It was mysterious—a wonder—that Rororo with his animal brain, on the verge of death, would continue to rush toward Iguvua, who was causing him pain.
In fact, his enemy Iguvua couldn’t understand it. He even considered that the beast might have been manipulated by some kind of magic.
But that wasn’t it.
No, it was something else.
Something Iguvua couldn’t understand.
Rororo, with no more intelligence than an animal, was running for his family.
Rororo didn’t know his parents’ faces. It wasn’t that hydras abandoned their young; babies lived with one parent until a certain age, learning the skills to survive in nature. So why hadn’t that been the case for Rororo?
It was because he was deformed. Usually hydras were born with eight heads, and as they aged, they grew more, sometimes as many as twelve. But Rororo was born with just four, so his parents abandoned him and took only his siblings with them.
As a newborn hydra without parents to care for him—regardless of how big he had the potential to grow up to be—in the unforgiving wild, it would only be a matter of time before his young life was extinguished…
…except a male lizardman happened to pass by and pick him up.
That was when Rororo gained a mother, father, and childhood friend all in one.
Through the pain, with his numb mind, Rororo hazily recalled something he was always wondering. Why am I so big? Why do I have all these heads? He thought about this sometimes when he looked at his dad—his family. And he had an idea: Maybe these extra heads will fall off, and I’ll grow arms and legs long like grass, and I’ll look like Dad.
And then what would they do?
Oh. We’ll sleep together for the first time in so long. He’d gotten so big that they ended up sleeping in different places. That made him just a little lonely.
Flames filled Rororo’s field of vision, blowing his thoughts away, and searing pain pummeled him again. He emitted a feeble cry. There was no longer any place he didn’t hurt terribly. A sense of peaceful warmth came from behind him, but it felt so weak to his scorched body.
He endured the pain like being bashed with innumerable hammers.
It hurt so much, too much; he couldn’t think.
His legs became frantic, unending spasms signaling him, telling him to stop.
But…
But! Did Rororo stop moving his legs?
No, he did not.
He advanced. Yes, his speed had slowed to a crawl. The flames burned his flesh, pulled at his muscles. It was impossible to run at his usual pace.
Even taking a step forward was unbearable.
It hurt to breathe. Just trying to inhale one more gasp of air was difficult. It was possible his lungs were burned.
Still, his feet would not stop.
Now only one of his heads was moving. The others were nothing more than dead weight. In his clouded field of vision, he could make out the undead conjuring another fireball in his hand.
Rororo’s instincts screamed at him—I will die if this attack connects. But Rororo was not afraid. Forward, forward, he moved single-mindedly forward…
He’d been asked to do this by his mother-father-friend, so there was no way he could stop.
He desperately—staggering slowly, his energy spent—advanced a few more steps, when the undead loosed the crimson flames through the sky toward him.
They would burn up the rest of Rororo’s life. It was undeniable.
In other words, death.
The end of everything…
Except…
Yes, except that male was here…
Would he let this happen?
This absurdity?
Not in a million years.
“Icy Burst!” Zaryusu jumped out from behind Rororo and, running parallel to him, swung Frost Pain at the same time he shouted. A wall of white frost appeared in front of Rororo, as if the air itself had frozen starting from the tip of Zaryusu’s sword. It was frigid, a wintry torrent brought forth by Frost Pain.
This was one of the magical sword’s abilities, a special move that could be used only three times per day, Icy Burst. It could chill everything in the area and cause massive damage.
The wall that Zaryusu whipped up blocked the fireball as if it had physical strength. A jewel of fire and a wall of cold air—magical logic made it appropriate that these two should clash.
Impact.
The fierce battle between flame and frost began. The two devoured each other like cannibal snakes of red and white. After an instant of equilibrium, they both faded.
The undead was shocked and visibly panicked. That was the most apt attitude to have after his magic vanished.
