accuracy...
Still, I can't let this goes on too long. While it is true that Darkness handle the monster easier this time, the accumulated fatigue from before is starting to show itself visibly on her slightly tired expression.
After waiting for few seconds more, thinking it was already safe, I sprung into action.
"「Act I」!"
Summoning my trusted Stand behind me, I used it's ability to teleport directly above the dragon's head.
Diving down from above, I aimed my katana to the death line on its neck.
"「Act II」!"
Switching the form of my Stand, I sent it toward the dragon's neck.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA KARA ORA ORA ORA!"
Noticing it a little too late, the dragon received barrage of punches to its neck, preventing it to use its elemental breath at me who descent at an alarming speed.
With its neck losing the toughness of the dragon's skin, my katana cuts the death line like a hot knife through a butter, finally killing it.
I thought it would be harder than this.
"Hey Darkness, are you okay?" I asked while swinging my katana to swept away the blood of the slain drake, making it scattered on the snowy ground below.
"I'm fine. Though, I'd like it if you delay your entrance a little longe-"
"Stop it, I think I know what you will say and I prefer not hearing it please. Let's just go back."
Sheathing my katana, me and Darkness leave the scene to report the completion of our quest to the adventurer's guild hall.
Looking at my adventurer's card, I see that my level have increased to 25 while Darkness to 20. Despite this, my level is still behind Megumin by 1. With the saved up six skill points, I wonder what skill I should learn next...
"Hey Kazuma."
"Uh, yes, what is it?" I stammered as she suddenly called me, interrupting my train of thought.
"Thanks for listening to my request." She said while beaming a smile at me.
Gulp...
I can't believe her looking that beautiful when conveying her gratitude...
"A-Ah, don't mind it. Besides, doing this once in a while is kind of thrilling and fun too, hahaha..."
"Really!? Then, is it fine if we go on a quest like this later!?"
"Alright, alright, it's okay, but please don't choose an overly dangerous quest."
"Ah, then, next time I'll choose a merely dangerous quest. Next time, I'd like it if you deal the killing blow when I'm too battered up after receiving many attacks."
There goes my embarrassment and excitement... What a super 'M' in the core...
-o-
Megumin's POV
Keele's Dungeon
Just what's going on here?
I never traveled into any dungeon in my life before, but I'm pretty sure most dungeon is a mishmash between cave and maze which ends up either fighting the dungeon creator or obtaining a treasure deep inside.
And I certainly never expect the furthest part of dungeon is a ruined mess.
Some small sized crater littered the ground, there's many scorch marks on the wall, and some sort of room ahead was blocked by rocks.
"What happened here?" Sena muttered while looking at the mess.
"Aqua, didn't you and Kazuma came here last time? What did you two do to make this place looking like this?" I asked Aqua who just keep staring at the ruined place.
She didn't notice me asking her...
"I sense a small residue of devil's presence here... And the last time me and Kazuma came here, we were just purifying the dungeon creator who is a lich." She explained with serious expression. Then, she murmured. "The devil must be strong for my magic circle to be nullified..."
At that very moment, we sense a presence coming from behind.
"Who are you!?" Sena yelled before using her torch to illuminate the darkness behind us, revealing two man wearing black and purple robe respectively.
"Hihihihi... Boss, this went faster than we expected." The one in purple robe giggling like a madman while looking at us.
"Yes, Vitello. I can't believe what I thought will take days or weeks turns out to be this quick?" The one in black robe nodded in agreement while saying that.
Who are these weirdo? And what are they talking about?
"Are you the one causing this?" Sena asked while taking a stance against two mysterious individual.
Hearing that, they just snickered... Before a muscular black humanoid-like creature wearing a skeleton mask with the word 'DEAD' written on it's forehead and a small, oval-shaped creature with three pair of arms; three fingers on their hands; with a pair of nails as its legs. It has one eyes and a mouth filler with razor sharp teeth. On its back, there's several cables with needle tip suddenly appeared on the black robed man's back and the purple robed man(Vitello)'s shoulder.
That's...
Looking at Sena, her expression didn't change at all as this occurred. Could it be that she couldn't see a Stand? I heard from Kazuma before that Stand can only be seen by people with a certain degree of magical skill or capacity and Stand user themselves. While this is just his theory, I think he's right.
"Those two are a Stand user... Those things on their back..."
"Megumin-san? Are they like Kazuma-san and Yoshikage-san? I can't see anything behind them." Sena said while looking at me in disbelief.
"Oh, now this simplifies things." The black man muttered with an amused tone. Then, he held his hood before releasing it, showing a face of a man probably around his early thirty with a long black hair and a scar across his right eye. "My name is Risotto, I came here for that crimson eyed girl beca-"
"Eh? ? ? Megumin, what did you do this time? Did you accidentally troubled them? Or did you do something weird to them?" Aqua abruptly cut the man's explanation.
