The Classless Transferee's Skill Copy - Chapter 58

Chapter 58: In The Depths

Translator: Newton

Editor: TipToe

 

I found myself in the middle of a city…

 

I recognized it… it was the path I used to go home from school in my past life.

 

And next to me was a girl—my childhood friend.

 

She was wearing my school’s uniform and was walking home from school with me.

 

It was her… Murasame Utane.

 

We’d always been childhood friends… and she had been my first crush.

 

I didn’t know how Utane felt about me.

 

And I couldn’t tell her how I felt about her.

 

Us being together had become normal, but it felt like that “normal” was about to break apart.

 

“Hey, Aruto?”

 

On our way home, Utane suddenly looked at me and asked me something.

 

I looked at her too and listened to what she had to say.

 

“Say, Aruto, do you have dreams for the future?”

 

Dreams for the future, huh…

 

Nah, not really.

 

“Nope. I mean, right now I’m so busy that I don’t even have time to think about the future.”

 

“Eh? Don’t you have a goal or anything? Something you wanna do?”

 

“…Live each day diligently.”

 

“…That’s already something an old person would say…”

 

With a strained laugh, I sighed and asked Utane the same question.

 

“So, what are your dreams for the future?”

 

“Hmm… Be someone’s wife, I guess…?”

 

“That’s… your future dream?”

 

Becoming a wife…

 

Well, even Utane would get married to someones someday, I guess…

 

“Big talk for someone without a dream of their own.”

 

I told her that that was barely a dream, but she turned away, looking unsatisfied.

 

“If that’s the case, I’ll give you a dream, Aruto!”

 

Deciding someone else’s dream all on your own like that… I was exasperated.

 

But I was a little curious to see what kind of dream she’d give me, so I asked her.

 

“And? What kind of dream will you give me?”

 

“Yep! Alright then! How about… protecting me always?”

 

Blushing slightly and smiling, she told me about my dream.

 

I ended up being so captivated by her smile that I couldn’t speak, but a few seconds later, I regained my composure and asked her.

 

“Was that… a confession?”

 

Hearing the word confession, Utane started to panic.

 

“I-it’s not anything like that, okay?! Who would confess to you…”

 

“Yep. I’d refuse it if that were the case.”

 

Turning her face away, Utane muttered quietly.

 

I spoke badly to her, but in truth, I was quite happy.

 

Of course, she understood that it was a joke, but…

 

Hearing my mean words, Utane’s cheeks puffed up angrily, and she beat on my right arm.

 

To be frank, it didn’t hurt at all.

 

I put my hand on her angry head.

 

Puzzled by this, Utane looked up at me.

 

Seeing her expression, I giggled and immediately spoke.

 

“Alright.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“I’ll protect you. No matter how many of you there are…”

 

I was a little embarrassed at what I had said, so I looked away while saying it to hide it.

 

Thinking that any more would be my limit, I tried to take my hand off of Utane’s head, but she grabbed my arm.

 

I was confused by her sudden action, but she gave me a huge smile.

 

“Alright, it’s a promise! Make sure to protect me!”

 

Sticking her pinky out, she offered me a pinky promise. I smiled and accepted it.

 

…Protection.

 

No matter what happens, I’d definitely…

 

…But that pride may have been the cause for that incident…

 

“Utane!”

 

I saw Utane in front of me, bleeding, and on her side. I held her in my arms.

 

Her blood stuck to my clothes and hands, but not caring about that, I hugged her tightly and cried.

 

“Aru… to… sorry. Sorry that you couldn’t protect me… I understand your desperation…”

 

Utane said weakly.

 

I desperately screamed.

 

“Don’t say you’re sorry that I couldn’t protect you! It’s me…! I couldn’t… protect you! Even though I promised to…!”

 

“Fufu… I’m… glad… Your feelings… make me happy. I’m being hugged… by my beloved Aruto-san, huh…”

 

Beloved…!

 

“Cut it out! A man… I should be the one saying that to you! I like you! I love you from the bottom of my heart!”

 

With tears streaming down my face, I shared my feelings with Utane.

When Utane heard this, she smiled faintly, as though at peace.

 

“That’s great… both of us feel the same way, huh… Being together with you… was fun, Aruto…”

 

“What’re you saying?! We’ll be together from now on, too! Going on dates and stuff… there’s a lot of things I still want to do with you!”

 

“…Fufu. Me… too. But…”

 

Softly, she put her hand on my cheek, flowing with tears.

 

“My happiness… is to see you happy, Aruto.”

 

“…My happiness… is to live together with you, Utane!”

 

“Aruto… I’m really glad I fell… in love with you…”

 

She smiled for the last time and closed her eyes…

They would never open again.

 

“O-oi, Utane?! Is this a joke? Oi! … Don’t die, Utane! Crap… crap!”

 

I saw her… Utane’s… death, with my own eyes.

 

But I couldn’t even save her—I could only cry out…

 

I cried out, hugging her tightly as she took her last breath….

 

The sorrow of losing Utane… My frustration at my own powerlessness… I cried, feeling all of those…

 

“Aruto! Get up!”

 

“…?!”

 

I heard a voice, and all of a sudden, I got up.

 

…I ended up seeing a dream of that time again…

 

“Kylie…”

 

So we had fallen into a hole…

 

And after that, I’d lost consciousness. Right.

