Rui stopped the truck on the shoulder of the road and immediately got out, chasing after Yuma.
He ran through the back alleys, looking around, when he suddenly heard a popping sound.
“Huh? Was that… a gunshot!?”
Rui had a bad feeling and quickened his pace, shouting, “Yuma!”
After running for a while, he saw what looked like an old warehouse. Someone was collapsed in front of the warehouse entrance.
The color drained from Rui’s face.
“Yuma!! What happened!?”
He rushed over and picked up the collapsed Yuma. His body was limp, his arms dangling.
Yuma shouldn’t be taken down by Monsters. Rui thought, but he gasped when he saw the wound on Yuma’s forehead.
“This is… a bullet wound. Could it be, someone shot him!?”
He looked around, but there was no sign of anyone. Rui looked at Yuma again.
Yuma should be able to heal this kind of wound with his Recovery Magic. But the location of the shot is bad.
Rui clicked his tongue. He was shot in the head and lost consciousness.
Without consciousness, he can’t use magic. Rui touched Yuma’s left wrist to check his pulse. It was faintly there, but getting weaker.
This is the worst. If this keeps up, Yuma will die.
Yuma is the only one who can defeat the King of Monsters in this world. Yuma is the only one who can possibly heal Kaede.
And yet, is he going to die so easily!?
Like this… like this!!
Rui despaired at his own helplessness. At that moment—
Thump, the pulse in his wrist jumped strongly. Yuma’s body began to twitch, and his chest jerked.
“W-What!?”
Rui was shaken by the sudden event. He called out, “Yuma!” but there was no response, he could only watch the abnormal situation.
As he supported Yuma’s violently convulsing body, blood spurted from the wound on his forehead, and something came out of the gunshot wound.
Rui widened his eyes in astonishment. What came out was something like a black, distorted piece of metal.
“This is… could it be the bullet!?”
The bullet that came out of Yuma’s head fell to the ground with a clatter. Rui didn’t understand what was happening, he was just confused.
Furthermore, an abnormality occurred in Yuma’s body. Flesh welled up from the head wound, closing the hole.
The bleeding stopped completely. An unbelievable event occurred before his eyes, but Rui recognized this event.
“This is… the Regeneration ability used by Abyssal Monsters! If so, the third tier of “Recovery Magic” from the White Magic Gem is…”
As Rui was deep in thought, Yuma groaned, “Ugh…” and woke up.
He frowned, held his head, and looked at Rui.
“What? What… happened to me…”
“Yuma, are you okay!? You have a serious head injury!”
“Is that… so?”
Yuma didn’t understand what was going on, but a sharp pain ran through his head, and he grimaced, saying, “Ouch!”
“The bleeding has stopped, but it’s not completely healed yet. You should use Recovery Magic.”
“Ah… you’re right. I’ll try.”
Yuma gathered Magical Power in his right hand and activated Recovery Magic. Light overflowed from his hand, gently enveloping his head.
The pain gradually subsided, and the wound on his head disappeared completely.
“Phew, I’m okay now.”
Yuma slowly stood up and brushed off his butt and arms.
“What on earth happened, Yuma? It looks like you were shot in the head with a gun.”
“Ah, that’s…”
Yuma told him about the boy he met in the warehouse. A terribly frightened boy who had a Gun. About how he ran off somewhere after firing.
“I let my guard down because I thought he was a kid. I never expected him to have a Gun.”
“But I’m glad you’re safe. It was a wound that could have killed you.”
At Rui’s words, Yuma made a puzzled face.
“About that… how did I survive? I was shot in the forehead, right?”
Yuma touched his head and asked Rui. Now it was Rui’s turn to explain.
Rui told Yuma what he had seen with an indescribable expression.
“Eh!? Regenerated? Automatically?”
“Yeah, that’s how it looked to me. I think it’s the same ability as the Abyssal Monsters.”
Yuma’s face turned pale.
“Hey, wait a minute! Aren’t I getting further and further away from being human!?”
Looking at the confused Yuma, Rui smiled wryly, “Well, it’s kind of late to worry about that now.”
“But even though you regenerated, it wasn’t a perfect heal. Maybe you can’t heal as powerfully as a Monster. If it had been a bigger injury…”
“…It might have been instant death.”
“Yeah, I think that’s a possibility.”
The two of them pondered with serious expressions.
They didn’t know how much injury he could regenerate without problems, or how long it would take to regenerate and be able to move.
However, they couldn’t exactly get injured on purpose to find out.
“Oh well. For now, let’s put thinking about the Regeneration ability on hold and look for the missing kid.”
“That’s right. If there’s a kid, there might be other people too.”
Yuma and Rui searched the area, then returned to the truck and drove around the city.
If there was a community, there might be government officials still alive. There was a good chance that those people were keeping the White Magic Gem.
It was a slim hope, but Yuma and the others decided to bet on that possibility.
And after driving around the city for an hour, what they encountered was—
“…They finally showed their faces!”
“Yeah, they were here after all.”
Rui stepped on the brake and stopped the truck. Standing in the middle of the road was not a person.
A black, slender body shape. It might look like a person from a distance, but it was definitely a Monster.
The first Monster they had encountered since coming to Germany. Yuma and Rui got out of the truck and cautiously approached.
The Monster in front of them had a body like black metal, with thin, sword-like arms and legs, and a featureless face with no eyes, nose, or mouth.
“Is it a Monster from the Black Dungeon?”
“It looks like it, but… is there a Black Dungeon in Germany?”
“I think there should be one. I don’t think it was very deep, though…”
Yuma said, “Oh well,” and readied his Pickel.
“Let’s just beat it down and move on.”
“Right.”
Rui also drew his Katana from its sheath. They didn’t know how strong it was or what abilities it had, but there was no way the two of them couldn’t defeat it.
Thinking that, Yuma attacked. He charged in and swung his Pickel.
“Eat this!!”
Wind gathered, creating a Vacuum from which it scattered. He could now freely control Vacuum Magic.
Yuma had assumed that he could defeat it with one blow, but the Monster lightly dodged the attack.
“What!?”
It spun around as if dancing, and pointed the tip of its right hand at Yuma. At that moment, a gust of wind blew and sent Yuma flying.
“Whoaaaa!”
He guarded with a Wind Barrier, but Yuma was still blown away.
“Yuma!!”
Rui stepped forward, and this time it pointed its left hand at him. The next moment, flames burst from the tip of its arm, and swirling flames engulfed Rui.