The Ant Nest! (9): The Heroine's Birth
I pretended to be relaxed, but the truth was I wasn't relaxed at all. Of course I knew how to handle it. This was a demonic beast I'd faced dozens of times inside the game. But... this was reality.
"Kiigigigik!"
"Hup!"
-BOOM!
Dodging each strike from those massive legs drained a frightening amount of stamina. On top of that, my level was low. Roughly equal to the Twilight Queen before me, or maybe just a little below. At this rate, even if I won, the fight could easily end in fatal injuries and death. The so-called "love shot."
"Haaaa...!"
I drew every ounce of mana from my Danjeon and poured it all into boosting my physical abilities. The two arms gripping my sword accelerated. Without hesitation I unleashed a flurry of consecutive Auror-infused slashes.
It was a multi-sword style inspired by Laura's demonstration. I mixed and adapted the Water Sword Technique and Lightning Sword Technique I'd learned, blending them together. The foundational stance kept the relatively long preparation time of the Water Sword Method, while the actual strikes became an endless barrage drawn from the Lightning Sword Method. At this point, it felt less like individual forms and more like an entirely new style of swordsmanship.
Left diagonal. Right diagonal. The continuous strikes hammered the Twilight Queen according to the flow of battle.
-Shshshshshshshk!
-Kagagagagagak!
"Kiigigigi! Kiigigigigigigigi!"
How does it feel, you bastard? In the distance, Hedy stared at me in clear astonishment at the sword style she'd never seen before. Naturally. I'd only just tried it myself moments ago. It felt liberating to swing my blade exactly as I wished. Like playing my own private, original game.
...Though it was the kind of game where dying once in reality meant it was truly over.
"Kiigik!"
Irritated, the Twilight Queen retreated to avoid my slashes. Yeah. I already knew something like this wouldn't inflict a serious wound. It had only bought me a brief window.
To take down the Twilight Queen, I need one decisive blow.
I had to deal internal damage. The creature's outer carapace and segmented joints were incredibly thick, so no matter how many cuts I landed, they were nothing more than shallow scratches.
Which means I have to target the soft insides.
What method could drive Auror deep into its body? As I knew all too well, the demonic beast before me had an enormous frame. Its agility and the irregular web-shooting patterns also meant I didn't have time to gather a large amount of mana.
...It looked like I needed help.
I darted away from the Twilight Queen in an instant.
"Kiigik?!"
Then I approached Hedy, who was wrapped tightly in spider silk and forced to watch my fight.
-Slice!
"......!"
I severed part of the webbing binding her legs and arms. Hedy looked up at me with wide, startled eyes.
"Cut the rest of those webs and help me! I can't handle it alone!"
After delivering the message, I immediately charged back at the Twilight Queen to pull its attention onto myself. Yes. This would work. It was going smoothly. If Hedy recovered and bought me time by following my lead, I could finish the Twilight Queen off.
But...
It was clearly going well. So why did I keep feeling this growing sense of unease?
"Kiigigigik!"
I dodged the Twilight Queen's attacks by a hair, blocked them, and left scratches. I was gradually grasping its attack patterns. The mixed sword style I'd only just created was becoming familiar too.
Yet why?
"Hup!"
-BOOM!
This entire situation should be completely new to me.
For some reason, everything unfolding felt strangely familiar. As if I'd experienced it once before...
Was it just my imagination? This should be the first time I'd faced this demonic beast since possessing this body, so why did the scene feel so eerily familiar and unsettling?
"B-bad boss! When do I start?!"
Hedy shouted from behind, sounding desperate.
...I'd have to set this question aside for now. Dealing with the Twilight Queen came first.
"Buy me ten seconds! I'll prepare a finishing strike!"
"...Okay!"
The moment she answered, we switched roles. As she provoked the Twilight Queen with her sword, its focus shifted to her.
Time to concentrate.
"Huu..."
I wrung out every last drop of mana left in my Danjeon. I focused it into both arms and my sword. As my breathing steadied, the mana slowly began to gather toward my hands.
-Shuuuuuu...
But then.
"Haaap!"
"......!"
When I glanced toward Hedy, my eyes widened.
-Kagagagagagak!
"Kiigik?!"
Hedy's sword strikes were raining down on the Twilight Queen. I knew she had excellent combat sense. But that was...
That's the basic cancel sword technique I just used...?!
Left diagonal. Right diagonal. Her blade traced the exact same paths I had swung along. Even the foundational stance resembled how I'd maintained the Water Sword Technique.
