I Reincarnated Into a Vending Machine Chapter 104

Published at 4th of February 2021 09:18:29 PM

Together with the Fools of Whimsy Brigade

Once all the non-combatants had been moved to Clear Stream Lake Level, the members that are marching forth from the barricade gathered.
With the Fools of Whimsy Brigade participating, in addition to the sic regular members, Leader Keryoil, Vice-Leader Felmina, the Red-White Twins, Shui, and the shoe-fetish priest Hevoy, there was also the temporary members Mishael, Ramis, and me participating as a matter of course.
All the members of the Big Eaters Brigade hoped to participate, but the search within the community still hasn’t been fully completed, so only Mikene and Shote joined in, leaving Pel and Suko behind.
Ten people + one box makes quite a number, but you can’t say it’s perfect against a horde of waiting enemies.
However, the strength of a single small-fry enemy on the Starting Level is far below a frogman-demon, and the pathways are pretty much from five meters to ten meters. In that case, this amount of people will be able to deal with it if we skirt around them well, Leader Keryoil said.

“I wanted to set off mightily from here, but these guys are in the way.”

Monsters were pushing in incessantly from the other side of the barricade; even though their comrades were being pierced and killed by spears, they sprang forth one after another without fear.
The passageway wasn’t buried by corpses since other monsters would immediately drag the monsters stabbed to death further into the passage, but there’s absolutely no way to go forward if the additional monsters aren’t dealt with somehow.
The monsters pushing against the barricade right now are mostly monsters like small old men, green all over with ugly faces and no hair. I think they’re called green-demons.
They’re as strong as weak beginners, so they seem to be opponents that beginner hunters have no trouble defeating one on one. Apparently whether you can defeat a green-demon by yourself is one of the conditions on whether you can become a hunter or not.

“Vice Leader Felmina, can you do something about them with magic?”

“I can defeat them if it’s a few of them, but I think they’ll be immediately replaced.”

It’s simple enough work to just stab with the spear when defending, but there’s no chance to unfasten the barricade.
Is there no other way than to forcibly unfasten the barrier, letting some enemies get in and resolutely force our way through?
Is there really no way to get through the passageway safely? It feels like the enemy is appearing with no gaps between. Below I think I can see the head of green-demons appearing, then bodies, then legs… huh?”

“Le a de r.”

“What’s up, Hakkon?”

“In fro nt of here.”

“N, aah, that’s right. It’s a downhill path from there for a bit.”

It’s a slope? Then there’s a way.

“Ca rr y me.”
‘Ov er there.”

When I had Ramis carry me to the front of the barricade, I first began to dislodge the green-demons clinging to the barricade.
I took out a canned soup with a large amount of habaneros in it and sprayed the green-demons near the barricade with it.

“Gshyuruuuoooooaaaa!”

The soup got into their large eyes, and the green-demons screamed and writhed in agony.
The hill road is sloped, so many fell and rolled down, taking their comrades down as they flailed wildly.
Alright! I made some space in front of the barricade. First I changed into the and poured oil on the green-demons. There’s also gasoline and I thought about it, but gasoline would run down the rock floor, so I used kerosene.
As I thought, the green-demons fell like they were children standing on an ice rink, and they weren’t able to stand.

With , I soaked on my products, a towel, in the kerosene, took out and dropped a lighter, using the same to operate it and set the towel on fire.
And then I used to fling the burning towel into the center of the kerosene smeared green-demons.
When I did so, the passageway turned into a sea of fire. The wave of heat made the hunters near the barricade turn their faces away.
It’s really terrible, but this is also a tactic, so go in peace.
I understand that it’s a cruel and inhumane act, but when I faced the eyes of the Fools of Whimsy Brigade, expecting disapproval, they were staring at the flames calmly. Even Ramis didn’t say anything in particular as the flames illuminated her.

“Because of Hakkon, it will be easier to advance. Thank you.”

“Hakkon, as expected of you -ssu. Now we can plunge through -ssu.”

“Green-demons don’t wear shoes do they … in that case, I won’t mind burning them all up either.”

They’re praising me when they should be criticizing me. The last one is suspect though.
It might be strange to be fussing over the method used to defeat them in a life-or-death battle. Seems like I still haven’t shed the sensibilities of a Japanese person yet.
Ramis shifted the barricade to the side with her super strength, and once everyone entered the passageway, Ramis used her hand to close the barricade once again.

“If, in the case we don’t return and the enemies’ attacks become more violent, don’t hesitate, abandon this place, and flee to the Clear Stream Lake Level. Let President know this too.”

