Climb could hear the sniffling of some people who’d figured out what he was getting at.
“And if you stay here, you’ll probably be carried off by the demons, too. That’s why we’re evacuating now. Just remember this: We’re still in demon territory. If you don’t try to move both quickly and quietly, you’ll be killed during the escape. Hey you, looks like you have a question. I’ll allow you to ask something, but only you.”
The frightened man he pointed at with his katana asked in a quiet voice, “What if we stay here?”
“You’d probably get carried off—to the awful kind of place a demon would want to take you.”
“Wah—!”
Brain shot a fierce look at the lady who wailed, and she lowered her voice immediately.
“I’ll allow a question.”
“My son is only three… So maybe it would be better to stay here and get taken to the same place—”
“I see. Well I’m not gonna put any effort into rescuing people who don’t want to escape. This kid might want to but not me. I’d like you to remember that it’s entirely possible that your child is in another warehouse being saved by another squad right as we speak. If you still want to stay in spite of that, I won’t stop you, but then you’d be creating an orphan, and I sure can’t handle looking after it.” Brain spoke coldly to the gloomy commoners. “I’ll say it again: It’s nearly certain that you’ll be carried off by the demons if you stay here. If you’re okay with that, then I won’t stop you. After all, it’s totally possible that we’ll leave this warehouse and get killed by demons as we try to escape.”
That was where Climb chimed in. He needed to say something. “That said, we’ll do our utmost to protect anyone who makes up their mind to escape.”
“I hate to be burdened, but I’ll listen to Princess Renner’s soldier. I’ll protect you. Okay then, we move in a few minutes. You’re free to stay. You’re also free to discuss among yourselves in lowered voices. Do what you like.”
Nothing that could be called discussion occurred. They might have still been anxious that their neighbors were demons, and many people preferred running, hoping that they would be able to reunite with their family members saved by other groups.
There aren’t any other squads. We went around to a lot of other warehouses. At most there are two or three more that are safe.
Brain knew that, but he glared around fiercely, gripping his katana tightly, to make sure no one raised their voices. Climb approached him. Bowing slightly, he addressed him in a lowered voice. “Thanks, Brain. You did what I should have done.”
“Don’t worry about it. That’s not the kind of thing you can say, attached to the princess. I’m practically a mercenary, so it shouldn’t cause any trouble for me. I only acted as the whip.”
“Still, thank you.”
Brain smiled awkwardly. “Well, it’s a pain to repeat myself a zillion times, so fine, I get it. I accept your gratitude. Hmm? He’s back, huh?”
Walking toward them at the other end of Brain’s gaze was the thief. He’d been on alert watching the situation outside. It wasn’t as if he was rushing back, so they figured he wasn’t there to tell them of approaching danger.
“What’s up?”
“Oh, it’s nothing, Mr. Unglaus. No sign of approaching demons. But as you all but said, it’s a matter of time.”
“Yeah. This could just be their last stop. You were watching the outside, right? What was that earthquake a bit ago?”
“No idea. Maybe a fissure opened up, and demons surged in from the demon world?”
“Please don’t dream up worst-case scenarios…”
“Sorry, Climb, sorry.”
“Anyhow, should we get this show on the road?”
Just as Brain was about to raise his voice to address the people, they heard something landing outside the warehouse.
In the hush that immediately followed, the thief crept closer to the door and took a peek outside. Then he waved his hands. It was the sign they’d decided for Demon! Then he signed, A strong one!
Brain and Climb looked at each other. Then they quietly went over to the thief. As they watched in silence, they saw the creature.
Unlike all others they’d seen so far, they sensed an immense strength from this one.
Almost ten feet high, its physique was bulky with muscle, and it had bat wings on its back. Its head was the skull of a goat or something similar, and it was gripping a gigantic maul.
It was looking toward the warehouse, and Climb and the others peering out felt it meet their gaze.
Perhaps it had sensed them with some kind of magic. Now it was undoubtedly waiting for them to come out.
“That thing’s strong…,” Brain murmured.
“Without a doubt…,” the thief answered.
Climb nodded in agreement.
He quietly looked at Brain. He’d gotten scolded back then with that Shalltear monster, so this time he intended to obediently accept it if he got told to run.
“…Climb. Fight with me.”
“Yes, sir!” Climb answered in a voice that was quiet but loud enough.
“You’re okay with that?”
“Yeah, look at that thing. He must have just escaped a fight—he’s all beat up. I don’t know how it would go if he weren’t wounded at all, but if we rush him now, I think we have a good enough chance at winning.”
Brain slapped Climb on the shoulder and said he expected a lot out of him.
Climb nodded emphatically and activated the power of the ring Gazef gave him. The ring, made by a dragonlord with ancient magic, had the power of temporarily boosting a warrior’s powers. With it, Gazef Stronoff, the strongest man in the kingdom, could enter the hero realm, but Climb couldn’t get that far. Even if he used his martial art Release Brain Power along with it, he still wouldn’t be half as strong as Brain. He could, however, achieve the power of a mythril-rank warrior.
“Shall we?” Brain took point and was about to walk outside when the thief called out to stop him.
