Existence (5)
Ah.
Wouldn’t it be better to just leave that demon bastard behind and head somewhere else? If the Inquisitor never showed, I could simply go to her myself.
That thought had barely crossed my mind when Duke turned his head. His gaze fixed on the city center, where a fight seemed to be breaking out.
“I can’t play with you any longer.”
Play? Plaaay?
From Duke’s point of view he had only been watching me thrash about, so calling it play wasn’t entirely wrong—but it was still so damn annoying. Infuriatingly so.
I couldn’t even get properly angry for fear of triggering Wrath, yet the sheer gall of it!
“You worm…!”
“It seems the limit of the dream-within-a-dream the sacrifice permits has also been reached… Ha. As expected, I shouldn’t have stepped forward with any nagging or anything else. What is this? I’ve lost every last demon I spent decades gathering.”
Dream-within-a-dream, gathered demons—important clues were slipping past, but something else made me seethe far more.
“Manifesting my true body would be too great a loss for me, wouldn’t it? Right. I already have terrible compatibility with the Dragon Knight, and with Gretchen in this state, what good would descending even do? Better to just endure the lectures.”
You… youuuu… This time the event kept me from landing a single point of damage, but next time will be different.
Whether you hid your true body or whatever else, the moment that story-imposed invincibility buff drops, youuuu are finished for real…!
“No, wait—maybe the fact that my advance has been stopped is actually better? Widening the front line only creates more places to worry about. Maintaining the status quo is best, isn’t it? Mm-hm. Even if the front expands, the humans won’t stop their desperate thrashing.”
I swung my sword again. I had been swinging it constantly, but this time I poured especially heavy mana into the single stroke.
Kiiik.
A metallic screech faintly rang in my ears as the slash flew.
“So, pass on exactly what you just overheard to your commander, would you? Hm? My current condition is just right, so let’s keep things exactly like this. And while you’re at it, make absolutely sure you don’t let Gretchen go free? Otherwise my face will be ruined.”
“You piece of trash—”
“I get to dig in here and stay, and you get to stop me. It’s a win-win for both of us.”
Seogeok!
As expected, it did nothing. I twisted my face into a snarl at the black fog that was already beginning to scatter and dissolve.
Even the sight of the demon remains my frustrated slashes had carved up through the mist changed nothing.
“Understood? Be sure to deliver the message.”
If it hadn’t been for this bastard, how many more demons could I have killed, how many more people could I have saved…! No dodge check even triggered, so I couldn’t mark any weaknesses through counterattacks either—seriously!
Kwak!
I slashed once more at the powder slowly melting into the air. Of course it accomplished nothing.
In the end the black powder fog vanished completely from my sight.
Jjaenggeurang.
At the same moment, something shattered with a clear crack.
“You worm…!”
Mm, the sound had been a little serious, but my sword itself hadn’t broken, so I could check later.
With that thought I surveyed my surroundings more carefully.
The result was the same. Only the nearly finished struggle atop the walls, the still-fierce defensive battle in the city center, and me—my mind thoroughly frayed—remained.
That bastard Duke. He really had run off…!
“Damn it…!”
The instant Duke disappeared I cut down a gargoyle that lunged at me and ground my teeth hard enough to crack.
I had scraped every last drop of mana into that final attack, so now I didn’t even have enough left to charge into the city center—that irritated me even more. And the fact that I still couldn’t properly rage for fear of Wrath activating!
“Uwaaaagh!”
“S-save me!”
“Hold on!”
Yet for all my fury…
Almost finished did not mean truly finished.
People were still fighting demons.
I clenched my jaw and killed the demons clinging to the walls.
I had no mana left for the city center anyway, and the two sand-tigers that had been the biggest problem were already dead. Whoever had killed them, I could focus on this side first.
“Out of the way!”
“……!”
The battle that had briefly broken resumed.
Only after the fighting atop the walls had been cleaned up did I learn that Kankan and Dev had vanished somewhere, that the Inquisitor had not come to rescue me for good reason, and that what had shattered was the seal on my forearm.
Meanwhile, while the Demon Knight was still locked in combat with the Great Demon, the Deathbringer had been about to race toward the black-fog-shrouded walls.
His joining would not improve the Demon Knight’s safety, yet if he himself was useless he could at least fetch someone who might help—whether the Inquisitor or the Archmage.
But the moment he tried to leave, events behind him seized his feet.
Demons he could never hope to match were one thing, but the fight between Kankan and Muwang was flowing far too one-sidedly. Exactly as it had in the arena.
“You’re not enough!”
“Damn it.”
The Deathbringer watched Kankan already bleeding after only a few exchanges.
At this rate Kankan would be dead long before the Deathbringer ever reached the walls.
And a free Muwang would then slaughter those hunting the sand-tigers. Whatever method they had used, Muwang and the other traitors had already slipped outside the demons’ targeting.
