35. Death Flag
35. Death Flag
I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel guilty.
After all, what I'd just shouted to the group behind us amounted to using them as bait to shake off the Demon Beasts.
"Don't stop! Keep running! The pack's already locked onto us!"
But this world was a dark fantasy.
A single moment's mistake demanded a crushing price — a ruthless world that forced you to cast aside your humanity at every turn.
Even if it sat wrong in my head, resenting the inhuman choice itself was asking too much.
-Kiyaaaaaak!
So I couldn't afford to worry about them right now.
What I had to deal with at this moment was how to repel the handful of Demon Beasts that hadn't taken the bait and were still chasing us.
If we stopped the wagons to fight and got bogged down, the ones tracking us — or every other beast in the forest who heard the commotion — would swarm us in seconds.
"Shit! These damn pests!"
The moment the beast-shaped monsters ambushed us from between the trees,
the ranged attackers tried to knock them away with magic and arrows, but even when hit, the monsters chewed through the pain with shrieks — nothing but hunger for us burning in their eyes.
Unless you could stop them dead in their tracks or land a fatal wound, it was only a matter of time before they jumped onto the wagons and tore into the party — or tore the wagons apart.
"Marilyn! Get down!!"
-Shiiik!
I swung my spear and cut down the monster that had lunged straight for Marilyn.
A few more came charging in after that, but calling for help from the other wagons wasn't an option.
The number of pursuing Demon Beasts was swelling by the second, and every single person was struggling just to protect their own ride.
"They're going to catch us at this rate! Can't you make the wagon go faster?!"
"Sorry, this is full speed!"
"Goddammit, it's because we're hauling too much! If we just dump some cargo...!"
"I get how you feel, but that's the one thing we can't do! These supplies are meant for the garrison we're heading to! If we don't know what shape the garrison's in, we need to conserve every bit we can — for our own survival later!"
That made sense.
As important as it was to survive the immediate crisis, when you knew more dangers were still lurking down the line, cutting off your own tail to save yourself was a move you saved for the very, very last resort.
"...Fuck. At this rate, the guys who have to carry this stuff are going to croak."
But even knowing that logically, the adventurers were growing frantic against the wave of monsters.
We hadn't lost anyone yet, but the mounting minor wounds were draining stamina and morale — it was only a matter of time before the defenses cracked.
"......"
As if feeling powerless in the situation, Marilyn clenched the lute in her hands.
Her abilities could definitely produce powerful effects, like boosting morale. The problem was that since sound was the medium, the monsters would benefit from it too.
Humans layered with fervor versus monsters layered with madness — anyone could guess which side would come out stronger.
"...Don't blame yourself for not being able to do anything."
I encouraged Marilyn while rummaging through the cargo loaded on our wagon.
"A fight like this just isn't your role, that's all."
"Hyosung? What on earth are you...?"
"Caravan Master! If we don't have to throw the supplies away, it's fine if we just use a little, right?!"
The moment I held up the objects in my hands and asked for permission,
the caravan master leading the procession from the very front snapped the reins even harder and shouted back at me.
"If you can shake them off with minimal use!"
Good, permission granted.
I immediately hurled the item in my hand at one of the approaching monsters.
These were the ones with bestial forms — the monsters that kept charging desperately even with arrows jutting from their bodies.
-Crash!
The glass bottle struck one of those monsters square, and the liquid inside began spreading everywhere.
The monster that got doused faltered mid-charge, its body convulsing — then its mouth fell open and it collapsed on the spot.
"Kieaaaaaah!!"
The sight of it tripping over its own momentum with that horrifying scream.
Marilyn turned to look at me, stunned.
"Wh-what did you just throw?"
"A potion."
The same stuff that had made the adventurers freak out earlier when I'd treated them with it.
The fundamental healing principle of this world's potions was similar to Albothyl — treating inflammation by inducing a controlled burn.
You essentially burn the wound and contaminated area shut, and then the healing agents in the potion rapidly grow new flesh over the scorched part.
In other words, it might help you recover, but the process involved "unimaginable pain."
"Kiyaaaaaak!"
And thankfully, unlike the rock monsters I'd faced at first, the beasts trailing us were very definitely made of flesh and bone.
They might shrug off an arrow or two, but they couldn't endure having their living skin seared with full-blown burns.
"You all saw that, right?! Ranged attackers, wound them and then toss one potion each! If we amplify their pain, we can shake them off somehow!"
"That's one hell of an idea!"
"But potions are pretty pricey — are you sure we can use them like this?!"
