Chapter 119 The Roar of Mountain Moon
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
When night’s curtain fell, the sky bloomed with stars, scattered like crushed jewels flung from a bucket. By this hour, the darkened school building lay silent, but the large café attached to the teleportation facility still hummed with activity, filled with students fresh from dives.
The café, called Valhalla, had been nearly empty when it first opened — its prices high even by Japanese standards — but compared to shops in the Special Zone, they were not unusual. As more students began operating on the third floor, the customer flow had grown steadily.
In a corner of the second floor, more than a dozen girls had taken over a set of tables, talking and laughing loudly enough to be heard over the clatter of dishes. At the center sat the Togamine squad, their leader, Togamine Hatsune, presiding over the group.
The suspension of the first squad had just been lifted, and that afternoon they had gone deep into the third floor. Even that had not been enough; after sunset, they hunted undead until past seven, only returning to the Academy afterward. Now, members of the second and third squads had joined them for dinner.
”I’m going to talk with Hinako-senpai before heading back to the squad dorm. Hidemi, I’ll leave the rest to you. Make sure no one gets too carried away,” Hatsune said, stacking her empty dishes.
Shimura Hidemi, seated beside her, nodded with a smile. Her long, wavy brown hair framed her face, her makeup a little flashy for school. Once, as part of the tea ceremony club, she had shown up in kimono with a completely different makeup style, leaving everyone gasping at the transformation.
”Come to think of it,” Hidemi said, tilting her head, “I saw you talking to a messenger earlier. Was it something serious?”
”It sounds like there’s an important meeting coming up,” Hatsune replied evenly. “Amahara-senpai told me, ‘It might run late, so make sure you eat well first.’”
”So, important but not urgent,” Hidemi said with a nod. “Got it. Leave it to me.”
She waved lazily as Hatsune rose from her seat. The squad leader’s gaze swept over the laughing, chattering members before she crossed to another table, where Machida Hinako sat with three of the squad’s scouts. The short bob of Hinako’s hair swayed as she chatted.
”Hinako-senpai, anything unusual happen while I was gone?” Hatsune asked.
The gentle-faced Hinako turned toward her. Though Hatsune had already received quick reports from others, Hinako was the squad’s thief and their most skilled information gatherer, staying in close contact with scouts even when not diving.
”This evening, after Tsuchimiya-kun met with Amahara-san, the officers were suddenly called together,” Hinako said warmly. “I imagine you’ve been told, yes?”
”Yes,” Hatsune answered with a faint frown. “Apparently, there’s a meeting. So it started with Tsuchimiya Takeru…”
”Also,” Hinako added lightly, “there’s a rumor going around that Amahara-san dove.”
”What? Amahara-senpai?” The words escaped Hatsune sharply. “How could that be!?”
Amahara was someone to be treasured, protected. The thought of her risking herself without Hatsune’s knowledge was unacceptable.
”They say several students spotted someone at the teleportation facility who looked like her,” Hinako continued. “But she had a burlap sack over her head, with ‘Amahara’ written across the face area.”
”That’s not funny. Whose idiotic stunt was that?” Hatsune demanded.
”Probably just a prank,” Hinako said with a soft chuckle. “You shouldn’t get so angry.”
But Hatsune’s expression tightened. “That’s taking it too far. I’ll issue a notice — anyone who sees them is to warn them immediately. Anyway, I’ve got that meeting. I’ll leave the rest to you tonight.”
”Sure. See you later,” Hinako said, smiling faintly.
Hatsune turned and left, her mood soured. Behind her, the scouts at Hinako’s table exchanged uneasy glances.
”Hinako-senpai… that person in the rumor — it really was Amahara-senpai,” one whispered.
”And she was diving with Tsuchimiya Takeru, too. Are we keeping that from Hatsune-senpai?” another asked.
”What if she finds out later and gets mad…?”
These girls had once been rescued from the brink by Hatsune. Their loyalty ran deep — some to the point of fanaticism — but under Hinako’s lead, they had cooled enough to keep a level head.
