A faceless snake stared them down.
“Tiona, we pound it to dust.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“Lefiya, start casting in case we need backup.”
“Y-yes.”
Tione issued orders to the others as they took up positions around the monster.
The ground trembled again as the monster shifted its attention to the twins charging at full speed.
A moment later, it used its entire body like a whip planted in the ground to attack the girls head-on.
“!”
The Amazons quickly jumped out of the way.
Stones flew in every direction as the beast’s body slammed onto the street. Fragments flew through the surrounding houses and buildings, opening countless holes. Another cloud of smoke and debris filled the ten-meder-wide street.
Crick, crick, crick. The monster’s body made a truly unnerving sound as it straightened up once again. Tione and Tiona circled around the creature to attack from behind.
“?!”
“What’s this thing made of, solid steel?!”
Sharp pain shot through their arms the moment their punches connected.
The monster’s skin repelled the attack.
Despite being unarmed, the Amazonian twins were top-class adventurers. Hundreds of thousands of monsters had been literally torn apart by their hands. And yet, neither of them could make a dent in this one. All their powerful fists had done was make the creature flinch. In fact, the creature’s armor had inflicted more damage on them.
Tiona shook her right hand so fast it was a blur, eyes opened wide in shock.
“—!!”
The creature let out a ferocious, angry roar. Perhaps their attacks had done damage after all. It started violently whipping its body around, like an angry bull trying to buck off a rider.
The twins quickly retreated to a safe distance before finding new windows to attack.
“We can’t end this with our fists!”
“Ah, what I wouldn’t give for a sword right now!”
The girls yelled back and forth as they landed blow after blow against the monster but couldn’t seem to land a decisive hit.
The monster was very quick to counterattack, but the girls were too agile. The snakelike creature had turned most of the street into rubble but had yet to make contact with its opponents.
Neither side could gain an advantage. The battle was a stalemate, but neither side was backing down.
Meanwhile, Lefiya had found cover outside of the monster’s range and begun casting a spell.
“Unleashed beam of light, limbs of the holy tree. You are the master archer.”
She had no staff to help focus her magical energy. Therefore, she stuck her arm out straight forward and concentrated her energy into her palm.
The spell valued speed over destructive power. While it couldn’t wipe out hordes of enemies, it was more applicable to a wide variety of situations in combat.
Even better, the creature was completely distracted by Tiona’s and Tione’s attacks. It hadn’t even looked in Lefiya’s direction. She had plenty of time to focus and wait for an opening.
The elf’s voice flowed like a musical melody as a golden magic circle spread beneath her feet.
“Loose your arrows, fairy archers. Pierce, arrow of accuracy!”
The spell was complete. All that remained was to concentrate all her magical energy to a single point and pull the “trigger.” Suddenly—
The creature turned away from the twins and looked directly at her.
“Huh?”
Lefiya’s heart skipped a beat. The creature’s quick reaction to the new threat sent a chill down her spine.
The monster that had completely ignored her up until now suddenly had its faceless head pointed directly at her.
The Amazons were already getting out of the way—Lefiya knew in that moment this creature was sensitive to magical energy.
The realization came a second too late.
A sudden impact tore through her stomach.
“—ah.”
A pale-green tendril had shot out of the ground at her feet.
Without any armor to absorb the blow, Lefiya felt the green appendage, as thick as Lefiya’s arm, slam into normal cloth.
“Ka-AHH!” Blood erupted from her mouth, splattering on the ground. She could feel every unnatural crunch inside her abdomen as even more blood dripped from her mouth.
““LEFIYA?!””
The blow knocked the elf clean off her feet. Her eyes rolled into her head as she flew backward. Thud! She landed on her back, body twitching.
Tiona and Tione screamed at the top of their lungs and rushed to her aid. The elf’s feminine frame was much more delicate than their own. A hit like that could be fatal. Lefiya stopped moving, lying eerily still.
The tendril that burst from the ground started to wiggle. At the same time, the creature began to change.
It raised its lump-like head toward the sky. Crick! Crick! Lines appeared—and it bloomed.
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”
Its roar reverberated through the streets.
Many petals stretched out to sunlight.
Each of them was an ominous deep red.
They all met in the center, a gigantic mouth lined with fangs. Pollen shook free with every movement.
The flesh inside its mouth was light pink. Its magic stone was visible deep in its throat as the beast turned toward its prey.
“Not a snake…but a flower?!”
Tiona yelled in horror.
The long body was actually a stem. Its faceless lump of a head turned out to be a bud.
The ferocious carnivorous flower turned its terrifying visage toward Lefiya.
Several more tendrils exploded from the ground as the creature’s body slithered toward the helpless elf.
“Lefiya, get up!!”
“GAHHH, outta my way!!”
