Chapter 212 — Life Is Cruel (7)
When you don’t have teeth, you chew with your gums.
If the game refused to give me a foothold to the bitter end, I’d just make my own and use that.
With that mindset, I checked how much Mana I had left.
Then I tried forming Mana Spiral only around my legs.
Surprisingly, it worked.
Another fairly significant advantage was that it consumed substantially less Mana than covering my entire body—though it still drained more than I recovered.
Of course, wrapping it independently around both legs, two separate areas of my body, was a massive pain in the ass… but what could I do?
Reality was that every bit of Mana I saved here could go into another attack, or let me fight that much longer.
So I got moving with the feeling that I was being forced to solve multiplication and division in my head while sprinting at full speed.
I missed the Mages’ support a little, but when I imagined them getting smacked by that lava and retiring from the fight within one second, the feeling disappeared quickly.
GRRRRRRIND!
Maybe it was because I had black storms of Mana attached to my legs, but every single step made a sound like a spinning saw blade carving through the ground.
[Ha! Yes. That’s more like it!]
Still, the effect was great.
Now, even stepping directly on lava didn’t hurt me.
The swirling Mana blasted it away in every direction.
BOOM!
Then there was no reason to hesitate anymore.
I charged straight through the volcanic bombs.
Same went for the lava giant.
I jumped over its extended arm, landed on the broad limb, and ran along it.
Since the giant was made of highly viscous lava, my feet did not sink deeply into its body.
[You nearly made this boring, Wrath!]
Around then, the demon finally realized I could push through the lava and approach it, and started moving as well.
The number of volcanic bombs flying at me increased, while the giant’s body began turning yellow and white.
Like a bomb just before detonation.
Clench!
Damn.
I’d planned to reach the giant’s shoulder, then dive straight toward the building.
Swallowing my disappointment, I flipped through the air.
My body veered sideways, spun once in midair, and began to fall.
Clang!
At about that point, the lava giant turned my decision into a very wise one.
Its magma skin shifted violently, and suddenly the bastard changed species into a hedgehog.
Never mind how grotesque the skin covered in countless spikes looked—I had nearly ended up with even more holes in my body.
Good thing I jumped.
Bang, bangbangbang!
Unfortunately, I did not get to congratulate myself for long.
The demon continued attacking even while I was falling.
Those damned volcanic bombs in particular came flying in relentless succession, making my life miserable.
I could avoid some just by twisting my body, but not all of them.
Some forced me to actively do something.
Tap!
But as they say, a crisis can become an opportunity.
At first I had dealt with the volcanic bombs by cutting them apart with my sword, but I soon decided to use them as footholds instead.
With the things flying simultaneously from every direction, trying to cut every single one would get me nowhere.
Well, that only worked because their surfaces had cooled enough to become more like rock.
If they’d been made entirely of liquid, I doubt the idea of stepping on them would have occurred to me.
[Where do you think you’re going!?]
But directly beneath the air I had just leapt through, the ground surged upward like fire before erupting with magma.
SPLASH!
As it rose like water, I instinctively released my Mana.
It was similar to the time I had shaken off the plants wrapped around my entire body.
Lines of Mana erupted densely without a single gap, cutting, slicing, and forcing the lava away.
BOOM!
And then there were spikes erupting from the ground the instant I landed!
Without even getting time to breathe, I moved to evade them.
The spikes completely blocked the path toward the building, so I couldn’t even head that way.
The demon’s cunning placement forced me slightly farther away from it.
Trying again ended the same way.
Whenever I so much as started approaching the building, the demon not only increased the intensity of its attacks but also formed obstacle after obstacle.
They were on a level where, even if I was willing to take damage, I didn’t think I could break through.
[I’m right here!]
The bastard even moved personally.
Pandemonium closed in on me and spun its body.
A tail as large as its torso followed the rotation and stretched out long.
SPLASH!
What a tail swipe.
