by Ennki Hakari
Goemon looked out across the warriors standing on front of him. “He is no longer the man I once knew. He is now one of the undead!”
This information surprised even me.
The chieftains were taken aback by this news and exchanged glances with one another, as if to confirm that their ears had not deceived them. Many of the other warriors standing by, however, didn’t appear to grasp what Goemon had said. This seemed strange to me.
Ariane leaned forward to whisper in my ear. “Undead probably aren’t common out here in the prairie, since they need mana to survive. Mana usually gathers in forests and valleys, so people living on the plains might never encounter the undead.”
She had hardly reacted to Goemon’s statement. But elves could see spirits and other types of energy otherwise invisible to humans. The moment Sasuke revealed himself, she was probably instantly aware that he was undead. After all, she could see the contamination of death, as she’d once called it. Indeed, the fact that Ariane hadn’t seen the contamination of death around my skeleton body was what originally convinced her that I wasn’t undead, merely cursed.
The mountain people apparently couldn’t see this contamination, but they could smell the scent of death in the air. If not, I had no doubt they all would have written me off as an undead long ago, and we wouldn’t be traveling the globe together.
“Kyii!”
Ponta seemed to pick up on my shift in mood and mewed to cheer me on. I reached up and patted its head in appreciation.
“You, too, buddy. You don’t judge people by their appearance either.”
I turned my attention back to the issue at hand.
For some reason, Sasuke, one of the six great fighters of the Jinshin clan, and Chiyome and Goemon’s ally, was here on the southern continent…and was undead at that.
Though he’d been a bit on the pale side, honestly, Sasuke hadn’t looked all that different from Chiyome to me. However, his status as undead was confirmed both by Ariane and Goemon.
“How can we be sure what you say is true?” One of the chieftains spoke up, eliciting nods of agreement from the others.
Only two men, Chieftain Aene of the Whilee clan and Chieftain Houwe of the Ena clan, looked at Goemon and me, as if searching for some sort of truth in Goemon’s claim.
I tried defusing the situation. “There’s much I don’t know about Chiyome’s circumstances, but I do know that she’s been searching for Sasuke for some time. It’s pure coincidence that she and Goemon encountered their one-time comrade here. After all, I was the one who suggested traveling here in the first place.”
“But how can we…”
One of the chieftains began objecting, but I started speaking again, cutting him off.
“Can we all just call it a day? Did you not hear the report that there were thirty giants out here? Because all I counted was ten…only five of which we actually killed! We might not know why the giants were chasing after that man, but I want you to ask yourselves, are there any other camps in that direction?”
The chieftains—indeed all the warriors around us—started murmuring among themselves. Apparently, there was a camp in the direction Sasuke had gone.
The warriors began crowding around the chieftains, many of them proposing they take off in pursuit of the giants.
Chieftain Houwe spoke up, putting an end to the roar of voices.
“We must pursue the giants and secure and protect all other camps!”
His declaration was followed by a round of cheers.
The warriors immediately mounted their driftpus. As I watched them, I saw out of the corner of my eye that Houwe was walking toward me.
“Show us what you’re made of!” he said as he passed.
With that, he and the other chieftains mounted up as well.
I wasn’t sure exactly what he was trying to convey, but the general message was clear. I’d started this whole endeavor figuring that I’d earn a few favors and the rest would be easy. But ultimately, I just kept getting myself into one mess after another.
“My apologies, Arc.” Goemon bowed his head low.
“There’s no need to apologize, Goemon. Besides, I don’t mind going it alone from here.”
It wouldn’t be a problem if we were just facing some dark giants, but given that we’d likely also encounter Sasuke, things could get awkward.
Goemon shook his head and clenched his fists. “No. He is our problem, and we can’t turn aside. Come, Chiyome.”
I watched as he and Chiyome walked solemnly back to their mount.
There was something in Chiyome’s expression that seemed odd, almost as if she’d seen a ghost.
I turned to Ariane. “About Sasuke… Is it common for the undead to be running around like that?”
Ariane furrowed her brow.
When I heard the word “undead,” I imagined rotting corpses and skeletons—creatures far different from the skilled fighter Sasuke had shown himself to be. If anything, he was closer to how I imagined vampires. Though, I didn’t know if they existed in this world. I certainly hadn’t seen one.
The only undead I’d seen move about gracefully like that were the ghoul worms we’d encountered back in the cave near the Dragon Wonder. But their bodies hadn’t even remotely resembled humans. There were also the man-spiders in the same cave—at least, I recalled Ariane calling them undead—but, just like the ghoul worms, they looked nothing like humans.
Sasuke, however, looked pretty much like any of the other cat people.
Elves were generally able to see the contamination of death that hung around a person, allowing them to identify whether or not someone was undead, but unfortunately, my sense of sight wasn’t as strong as my elven brethren.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen an undead retain its living form. Fa— The village elder may know more though.”
I shook my head. We didn’t have time to go back to the elven village, nor was it a productive use of our time to think about them.
