The Leaders and the Led

by Ao Jyumonji

  In the mere two to three seconds that Haruhiro hesitated, the ustrel steadied his breathing once more.

  He was charging in. Towards Haruhiro.

  Haruhiro let out an “Oh...”

  This time, the naginata that was usually thrust outwards during charges was instead wound back.

  Is he going for a swing? Haruhiro thought frantically. It could be a jab with the pommel, too. What should I do? Hard to decide. I’ll have to go. Go where?

  I’m going. Haruhiro was headed for the ustrel. The naginata. It’s coming.

  Right before that, or at precisely the same time, he slid. Into a sliding kick. The ground was basically bare rock, so he couldn’t slide very well. Despite that, he managed to jump as far as the ustrel’s feet.

  Haruhiro managed to catch the ustrel’s left and right shins, or rather he collided with them. As for what happened when he did, he wasn’t able to find out immediately.

  The next thing he knew, Haruhiro was rolling across the ground.

  Both my feet, or my legs as a whole, they hurt so bad I’d think they were broken—or not? Well, they don’t hurt, but more importantly, they won’t move. I can’t make them move. What is this? I can barely feel them. Where’s the ustrel? He’s there. Of course he’s there. He’s fallen over.

  Ranta and Kuzaku were rushing over, trying to get in a shot on him while they could. But the ustrel was trying to get up. Which would it be? Who was faster?

  It was the ustrel. Using his naginata as a crutch, the ustrel stood up. Ranta and Kuzaku each got in one slash on him, but the ustrel didn’t go down. Not only that, he swung his naginata around savagely. Ranta and Kuzaku were forced to back down.

  Yume shouted “Take this!” and put an arrow in the ustrel’s left shoulder, but it didn’t even faze him. Meanwhile, Haruhiro couldn’t move.

  What’s going on? This is—

  As he started to wonder, Merry and Shihoru raced over. Without giving him the chance to object, the two of them dragged Haruhiro away.

  I’m grateful and all, but I’m not an object, okay? Haruhiro thought. Guess I can’t blame them.

  “M-Merry, h-how’s your magic...?” he asked, halfway to passing out.

  “I can use Cure a few more times!” Merry responded immediately.

  Maybe we should run away, after all, Haruhiro thought. But how...?

  “O Light, may Lumiaris’s divine protection be upon you... Cure!”

  When Merry treated him with magic, feeling soon returned to Haruhiro’s legs. Thanks to that, the pain came back, too. It was intense enough he couldn’t shrug it off, so it might have been a pretty serious wound, but Merry would treat it for him—or she should.

  She’s going to heal it... right? Even as Haruhiro endured the pain, Kuzaku was knocked flying by the ustrel’s charge, and Ranta dodged it, getting in a shallow hit as the ustrel passed by. The ustrel stopped some distance from them, wheezing as it took a break.

  Yume cried “Meow!” and shot at the ustrel again.

  Was Kuzaku okay? He got up on his own. The ustrel was definitely getting weaker.

  “We can beat him.” Haruhiro nodded.

  That’s right. We can do it. But we can’t get carried away. We can’t afford to be optimistic. We need to avoid accidents. Instead of trying to take him in one go, we need to steadily wear him down, harshly and mercilessly.

  The ustrel began to move. Kuzaku cried out as he was knocked away, while Ranta dodged like before, getting in another blow, if only a light one. The ustrel stopped right after that, and, as he was wheezing, Yume shouted “Mrrrow!” and shot off an arrow at him.

  It sadly missed, but Ranta and Yume each knew what they ought to be doing.

  Yeah, that’s the way! Haruhiro mentally cheered them on.

  The light vanished from the hand Merry was holding up towards Haruhiro. His treatment was finished.

  Okay. I’ve gotta do this, so I will. I’m so gonna do this, Haruhiro told himself, leaping to his feet.

  “We’re taking him down!” Haruhiro shouted. “Focus on evading, but strike back when you think you can! Ranta, Yume, keep it up! Kuzaku, quit getting hit so much! Watch how he moves closely! You need to figure it out already! The enemy’s getting pretty weak!”

  “Gwah!” Kuzaku yelped.

  Only moments after he’d finished saying something about it, Kuzaku failed to avoid the ustrel’s charge and was sent flying again.

  Ranta used Leap Out to jump past the ustrel diagonally, getting a cut in on him with a satisfied shout. The ustrel kept charging forward, then came to a sudden stop.

