This Love is Futile

Chapter 046 – Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

I wonder if the situation I am in right now could be called ‘in a pinch’?

The tense air and the heavy pressure as if they were physically weighing down on me. 

Thi-this monster was dangerous.

We would be wiped out in a flash. 

“Crash… this isn’t good, back off…”

I could see we were both intimidated and overwhelmed by its existence. 

This monster must be the one that Yuuta said, even if the players were above level 120, they would get owned by it. 

The monster was like a small hill, curled up and sleeping. 

Together with Crash, we retreated slowly not to make a sound.

“Mac, never make a move on that monster…”

“I know… I’ll get killed instantly anyway.”

“That monster, its magic is so strong… My heart is about to stop from its overwhelming magic pressure… We’re lucky that it is asleep…” 

Maybe it was because of its overwhelming strength or something, that terrifying monster didn’t appear on my enemy search radar. I thought everything was fine and progressing smoothly, but by the time I realized that the surrounding atmosphere had changed, we encountered this guy!1 

I’d better raise my enemy’s search level or else I will have a hard time in the future. And I should also raise my personal level. But this didn’t mean I would get stronger with each battle.2

To get defeated by a monster, not bandits, just give me a break already!

If I had been defeated by the man yesterday, most likely Crash would have ended up here alone. 

Before the monster woke up, we somehow needed to hurry up and escape to a place where the atmosphere relaxed a bit. 

The moment I let out a light breath, the monster’s eyes suddenly opened. 

Not good, we got found out! 

The pressure from before was nothing compared to now – it was crushing us completely. It felt like my whole body was covered in this uncomfortable feeling, like needles were prickling every inch of my skin.

We didn’t utter a word, but both Crash and I ran away from the spot as fast as we could. 

“Not good, not good, NOT GOOD! Crash, we’ve gotta get out of here somehow!”

“…I know…!”

We ran through the trees at full speed. Maybe it was because I was losing to this overwhelming pressure, but my feet weren’t moving the way I wanted. I somehow managed to control myself from tripping over roots several times and just kept running with all my might together with Crash. 

“GUAAAAOOOOOOO!!”

How intimidating!

As if we were bound by a paralytic spell, we couldn’t move our bodies at all. We were completely affected by its intimidation! When I looked to the side, I saw Crash had stiffened too.

I didn’t know that I could be this frightened by the wide level gap between the monster and me. 

I could feel fear and also despair welling up from the bottom of my heart. 

It’s over. We will get killed by this monster here…

“Mac…”

Crash called out to me gritting his teeth. 

His small voice made me realize something. 

No, I can’t give up now! If I gave up here, I will never be able to talk or joke around with Crash anymore. 

I didn’t want that. NEVER! 

The moment I thought of this, I was released from the paralysis. It seemed I was able to break away from its intimidation. 

Glancing at my inventory, I took out and held the blinding potion in my hand. 

I didn’t think this would work against the monster with a large level difference, but it was better than nothing. 

Cold sweat was dripping down my forehead just by being watched, just what the hell was this!? The dragon that came out of Tre’s forest was just a little kid compared to this. 

“Crash, never come out to the front.”

“But then, Mac will…!”

“That’s why I keep telling you, I can return back from death. You must use me as a shield and run away. You must, absolutely!”

When I said this without turning my head away from the monster, he let out a short breath and replied, 

“I get it.”

First of all, I needed to at least defend against its first attack, or else Crash wouldn’t have a chance to escape. 

I held my sword and tightly gripped the blinding potion in my hand. 

The next moment, without warning, its claw flew at me. 

“Uwa!”

In a panic, I took a step back and evaded its attack. 

Although there was a certain distance between us, our distance was shortened in a flash. But if it got closer, my blinding potion might be able to hit him. 

With a “whoosh”, I dodged its claw in desperation and threw the blinding potion at the monster. 

It hit the tip of the monster’s nose, the smoke spread around its face, and the monster let out a loud roar.  

“Now! Let’s run, Crash!”

We turned our backs and started running away from the monster that was rampaging and struggling from pain.

A blinding potion that even worked against large monsters – it was really amazing. Let’s make more of those. 

However…

After all, it seemed like the blinding potion wasn’t that effective against a strong monster, so we couldn’t escape that far away before it caught up to us again. Without warning, my robe was torn off by its claw attack from behind. 

My legs tripped over themselves as I was pulled away by its claw, and I fell backward to the ground.3

“Mac!”

“I’m okay! I’ll hold him off here, so Crash!”

Before I could say “run”, people jumped out in front of me.

“Mac! You okay?!”

With that said, Crash and I were positioned at the rear all at once and those people who started facing the monster were none other than [ Takahashi and his merry men ] led by Yuuta. 

“Eh? Why…?”

I looked up in surprise at the sudden appearance of my savior, with my butt still on the ground. 

I stayed there until Crash took my hand and pulled me up. 

“There was an emergency quest at the guild! It was to find you guys! I knew it would become like this, so I’m glad that I kept a watch on the guild. Are you an idiot, Mac?! Why are you two walking alone together!”

“…I’m ashamed… but who would have normally thought that it’d become like this!?”

“I warned you, right! You’ll definitely be attacked by bandits! You ran away from them, but you ended up in this monster’s territory, didn’t you?!”

“Don’t say it like you’ve seen it all! You’re right! It’s just as you said! Damn it!” 

“And out of all things, you’re in front of the most dangerous monster that I’ve ever heard of! What the hell are you thinking!?”

“It’s because it didn’t appear on the enemy radar!”

“Think about the level difference!”

“You think I can see the level difference when I encounter it! Is there a guy who can think like that even though he doesn’t know whether the monster is there or not!? Just hurry up and do something about that monster! Crash’s life depends on it!” 

“I know! If I didn’t, I wouldn’t come to this scary place again! And level 50 isn’t enough! Just stay back!” 

“Thanks, Takahashi! That’s my best friend! I’ll buy you an ice cream later!”

Looking at our exchange, Crash opened his eyes wide as if he was surprised. 

Well, of course he was. It was just like a conversation in the classroom. 

I will definitely buy him an ice cream later. His favorite – a three-colored ice cream bar. 

In the meantime, all the members of [ Takahashi and his merry men ] were confronting the monster. 

I should join the fight too. Normally, I wouldn’t, especially since Yuuta right now was looking quite reliable. Maybe even without choosing to run away, it was good now. 

There was a time I thought like that. 

I was shocked that a single strike from the monster blew almost one-third of his HP away. 

And in response, on the rare occassion Yuuta was able to strike a clean hit, the monster’s HP decreased only by a very small amount. Its HP gauge was still green.4 The situation was getting worse. 

What should I do? What did I need to do? 

And although we were at the rear, we were getting attacked all over the place, so my HP was reducing bit by bit. The scariest part was that I couldn’t see Crash’s HP gauge at all. He skillfully fended off the attacks that were coming at us with his sword, but he didn’t get into close range to attack the monster. I was the same. I was in quite a panic because my HP kept decreasing even though I repelled its claws with my sword. 

Even if Yuuta and the others were here, we couldn’t even escape after all? 

Until… 

A beautiful man with silver hair suddenly appeared before us. 

Ah, I had seen that man before. Sage-san who was staying at Crash’s shop like a lodger. 

“Crash!”

“Sage-san…!”

I couldn’t hide my surprised look from the fact that he, who usually walked into the back of Crash’s shop nonchalantly, now had this sharp look and stood in front of all of us, facing the monster.