I gasped. I’d seen it now, but far too late. As if to prove my fears correct, placed on the top of a large boulder in the middle of the path ahead was a decomposing human head.
“It’s a trap! Retreat—” I had barely started to speak before my words were drowned out by a deafeningly loud roar that echoed through the valley. It was coming from the forest we’d just left. No, they were coming from the forest, towards us. Several beasts—a giant, two-headed serpent, a huge deer with bloodshot eyes, a wildcat that could have been mistaken for a leopard... Everywhere I looked, there were beasts, beasts, beasts. Every one of them was spewing miasma from its body. Someone gasped out a terrified scream.
“Don’t panic!”
“Keep calm! Wall of shields!”
The adventurers who had shields all stepped forward and lined up in a row, protecting each other, and Reystov and I stood on either side to protect the line. Now that we’d fallen for the trap, we’d just have to push through it.
No sweat, I told myself. We should be able to deal with guys like these.
The beasts and their miasma closed in.
Right... That gas was poisonous. I quickly used a number of spells and blessings, and cast Vitality and Anti-Poison on everyone. From the looks of it, Menel had also called to the fairies and given everyone some protections of his own.
“You have my gratitude.”
“Thanks, guys!”
“Real help!” They shouted their thanks one after another.
“Here we go. Those brutes think they caught us in a trap. We better remind them who’s the hunter, and who’s the prey.” It was rare to hear banter like that from Reystov.
I could feel Menel calling to the fairies and readying his bow behind me. The other adventurers were also holding their weapons and shields up and trying to steady their breathing. The group of monsters approached slowly, slowly, as if to strike terror into us.
Still holding up my shield, I took some stones from a bag hanging from my belt, then pulled out my sling. I put a stone inside and spun it around with one hand, faster and faster—
“Now! Fire!” The distance carefully judged, Reystov shouted the command and arrows flew, inflicting serious wounds on several of the beasts. I let my stone fly as well, blowing off one of the beasts’ heads. The attack set the rest off, and they charged. Even as they did, more arrows were fired, and I smashed two more heads with my stones.
“Braaace!!”
Everyone bellowed in unison. We dropped our center of gravity, ducked behind our shields, and prepared for impact.
That was the moment an enormous shadow was cast over our heads.
The winged shadow effortlessly leaped over our frontal defense, attempting to attack from the rear. I wanted to go deal with it, but I told myself no. I had to keep the beasts from advancing.
“Menel!” I continued facing forward and shouted out the name of the person I trusted the most. I want you to buy us time somehow—
“Gahackk—”
I heard a sound like... a slab of meat being punched.
I couldn’t bear not knowing. I turned to see.
As if he were nothing, Menel, the person I trusted more than any other, had been smacked by the giant beast and sent flying.
The beast was enormous.
Extending upwards from the soles of its feet, which were as big as shields, were great, thick legs that looked like barbed wire had been twisted and coiled together. The typical farmhouses I saw in the poor villages around here were far tinier than this monster, even if it curled itself up as small as possible. Even the wyvern would have looked slimly built next to this thing. Standing in front of its lion-like body felt overwhelming, like standing directly in front of a towering cliff face.
The beast had three heads: a goat, a lion, and a demidragon. Each of those heads was filled with contempt, ridicule, and malice for everything smaller than itself. It was a chimera—an extremely savage, dangerous beast created by crossing other beasts in a blasphemous ritual.
“Oh—”
It looked like Menel had called to the earth elementals in an attempt to protect himself and those of us behind him. The wall of stone and earth jutting out of the ground, a huge chunk taken out of it by the chimera’s elephantine front foot, was proof.
Menel’s body slammed against a sheer wall of rock.
The chimera looked at him—
“Stop—”
—and, with a gloating grin—
“Stop!”
—from its demidragon head—
“Nooooo!!”
—it breathed fire.
Menel’s body flailed within the flames, burning. He was going to die—he was dying before my eyes—
I heard something snap inside my head.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
My boiling blood dyed my vision red. I’d never felt this much anger, even when the wyvern attacked the city. Filled with that boiling emotion, I incanted the Word of Lightning.
“Tonit—”
At that instant, there was a heavy impact on my shield.
Oh, right, the beasts... were charging...
The Word... died in my throat...
Misfire. Backfire.
Those fragmented thoughts flashed through my head, and not an instant later, the lightning I’d failed to activate ran through me. I shook. My body convulsed. I collapsed.
Wh-What was I doing? Why was I being so pathetic? I had to fight. I had to protect everyone. Why was I letting myself get destroyed—
As I fell to the ground and my vision clouded, I saw the other adventurers trying to somehow endure. Reystov was fighting for his life, swinging his sword fiercely, but I doubted he would last long.
A despair colder than arctic ice washed over me and extinguished the flames of my anger. Why? What did I get wrong? I’d been doing pretty good, hadn’t I? Where—Where did I go—
A serpent head closed in on me while I lay on the ground. It opened its mouth to swallow me whole. It lunged at me, and I—no, my body, trained by Blood... drew Overeater as if by instinct.
Slash. The serpent’s head flew off. Crimson thorns shot through the air. My wounds disappeared. Life force filled me. I roared, even louder than before.
Everything began to fade, began to grow cold. All thought disappeared from my mind. Everything emptied to white, until only the positional relationships of me and the beasts occupied my head.
A slaughter began.
Fangs came from the right. I slashed.
Claws swung at my left leg. I let them hit me, then slashed. The pain was excruciating.
I slashed. My wounds healed. The excruciating pain was gone.
I slashed the next foe. Deep red thorns filled the air.
I punched with my shield and slashed. Let them stab me and slashed. Let them bite me and slashed. Held them close and slashed.
Slashed. Slashed. Slashed.
Thorns. Thorns. My vision bled red.
I roared.
It was shameful, blind desperation. My trained muscles, my polished technique, my fortified spirit—none of that was there. I was just leaving everything to the abilities of my demonblade, and slashing and cutting my way through without any strategy or grace. It was an incredibly, hopelessly pitiful, embarrassing, and saddening battle. I felt like I’d failed them all. I felt pathetic.
I slashed and cut the beasts down like a madman, tears spilling from my eyes. Drenched in blood and guts, I’d lost count of how many I’d slain so far. But I had to kill more. More. More—