The Three of Us (2)
Outer Deities cannot approach areas with dense Ether concentrations. Humanity’s living space, the Ether Belt, was protected by these high concentrations and remained safe from the Outer Deities. Then one day, a hole appeared. A small, insignificant hole.
[“That spot looks promising.”]
One Outer Deity chuckled and began scouting the galaxy. It was still an immature black hole. Around it, entropy rewound, time flowed backward, and heavy particles repeatedly formed and annihilated in pairs.
Inside a world shaped like a cold metal sphere.
The Outer Deity made its decision.
[“……Shall I give it a try?”]
After several attacks from Lenaniai, the swordsmen were exhausted.
“Kugh……!”
I took on the role of moving them to safety. Once their targets vanished, the monster headed further north. Every B-rank and A-rank swordsman was either injured or dead. No one could move properly anymore. The students, however, remained safe—except for two.
“……”
They were gone. Rustila had disappeared. Zernya was missing too.
“Damn it all.”
I turned my head in the direction the monster had gone. It wasn’t because the targets had vanished. The creature was chasing the two girls deeper into the mountains. If I left them, I wouldn’t be able to face Seti. At the very least, I had to bring Rustila back unharmed.
Just then, swordsmen and medical teams arrived as reinforcements. No S-ranks in sight. If they clashed with Lenaniai, it would only increase casualties. Avoiding their gazes, I sprinted ahead toward the monster’s path.
Ten minutes before Eidel and Seti arrived, Rustila had already joined the battlefield with astonishing leg strength.
She swiftly raised her sword, heating the blade to condense plasma, then drove it in.
BOOM!
The strike saved the swordsman who had been about to be swallowed by the monster’s maw.
Immediately after, Rustila felt a tingling sensation in her hand.
“Who are you?”
A girl wearing a white muffler landed in front of her with acrobatic grace.
Zernya von Adelbein.
She instantly took a stance with her three swords. Rustila followed suit, preparing her next attack.
“Rustila Kersil.”
“Kersil? Never heard of that family.”
Zernya actually knew the Kersil family, but her twisted personality made her feign ignorance as a subtle provocation.
Rustila didn’t flinch. Her gaze remained fixed solely on the monster.
“……How boring.”
“Stay focused. That thing is at least A-rank, maybe even quasi-S-rank.”
“Hmph.”
With nothing else to say, Zernya responded with a nasal sound.
In truth, for the first five minutes of the fight, Zernya had been confident she could win. But the monster’s durability far exceeded expectations. It was no ordinary B-rank creature. Rustila’s words carried weight after all.
“We have to stop it before the damage grows worse.”
“What are the academy staff doing? Can’t they even subdue one piece of trash like that?”
Eight A-rank swordsmen arrived three minutes after Zernya joined the fight, but they achieved nothing and were forced to retire.
“An S-rank swordsman should arrive soon.”
“I’m not counting on it.”
While the two girls traded barbs, the monster thoroughly suppressed the remaining swordsmen. Screams and groans erupted like a flood from every direction.
Rustila and Zernya exchanged no words, yet in that instant they shared the same thought.
‘We can’t let any more lives be lost.’
‘I won’t let these trash gain achievements through sheer luck.’
They lured the monster toward themselves. The creature took the bait and veered eastward. Rustila swung her blade in a sweeping arc. The monster turned westward again. This time Zernya’s thrust left a shallow wound. After repeated aggro pulls, the monster twisted its grotesque legs and turned around.
‘Open terrain makes it easier for the monster to move.’
‘We’ll use the terrain to our advantage.’
The monster charged at insane speed. As if on cue, the two girls leapt into the densely wooded area. The creature’s massive frame crushed most vegetation, but it was enough. They relied on still-intact bushes and occasional large trees to launch ambushes.
‘Strike……’
‘……and retreat.’
A hit-and-run tactic. The best fight the weak could wage against the strong.
Rustila felt her blood boil with excitement, while Zernya felt deeply irritated. Yet the tactic proved effective, successfully drawing the monster away from the clearing.
