The Way of Trust (2)
From the throng of clustered demons, shadow spikes erupted.
Thorns of darkness rising from the earth mercilessly tore the life from wolves and demons alike.
"Kiheeeek—!!"
"Kkaeng! Kkiing, kkiing..."
Where the spikes vanished, black or purple or crimson blood sprayed out, soaking into the snowfield.
Pshuk! Chwaaaak!
Under the assaults surging up from the shadows, the black mass of demons faltered.
Attacks rose from the left, then erupted from the right; a moment later they burst up from behind—over and over without end. With their enemy hiding in the shadows and striking again and again, there was simply no way to fight back.
"Kirrruk—! C-cowardly! Come out and fight fair and square— Kurup?!"
A massive hole punched clean through the face of the rampaging demon.
In the hand of the purple demon collapsing limply backward, a small fireball still smoldered. A last desperate throw, perhaps.
Hwaaak!
As the demon fell, the fireball dropped to the ground and brightly lit the shadow at its feet.
In an instant the shadow vanished—and what had been hidden within was revealed.
"Kyaaaak!"
A white-haired woman burst out with a scream of agony. Her skin, exposed to sunlight, began to blister and burn with a sizzling sound; she writhed in pain and collapsed to the ground.
Utterly defenseless. The woman lay right in the middle of the demons.
Among those who saw her, a few of the sharper-minded demons began to grasp the situation.
They're hiding in the shadows!
We have to eliminate the shadows!
"Ku-rup! Sha-dows! Eli-minate them!"
"Kihiik—!! Fire! Bring fire!!"
A handful of demons capable of making flame conjured fire and thrust it toward the surrounding shadows.
The effect was immediate.
Chiiiik—
"Kuaaaak! Aaaak!!"
"Kyahreuuuk!!"
Most retreated nimbly, but a few who failed to escape in time screamed as they were exposed to the sun.
"This is bad...!"
A white-haired man hardened his expression from within the shadows. Other kin kept watching for openings from the surrounding darkness, hoping to rescue those left behind—but—
"Kihieeeek!! Fire! Kirrup! Light it!"
"Eliminate the shadows! Bring more fire!"
Around the stranded ones, demons lit countless fires, erasing every scrap of shade. It wasn't that shadows ceased to exist entirely—where there is light, shadows follow, so of course new ones formed along the flames. But the moment anyone attacked from a neighboring shadow, the demons would surely rush over to snuff that one out as well.
Chiiik—
"Keuhp, uaaaaa—!"
"Keok... u, ah...."
The sun mercilessly burned those who had been hiding in the dark. Skin charred away, muscle dried and shriveled, bone twisted. The sight of living beings roasted alive.
The demons ringed them in and snickered as they watched. Instinct told them that leaving their prey like this was the way to inflict the most terrible suffering.
Left like this, their kin would die for nothing.
The white-haired man watched the horrific scene with trembling eyes. Was he simply to stand by and do nothing?
Bwoong— Kwaang!
These were not warriors who would simply stand and watch.
A mace came flying like a thunderbolt and smashed the skulls of the snickering demons.
"Charge! Charge at once!"
"Tear and smash the heads of these wicked fiends! In the name of the Six Gods!"
"Kaak— spit! You damn mongrels! Let's see how you like getting beaten like dogs today!"
The earlier assault had badly shaken the demons' formation, and the warriors drove into that gap as one. Imperial knights swung swords forged of imperial steel; holy knights swung maces engraved with the mark of the Pantheon. There was even a northern warrior belching reeking of alcohol as he loosed his arrows.
At their vanguard was Kenis, wreathed in flame.
Burning the faint starlight wrapped around her like kindling, Kenis—clad in sacred fire—swung her massive greatsword with both hands and chopped demons apart like firewood.
"The gods are with us!"
《Fuhihihihing—!! Purruk! Purrurruk!!》
Mounted on a unicorn with its white mane streaming, Kenis looked like courage itself given human form. The unicorn raced across the snowfield, trampling, crushing, and pulverizing demons as it charged.
《Purruk! How delightful! Fuhihing!》
The unicorn carrying Kenis on its back was proving that even a horse's face could smile.
"Heuk... It hurts, it hurts...! Kyahreut!"
A woman ringed by demons writhed in agony. She was the same woman who, before the battle began, had been scolded by some nameless northern warrior as a gloomy woman.
"Kirrr! Kkihekhek! Pa-in!"
"Fire! Burns! You!"
The surrounding demons mocked and laughed at her. The woman despaired amid the burning torment. That the end of her long, long life would ultimately be burning to death in sunlight.
Kaang! Chwaaak! Bwoong!
"Kkiheek!! Stop them! Kill them!"
"Krrrrr—! Kkaeng!"
From afar came the death cries of demons and wolves. Growing closer. Coming straight toward where the woman was curled up.
Chwaaak! Chaeng! Kagagang!
"Hey! Get up!"
A northern warrior who had charged over swinging an axe planted himself in front of the curled-up woman, blocking the sunlight. He was the same warrior who had grumbled to One-Eye about what this gloomy woman was supposed to be.
"Huu... heuuu—!! Keueuk..."
The woman trembled violently, curled tight with her arms wrapped around her shoulders. Her fully exposed back had burned black and hardened like a shell; her skin, soaked in cold sweat, was stained with pain and pale as a corpse.
"No time! Get up already! Stop being dramatic!"
"Heuuuuk... I-it hurts... it hurts..."
"Tsk!"