  Yume went “Mrrrow!” and fired an arrow, this one piercing the ustrel’s back.

  Kuzaku was trying to rise to his feet, but he was having a hard time of it.

  “Merry, help Kuzaku!” Haruhiro called. “Shihoru, stay by Merry’s side!”

  “Okay!” Merry called.

  “Right!” Shihoru added.

  Haruhiro ran with all his strength, deliberately choosing to stop in front of the ustrel. He took a deep breath. The ustrel lifted his left knee up high.

  A flying kick, huh? Come at me.

  He came.

  Compared to how things had been at first, the ustrel’s speed had dropped considerably. He wasn’t scary at all. Haruhiro maintained his composure, dodging the ustrel’s flying kick. When he turned around, the ustrel took a swing at him with his naginata.

  I can see that, too, Haruhiro thought. It’s slow. So slow. Maybe I can get in close? No, I won’t push my luck.

  While Haruhiro easily dodged and swayed around the naginata, Ranta shouted “Take this!” and took a swing at the ustrel. The ustrel blocked it with his left arm, but it was a weak hit. Ranta held his ground without being knocked away.

  “Sparkle!” Ranta shouted, and if his eyes had had a sparkling function, they no doubt would have sparkled magnificently. Of course, they had no such function. “Hell Devil Execution!”

  Again, there’s no such skill, Haruhiro thought.

  All Ranta did was use his natural stamina to swing his longsword around erratically. That was all. There was no way that would work against the ustrel. When the ustrel had had more energy, he would have knocked Ranta’s sword away, and that would have been the end of it. But now, things were different.

  The ustrel used his left arm and naginata, which he was choking up his grip on, to block Ranta’s longsword. He blocked, and he blocked. He was stuck on the defensive. Ranta was pushing the ustrel backwards. He was pushing him into a corner.

  There’s no point in telling Ranta not to get cocky now, Haruhiro thought. I mean, he’s Ranta, after all. In that case, I’ll do something before Ranta runs out of steam!

  Haruhiro quickly got behind the ustrel. When he was staring at an enemy’s back like this, it was strangely calming. The ustrel had a broad back. With a few arrows sticking out of it. Three, to be precise.

  There, maybe, Haruhiro thought as he chose a target. Ustrel or not, he was still a humanoid creature, so even if Haruhiro couldn’t see the line, he more or less could tell where to hit.

  If something looks like a vital point, I’ll trust that it is, Haruhiro thought. If I’m wrong, well, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Backstab. I can do it.

  Closing in smoothly, he thrust a dagger into the spot he’d chosen. It didn’t feel like a bad hit, and the ustrel’s entire body trembled for a moment, so maybe it had—no. Haruhiro jumped away from the ustrel at once.

  “Ohgoagogogogoahgoahohgaohgaohgogagagagagogoggooohgogoohgogogooh!”

  “Wha...?!” Ranta yelled.

  The sword Ranta had used to block the ustrel’s naginata was flung off somewhere. The way the ustrel moved had suddenly changed. If it were to be described with not one word, but two, it was violent and erratic. On top of that, it had stopped gnashing its teeth and started howling.

  “Uwahhhhhhhhhh?!” Ranta shouted. “Haruhiro, man, what’d you do?!”

  The ustrel chased after the now-barehanded Ranta
while howling madly. Ranta used a mixture of Leap Out and Exhaust to run away. He kept running, occasionally taking a scratch from the ustrel’s naginata. Somehow or another, he was managing to escape with his life for the moment.

  It had been the Backstab. No doubt about it. This had been the effect of that Backstab. Someone had once said that a wounded animal was the most dangerous, And the ustrel was backed into a corner. He was working up his last reserves of strength, trying to kill his enemies. In other words, Haruhiro and the party. If he couldn’t do that, the ustrel was finished.

  This was where the battle would be decided.

  “He’s just delaying the inevitable!” Haruhiro shouted. “We’ll outlast him! Hang in there, and grind him down!”

  “Mrrrow!” Yume fired off an arrow into the ustrel’s butt.

  Ranta screamed. He was probably trying to get over to his longsword, but he just couldn’t make it there. “H-H-H-Help me, you moron!”

  “Oh, yeah, I’ve got this!” Kuzaku was back on his feet after Merry used Cure on him.

