Attack (3)

The Lizardmen were swept away in an instant like sand castles before a wave.

Even for Lizardmen who don’t fear death, when the gap becomes this large, it’s difficult to bridge it with anything.

It was clear that even pouring oil and setting it on fire didn’t inflict any significant damage on the mermaid.

In the midst of this, even female Lizardmen came out to throw ropes to try to restrict the mermaid’s movements even a little, but rather, when the mermaid strongly pulled its arms and tails that were caught by the ropes, the female Lizardmen were flung around with screams.

“How can this be…”

Yona sighed as she watched the scene.

Her robe was already stained red with the blood of Lizardmen, but the more she healed, the more Lizardmen turned into corpses.

At her feet, a Lizardman shaman was already spilling blood with only his upper body remaining,

And there was a limit to the number of Lizardmen she could heal alone.

Yona couldn’t properly judge how to stop that mermaid, or what to do.

“Yona!”

Alec ran over and grabbed Yona’s hand.

His face was also full of sweat, mixed with sand dust, making quite a mess.

Meanwhile, Yona looked over Alec’s body, checking for any injuries.

It was just scratches at most, so she inwardly sighed with relief.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. How about you, baldy?”

“I’m okay too. Kaiyak is over there.”

Kaiyak was still fighting hard, leading the Lizardmen who hadn’t retreated yet.

The mermaid was continuously roaring and unleashing fierce attacks on the Lizardmen, but under Kaiyak’s command, the Lizardmen were somehow managing to deflect those attacks.

Even so, they steadily didn’t give up on attacking.

Although those attacks were so weak as to be futile, to the point where it would be difficult to even restrain the mermaid at this rate, let alone defeat it.

“Don’t let it get to the branch shrine! We’re repelling it here!”

Kaiyak shouted with his eyes flashing brightly.

In the direction the mermaid was trying to approach step by step was the water god’s altar, the branch shrine.

The branch shrine of the water god’s altar, where a sacred rope was tied to an egg-shaped rock and an altar was set up in front of it, has been serving as a spiritual pillar for the Lizardmen for a very long time, along with the water god’s altar in the sacred place.

They can’t allow such a trivial monster to set foot in such a place.

However, Kaiyak’s shout was truly futile.

No matter how fiercely the Lizardmen attack, the mermaid just lets out long roars.

There’s not a hint of pain in those roars, so the situation is clearly desperate to anyone watching.

【Is this so difficult even against just such a beast? How about it, don’t you need my help?】

Yona gritted her teeth and ignored that voice.

Instead, she shouted at Kaiyak.

“Kaiyaaaak! Don’t you have any archers—?!”

One of the mermaid’s eyes was hollowed out.

It must be that the eye that was burst by Kaiyak yesterday hasn’t recovered.

Maybe the black fluid can’t restore completely damaged organs, or perhaps it’s not fully recovered yet.

“We don’t have any…! Lizardmen are a close combat race!”

“Oh for crying out louuuud—!”

Yona shouted while desperately racking her brain again.

Meanwhile, the mermaid was freely swinging its arms and tails as if it owned the place, tossing the Lizardmen around at will, and with each swing, fountains of blood burst out with screams.

“Alec, Aleeeec—!”

“I’m here, stop shouting!”

Alec shouted back at Yona while deflecting a blind stone with his shield.

Even though he’s right nearby, he’s busy blocking stones and fragments flying towards Yona.

“You, you can throw hammers, can’t you?! Burst that bastard’s eyeball!”

Alec held up the hammer in his hand and gauged the distance.

Even at a glance, it’s quite far to the mermaid’s head.

Throwing it wouldn’t be a problem, but whether it could burst that eyeball or not is another story.

“Bubusin-nim threw a mace and burst a monster’s eyeball, didn’t he! You should be able to do it too!”

“Hey, you… Make a proper comparison!”

Even while saying this, Alec readjusted his grip on the hammer and gauged the distance.

Honestly, it would be good if it worked, and if not, well, that’s that.

It’s definitely worth trying, so Alec decided to give it a shot.

【It doesn’t seem like an opponent that can be dealt with by such childish tricks, how about borrowing my power now?】

‘Shut up, just shut your mouth!’

Yona threatened Berbaria while praying for Alec’s success and waiting behind him.

Not knowing what might happen, she waited right behind him.

Alec took several deep breaths while holding the hammer.

Then, winding up powerfully—

“Huryaaaah!”

He threw the hammer with all his might along with a shout.

And that hammer flew straight in a line—

It directly hit the mermaid’s mouth, shattering one of its protruding molars.

“You idiot!”

“You think this is easy?!”

Because of that, the mermaid’s gaze turned towards Alec.

The mermaid, which had been focusing its fierce attacks only on Kaiyak and the other Lizardmen without paying attention to Alec or Yona until now, was now glaring at Alec.

“Wh-what are you going to do now?!”

“…I-I’ll heal you…?”

“Hey!”

Alec raised his shield towards the fist plunging down at him, but then seeming to think better of it, he withdrew the shield and threw his body to the side.

Unlike Alec, Yona threw herself backwards, and when spines flew again to where Alec had rolled, he thrust out his shield to deflect them.

“What now?!”

“What do you mean, what now!”

Alec pulled out another spare hammer from behind his waist.