She was completely beyond reason. Clicking his tongue, the warrior cleanly split the skull of a charging demon, then quickly stripped off his cloak—a thick one made of wolf hide. Somehow, the werewolves who saw that cloak charged him even more frantically.
"Wouuuu—!! Krrruk!!"
"Argh, seriously! You rotten mongrel bastards!"
Even amid the chaos, the warrior draped the cloak over the woman to block the sun. Then he wrapped her tightly in it and hoisted her onto his shoulder. The slender woman's waist settled easily across the warrior's frame.
"Huu— heuuu... keuheup!"
The trembling that transmitted through the cloak suggested the pain was so extreme she couldn't even speak properly.
Kwajik! Bwoong! Kaang!
"Out of the way, you filthy bastards! The greatest warrior of the North is coming through!"
The warrior began splitting the skulls of demons and werewolves with one-handed axe swings. Even isolated alone, his courage burned undimmed.
"What the hell! What are you doing out here alone! If you wanted to die you should've said so—I could've killed you myself!"
"Heh. Just had something to pick up real quick!"
"You absolute idiot! Completely crazy for women! I knew it when you blew all that money on Louise at the tavern!"
Two other warriors who had immediately joined up gathered at the side of the man carrying the woman. When three northern warriors gather, there's nothing to fear. The boldly united fighters began cutting a path, swinging axes and swords.
Their momentum was truly fine—but—
Kirrruk! Chachaeng! Auuuu!!
"Keuk... Shields! Raise your shields! Hold the line and... slowly fall back!"
"To... to the side of the gods... I return..."
"Damn it all to hell! Arrows! Running short!"
A knight had blood pouring from one arm; the light was fading from the eyes of some nameless holy knight. Northern warriors shot arrows and swung axes until their fingers burst—but kill a demon in front of you, and another shoved its head forward. From the side a werewolf stabbed with its claws; from below a small demon leaped out aiming for their feet.
No matter how many they killed, there were simply too many demons.
An absolute shortage of numbers.
The battle line drawn between humans and demons began slowly being pushed back. Demons pressing with sheer numbers began tightening the noose around the warriors' throats.
"This isn't good..."
Kenelm muttered with an anxious expression. With the efforts of the Frost Dragon and Friga they had stopped the avalanche, and with the efforts of one of the forgotten races the refugees had also escaped safely.
The matter of the forgotten race was something even Kenelm had not anticipated. Even if she could borrow the eyes of the stars floating in the sky to look upon the earth, that didn't mean she could know everything.
It could be called a pleasant variable.
The multiple mirrors Kenelm was anxiously watching each reflected different scenes. One showed the peak of the snowy mountain, another the fierce battlefield. And in the last mirror, Kenis's face was visible.
"This is bad...! Unicorn, that way! There are people isolated over there!"
《Fuhihing! Hold on tight, maiden!》
Kenis's valiant figure crushing demons like insects alongside the sacred unicorn was the spitting image of her younger self. Kenelm wore a faintly satisfied smile. The small hammer she favored boasted its weight at her waist.
Watching this, even her own hands were starting to itch.
As expected.
Kenis and the unicorn rampaged madly, thrashing the battlefield—but even so the battle line was gradually being pushed back.
As expected, they were being pushed.
Kenelm anxiously stamped her feet. The starlight fragment she had used on Iver had long since lost its color and become a mere stone, and the sea still would not lend its power.
The Great One needed to wake up.
"Keup!... Keueo—"
Still deep in sleep. Kenelm unconsciously glanced down at the hammer at her waist.
Just one hit, and wouldn't he wake up?
Perhaps because she had just been watching Kenis smash demons, her hands itched particularly badly. Without realizing it, her hand reached for the hammer.
Kenelm startled and slapped her own hand. How could she have such a blasphemous thought again!
She clutched her head in self-reproach, then collected herself and hurried over to the sleeping one's side with short, quick steps.
"Suup... huu—"
After briefly steadying her breath, Kenelm clutched her trembling chest and slowly knelt.
In the time she had been peeping at The Great One's appearance, she had seen many curious things. The black box from which little people emerged and performed was one of them—and among the things she had seen in that mysterious box was a method for waking someone who was asleep.
Si-since I saw it in The Great One's world...! It-it-it-it should work on The Great One too...!
A kiss.
In the box, they woke the sleeper with a kiss.
Kenelm clutched her pounding heart. Her clear reason raised the question of whether a kiss could truly wake a sleeper—but her runaway emotions crushed it in an instant.
The thudding of her heart filled her head, and her face, flushed as if about to burst, was bright red. With trembling hands, Kenelm slowly lifted the pure white veil.
White skin slowly came into view. Red lips. A proudly rising nose. And then honey-colored eyes full of moisture appeared.
"Hu-huu... huu..."
Slap slap! Kenelm patted her own cheeks and slowly brought her face closer.
Fo-fo-forgive this blasphemy!
It couldn't be helped. This was for everyone.
Kenelm madly repeated this to herself—though it was nearly drowned out by the runaway pounding of her heart.
"..."
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Her face drew closer and closer. The closer she got, the redder her face became. Her heart beat even harder.
Unable to endure it, Kenelm squeezed her eyes shut.
A mistake. Closing her eyes only made her senses more acute, so she could even feel the other's breath.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud—
"U-uu...!! Heueup!!"
The other's breath tickled her cheek, and Kenelm, resolve complete, closed the distance with all her might.
And then—
"Ah. A familiar ceiling..."
I woke up looking at a familiar ceiling.