Purgatory (5)

With the rising fire as a signal, the kingdom’s soldiers were pouring in. The soldiers here were half of what should have been here originally. Even those were confused by the explosion that had just occurred, and military discipline wasn’t properly maintained. The silver-haired man tilted his head and looked around. A path of corpses was briefly visible, and the screams of soldiers escaping through the valley were clearly heard.

Scattered corpses, as if someone was forcibly piercing through a blocked path.

The man chewed on dried food and gestured to the knight beside him. Knights wearing pitch-black armor and emitting red light from the gaps in their helmets. They were emitting denser demon energy compared to other demons, and saliva was dripping from the teeth exposed between their helmets.

“You, chase after the hero.”

The armored group just nodded and slowly walked forward. The monstrous beings who had placed their feet at the edge of the cliff twisted their necks to gauge the distance, then simultaneously jumped into the air. Unlike their slow preparatory movements, their jumping speed was so fast that it looked like their movements were being quickly drawn with an ink line.

The adjutant asked:

“Aren’t you going directly? It’s the hero.”

“Soldiers are pouring in. From over there. Can you see?”

The adjutant nodded. The soldiers filling the horizon at his fingertips had faces full of belief that they could conquer this land. The man said:

“If we lose here, we can’t gain an advantage even if we catch the hero. But if we repel that army here, we can gain the upper hand on the battlefield. Because we still have the advantage in troop numbers.”

“Still, the hero might suddenly turn back and join them, and there’s no guarantee that those guys can catch them either.”

The man grabbed the adjutant’s head. The adjutant with slightly protruding horns blinked and shrank his neck. The man gently stroked the adjutant as if handling a puppy. Every time the thick iron gloves meant for holding a sword stroked his head, a stinging pain and fear seeped in.

“Am I in a position where I have to explain my intentions to you one by one? Can’t you grasp my intentions before I speak?”

“N-No. I’m sorry.”

As the adjutant bowed his head, the man lowered his hand again. He shook his hand and twisted his lips. His silver hair fluttered in the wind.

“Isn’t the direction they’re fleeing different from the direction of the soldiers? This means that someone in the hero’s party has become unable to continue fighting after the recent operation. Since the hero can’t participate in the battlefield, what’s important for us is to defeat that unit that has pushed right up to our doorstep. Everyone move!”

The man shook his head as he watched the soldiers move.

“Nothing but fools. Nothing but fools.”

And he turned to the commanders while grumbling in a low voice.

---

“I’m sorry, old man…. I couldn’t be of help….”

When allies were fighting desperately, all the hero could do was apologize. Her whole body had gone limp and she couldn’t do anything, and even maintaining her posture brought fatigue. The fact that she wasn’t sleeping now was a minimal precaution against any possible blind attacks.

“It’s alright. You definitely caught Staufen with the skill you showed. We won. Now their defeat is even more certain.”

Despite my words, the hero couldn’t hide her apologetic expression. Even as we ran forward, heavy explosion sounds and the enemies’ screams could be heard clearly from the distant front.

Bang!

“Uaaaaaaah!”

“Eeeeek! P-Please spare me!”

“Mom! Dad!”

Beyond the wailing sounds, I kept focusing my attention in case I might hear the screams of our party members. But when I entered the tree shadows, the tree trunks were covered with intestine fragments and enemy heads, the ground was stained so thickly its original color was unrecognizable, and Lena, sitting on top of corpses, waved at me with a relaxed smile.

There were no living demons in what seemed to be the campsite. Mille lightly tapped her empty quiver and pulled out arrows from surrounding demons. Ashuria took a deep breath, regained her posture, and looked at the hero.

“Thank you. Everyone.”

The hero said while scratching her cheek, unable to make eye contact. Lena smiled while wiping the blood on her face, and Ashuria shook her head and said:

“You don’t need to be so sorry. Isn’t this what we gathered as a party for? You took down a high-ranking officer, so we’ll open the way back.”

The hero’s eyes welled up with tears, impressed, but then realizing she was cradled in my arms like a baby, she wiped her tears again. Crying in this posture would only look ridiculous.

Mille said as she watched the hero wipe her tears:

“How long are we going to rest?”

Ashuria looked around and said:

“As quickly as possible to the bor-“

Lena, who had been wiping blood off her dagger, stood up and swung the dagger widely. Ashuria took a stance, and Mille quickly searched for nearby trees and stomped her feet.

And I threw my body sideways, wrapping the hero.

Bang!

A black shadow plunged straight towards us, and dust rose. The roar drowned out any screams, but I saw Lena being thrown to the opposite side through the dust.

The shadow gripped the sword with one hand, scattered the dust, and screamed:

“Aaaaaaaah!”

