by Ao Jyumonji
“Blades!” Tada roared as he swung his warhammer around wildly, “They don’t go through it well! Mwahhhh! Fugahhhhhhhhh...!”
“Seriously?!” Kuzaku shouted as he slammed into a cultist with his shield.
“Hmm.” Ranta came to a sudden stop. “Guess swords aren’t gonna work against them, huh.”
“You dummy!” Yume planted a spinning kick on Ranta’s back.
“Urgh!” Ranta closed in on Yume threateningly. “What’re you doing?!”
“What’s a Wyoming?!” she shouted. “Stop talkin’ nonsense!”
“You’re the one who never makes sense!”
The idiot was doing as idiots do, but for now, Tada, Kikkawa, Kuzaku, and Haruhiro each took a cultist, turning it into four one-on-one battles.
No, Tada must be just barely holding out, Haruhiro thought. We need to let him rest.
“Ranta!” Haruhiro narrowly avoided a sharp thrust from his cultist. “That’s enough! Switch with Tada! Hurry!”
“Oh, fine, if you insist!” Ranta tried to rush over to Tada.
“You’re a nuisance! Stay away!” Tada declared as he swatted aside the cultist’s spear and went on the attack. He attacked, and attacked, and attacked like crazy.
“You heard the man!” Ranta hollered.
“Fine, then choose Kikkawa, or Kuzaku, or even me, but get in here and help someone!” Haruhiro yelled back. “Can’t you think for yourself, you moron?!”
“Who’re you calling a morooooooooon?!” Ranta leapt at the cultist who was trying to attack Haruhiro with his spear. “Call me a genius! A great genius!”
The cultist took a hit to the right shoulder from Ranta’s Betrayer, but, as expected, it wasn’t able to cut through. The cultist stumbled for a moment, but that was all. No, the cultist did turn in Ranta’s direction after that, so maybe he did accomplish a little more than that.
Haruhiro put some distance between himself and the cultist. What is that? he thought. That white cloth. It’s not cloth. It seems thicker. It’s not hard. It’s soft. It felt squishy. Is it some material that doesn’t exist in Grimgar? It just looks like they’re wearing white sheets over their heads, but are those actually proper coats? They could be armor; they even have proper sleeves. They’re long. They go all the way down to their knees. They’re wearing white shoes on their feet, too, of course. Those shoes look like they’re the same material.
There’s a hole where their eyes should be. Are the cultists one-eyed? Well, that doesn’t really matter. Anyway, that may be their weak point.
Yume was nocking an arrow. She looked to Haruhiro. Should she shoot? Shouldn’t she? That was the look on her face. Well... Haruhiro wasn’t sure. It seemed like she’d have a hard time hitting those holes on a moving target.
“Haruhiro-kun!” Shihoru held her staff tight in both hands.
Oh, right.
When Haruhiro nodded, Shihoru began to chant while drawing elemental sigils with the tip of her staff. “Ohm, rel, ect, el, vel, darsh!”
It wasn’t Shadow Beat. With a vwong, vwong, vwong, three shadow elementals that looked like balls of black seaweed appeared instead of just one. It was a higher version of Shadow Beat, Shadow Echo.
The shadow elementals flew forth, coiling around one another as they did. All three slammed into the cultist Kikkawa was fighting. The moment they did, the cultist’s entire body began convulsing violently.
It let out a “Guwah...”
“It worked!” Shihoru cried.
With a shout, Kikkawa quickly slammed the bastard sword he held with both hands into the cultist. He couldn’t cut him, but he didn’t have to. It seemed that coat, or armor, or whatever it was, couldn’t completely absorb the blow, so he just had to keep on bludgeoning the cultist over, and over, and over.
“Get him, Kikkawa!” Haruhiro called.
Before Haruhiro had said anything, Kikkawa had already started slamming his bastard sword into the cultist with pure brute force. “Wah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rahhhh!”
Haruhiro lent what little help he could, primarily using the sap in his left hand to slug the cultist.
“Ohm, rel, ect, el, vel, darsh!”
Vwong, vwong, vwong.
Shihoru hit the cultist Tada was facing with Shadow Echo, too.
“I don’t...!” Tada swung his warhammer, knocking the cultist’s spear from his hands and then kicking him to the ground. Then, he slammed his warhammer down repeatedly. “Want! Your! Help! Dammiiiiiiiiiiit...!”
