Entering a Company From Another World! – Chapter 227

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The opponent’s combat power isn’t much.

I realized that as soon as the fight began.
They just swung their weapons around; no technique, just brute force violence.

“Aaaagh! Gaah!”

What’s more, they seem to lack reason.
They’re simply an embodiment of violence, focused solely on defeating the being before them.
Though, not thinking at all makes their movements difficult to read.

“Hmph.”
“Gah?! A-araa!”

Since their attacks tend to be monotonous, they’re easy to counter.
Are they abandoning their human functions through some drug, or are they suppressing them with magic-like abilities?
I suspect they’re using both.
I tried a gentle punch to the face as a feint, but they approached me as if they felt no pain at all.
From that, I concluded they either have no pain receptors or have become indifferent to pain.

“Ngh.”
“Nngaa!?”

So, this time, I decided to aim for a knockout with a kick to the temple.
Using the tip of my sturdy combat boots would be too dangerous, so I carefully aimed the kick to knock them unconscious.
With a thud, they flew back, rolled on the ground, and stopped moving.

“Haa, alright, next…”

It seems knocking them out does make them stop moving.
What we need to be wary of is their tenacity, gasping for breath and collapsing, yet still attacking with gleaming eyes even when damaged.

“Well, they’re better than zombies…”

Humans get tired, take breaks, and stop moving when they feel pain.
But these opponents have none of that.
I grumbled, but they’re just like the zombies from a horror movie.
This is the Nth person; it’s a defense battle where I’m protecting staff members and gathering unharmed civilians.
The difficult part, unlike with zombies, is that I can’t kill them.
As the group grows larger, the number of attacks also increases.

“They’re all the same, aren’t they?”

They swarm towards me just like zombies, not much different.
The only salvation is that, unlike in a horror movie, they won’t infect you if they bite.
My mother and others are dealing with them, but sleeping talismans are ineffective against opponents in a state of extreme excitement, and since I can’t use weapons to inflict fatal injuries, they’re fighting bare-handed.

“Police reinforcements too… Tsk, still in chaos?”

Even though the power is back and the surroundings are lit, the police haven’t stormed in.
That’s understandable, as similar things are happening on the police’s end.
They said they’re in chaos due to confusion at the scene and will send reinforcements once the command system is restored.
They asked us to hold on until then.

“I can last, but it’s a matter of time for the others. We won’t have enough people at this rate. Honestly.”

I keep knocking them down one after another, but I can’t distance myself while I have people to protect.
I want to ask for reinforcements from the other members who are suppressing them, but they’re all in similar situations, and worse…

“They’re recovering.”

This situation is becoming even more troublesome.
As time passes, I see a shadowy figure slowly getting up.
Ah, it’s not someone I defeated, but one of the opponents I knocked out semi-consciously is reviving.
I thought about a horror movie earlier, but it’s really starting to feel like one now.
The scene before me is, in fact, horrific.
Even if I knock them out, in some cases, even with broken bones, they’ll attack while shaking that part.
At this rate, we’ll soon be unable to cope.

“Uwaaah!?”
“!?”

As I’m thinking I need to do something quickly, I hear a scream.
“Already?” I thought, my bad premonition coming true. I looked over to see troop members being swarmed by multiple fanatics.
I want to go help, but…

“Don’t come!!”
“Tsk.”

I can’t intervene right now.
Because they’re so densely packed, it takes time to reach the other side.
The troop members are still resisting.
So, it’s a matter of priority.
Borrowing the power of a divine artifact, I leap over their heads and pounce on a man about to attack a woman.

“Ah, thank you.”
“No need for thanks. Tell everyone else to gather in one place as much as possible!”
“Y-, yes!”

As I try to think if only the civilians would gather in one place, I rush to help the troop members I just defeated.
“Jeez! What’s with the pathetic cries from a grown man! Pull yourself together.”
I don’t know if she sensed my urgency, but my mother appeared, blowing away the swarming fanatics with a clean flying kick.

“Jiro! This isn’t getting us anywhere! We’re evacuating the hostages to the stage, so you help too.”
“I’d like to, but!”