A chilling voice like that of a prisoner being tortured rang out. Ashuria glanced sideways with a confused face in the direction Lena had flown, and the monster didn’t allow Ashuria any openings.

It swung the pitch-black sword at a terrifying speed, aiming for Ashuria’s head.

“No!”

Mille’s arrow flew, aiming for the monster’s head. At the same time as catching the arrow with the opposite hand, it raised its arm high and swung the sword down vertically. Judging she couldn’t block it, Ashuria moved her body sideways, and Lena, who had sprung out from between the trees, swung her dagger aiming for the monster’s neck.

Clang!

“Uh, huh?”

The monster that blocked Lena’s dagger with its teeth, its red eyes flashing.

Lena blinked in confusion for a moment with her foot stuck to the monster’s body, and Ashuria thrust her fist towards the monster’s abdomen.

A heavy shockwave rang on the sword surface blocking the abdomen, and the monster stepped back. Using that recoil, Lena jumped back greatly, and the monster pretended to aim at Ashuria, raising its sword high again, then rushed towards me.

“Oh no!”

I ducked while tightly hugging the hero. One sword strike that brushed over my head mercilessly cut down the plants of the demon world. As if knowing I couldn’t counterattack, the monster took one more step forward in that state and aimed for my side with the sword hilt.

“Run away! Old man!”

And Lena shouted, throwing needles. The needles that pierced the monster’s cheek momentarily halted its movement.

I used that gap to distance myself further, then looked around.

Mille gritted her teeth and shot arrows, and this time the monster rushed towards Mille. As Mille leapt from the tree to move to another place, as if aiming for that, the monster greatly twisted its waist and jumped up.

“Ugh!”

Ashuria blocked its path and clashed her knuckles against the sword. Thanks to this, Mille was able to jump to another position, but Ashuria’s body was stamped down to the ground along with her knuckles.

“Ack!”

Dust rises. Ashuria, pushed back by force, had no time to cough or collect herself. She rolled her body to avoid the sword flying towards her head.

The monster exhaled breath while tightly gripping the sword handle deeply buried in the soil.

“Old man…”

The hero was clutching my clothes, making a silent request. Looking at her sword at my waist, she was expressing her intention to fight too.

But the hero can’t fight now.

A powerless hero is only a hindrance in this fight.

I can’t join the fight now, leaving the hero behind.

If the hero gets caught in an attack and dies, it’s over, and we’re no different from fighting with one lump of baggage.

My role is,

To safely protect the hero.

“Please excuse me!”

As I turned my body, the hero shouted in surprise:

“Wh-Where are you going! Old man! W-Wait a moment! We can’t go like this!”

“We can’t! It’s an opponent we can’t fight while protecting you, hero! We need to get as far away as possible! So the party members can fight without worrying!”

“B-But…! But…!”

The hero clawed at my chest. Her face had turned pale, and her body was trying to forcibly escape from me. I tightened my grip on her body and ran.

“Hero.”

She looked up at me, sobbing. I smiled at her and said:

“It’s alright. Everyone will come back.”

And I started running like mad.

Until I couldn’t hear the sounds of our party members fighting.

While anxiously worried that I might hear worrying screams,

I ran, pretending to be fine and nodding my head.

The hero kept looking back, and after running for a while, I stopped, breathing heavily.

Everywhere was quiet, and no fighting sounds could be heard.

I took a deep breath and put the hero down for a moment, and checked the hero’s condition while stretching my stiff back.

“Let’s rest for a moment.”

The hero curled up with a gloomy face. Her emotions were naked in her posture, hugging her knees tightly. She said:

“I’m supposed to be the hero… But I wasn’t helpful.”

“You’re doing plenty well, hero.”

She shook her head at my words.

“They’re people who followed me believing in me, but I abandoned them. Because I’m not helpful.”

I shook my head while regulating my breathing. I understand the hero’s depression, but our reliable party members will surely return alive.

I looked up at the sky, choosing words to encourage her like that.

“Hm?”

There was an unusually black dot in the sky.

A pitch-black dot.

The black dot was flying towards us. It plunged in front of us at a sharper and faster speed than the trajectory we had seen earlier, causing dust and an explosion.

“Aaaaaaaah!”

A dense silhouette was visible through the dust, and soon a monstrous face with its mouth wide open appeared. Although wrapped in armor, there was no humanity in its actions.

With its waist bent like a beast, it raised its head and howled, and one hand was holding a sword.

A different being from the monster we met earlier. But I knew that armor the monster was wearing and that sword.

“Hahaha…”

I laughed and shook my head.

I drew my sword, pointed it at the monster, and took a stance.

If you run away from the past, in the end, you’re bound to meet this kind of ending.