The Sacred Place of Lizard Den (2)

What filled his mind was a question.

Why was Yona here?

That was the first thought Kaiyak had.

Although he was glad to see her, Yona shouldn’t be able to be here.

However, Yona was actually here, and thanks to her support, Kaiyak felt much more at ease.

“It’s coming, left! Get down!”

Following Yona’s shout, Kaiyak flattened himself to the ground.

Without a moment’s hesitation, as soon as he lay down, the mermaid’s tail sliced through the air above him.

Confirming that Yona’s shout, who was standing several steps back, didn’t continue, Kaiyak charged forward with his spear held at an angle.

The mermaid screamed, slamming its fists down randomly and swinging its tail.

Most monsters are like this, without anything that could be called intelligence.

The Lizardmen facing it, including Kaiyak, are beings with intelligence, so if it weren’t for the mermaid’s overwhelming physical power, they could handle it.

Above all, now there’s a healer on their side.

A healer with undoubted skill.

When Kaiyak glanced back, he could see Yona weaving between the other Lizardmen, spreading healing.

He could also clearly see his tired and wounded kin regaining strength and each raising their weapons again at that sight.

The mermaid rolled its bright yellow eyes, looking around.

The battle had been going on for hours already, and it thought that if it just pushed a little more, it could surely annihilate these annoying lizards.

Above all, this was underwater, and the mermaid hadn’t even crawled onto land yet.

Moreover, this black slime was continuously infusing vitality into its body, so although it was troublesome and annoying, there was no way it could lose.

The mermaid’s gaze turned towards that white-haired human weaving between the Lizardmen.

That was it. Since that appeared, these lizards had started to regain their vigor.

Then the root of the problem was that human.

The mermaid raised its fists high.

It raised four out of its six arms high, aiming at several places where that human might escape to, and slammed them down forcefully.

Yona froze for a moment.

Was it because she had momentarily forgotten that Alec, who was always in front of her, wasn’t there, or was there another reason?

It’s unclear, but Yona froze, looking up at the black, giant fist slamming down towards her, and the wide-open palm flying alongside it.

She seemed to hear a voice that couldn’t possibly be heard.

Yona!

And the moment she realized it was an illusion, Yona rolled several times, held in someone’s arms.

“Yona, are you alright?”

It was Kaiyak.

Kaiyak had embraced Yona with the momentum of his charge and rolled several times across the gravel, causing injuries all over his body in the process.

“Ah, yes. I-I’m fine.”

Yona got up slightly and looked around.

She thought she had clearly heard Alec’s voice, but it seemed she had heard the voice of Alec who wasn’t here.

Kuweeeeeee—!!!

With a crazed roar, the mermaid repeatedly struck the water of the sacred place with its tail, venting its anger.

At the same time, it was enduring the concentrated attacks of the Lizardmen who had rushed in opportunistically while the mermaid was momentarily distracted by Yona, mixing that pain with its anger.

The Lizardmen no longer retreated.

They were originally a race with extremely thin fear of death, and they had only become passive due to injuries, so now that Yona was going around spreading healing, their fighting spirit ignited again towards the intruder of the sacred place.

Kaiyak sprinted.

His angled spear was sharp, and where he was running, a fellow Lizardman was just pulling out the spear they had driven into the mermaid.

“I’m going to jump!”

As soon as they heard Kaiyak’s shout, the Lizardman lay down on the spot without looking back.

Kaiyak used the Lizardman’s back as a stepping stone and leaped.

He used the palm swinging towards him as another foothold for his jumping feet.

Once again into the air, he drove the spear shaft into the tail and gained a rebound.

With a twang sound of wood, Kaiyak soared high.

As he stretched out his curled-up body, winding up the spear with all his might—

Kaiyak thrust the spear.

The spear tip, which rushed in an instant, splitting the air with a swoosh, burst one of the mermaid’s eyeballs and sank in with a thud.

………!!!

With an indescribable scream, the mermaid writhed in pain.

Using the randomly swinging fist as a foothold, Kaiyak threw his body backward.

An elegant curve.

Drawing a gentle line almost like a parabola, Kaiyak flew to the gravel and landed softly.

“Kaiyak!”

A fellow Lizardman brought a spare spear and handed it over, which Kaiyak quickly accepted.

“I’d like to finish this, hmm.”

Kaiyak glared at the mermaid with a displeased look.

If there was a gap to dive in, he would immediately do so and cut off its breath.

But with the mermaid’s many arms and tails, and now that it was raging like this, even that wasn’t easy.

The mermaid now had two choices left.

Either plunge back into battle filled with rage, or retreat.