As for the remaining two, they just had to gang up on them and beat them senseless.
When there were no cultists left moving, Tada sat down. “Dammit. I’m. Tired. Seriously. Dammit. Idiots. Die. Dammit. What. The. Hell...”
He seemed to be muttering something dangerous in short fragments, but it was a mystery how he still had the strength to speak. His arms and legs didn’t seem broken or anything, but Tada was so covered in blood, it was hard to tell where he was injured.
Haruhiro looked down at the cultist corpses and thought, These guys bleed red, too, huh. Those coats of theirs weren’t torn or cut at all. The coats didn’t look damaged at all, but the ground was wet with the red blood that dripped out from underneath them.
Ranta was going around stomping on the heads of the cultists who were presumed dead. He wasn’t doing it to desecrate the corpses, he was doing it to confirm they really were dead—or so Haruhiro wanted to believe.
Shihoru, Yume, and Merry exchanged glances. Each wore a slightly different expression, but all of them were disturbed.
Kuzaku lifted the visor of his close helm and sighed deeply.
“Heh...” Kikkawa gave a half-laughing snort, then walked forward unsteadily to that ponytail and leather jumpsuit.
To Inui, who was collapsed, face down, on the ground.
Kikkawa fell to his knees and hung his head.
“...What the hell, man? You can’t do this to me. I went and got Haruhiro and the others, just like I was supposed to. After that, this just isn’t fair. Inui-san...”
10. Not Special
Haruhiro crouched down next to Kikkawa. He didn’t know what to say. He struggled to find the words for a moment, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to say the right thing anyway. That was because Haruhiro was mediocre to the core.
Haruhiro reached out, placing a hand on the other man’s shoulder gently. “Um...” He shook him. “Inui-san?”
“Wha—” Kikkawa looked at Haruhiro, looked at Inui, back to Haruhiro, back to Inui. “...Huh?”
“Heh.” Inui moved his head slightly, looking up at Haruhiro with the eye not covered by an eyepatch. “How did you know...?”
“No, it’s not that I knew,” said Haruhiro. “You were moving slightly. It made me think, ‘Oh, he’s alive.’”
“Whaaaaaaaa?!” Kikkawa half jumped to his feet, landing squarely on his backside. “No, no, no waysies?! I was, like, sure you were dead...”
“H-He’s alive...?” Kuzaku sounded doubtful.
“The guy’s talking, so he’s gotta be...” Even Ranta sounded appalled.
“I thought he’d bit the... I mean, passed away, too...” Shihoru muttered bitterly.
“Yeah...” Merry nodded.
“Hey.” Yume’s eyes were wide. “That’s true, but, y’know. Inuin’s just real good at it, huh. Playin’ dead.”
“Huh...” Tada kicked the ground. His shoulders were still heaving with each breath. “You. Think. He’d. Go. Down. So. Easy. Huh?!”
“Heh...” Inui grunted, like usual. “It is the secret ultimate technique of my one-eyed fighting style, Dokuganryu... ‘Dying Inui, Making Living Idiots Run.’”
“So, basically, you were just playing dead?!” Ranta flipped him the bird.
“He’s. One. Stubborn. Bastard...” Tada’s body shook. “Always. Has. Been...”
“Ah...” Haruhiro hurriedly got to his feet. “Ta-Tada-san?!”
Tada fell and turned over.
“Wha, wha, wha, wha
, wha?!” Kikkawa wildly gesticulated like a frog as he rushed over to Tada.
Inui tried to rise, but he seemed to be having trouble. “C-Can’t move... Heh...”
Apparently Inui wasn’t unharmed, and had feigned death only as a last resort.
In the end, until Tada, who had passed out with the whites of his eyes showing, came to, and until Inui was able to get up, the party had no choice but to stay put.
“Me and Inui, we were decoys,” Tada told them once he came to, drank some water, and was fully conscious. “It was the only way to protect Anna-san. They got Mimori’s leg, so she couldn’t run. Me and Inui drew the enemies to us, then Tokimune took Anna-san and Mimori to hide somewhere safe. Well, not that anywhere here can be called safe.”
“Then when it comes to where Tokimune went...” Haruhiro held back a sigh, taking a short breath instead. “You don’t know, huh.”