"What!? I don't even know who they are!" I exclaimed.
"Hmm... Could it be that jii-san is interested in you... I thought the only lolicon I met would only be that loliNEET, but here I am in the same room of someone with disgusting preference..." Aqua muttered.
"Hey! I'm not that old! And don't you call me a lolicon!" This time, that Risotto jii-san retorted.
Yet, why do I also feel a bit insulted by Aqua's statement earlier?
"Hey Aqua, when you said that Kazuma is a lolicon, you wouldn't happen to consider that I'm the loli one, would you?"
"Eh? Aren't you one?" She said in a matter-of-fact tone.
'Hey!' Ignoring the call of that jii-san, I strangle this disrespectful girl in front of me.
"Hey Megumin! Stop it! You'll get divine retribution for doing this to me!" Aqua yelled as she tried to break free.
Probably it's because of my earlier exhaustion from casting explosion, Aqua managed to break free before pouncing me. Then, it turned into a catfight with my pride on the line.
Ignoring another call of that jii-san again, we began throwing insult at each other.
"Just go down already! If you give up right now, I'll forgive what you do!"
"Damn you, I won't lose to you, stupid self-proclaimed goddess! We Crimson Magic Clan won't back down from any fight!"
"Wha-!? How dare you calling me self-proclaimed, you loli!"
"You two, please stop this!"
"Shut up!" x2
"Wha-?"
With both of us yelling at her, she could only flinch.
"This is so fucking stupid! ! !" The jii-san, apparently couldn't take it anymore, yelled out.
"Shut up, you old coot!" x2
"That does it!"
With that, the creature that hovers behind him suddenly charged forward.
The next thing I know is darkness... Please, not this kind of thing again...
-o-
Kazuma's POV
Mansion
It's a late afternoon now.
After claiming the reward of our quest in the guild and having a lunch, we went back to the mansion to find it empty... Well, technically not if we count Anna.
"Anna, where's Aqua and Megumin?" I asked to the ghost hovering in front of me.
"They said that they're going out for a bit to let Megumin cast her explosion this morning, but they haven't come back since then."
"I see..."
Let's just hope they won't be involved with something troublesome, remembering that those two are magnet to trouble.
"By the way, how did the quest go?"
"Well, it-"
BAM!
My explanation was cut short as the door behind me got slammed open. Looking at the one who did it, I saw Aqua and... Sena-san? Where's Megumin? Did she do something weird again?
"Kazuma-san, this is bad! Megumin-san- Wait, what's up with that getup?"
"Sena-san, if you have a problem with my outfit, just say it in front of me. And what about Megumin? Did she do something weird or crazy again? Geez, even after recently recovered, sh-"
"No, you idiot hikiNEET! Megumin was captured by two weird people in that lich's dungeon!"
That lich's dungeon?
Is she talking about Keele's Dungeon?
Wait a sec...
Not this shit again...
-o-
Keele's Dungeon
After receiving that news, we immediately went to the dungeon while leaving Sena behind since she'll be more of a hindrance as she couldn't even see a Stand like my party does(though, I only said it's our responsibility as Megumin's ally to save her).
Arriving at the dungeon, I noticed that there's no undead or monster nearby... Because all of the undead or monster I've seen on my way toward the deepest part of this dungeon were all dead.
Aqua explained that she and Megumin came at this dungeon due to Sena's request who is actually asking for me about it, but then, they met two strange person who possess a Stand and attacked them. While Aqua and Sena could escape, Megumin couldn't due to the exhaustion after her usual activity.
Damn, this is the third time that girl got herself in such situation...
While thinking about this, I didn't even notice that we're already arrived at the end of this dungeon.
Almost every nook and cranny of the space around here was charred and there's several small sized crater on the floor. Also, the entrance to the chamber where we purified Keele before is now blocked by a wall of boulders.
At this moment...
!?
I felt a presence of someone beside us.
"We've got company..." I muttered.
Hearing this, everyone instantly took a stance and looking around, trying to find whoever is it in this place along with us.
But...
"I see... I have to give you my gratitude for making us not bothered to search for you. Now, let's do this in a peaceful way." I said to someone behind me who came out of the darkness of this cave. Turning back to face the individual, I added. "Let Megu- Wait, Megumin!?" I shouted in disbelief.
That's right, the person who appeared behind me was Megumin.
ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴ
[Menacing]
But why is her eyes feel empty? Moreover, why did she exude a menacing aura?
"Megumin! Are you okay?" Darkness yelled before dashing toward Megumin.
"Wait Darkness! There's something wrong with her!"
"Eh?"
My warning came a little bit too late as Darkness was already in front of Megumin.
The next thing I know, something unbelievable happened.
To Be Continued...