That intense white light blew away all the insects around me like a storm. p.a.w.n Ants, despite being human-sized, were blasted off, swarm and all. Burned by the light, chopped up, their legs and body sections became individual pieces. The horde of insects literally disintegrated into ash from the white light.

The two spiders fell and the mantises and ants were reduced to half their numbers. Overpowered. Now this, this felt like real magic.

“I’m here for you, Sakura”

It was the hero. It was, Souma Yuuto.

“Nii-san!”

As he shouted, he brandished his sword of light again. Then the white light, like a tornado, revolved around his blade, getting bigger and bigger.

“Let’s move people! Yuuto-kun has cleared the way!”

I mean, h.e.l.l! Soumkun’s power was way too overwhelming. It made our previous struggles look like child’s play.

“Let’s go, Kotori!”

Kenzaki-san came to pick up Takanas.h.i.+-san, easily dealing with the mantis and ants still frozen due to words of rejection. I was completely ignored, She grabbed onto the small girl’s hand and started running.

“I’m okay, handle those ants please”

“Guys! Over here!”

So, the pa.s.sage was actually buried? I see. Soumkun had come from the other side, he’d broken the wall and created this hole.

“I’m the last one! Close it now!”

I tumbled to the side to avoid getting in the way of Soumkun’s attack. Turning around, I saw a scene of countless ants coming at us like a black tsunami.

With that shout, came another flash of light. Aiming at the entrance plus any ants there, the sword of light cut –– causing the once open hole to be buried under a pile of earth and rubble.

That’s when I could finally sigh in relief.

“I’m sorry Sakura, making you worried and all...”

Then I sighed in exasperation. Sure you could say it was a heartfelt reunion between siblings, but I couldn’t give one s.h.i.+t.

Everyone raised a cheer. Of course, we all wanted to escape from this giant insect h.e.l.l.

With dead tired bodies, we moved along the cave, Soumkun leading.

“Even so, how did you know where we were?”

“Eh? Nii-san, you can also use Summon Lux Elemental?”

Like this, he said as he put out his finger, manifesting a light blue phosph.o.r.escent light. It flew around like a firefly, then disappeared.

“You got it, maybe because you also use elementals? The others don’t look like they understand”

“By the way, that’s Momokawa, and the person next to him...”

“I’m a Shaman. And this is Futabsan, she’s a Berserker”

I told the truth. We couldn’t exactly lie anymore since Takanas.h.i.+-san possessed a skill to see others’ Job and skills. So there was no longer a point in hiding Mei-chan’s Job.

“Is it the Job’s that made you so, slim”

Soumkun looked a little, no, quite bewildered actually.

“You really saved us back there, Soumkun. Thank you”

Maybe she’d already fallen for Soumkun who appeared super cool from the earlier rescue.

She might be interacting with me normally now, but soon enough, she’d start to subtly take distance and.... f.u.c.k, it’s depressing just thinking about it.

Apparently, we’d arrived at our destination. The place he pointed to was, I see, it was another one of those places where the cave bits end and stone dungeon starts.

“Ah, I just remembered, we didn’t collect the cores from the Rook Spiders”

“I’m impressed, Yuuto-kun”

We were in dire need of some rest, so his suggestion was welcome. We’ll be humbly making use of the core Soumkun had.

“Okay, I’ll start it up”

So basically, we’re out of here in less than 10 sec ––

Suddenly, I felt a force on my body. I was pushed. From the back, strongly.

“Ouch!?”

The reason was obvious. I was pushed –– but by who?

I turned around to find, Kenzaki Asuna, with both her hands stuck out, she’d stiffened up in that posture. Her expression could be described as stupefied, or perhaps blank, herself not understanding what she’d just done.

“Kotarou-kun!?”

All around me was already white. Beyond that, there was Mei-chan’s desparate voice calling to me, and also Soumkun’s voice trying to stop her.

Before I could return any words, there was only silence. After that, I could see again.

No one else, nothing else.

In other words, I’d been left behind.