Requesting the hunters in charge of the defenses to convey a message, we began marching further into the passageway that was still smoldering with flames.
But man, for the first level for beginners, it’s got a really friendly design. The walls and ceilings are faintly glowing. It seems that there’s something like conveniently glowing moss clinging, so there’s no hindrance even without light.
When it comes to exploring a labyrinth, I have the image that it’s an act that’s done with at most five people together. One team of four or five people is the standard in a game with a fantasy world setting.
But normally think, more is better isn’t it? The violence of numbers surpasses the performance of an individual. There is the problem of food, but if everyone carries their own then it should be a good idea … excluding the situation where there’s a glutton like Shui.

So then, why wouldn’t you explore with a large number of people? For a game, a lot of characters makes each management of each turn, as well as the management of equipment troublesome, and there’s also the simple problem of the capacity of the game, I suppose.
That being the case, why are small teams also prevalent in novels and manga? It’s definitely because descriptions get tough when there’s too many characters. My word, it’s no good to consider the behind-the-scenes reasons.
I feel like I’ve seen works were the protagonist is a hero with overpowered abilities, so his companions are nothing but side notes.

While I’m preoccupied with pointless matters, the battle has begun.
Within the passageway, with the fire out and burnt corpses rolling around, our front guard of three people lined up side by side readied their weapons.
So Mishael and the Red-White twins are standing as the front guard first.
With these members, Leader Keryoil, the Big Eaters Brigade’s Mikene and Shote, and Ramis can also be front guards.
The rear guards are Hevoy, Shui, and Vice Leader Felmina. I think it’s a well-balanced configuration.
It seems the enemies are green-demons and the slightly larger version of them. I’ll just record the monsters I don’t know for now; I’ll have Hyurumi tell me what they are later.

Mishael’s fighting style is the same as usual and, keeping up with the monsters below us, it was like he was cutting paper, with one swing of his great sword he separated many monsters’ heads from their bodies and sent them flying through the air.
With their personal specialty weapons of the spear and sword, the Red-White Twins cut down their opponents with movements that weren’t flashy or unecessary, and at times it seemed like both of them had eyes on the backs of their heads, showing a combination that didn’t doubt each other.
Red evaded an attack from the rear without looking backwards, stabbing his spear behind him. The tips barely missed the side of his accompanying twin White and pierced through a monster’s forehead, but White wasn’t surprised at all.
It seems that they can use something like telepathy only between the two of them, so they’re probably communicating about the situation with each other.
Long ranged attacks from the rear guards, Vice Leader Felmina and Shui, are flying through the air, but even without them it feels like the front guard alone have enough energy to overcome the enemy.

“Iy, everyone’s just wonderful. Hakkon-san, I wonder if I might get a beverage?”

Hevoy, without sending out any support magic and just standing in a daze, chose a cold milk tea, side-eyeing the battle as he drained it happily.

“No t partici pat ing”
“is o kay?”

“Since I’m in charge of the healing magic. I also don’t have any attack magic, so it’s normal for me to be an onlooker in the midst of battle. Every person has his role.”

The pupils within those eyes, with the wrinkles pointing downwards from the corners, are peeking out. His mouth is often making jests, but is he serious or not? It’s hard to tell whether Hevoy is joking.
With this formation we’re moving ahead little by little while we clear out the enemies, but they’re not showing any signs of tiring. There are many replacement monsters, so even though an hour has passed since the battle started, it’s doubtful whether we’ve gone 100 meter.

“U-shi, it’s about time to switch our vanguard. It’s me and Mikene and Shote, and I’ll also ask for Ramis as well. For the rear guard, go easy and take a break.”

“Finally, switching out-. I’m for real exhausted.”

“This ain’t a normal tiredness, na.”

I passed sports drinks over to the Red-White twins, whose shoulders were heaving from their breathing, and they chugged it like it was delicious. Another bottle … no, I should add another two bottles. And a light meal as well.

“Master Hakkon, I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Mishael is composed, with an obvious difference of abilities compared to Red-White Twins. When I handed the same product to him, he faced me with a smile that looks like it would have floored me in one go if I was a woman.

“Thank you very much. I’m extremely touched by Master Hakkon’s thoughtfulness.”

This would normally be a good point to end it with a joke, but in his situation, his eyes are serious. I’m honestly happy about a situation where an obedient junior is admiring me, but I’m worried about whether Mishael will be looked at with weird eyes.

“Alright then, Hakkon, let’s go -”

“Sh all we ?”

The enemy are less actual ability than frogman-demons. We won’t lose unless we’re careless.
Also, even if Ramis is careless, I’m here. As long as she doesn’t do anything stupid, she can fight without worry.
When she’s fighting with me on her back, I’m in charge of defenses and crowd control, so I can’t do anything dumb. But I dropped two bottles of juice into my retrieval opening in order to be of some offensive value.

Chapter end