The problem wasn’t its power.
The problem was that the damned attack had knockback, which pushed me even farther from the building, and the place I had been knocked into just happened to be inside the lava giant’s attack range!
BOOM!
I narrowly avoided the giant’s fist and clenched my teeth.
Ritual altar or whatever, it looked like there was no answer unless I killed this fucking demon first.
A conclusion that pissed me off even more.
RUMBLERUMBLERUMBLE—BOOM!
At that moment, stone spears with magma glowing between their cracks began erupting from the lava.
Another ranged attack after the volcanic bombs.
Even small lava creatures made from rock began emerging one after another.
Maybe having at least one add-summoning skill was simply a defining trait of powerful demons.
Seriously.
No sense of fair play whatsoever.
Was this seriously designed as a solo raid?
Grinding my teeth hard enough to ache, I shattered the approaching stone spear and cut apart another volcanic bomb.
‘Kill it.’
“I’ll kill you.”
Creeeeak.
The screech of metal rang out.
* * *
“The water level keeps rising, my lord!”
“…How is the evacuation going?!”
“We received a report from the Adventurer Guild! Evacuation has begun from the south and west. They’ve opened the gates and are guiding the citizens out! The destination is Zwerg Hill!”
The lord of Bemurchen clenched his teeth as report after report came in about both the battle and the city.
Thanks to the presence of the Hero, the walls were taking far less damage than they normally would have.
But now there was the approaching “island” to worry about.
And inside the city, everything was simply a problem.
“Get them out quickly. As fast as possible! Make absolutely certain no one gets caught in the fighting and killed!”
“Yes!”
“W-we’re finished… There’s a demon in the city too…….”
The most decisive problem was still that damned giant.
“…Who said that?! Who’s spouting such weakness?!”
“……!”
“Do not be afraid! The demon that appeared inside the city is already being dealt with! It will soon be destroyed, and not so much as its corpse will be allowed to remain on this land!”
He glanced toward the northern part of the city and ground his teeth.
The sky was so choked with storm clouds that neither moon nor stars could be seen.
Beneath it, the giant of fire alone blazed brightly, along with the district around it that had begun to burn.
He found himself worrying unnecessarily over whether the Adventurer he had reluctantly sent there alone was doing all right.
That remained true even though the giant was flailing around in one place rather than rampaging through the city.
It was probably doing that because the Adventurer was holding it there, keeping it from going anywhere else…….
Still.
Was it really right to have one human fighting a monster that enormous alone?
He wondered whether trusting the Adventurer’s confidence and redirecting even the Adventurer Guild’s and Magic Tower’s support elsewhere had truly been the right choice.
As the Adventurer had said, those people would likely just go there and die like dogs, so using them to evacuate civilians was more efficient… but was this really, truly the right choice?
“The evacuation order is nothing more than a precaution against the worst! So steel yourselves and fight! Do not doubt the city—fight with faith in it! There is only one way for us to protect this city: trust one another, hold your positions, and stop those goddamned fish!”
But his own plate was already overflowing.
After barely calming the agitated soldiers with his booming shout, he beckoned to the messengers.
He intended to have word sent to officers throughout the battlefield, ordering them to do everything in their power to keep the soldiers’ morale from collapsing.
“Tell them this as well. If it looks as though the wall will be breached, we may abandon it and retreat. Have them prepare for that possibility.”
“Yes!”
“Of course, if a retreat is decided, a signal flare will be launched. They are not to flee first merely because they are afraid. Make that absolutely clear. And do not forget to keep the soldiers from overhearing this.”
At that, the former elite soldier—literate enough to both read and write, but forced to become a messenger after injuring his shoulder—bowed loyally.
The other messengers did the same.
Those who had received their orders ran off first.
“…And you said the water level was rising?”
“Yes.”
The lord then returned to the issue he had put aside while reassuring the soldiers and spoke with the officer responsible for the sluice gates.
