by Yusuke Kishi
“Look over there!” I pointed at a hill to the north where I had seen something move.
We both gazed intently, but nothing suspicious appeared.
“Sorry, it was probably just my imagination.”
“No…I don’t think so,” Satoru crossed his arms, still searching the area closely. “That looks like the best place to spread poisonous gas from. Since they’re on a hill and the gas is heavier than air, they don’t have to worry about it going the wrong way. And there are relatively fewer obstacles too.”
He pulled up a few blades of grass and let them fall to test the direction of the wind.
“There’s barely any wind, but it’s coming from the north. So I think we’re right. They have to be somewhere in that direction.”
“Then we should run south!”
Satoru grabbed my arm as I turned around.
“What are you saying? They’ll come after us for sure if we run and we’ll never know when we’ll be attacked from behind.”
“But…” I didn’t understand what he was trying to say. “What do we do then?”
“Isn’t it obvious? We attack first. Unless we exterminate them, we’ll never be safe.”
“But that,” I was at a loss for words. “It’s impossible. You’re the only one that can fight.”
“Even if it’s impossible, we have to do it,” Satoru said resolutely. “You saw what they did to the monk. Cantus is useless for defense. Using it offensively is the only way to stay alive. …but if you’re scared, Saki, you can run. Like you said, I’m the only one who can fight.”
Now that he’s said that, I couldn’t run even if I wanted to. I tried reasoning with him, but in the end we still headed north. No matter how much power we had, if the attack came from an unseen location, we were done for. I acted as an extra pair of eyes for Satoru, prepared to warn him of any dangers.
“We’re most likely within shooting range now. Be careful. Let’s try attacking from here.”
We stood in the shadow of a large rock on the hill and looked up.
“Bullets,” Satoru sang out in a strangely euphoric voice.
Tortoiseshell cracks appeared on the top portion of the rock and split it into small pieces.
“Fly.”
All at once, the rocks rocketed toward the enemies.
Panic broke out at the top of the hill. Screams of fear and rage from the queerats. They seemed to be scrambling to battle formation. There was the metallic sound of metal on metal, and the twang of bowstrings as they fired back at us.
“Fools,” Satoru snorted.
The arrows that had been traveling in a shallow parabola turned in midair and sped back to the archers like faithful hounds.
More cries of pain.
“I wish I could make a wind scythe, but I guess I’ll have to make do,” Satoru said, sounding like he was making plans for some game.
He glanced back. Forty or fifty meters away, trees were ripped out of their roots and hung in the air.
“Go.”
Six huge trees flew toward the top of the hill. I thought they would smash into the enemy camp, but they simply floated above them threateningly.
Screams rose in a cacophony through the air.
“Hm. They look scared.”
Satoru’s attitude was the same as when he was playing with the pusher during the ball tournament.
“But this is kinda boring. …alright, burn!”
The trees burst into flame, turning into giant torches. Clumps of burning leaves fell onto the enemies.
The queerats were thrown into disarray. The fire ignited everything it touched and pillars of thick black smoke rose toward the sky.
“Now’s our chance. Let’s climb up.”
We left the shelter of the rock and wasted no time running up the hill. The queerats who spotted us as we neared the top let out warning cries, but the next moment fell in a burst of white flames.
“Is that what they use to make the gas?” I pointed at a strange clay structure shaped like a mosquito fumigator.
Five or six of them had protrusions like elephant trunks pointed down the hill.
The nearest one exploded into a million pieces. The ones beside it followed. A troop of queerats were hit with the shards and went down instantly.
“Are you playing with them?”
The queerats hesitated when the saw their comrades fall. When the corpses rose like puppets on a string and started toward them, the troops scattered.
It turns out the only thing needed to crush the spirits of the belligerent queerats was to exploit their fear of the supernatural.
“I see…instead of using brute force, controlling them through fear is much more effective.”
Satoru put his newfound knowledge to use immediately. He started raising dead bodies left, right, and center. Queerats who were thought to have no human emotions lost their minds with fear and started attacking each other.
The ones who lost their will to fight and were trying to escape found themselves being choked to death by an invisible hand. In the end, the obliteration of an entire troop took no more than five or six minutes.
“It’s too dangerous to go straight through the field. We’re totally exposed to the rest of the forest where Ground Spider archers might be lurking,” Squealer reported to Satoru.
He was as polite as before, but his words were tinged awe. No doubt he now understood the terrible power of cantus.
“But the Ground Spiders are in the forest, aren’t they?” Satoru scowled discontentedly. “Attacking from here, we can’t see the enemies, and they’ll just get away. And the field is easy to clear too.”
“It is as you say. Imagine however, a single one of them escapes and, heaven forbid, shoots one of the gods with a poison arrow,” Squealer looked up fearfully at Satoru.
There was a gash on his nose and dirt was stuck to the blood here and there.
“Our own arrows only cause numbness, but the Ground Spiders are assassins; the poison they procure from their indigenous frogs are lethal. If you are even grazed by them, there’s no cure. Our spies have found a safe route, so please come with me.”
