Arifureta - Chapter 45

"Nagumo Hajime" (南雲ハジメ) is the 45th chapter of Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Manga adaptation. It was released on "Overlap:Comic Gardo" Online Publication on October 2, 2020 on "Point Payment" system, with Free Preview released on November 6, 2020.

Summary
Hajime descends from the ceiling and rams his weapon through the Ahatod's head, pulverizing it in an instant. Kaori watches this stunning turn of events and, after looking at Hajime for a little bit, realizes that, despite his different hair color and the deadly vibe he was giving off, he was the very same Hajime Nagumo she remembered, and he all but confirmed it by telling both her and Shizuku that they are still as close as ever. Yue and Shea arrive and Hajime tells them to help the students in the corner and the wounded Meld, respectively.

Hajime points his finger at Cattlelya and tells her to flee for her life, but Cattlelya refuses, her reason being that she still has many more demons to throw. She orders them to kill Hajime, but he easily guns all of them down without breaking a sweat. His skills and brutality leave the Hero Party in awe, with Kouki asking just who is the newcomer. Kousuke arrives and explains that it is indeed the same Hajime Nagumo everyone thought died that day in the Labyrinth. Daisuke Hiyama refuses to believe this to be true and even goes as far as to call him an imposter, only to get a column of water poured on him by an annoyed Yue.

When a monster tries to get the drop on Yue, the other students try to warn her, but she easily destroys them with her overwhelming display of power. Shea commends Yue as she tries to heal Meld, just as another demon comes up from behind. However, similar to Yue, she also destroys the attacking demons with her bare hands (though Hajime wonders if she will accidently kill Meld with her strength).

Just then, Cattlelya casts the same Petrification Magic she used earlier, with Kouki noticing and trying to warn Hajime to be watch out.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Hajime Nagumo
 * Kaori Shirasaki
 * Shizuku Yaegashi
 * Kouki Amanogawa
 * Ryutarou Sakagami
 * Suzu Taniguchi
 * Eri Nakamura
 * Daisuke Hiyama
 * Meld Loggins
 * Cattleya
 * Yue
 * Shea Haulia
 * Kousuke Endou

Locations

 * Great Orcus Labyrinth

Monsters

 * Ahatod
 * Behemoth (flashback)
 * Black Cat
 * Bulltaur
 * Chimera

Differences from Light Novel

 * In the Light Novel, Hajime kills Ahatod by launching the stake from his pile bunker through the 65th floor of the Labyrinth until in impales it, to which Hajime arrives soon after through the holes that he made from the initial attack.
 * In the Light Novel, Hajime uses his "Cross Bit" artifacts to guard Kaori and Shizuku.