Jujutsushi Wa Yuusha Ni Narenai

Chapter 158.2 : Shaman Vs Archer

「Nope. Let me ask you for the last time, are you sure that you don’t want to try my drug?」

「My answer won’t change, I refuse.」

Though I kept wondering whether I should really try Momokawa’s drug, I still ended up at the same conclusion as before, I can’t.

「Fight me or bring me a potion, you only have one of those two options if you wish to pass this area.」

「I think you’re putting yourself in danger by trying to fight us, Sakurai-kun. We want to avoid combat as much as possible, that’s why can you at least let us pass this one time.」

「If I’m really going to let you guys pass this place, I wouldn’t go as far as threatening you guys like this. The only safe way to pass this bridge is for you guys to look for a potion, and give it to me.」

I nocked my arrow of the black horn bowstring and pulled it, ready to fire a warning shot at any given moment.

That would put an end to it if he tries to negotiate with me again but… Well, let’s see how you’ll face this situation, Momokawa.

「I see, too bad then… It seems we’ve to kick your ass to pass this place.」

The moment Momokawa said those words, Futaba-san made a beeline towards my location. Her running speed betrayed the weight of her seemingly heavy equipment.

「You’ll regret this, Momokawa!」

I fired the first shot, a warning shot. The arrow pierced through the air in a straight line towards the duo.

Then lodged itself right in front of Futaba-san’s toes along with heavy impact.

But that warning shot didn’t stop her. Rather, she acted as if she didn’t see the arrow coming―― or not, it wasn’t that she didn’t see the arrow coming. She didn’t feel the need to dodge or protect herself against the first arrow since she knew that it wouldn’t hit her.

But Futaba-san seemed quite brave to be able to pull such a feat. Even though she looked like a timid person like Saya-chan back in the class, it seemed she was also transformed into a completely different person after the baptism of this dungeon.

「That’s just a warning shot. I won’t miss in the next one.」

「You didn’t forget about my power right, Sakurai-kun?」

「In your tied up state, all I need to do is defeat Futaba-sa――!」

Then, the moment I set my aim to Futaba-san feet.

The shield moved.

It was a slight movement as if trying to protect her feet from my arrow. It wasn’t my imagination, the shield did move.

「No way, she predicted the trajectory of my arrow. Such intuition…」

Yes, I wasn’t the only person who got the supernatural ability called vocation. Though Momokawa had this bizarre atmosphere around him, my intuition had told me that his vocation wasn’t the combat type.

But Futaba-san was a completely different story. She might have an extremely powerful combat-type vocation. I mean, she could run so fast without even breaking a sweat while raising that stupidly huge and bulky shield which added Momokawa’s forty-something kilograms of weight on the shield’s surface.

Despite holding a freaking hundred kilograms shield in her hand, her running speed rivalled Natsukawa-san’s, the ace at the track and field club. That fact alone was enough to convince me of her superhuman strength.

In addition, strength wasn’t the only factor that got strengthened, she had a sharp intuition too.

「Seriously, she literally used Momokawa as her shield.」

If she only held up her shield without moving it, I could shoot her without hitting Momokawa. Even if she copied a terrorist act of using a child as a shield like the one in a Hollywood movie, the current me could score a headshot without having to worry about hitting the hostage.

But reality sucks like hell, I could shoot Futaba-san when the movement of her shield was always following after my aim.

I’m sure that Futaba-san was reacting to my aim by using either her intuition or sharp eyesight, or else the combination of both. If I shot my arrow as it is, there was a high possibility that my arrow would kill Momokawa.

If what Momokawa said about his pain return ability was true, then it would be the end for me the moment I shot his vital spot. Even without that, I would be literally incapacitated if my limbs got injured due to the effect of Momokawa’s skill.

If his pain return ability was a lie, then I wouldn’t hesitate to kill him on the spot. But I couldn’t take a risk of killing Momokawa before I confirmed the truth about his pain return ability.

I had a simple way to check the truth. All I needed was to make my arrow graze past him.

But Futaba-san wouldn’t allow me to do that. As long as she kept moving her shield, my arrow would eventually strike Momokawa’s limbs.

No, that might be their original aim.

Because I’d no way to heal my wound. Since I’d already revealed the fact that I needed the potion for instant healing, they must’ve realized that I had no way to heal my wound.

But Momokawa had his hand-made ointment. In addition, the result seemed to be outstanding. That’s why even if he had to sacrifice a leg or hand, he could heal that wound later. After they dealt with me, who couldn’t move due to injury, they could take their time to heal their injury.

「Dammit, what should I do…」

The running speed of Futaba-san was reduced lightly, and then slowly returned to her top speed again. At her current pace, it would only take less than twenty seconds to reach my position.

She wouldn’t even give me time to think…

「Calm down, me.」

Momokawa had become Futaba-san’s shield. According to intuition, his pain return ability was most likely a lie.

I mean, he looked way too calm for someone who made himself into a bait. Though I had to praise his guts for his ability to stay calm in this situation, completely unperturbed was literally impossible.

It was as if he had some sort of safety measure.

But that was another possibility. Shooting Momokawa to death was a suicidal act.

As I thought, I needed to confirm his ability first.

If his pain return ability was real, I had no choice but to fight Futaba-san and the tied-up Momokawa.

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But if it turns out to be a lie, I still had the advantage with my long-distance attack. I could shoot them both to death with my martial art.

And then, the first thing I needed to confirm Momokawa’s ability was…

「Yeah, maybe I can use tha– uhm, what’s that?」

Suddenly, a new idea flashed in my mind. At this moment, I noticed an abnormality.

「Is that a normal bird?」

Since I was currently camping on the rooftop I could see the sky.

It was neither night nor cloudy, I saw a flock of birds flying in the bright basement. Even without 『Eagle Eye』, it was enough to confirm that it was just an ordinary bird.

Since the trees had grown everywhere in this ruin, this place could already be considered as half-forest. That’s why it was only natural for normal animals and monsters to live in this area. When it came to birds, various kinds of birds were passing by this area.