“Well, right now we’d best head after the giants.”
I made my way back to my grazing driftpus and hopped up on its back. Ariane made her way over more slowly, let out a heavy sigh, and climbed up behind me.
I waited for Houwe’s signal before once again urging my driftpus into a fast clip across the prairie, following the rest of the mounted warriors.
***
It felt as if a dark, oppressive cloud surrounded us as we rode. The general mood was much more somber than it had been when we’d first left the Ena camp. The tiger clan warriors’ feelings toward the giants were no different than before, and while there was still a bit of nervousness about hunting giants, that wasn’t the source.
No, the dark mood was coming from up near the front—from Goemon and Chiyome, who sat quietly on the back of their driftpus, her head buried in his back. I couldn’t see her expression.
I thought back to our voyage on the Rievbelta, when Chiyome had been excited about sending some of the roasted kraken to Sasuke. Now that I was a skeleton, it was hard for me to truly understand, or even sympathize with, the sheer pain that she must be in right now.
As soon as I turned back into an elf, however, I knew the emotions would come flooding in like a tidal wave. I wasn’t confident I’d be able to think clearly when that happened.
Honestly, I didn’t think too highly of myself in that regard.
While in the body of a skeleton, I was able to keep my emotions subdued almost as well as any seasoned soldier. But I was nowhere near the level of professionalism that Goemon and Chiyome displayed. She wasn’t quite a seasoned warrior, but she also wasn’t helpless by any stretch of the imagination.
I let out a long, deep breath and shook my head. Though not much of a thinker, my mind tended to wander. It’d be best to focus my mental energies on what lay ahead.
Besides, I had a sword to fell my enemies, a shield to protect my friends, and armor to protect myself. Overthinking things was a waste or time…or potentially wor
se. I could let myself, or someone else, get hurt.
Though…I’d need to be more careful about leaving my sword and shield behind in the future.
***
We continued for some time. I cast a recovery spell on Ariane’s backside whenever she complained about it aching. Slowing down wasn’t an option, so I figured magic was the best way to offer her some relief. Unfortunately, it almost certainly looked like I was rubbing her butt whenever I cast the spell.
In fact, the second time I cast it, the jostling of the beast beneath us actually did cause my hand to make contact, resulting in an immediate and merciless punch to the back of my head, sending my helmet spinning.
At least Ponta seemed to enjoy it.
The sun was on its downward trek, but still a long way from sunset. I figured it was around snack time. Up ahead, after we crossed over a gentle hill, the tiger clan camp came into view. It was small, consisting of fewer than ten of the yurt-like buildings.
I spotted several domesticated animals roaming around. Some people around the camp pointed toward us as we approached, their attention drawn by the thundering footfalls of the driftpus. The camp looked completely unharmed. In fact, it looked rather peaceful. By all accounts, the dark giants hadn’t made their way out here.
The hunting party slowed to a crawl, and Chieftain Houwe jumped off his driftpus to speak with the people in the camp. I made to join him, in the hopes of learning what was going on here, but the conversation was over almost as soon as it started.
Houwe conferred with the warriors in the camp and nodded in the direction they were pointing. Then he shouted orders to his men.
“The giants passed by this camp on their way north! Change course!”
The hunting party adjusted its direction and left the camp behind.
The chieftains at the front of the formation drew their mounts close together as they discussed something. I couldn’t tell what the problem was, but it wouldn’t be long before I found out.
***
The hunting party found itself atop a small hill.
Well, that wasn’t entirely accurate. The ground was no higher than the rest of the prairie, so the area ahead was actually something of a lowland. Thanks to our higher vantage point, I caught sight of the vast ocean spreading off to my right.
More noteworthy, though, was what I saw farther down the slope ahead—I spotted a large, humanmade construction spreading from the shore, as if marking some border. This construction looked a lot like the walls I’d seen surrounding towns and castles in this world, and its immense length reminded me of the Great Wall of China. I spied square gun ports built into the wall at regular intervals. It was clear that they were primarily for defensive purposes.
The ports themselves were quite large, suggesting there were perhaps cannons or fixed catapults on the other side.
Come to think of it, I recalled some of the mountain people on the Rievbelta saying that humans lived on the other side of a giant wall beyond the prairie. Maybe the humans owned the land here?
There were looks of shock and surprise on many of the faces around me. Had they never seen this wall before? Though, to be fair, it was quite an awe-inspiring sight to see something humanmade on this grand a scale.
I couldn’t even imagine how much time, energy, and money must have been poured into building such a thing.
Houwe glowered at the massive wall. “Hmph. There’s no way we could have missed the giants. But would they really come all the way down to the humans’ peninsula?”
So, apparently, there was a peninsula on the other side of the wall. In that case, it meant that the wall must have been built in order to close it off from the mainland. But there was something about the wall that didn’t seem quite right.
Large towers rose high above it, spread out at regular intervals. I supposed they could be lookout towers, or barracks for the soldiers stationed here…but I couldn’t see any signs of life.