The problem was that they themselves had nowhere left to retreat.
‘It’s a cliff. What do we do now?’
‘It doesn’t look stupid enough to just fall off.’
Rustila glanced at Zernya and spoke.
“What if we try knocking it off the cliff……?”
“You’re actually an idiot.”
“What?”
“Look at what it’s doing.”
Rustila’s brows furrowed. At some point the monster had slowed down and was now methodically cornering them. It was even uprooting nearby trees to secure its line of sight.
“It’s smarter than you.”
“But we should at least try……”
“You think it’ll die easily from a fall? Even my sword strikes only left shallow holes.”
“We can do it. If I pour all my Ether into it……!”
Zernya clicked her tongue and cut her off.
“I’ve been watching you fight. Your swordsmanship is disgustingly sloppy. Didn’t anyone teach you? Did you learn on your own?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, coming from a decent family, you probably got some lessons at least. Talent is what matters in the end…… Wait, what did you say?”
“I learned by myself.”
Rumble!
While they talked, the monster began accelerating. Rustila and Zernya split left and right. Ahead lay the cliff, yet……
The monster displayed incredible turning ability and changed direction once more.
‘Now.’
Rustila moved with instinctive speed. She found the opening by intuition and drove plasma into it. She struck and discharged.
“Kiiik!”
The monster let out a weak groan.
“It worked!”
“You idiot! If you landed a hit, fall back—!!”
“……No!”
She would end it here.
— 5000 coins have been paid.
She would sever its breath for good. With that thought, Rustila paid the majority of her remaining coins to her contracted constellation. In return, she received a technique.
Thud—!
A hidden hand of the monster snatched Rustila’s torso first.
“Kyaa……!”
“That idiot.”
Zernya clicked her tongue and kicked off the ground. Her amethyst eyes reflected the sword Rustila had embedded.
‘In that case, I’ll finish it.’
She judged that the monster, focused on Rustila, wouldn’t be able to pay attention to her for two or three seconds.
In the end, it was a miscalculation.
The pitch-black abdomen twitched like a cicada, tore through a net-like structure, and hundreds of eyeballs burst forth.
‘It had visual organs on its side too……?’
Zernya instinctively covered her mouth. The sight alone was revolting. Yet without hesitation she thrust her three swords forward, but her posture had broken and the strikes failed to land properly.
“Damn it……!”
Thud—!
A hand shot out from the opposite side and grabbed Zernya’s torso.
“Why am I doing this against trash like—!”
She belatedly regretted charging in like a moth to flame in a moment of bravado. At this rate, she was no different from Rustila.
The moment the monster seized them, it split open the maw on its torso. Beyond the mechanical mouth, sticky tar and undulating mercury came into view.
The monster’s maw grinned and produced an incomprehensible language.
[“Now, I, will, eat, you, all…….”]
It was unmistakably a monster belonging to the Maxwell faction.
Their bodies refused to move. Captured limbs. Frail strength. It was a miracle their bodies hadn’t been crushed already.
They felt themselves being pulled downward. The monster was dragging them into hell with its long, brutal arms.
Both Zernya and Rustila squeezed their eyes shut and thought the same thing.
‘If only someone would come help right now……’
‘……I’d be willing to be good to that person for the rest of my life.’
That was when it happened.
— 13500 Fron have been paid.
— Using EX-rank conversion, <Multiple Mental Failure>.
A bullet-like impact pierced the monster’s lower abdomen. The numbing sensation soon reached the two girls as well. Zernya’s vision went dark.
— The ‘Pure and Persistent God’ is protecting you from the Outer Deity’s attack effect!
A salty taste spread through Rustila’s mouth. Blood. Her lungs felt blocked as if she had sprinted at full speed. Yet thanks to her constellation, she maintained consciousness.
The next moment, reflected in Rustila’s aquamarine eyes was……
“……Eidel!”
The figure of her friend swinging a caliper.