Moreover, once nothing stood in their path the sand-tigers would head straight for the shelters… and even if the forward lines survived, the city itself would collapse.
Soldiers, gladiators, and adventurers manned the front, but the citizens were the true engine that kept the city alive.
The traitors? From the moment the line broke they had already fulfilled their role perfectly. Whatever bargain they had struck with the demons, they would have left themselves an escape route.
They would destroy an entire city and still return home with brazen faces.
That, at least, he could not endure.
The Deathbringer rammed his blade into the maw of a gut-worm that lunged at him and ground his teeth until they ached.
He hated evil men who survived without judgment more than anything.
“Sir, you can hold out, right? I believe you can.”
The Demon Knight… would be fine. After everything that had happened he knew the man was only human, yet there was no other choice now. He had to trust that overwhelming strength.
Or trust that the Inquisitor or Archmage had noticed the anomaly and gone to help.
“I’ll kill just one more and then go.”
So he took a single vial and one sword. At the same time he stopped breathing and melted his body into the shadows.
Even when Kankan lost an arm, even when the gladiators who charged in his place died under Muwang’s hand, even when a demon erupted into the space right beside him, even when a sand-tiger smashed the building next to where he stood.
Until his form dissolved into the surroundings and he existed only as a mere shadow rather than a person.
And in the moment Kankan squeezed out his last strength to lock blades with Muwang in a desperate contest of power—
He stepped out of the shade. A blade that held no light yet still carried something on its edge stabbed precisely into Muwang’s back.
“Hheuk!”
The height difference sent it in on a diagonal, but that was actually better. He worked his hand so the steel passed the liver and reached the lung.
The expertly guided edge slipped past the ribs, tore through flesh, then twisted free. Every ounce of tenacity aimed at taking the life was poured into that single thrust.
“I-ih.”
No words followed—only a winded gasp from above. Proof the strike had landed true.
“Dodge!”
“……!”
Yet even after all that, strength remained. While still locking swords with Kankan, Muwang twisted his hips slightly and swung an arm backward.
Instead of steadying himself he tried to seize the assassin. Kankan had sensed it and shouted the warning.
Kwang!
He tried to pull away, but too late. Muwang’s arm swept across his chest like a club. The heavy impact sent his body rolling.
“Keuk.”
His body spun two full turns across rubble and sand before he barely recovered balance. He clutched the struck spot.
“…Shit, did my ribs just crack?”
He had prepared an escape regardless of success and had moved the instant the blade came free, yet the bastard had still managed to hit him. Whether the rage or the sheer viciousness was more impressive, he couldn’t tell.
Even a glancing blow hurt this much—Muwang’s raw power really was monster-level.
“Die!”
Fortunately Kankan bought him recovery time, launching a furious assault on the man whose vital organs had been pierced.
The thought that missing this chance meant no more chances at all seemed to drive him as well.
“I told you not to interfere!”
But Muwang was still Muwang. Whatever method he used, he recovered his breath and met the blades again. A truly repulsive man.
Or had he received some benefit from dealing with demons? No ordinary human could thrash about so vigorously after being stabbed through the guts.
“I won’t fall until I’ve stopped you!”
Truthfully the other side was just as grotesque.
A single glancing hit left him in this state, yet those humans kept fighting after losing arms and taking organ wounds.
Even if both were mana users, this was excessive. Different races, maybe?
“Just buy time, Red Mane sir!”
Well, even if they truly were different it hardly mattered. Unless their innards were made of steel, poison would still work.
He switched from the corrupted blade to a handful of throwing daggers and let them fly.
After one successful ambush Muwang would not open another easy gap. Rather than wait he would simply keep pecking and interfering.
“You rat!”
As expected, Muwang easily shook Kankan off and swatted every dagger aside. The Deathbringer did not care.
“You know that rat’s claws are poisoned, right?”
The poison had been on the sword used for the ambush, not the daggers.
“Poison taken from a king lizard of the Chiria Great Forest. Doubt you’ve heard of it.”
“……!”
Poisons rarely acted all at once. Factoring in the man’s mana use, it might take a little longer.
But it would end eventually. This wasn’t the most expensive poison he owned, yet it still guaranteed death one hundred times out of one hundred once used.
“In an hour half your organs will melt; in a day you’ll be mush. Your blood vessels will dissolve, bleeding will worsen, and muscle and flesh will slowly rot.”
“……!”
“In other words, you’re fucked, you son of a bitch.”
The only question was when; Muwang was certain to die.
“You little— koff!”
He watched Muwang spit blood and threw another dagger. Even now the man knocked the blade away and blocked Kankan’s follow-up—his sheer tenacity was monstrous.
“You think I’ll die like this?”
