If You Want to Save Them
This time, I couldn't help but be stunned.
I had been certain I was about to meet my second death, a blade driven straight through me. But the one standing in front of me was Raeli.
"Asel. Now."
She locked both hands around the sword that had punched through her stomach and held on.
The Spear Saint must have decided this was a chance she could not afford to miss. She reset her stance.
"I will not allow it! I shall split your body clean in two and—"
The demon shifted its blade to cleave Raeli in half — and in that same instant, one of the examinees charged.
A body slammed into the demon and clung. And it wasn't just one. Two. Three. Ten. Every last one of them threw themselves at it.
"Use your mana! Pin it so it can't move!"
"Mages, get in here! You've got mana to spare!"
Every time the demon thrashed, examinees were struck and sent flying. Some took a bad hit, tumbled across the ground, and died where they lay. But the number of people charging only kept growing.
When the count hit twenty and then doubled again, the demon could no longer move at all. It had been bound completely — shackled by a chain of human bodies.
"This is— this is impossible!"
If they had been ordinary people, it would have torn free in moments. But every one of them was a swordsman or a mage. They poured out every drop of mana they carried and bore down, and the demon could not so much as twitch.
The last to join was the Spear Saint.
"Run it through!"
"Blow that smug demon's head off!"
Asel froze. A mountain of people had crushed the demon flat — but there was no gap. No opening at all. Her One-Point Thrust would have to go through them to reach it.
"...I can't. You'll die with it."
Not a single examinee among them was afraid.
"Do it."
"We don't care if we die."
"The ones who were going to live will live anyway, right? That's a fair enough trade."
I could feel their resolve. Three days of hell. Hardship stacked on hardship, right up to the very end. And even in the middle of all that, they knew exactly who had been helping them. To help me. To help the Hero. To put a period on this journey. They had thrown themselves in with their lives on the line.
Not everyone clinging to it would die. And that was enough for them. To kill this thing, someone had to die. That was simply what a Greater Demon was — an enemy that even dozens of veteran knights could not be guaranteed to defeat.
The Spear Saint moved her spear. Her voice was thick with tears.
"I'm... I'm so sorry."
When had I ever seen her apologize and mean it? Never. Not before the regression. Not after.
Carrying the hope of survival and the will to see it through, she settled into her stance. The One-Point Thrust — a technique she could use only once a day. She wrenched up the last dregs of a stamina that had already hit rock bottom.
In the meantime, the Hero took hold of Raeli and eased her backward. The other examinees already had the demon pinned; getting Raeli out came first. The instant the blade was drawn from her stomach, she collapsed to the ground.
And in that same breath, the Spear Saint moved.
Blash, hanging off the demon's back, muttered under his breath.
"...I'm not sitting this one out."
Argal. He owed that man far too much. First: Argal had saved his life. Second: Argal had protected them through raid after raid. Third: Argal had refused to abandon the wounded, and because of that, his friend Mikaron had survived all the way to the end.
And through all of it, he had never once made a show of it. He had given everything of himself, wrecking his own body if that was what it took to keep people alive. Honestly, you could almost believe Argal was another Hero.
And after all those debts, it had come down to this: Argal, betting his life against a Greater Demon, on the verge of dying. They weren't fools. Their benefactor was about to die. Anyone who just stood there and watched would be an ungrateful wretch — and if they let him die, they would carry that guilt for the rest of their lives.
So they found their courage.
"Thrust, Asel!"
Raeli — the one who had stepped forward first and taken the blade — had been pulled free of the demon's sword. All that was left was the thrust.
Asel moved through that distinctive motion of hers, forcing muscles that had nothing left to give. A silent, formless force punched through the examinees wrapped around the demon and struck the armor.
The demon screamed.
"Stop— stop this!!"
A grinding crunch. The collision of tremendous force shattered the armor, and Blash, his strength gone, dropped to the ground. He had been prepared for it. Given where he was hanging, he was always going to be in the path of the thrust.
"...I'm... gonna die."
He discovered, as a fresh and unwelcome fact, that a puncture wound hurt far more than he had imagined. Then he lost consciousness.
No regrets. That was his last thought.
A thunderous blast tore through the clearing.
"G-get off me!"
"Aaaagh!"
"Ghhk—!"
The demon had taken the hit and lost the armor that had been protecting it. But that was all it had lost — a single suit of armor. The examinees clinging to it had reached their limit as well, and they were flung far away. Free at last, the demon sneered down at them.
"Ha... hahaha! Was that it? Did you actually think that would be enough to kill me?"
The black armor had only been auxiliary equipment. It was not the demon's life. Even with the armor gone, it still had the overwhelming power of a Greater Demon, and hide so tough that blades could barely cut it. Everyone capable of killing it had collapsed, spent.
Asel had already used the One-Point Thrust twice. She lay on the ground, unable to so much as twitch. The only one left standing was the Hero, more or less. The demon could not be beaten unless the Hero awakened — and if she did awaken, that would fulfill the demon's purpose anyway. So the demon was at ease.
"I shall slaughter every last one of you. Especially you...?"
It turned back to finish Argal — and sensed something wrong. A magic circle blazing with light washed over the surroundings. The demon looked in that direction. Frang was activating a spell, having pushed his calculations so far past the limit that blood was running from his nose.
"...You forgot about me!"
Massive chains bound the demon once more. Not once. Not twice. A third time. Enraged beyond reason, the demon thrashed and roared.
"You dare make a fool of me! You have no means to kill me, and still you bind me again?!"
"No means to kill you?"
A blue-haired boy answered in Frang's place. Something about him had changed. A blue light coiled around the sword he had drawn.
It was not only the Hero who grew stronger in the face of trial. Anyone could seize great power. And Reinhardt had more than enough talent for it. A being who would one day become a star. One who could reach Transcendence had taken a step forward.
