<purga> shaman 51

The Shaman can't become a Hero
Act 5: Worst Harem Party
Chapter 51: Cave of Insects
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"*Kyaaa!?* Wh-why? How come there's a monster in heeere!?"

Morning, I wake up to the silk-tearing shrill sound of Natsukawa-san's scream.

"WHAT, where is it!"

"Eh, what in the, just what is this spiky black Skeleton"

"It looks terribly ominous... there's no doubt it's a fearsome monster. Get back everyone. I'll use my light magic and—"

"UAah! H-hold your horses Souma-san!"

And so I prevented the reborn Rem being destroyed by a hair's breadth.

"—I see, so this is the golem you made Momokawa-kun"

I introduce Rem to everyone.

Appearance-wise, she's a jet black Skeleton. And likely because I used Armor Bear parts, a part of her body had took form of an armor-like shell, the top of her head had a single horn like an oni. Her shoulders and limbs had spikes similar to the Armor Bear, and the black shell looked like it was fused with her bones. She was a size bigger than before, making to my chest height-wise.

"Rem-chan, you got bigger, congrats!"

"G A G A!"

Mei-chan sent over some warm words, and Rem seemed to happily nod. Last night when I invoked <Vile Mud Doll> I got somewhat of an idea, but apparently Rem's memories and experience and what not are all passed down. The thing that allows Rem independent movement, let's refer to it as her <soul>, when I make a new Rem, the soul gets transferred over as if she reincarnated. This soul itself is inside the <chaos> that manifests when I start making Rem, and the black Skeleton body only acts as a vessel, from what I understood.

We weren't with the last Rem for long, but she had fought a ton of Zombies in that time, and her movements had clearly become more adept. If all the growth gets passed down like this, there's nothing better to ask for. Finally, even my curses are getting some convenient cheat-tier functionality.

"Hey hey Momokawa-kun, this thing is safe right? It won't start attacking us, right?"

"It's fine, she mostly doesn't have any ego, and she's more like a robot that moves only by order"

*Uhee*, stares Natsukawa-san with a suspicious expression towards Rem, and though I explained, it didn't seem to work. Well, she's a full on monster on the outside, so this is sort of expected.

"It's called a curse, so you never know when it'll feel like attacking humans"

"When that time comes, my <Lux Sagitta> will take care of it"

"Now now you two, there hasn't been a single incident where our vocations worked against us, so this should be fine too. I think my <Summon Ice Elemental> works similarly to this"

Souma-san and Kenzaki-san on the other hand, are openly wary towards Rem. But rather than the golem, I'm sure it's their distrust towards me. For these two, last night's wanking incident must have solidified their impressions of me as a filthy perverted bastard.

Class Rep, please try and hold them back, I wish you good luck.

"Anyway, we should really get going. Asuna, can I get you to wake up Kotori?"

But still, whether last night or now, Takanashi-san isn't waking up at all while everyone's making all this noise... I'm somewhat worried someone might pull a prank on her one of these days.




With the <Thief> being specialized in using their eyes and ears, we had Natsukawa-san lead while heading to the depths of the dungeon. Behind our recon Natsukawa-san, followed Mei-chan and Kenzaki-san our frontline warriors. After them are Class Rep, and with Takanashi-san between them, Souma-san. I was at the very rear. Of course, I had Rem protecting my back equipping her with genuine weaponry like the <Iron Spear> and <Iron Short-sword>.

This vanguard-rearguard formation is constructed such than Takanashi-san is in the safest place. Myself in the very back isn't completely safe in the least. If we're ambushed from behind, I'd be on the very front after all. If Rem wasn't there, I'd probably be insta-killed like in those jump-scare monster movies. And obviously when we're moving in a row like this, the person in the center would be safest. Even if there's no combat, the guy at the end could be left behind without anyone noticing, so there's that danger too. I kinda feel like it wouldn't be strange if Souma-san intentionally left me behind after what happened. I'll be careful.

"*Wawah*, hey, are you absolutely sure we're going the right way!? No like, do we seriously have to go in there!?"

Natsukawa-san at the head stops. Naturally, the rest of us follow suit.

"No mistake... the magic circle is pointing straight in there"

Class Rep reconfirms. I'm not doubting her, but I quickly check my circle too and, yup, no mistake indeed.

"I have a bad feeling about this"

"Same here... but we have to cross this, this cave"

Yes, we were currently in front of not the familiar stone passages, but a large cave that looked forcefully dug into through the wall. It's size is similar to the large tunnel type passages. Width being as big as a highway, it had a ceiling tall enough to pass a large truck.

Of course, unlike the dungeon ruins, the ground inside was earthen, and looked tough to walk on, and most striking was the absence of light panels.

"*Hiee... It's pitch dark in here...*"

"We'll be needing a light then"

"It's alright, I'll do my— <Summon Lux Elemental>"

As Souma-san chants, a white, fairy-like little ball of light, one more, a total of 4 gently fly about.

"Sakura, are you alright using this many?"

"They don't fight, so the mana usage is fairly low. And I'm just letting them drift around us, so there's no need to concentrate on moving them either"

Those sure are convenient lamps. The light elemental things were going here and there, getting closer and farther by themselves. Plus, it's all hands free. I hope my curses can achieve this sort of convenience someday.

"Then, let's keep going"

With spirited words from Souma-san, we step foot into the eerie cave.

"Hey hey, ehm, anyone know where this cave ends..."

"Since the circle is showing us, I believe it should connect to somewhere inside the dungeon"

"This cave is clearly different from the architecture inside the dungeon. I don't think we'll get a fairy square before it ends"

"EEeeeh~, this suucks!"

"Let's just pray that we get out quickly"

We've been 10 minutes inside this suspicious cave. I've been walking quietly listening to the radio that is the girls in the rearguard. Luckily, it doesn't seem like they'll leave me behind anytime soon. There's Takanashi-san amongst them, so our durable vanguard is being considerate and trekking at a slow pace. If it'd been just been me, I bet they'd be aiming to finish up as fast as possible. It's in places like this that a person's appeal and standing is tested.

As I kept pondering about the interactions between us cast members, something occurred, and Natsukawa-san called out.

"Careful, everyone! There's something here!"

"Sakura, I need more light. Looks like there's monsters moving in those side paths!"

With this cave as the root, there were quite a number of small holes branching out like alleyways, and we've been aware of them since we went in. Looking at the construction, I thought just maybe... But it looks like monsters do come out of there. I'm willing to bet they're the ones who dug out this cave.

"Here they come!"

What came were unusually large ants. Their height being around that of Rem, a meter and a bit. Alit by the white luminescence of the light elementals, their carapaces shone in ominous black glimmer. As their bodies became more visible, I could clearly discern that they were indeed insects.

Like insects, they had 6 feet. But only 4 of them were on the ground, the 2 in front were raised acting like arms. It's frame looked like similar to that of a praying mantis. But that loud droning and horizontal mandibles were uncanny to ants. So, I'm calling them ants since they're mostly like that.

And much like ants do, these large ants also appeared in a swarm. There were coming out one after another in a line from the holes around us.

In no time, there was a mountain of ants facing us, making annoying shrill buzzing as if they were excited to find appetizing prey. It doesn't look like we can avoid this fight.

"Watch out, these ants might spit acid!"

I shout a warning to our frontliners, and simultaneously, the battle begins.

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TN: It was pretty small so full chap~