“We can go back to where we split up,” Tada said.
“Good enough.” Haruhiro said that, but he didn’t think it would be enough at all. Still, he needed to calm everyone’s nerves. Tada and Inui might not have been fatally injured, but they were far from being in top fighting shape.
“Man, you’re surprisingly...” Tada began to say, then stopped. “—No. Me and Inui shook off a bunch of enemies. We might run into them on the way there.”
“Those white giants, you mean?” Haruhiro asked.
“Yeah. They’re sluggish, but big. One hit from them would probably kill you.”
“Anything else?” Haruhiro asked.
“After we had Kikkawa run away, a cultist with a sword and shield showed up. You need to watch out for that guy.”
“Heh.” Inui’s lips shook. “One scratch... from his sword... will numb your body. Even if you block, it still... gets you... Heh...”
“Oh?” Ranta suddenly looked serious. “Sounds sweet. That sword. I want it. When we take that guy out, his sword’s mine. Got it?”
“You’re needlessly resilient, you know that?” Tada said. Even he seemed a little put off by Ranta.
“Well, I don’t mind, but...” Haruhiro wasn’t able to hold back a sigh this time. “You take him out yourself, man. Do that, and you can have his sword, or anything else of his that you want.”
“Nice! That’s a promise!” Ranta looked to everyone. “If I kill the guy, I’m taking the sword! Well, even if you guys kill him, I’ll still take it, though! Either way, the sword’s mine! That’s settled!”
Everyone else was in low spirits, but Ranta seemed to have gotten a boost in motivation, so it was probably fine. Or rather, all they could do was leave him to do what he wanted. Though, if Ranta would do them all the favor of dying gloriously as he killed the sword guy, Haruhiro was willing to consider crying for him.
Tada and Inui could walk under their own strength, somehow, but running was out of the question. Merry looked pained by that. It must have been incredibly frustrating for her, as a priest.
The party had to match their speed, which meant they had to go slower. If they were forced to retreat, it would force a difficult decision upon them. But, if that time came, Haruhiro had made his decision.
He’d be sorry—not that that was going to cut it—but he’d still leave Tada and Inui behind. If Kikkawa said he’d stay behind, he could do as he pleased. While Tada and Inui bought time for them, Haruhiro and the others would get out of there.
Of course, it wasn’t something he wanted to do. Haruhiro was praying from the bottom of his heart that they wouldn’t find themselves in that situation. Still, he could pray as fervently as he wanted, but if it was going to happen, it would. If it did, it would be too late to think about it. That was why he’d made the call now, so he’d be ready.
If that time comes, I have to be heartless, Haruhiro told himself. I can do it. I need to believe that. To make myself believe it, and follow through if necessary.
Tada and Haruhiro walked side-by-side, with Kuzaku, Kikkawa, Ranta, Shihoru, Merry, Inui, and Yume following them in that order.
Tada was as bloody as before, but he showed no signs of being in pain or stopping. He was a tenacious guy. It made Haruhiro want to say, You shouldn’t strain yourself, but the situation was what it was. Not straining himself wasn’t going to be an option.
When they proceeded down a path with poor visibility for a while and then turned left, they came to a place where the rubble had formed a sort of roof. Tada went under that roof.
While it might have been called a roof, there was light shining through holes here and there. It wasn’t dark, but it still felt oppressive and suffocating. The rubble sometimes blocked their way, or divided the path, making the layout complex. It was like a maze.
“We shook a number of the cultists in here.” Tada used his index finger to push up his glasses. “They could still be around. Make sure you’re careful.”
“Do you know the way?” Haruhiro asked.
“Sort of, yeah.”
“...Sort of...” Haruhiro muttered.
“Tadacchi’s got a great sense of direction, man,” Kikkawa said cheerfully. “It’s gonna be kay-o, kay-o! Bably-pro! Huh? Was that one hard to get? Probably!”
Haruhiro couldn’t help but think, Saying “probably” in a silly way isn’t going to make anyone feel better, but it was better than having a dispirited Kikkawa. Or is it? I’m iffy on that.
They walked through the maze of rubble, relying on Tada to guide them. They turned left, turned right, and turned around as they walked.
Wait, we turned around?! Haruhiro thought.
“Um, Tada-san,” he began.