Tione and Tiona’s path to their ally was blocked by the tendrils. No matter how many times they knocked one of the pale-green appendages to the ground, it would just rise again. Lefiya lay motionless in the middle of a wriggling forest of roots.
The Amazonian twins screamed as the monster’s head hovered over their friend.
No! Lefiya thought.
The creature’s long body blocked the sun overhead. Cast in shade, her body wouldn’t move, no matter how many times she begged it to stand. The cloud of pollen around her had become so thick it was hard to breathe. Even now, she could hear drops of saliva falling from overhead and landing next to her face.
Screams seemed distant. Some residents hadn’t evacuated in time and now watched in terror as the creature prepared to devour her. Guild employees and adventurers did their best to guide the unlucky souls to safety as quickly as possible.
No, NO!! Lefiya screamed in her head.
She commanded her arms and legs to move. Anywhere was better than here. She called on every muscle, every tendon, every nerve to get her away from this creature.
But it was all for nothing. The creature’s mouth was closing in and she couldn’t budge.
“Aa-AAA!” At last, sound escaped from her throat.
Her cloudy eyes reflected nothing but the monster’s incoming fangs and bloodred petals.
NO, NO, NOT AGAIN!
It’s the same as before. Why is it always like this?
That’s going to happen again.
Someone else is going to—
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
Gold and silver streaks flashed before her eyes.
The creature’s head was severed from its body. Lefiya saw sparkling blond hair through her painful tears.
Not from physical pain—that amazing girl had saved her
once again.
The monster’s final cries echoed through the streets as its head slammed into a stone wall.
Aiz had arrived at the last possible moment, slicing the creature’s neck with all her strength. She landed gracefully on what was left of the stone street and turned to face her allies.
The monster’s entire body was convulsing. It had been mere seconds away from devouring Lefiya, but now its headless body had collapsed to the ground next to her. It wriggled and twitched for a few moments before coming to a stop.
“Aiz!”
The tendrils that had been keeping the Amazons at bay fell limp to the street.
The human girl looked around and knew she’d arrived in the nick of time.
Her magic had alerted her to the presence of an unreported monster the moment she had slain the sixth festival escapee. Just like Tiona, Tione, and Lefiya, she rushed into battle. She saw the mage take a direct hit. Thanks to the wind’s assistance, Aiz managed to enter the fray in time to prevent Lefiya’s untimely death.
Aiz saw the twins rushing toward her, but she cast her gaze toward the elf.
Lefiya was still motionless on the ground. Aiz took a step toward her when suddenly—
The ground in front of her started to crack.
“…!”
Rumbling from beneath the street reached her ears a moment later.
Aiz took a defensive stance as the stones around her shook hard enough to leave the ground.
“Wha—what now?!”
“There’s more?!”
Pale-green stalks rose from the dirt as the twins yelled out to each other.
Three of them, all around Aiz.
Rising up like bars of a living cage, the buds opened wide and bared their fangs at the girl trapped inside.
Their moist breath was hot on her face. Aiz frowned and looked at each of her opponents in turn—when, without warning…
SNAP! A spiderweb of cracks ran through the rapier a second before it shattered.
“—”
“Huh—”
“Wha—”
Words left Aiz and the twins as all three girls watched the splinters of metal fall to the ground.
The blade couldn’t withstand the combination of Airiel and Aiz’s aggressive fighting style. Pushed beyond its limit, the weapon literally fell to pieces.
She had forgotten her own situation in the crucial moment—Aiz slew every monster with the rapier as if she were using Desperate. The last bits of the weapon flashed in the sunlight as they landed at her feet.
Someone was going to be very angry with her.
The first thing to jump into Aiz’s mind wasn’t the perilous situation of being unarmed against powerful foes but the fact that she could no longer return the rapier to its rightful owner.
“—!!”
The carnivorous plants howled.
All three fanged blossoms converged on her at once. Aiz quickly jumped out of the way.
“!”
A small sliver of the rapier still remained attached to the hilt in her right hand. Aiz brought it down on the closest monster.
Pain instantly shot through her wrist as the beast’s skin rejected what was left of the sharp edge. The wind’s assistance made no difference. Aiz took one look at the creature’s undamaged body and gave up trying that again.
“Why are they ignoring us? This time it’s Aiz!”
“They can sense Magic…?!”
No matter how many times Tiona and Tione struck the monsters, all three stayed in hot pursuit of the human girl.
Aiz weaved and dodged her way away from Lefiya. The heads took turns tearing through the air and crashing into the street teeth-first. Meanwhile, more tendril-like roots emerged from the ground to protect their bodies against the Amazons’ attacks.
“Aiz, get rid of your Magic! They’ll follow you until you do!”
“But…”
“We can take them one-on-one!”
The monsters’ snakelike bodies slammed into a line of nearby street stalls, sending them flying in their pursuit of the blond girl.