”If we reported everything,” Hinako said softly, “Hatsune-chan would find out Amahara-san’s started dating Tsuchimiya-kun right away.”
”That would be… bad,” one scout murmured.
”Still, after what happened earlier, they’re basically already together…”
”And if Tsuchimiya-kun disappears next, we’ll be the first suspects. We can’t keep this hidden forever. That’s why Hatsune-chan’s staying quiet for now. But you know how she is when it comes to Amahara-san — she loses all reason.”
”Yeah… that’s bad,” another muttered.
”If they’re dating,” a scout said in a half-whisper, “then Amahara-senpai’s probably not… you know… anymore. If Hatsune-senpai snaps, she might end up the first murderer in the Academy…”
”Don’t say that! That’s terrifying!”
”It’s not just a joke. So — all info on Amahara-san and Tsuchimiya-kun goes to me first. I’ll take full responsibility.”
”O-okay…”
”Right. If it’s about her boyfriend, even mild Amahara-senpai might hand Hatsune-senpai a severance letter. Then Hatsune-senpai would either become a wreck or fall to darkness and turn into a Demon King—”
”Stop! That’s creepy!”
Hinako only watched them with amusement.
”H-Hinako-senpai! Why are you smiling?” one of the scouts blurted.
”Oh? I’m trying to look serious,” she said lightly. “People just tell me I look like I’m smiling.”
”That’s a lie…”
”In any case, especially about Tsuchimiya-kun — report to me directly,” she continued, her voice low and honeyed.
Then she smiled in a way that made the air feel subtly heavier, and her tongue flicked briefly over her lips.
* * *
The sound—
A low, mournful chorus of the dead filled the dim, damp corridor. The disembodied moans shifted into directed roars the moment they sensed his presence.
”GraaaAAAHH!!” one zombie bellowed.
”Guh-GAAH! Guh-guh-guh-GAAAH!!” another howled, jaws snapping in the dark.
Kibakura Reiji forced his way through the dungeon’s narrow halls, shoving off the endless tide of corpses. Wherever he turned, more zombies poured forth—school-uniformed boys and girls alongside armored men and women of foreign origin. Among them stalked humanoid monsters with sharp claws, jagged fangs, and skin blistered as if burned—ghouls (T/N: shokujiki, flesh-eating demon).
Ghouls were ravenous. Sometimes, they even attacked the zombies themselves. The undead never fought back against them; instead, they reached toward Kibakura as if silently begging for rescue, even as their rotting limbs were torn apart.
Five or six zombies lunged at him head-on. Kibakura swept his claws in a wide arc, tearing through them. One he didn’t finish off slipped past and clung to his waist from behind.
”GRUAAAH!!” Kibakura roared like a beast, swinging his arm and smashing the zombie’s head against the wall. Bone crunched wetly. As he twisted his waist, he caught sight of what lay ahead—another packed column of undead, filling the long corridor before him.
Damn it! This is endless!
With a growl rumbling in his throat, he faced forward and pushed on.
Hunger. Rage. And—fear.
The dense stench of death followed close behind. A hundred, a thousand—these weaklings were nothing to him. But they would never stop. And Kibakura could feel it: the moment they lost interest in him, the moment they no longer saw him as prey, would be the moment he ceased to be human.
He burst into a wide, quiet chamber. When he turned back, the zombies had halted at the entrance, their numbers strangely diminished.
A safe zone.
The fact that he could still enter this place filled Kibakura with a fleeting relief. Beside a staircase in the dim center of the room, a teleportation magic circle glowed faintly blue.
I should go back… I don’t want to spend another second in this place.
He stepped toward the circle.
Yeah… I’ll rest for a while. Ever since I came to this world, I haven’t had a single day without fighting. What the hell was I even struggling for? The academy’s crawling with delicious-looking food. I’ll gorge myself until I’m satisfied.