Anyone up there should have spotted a formation of 150 mounted warriors, and would almost certainly be worried about this. But no one stirred, or sounded any sort of alarm.
I looked over at Houwe. Deep wrinkles creased his forehead as he stroked his chin.
“I don’t see any movement. Is the wall usually…empty?”
The wrinkles grew deeper at my question. He turned back to me and narrowed his gaze.
“No…soldiers are always stationed here. They often let off harassing volleys of arrows the moment they catch sight of us.”
I glanced back at the wall, but all was still. So still, in fact, that I wondered if it had been abandoned.
A warrior rode in toward us, stopping right in front of Houwe. Apparently, he was a scout sent on ahead to see what he could learn.
“Chieftain Houwe!”
I could tell by the look on his face that his report contained urgent news. Houwe nodded for the man to continue.
“The wall’s been breached! There are signs of a great battle, and the corpses of several fallen giants.”
The other chieftains, and the surrounding warriors, immediately went into a panic.
“The wall was breached?! How far did they make it through?”
“I could see clear to the other side! I assume the giants made a concentrated attack against the wall.”
The warriors began frantically talking among themselves while the chieftains looked on in surprise.
I couldn’t be sure of the exact height, but the wall looked to be about ten meters tall from where I stood.
The dark giants themselves stood at about six meters or so, but considering that they were tough enough to resist even bladed weapons, I had little doubt they could barrel through a wall in a full-fledged attack.
The scout reported that he’d spotted several of their corpses, however, so that meant that the wall had at least held up against the behemoths’ onslaught for some time.
“And they breached the wall? We’ve never even gotten close, despite our best efforts!”
“Maybe the giants intended to break into the human towns from the very start?”
The other chieftains were in a near panic at this point. Chieftain Houwe, however, was deep in thought, and gestured toward his scout.
“Prepare to follow this man to the hole in the wall!”
The warriors immediately moved in unison toward the wall.
It was a very short trip.
In the middle of the wall was a huge gap, nothing but a pile of rubble remaining. I could see straight through to the land on the other side.
I counted six dark giant corpses in front of the wall, each of them with an arrow as thick as a log piercing their face.
My best guess was that those arrows had been launched from ballistae built right into the wall.
The bodies of human soldiers also littered the country side; there were no survivors.
On the other side of the wall, I saw a figure running across the plain.
“What’s that?” A voice cried out from among the hunting party.
The figure looked to be around twenty or so, and had a short tail and animal-shaped ears atop their head, one of which was torn. I couldn’t tell the species at this distance, but they were definitely one of the mountain people. They were dressed in tattered clothes and had iron shackles and chains around their feet and neck.
Judging by the way the man was running for his life, I had a good idea of what was going on: He’d likely been enslaved by the humans. After hiding himself away while the giants crashed through the wall, he’d spotted the tiger clan’s hunting party and come running to us to seek assistance.
Just when I thought I had it all figured out, an-ear shattering roar rose up from the wall itself as bricks began tumbling down. Out of the dust, a dark giant emerged. The man realized he’d misjudged the situation.
The giant’s cry echoed across the prairie, stopping the man dead in his tracks.
Houwe shouted out a command. “Keep the giant away from that man! Kill it!”
The warriors let out a cry and charged their driftpus downhill at top speed.
Unfortunately for me, the command came way too quickly for me to respond, and I was left standing alone atop the hill.
Though I’d originally assumed that they were going to make a headlong charge at their opponent, instead the rushing warriors gave it a wide birth, maintaining a consistent distance as they circled it.
This technique was definitely not something an amateur like me should try.
The giant let out another mighty roar as it noticed the thundering footfalls and dust cloud trails of the hunting party.
The young slave was now between the hunting party and the giant. While there was still some distance between him and certain doom, his comparatively small legs wouldn’t carry him far. The giant’s inky black eyes focused on its prey.
There was no way the tiger clan would make it in time. I had to do something to slow the giant.
“Fire Beretta!”
I focused all my power into my fist. A second later, a massive ball of fire formed in front of me, obscuring my vision. The warriors and chieftains who’d held back looked on in surprise, their eyes fixated on it.
The next moment, the fireball launched, whistling as it sailed through the air straight toward the giant. It flew over the heads of the hunting party and slammed straight into the giant’s face, resulting in an impressive explosion.
“Hey, I got it! Didja see that, Ariane?”
“Wait, you weren’t even aiming?”
I’d figured that a hit anywhere on the giant would be great, especially if I could slow it down a bit. That’s why I’d decided to use one of my faster magic attacks and make the fireball as large as possible. Granted, the giant’s face was a rather large target, but even so, I never thought I’d score a direct hit. The more power you put into a magic spell, the harder it became to control.
By the time the warriors reached their objective, the giant was lying on its back, stock still and thoroughly charred. Well, probably. Dark giants were covered in fur, so it was hard to tell.
I looked at the stunned chieftains and asked what we’d do about the young slave. This brought the men back to themselves, and they quickly hurried down the hill.