While punching and kicking the zombie-like fanatics, I want to do as my mother says and gather the people we need to protect, but with them mixed in with civilians, there’s no way to handle it.
If they could gather here even little by little, it would be a great help, but we don’t have enough hands to guide them.
Even if they’re not combat power, having extra hands would be great.

“It’s this way!! Come here slowly!!”
A familiar voice can be heard at just the right moment.

“That won’t do, Gozaru! I’m already gathered and causing trouble! We’ll proceed while organizing! Kitamiya’s voice carries well, and her committee-chairperson nature makes her good at coordinating!”
“If it wasn’t your instruction, I would have done it willingly! Amī, help me, prioritize the elderly and injured!”
“OK!”

Familiar voices are heard one after another.
In the midst of all this, the only thing I can do is…

“Those guys, seriously, it can’t be helped!!”
Step forward and draw the enemies’ attention, even just a little.
“Hah! Come at me!!”
I kick a nearby fanatic vigorously, showing off my spinning move to the surroundings.
Ah, I went easy on them.
It looks like they flew far, but there’s no bone damage.
Ah, no bone damage.
Hesitantly, but steadily, people are gathering on the stage.
Are there any fanatics among them?

“Well, you guys go check. We’ll handle the rest, Jiro and I.”
My mother, who had somehow taken command of the troop, takes care of it.
I never thought I’d actually see her kicking someone’s butt.
Thanks to that, my mother and I are left to deal with the remaining fanatics.

“Kyaaa!?”
“Oof, get on the stage quickly!”
“Y-, yes!”

I’m taking down the fanatics attacking civilians one after another.
“Tsk, honestly. Do they have no consideration for the elderly? If they keep this up, they’ll get sick.”
“And you think that matters now after swinging grown men around bare-handed? And if they had consideration, they wouldn’t be doing this. More importantly, is there any support coming from Kirie-san?”
“If there were, it would have arrived by now. Stop complaining and get moving, Jiro.”
“Yes, yes.”
Midway, we talk briefly back-to-back, catching our breath, before he runs off again.
The efficacy of the divine artifact is nearing its end.
I suddenly clutch the pendant Suella and the others gave me, but I decide it’s not the time to use it yet and let go, accelerating and resuming the suppression operation.
I defeat one, then another, but the opponents get up again, battered as if they were immortal.

“This is becoming a bit problematic.”
Even without the magic crest functioning fully, my body is well-trained.
I can move at full speed without getting out of breath, but my stamina is still being depleted.
A slight sweat dripped from my forehead, expelling moisture, and my body felt hot. It was pleasant for movement, but I was aware of the consumption of my internal energy.
How much longer could I keep this pace of rampaging? The distribution flickered through my mind.
I glance at my mother, who still seems to be moving with ease.
I imagine my mother could keep going all day without tiring, and I give a wry smile, thinking about how to break the current situation, but even she isn’t an invincible superhero.
She’ll run out of gas eventually.
We have to break through this situation before that happens.

“In times like these, hitting them on the head is usually the way to go, but it’s not working. What should I do?”
Although the man who seemed to be the leader was subdued, the disturbance actually worsened.
At the shrine, blind fanatics are rampaging, and civilians who cannot escape are enduring their fear.
And, regarding breaking through the current situation, if you ask if there’s another leader here, the answer is no.
There’s no calculated movement in their actions.
This seems more like indiscriminate behavior.
They’re just spreading fear wantonly.
It seems they have no other purpose, and there’s no hidden agenda.