There was still some distance between Zaryusu and Iguvua, but they could make out each other’s facial expressions and movements now. Rororo’s desperate march had brought the three lizardmen this far across the seemingly impossible distance unscathed.
“Rororo…” Zaryusu got choked up for a moment. Of all the countless things that came to mind to say, he chose one that was extremely concise and pure.
“Thank you!”
With that shout, Zaryusu ran forward without turning to look back at Rororo. Crusch and Zenbel followed immediately after. Behind them, a nearly fainting voice replied—a cheer for his family.
Iguvua’s eyes widened. His fireball had been negated. He expressed his disbelief in words: “This can’t be!”
He cast another spell. Of course, it was Fireball. He didn’t want to admit that the one who had erased his spell was the lizardman currently charging his way.
The fireball raced toward the three lizardmen.
The one out in front swung his sword and created an icy wall to repel it, and both spells disappeared. Yes, it was the same thing that had happened before.
“Shoot as many as you want! I’ll erase them all!” he heard the lizardman shout.
Iguvua clicked his tongue in annoyance. I was created by the Supreme One, Lord Ainz! How can this reptile scum block my magic?! He frantically calmed his mind, seething with rage.
There was an extremely good chance that Fireball wouldn’t work against them anymore, but the fact that they had approached by hiding behind the hydra meant there had to be some kind of limit on how many times that spell could be used. Maybe he could use it ten times. Maybe each use consumed some of his health, so as long as he healed he could use it an infinite amount of times.
How should I deal with this? If possible, I want to find out if what he said is true…
Iguvua could still shoot plenty of fireballs, but he couldn’t tell if the lizardman was bluffing or not.
They were only forty yards apart. Also, as far as he could tell, the lizardmen approaching him were warriors. As a caster, he didn’t want a close-quarters fight.
That was why he couldn’t use Fireball. He wasn’t foolish enough to try and see how many more they could block under these circumstances. If they hadn’t been behind the hydra, if they weren’t so close, he might have tried experimenting. But his chances for that had been ruined by that pesky hydra.
“You…damned hydra…” Iguvua spat and decided to make his next move. “How about this?”
Luckily for him, everyone just happened to be in a straight line. He pointed a finger at the three rapidly approaching lizardmen. Shocks sparked around it. “Take this—and taste my thundering wrath! Lightning!” White lightning streaked across space. And then—
Even at a distance, he could see it—the white light coming from Iguvua’s hand, Lightning. Frost Pain’s Icy Burst could block chill and fire attacks, but Zaryusu had never tried using it against Lightning, so he wasn’t sure if the sword could block it or not. Should they take the risk? Or was it better to disperse, make themselves less of a target, and limit the number of injuries?
Zaryusu tensed the hand that held Frost Pain. The air felt like it was buzzing with electricity—proof that the shock was on its way.
“Leave th
is to meee!”
Before Zaryusu could make a decision, Zenbel rushed out in front with a shout. At almost the same time, the spell was cast.
“Lightning!”
“Yaaaargh! Massive Resistance!”
Right at the moment the lightning flowed into Zenbel’s body, he flexed his muscles. As a result, the bolt that normally would have passed through to the others scattered.
Massive Resistance—it was a monk ability. By radiating chi from their entire body for a moment, the user could reduce incoming magic damage.
This was something Zenbel had learned on the journey he took after being defeated by Frost Pain’s special attack, Icy Burst. Whether it was an area-of-effect spell or any other kind, as long as it did damage, this ability would take effect on it.
Cries of surprise went up on both sides, but Crusch and Zaryusu, who believed in their friend, were only mildly surprised. They took advantage of the undead’s shock to invade his space.
I see, thought Zaryusu as he ran. If he had used Icy Burst back when they’d been fighting one-on-one, Zenbel probably would have blocked it using this move and defeated him in the opening created. That was why he’d invited him to use it.
“Ha-ha! This is a cinch!”
Zaryusu’s expression softened when he heard Zenbel sounding so confident, but an instant later he was tensed up again—he realized there was a hint of pain mixed into his voice.