...It was clumsy, but she was clearly imitating my Lightning Sword Technique—the one that mixed Water Sword footwork with basic cancels.
"Is this how you do it...?!"
"......!"
She was supposed to be nothing more than an extra in this game's story. How could she possess such talent?
Had I been too arrogant? Were there people at my level everywhere from the start?
No... When Laura had demonstrated her applied sword techniques, most of the students had clearly failed to understand them. It made sense that I could follow along—I had an adult's intellect from my previous life and game knowledge that gave me a head start in understanding the forms.
But that kind of talent wasn't something a girl her age could easily possess.
Just who was this girl called Hedy...?
*
The delinquent boss's consecutive checking strikes had been refreshing. Hedy had tried imitating them to buy herself time, but... for some reason they felt far less powerful than when he'd done it.
While fighting, Hedy stole a glance at the delinquent boss as he gathered Auror.
...Just what is he?
From the very beginning, his behavior and speech had told her he wasn't actually the leader of the delinquent gang. But that only deepened her questions.
A skilled individual she'd never seen at the academy... If she had kept fighting that day in the rear garden without believing his explanation, she realized she would have lost.
So he went easy on me back then...? But why?
It had been Hedy herself who charged in without listening to any explanation. He could have simply crushed her with overwhelming force.
Why had he held back?
...Now that I think about it, his face is unfamiliar too.
She had no memory of a swordsman with those features in class. Someone with both that level of skill and appearance would have caused rumors to spread like wildfire.
A mid-term enrollee, maybe?
Mid-term admission was only granted to those with exceptional skill and talent. That was how strict Ariel Academy's rules were. Even high-ranking nobles couldn't force their way in with mere connections.
"Kiigigigigi!"
"Kugh!"
Hedy's stamina was finally running dry. There was no time left to think. This was her limit.
"B-bad boss! Not yet?!"
Hedy shouted at him in desperation.
***
"B-bad boss! Not yet?!"
Ah.
I'd been momentarily lost watching Hedy's swordsmanship. When I snapped back to reality and looked ahead, my sword—having absorbed every bit of mana I could give it—was radiating ferocious Auror.
This was enough.
"Done! You can pull back now!"
"Got it!!"
Hedy immediately turned her back on the Twilight Queen and tried to escape. Just as I moved in to take over—
"Kyaaaaaak!"
"......?!"
Hedy collapsed near the Twilight Queen with a pained cry. A large volume of blood poured from her upper body. In her rush to flee, the creature had pierced her side.
It's come to this now?!
The Twilight Queen exhaled roughly, as if it sensed the battle was finally ending, and approached the fallen girl.
This couldn't happen. I leaped toward the Twilight Queen in a panic and raised my sword high.
"Die nicely, you son of a bitch—!"
"Kiigik?!"
The moment I swung down, the Auror bent along the blade's path. The enlarged whip of energy moved with the sword. The dark cavern brightened in an instant.
For a split second, time seemed to slow. The surroundings came into sharp focus. Blue light. The entire cave was dyed in shades of blue. It might have looked like a beautiful aquarium at first glance.
But the current situation was anything but beautiful.
-KWAAAAAAAAANG!
The instant the Auror sword connected with the Twilight Queen's upper body, time snapped back to normal speed. The creature vomited its internal organs. It died instantly, without even a chance to scream.
...An attack I never could have landed if Hedy hadn't bought me time.
The goblins and big spiders swarming in from the surrounding tunnels began to flee in panic now that their queen was dead and they'd felt the tremendous sword pressure.
And right as I finished swinging the Auror blade down—
"......!"
In that moment, I finally realized it. Seeing Hedy panting heavily with serious injuries triggered the memory.
It was slightly different, but I had known—like a vision of the future—that Hedy would suffer those wounds.
The source of my unease was gradually becoming clear.
The goblins—forest demonic beasts that had no reason to be here in this deep underground labyrinth. The big spiders that roamed alongside them, drawn by the Twilight Queen's pheromones and moving with some unknown purpose. ...And the artificially created corpse storage built specifically to breed and raise the Twilight Queen.
All of it connected in a single thread and flashed through my mind. Information I'd completely forgotten because I'd had no interest in it.
I felt a chill of crisis.
...Because I'd gotten entangled with the one thing I'd wanted to avoid more than anything.
What was it? There was only one thing I had zero interest in and actively avoided.
These moments right now were the birth narrative of the heroine.