Anime: Starting From Danmachi With Passive Job System!

Chapter 19: I Swung My Sword, Letting Blood Touch My Lips!

The black sword shadow streaked across the air, tearing apart despair with its utmost sharpness.

Ouka stared blankly at the black-clothed young man who, holding a sword in one hand, charged into the pack of Hellhounds like a phantom.

His mind went completely blank.

"Clang!"

The pitch-black blade danced like a ribbon in Luke's hand, continuously swinging out semi-circular arcs of light.

Each strike emitted trembling sounds, showing just how fierce the force contained within was.

The immense power created sonic booms that tore through the air, echoing incessantly within the middle floor cavern.

And this power was still continuously increasing.

The enhancement of Solo Player on physical condition wasn't one-sided; it increased strength, speed, spirit, endurance, and constitution all to five times the base attribute values.

The resulting increase in combat capability was far beyond simple mathematical calculation.

However, speaking more subjectively...

Luke felt exceptionally good right now.

Both his body and the blade in his hand felt incredibly light.

The battle situation was clearly reflected in his mind.

With every sword strike falling, a Hellhound would die under his blade.

Facing Luke, this suddenly emerged powerful enemy, the Hellhounds reacted quickly too.

Leaving several as vanguards to pin him down, the remaining Hellhounds opened their mouths wide, deep red flames coalescing in their throats.

Noticing the actions of the rear Hellhounds, Luke retracted his sword and quickly retreated two steps.

Then he lowered his body, transforming into a black phantom, rapidly charging into the Hellhounds' protective circle.

The next moment, a clear sword cry rang out.

Luke continuously swung his sword, his figure weaving through the Hellhounds.

Wherever he passed, crimson blood like fire splattered everywhere.

A pack of Hellhounds capable of completely annihilating a well-trained Lv.2 adventurer party couldn't even last a single round against Luke.

A moment later, Luke stopped his dance of slaughter.

The blade held in his right hand drooped low, beads of blood continuously dripping from the tip.

Around him was a circle of shattered corpses.

Some Hellhounds even had their magic stones cleaved by him, directly turning into flying ash and disappearing.

Ignoring the corpses littering the ground, Luke strode towards the still dazed Kashima Ouka, then unceremoniously reached out and pulled him up.

Just as Kashima Ouka was pulled up from the ground by Luke, Chigusa, held in his arms, frowned slightly due to the disturbance of her wounds, letting out an extremely weak moan.

Hearing the moan of the girl in his arms, Kashima Ouka's dazed gaze finally focused somewhat, looking at Luke with eyes full of awe and fear.

Ignoring Kashima Ouka's fearful gaze, Luke snatched Chigusa directly from his arms, then stuffed her into the hands of Mikoto waiting nearby.

Simultaneously, he spoke decisively, "You take her and leave quickly first. When I return to Orario, I'll come find you for the reward."

Hearing Luke's words, Mikoto subconsciously asked, "What about you?"

"Me?"

Placing his hand back on the cold, hard hilt, Luke scanned his surroundings warily while smiling, "Even if I wanted to leave now, I couldn't."

And I have absolutely no intention of leaving...

Holding the nearly unconscious Chigusa, although Mikoto really wanted to know what Luke meant by 'couldn't leave even if I wanted to', the current priority was to send Chigusa back to Tower of Babel for treatment.

So she didn't ask further.

Just lightly holding the injured girl with one hand, while pulling Kashima Ouka beside her with the other, she then solemnly bowed deeply to Luke.

"Luke-sama, when you return..."

However, just as she bent down, halfway through her words of gratitude, a strange sound suddenly came from behind her.

"Kaka kaka..."

Hearing this sound, like rocks peeling off a cliff face, Luke suddenly spun around.

He couldn't care less about Chigusa held in Mikoto's arms anymore, directly reached out and pushed her away. 

Simultaneously, he kicked Kashima Ouka in the back, sending him flying far away.

He rolled awkwardly several times upon landing, but thanks to his Lv.2 adventurer physique, he wasn't injured.

Pushed away by Luke, Mikoto, after a brief moment of shock, quickly planted her foot, stabilized her body so as not to affect Chigusa in her arms, but inevitably disturbed her wounds, causing the girl to let out a low whimper.

Reaching out to gently stroke Chigusa's cheek, Mikoto then looked up at Luke.

Although he indeed owed her, as well as Ouka and Chigusa, a life-saving debt, this didn't mean they had to willingly suffer his teasing.

However, when Luke's figure entered her sight, Mikoto was instantly stunned.