The mermaid, filled with rage, pounded the surface of the sacred place.

Black water splashed around, and the Lizardmen hurriedly retreated to avoid getting hit by that water.

Kuwe, kuwee, kuaaaa—-!!!!

With a scream, the mermaid slowly sank into the sacred place.

The Lizardmen tried to hurriedly give chase at that sight, but Kaiyak restrained them and shook his head.

The water of the sacred place was not normal, as could be seen from its color,

and the sacred place that had given endless vitality and life force to the Lizardmen might rather become poison.

Moreover, since they had inflicted injuries, the backlash would be tremendous, and if they chased recklessly, they might suffer damage instead.

After briefly organizing his thoughts, Kaiyak finally turned to look at Yona.

“…Um, sorry.”

“No… well, it’s fine.”

While the Lizardmen had easily avoided the water splash, Yona, not being a Lizardman, was in a sorry state, completely drenched.

“So why did you come alone? Is Alec dead?”

Yona’s footsteps, which had been pushing through the undergrowth, momentarily halted.

Alec, and death.

These two words being listed together approached Yona with a rather unpleasant feeling.

Moving her momentarily stopped feet as if nothing had happened, Yona shook her head.

“He couldn’t come in here, they said. It seems like humans can’t enter this place.”

“That’s true. Well, you, Yona, are no longer an ordinary human, so you could enter.”

Although Kaiyak’s words were spoken in a calm voice, as if it was nothing, Yona didn’t get particularly angry.

Kaiyak was just stating the facts, and there was no need to get upset about it.

“Come to think of it, why are you still female? Did you fail or something?”

“Huh?”

Thinking about it, it’s something that Kaiyak might naturally be curious about.

The place where Kaiyak and Yona parted was at the entrance of the mage community, and Kaiyak knew well why Yona and Alec had gone there.

Had she said she would go to become a man, or not?

She couldn’t remember that far, but— anyway, since she came like this, still as a woman, it’s something Kaiyak would naturally ask about.

“Um… yes, I… failed.”

That would be the right way to put it, wouldn’t it?

Yona thought so and nodded.

It is a failure, it is a failure, but…

“By the way, Yona.”

The sound of Kaiyak’s footsteps suddenly stopped.

Because of that, Yona’s footsteps, which had been leading the way towards where Alec was, also stopped.

“Did something happen to you? Why do you seem so dispirited?”

The Yona that Kaiyak remembered was lively until the moment they parted.

A mentally strange healer who, despite being female, insisted she was male, and would rage if treated like a female, saying she would definitely return to being male someday.

But now she seemed completely devoid of energy, which looked very strange.

“…Nothing happened. I’ll wait for Alec. Let’s go quickly.”

Yona shook her head and started walking silently.

Kaiyak, watching her back, also closed his mouth and started following her.

“Why did it take so long? Did something hap… Oh, Kaiyak?”

“Hey, baldy. Long time no see. Have you been well?”

Alec brightened up towards Kaiyak.

He was a comrade he hadn’t seen in a long time, and he was also relieved that he was safe.

Kaiyak felt the same.

Waving his hand to Alec, Kaiyak pointed towards Lizard Den with his chin.

“Let’s go to our village first. We can greet each other properly after that. It seems like we have a lot to talk about.”

Kaiyak turned around after saying that.

Crossing through the sacred place would be the fastest, but there’s a barrier preventing humans from entering, and it’s only been a few days since they knocked out and drove away a human adventurer who had squeezed through a tiny gap in the barrier, so they couldn’t do that either.

They have no choice but to go around, and since it’s almost sunset, they need to hurry.

“What happened?”

“A monster appeared in the sacred place. I was helping because Kaiyak’s Lizardmen were fighting.”

Alec nodded at Yona’s answer.

Although it’s a rather astonishing statement from Yona, cutting out all the details before and after, Alec had no trouble understanding.

So, it’s understandable that she was late.

Still, isn’t it good that she came back without getting hurt?

“You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”

Alec caressed Yona’s shoulder.

For no particular reason, with no particular meaning.

Just out of worry, Alec caressed Yona’s shoulder.

“Hic…”

Yona flinched and avoided that touch.

When Alec, suddenly left caressing the air, looked at Yona with a confused gaze, Yona had a bewildered expression as if she didn’t know why she had done that either.

“I-I’m not hurt anywhere. Let’s go quickly. We’ll lose Kaiyak.”

Kaiyak was striding away.

Yona, unable to hide her confusion, hurriedly moved to follow Kaiyak.

Alec, looking at his palm that had suddenly become awkward, also started walking, following Yona.