  Well, that’s good and all, but he’s sounding weirdly high-strung there, Haruhiro thought. Is he okay?

  Okay or not, Kuzaku plowed into the ustrel’s side. When the ustrel swung his naginata at him, Kuzaku swung his longsword at it with two hands, stopping it with a loud clang, then pushing it back.

  Kuzaku bellowed, “Aw, yeahhhhhh!”

  “Ogoagoahhhh!” the ustrel howled, slamming his naginata into Kuzaku. He hit him with it again and again.

  Kuzaku was unyielding, he howled back, “Gahhh! Gwahhh! Zahhh!” as he knocked away the naginata with his longsword. For now, he was managing to deflect it, but if he missed even once, it would be over.

  Honestly, I’m too scared to watch, Haruhiro thought. But if I call out to him carelessly, I could do more harm than good. Right now, Kuzaku’s concentration is insane. I don’t want to break that.

  Ranta picked up his own longsword. “We meet again, my Excalibur!”

  What’re you calling Excalibur? Haruhiro thought as he moved around to get behind the ustrel.

  Yume was nocking an arrow, but with Kuzaku and the ustrel locked in fierce combat, she couldn’t line up a shot.

  Haruhiro and Merry’s eyes met. Merry immediately held up two fingers. Two Cure spells left, that meant.

  Shihoru took a step forward.

  “Jess, yeen, sark, fram, dart!” she chanted, drawing elemental sigils with her staff.

  Lightning. The thunder rumbled, and a bolt of electricity pierced the ustrel. His body convulsing, he looked like he might fall. He managed to stay on his feet, but Kuzaku used that opening to launch a counterattack.

  “Gah! Gah! Gahhh!”

  His swings were a mess, and he was clearly getting in too deep. Still, it worked out well. As Kuzaku’s sword pushed in and the ustrel’s naginata pushed back, it was as if their hilts had locked together. They weren’t actually locked, because a naginata doesn’t have a hilt guard, but it looked like they had. The hilt of Kuzaku’s longsword and the fist the ustrel was gripping his naginata with were jostling against one another. Regardless, they were in a stalemate.

  Now’s our chance! was one thing Haruhiro didn’t have to tell anyone.

  “Meow!” Yume fired an arrow, hitting the ustrel in the right shoulder.

  “Leap Out, followed byyyyy—Satan’s Blooooow!” It was an impressive sounding name and all, but all Ranta did was jump at the ustrel and slash his left shoulder.

  Haruhiro jumped onto the ustrel’s back. The metallic skull helmet covered the neck, too, but Haruhiro knew the ustrel had no armor covering his chest, his back, his torso, or his shoulders. Haruhiro jammed his dagger in right underneath the rim of that helmet. He stabbed him eagerly, then immediately backed off.

  “Gugohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” the ustrel screamed.

  “—Wha?!” Kuzaku was pushed back and knocked on his rear.

  Oh, crap, that’s—not that bad...?

  The ustrel didn’t try to hit Kuzaku while he was down. He stumbled, his huge form swaying, unsteady on his feet, as he planted his naginata’s pommel on the ground.

  Have we done it? Haruhiro thought. No, it looks like that’s not quite it.

  “Ogoh!” The ustrel lifted up his naginata, spinning his body around.

  “Whoa, get back!” Haruhiro leapt backwards.

  Kuzaku screamed, rolling and scrambling to get away. Ranta pulled back, too. Yume, Merry, and Shihoru were at a distance to begin with, so they were fine.

  The ustrel spun around seven times, then slumped against his naginata, exhausted. They watched for some time, but he showed no signs of moving.

  He’s probably resting, Haruhiro thought. That’s bad.

  “Attack!” he shouted.

  As everyone ran in to attack, the ustrel started whirling around again.

  Once they hurriedly ran away, the ustrel ran out of strength after spinning around seven times, and leaned on his naginata.

  I’m not letting you rest any more, Haruhiro thought fiercely. He shouted, “Let’s go!”

  Ranta and Kuzaku each got in a hit or two, Yume got in one arrow, and Haruhiro himself got in a good hard whack with his sap. At that point, the ustrel started whirling around again, so they fell back. This time, it didn’t make it to seven spins, only six. It looked like this was pretty hard on the ustrel. At this point, Haruhiro didn’t even have to give the signal anymore.

