Nero's Resolve
"Geez, what is this? It feels like there's no one here."
Nero tilted her head as she stepped through the open rooftop door into the quiet building. If any other field team member had seen her, their eyes would have gone wide. She had crossed the doorframe, yet unlike the others, she hadn't vanished. The scenery around her remained unchanged, and the view outside the windows was no different. For some reason, Nero hadn't triggered whatever mechanism was at work.
"It doesn't look like there's anything special here, so why is everyone stuck outside?"
She poked her head out a window and watched the field team still bustling about even though midnight was approaching, then continued padding forward on light steps. At one point she paused, sensing something odd, and realized she was standing in front of a room. She peeked inside.
The spacious room had a pile of unused tables and chairs stacked in one corner. Contrary to her expectations, there wasn't a single person—or even a mouse—to be seen. Ironically, this was the temporary shelter where the survivors had been gathered, and they were still here, but Nero simply couldn't perceive them.
"...Sniff, sniff."
Her keen nose picked up a strange scent. Losing interest in the large, unsettling room, she headed downstairs. The lower she went, the more peculiar the feeling became, and her paws began to tingle, but she didn't stop. Down another floor, and another.
Whether it was from the dust or something else, the air grew stickier and harder to breathe, and that unpleasant smell grew stronger.
"..."
It was coming from the basement.
Gulp.
The sight was enough to make anyone hesitate to take another step, like a snake with its jaws wide open, but having come this far, she couldn't turn back.
"There's definitely a weird smell coming from here..."
Even after descending the stairs, the basement required walking down a short hallway. Though her eyes glowed as she stared into the darkness, the depths ahead looked hazy, as if shrouded in fog. She could still see, but the uncomfortable feeling that had been pricking at her nerves now felt like it was brushing against her skin.
"Cough... cough..."
"...!"
Crack! Crunch...
At that moment, hearing a pained cough and an eerie noise she'd never encountered before, Nero rushed into the thick darkness despite thinking the voice couldn't possibly belong to her master.
"Kgh... Hah, cough! Hah..."
And there, in the lightless swamp of a basement with not a single bulb lit...
"..."
In the center of the basement, surrounded by scattered iron doors, a small woman sat slumped on broken shards of glass, her head hanging low.
"What... is that?"
The question on Nero's lips wasn't "who" but "what," because of the grotesque black horns sprouting from the woman's head. Her presence felt so frail that her breath might cut off at any moment, yet an instinctive terror warned Nero to flee immediately.
If the black-haired girl living as a parasite felt overwhelmed by something enormous she'd never faced before, this was the kind of fear born from an overtly wicked and ominous aura stabbing at her survival instincts.
"...No."
But she couldn't run now. There had been a reason she'd come this far.
"If Master is in danger... I have to save him. Where do you think you're running off to?"
Though all four of her short legs trembled as they touched the ground, Nero didn't flee.
"Hah... Cough...!"
Thud, thud, thud...!
Plop... Plip.
Now... If the opponent hadn't noticed her yet... Maybe she could do it.
Once she made up her mind, Nero's tail naturally split into two and began to sway. She raised her front paw, claws extended, ready to strike. Aside from the horns, the figure looked like nothing more than a human girl who hadn't even reached adulthood. Her attack, capable of shredding solid rock, might work. Besides, the opponent truly seemed on the verge of death...
"?!"
BOOM...!!!
Just as the seemingly unthreatening cat's paw was about to deliver its lethal strike, a blazing fireball shot through the basement, banishing the darkness. Nero leapt aside at the last second, barely dodging the sudden attack. The searing fireball smashed into an iron door, warping it instantly before scattering.
Fsssh...
"What the hell is this... A cat just popped out?"
The voice that followed was enough to send Nero scrambling behind the crumpled door.
"..."
...Because it was a voice she recognized.
"Wait... Hold on. You look familiar."
Moreover, where the woman stood, the scenery of a bright hotel room rippled into view. Thanks to that light, Nero could clearly see the woman's fiery red hair.
"..."
"Ah... I remember now. You're that kid's pet."
She'd never imagined running into her here, but now that they had met, a decision had to be made. If she could just deal with the horned one first—
Thud.
