Survival Instinct

1

"You dodge once by luck, and already you have the nerve to run your mouth."

The moment the voice reached him, Nahan called up the system window without even meaning to.

View information. Valkan Gardner.

SS-rank.

That settled it. In the novel, every member of the hero party had been described as hovering around S-rank, nothing more. In truth, each of them was an irregular monster who blew straight past double-S.

Assessment's done. Now find a way.

The original plan had been straightforward. While Lactea searched for the Heavenly Shield, he would release Hanryang and Luna from their restraints and set them on Gardner and Asha. Then, once the sixth bad ending—The Hero's Return—came to a close, he would pretend he could not win, let Hestia go, and flee to the hideout.

But that's impossible now.

Gardner, whom he had assumed to be S-rank, was SS-, and the raw power that rank carried was strong enough to leave his estimates in ruins. Time, strength, the plan itself—all of it had been twisted apart by a Valkan who had done nothing more than appear.

To survive this, he would have to hang his hopes on something without substance. Luck. Talent. The instant he understood that, a scene rose up.

It was not entirely wrong, and so Nahan had come to think of acting as the greatest talent he possessed.

Which raised a question. If Nahan had come to think of acting as the greatest talent he possessed, then what talent had he ranked first before that?

The answer was this.

...How do I stay alive?

Survival Instinct.

He had first recognized that talent more than ten years ago.

And now, once more.

With death before his eyes, every thought in Nahan's head turned for a single purpose: survival.

Why is Valkan this angry?

Hestia's death.

"I'll tear you apart and kill you, Hesti—"

"I didn't kill her."

"...? Don't cut me off. Listen to the end. I'll tear the lot of you apart, and Hestia's soul—"

"Hestia is alive."

The answer came faster than comprehension and stopped ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Valkan's thoughts cold. Only afterward, once the meaning caught up, did he bare his hostility and throw it back.

"...Are you even human?"

Thick resentment, as if belief were out of the question—as if to ask how a man could kill her and then defile her on top of it. To the world, it was Black Wolf who had killed Hestia, so the resentment was not hard to understand.

But Nahan could see it. The Valkan standing here was not the hero. He stood here as Hestia's family.

And because of that—

"......"

—a thread of hope was kindling in the eyes of the man waiting to hear what he would say next.

With that, Valkan could not kill him until Nahan spoke again.

The initiative is back.

Having grasped it in a single breath, Nahan pushed the effect of Mastermind to its limit and asked.

"Weren't you here to kill me?"

"...Shut up."

"If I'm permitted."

Nahan shrugged, as if the matter no longer concerned him, and turned away. In the same motion he took in everything around him. The warriors were still staring up at the roof like dogs that had chased a chicken and lost it, and behind them three figures had appeared without his noticing.

Count Gardner. The lady of the house. And Asha.

The three, midway through some exchange, turned toward Nahan.

I thought she'd bring the rest of the party, Marin and Selena. She came alone. Maybe that's for the best.

In the dim silence, Nahan discarded the plan he had built.

Leave only Lactea's task as it is. Rebuild the rest to fit what's changed.

First, the primary threat: Valkan.

"What did you mean?"

"Mean by what?"

"When you said Hestia is alive."

He could not kill Nahan until he heard the information he wanted.

"Who knows? You told me to shut up, so I forgot."

"...Speak. Before I tear you apart."

"Oh my. I'm frightened enough that I might clamp my mouth shut even as I open it."

So he would stall, just like this, and keep the man bound inside his field of view.

Next, the people of House Gardner.

He needed them, certainly, to spread word of Black Wolf's atrocities. But a battalion's worth of warriors, and B- to A-rank at that, gathered in one place was a threat. Even so, the last raid would have carved a fear of Black Wolf into them.

"The eyes on us are growing heavy, Tal."

"Night. Time to sleep—it is."

"Don't put them to sleep yourself. A lullaby will do."

"Yes, Captain."

The order had barely left his mouth before Hanryang's massive body dropped toward the ground.

BOOOOM!!

Dust erupted with the landing, and in the same instant a system window rose.

The restraints of Black Wolf. A contract that made Black Wolf stronger in exchange for suppressing the strength of his members—a devotion of gratitude and oath, offered of their own will by those he had saved.

Granted.

And so the power that had gone unreleased for so long opened at Nahan's choice.

BANG!

In that same moment the giant who had driven his head into the earth lifted his face.

"Sleep. Time—it is."

A pure white energy settled into the crude stone mask, and the beast's face twisted into something playful.

CRACK!

The instant he took a step, the house-sized bulk vanished and reappeared dead center among the warriors.

"Eol—ssu."

BOOOOM!!

Both fists clenched, he lifted his left foot and stamped the earth. Countless pillars of soil surged upward and hoisted every warrior into the air.

"AAAAH!!! Shit—what the fuck is this!!"

"Jump!! Jump down before it gets any higher, you bastards!!"

"He set it off with a stomp!! The rest of you, aim for his instep first!!"

A few who had leapt down in time charged the Hanryang planted on the ground, but the stone mask turned in a single motion and met their eyes.

"You do not stand—it is."

CRUNCH!

Creak, creeeak!!

Every stretch of earth his gaze touched melted away like an antlion's pit.

"It's sinking!! Grab something, anything!!"

"Puh—!! M-mage!!"

"Keugh! Ghk, kuhhh...!!"

The time it took to neutralize a battalion of B- to A-rank warriors: thirty seconds.

Nahan thought that if he had known, during the battle with the Emperor, how to undo the restraints and had released them, the victor that day would unquestionably have been Hanryang.

"...I will not kill—it is."

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fight finished, Hanryang turned his enormous body toward the warriors who had arrived late as reinforcements.

"Hold the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠line!!"

"For the name of Gardner!!"

"For Lady Hestia!!"

None of them bore the house crest. Most, it seemed, were mercenaries who had been staying here.

Mercenaries look after their own hides before anything else. This won't escalate.

That finished the second. All that remained was the third and final threat.

Having removed two of the three, Nahan turned his gaze on the last.

"It is night. Even should a single great light exist, the dark is still far wider."

A crisp warning, loosed together with the effect of Mastermind, flew toward its target.

The third danger. Of the three, it was the one that carried the highest risk.

"I understand. You are, without question, evil."

The Radiant Hero, Asha Mirabell.

She eased Count Gardner and the lady of the house aside and lifted her head toward the roof. And in the next instant—

"Hold him, Valkan."

A blow of ultimate speed and ultimate power, honed to the extreme—one that even Asha herself could not unleash more than a few times. A flash like Valkan's, and far faster, streaked toward Nahan.

He has to die in one strike.

Give that man any further opening, and she might be the one struck in return. Asha had realized it. The one shedding killing intent toward her was Black Wolf, the head of Black Wolf.

And in the moment the keen point of the holy sword was about to pierce Black Wolf's throat—

BOOOOM!!!

A familiar force blasted Asha's body backward.

She had activated it in haste, and still the hero's finest blow had been stopped. There was no need to think for long. Sweeping aside the rising dust, Asha addressed the one who had barred her way.

"What is the meaning of this, Valkan?"

The one who had stopped the Radiant Hero was none other than the Guardian of the Empire. Valkan barely overlapped the halves of his shattered shield and spoke.

"I'll handle it myself, so go back, Asha."

The third threat was over.