“What? Make it quick. I’m busy now.”
“...Okay, I’ll get right to the point then. Are you lost?”
“Me? Get lost?” Tada asked, offended.
“Well... If you aren’t, then that’s fine.”
“You’re absolutely right,” said Tada.
Everyone stopped.
It felt like time itself had stopped. It was so silent that it was almost beautiful.
No, it wasn’t beautiful at all.
“I’m lost.” Tada shouldered his warhammer, a nasty look on his face. “Is there a problem with me getting lost?”
“He’s trying to turn it around on us...” Shihoru muttered in blank amazement.
“That’s not it.” Tada clicked his tongue. “That’s not what I’m doing. I don’t need to turn anything around, so it’s weird for you to say that, you know?”
“Inui-saaaan,” Haruhiro groaned. Arguing with Tada was just going to drive everyone crazy. Haruhiro turned to Inui, who was behind him. “Do you know the way?”
“Heh...” Inui raised two fingers. “There are always two paths...”
“Sure,” Merry said, closing her eyes and looking up to the ceiling.
“Meow...?” Yume gulped in anticipation. “What does that mean?”
“One is to confer with your own heart.” Inui looked off into the distance. “The other, to confer with the wind. The way is always one of these two paths... Heh...”
“Woo!” Kikkawa excitedly thrust a fist into the air. “So cool! Leave it to Inui-san to say something deep! You’re the best! No clue what you mean, though! Ahaha!”
“Our own hearts, huh...” Ranta, being Ranta, seemed to be impressed for some reason. “That’s it. Yeah! That’s what we’ve gotta do! Parupiro! Quit wasting time and do that!”
Haruhiro tried listening to the voice in his own heart, but all it said was I want to punch him, and that didn’t seem like it would help. In other words, this wasn’t the time for listening to his heart. He didn’t feel much wind in the maze of rubble either, and it wasn’t like the wind would actually respond to him anyway. If he started hearing voices on the wind, he’d have to be imagining them.
What he did hear wasn’t the wind at all, and he wasn’t imagining it.
Clack... Clack... Clack...
It was the sound of two hard objects striking one another.
Before Haruhiro co
uld issue a warning, it leapt out from around the corner up ahead.
“Cultist!” Haruhiro shouted.
No, this wasn’t just any cultist. Instead of a spear, this one had a mirror-like shield and a sword with a slightly purplish aura around it. That clack, clack, sound was apparently coming from the sheathe sticking out from under the cultist’s coat. That was the sound it made when hitting the rubble.
“It just had to be you, huh!” Tada yelled.
Tada swung down his warhammer, but the sword bearer blocked it with his shield. The sword bearer thrust out his sword. Tada leapt out of the way, of course, but he couldn’t brace himself when he landed and lost his balance. Haruhiro wanted to cover him. But the enemy had a shield. He couldn’t do it himself.
“I’ve got this!” Kikkawa literally jumped at the sword bearer. He jumped into the air, then swung down at him from above.
The sword bearer caught Kikkawa’s bastard sword with his shield. Without missing a beat, he thrust at him, too. It was the same way he’d attacked Tada. Kikkawa seemed to have anticipated it, because he deftly swept the sword bearer’s sword away with the part of the blade closest to the hilt on his bastard sword.
Zong! There was an unpleasant sound.
“The... hell...?!” Kikkawa’s whole body trembled and he almost dropped his bastard sword. Even though he didn’t actually drop his weapon, he was still wide open.
The sword bearer thrust at him again. Kikkawa couldn’t dodge. He couldn’t block with his bastard sword, either. It bit into him. The left side of his chest.
“Oof!” Kikkawa trembled again, then was knocked to the ground. As befitted a warrior, Kikkawa was wearing plate armor. The sword didn’t manage to run him through, but it left a serious dent.
“Urkh... Kikkawaaaaa!” Tada got back into a fighting stance and swung down his warhammer. He attacked. Attacked unrelentingly.
While the sword bearer was defending himself from Tada’s warhammer, the rest of the party got into position to attack.
“I’ll go up front!” Kuzaku called. He defended himself with his shield as he took Tada’s place.
“The sword! The sword! The sword! The sword!” Ranta hollered. He looked like he planned to position himself to the left side, where the hand the sword bearer held his shield was.