At the thought of his prey’s screams and the taste of dripping flesh, drool spilled from his mouth in heavy drops. He swung at a silhouette blocking his way—then froze when he realized it wasn’t prey at all, but a sturdy iron rod. Perfect for bashing prey into silence.
He reached out and grabbed it, tugging at the ragged cloth wrapped around it—then paused. It was a shirt he recognized.
My… shirt?
Confused, he glanced down. A rugby ball lay on the floor.
This isn’t prey! Get out of here, monster!!
The voice that rang inside his head was his own. Shocked, Kibakura let go of the rod and staggered backward.
”Ahh—ahhh…!” he groaned.
He remembered. He had placed this here himself. And now he stood staring at a vision of himself—human, glaring defiantly at his current monstrous form.
He had set this up to protect that prey. Why, he no longer understood. But he remembered the hunger, the rage toward that woman and toward himself, and his desperate attempts to convey something to his future self. That was reason enough—he could not cross that line. Not out of pride, not out of spite.
”GUhh!?”
His back struck the wall. A sharp pain stabbed through his right hand, and he groaned. Slumping down with his back against the cold stone, he looked at it—skin hardened and black-red, claws like a bear’s jutting out. He could crush a rugby ball in one hand now. He couldn’t see his face, but from the feel of the horn sprouting from his forehead, he knew he no longer looked human.
The human version of Kibakura Reiji still glared at him. And the moment he thought that version looked… delicious, he understood. He was an intruder. His own enemy.
”…No going back, huh?” he muttered with a bitter smile.
The right hand pulsed with a pain that seemed to burrow into his brain, but it dulled his hunger and destruction-lust just enough to be almost welcome.
He thought suddenly of the man who had driven a spear through that hand.
Could he kill me? If he teamed up with Vice President Sogahara… no, still not enough. Iwakura? No, he’d never join. Togamine and Yanagi? Useless. Moriya’s an idiot. Shiraishi’s too slick—he’d dump the dangerous work on someone else. Doi’s a coward. Maybe Magara-nii’s younger brother and Iwakura… but no, sheer numbers would just raise the body count. Damn it… if only I were there—
He stopped, remembering that he was the target. Another bitter laugh escaped. Thinking seemed to bring his mind back into focus; memories returned. Apparently, if he let his mind idle, his intelligence would fade.
”Kondou Spear, was it…? No relation to that Kondou, right?”
The spear’s name triggered the face of a classmate in his mind—a lanky, quiet, almost carefree guy who’d been shaken down by Doi once. And yet, whenever they met, the boy would strike up meaningless small talk with Kibakura, completely unfazed. One thought led to another, and soon his mind was flooded with memories of Japan—banter with friends, stupid fights, the comfort of everyday life.
”…I wanna go home… damn it…”
Kibakura covered his face with his right hand, whispering his weakness to no one but the dark.
Notes:
• Togamine – Togamine Hatsune. The girl who like the student council but hate the MC.
• Hatsune – Togamine Hatsune. The girl who like the student council but hate the MC.
• Hinako-senpai – Machida Hinako. Togamine Party’s leader.
• Hidemi – Shimura Hidemi. Curly long hair. Member of the tea ceremony club. Sexy. Rearguard of Togamine’s party.
• Shimura Hidemi – Curly long hair. Member of the tea ceremony club. Sexy. Rearguard of Togamine’s party.
• Amahara-senpai – Student Council President
• Machida Hinako – Togamine Party’s leader.
• Machida – Machida Hinako. Togamine Party’s leader.
• Amahara-san – Student Council President
• Hatsune-chan – Togamine Hatsune. The girl who like the student council but hate the MC.
• Kibakura – Leader of Demiurge
• Sogahara – Student Council Vice President
• Iwakura – Second-year student from Class 2-G and a Demiurge officer. A rugby club member wielding the ‘Corpse Dragon Battle Axe,’ which rots whatever it cuts. Holds a grudge against Tsuchimiya-kun and has a cocky, aggressive attitude.
• Moriya – Kibakura’s number two in Demiurge, possibly rallying troops after Kibakura-kun’s retreat.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply