Mount of Demonic Beasts: Toward the Summit (5)
"Hmm?"
Hans, who had been leading the way, turned back with a puzzled look.
Whether by heaven's blessing or pure luck, the weather at the summit had cleared beautifully. A few clouds drifted across the sky, but the blizzards that had been hammering them were gone without a trace.
The scouting party had been pressing hard to take advantage of the break — until Hans suddenly stopped in his tracks. When the lead halted, everyone behind him stopped in a chain reaction. A warrior who had been gasping his way up through the thin air looked over at Hans.
"Hah— hahh... What is it? Something behind us?"
"Ah, no. I thought I heard something like a... scream."
It had sounded almost like a man's shout, but it must have been nothing more than the wind. At this altitude, there was no chance anyone else was up here besides them.
"We're almost there. Just get over that ridge and we're at the summit."
"Right on our doorstep, huh. Nothing else between us and the peak?"
"Nothing. Just that ridge left."
The eternal snows that had once been a distant white smear now loomed in all their massive glory, close enough to feel within arm's reach. Fall forward and your nose would practically touch them.
Since they'd already stopped, Hans took a moment to catch his breath and take stock. Cross this ridge and they would be standing on the mountain's summit. Having already found Cagan — the man who had contracted with a demon — there was a high chance a demon itself was waiting at the top.
Hans drove that point home, sharpening the warriors' focus.
"Stay sharp right to the end. Don't let your guard down for a second. In the worst case, there could be a demon waiting for us at the summit."
"He's right. Always plan for the worst. Demons tend to hover near their contractors. It will have made its nest up there for certain."
"Hey, paladin. That demonic presence you mentioned earlier — the stench, or whatever it was — you picking anything up?"
"Nothing at the moment. It may be concealing itself somehow."
The paladin's brow furrowed slightly. A demon skilled enough to hide its aura this thoroughly was not a good sign. For a human, it would be like erasing even the faintest trace of body odor into perfect scentlessness — a thoroughly troublesome opponent.
Crunch. Crunch.
Having steeled themselves once more, the scouting party set off again, clawing their way up the sloping ridge.
"Haaah—! Hahh...!"
"Aigoo, aigoo, I'm dying!"
The warriors collapsed onto a flat rock near the top of the ridge, each of them groaning. The air was so thin now it felt like trying to breathe underwater.
The only one still in decent shape was the hunter, long accustomed to high altitudes. Naturally, scouting fell to him. He had been the party's point man from the start, so there was never really another option.
"You lot rest here. I'll go take a look ahead."
"Hahh... haah— G-going alone is... dangerous."
Hans gripped his forehead as he spoke, his face still twisted with a headache that refused to fade.
"Hahh— hahh— He's right. There could be a demon up here, so... sticking together is the wiser move."
The paladin, still sprawled on the ground, backed Hans up. Fair point. The hunter, who had already been adjusting his bow for a scouting run, nodded.
"True enough. All right then — rest easy. I'll keep watch from the top of the ridge."
Under the hunter's consideration, the warriors buried themselves in the snow and clutched their throbbing heads.
Only a brief stretch of time passed.
KRAAAANG—!
A sudden explosion thundered across the snowy mountain. At the roar that rolled out like a peal of thunder, the warriors bolted upright.
"Everyone up! Now!"
The hunter's urgent shout came from atop the ridge. Whatever he was looking at had filled the veteran hunter's face with pure shock.
"Th-there was nothing there a second ago! Then this enormous noise, and now— th-those things!"
The warriors moved fast, weapons already in hand. The sudden blast had rattled them, but what needed doing was clear.
Hostility and fighting spirit burned in their eyes. In the devout paladin's gaze especially, a faint killing intent seemed to shimmer.
They crossed the ridge at a quick pace.
What met them was the vast expanse of eternal snow — and beneath it, flames writhing in an ominous blood-red light.
The eternal snows were so immense they formed a wall dividing mountain from sky, and the flames licked and gnawed at them without rest.
Crack! Crrrack—!
Every time the flames twisted with that sinister sway, a deep stone-grinding rumble answered. The towering eternal snows were melting.
The melted snow poured down in a slow cascade, turning to water, sweeping everything with it as it fell toward the mountain's lower slopes.
A massive avalanche burying everything below was only a matter of time.
"Wh-what the hell is that?"
"Hahh..."
To make matters worse, the snowfield below the ridge was black with demons — countless of them packing the white expanse.
Demons of every grotesque shape fought and devoured one another in a dense, seething mass. Even at a glance, their numbers were a thousand at minimum.
The paladin's face went dark. He had grasped the situation in an instant.
"This is bad."
Filthy, choking demonic energy saturated the air in every direction. And among it all, one single aura of vast, malevolent presence stood out with crushing intensity.
"There's a powerful demon up ahead. I believe it may be a Great Demon..."
At this point, it almost felt as though the gates of hell themselves had opened on the Mount of Demonic Beasts.
The warriors' faces darkened.
Blood-dark flames melting the eternal snows. A thousand-strong demon horde hidden at the summit. And a Great Demon.
Far too many enemies for a mere eight warriors to handle.
"...We pull back. This isn't a situation we can do anything about."
The hunter spat the words as if chewing them, his expression grim. Eight warriors charging a thousand-strong demon army? That was suicide, plain and simple.
Even if they somehow cut down every last demon — what about the avalanche after that? And the Great Demon was no fool; it wouldn't simply sit and watch.
"Damn it..."
"Sir Hans, this is the time to withdraw."
Hans chewed his lip hard. The feel of the sacrificial victims whose lives he had ended with his own hands kept flickering through his mind. Regret dripped from his eyes.
Did they really have to turn back like this? With the root of everything right in front of them — walk away this emptily? Was this truly the best they could do? Wouldn't it be better if he just tried something alone—
The rest of the warriors started down the ridge at a quick pace.
Only Hans remained, unable to move his feet, hesitating. Seeing this, the paladin strode back toward him.
The face that usually held nothing but a gentle smile had gone hard as stone.
"Sir Hans."
"..."
"Clench your teeth."
"...What?"
Thwack—!
The paladin's fist smashed into Hans's face. For a moment Hans went airborne, tumbling across the snowfield.
He wasn't badly hurt, but the sheer fact that the paladin of all people had swung a fist at him left him sitting there in a daze, mind blank.
Grab—!
The paladin seized the collar of the still-sitting Hans and hauled him up, voice low and fierce. Hot rage blazed in the paladin's eyes — but it was not rage directed at Hans.
"We have to turn back from here! Do you think you're the only one who hates walking away? Are we running because we're cowards and idiots?"
The paladin was furious at himself.
"Those demon bastards are massing for war! They're melting that damned eternal snow to trigger an avalanche! Get a grip! If we die here, then what? Who's going to get the word out and evacuate the people below?!"
Hans stared up at the paladin in a daze. The man was furious.
Furious at having to turn his back on demons right in front of him. Furious at himself for having to run.
"If we die here, everyone down below dies too! It doesn't end with just us!"
The paladin dragged in several rough breaths, steadied himself, then forced the words out as if chewing them.
"Hahh... It's not that I don't understand how you feel. But you have to know the difference between courage and recklessness."
Courage and recklessness.
Hans slowly turned the paladin's words over in his mind.
The decision to face a demon alone in a mountain village, versus fleeing before a demon army now.
What was the difference between the two? What was courage, and what was recklessness?
What was the difference between Hans the Apostle of the Sixth God, and Hans the ordinary farmer?
I...
Something seemed to brush the tips of his fingers — a thin thread teasing at his grasp.
His mind grew hazy by degrees. His body felt weightless, drifting somewhere. A floating sensation, as if he were rising toward a higher plane entirely.
"Th-this is insane! Of all times to suddenly—...!"
The paladin's panicked voice grew distant. Hans's whole body swayed as if wrapped in water, the surrounding noise coming through muffled and thick.
A soaring exaltation welled up from the depths of his soul.
The difference between courage and recklessness. The difference between standing firm before an enemy and knowing when to fall back.
The thread in his hand grew thicker. His head cleared, and he began to grasp something sharp and certain — something he could not yet put into words.
Blub-blub—
The sound of water bubbles rose around him.
Just a little further.
One more step forward. No — half a step, and something would fall into his hands. Something was beginning to take shape.
A vast light — or was that a sea? He needed to give it a name, in his own way.
Hans's mouth slowly opened. A faint, flickering name rose up. So fragile, so mirage-like, it seemed ready to dissolve at any moment — and he tried to speak it aloud.
"...O—"
KUUUNG—!
Right before he could name the sea.
A heavy impact slammed into him, and Hans's consciousness — which had been walking somewhere high above — came crashing back down to earth.
"Hup—!"
The first thing he felt was loss.
He had been so close. Half a step — no, less than a quarter of a step remaining.
The faintly shimmering name vanished like a true mirage. What the name had been, what he had seen — all of it drained from his mind.
"Damn it! Sir Hans, get up! Now!"
Before the crushing sense of deprivation could fully take hold, Hans pushed himself up at the paladin's urgent shout. Only then did the source of the earth-shaking impact come into view.
Four legs planted firmly upon the snowfield. Black, razor-sharp claws. Dense scales of dark crimson light catching the sun. In those long, reptilian slit eyes, greed and murderous intent swirled.
Whoosh— CRASH!
A casually swung tail traced an arc and slammed into the ground with lethal force. The earth split open, fragments scattering in every direction.
It had the form of a dragon.
But it was no dragon.
That was nothing more than a shell.
"Six Gods have mercy — a Great Demon. Damn it all!"
"...I'm sorry."
The paladin muttered a rapid stream of prayer. Hans, knowing full well that the delay had been his fault, offered a quiet apology.
"Hahh— No. You've done nothing wrong, Sir Hans. That thing would have known we were coming long before now."
An overwhelming aura pricked their skin like needles. They didn't need to be told. The dark crimson dragon standing before them was the root of everything.
The demon wearing a dragon's shape smiled.
It was a cruel smile.
The demon asked.
And then—
Fwaat—!
The paladin and Hans swung their blades toward the demon.
That was their answer.