“Mr. Unglaus!”
“Maybe it’s about time you started calling me Brain? You’re older than me, and I just feel weird being called ‘mister.’”
“…Okay, Brain, then. What should I do?”
“You stay here, Lockmeier. That thing could be pulling a feint.”
“If it gets close, I’ll help.”
“If it comes to that, we’ll be counting on you. Let’s go, Climb! I probably don’t need to tell you, but…stay on your guard!”
“Yes, sir!”
5 Late Fire Moon (September) 4:03 AM
“Kgh!”
Evileye grunted as she took an attack to the stomach. Her body barely felt any pain, but she hadn’t completely lost her human senses. Whenever she took an attack, she couldn’t help reacting.
Alpha spotted the moment of distraction and used the opening to attack her head-on.
The explosion-like impact knocked the wind out of her and sent her flying. She felt the negative energy flowing through her body decrease sharply.
She couldn’t use the strategy of converting physical damage to magical energy loss. Her objective was to buy time. If she ran out of magical energy, she would lose the ability to fight, so she had to consume equal parts life energy and magical energy.
Covered in dirt, she used Fly to force herself upright.
Then she saw Nabe get knocked out from a side street.
She was a mess. Evileye headed her way. The reason they weren’t coming after her was probably to wait until they were in the same place to kill them both at once.
When Evileye tried to help her up, she sprang to her feet. “Oh, it’s you,” she said, cold and rough.
She’s beat up enough that her life should be in danger, but something isn’t letting her feel it. Either she’s not scared to die, or she believes Momon will slay Jaldabaoth before that happens. Evileye figured it had to be one or the other.
“Can you still fight?”
&nbs
p; “Of course. No problem.”
It was a stupid question.
Still…this woman surpasses your average human. Is she a demigod, too?
She had a number of injuries and was messy with blood and dirt, but it didn’t seem like she was fatally wounded. In fact, Evileye’s injuries might have been worse.
Considering Evileye had taken two opponents, the fact that Nabe had taken three and gotten away with so little damage had to mean—frustrating as it was—that she was more capable.
“You look awful yourself.”
“I’m fine.”
Evileye smirked in spite of herself at how Nabe-like the response was.
Nabe shouldn’t have been able to see her face, since she was wearing her mask, but she must have picked up some vibes, because a dubious look appeared on her face.
“Nah, I just thought that response was very you.”
“I see. What should we do now?”
“What should we do? You mean how should we buy time?”
Evileye turned a penetrating glare on their five opponents. The bug maid’s desire to end her life pierced her like a spear. From the others, perhaps because they thought she would be easy to kill, there was surprisingly little hostility.
“That, too.”
“There’s nothing we can do. If there were two of them like there are of us, we’d be plenty able to win, but when they’re as strong as us and there are more of them, that’s as ‘losing battle’ as it gets.”
“What if we ran away? If we turn our backs and run, they might not follow us.”
“If you want to do that, I’ll protect your rear.” Nabe’s regular features twisted up in disgust.
When you’re that beautiful, even making an ugly face like that doesn’t ruin it, Evileye thought, although it was an out-of-place observation.
Suddenly, someone went flying accompanied by the sound of a collapsing building.
The figure bounced off the ground and continued rolling.
Evileye gasped—though she wasn’t breathing.
She’d thought for a second it was Momon, but it wasn’t. The one who’d been launched away was Jaldabaoth.
The sight of his reeling figure all beat up excited her—she didn’t even have to wonder who had dealt him such severe wounds, who had knocked him all the way over here.
She looked in the direction he’d come from and could make out a warrior standing there.
His raven-black armor had taken heavy damage, making it clear in one glance what an intense fight the two of them had been having. Still, comparing him and his solid stance to Jaldabaoth, who was practically flat on the ground, was more than enough to tell who was in the lead.
Evileye allowed herself to feel the surge of joy and squeezed both her hands into fists.
Momon slowly lowered his swords and called out to Jaldabaoth. “This is kinda fun. How to say…‘real,’ I guess? I feel like I’m actually fighting. So this is how the vanguard felt… I was so cornered in our close-quarters exchange earlier that I couldn’t feel it. Seems I’ve caught combat mania. Anyhow, you can come at me as hard as you can in that form!”
There’s no taunt more bitter than telling your opponent to use all their strength on you, thought Evileye, but then she shook her head. Maybe it was what he wanted.
Since he was so strong, Momon probably didn’t have many opportunities to go all out. He probably defeated his enemies before he could get serious. To a man like that, facing an opponent against whom he could use his full strength must have been a joy.
“Very well.” The demon must have taken it as derision—he replied with a deep, bitingly sarcastic bow.
Seeing that response, a sense of superiority—that she knew Momon better than Jaldabaoth did—swelled in her chest.
“Then I’ll attack in earnest.”
“Bring it on, Jaldabaoth!”
With those words as the trigger, the pair clashed at the point exactly between them. Their exchange was like a repeat of the time Evileye first met Momon. Long fingernails repelled ultra-fast chain attacks. They were blocking Momon’s huge great swords, so they had to be far harder than ordinary nails.