Once again, Squealer had appeared before us with impeccable timing. After exterminating the troop at the top of the hill, we were having a discussion. I was saying that there was no more danger of being pursued by the enemies and that we should leave as soon as possible. But Satoru was stubbornly insisting on killing all the queerats.
Why was Satoru like this? I was shocked when I looked at his face. The boy I knew so well, the one that hid his kind nature behind a facade of sarcasm and boastfulness was nowhere to be seen. I was looking at someone completely different.
Although he gave all sorts of reasons, like the canoes being hidden too far away, or that we had to strike back when we were struck, I knew from the strange gleam in his eyes that he simply wanted to kill more. No matter what logical argument I came up with, Satoru was unfazed. We had only vague memories of the location of the Ground Spider colony and had no idea where its core (the place the queen lived) was. With so little information, it was impossible to eradicate them. And more importantly, if Satoru was injured, then that would be the end of it.
My tenacity was working and Satoru was beginning to give in. From the bottom of the came a voice calling at us. Fearing a trap by the Ground Spiders, we looked down cautiously, and saw Squealer with the remnants of the Robber Fly colony prostrated on the ground worshipping us from afar. There were only fifty or sixty of them left, a testament to the efficacy of the poison gas.
By Squealer’s explanation, it seemed as if the Robber Fly colony had all retreated deep underground at the smell of the poison gas had been wiped out as a result. (The Ground Spiders probably added the smell of sulfur to the gas, purposely using the queerats’ instinct to hide against them.) On the other hand, Squealer and his group of bodyguards were transporting the queen, and by choosing a higher location, had managed to escape with their lives.
Althou
gh their colony had just suffered a debilitating defeat, Squealer and his troop were in good spirits. For one, the queen was safe (as the queen in the sole reproducer, her death would mean the death of the colony), and for another, they had just seen Satoru defeat the despicable Ground Spiders with his powers.
The remaining Robber Flies were clamoring for revenge. Even the usually calm Squealer was no exception, goading Satoru with the fact that he had previously found out the location of the enemy queen until he had no choice but to agree to subjugating the Ground Spiders.
Let’s go back to the original topic. At Squealer’s insistence, we made a loop to the left at the field and headed toward the Ground Spider’s nest in the forest.
“Is this really safe?” I asked Squealer as we walked. Although it was detour, we were still taking a well-cut path through the undergrowth. If the Ground Spiders were so used to battle, they definitely wouldn’t miss patrolling a route like this.
“Please don’t worry. We sent a scout earlier and there were no signs of the enemy. They must believe that we have all been killed by the poison gas, so they won’t be anticipating an attack right after.”
Were the Ground Spiders such easy opponents? As of two days ago, I would have accepted his words without question. But after yesterday’s events, I was extremely suspicious.
I ordered Squealer to arrange some decoys. It was more for peace of mind than anything else, but Satoru humored me by playing along. Not ten minutes later, this proved to be the right thing to do.
The soldiers walking in front let out sharp warning cries. I had no idea what was happening, but when he looked and started shooting, I realized that we were under attack.
“Gods, hide yourselves! It’s the Ground Spiders!” Squealer cried.
“Where?”
“In the trees…the decoy, they fell for it!”
The queerat I appointed to dress as Satoru was lying on the ground. I had chosen the biggest in the troop, but from far away he still didn’t look humanoid, so I had him wear two hats and a cape as disguise. There were now three arrows sticking out of him. The strange thing was that the arrows had no feathers on them, but were instead wrapped with string.
“Blowguns! Poison darts…watch out!”
Squealer had reached the same conclusion and shouted a warning. Where in the world were the enemies hiding? I scanned the trees but didn’t see any shapes that resembled queerats. I wondered if the shooters could see us as well, but it seemed like they were shooting the darts willy nilly.
There was a rustling in a big oak tree. I couldn’t see anything, but I was sure that something was there.
“Satoru! Shake that tree!”
There were four queerats lying on top of him as a living shield. Ignoring Squealer’s orders, he slipped out under them. As if blown by a storm, the tree swayed and bent. Leaves fell like snow and branches snapped loudly.
Something heavy fell out. At once, the queerat soldiers seized it.
“What is it?” I asked, looking at the thing.
What would be the best way to describe it? It looked like those stick insects from the south, or a relative of the sea horse called the leafy sea dragon.
It was about a meter in length and resembled a normal queerat. Looking carefully, its head and limbs were also like a queerat’s. The difference was that it was abnormally thin and had skin the color of the oak tree and green leafy protrusions growing from its body. It, the Ground Spider’s forest fighter, looked toward the sky and gave a birdlike cry. The Robber Fly soldiers stabbed it with their spears, killing it instantly.
Judging from what just happened, they must have more comrades hidden nearby. I looked around at the trees once more. Now that I knew what to look for, it wasn’t half as difficult. In no time, I spotted three more of the camouflaged soldiers.
Before I had even finished pointing them out, Satoru released his cantus and brought them crashing to the ground.