"The caravan master gave us the green light, so just use them! If those bastards board us, we'll have to use them on ourselves anyway!"
Crash, kieeeeek!!!
The moment the monsters chasing us in a frenzy began dropping off one by two, thanks to the quick thinking I'd demonstrated.
Some still kept swarming us despite those losses, but a hint of hope was now audible in the caravan master's voice as he led from the front.
"It's fine now! Once we're past that gorge, we're inside the garrison zone!"
Yeah, we were about to reach our destination.
I had no idea what would come after, but at the very least, we'd managed to escort the remaining people and supplies safely to the target location.
"Alright! We're going to make it!"
But was it really okay to let our guard down?
Having just escaped the immediate crisis, I felt my anxiety grow even sharper than before.
If a situation where I died on this mission was going to happen, that moment only drew closer every time we overcame a crisis like this.
"...Damn it. If not now, when am I supposed to check this?"
Hell, if something even more serious broke out later, that would literally mean I was one step from dead.
In the end, unable to hold back my impatience, I pulled the note from my chest pocket, unfolded it, and read its contents.
Thankfully, it didn't take long to read the whole thing.
The information was condensed to the absolute minimum so it would fit on a single sheet.
"...What the hell is this."
But precisely because it was so condensed, the details and context weren't properly explained — the whole story felt completely out of nowhere...
No. Airi, who gave me this note, had already proven her ability to me.
So for now, I'd treat what was written as the truth. Having reached that conclusion, my gaze began to rise toward the top of the gorge we were just about to pass through.
-Kwaaang!!!
There. Just as the note said — something flew in from a distance and slammed into the cliff above us.
The moment I sensed it, I urgently pulled Marilyn into my arms and moved my feet toward a passing wagon.
"Hy-Hyosung?! Why...?"
"Sorry, no time to explain...!"
I didn't have time to explain the situation.
Because, just as the note outlined, she needed to get away from this spot for me to save the "maximum number of people possible" — myself included.
"Just — survive, and we'll meet again!"
"N-no! Hyosung...!!"
Before an answer came back — fwoosh! — Marilyn landed on another wagon.
Right after that, I used the recoil from throwing her to urgently jump off the speeding wagon myself.
"Everybody, jump off!!"
I shouted this to save as many as possible among those still in the rockfall zone, who hadn't yet grasped what was happening.
-Crash! Rumble!
At the end of it, the collapsing cliff debris smashed several wagons into splinters, mercilessly crushing the riders beneath them.
Fortunately, the lead wagon — and the one Marilyn had landed on — managed to avoid the rubble and escape to the far side.
But terrifyingly, the moment they passed, the fallen debris lost its balance and began to come crashing down.
Rrrrrumble, boom!
The forward group and the rear guard were completely cut off.
At least, probably thanks to my shout, the ones in the middle had jumped off their wagons and somehow survived. The problem was — they were now completely isolated in this gorge.
Far more dangerous than any of the Demon Beasts that had been chasing us up until now.
At the very moment when the Demons — belonging to the Demon King's Army — who had collapsed this cliff were scheduled to arrive.
"...We're completely cut off."
Terror sketched itself across the faces of the dozens of isolated adventurers, one after another.
It was only natural. Trapped at the bottom of a cliff far too high to scale, there was no way to find any hope...
"...Look here, friend."
But even in this situation, there were a few who weren't just trembling in fear.
Soon, some of them began walking toward where I was standing.
"You threw your comrade onto another wagon earlier. So you noticed this would happen first — is there a reason you still acted that way?"
Ah, so they saw what I did and got curious.
Honestly, in a world where everyone's got their hands full just saving themselves, watching someone do something that looked like self-sacrifice would naturally catch their attention.
"...Because I've got something to fall back on."
When I answered that quietly, gripping my spear shaft, the ones who had approached me exchanged glances — then raised their own weapons.
"Haha, then I take it our chances of survival are higher if we stick close to you."
"...Disgustingly optimistic, aren't you?"
I hadn't even told them about the prophecy yet, and I had no intention to either — just to reduce variables.
"The situation's already like this. Might as well do something."
Even so, as if they'd already steeled themselves, they stood at my side, positioning themselves at the front of the terror-stricken group.
"Yeah, let's not think of it too badly. Aren't the Demon King's Army bastards the ones you get sick of facing all the time as an adventurer?"
"Let's just say we got to meet them a little sooner. If we die, that's it. If we make it out alive, then that's just fate."
Was this courage... or reckless abandon?
No, maybe they were living with the same mindset as me.