But he didn’t have the confidence to throw it.

He couldn’t hit it even when he had enough time to aim because it wasn’t looking at him, so if he tries to throw while avoiding attacks now, he’ll just be wasting weapons.

Yona chewed her lips nervously.

Lizardmen corpses were everywhere, and there were many Lizardmen waiting for her healing.

Moreover, Lizardmen being attacked by their own kind were also emerging.

In the midst of this, now due to her misjudgment, the mermaid’s attention was also directed at Alec, so the situation had become even more of a mess.

【What will you do now?】

Along with Berbaria’s whisper, Alec rolled several times with a strange scream.

With the difference in physique, and attacks coming down from above being difficult to deflect with a shield, there’s no choice but to dodge.

Yona chewed her lips again as she watched the scene.

If Berbaria lent her power, the situation might be resolved in an instant.

But the reason she hadn’t done so until now, even while listening to Berbaria’s whispers.

That reason is very clear and obvious.

The reason that she is a cleric.

Is it right for such a cleric to deal with monsters by borrowing the power of a demon?

And will a demon really lend its power nicely?

Demons are called demons because they are demons.

They don’t tell lies, but they’re demons because they subtly twist the truth for their own benefit.

They don’t break promises, but they’re demons because they subtly twist promises to lead the other party to ruin.

If she borrows the power of such a demon—

Can Yona remain as Yona?

【You already became not human from the moment you accepted me. To say you can’t borrow my power despite that, isn’t that also laughable?】

Yona couldn’t refute those words.

Although she calls herself a cleric, can she really call herself a cleric after accepting a demon?

Although she calls herself human, can she still call herself human after accepting a demon?

Meanwhile, Alec was barely avoiding attacks.

It was all too clear even to Yona that the shield’s durability was reaching its limit.

Moreover, all around were nothing but Lizardmen corpses.

Even Kaiyak looked completely exhausted, and at this rate, the fall of this Lizard Den is as clear as day.

And she absolutely didn’t want to accept that her corpse, and Alec’s corpse, would remain as one of the remnants of this fallen village.

‘…If you lend me your power, what do you intend to take in return?’

【I haven’t thought about it yet. I don’t know what I’ll demand from you yet.】

‘What kind of trick is this?’

【Don’t you like it? If you don’t, then forget it. It’s not like I’ll die if you die. If you die, I’ll just find another vessel.】

This son of a bitch.

Yona nodded while inwardly cursing.

For now, shouldn’t we just try to survive, Yona desperately tried to convince herself.

Boom!

At a sound like a large drum bursting, Alec turned around.

At the sound that burst from where Yona should have been, he had already turned around before he was even conscious of it.

Yona’s nun’s robe, the sleeve that should have been covering her left arm, was torn to shreds and the fabric was fluttering like black snow.

A snake that had been tightly wrapping around her left arm, which should have been exposed snow-white, was gradually fading.

“The, the sky…?”

The sky, which had been bathed in morning sunlight, was now darkening as the sunlight receded and a black light was cast.

Looking up, the sky was filled with thick dark clouds completely blocking the sunlight, making it seem as if night had fallen.

And from that sky came a sound like “shaaaa—” along with a sound like something huge brushing against a grass field.

“N-no way. Yona… you.”

Alec’s voice trembled.

Yona’s left arm that met his gaze already had no trace of that snake.

The snake that had wrapped around her snow-white left arm as if it had always been there was gone—

Ku, kuruu…!

The mermaid looked around at the sudden change and finally looked up at the sky.

The sky full of ashen clouds gave a sense that this was no ordinary event even to a monster without much intelligence, and instead of roaring, it was shrinking back.

【It’s been a long time since I descended. I had a good rest as that vessel was quite comfortable. Now it’s time to feast.】

A sound that seemed to shake the ground reverberated.

And Yona too was looking up at the sky.

She was inwardly cursing, but what could she do now?

Unable to do anything, she just watched the scene.

A dark red radiance burst out as if parting the clouds.

This radiance shining down on Lizard Den was ominous even at a glance.

Kuruoook…!

The mermaid took a step back.

Now, wrapped in instinctive fear, it was all too certain that staying here would mean death.

The mermaid tried to flee.

But faster than that—

With a roar like thunder, a giant snake fell from the sky.

With its mouth opened wider than its body, the snake lunged at the mermaid as soon as it fell, coiling around it tightly.

Before the mermaid’s pain-filled scream could escape its throat, the snake’s mouth tore into the mermaid’s upper body.

The sound of bones breaking continuously came from the mermaid trapped in the coiled body of the snake.

And with each gulp of the snake’s jaw, the mermaid’s body gradually disappeared into that mouth.

The surroundings were completely silent.

The already dead Lizardmen, the injured Lizardmen groaning in pain, and the surviving Lizardmen.

As the mermaid died, the contaminated Lizardmen also gradually slowed their movements until they stopped.

Yona was blankly watching the scene.

‘…That’s, a demon?’

That thing that so easily devours this house-sized monster, a monster that dozens of Lizardmen couldn’t even scratch, let alone defeat, is a demon?

Yona just blankly watched Berbaria’s feast.

A primal fear, much larger and more enormous than the fear she had felt from the mermaid, was weighing down on her.