The Amazonian twins called out to Aiz as they jumped in and out of the way of the mobile green stems. The human protested at first but saw the logic in their suggestion and was about to dismiss the wind protecting her.
That’s when she saw her.
“—”
She caught a glimpse of a small human figure out of the corner of her eye.
A civilian who hadn’t escaped in time.
An animal-person child had been hiding behind the street stalls. Overcome by fear, the girl sat on the stone street, shaking uncontrollably. Their eyes met.
If Aiz tried to dodge the monsters’ next attack to the right, their long bodies would crush the girl in an instant.
She made her decision.
Strong wind gathered around her.
Aiz jumped onto the debris on her left.
Fanged jaws came down.
“Are you all right?”
A hand reached out to assist the groaning and flinching Lefiya.
The elf reached up with a trembling hand, grabbed hold, and managed to sit up.
“Ka-khaaa…kahh…aah…?!”
More blood dripped down her chin as she coughed. A female Guild employee offered her shoulder and helped the elf to her feet.
Her stomach and dry throat felt like they were on fire.
Every muscle movement sent a wave of searing pain through her body. It took every ounce of willpower she had to focus her eyes on her surroundings.
It was utter destruction. The stone pavement was in pieces, piles of debris everywhere. Near-skeletons of buildings were all that was left of shops and homes that once stood here. The street stalls were completely gone; only the occasional menu or piece of wood amid the rubble proved they were ever there.
Vision going in and out of focus, Lefiya searched for her friends.
Searched for the adventurers much stronger than herself. The ones who’d so kindly protected her despite existing on a completely different plane.
At last, her vision cleared enough to catch a glimpse of her allies not too far down the street.
“—”
What she saw made her blood run cold.
Inside the wooden remains of a destroyed shop.
One of the monsters had its jaws around a human girl, her blond hair just barely visible beneath its petals.
Only the torrent of powerful storm winds was keeping its mouth from closing all the way. At the same time, two more of the creatures were chomping at her legs. The Amazonian twins were doing their best to pull the monsters back, but to no avail.
Countless fangs were plunging deep into the wind, mere moments away from Aiz’s vulnerable skin.
“Please don’t move. We need to get you to a doctor!”
The half-elf Guild employee desperately tried to get Lefiya to stop struggling.
Noticing that the injured mage wasn’t blinking, the Guild employee followed Lefiya’s blue eyes. The half-elf’s heart skipped a beat.
“Ganesha Familia will be here shortly. Leave it to them; you need to get to safety!”
“…!”
Lefiya’s pain-ridden body lurched forward.
She struggled to breathe as the Guild employee calmly tried to coax her into retreating. Lefiya’s gaze dropped to her left hand.
Ganesha Familia. They had weapons and armor. Most likely, they could save her friends. There was no doubt in her mind that they would be much more help than she would in her critically injured state.
The pain coursing through her body was telling her to turn her back and run.
Lefiya cleared her throat, shut her eyes—then.
She clenched her left hand into a fist and opened her eyes with vigor.
She stood up by her own power.
“…?!”
“—I am Lefiya Viridis! An elf of the Wishe Forest!”
The Guild employee watched in silence as Lefiya tried to drive the weak
ness out of her body with the power of her voice.
“I am bound to the Goddess Loki. A member of the strongest, proudest, noblest familia in all of Orario. I refuse to run away!”
Her words became stronger with each passing syllable.
A new energy flowed into her as willpower took over like the trigger of a magic spell. Lefiya took one step forward, then another before taking off at a full run.
She returned to the battlefield in hopes that she could save her friends from their desperate situation.
—I know, I know all too well!
Lefiya already understood.
I will only get in their way!
She was destined to always live in their shadows. She would never measure up.
She always had been and always would be protected by them.
No matter how hard she tried to help, they would always kindly push her away from danger at the moment of truth. They would say nice things like, “Leave this to us,” and refuse to let her fight alongside them.
Just like before.
No matter how strong I try to be, I don’t belong!
Any efforts to chase them would be futile. Clinging to their coattails would only widen the gap.
This feeling of inferiority tormented her to the point of submission. They were so far above her it was maddening.
The realization broke her spirit. The others were immensely powerful—the golden aura of that girl was strong; she was weak.
But…!
She wanted to give chase.
She wanted to help. She wanted to be useful.
If possible, she wanted to be part of the group.
She wanted to become someone who the girls who had accepted her, the girls who had saved her over and over again, would allow to stand side by side with them at the most desperate of times.
“!”
She was in range.
Lefiya came close enough to the monsters that there was no chance her Magic would miss.
Dark blue eyes locked onto the monsters ensnaring her friends and she began to cast.
“I beseech the name of Wishe!”
In the end, all she could do was cling.
It was the only way to reach their height.
“Ancestors of the forest, proud brethren. Answer my call and descend upon the plains.”
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 1 Page 19