"Hey hey, this has to be a joke..."

Supporting himself with both hands, he crawled up from the ground.

Kashima Ouka stared dumbfoundedly at the monsters confronting Luke, managing to squeeze out this sentence only after a long pause.

But this sentence also happened to perfectly express Mikoto's current thoughts.

—This absolutely has to be a joke, right?

In front of Luke, where she and Ouka had stood moments ago, was now completely occupied by various kinds of monsters, and more monsters were still continuously drilling out from the dungeon walls.

If Luke hadn't pushed them away just now...

A cold shiver ran down her spine.

Mikoto's slight dissatisfaction towards Luke instantly turned into even greater gratitude.

At the same time, the thought that she had assumed Luke was doing this just because he had done them a favor immediately filled her heart with guilt.

However, neither Mikoto, lost in gratitude, nor Kashima Ouka, shocked by the sudden appearance of a massive number of monsters, noticed one thing.

Originally, they had their backs to the dungeon's direction, facing the vertical passage leading to the upper floors.

But Luke's emergency push and kick instantly moved them far away from the vertical passage entrance.

And lying between them and the floor's vertical passage were Luke and the countless monsters.

Mikoto and Ouka didn't notice this detail, but Luke did.

While carefully holding his sword, confronting the monsters spawning from the dungeon, he slowly retreated to Mikoto's side.

"Luke-sama!"

Seeing Luke retreat towards her, Mikoto quickly went to meet him.

But before she could say much, she heard Luke's resolute and firm voice, "Later, when I charge out, you two immediately start breaking through."

"...Break through?"

Mikoto murmured puzzledly.

Then her gaze flickered back and forth between the floor's vertical passage and the monsters.

Only then did she suddenly understand, her face instantly turning deathly pale like paper.

Compared to upper-level monsters, an equal number of middle-level monsters were dozens of times more terrifying.

Not only were their individual combat capabilities stronger, but they had also learned to cooperate, often appearing in large groups.

Even a full Familia team had to temporarily avoid them when encountering multiple types of monsters.

And now, how many types of monsters had appeared here?

Mikoto couldn't quite count, but a quick glance revealed no less than ten types, each representing a cunning and ferocious monster group.

Although Luke's powerful image had long been deeply ingrained in people's minds through various rumors circulating in the streets of Orario, and she had personally witnessed him killing monsters before, Mikoto still found it hard to believe he could overcome so many monsters.

Staring into Luke's pitch-black eyes, which still showed little emotional change, Mikoto found it almost unimaginable.

Just how many monsters had he killed to cultivate such an unperturbed state of mind?

With his back to Mikoto, Luke flicked his long sword.

Amidst the clanging sword cry, he slightly arched his spine, gathering strength, "Later, I'll count three, two, one. When I count to one, start breaking through. Don't hesitate, and don't look back. Remember?"

Hearing this sentence, spoken so casually as if discussing what to eat for lunch, Mikoto felt the urge to stomp her feet.

She stared intently into Luke's dark eyes, persuading, "Luke-sama, you absolutely must not charge in, otherwise even you will definitely..."

"If I don't charge in to buy you time, you'll be dead. Who would I ask for the reward then... I really don't want this trip down to the middle floors to end up being for nothing."

Still in a faint tone, Luke paused, then continued, "Besides, I won't die either."

Speaking up to this point, without waiting for Mikoto to refute further, he had already started the countdown.

"Three!"

The pitch-black long sword lowered to his side, assuming the starting posture for a charge.

"Two!"

Intense sword intent howled around him.

Formless sword pressure descended, even blowing away the dust on the ground in a circle.

"One!"

Lifting his head, staring at the bear-shaped monster closest to him, Luke took a step forward.

The strength value exceeding 60 points instantly erupted.

Amidst the tremendous roar emitted from the ground, his body dragged out afterimages.

His right hand tightly gripped the long sword, fiercely slashing upwards.

Pitch-black cold light flashed before the bear monster.

Then, his raised blade pressed down again, drawing an inverted U-shaped trajectory in mid-air.

Scarlet suddenly appeared.

Compared to the bear monster's massive body several meters tall, the long sword, seemingly no different from a child's plaything, became the most terrifying lethal weapon at this moment, forcefully slicing open its belly, letting its internal organs and blood splatter all over the ground.

These few moves, swift as a rabbit rising and a falcon swooping, from initiating the charge to slaying the bear monster, took less than the blink of an eye.