  Haruhiro and the others would attack, each of them getting in one or two hits, and then the ustrel would do his big spin. They would fall back, counting the number of rotations. One, two, three, four, five, six times around. What a hard worker. They didn’t bother thinking those sorts of unnecessary things before charging.

  They cut him, whacked him, shot him. The ustrel spun around, forcing Haruhiro and the others to temporarily withdraw.

  Three, four, five, and he looked ready to spin out of control on the sixth.

  Making a point of not thinking We can do this, or, Just a little longer, they would close in on him, almost mechanical in their attacks. They attacked and attacked.

  The ustrel howled, so they all leapt back and braced themselves, but no big spin came.

  Haruhiro and Ranta traded glances.

  Ranta wanted to go. Haruhiro was quick to shake his head. He wasn’t about to get reckless after coming this far. He tempered caution with more caution. No matter what, he wasn’t going to let anyone die here. That was his top priority. It was okay to let some opportunities slip by. He would just have to take advantage of the next one.

  Haruhiro looked at the ustrel. He felt the urge to blink, but he resisted it. The ustrel was putting more of his weight on the naginata than his own legs.

  The ustrel’s mouth opened wide, with a wheezing sound and a thick blackish fluid leaking out. He seemed so small, somehow. The ustrel had been so big, yet now he looked small.

  First, his knees gave out. The ustrel sandwiched his naginata between his legs, getting into a sitting position, and then the metallic skull mask faced up at them. An orange tongue lolled out, and a moaning sound escaped, then stopped. After that, the ustrel moved no more.

  Haruhiro used Sneaking to approach the ustrel from behind. When he got to about a meter and a half away, the metallic skull helmet suddenly turned towards Haruhiro, and he thought his heart might stop.

  Oh, crap, he thought. That was scary. Is he coming? Is he? It’s fine. Even if he comes at me, I can get away. I’m ready for it. No problem. I can cope. Besides, I don’t even see any sign the ustrel’s breathing.

  Haruhiro bit his lip. He took a short, deep breath. “Finish him!”

  The moment he shouted it, Ranta, Kuzaku, and Yume rushed towards the ustrel. After that, it was just longswords, machetes, and more cutting up, smashing, and beating down the ustrel.

  Haruhiro participated, too. Merry and Shihoru did not.

  Even as they swung their weapons with all their might, Haruhiro—no, everyone, including Haruhi
ro—was perfectly calm. Their objective was clear. To terminate the ustrel. To utterly eradicate the threat he posed.

  Even when the ustrel slumped to the ground, they kept at it for a while. It certainly didn’t feel good. But it was necessary. Stopping to take his pulse, to make sure he was dead— they didn’t have time to take it easy like that. They had to thoroughly kill him.

  Once the ustrel was utterly destroyed, everyone stopped.

  After all of that, I’m exhausted. I don’t feel like talking, Haruhiro thought. If I say so much as a word, it feels like my soul might escape with it. I’d die if my soul escaped like that.

  “...We did it.” Ranta exhaled deeply, leaning back and waving his arms around. “We did it! We did it, damn it! We killed that ustrel good! How do you like that, you piece of crap?!”

  “That sure was nerve-rackin’...” Yume slumped to the ground. She was drenched with sweat, her hair clinging to her face. She looked haggard. It was so bad, you had to wonder how many pounds she’d lost from just this one fight alone. “No more of this...”

  “I...” Kuzaku was sitting on his haunches, his head hung. “I... I thought... I was gonna... die...”

  “Haru.” Merry signaled him with her eyes. She used a gesture to tell him that she and Shihoru would watch the area.

  Haruhiro nodded, meaning, That’ll help. Seriously, it will.

  That was crazy, he thought. We were walking on thin ice there. Seriously thin ice. Does it feel like a victory? Not in the least. Is this a win? It’s not a loss. That much I can say for sure. No, the ustrel’s dead over there, so it must be a win. And not by a wide margin, either. If we had to do this ten times, I can’t say we’d win every one, but we’d probably win six of them. There were a number of crises, but we managed to work through them somehow, and we’ll do even better next time. If we assume that, this time, we won a battle we had a sixty percent chance of winning, next time, we should be able to bring our odds up to seventy percent. After that, it’ll be eighty. Then ninety. As we repeat the process, we can get to the point where we’ll more or less never lose.

  Experience. This was what it meant to build experience. And the experience gained from fighting the ustrel could be put to use in their battles with other enemies.