 

At my side was Kylie, fussing over me with tears in her eyes.

 

It seems like I’d made her worry.

 

“…! Kylie!”

 

I reached my hand out to stop her from crying… then I felt a presence and jumped to avoid it, holding Kylie in my arms.

 

We succeeded in dodging it, and something huge pierced the ground where we once were.

 

Holding Kylie in a princess carry, I looked at the thing that attacked us.

There was a huge scorpion with a purple carapace, glaring at us and making shrill noises.

 

“A Poison Scorpion?!”

 

Something really huge had come this way!

 

“Careful, Aruto! Its carapace makes it immune to most attacks!”

 

“If that’s the case, I’ll use an armor-shattering attack!”

 

The Poison Scorpion tried to stab me with its tail, but I dodged and leaped in front of it, using Quick Jump.

 

I used Dynamite Kick on it, and the location of the impact went up in an explosion.

 

Taking the explosion, the scorpion’s body crumpled to the ground.

 

But it got up, as though nothing had happened.

 

“Huh… as I thought, it’d be difficult to attack from the outside… Kylie!”

 

“Yup! Grenade!”

 

I sent out an order, and Kylie threw a grenade, detonating as it hit the Poison Scorpion.

 

It exploded right where I had hit the scorpion with Dynamite Kick earlier.

 

“Keep it up!”

 

After using Wing, I sent a rain of Slashes from above.

 

All of them were aimed at the same area from earlier…

 

Kylie also threw grenades at the same position, which all detonated.

 

Probably frustrated, the Poison Scorpion, still being attacked by Kylie and I, spit poison all around itself.

 

Kylie stepped back and dodged it, but I ended up being showered in poison.

 

Well, I had Detoxify, so it wouldn’t affect me.

 

“Doesn’t wor- gh…?!”

 

Suddenly, I felt dizzy and fell to the ground.

 

“Aruto?!”

 

Noticing that I had fallen, Kylie stopped attacking and rushed to me.

 

“Wait! Are you alright?!”

 

“Ugh… The… poison… worked…?!”

 

I’m sure I had resistance to poison… if so, then why…?!

 

“…Could this be… an Antiresistance Monster?”

 

Kylie spoke up as though she had remembered something, and I tilted my head.

 

“What’s an Antiresistance Monster?”

 

“They’re monsters that nullify the resistance-type special skills. If you’re attacked by one of those, it doesn’t matter what kinds of special skills you have! And you can’t even use potions to recover!”

 

…How dangerous!

 

That kind of monster was basically cheating!

 

I used Recover, a skill that cleansed debuffs, to clear the poison.

 

“It’ll be bad if we don’t get this over with!”

 

Luckily, things were going according to plan.

 

Looking closely, you could see cracks in the part of the carapace we kept attacking.

 

“Kylie! Hold it off!”

 

Seeing me run in, Kylie nodded and went straight for the Poison Scorpion.

 

It aimed at her and spit venom at her.

 

But she leaped, dodged, flipped twice in midair, then pulled out a light blue grenade.

 

“Freeze!”

 

Under its feet, she threw the light blue grenade… a Freeze Grenade.

 

The Freeze Grenade detonated beneath the Poison Scorpion’s feet, freezing it in place.

Due to this, it was rendered unable to move.

 

“Aruto, please!”

 

“Leave it to me!”

 

As I leaped, I used Enhanced Kick and Dropkick to deliver a powerful kick to its cracked carapace.

 

Having taken the kick, its carapace completely broke apart.

Screaming in agony, the Poison Scorpion, defeated, pointed its tail at us.

 

However, at the same time, I used Explosive Dispersal on its shattered carapace to cover its body in explosive particles.

 

The Poison Scorpion aimed at me as I prepared to detonate it, and it sent its tail at me.

However, I coolly smirked.

 

“…Too slow…! Flash Explosion!”

 

As I shouted the skill name, the Poison Scorpion exploded from within…

 

Without bursting apart, smoke and noise coming from it, the Poison Scorpion fell.

 

It was killed from the inside…

 

As expected, that beat it…

 

I sighed, and from behind me, Kylie jumped.

Then, she knocked on the fallen Poison Scorpion’s body.

 

“Anyway, this is a really tough carapace… After all this, we finally managed to defeat it… If I stripped this carapace off, I could sell it for a lot…”

 

…So this is what she came here for.

 

She really loved rare items, huh…

 

“Oi, Kylie! I don’t mind if you love rare items, but we should really be heading back up…”

 

I looked up, and then back at her…

 

And that’s when I noticed.

 

I saw the Poison Scorpion, which I thought was dead, move slightly, turning its tail towards Kylie…

 

“…! Kylie!”

 

It thrust its tail forcefully towards Kylie.

 

“…Gotta make it!”

 

I used Quick Jump to get to Kylie’s location, and pushed her away.

 

“Eh… A-Aru-!”

 

Realizing that she was suddenly pushed away, Kylie looked at me as she was knocked back.

 

But, when she saw me, her eyes opened wide.

 

Because…

 

“Gah… Aaaaaah!!”

 

The Poison Scorpion’s tail had gone through my body…

 

Then it was pulled out of my body, causing blood to spurt out.

 

Kylie watched the blood spurt out, a desperate look on her face.

 

“Y-you’re kidding…. Arutoooooo!!”

 

Her screams echoed within the cave…