The combination of Agility and Strength exceeding 60 points, simultaneously using the nameless sword style created through constant killing, Luke achieved his ultimate bloom in this instant.

"Boom—"

Only after Luke withdrew his sword and left did the bear monster's massive body finally fall to the ground, making a huge sound, shaking the middle floor ground.

"Mikoto-san, what are you still standing there for?"

During the gap while withdrawing his sword, Luke's peripheral vision glanced at Mikoto standing motionless like a puppet, and Ouka who looked equally foolish.

Frowning, he roared sternly, "Run quickly! Don't look back!"

Awakened by Luke's stern roar, Mikoto couldn't care about anything else.

Holding Chigusa, she grabbed Ouka's sleeve and started running towards the floor's vertical passage.

Along the way, monsters occasionally jumped out to block the path, but those monsters all fell under Luke's sword without exception.

Initially, seeing a monster suddenly rush out on the path ahead, Mikoto would be wary for a moment.

But as a pitch-black figure wrapped in gale and sword intent charged forward, a black sword light flashed, and the monster was already decapitated.

After this happened several times, Mikoto simply gave up defending altogether, just desperately holding Chigusa and rushing towards the floor's vertical passage.

Even without Luke's terrifying speed exceeding 60 points, as Lv.2 adventurers, Mikoto and Kashima Ouka weren't slow either.

Soon, they reached the entrance of the vertical passage.

Next, as long as they entered the vertical passage, they could return all the way to the relatively safe areas of the upper floors...

Looking at the coldly toned vertical passage entrance before her, Mikoto felt for the first time that this color was actually so lovely.

Perhaps out of relief after escaping death, she turned her head back, wanting to check Luke's situation.

However...

"Roar—!"

What entered her sight was a rapidly enlarging bloody maw.

...Eh?

This... What's going on?

It's a lie, right? We clearly already entered...

No, wait, seems like we haven't entered the vertical passage yet?

—Crap! Careless!

Several thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant.

Mikoto was just about to retreat backward to dodge this monster's bite, but because she was holding Chigusa in her arms, her movements were hindered and slowed down somewhat.

Sorry, Luke-sama, I failed your efforts...

Just then.

"Idiot! I told you not to look back!"

A black shadow charged over rapidly like lightning.

Simultaneously, using his waist as a pivot, his entire body spun acrobatically, driving the pitch-black long sword in his hand to scrape fiercely against the monster pouncing in mid-air.

"Screech—"

The blade instantly tore through the monster's body.

Large amounts of scalding blood sprayed out from the severed blood vessels.

Luke continued to rotate his body 180 degrees in the air, then lowered his center of gravity, landing on the ground facing Mikoto, who wore an expression of pleasant surprise.

Just as his feet stabilized, a few drops of blood splashed onto his face, then slowly flowed down, following the curve of his face to the corner of his lips, dyeing his thin lips red.

Glancing reproachfully at Mikoto, Luke didn't say anything.

With a swing of his long sword, he turned and plunged into the monster horde, continuing the fight.

"Mikoto! Are you alright!"

Only then did Kashima Ouka, who had been beside Mikoto all along, react, asking anxiously.

"I'm fine."

Looking somewhat disappointedly at this man, who was even taller than Luke, Mikoto finally glanced back one last time at the black-clothed swordsman continuously weaving through the monster horde.

Her gaze held an indescribable complexity.

Then, she shook her head and quickly walked into the floor's vertical passage.

Hearing the footsteps of Mikoto and Kashima Ouka receding behind him, Luke grinned, no longer just defending near the floor's vertical passage.

With his blade swinging, he charged deeper into the floor.

His battle had just begun.

...

Hestia didn't sleep well last night, a rare occurrence.

Because the most important person in her Familia, Luke, hadn't returned all night.

Although Bell said he was just pulling an all-nighter leveling up in the Dungeon, Hestia, for some reason, felt a strange unease in her heart.

And... when Bell told her Luke wasn't coming back tonight, Lili's expression was also quite strange.

This sense of abnormality made Hestia faintly uneasy.

So she waited in the church early in the morning, hoping to see that familiar figure push open the door as usual.

"Knock knock knock—"

However, what she heard was a knock on the door.

Is someone coming to pray?

Ever since Luke hired people to repair this church, many people came over every day to pray and confess.

Leaping down from the altar, Hestia jogged to open the church door.

But outside the door wasn't the praying person she imagined, but a male god friend—Takemikazuchi.

"Hestia..."

Seeing Hestia open the door, Takemikazuchi's face darkened, and he spoke, "I need to apologize to you."

...

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