“…Surveillance team. Are there any patterns in the enemy’s movements?”
“We’re checking, but they only seem to be moving around aimlessly. They’re not gathering in specific places, nor are they exhibiting collective behavior. The suppression is gradually progressing, so please continue to handle them as you are.”
“Understood.”
I speak into the earpiece, but the response isn’t what I hoped for.
This is information from the helicopter waiting in the sky.
The accuracy of the information from an aerial perspective should be high.
And that information says the situation is gradually improving.
So, I’d like to think we can just endure this, but…

“…I have a bad feeling.”
What is this unease? The enemy’s actions are too strange.
I might be overthinking it, but my intuition has accurately picked up on details I might overlook in recent times.
I can’t dismiss it as just my imagination.
Then, I must think.
What can be done by just gathering fear?
This is modern Japan.
A world where the occult, such as magic, yokai, and mythical beings, has faded.
The terrorist act carried out by a crazy religious group here.
What could this lead to?
Is it only the purpose Kirie-san mentioned?
Is the only goal to open the path to the underworld?
What purpose do they have in such a space?
Recall the information, cross-reference it with what you’ve experienced.
What does the enemy want?
Is there any information that stands out?!

“M-mi-ko-sa-ma…”
The last words left by the man who was giving the speech.
“Miko-sama.”
Written down, it’s a common existence.
Does that organization have a symbolic figure?
I don’t know.
The more I think about it, the more I feel like I’m sinking into a deeper pit.
I should focus on what needs to be done right now, I thought, when I realized…

“Gathering fear? Just gathering it?”
There was one thing I remembered about this act.
It was when I was being severely trained by Instructor Fushio shortly after joining the company.

“Instructor, then you are an Undead, aren’t you?”
“Kaka-kaka-kaka, indeed. I am a being who has removed death from the living. What’s so surprising?”
“No, I was just wondering why you wanted to become such a being. Was it to seek immortality?”

At the time, it was a simple question, just wanting to know the reason for becoming an Undead.

“I had something I wanted to accomplish, and I didn’t have enough time. That’s why I became one. The reasons beings like us are born are that simple.”
“Is that how it is?”
“Kaka-kaka-kaka, the reasons for attempting grand things are that simple. Hidden behind a great cause, the true intentions are merely a collection of small reasons. Kaka-kaka-kaka, long ago, people even massacred others to invoke gods. The reason was simple. Do you understand, Jiro?”
“No, was it something like having a wish?”
“It was even simpler. They just wanted to see their form. That was the reason.”
“For such a reason?”
“Yes. For such a small reason, people can do grand things. In a way, humans are more frightening than beings like us.”

It was just that conversation, but why did I recall it at this timing?

“…No way.”
Fear is an emotion.
Thought can sometimes become energy that fills a place.
Even in modern times, there are haunted spots and cursed lands.
Humans avoid approaching these places.
Rarely, curious individuals visit these places, but they occasionally meet with disaster.
That’s why people fear.
They fear beings they’ve never seen, based on the mere hypothesis that they might exist.
And, with that hypothesis, I thought of one possibility.

“It happens rarely. Humans mistake calamities for gods and summon them. A familiar karma for us Undead. The materialization of curses, humans call that phenomenon…”

It’s a being beyond human comprehension.
Sometimes, humans call natural disasters like typhoons divine punishment.
Isn’t there a phenomenon in Japan that attempts to invoke that artificially?
Kami-oroshi (God Invocation).
The names vary.
While prayer through rituals is the righteous path, there is also an unrighteous path.
The beings summoned through that unrighteous path are…

“Aragami.”
Frenzied gods.
They are calamities.
Gods that bring no benefit.
A existence that perfectly suits the atmosphere of this place.
If that can be materialized…
If this commotion, or opening the path to the underworld, is just a process…

“…”
It’s an intuitive judgment, but this bad premonition has never been wrong.
And I feel as if the threads are slowly connecting.

“Is this commotion a diversion? Is the real target something else!?”
The answer I arrived at became a conviction within me.

Today’s word:
I realized it too late. Please let it be in time!!

That’s all for today.
Thank you as always for pointing out typos and for your comments.
If you find it interesting, please leave comments, ratings, bookmarks, etc.
* The first volume has been decided to be published by Hayakawa Bunko JA.
It was released on October 18, 2018.
The e-book version was released on October 31 of the same year.
Volume two was released on December 19.
Volume three was released on February 20, 2019.
The content has been revised and expanded from the original submission on Shōsetsuka ni Narō, with the addition of an unpublished interlude.
Please do check out the new releases as well!!

Also, a comic adaptation has been decided for Kodansha’s “Young Magazine The Third.”