Momon took a giant leap back. The jump’s power was so weirdly great that it seemed almost like he’d used Fly. Then he threw a sword up into the air. As her eyes focused on the whirling blade, her peripheral vision caught Momon pointing a spear out of nowhere.
The spear had a crimson head, like a swirl of fire. He launched it at Jaldabaoth. It zoomed toward the demon at ultra-high speed, leaving a vivid red trail that nearly branded her retinas.
“Demon Aspect: Purgatory Clothes!”
On impact, fire leaped into the sky, and a shock wave raged through the area.
“Kgh!” Evileye hunkered down so the burst of air wouldn’t blow her away. She was lucky she had the mask on so she could keep her eyes open in the blast.
As she watched, Momon neatly caught the sword that dropped straight down back to him as if it were slicing through the wind. Then he charged at Jaldabaoth again.
Jaldabaoth, poised to meet him, was enveloped in flames, and the spear Momon had thrown was sticking out of the ground at his feet.
Momon swung the sword down, and Jaldabaoth caught the blade with his hand. That second, the demon’s hand started smoking, and the sword slowly sunk into his fingers.
“If you can melt a weapon of this level…you must have strengthened that power, huh?”
As an adventurer of the highest rank, Momon’s weapon had to be made of fairly high-quality metal.
Still, Jaldabaoth was able to produce flames that could melt it. And Momon had the guts to hold a conversation, unfazed, despite being so close to the extreme heat.
“These two are insane.” Evileye was stricken with fear. She’d known, of course, they were both powerful, but she still couldn’t stop trembling.
“As you so wisely perceive. I’ve increased my fire damage with a skill.”
Suddenly, something black began to mix into the leaping flames.
“Hellfire?”
“Yes. I can’t have you escaping unscathed just because you have perfect resistance to fire!”
Momon backed up in a retreat for the first time, but Jaldabaoth wasn’t about to allow that.
Now Jaldabaoth was the one closing the distance and repeatedly attacking Momon.
Momon used his great swords to continuously block attacks that would have slaughtered a human in the blink of an eye.
In the midst of a close-quarters battle so fierce his metal armor was starting to glow red with heat, Momon took a bizarre weapon out from somewhere and swung it.
“Frost Pain Rebuilt! Icy Burst!”
A torrent of freezing chill burst from the weapon, causing a sudden drop in temperature throughout the area. It was powerful enough to freeze fire, but Jaldabaoth’s hellfire was hotter. Still, it did give some temporary relief from the heat.
Evileye could hear Jaldabaoth’s surprised shout from where she was.
“What in the world is that? Same goes for the spear…”
“While I can’t use magic, I’m using weapons with attributes. I built this imitation Frost Pain as an experiment—and as a bonus, I made it stronger than the real one. It’s also a way to cast the high-tier spell it contains three times per day…but I guess it doesn’t work very well on someone of your caliber, since I can’t boost it with skills.”
The conversation they were having was unreal.
Even though they were engaged in a battle to the death, they were chatting casually to confirm each other’s abilities.
Something Gagaran once said popped into Evileye’s head. As a warrior, sometimes when you’re trading blows, you start to understand how your enemy feels, almost like you’re old friends. At the time, she’d wondered what the heck she was talking about, but now—
“I guess she was right.”
Evileye had grown to understand a ton of things over the course of this one day. She resolved not to doubt G
agaran so much anymore.
Seeing the closeness the pair had developed, Evileye felt a little jealous.
A man clad in raven-black armor, the surface of which had lost its luster—perhaps due to being melted—and a masked demon wearing a suit that was somewhat torn after being slashed up…
They were two beings fighting a life-or-death battle in a realm that transcended human capability, but to Evileye, they almost looked like pals.
“You truly are powerful.”
“You, too, Jaldabaoth.”
“So how about this? I have a suggestion…”
Momon said nothing but gestured with his chin that he should continue.
“I’ll take my leave about now, so shall we call this a good duel and both withdraw? No, to propose more precisely: I will withdraw for now, so I’d like you to not follow in pursuit…”
“You can’t play games with us!” Evileye screamed with rage. After sowing this much confusion and death throughout the city, forgiveness was way too much to ask.
But in a quiet voice, Momon acquiesced to Jaldabaoth’s suggestions. “Sure.”
Evileye’s eyes widened under her mask, and she looked at him. She couldn’t comprehend why he would cave to Jaldabaoth’s proposal while he was ahead.
Perhaps sensing her confusion, Jaldabaoth shrugged with a “Sheesh.” As much as the fact pained her, he looked good doing it, so tall and slender.
“I have no idea why Mr. Momon brought such a stupid woman with him. If you think a little bit, don’t you understand why he took my offer?”
Evileye was mute as he continued.
“Your friends have been fighting desperately in order to send in Mr. Momon and keep his battle from being interrupted, have they not? Aha. So that’s why no demons intervened in our battle… Do you really believe that?”
Evileye felt like she’d been stabbed in the back with an icicle.
The Men of the Kingdom Part II Page 27
