Buying Time
Certain that Neveumano had clashed with the kingdom's forces, Alice laid out her plan on the way there.
"Evan, Pina. The rest of you help the kingdom army."
Evan asked,
"And you?"
"I'll buy time."
At Alice's words, Pina shook her head.
"Even so, Alice-nim facing that alone is…"
"It's fine. I can do it."
Alice's firm reply left Pina without an answer. But having watched Alice all this time, Pina set her worries aside and chose to trust her. If she couldn't trust Alice here, who could she trust?
"Understood."
Pina nodded.
"…Hold on. That's far too reckless."
Evan, of course, was not so easily convinced. He knew Alice was an exceptional hunter, but the thought of her facing an unidentified creature that might rival a Supreme-grade monster still unnerved him.
"Is that really enough?"
Evan had been prepared to fight the monster alongside Alice. He had even come fully armed for that purpose.
Alice nodded.
"Just help the kingdom army. Cut the casualties however you can. I'll manage somehow."
That was all she said. Evan looked at her and fretted inwardly. He knew Alice was anything but ordinary, yet to his eyes she still looked like a slender young woman. The fact that she could even swing that greatsword on her back was astonishing enough.
In a tone that made clear he would not yield any further, Evan said,
"…I'll join you the moment everyone's been rescued—or the moment it looks dangerous."
"Sure. That much is fine."
Alice answered offhandedly.
"It probably won't come to that."
Evan tilted his head at her words. Where did that confidence even come from? He would keep thinking that—until he saw it with his own eyes.
"How did she even…"
If not for Alice, General Gero and Knight Aido would have been crushed beneath the ice and killed. Evan stammered, struck speechless by skill that bordered on the miraculous.
"I'm sure you have a lot you want to say."
Pina spoke up.
"Just… trust her."
Anomalies. Unknown monsters that appeared by reversing time. Pina had watched every moment of Alice's work among them. She had brought down the Broken Horn, defeated the ancient Alberoelva. The monsters of Lacrima and the wasteland had been no match for her. And then she had felled even Disastro—the calamity of ages past.
She was a hero. A hero who had appeared in this world to set twisted time right again.
Watching Alice's retreating back, Evan muttered under his breath,
"…Right. Do the job I was given. The job I was given. We've got enough recovery potions."
Repeating it to himself, Evan forced his body into motion and ran toward Gero and Aido. Pina watched him with a faint smile, then turned a hardened face toward the battlefield.
Neveterde…
The monster that had briefly shared their journey was standing out there. Neveterde was on the yeti's side. That was something Pina had only just learned. She felt regret, and something like betrayal, but she shook her head. Alice, who had to face Neveterde, would feel far worse. Right now, Pina's priority was to forget everything else and save the people fallen on this field.
Alice glanced back over her shoulder. Thankfully, Evan and Pina were already hard at work. Greatsword held forward, she faced Neveumano and murmured,
"Good to see you."
The words were not aimed at Neveumano, but at Neveterde standing beside it. Only then did Neveterde notice Alice.
—♪♬!
At Neveterde's voice, Neveumano halted and turned its gaze toward them. Neveterde beat its wings and descended. Alice exhaled calmly and tightened her grip on the hilt.
Toward Alice, who stood still in place, Neveterde dragged its feet and approached slowly—then stopped just outside the reach of the blade. Its blue eyes fixed on Alice.
—♩♪
Neveterde murmured as if speaking. But Alice could barely hear the voice.
"Ugh… please, someone save me…!"
"I don't want to die…!"
"Aaaagh—my, my leg!"
Sounds of agony rose all around them. A soldier limping away in flight. Another paralyzed by toxin, lying still and waiting for death. One whose leg had been shattered beneath an ice block hurled by Neveumano, unable to move at all. The chorus of suffering ate away at Alice. Even forcing herself to stay calm, she could not help being swallowed by the hellish scene.
Her breath came short. White vapor streamed hard from her parted lips. She was only standing there in a standoff, yet her heart hammered. Alice clenched the hilt until her gloves twisted and creaked.
And yet, face-to-face with Neveterde, she found she had no confidence she could cut this monster down without feeling anything at all.
Then a familiar voice rang through her mind.
Alice. Don't think weak thoughts.
It had been a long time since she had heard that voice. Alice straightened her neck and kept her eyes fixed ahead. It was not only a voice—she could even feel a presence at her back.
They're all dying. You have to move.
Alice nodded. In that instant, something that was not her own memory flashed before her eyes. The devastation two hundred years from now swept past. In a ruined capital, she saw herself standing alone before a dragon that walked the world. The vision faded as quickly as it had come, and Neveterde and Neveumano reappeared.
This is something only you can do.
The voice said that much, then vanished as if it had never been. The brief glimpse of that vision was enough for Alice to steady her heart.
Alice was always on the side of humanity. She was someone who had no choice but to stand with humanity. She realized how naive her thinking until now had been. She had let herself be swayed by a private attachment. No matter how good a time they had shared, the Neveterde before her now was a monster that had killed humans.
The red essence of the Luga-lac set into the Famine Sword glittered.
Neveterde cried out toward Alice once more.