Even as internal bleeding should have made his head spin, his legs stayed firm. His life-thread was truly thick—though the man himself had no value in living.
“I will not die. I will never die!”
“What are you talking about? Just die alre—”
The Deathbringer’s eyes suddenly went wide. He had seen Muwang swallow something.
“I didn’t want to use this here…!”
Immediately something that resembled the black currents visible atop the walls began to pour from Muwang’s body.
It did not merely flow—it settled and clung to the ground as if sucked into it.
“Trash like you cannot drag me down from this place!”
It even took on form.
“I—I will not lose…!”
An arena? No. It had the shape of an arena, yet it was nothing like the one in this city.
“This is…”
“……?”
“My homeland’s…?”
The somewhat primitive arena, mixed with Kankan’s words, offered a reasonable clue. The real questions were why and by what principle it had appeared here.
『Loser.』
“That is…!”
The shadowy figure standing at the center of the newly formed stage and murmuring those words was equally important.
“I will not lose—!”
Muwang roared. Instantly the figure shattered into dust.
And the face that had been dying from poison somehow regained color. It was enough to make a ghost cry foul.
“Kill them!”
Kiiiiiik!
Worse, the bastard began commanding demons. Demons that had avoided the area because of Muwang’s presence now wheeled toward him.
“Just die already, you…!”
“Dodge!”
“You dodge! I’m out of options now!”
“I’ll buy time—run!”
Buy time? Even with both arms intact he hadn’t managed it.
And even if he did, what would it matter? Demons were openly targeting only him—could he actually escape?
“Ah, shit!”
He didn’t know. If the opponent had still been Muwang there might have been a chance.
Kwang!
Still, moving was better for survival than standing still. The Deathbringer rolled away from a diving gargoyle.
The torrent of flame scorched the earth, then the hem of his cloak and the tip of the tail that peeked out, yet at least he avoided becoming roast meat.
Kkeek.
Kiaaak!
…Not that the danger had vanished.
“Ugh!”
He scrambled onto a heap of rubble using broken building fragments as steps. Gut-worms could bore through most soil, but rock took far longer and iron stopped them cold.
Of course that left him open to flying demons, yet at least those could be seen and dodged.
Even if three of them ganged up at once it was a bit much.
“Hey, get out of the way!!”
“Are you insane?! Why are you dragging that thing over here?!”
“So Muwang can get crushed too!”
“He’s not going to get crushed!!”
Worse, one of the sand-tigers that had gone the other way smashed through buildings as it returned.
The shouted words couldn’t be sincere; those who had failed to stop the beast had scattered, and the ones fleeing this way had simply drawn its attention.
“Damn it!”
Muwang’s death was already certain, so he had only wanted to save Kankan’s life—yet now this variable appeared.
Demons really did not suit him. They created too many variables and had just smashed his final card as well.
The Deathbringer clicked his tongue and calculated.
Charging into that brawl, shouldering Kankan, and fleeing was rejected. Hauling that bulk and moving nimbly was pure impossibility for him. Muwang would never let them go quietly in any case.
Then kill the sand-tiger? How? Even trusting the sword’s performance and stabbing, something that size would feel like a thorn in the hand.
“I’m tired of leaving comrades to die…!”
Then—
Stab Muwang one more time after all?
“That’s a fine attitude.”
In that instant the head of the demon hot on his heels exploded into fragments that sprayed in every direction. The shadow that fell across the main road was as huge as ever—hard to believe it belonged to a Slend.
“I came to talk, but given the situation that seems difficult. If I intervene myself that side looks far too urgent. So… mind killing that one for me?”
“You are…”
The Deathbringer’s lips moved soundlessly as he stared at the figure before him.
The person was already soaked in blood as if after a fierce battle, and beyond them lay the corpse of one sand-tiger. A vague sense of déjà vu washed over him.
“In return I’ll keep the demons from interfering with you and draw that human’s attention elsewhere. Can you do it?”
“…If someone’s spoon-feeding me and I still can’t eat, I might as well just die, damn it.”
But there was no time to chase the familiarity. He answered with feasibility before he even finished assessing the situation.
The figure smiled. It was an elegant smile, like a magnolia greeting spring.
“Good.”
Then the nature of that smile changed.
Like a single drumbeat starting a performance, or a single clap announcing a stage transition—
The crescent-moon eyes flared open fiercely, and the soft arc of the lips stretched wide into a shape made for roaring laughter.
“Then this Berserk will slaughter every last one of those demon bastards!”
The hand not holding a halberd seized the jaw of a gargoyle that had just flown in and slammed it into the ground.
The voice that sprayed outward with crushed flesh reached even the one who had finally clamped a hand around Kankan’s throat.
“So show that loser what’s what! You’re still a loser, and you’ll be a loser forever!”
“You…!”
Muwang’s eyes flew wide.
Attention had been thoroughly seized.