In the time he had spent calming the troops, the water had risen to a level that looked dangerous even to his eyes.
He had a feeling they would soon have to abandon the first wall.
“For now, open sluice gates five through nine. And move the soldiers back to the inner wall!”
He issued the orders immediately.
Filling the city’s waterways would slow the residents’ evacuation somewhat, but the sea level had grown too high.
There was no other choice.
Unless they drained the water somehow, the mermen would soon be able to jump from the sea’s surface straight onto the wall.
“Opening Gate Five!”
“Opening Gate Six!”
“Gate Seven…….”
Still, with a bare minimum of conscience, he left Gates One through Four closed.
In other words, he opened only the smaller sluices that mermen could not pass through.
The city waterways would fill with water, but the evacuees would not be attacked by mermen in the meantime.
Besides, with only Gates Five through Nine open, it would still take a considerable amount of time for the city’s channels to fill.
Sssssss!
“Motherless, fatherless sons of bitches.”
Then, for a moment—
Around the time the soldiers were gradually withdrawing to the second wall, the person who had originally come merely to perform maintenance and somehow ended up fighting alongside them sent yet another merman to its death with a curse.
The merman’s skin, whose slime often caused even blades to slide harmlessly aside, was simply melting away.
All because of an item no larger than an adult’s fist that Meister had named an “Alkaline Bomb.”
“Ha. If you had something this good, couldn’t you have made it sooner?”
“If that were possible, wouldn’t someone like you be able to become a Grandmaster Craftsman too, my lord?”
“You never let a single remark go unanswered, do you?”
Astonished by its power and disappointed by how few they had, the lord nevertheless stopped complaining too harshly.
After all, the Alkaline Bomb was something Meister had researched entirely on personal initiative, without even being asked—apparently after finding a clue while researching a coat.
Since having the prototype inspected by him, Meister had accepted his commission, begun working, and produced a full hundred of them—even though everything from the containers to the contents was handmade.
Considering they had all been produced in only six days, it was by no means a small number.
“That’s enough. You should head inside soon. You’ve confirmed the effect more than enough by now.”
“Don’t want to.”
“You’re a talent with no replacement. Separate personal feelings from official business.”
He did not want to see Meister’s grandfather Werner disappointed, but neither could he ignore Meister’s importance as a person.
It would be an exaggeration to say Meister’s touch could already be found everywhere, given how relatively little of a life had been lived thus far… but when it came to weapons of war, Meister had created far too many things that mattered.
The lord pointed that out.
“After I find out what that island is.”
“…Sometimes I resent the fact that you’re a Mage.”
“Have you never considered that I’d be like this even if I weren’t one?”
“What makes it worse is that I can’t even argue with that.”
The lord sighed as he looked at the damned researcher whose curiosity mattered more than concern for personal survival.
Then he lightly tapped Meister on the shoulder.
The person who believed it was perfectly acceptable to hit other people but not acceptable for others to touch them without permission immediately raised both eyebrows.
“If you’re staying, remain beside the Hero. It’s safer there.”
“…Fine.”
The lord drove a spear into the mouth of a merman that had finally managed to climb up, then lifted it bodily.
The weapon’s blade, longer than an ordinary spearhead, smashed through the merman’s skull and emerged from the top.
“Move with courage! God is with us!”
“RAAAAAH!”
The battle remained as fierce as ever.
“…My lord.”
But then…….
“I think I have a rough idea what that thing is.”
“……?”
A moment later, the lord fitted the item he always carried over his eyes and groaned instead of feeling hope.
“But… no matter how I look at it, it appears to be a turtle. Am I right?”
Through vision that brightened even the night, the true form of the “island” slowly came into focus.
“…That’s what it looks like to me too. Though in all my years, I’ve certainly never seen a turtle that size.”
The faintly discernible “island” was an enormous turtle.