"This... cannot be."
The Greater Demon knew exactly what that realm was. The realm in which one could wrap a blade in mana. Expert. A Greater Demon and an Expert were considered equals. And if you were fully bound, facing an equal... then a Greater Demon was as good as dead.
"I-impossible! The realm the Hero was meant to reach — you, how did you—!"
"Is the Hero the only one who gets stronger?"
Reinhardt moved his sword as he spoke.
"And this is nothing more than a realm I forced my way into."
No one knew better than he did that the power he held was close to an illusion. A desperation beyond anything else. Because he had poured his whole heart into killing that demon, Reinhardt kindled mana along his blade.
"But it's more than enough to kill you."
"No! This cannot be! His command, like this—!"
Clank. Clank. The demon seized the blue chains and shook them. Its strength was so tremendous that even those were on the verge of snapping. Frang's face went deathly pale.
"Kyahahaha! The likes of you could never hold—!"
The demon had been smirking, certain of its victory — but only for a moment. A vast black magic circle swallowed the surroundings. A cascading metallic slither, and far stronger, unbreakable, exquisitely crafted chains bound the demon fast.
It thrashed, unable to process how fast the situation had turned. It had never imagined that black magic — not ordinary magic — would be used against it.
"What— what is this?! Why is black magic binding me?!"
"Be quiet."
An Expert's offensive power was more than enough to punch through a Greater Demon's hide. Reinhardt's immense talent had dragged the potential of his future into the present. The blue-wreathed sword swept from left to right.
A wet, bursting spray — and the thrashing demon's head was severed at last.
Reinhardt turned his head, almost casually. From one side of the field, a vast tide of Magi was pouring out.
"...Just what are you."
The source of that Magi was Argal. The black magic that had bound the demon at the end had been his as well. Reinhardt was far too curious not to ask.
"What are you?"
Magi flooded over my entire body. I hadn't used it in a while. The moment it covered me again, a sensation of omnipotence rolled through me.
I laid a hand over the stomach of Raeli, collapsed in front of me. Her own hand came up and caught mine. Blood dripped steadily from my left hand, from the wound the dagger had left.
"...What. You've got another wound."
A small smile touched her face.
"I was sure I protected you this time."
"Don't talk."
Magi poured into her abdomen. The finely structured energy wrapped her stomach completely. She would not die from this. Not now.
"Th-this energy feels kind of awful. But... it's comforting."
"...Just rest for a bit."
"Sure. I was getting sleepy anyway.... I'll just... close my eyes... for a..."
I lifted the now-unconscious Raeli into the air with Magi. And in that moment, a sword was pointed at my throat.
A soft rasp of steel.
"I would ask that you explain how you are able to use black magic."
She was the Hero, and a cleric who believed in the gods. Black magic was something to be executed on sight. No exceptions. Considering that, the fact that she was even asking for a reason was almost stranger.
"If you cannot speak—"
"I... cannot execute you. I will interrogate you once everything is over."
The Hero's eyes and her sword were both trembling. She was desperately hoping I wasn't a black mage. It looked vicious on the surface, but somehow it was oddly cute.
The Hero's principle was summary execution the moment a black magic user failed to produce a reason. I had tested that once — and instead of moving her sword, she had responded like this. I must have built up a fair amount of trust.
I had no intention of being interrogated, so I produced a proper excuse.
"This dagger is a ritual blade that lets me use black magic. Stab with it, and it grants tremendous power — in exchange for a price."
The Hero startled and withdrew her sword at once.
"If that is truly the case...!"
"The price isn't a life, so don't worry."
Not that I could die in the first place.
I brushed aside the Hero's concern and carried Raeli toward the barrier. Nothing was over yet. If she got caught in what came next, she could die on the spot. I needed to get her out first.
One Greater Demon still watching us. And one assassin hiding their presence. Another clash was coming.
I stopped in front of the barrier. I had expected as much, but seeing it now, I could tell for certain — this was Saryeong-wang's work. If the Archmage had been my teacher in magic, then Saryeong-wang had been my teacher in black magic. Which meant that the moment I fully grasped the level of the barrier he had laid down, I knew: even if I poured out every last drop of Magi I had, the most I could extract was a single person.
If I had time, I could analyze it further and punch a proper passage through. I knew I didn't have that time. An urgency pressed in on me — I had to save her life, here and now, without any room for doubt.
Maybe that was why the demons just stood there and watched me try to break the barrier. They knew I couldn't punch through it. It felt as though they were telling me to struggle all I wanted, with hope dangling just out of reach.
This trial, this ordeal — from the beginning, it had only ever been designed to end one of two ways. Every demon inside this forest dead. Or the Hero awakened.
A great mass of Magi wrapped around Raeli's body. The Hero asked from beside me,
"What are you trying to do?"
"Get the critical patient out first."
A tiny hole opened. A hole only Raeli could pass through. I kept pouring Magi as I spoke to her.
"...Are you still conscious, Raeli?"
She mumbled a reply.
"Mmh. Yeah. Not asleep yet."
"I'm going to get you outside the barrier."
"Yeah? So we're all going to make it?"
I shook my head. I was pulling her out on my own judgment. That didn't mean everyone surviving was a sure thing. And before this was over, there was something I wanted to tell her.
The Magi blanketed everything around us. No one could hear our voices. Not even the Hero. That was why I said it.
Meaningless sacrifice was unnecessary. There was a difference between a misunderstanding — people thinking I was going to die — and someone nearly losing their life because of that misunderstanding. That, I could not accept.
"...What are you talking about?"
Those two sentences felt impossibly heavy. Words I had never intended to speak. I was speaking them because of her. My greatest weakness. Laid bare.