"What's wrong with her now? Hey, get up! Why are you collapsing already? I even gave you plenty of grace... Damn, she's already been eaten this much?"
Whoosh.
The red-haired woman nudged the horns with her toe. Nero didn't understand what she was saying, but when the horned girl truly collapsed—perhaps from the hot wind—Nero turned without hesitation and bolted for the exit.
That woman wasn't an opponent she could beat.
"Shit... I wasn't even done talking."
The woman narrowed her eyes at Nero's retreating back and swung her hand sharply, her expression displeased.
Whoosh...!
BOOM...!!!
A condensed mass of extreme heat and pressure shot forward like a cannon shell, erasing Nero and everything around her without a trace.
Rumble... Crack...!
The explosion and heat began to shake the ceiling—and soon the entire building—as it vaporized the basement entrance, hallway, stairs, and several pillars without leaving anything behind.
"Well... This should be enough."
The red-haired woman grabbed the collapsed girl's hair and dragged her toward the rippling hotel room scene before disappearing, and the collapse began in earnest.
*
"What about that student?"
"Ah... Team Leader, I just finished calming her down."
"I heard. By 'friend,' you mean the last missing person, right?"
"Yes."
As the unidentified darkness slowly rose, the Team Leader and I had brought everyone up to the rooftop—a place no one had ever reached before—but unfortunately, there was still no exit. Even so, the Team Leader showed not the slightest sign of agitation, as if she'd expected this. It was a little unsettling, but at this rate, finding the door had been pointless. Maybe that was why the opponent had left us alone.
"See? What happens when you make a promise you can't keep?"
"..."
I didn't even know where I'd found the confidence to meddle when I was this anxious myself.
"Let's wait for now. There's a chance the Field Team Leader is protecting her, or she might have already escaped on her own."
"...That's not possible."
"It isn't?"
If I gave up now after promising to find her, I'd be nothing but a shameless liar with no excuse.
"...No, it isn't."
I realized too late that I'd given her hope only to snatch it away. Instead of doing my best until the end, I'd reacted as if the situation had become troublesome in front of a student desperately waiting for her friend. What was I supposed to do now?
"Please do your part as Ung-ssi so the others don't get more anxious. I'll start preparing—"
But as if the world refused to give me an easy chance to take it back, the variable raised its head at the worst possible moment.
"Whoa!"
"Huh...?"
Just as the crowd began murmuring, I turned my head to see the student—who I'd thought was calm—running toward the door set up beside the rooftop.
"Wait!"
The Team Leader and I lunged at the same time. Our feet tangled, and while I managed to keep my balance and keep running, she had to catch herself on the floor. My fingertips brushed the girl's shoulder at the same moment the Team Leader's hand missed my wrist.
"Kyaa...!"
"Ugh?!"
Scraaaape!
Because I tripped on the doorframe while running, the girl and I tumbled onto the door and slid down the stairs like a sled. I tried to protect her, but—
THUD!!
"Kgh...!"
The moment we reached the middle of the staircase, the momentum slammed me into the concrete wall. My vision spun.
Thud! Thud!
The rooftop door seemed to connect to some other floor already swallowed by darkness. The Team Leader, just a hair too late, couldn't pass through it. If we'd been transported somewhere else entirely, that would've been far worse—so this was fortunate, at least.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... But I can't leave her behind."
The girl, who had used me as a cushion, pulled herself free and stood on shaky legs. If my body were in better shape, I could have dragged her along even if she resented me, but that didn't seem possible now. Could I even stand? It was lucky the door had kept us from rolling down the stairs bare, but something definitely felt broken...
"Kgh... Wait, I won't tell you to go back... So at least let me come with you. If something happens to you alone... Ugh, we won't know..."
"..."
The Team Leader looked down at us as if wondering what nonsense I was spouting, but I was only trying to keep my promise. At the speed the darkness had been rising when I last saw it, we still had a little time before it reached the rooftop. Besides... staying up there didn't seem like it would solve anything anyway.
"Really...?"
"I promised I'd find her... So until the end— Ngh..."
I wanted to properly apologize for betraying her trust, but when I tried to stand, my back—which had slammed hard into the wall—didn't hurt at all. Huh? Why doesn't it hurt?