A turtle with long legs, a long neck, and a shell covered in rock, as though it had slept in the deepest ocean and only now emerged into shallow seas to see sunlight.
“Is that what the legendary Yukgwi is supposed to look like?”
He truly could not tell whether the records passed down through the generations had been useful or useless.
A dragon had not appeared as the records described, yet the weapon they had developed in preparation for a dragon looked as though it might still be useful.
Swallowing a low groan, the lord lowered the item.
Then he looked for Meister.
Though half a beat later, he remembered that he had personally sent Meister to the Hero’s side.
“Tch.”
He raised a hand to summon a messenger, then changed his mind.
He would go himself.
“I’m going to inspect another area. I leave this place to you!”
“Yes!”
After clapping the officer commanding that section on the shoulder, he took the knight who served as his guard and ran along the wall.
“Do not be afraid! We have God’s messenger with us!”
“We have fought the sea all our lives! We can win again this time!”
“Do not surrender yourselves to fear! Fear of losing your lives will erase even the possibility that you might survive!”
“Focus on the enemy in front of you! I will open a path for you to live. I swear it!”
He continued encouraging the soldiers throughout the entire journey.
His legs were nearly at the portion of the wall enveloped in a golden barrier.
“My lord! We’ve received word from the Magic Tower!”
At that moment, a messenger who had climbed the wall caught up to him and shouted.
The lord’s brows rose.
“What is it?”
“They say most of the Mages will assist the citizens’ evacuation and flee with them, while those still capable of combat will be sent here. However, Grand Sage Blue Coral has suffered severe injuries, so we were told not to expect personal support from the Grand Sage…….”
“What?!”
The lord reflexively raised his voice, then realized the fierce roar of the battlefield had just barely swallowed it.
His distorted face lowered its volume.
“…What condition is the Grand Sage in?”
“That wasn’t included in the message… B-but they did mention something more important. That demon that appeared behind us… apparently it’s performing some sort of ritual to bring something down—”
“The demon that summoned that giant seems to be trying to manifest a demonic realm here.”
Flap!
The sound of clothing fluttering brushed his ears at that moment.
A towering, heavily wounded Sland flew dozens of meters through the air and landed on the battlement.
As though she had been at the site of a fire until moments ago, she was covered in ash, dust, and burns.
Prrr.
Somewhere behind her came the faint sound of a horse snorting.
CRACK!
“To be more precise, it seemed to be performing a ritual that brings a space existing somewhere else into this location. I called it a demonic realm because it was so densely filled with Demonic Energy that it gave me that impression.”
Despite not being a soldier, she swung one of the spears issued to the soldiers.
Her precise strike instantly killed a Merman Warrior Captain that had just been climbing onto the wall.
Looking closely, she seemed unable to use one arm and one leg.
That made the feat all the more astonishing.
At this point, he could forgive her for helping herself to a spear.
“Manifesting a demonic realm… Is such a thing even…….”
“I don’t know. But the fact that it introduced itself as Pandemonium, the Seat of Greed, seems worth taking into consideration.”
The color of tree sap hardened over many long years flickered between faded eyelashes.
The faintly etched wrinkles on her face made her age even harder to guess.
“A Great Demon……!”
“The Demon Knight is strong, but the opponent appears to have made thorough preparations. The sensible course would be to finish things here quickly and go help him.”
The lord squeezed his eyes shut at her words.
Good thing we evacuated the people beforehand.
That was all he could think.
An unknown giant beast in front.
A Great Demon behind.
There was no answer.
“And you… No, shouldn’t you be in the infirmary? Can you even walk?”
“Don’t worry. I’m used to walking on one leg. And if you were trying to ask who I am, I’m one of the Demon Knight’s companions and part of the Hero’s party. I know the things I just told you because I fought that demon myself.”
“You fought it?”
“Was it Blue Coral…? That Mage was fighting a Demon Contractor with only one guard, and it looked obvious they were going to lose, so I intervened. You can ask about it later.”