If a male as strong as Zenbel wasn’t able to bite back the pain, the damage must have been pretty significant. And Zenbel wasn’t the type who would agree to the plan of having Rororo run out in front if his move defended him perfectly.
Zaryusu stared ahead. They were only twenty yards away. It had been such a long way, but this was all that was left.
As the party pressed in on him, Iguvua concluded that they were powerful opponents. He had to hand it to any ability that could block his magic. Of course, he still had other methods of attack, but he had to think about defense, too.
“A nice sacrifice, most suitable for showing them how mighty I am.” Iguvua grinned and cast a spell. “Summon Fourth-Tier Undead.”
The marsh belched, and four skeletons armed with round shields and scimitars stood up to protect him. They were skeleton warriors—undead so strong they couldn’t even be compared to regular skeletons.
There were other undead he could have summoned, but the reason he chose skeletal warriors was to elude the chill attacks. Iguvua and all bony skeletons had perfect resistance to chill.
Protected by his bodyguards, Iguvua watched the party’s approach with contempt. It was the attitude of a champion awaiting contenders. Eventually the distance between them closed.
Just ten yards. That was all that was left. Yes, that was all. Zaryusu made sure the undead wasn’t going to attack and looked over his shoulder…
…at the distance they’d traveled. Just to run it, a hundred yards was nothing, but this was a no-man’s-land with nowhere to hide. Rororo, Frost Pain, Zenbel, Crusch. If any one of those elements had been missing, it would have been impossible. An absolutely uncrossable distance. Now it was gone. The remaining gap could be closed if he reached out his hand. They’d been able to overcome it.
He felt just a little relieved seeing Rororo being carried back to the lizardman village, then scolded his buoyant heart and glared at the undead.
It was a horrible being. Zaryusu frankly acknowledged that. If he hadn’t encountered it in this situation and instead caught sight of it at a distance, he probably would have chosen to run away as fast as he could. Just confronting the thing made his tail stand on end, and his instincts told him to flee.
He could see out of the corners of his eyes that Crusch’s and Zenbel’s tails were also stiff. They must have felt the same as Zaryusu. Yes, they were suppressing their desire to flee in order to stand before the undead.
Zaryusu whapped their backs with his tail.
Startled, they both turned to him.
“We can do it,” Zaryusu whispered simply.
“You’re right, Zaryusu. We can do it,” Crusch answered, rubbing the spot where he’d whacked her with his tail.
“Hmph. It’ll be fun!” Zenbel laughed with a cocky look on his face.
Then the three of them advanced across the final stretch.
At a distance of eight yards…
Zaryusu and his friends, panting after their sprint, faced off against the undead, who didn’t breathe at all. The first to speak was their enemy.
“I am Iguvua, an elder lich in service of the Great One. If you bow your heads, I’ll grant you painless deaths.”
Zaryusu laughed in spite of himself—he saw that this undead, Iguvua, didn’t understand a thing.
There was only one way to reply.
Iguvua waited for their response without showing any displeasure at Zaryusu’s smile. He had the elite arrogance of one who knew he was strong, one who was confident he could kill them.
That arrogance had allowed them to close the final stretch, so Zaryusu was thankful for it.
“Let’s hear your response.”
“Heh-heh. You need a response?” Zaryusu held up Frost Pain and tightened his grip. Zenbel put up his fists and got into a peculiar fighting stance. Crusch didn’t move in a specific way, but she reached toward the reservoir of magic deep within herself so she would be able to cast at a moment’s notice. “Then here’s our response: We refuse!”
Judging that reply sufficiently hostile, the skeleton warriors raised their round shields and brandished their scimitars.
“Then pain-filled deaths it is. Know that you have rejected my final offer of mercy.”
“The dead should go back to the world of the dead, Iguvua!”
The decisive battle began.