I knew the feeling well.
A life where you just can't seem to die, so as long as you're alive anyway, you give it everything you've got in whatever situation you're in.
"Still, I'd like to make it out alive. My wife's due with our second soon, you see."
But why, of all times, were they starting to say such ominous things right now?
"Haha, didn't peg you for a family man. Though, to be fair, baby formula's ridiculously expensive these days."
"You say that like it's someone else's problem. You look older than me — no wife yourself?"
"Ah, well. Been so busy making money for my mother's medicine, never had the time to get married. Fortunately, if I can just handle this mission's reward somehow, I can entrust her to a proper church for specialized treatment..."
Normally, I wouldn't have paid any attention to that kind of talk. But with the possibility of my own death lurking ahead, I couldn't just brush it off, either.
Every time one of them opened his mouth, I couldn't help but feel an irrational dread pressing down on my heart.
No matter how much reality and fiction differed, the things they were spouting all matched what people commonly called a "death flag."
"Haha, being in a situation like this gives me courage somehow. Right, I've decided. If I survive this fight, I'm confessing to her!"
"Now that you mention it, my childhood friend told me she had something to say when I got back this time. Guess I can't die until I hear it."
"Hey, young man, if you make it out alive, could you do me a favor? It's a gift for my little girl..."
Oh for god's sake, all of you. Be honest with me. You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?
Since there's no hope anyway, you're all just self-flagellating for fun, right? Huh?
"It is good to see you all striving to keep your spirits up even in a despairing situation."
While they continued sharing each other's circumstances, at some point, one man had boldly stepped to the front of the group.
His body was covered in a hood — a presumed martial artist who had wrapped his entire body, including his face, in layers of bandages.
Likely the strongest in this group, and thus, the one who seemed the most battle-hungry.
"If you all show such courage, I cannot simply do nothing myself! Everyone, follow behind me! I will stand at the very front and receive the enemy's attacks!"
"Wha — what?! W-wait! If you charge right now...!!"
Damn it all.
According to the prophecy, we weren't supposed to charge here — we had to wait for the enemy to come to us.
"Come on, you Demons!! Let me show you the power of the martial arts I've spent my whole life honing in the mountains, long before I ever became an adventurer!"
But he had already gone too far ahead to stop.
Soon, he charged headlong toward the group of the Demon King's Army that had just begun entering the gorge — swinging his fist as the first to attack.
And then, Kwaang!!!!
His attack was rendered utterly meaningless. A deafening explosion ripped through the air, and his body was blown back by a strike from a shadow, sent floating into the empty air...
"...Wh-what."
"What just... happened...?"
No — he hadn't been sent floating. He had been scattered.
Not simply launched upward by the impact. The being that had been a person until a split second ago dispersed into the air as if turning to dust.
A human body.
Could it really just... explode like that from a mere physical impact? It was so gruesome I couldn't believe it even as my own eyes witnessed it.
-Plip. Plop.
The moment even those thoughts faded, swallowed by the rain of flesh and blood that poured down for several seconds,
tension instantly gripped the scene. The shadows then began trampling over the soiled ground and making their way toward us.
"Kuhahaha! Look over there, Boss! There are humans!"
"Human army scouts... Or no, are they reinforcements?"
"Whatever they are, they look perfect for a little torment and play. Kuhehahaha!"
Each of them had a different appearance, but most were intelligent beings with hideous forms and fully functional limbs.
As they evolved, their cultivated desires transformed into their physical shape. They were the species called 'Demons' — beings who tore through the dimensional walls to appear in this world.
"Scouts or reinforcements, it matters not. There is only one thing I wish to ask......"
The leader who was presumed to command those Demons.
Standing at the front of his pack, he faced the group of adventurers — including me — and began to speak.
"Humans. Since we have met like this, allow me to ask you one question."
What I sensed from the voice that left his mouth was nothing other than familiarity.......
Yeah — I knew him.
Because once before, while assisting a certain Hero, I had watched him brutally beat her down with overwhelming power.
"...Fuck. No wonder I had a terrible feeling from the moment those flags started popping up."
Demon King's Army Executive — Hellcry.
A monster among monsters who, despite being born an orc, possessed the sheer ability to be selected as an executive of the Demon King's Army.
The instant I burned his figure into my eyes, I immediately understood how the death Airi had seen would come to pass.
"Among the humans here — is there a warrior who will fight an honorable duel with me?"
Even if you set aside the minions behind him and considered him alone.
It would be no exaggeration to say the survival rate of the adventurers here had just plummeted to 0%.