“What the heck are these things?” I asked.
Satoru looked over the corpses with his brow furrowed. I couldn’t bring myself to touch them, but the protrusions on their bodies and the leafy structures didn’t look artificially made.
“It’s not too surprising though. When we ran into them last night, most of the troop members looked like monsters anyway.”
I thought of the scales covering Captain Pinecone.
“But…so, they can look like anything? Why?”
“I don’t know, but I have a theory,” Satoru covered himself with the hood again. “Anyway, we have to be careful from now on, since we don’t know what forms they might take.”
“We should just turn back. It’s too dangerous.”
“We’ve come too far, they’ll chase down us if we run.”
Satoru left no room for argument, so we kept going.
After a while, the path started curving to the right. We were slowly approaching the Ground Spider’s nest.
I reflected on our encounter with the tree fighters. Satoru had ripped up enormous trees and sent them flying through the air, knocking down more trees and bushes along the way.
Gradually, the dense growth thinned out. On the left was a marsh so full of duckweed it looked like it was covered in confetti.
“Wait,” I held Satoru back by the elbow. “I have a bad feeling about this place.”
I wondered if Satoru was going to mock me, but he looked completely serious.
“You mean there’s a trap?”
“I’m not sure…”
I looked suspiciously at the swamp. Bubbles occasionally rose to the surface and I wondered what they were from. Satoru seemed to be thinking the same thing. He levitated boulders over the swamp, dropping them wherever the bubbles surfaced.
They fell with a giant splash and swampy water flew everywhere.
Nothing happened.
“It’s fine. Let’s go,” he said impatiently.
“…but.”
“Mammals can’t stay that long underwater anyway.”
Right now, Satoru had the last say in everything, so we continued forward slowly.
A strange popping sound came from the swamp.
Three otter-like heads floated on the surface, staring at us.
No one could react. The three heads drew out long pipes and blew their darts at us before slipping quickly back under the water, leaving only ripples in the duckweed.
“Damn it. They’re messing with us,” Satoru’s anger boiled over.
The two Robber Fly soldiers that had been hit died instantly from the poison.
“Fine, hide all you want. …I’ll boil you alive.”
The swamp water began steaming like a hot spring.
I’m not sure why I chose that moment to look away. Anyway, I turned to look in the opposite direction of the swamp and saw something unbelievable.
There was a patch of damp sandy ground full of weeds with a little bulge about twenty centimeters high. What was strange was that the swell was moving slowly, as if moles were tunneling underneath it.
I realized with a jolt that there were more than one of these bumps. Four in all were moving slowly but steadily toward us like sharks following the smell of blood.
I tried to say something but was frozen with fear. Finally I managed to choke out “Satoru…!” but he didn’t hear me. I looked back at the steaming swamp right as they caught the enemy. The queerats gathered around let out triumphant yells.
Three boiled corpses floated in the water. They looked more like frogs than otters, with well developed webs on all four feet.
“Satoru. Behind us…under the sand,” I whispered.
He froze. “Where?”
“One right behind us, about six or seven meters. Two to its left. One behind us diagonally to the right.
Satoru turned around at the same time the four diggers emerged.
In a flash, a spout of swamp water washed over them. The formation fell easily as the boiling water crashed down on their heads.
“Hmm. Were
the frogs a decoy?” Satoru said as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Don’t get complacent. They seem to like using sneak attacks.”
“Satoru, aren’t you tired?”
“Huh? Of course not. This is nothing.”
“Still, you should rest a bit…”
Satoru just smiled in response.
I was concerned because he was drenched in sweat. At that time, I hadn’t thought beyond that simple explanation.
Cantus can supply infinite energy. But in order to do so, you needed immense concentration, and naturally, both our concentration and physical strength were limited.
“Look out!” I shouted as we stood before a bamboo forest.
Something was falling from high in the sky.
“Don’t worry. Everyone, stay where you are!” Satoru stood as if rooted to the spot, staring upward.
The points in the sky gradually grew larger and larger. When I finally recognized that they were boulders, they flew back the way it came as if bouncing off a trampoline.
“They’re still coming!”
The second wave was even greater. Satoru sent all of them flying back.
“Shooting randomly isn’t doing any damage,” Satoru muttered as he broke three of the boulders into smaller pieces and sent them hurtling to where he thought the enemy troops were hidden.
With that, all was silent.
“Did you get them?”
“I dunno.”
The enemy attack stopped. Maybe our retaliation had been more effective than we’d thought. Just then, the third wave of attacks came.
This time they arrived above the forest in a low trajectory. One, two…Satoru deflected the boulders. The gap between sighting and impact was so short that he didn’t have time to block each one individually.
Then one slipped through his net and came flying into our midst.
My blood ran cold. The rock smashed into the ground, sending up huge clouds of dust. Two, three seconds later, sand and twigs came raining down. The remaining queerats scattered like cockroaches.
“Shit…!”
Satoru didn’t have time to check if everyone was okay. He blocked another boulder that came streaking in.