“Go, Zaryusu!” Zenbel, who had charged faster than anyone, drove his huge arm into a skeleton warrior. Despite the fact that the skeleton warrior used its shield to block, he kept forcing his fist in. A huge dent formed in the shield, and the skeleton warrior backpedaled into another one and lost its balance. Then Zenbel used his tail to attack a different skeleton warrior but missed.
The skeleton warrior line broke, and Zaryusu slipped in through the opening.
“Stop him!”
At Iguvua’s order, two skeleton warriors swung their scimitars at Zaryusu.
He could have dodged if he wanted to. He could have also blocked with Frost Pain. But he didn’t do either of those things. Evading was, in a way, simply delaying his own actions. He couldn’t waste a move with Iguvua right in front of him.
And more than anything—
“Earth Bind!”
Mud whipped and wrapped around the two skeleton warriors. The mud whips stopped them like chains, giving Zaryusu just enough time to get through the gap.
—yes, Crusch was with him.
Zaryusu wasn’t fighting alone, so all he had to do was trust in his friends.
Crusch was a good caster, but her magic couldn’t stop their movements entirely. Their scimitars did barely graze Zaryusu’s body. But what did that matter? He was so exhilarated his brain didn’t sense the pain as pain.
He ran.
And he pointed at his target—Iguvua. Even if he were hit with attack magic, he would power through and reach him. That was how tough his will was.
“Know fear, you fools! Scare!”
Zaryusu’s field of vision wavered, and unable to comprehend where he was standing, he was assaulted by a vague anxiety, like something in the area was about to attack.
His feet slowed; the psychic spell Scare had shaken him so much that they wouldn’t move. His brain was screaming at his feet to go forward, but his heart wouldn’t move them.
“Zaryusu! Lion’s Heart!” At the sound of Crusch’s voice, his fear dissipated and his fighting spirit blazed at twice the intensity of before. The courage spell had canceled out his fear.
Iguvua glared at Crusch in displeasure and jabbed a finger at her. “How obnoxious! Lightning!”
White lightning flashed—
“Gyaagh!”
—and Crusch’s scream echoed.
As Zaryusu set off running again, hatred nearly overtook his heart, but he held it back. Certainly hate was a good weapon, but against someone strong, it could be a burden instead. Against a tough opponent, one needed emotions like fire and a mind like ice.
Zaryusu didn’t look back.
Iguvua had attacked Crusch, the rear guard. That meant that Zaryusu could close the gap between them during this time. The understanding that he’d made a mistake appeared on the undead’s face. That brought a sneer to Zaryusu’s, despite the fact that the female he loved had been injured.
“Tch! Ligh—”
“Too slow!” Zaryusu swung Frost Pain from the side with all his might and hit the hand Iguvua had been extending.
“Guh!”
“You let a warrior get up close, caster! Let me show you that you can’t use spells anymore!”
Perhaps it was different for the mages of legend, but in general, if an enemy closed in on a caster, there was a chance their spells would be prevented with an attack.
An immensely powerful monster like Iguvua was no exception.
Zaryusu narrowed his eyes a bit at the feeling traveling down his arm. A strange sensation had lingered when he cut. It meant Iguvua had some kind of weapon resistance.
Still, he wasn’t unharmed. Right. If he had some damage resistance, all Zaryusu had to do was deal more damage.
He just had to slice, and slice, and slice like crazy, that was all.
Of course, that was easier said than done. The saying was nothing new to Zaryusu. As a warrior, he could do only what he was capable of.
“Don’t underestimate me, lizardman!”
Three shots of light flew from before Iguvua’s face. Zaryusu was startled by the lack of casting motion and instinctively held his sword up as a shield, but the bolts of magic went by it and sent a heavy, dull pain through his body.
This was Silent Magic: Magic Arrow. Silent Magic didn’t have any preparation that could be hindered, and Magic Arrow was ordinarily impossible to evade. Even Zaryusu couldn’t dodge it.
The Lizardman Heroes Page 15