—♩♪♩?
Alice lowered her eyes.
I don't know what you're saying. But this is my answer.
Shhhk—!
The Famine Sword carved a half-circle. Blood sprayed in its wake. Neveterde screamed.
—♬♪!!
Alice's surprise strike had split Neveterde's arm open. The Famine Sword drank the hide and blood, and in return poured vigor back into Alice. Neveterde flew by attaching ice wings to both arms; that mobility was a nuisance, so suppressing it at the first opportunity was the right call.
As Neveterde fell back wounded, Neveumano's roar—thick with rage—rolled across the entire field.
—AAaaaaa!!
The moment the roar ended, a blizzard began to fall without warning. Neveumano's fury had bent the world itself. Neveterde vanished into the whiteout. Alice, as if she had been waiting for this, pulled on her goggles.
A blizzard was the prelude to a duel.
Whooom—!
Neveumano's right fist tore heavily through the air and shot toward Alice. She raised the Famine Sword and drew a deep breath.
The way to defeat a monster was simple. Always watch the monster. Never take your eyes off it, no matter the situation. Do that, and its thoughts become visible. You can read the pattern. It was the most basic principle, and it held true whether the opponent was Low-grade or Supreme-grade.
Alice stepped clear of where the fist was headed.
KRAAAASH—!!
The fist that slammed into the ground shook the earth and swept the surroundings with a gale. Ice and dirt erupted like a bomb, fouling the air. A monster well over ten meters tall made every single motion a call to death. But its characteristically sluggish movement and sheer bulk were its flaws.
Regaining her balance, Alice dove between Neveumano's legs. She could not afford to watch only Neveumano, though. Anything too quick for Neveumano to catch was Neveterde's job.
—♩!
In an instant, Neveterde's foot drove its claws toward Alice's head—a diving kick delivered on the wing. A single touch of those claws would mean paralysis toxin and total immobility. Alice dropped low at once and set her stance. The claws split empty air and skimmed past her. Alice's eyes flashed.
You walked into my range yourself.
Still crouched, Alice twisted her waist and swung the greatsword.
Thwack—!
The blade caught Neveterde's body—but unfortunately with the flat, not the edge. Even so, the dense rows of small tooth-like studs on the flat scraped Neveterde's hide and left a wound. The Famine Sword rejoiced and left its reward. Feeling the vitality surge back, Alice stamped the ground without pause and closed hard on Neveumano.
Sensing Alice clinging beneath its body, Neveumano lifted its left leg.
Whooom—.
The simple act of raising one leg alone produced a heavy rush of wind. Without so much as glancing at the sole of the foot above her, Alice scraped the Famine Sword once across the right leg that still supported the monster. The blade that tore white fur and the hide beneath left a small but effective wound, as if to prove it was forged from Supreme-grade materials.
By then Neveumano had raised its knee to the limit and brought the leg down. The motion was slow, but the destructive power was no joke—this was no mere stomp.
Alice briefly slung the greatsword across her back again, slipped to the outside of the right leg, and cleared the stomp's range. Then, by a hair's breadth, she seized a handful of Neveumano's fur and clung to the leg.
KRAAASH—!!!
The foot that struck the earth produced a tremendous boom. The ground beneath it sank, and shards of earth shot upward. Soldiers fleeing in the distance lost their footing to the vibration and collapsed where they stood. Alice, too, exhaled as the faint tremor ran through the leg she clung to.
"Huu…"
Hanging from the leg, Alice reached one hand behind her back and took hold of the greatsword again. Then she dropped from her perch and drove the blade into Neveumano's instep. The moment she landed, the greatsword—forced downward with all her strength—crushed into the top of the foot, tearing and gouging flesh.
Neveumano let out a hideous shriek of pain and reflexively jerked its foot upward. Alice's body, still gripping the sword, was yanked into the air with it. A reflexive reaction born of pain—a pattern she had never seen in the game.
Alice yanked the blade free by the hilt on the spot. At the same time she released the sword and tumbled to the ground along with it. A slower reaction and she would have fallen from much higher. She shook off the impact of the landing and rolled hard to the side. Neveterde's claws raked the ground where she had just been.
She had lost the Famine Sword, but she was not without a weapon. The arms of the kingdom soldiers lay scattered across this field.
Alice snatched up a sword from where she had rolled. Then she met the claws of Neveterde, who pursued her relentlessly, with the blade.
Clang—!
She angled the claws aside and deflected the attack. Neveterde's leg strength was monstrous, and her hands went numb—but as long as she had a weapon, she was confident against anything. Besides, Neveterde's one arm was wounded; it could not stay airborne for long.
If there had been only one opponent, she would have pressed the attack from here. But what it took to bring down these two was always the same: never stop watching the other, and never let your guard down.
A shadow fell over her head. Alice flung the sword at Neveterde in haste and threw herself backward. Neveumano's palm slammed into the ground between them. Snow and dust billowed up and blanketed the field of view.
"Tsk."
—♪!
Alice planted a hand on the ground, steadied her breath, and glanced through the dust at Neveterde for a moment. Then she turned, eyes fixed ahead, and ran to find a weapon that would fill her empty hands.