Blue Coral.
The lord barely managed to stop himself from shouting in alarm.
Instead, he forced himself to listen.
This was not the time to worry about someone who was not present.
“I got beaten rather badly, so I had no choice but to leave it to the Demon Knight and come here… but I don’t think the Demon Knight is a particularly good match against that demon either. The Hero should probably go.”
After mentioning bits about the Contractor, how the demon had appeared when she tried to kill the Contractor, and so on, she concluded by saying the matchup was poor and she had left the fight to the Demon Knight.
The story might not have been perfectly organized, but it did not sound impossible.
Her injuries, which looked extremely fresh, lent it particular credibility.
And most importantly, if she really belonged to the Hero’s party, the Hero would recognize her.
So he nodded to show that he understood, then called to the Hero, who was within earshot.
The Hero was treating the injured as well, which made it convenient.
Even though they were complete strangers, the woman’s injuries were severe enough to cause genuine concern.
“Meister! Hero!”
“What is it?”
“My lord? Ah, Berserk! Your body……!”
“…I’m not Berserk.”
“Ah, you’re Weapon Master! More importantly, your injuries… Let me heal you at once!”
“Huh? Sir Weapon Master, you’re here?”
“Thank you.”
So the platinum-blond warrior really was the Hero’s companion.
Then everything she had said was probably true.
Which naturally meant Blue Coral as well…….
“Meister! No matter how I look at that turtle, whether it’s a demon or not, I doubt it has friendly intentions toward us. Do you think the ‘Failure’ could hurt it?”
The lord pulled his thoughts back before they drifted elsewhere.
At the same time, he finally explained why he had come here.
Thud!
Even now, everyone’s hands continued fighting.
“Turtle?”
“Look for yourself!”
He threw the observation item to Meister.
Taking off the glasses, Meister threw an Alkaline Bomb with the other hand and pressed the observation item to one eye.
“…I can’t give you a definite answer. We have no idea how hard that turtle’s shell is, and the ‘Failure’ has only undergone the bare minimum of power testing.”
“You cannot even estimate whether it’ll work?”
“…It has penetrated steel before. If the shell is only about that tough, then yes, it should be able to inflict damage.”
Good.
That was enough.
The lord issued an order.
“Prepare it. I want you able to fire the moment the decision is made.”
“Give me some people.”
“Take whoever you want.”
“And clear some installation space too. Setting it up takes time, so you have to account for that…….”
“I’ll give you everything you need, so just get moving!”
“Fine.”
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The Grandmaster Craftsman shrugged and hurried down below.
“You follow too. Protect Meister as though you were protecting me!”
The lord hurriedly sent his own guard after the person who seemed liable to blow away like a dandelion seed.
“Um, my lord…….”
Only then did the Hero, who had remained quiet until now, react.
The Inquisitor, who had been treating the injured and pushing back the mermen climbing onto the wall, glanced gently toward him.
Good timing.
They would need the Hero’s cooperation if Meister was going to operate the weapon.
The lord spoke quickly.
“Hero, we possess a weapon capable of attacking a giant beast like—”
BOOM!
Just then, his vision seemed to brighten for an instant.
A heartbeat later, thunder struck his ears.
The gap between the lightning and the thunder was so short that the strike must have landed quite nearby.
“……?”
“That place…….”
And the lightning had struck precisely where the giant of fire stood.
The place where the Demon Knight was fighting.
The very space where the demon opposed him.
Lightning just happened to strike there?
Was that truly coincidence?
“Demon Knight…….”
KRAKABOOM!
“……!”
Lightning struck again.
Almost exactly the same spot as before.
Far too strange to dismiss as coincidence.
Those on the wall instinctively felt a chill settle somewhere in their chests.
It was an anxiety they could not wash away until they witnessed the truth with their own eyes.
Yet because they could not go and see for themselves, all they could do was believe.
The Inquisitor’s face went pale.