Life Is Cruel (4)
“Ah……!”
I could make out every face on the far side in crisp detail. But…….
Thud!
One solid foothold and there was no reason to fall.
Crash!
I stomped down on the collapsing bridge and launched myself. The distance wasn’t that great; a single jump was enough to reach the battlements.
The people who had been calling out to me in their own ways froze with their mouths still open. As if my perfectly intact return somehow offended them.
“Mermen are climbing up!”
“Focus. This place is a battlefield.”
Besides, the fight wasn’t over yet.
I turned my gaze from the wall—safer than the towers, yet far more brutal—down to the base below.
Far out at sea, something enormous and unidentifiable was closing in by the second, while the mermen’s assault grew fiercer by the moment.
“Damn it!”
The more the soldiers killed, the worse it became. The corpses of the slain mermen snagged on the spikes or filled the gaps, paving the way for those that followed.
And those “ones that followed” were elite troops far stronger than the first wave—needless to say.
Using the flesh of their dead as footholds and riding ever-higher waves, the mermen kept clinging to the walls.
If the mages hadn’t started pouring out spells the instant things looked dire, if I hadn’t been reaping thirty kills every ten seconds with mana spears up front, and if the Inquisitor hadn’t been shielding the ramparts—plus the occasional golden barrier she swept across like wiping a window—we would have been breached long ago. That knock-back skill might not reduce their numbers, but it bought us precious distance, and that was quietly reassuring.
“There’s a breach!”
Then, for a moment, the Inquisitor withdrew her blessing—whether to conserve strength for the approaching giant or after consulting the lord—and a hole opened in the wall almost at once.
The acid the mermen had been spewing in gurgling streams had finally done its work.
“Knight! Knight!!”
Fortunately it wasn’t in my sector. Mine was almost peaceful thanks to how many mermen I had already cut down.
I glanced around, weighing whether I could go support them.
“Get over there! I’ll cover for you leaving your post—my discretion!”
The soldier who had slipped back into informal speech after earlier events shouted. Just one sentence, yet the perfect assist.
Thump!
I jumped straight to the breached section in a single bound.
“Kuh!”
“It’s the warlord……! Hold formation!”
Kyaaak!
One of the creatures that had come through the hole stood out. Legged mermen were bulkier than the legless ones to begin with, but this one was enormous even among them, and a different color besides.
“Out of the way.”
“Wait, you’ll get in the—!”
Some sort of elite mob, I supposed.
I drew my sword while the creature struggled under spears thrusting from every direction. Kyaaak! It bared its teeth at the sudden intruder.
Slash!
So what if it bared its teeth? It wasn’t a puppy or a kitten, not even a pet turtle or snake—just a harmful demon that ruined ecosystems. Why would I go easy?
Ignoring the head that rolled away, I leveled my blade at the next one coming through. A smooth motion of the tip formed a mana spear that shot forth.
Kyaaak!
Nice, clean penetration. That made two more kills.
“Holy shit, he’s reliable…….”
“More coming!”
“Prepare to seal the hole!”
I kept kicking and cutting down everything that tried to crawl through.
The soldiers hurriedly brought something, scattered it near the breach, and drove in several iron grates. Not perfect, but as a temporary patch it looked fairly effective.
Well, if things got truly hopeless we could always abandon this wall and fall back to the inner one.
“Demon Knight, do you require assistance?!”
The Inquisitor, racing this way, shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Get lost.”
“Yes! I shall aid elsewhere!”
My curt reply sent the affirmation queen scurrying off to support another sector.
Fwoosh! Boom!
At that exact moment a signal flare rose from the city behind me. Everyone not completely absorbed in the immediate fight turned their heads on instinct.
“A demon has appeared……?!”
The lord, still spearing mermen and rallying the troops with his own hands, exhaled the words like a scream. “That unidentified thing out there was already enough of a variable—now this chaos!” His face tried to look bold, but his insides were another story.
“Demon energy…….”
The Inquisitor reacted at once. The way her expression turned terrifying suggested the thing that had appeared in the city was no ordinary foe.
“We must send support immediately. At that level it rivals a Great Demon……!”
“What the fuck? How the hell did the checkpoints miss that?!”
Deathbringer helpfully voiced the exact words I had been thinking. Yeah. How did the checkpoints miss that?
Though the idea of a Great Demon failing a checkpoint and being turned away was funny in its own right.
“The thing approaching from the sea isn’t a demon, so perhaps I should head that way instead……!”
Boom!
“Requesting support!”
“Damn it!”
Meanwhile our side wasn’t in a position to casually abandon post either—learning that the approaching thing wasn’t a demon didn’t change the current crisis. The Inquisitor, forced to abandon her suggestion to the lord, poured holy power into the spot that had just called for help.
I, too, was pinned by the enemies swarming toward the second breach, unable to move freely.
“My lord, what should we do?!”
“Damn it all! Dietrich! Max! Franz! Request for support……!”
But still—pulling three knights out of here? That seemed like a bad hand.
Better for the three knights to stay and for me to go alone. There would only be more breaches in the wall, never fewer.
Those elite mermen could still be killed by them. They were just slower than me; each could still cover one hole. Three people meant three holes sealed at once.
So in this situation it might actually be better if I went. No matter how strong I was, I couldn’t plug three holes at the same time.
“Send me.”
“You…….”
After killing another orange merman I locked eyes with the lord. My sudden interjection earned me a “What is this?” look.
He probably hadn’t seen me fight properly. If he knew my kill count he wouldn’t be reacting like that.
“I understand you have confidence in your skill, but in the end…….”
“No, my lord. That adventurer alone will be more than enough!”
Dietrich beside him came to my aid. Lucky break.
“Sending that one is better than sending three knights—I am certain of it. Please trust my judgment!”
“…Dietrich?”
She kicked the head of a climbing merman, drove her sword through its crown, then fixed the lord with a resolute stare.
“My lord, in my judgment as well… the identity of the demon that appeared in the city is uncertain, yet if it is the Demon Knight, he will surely bring about the best possible outcome. He is the one who nearly single-handedly hunted a Great Demon.”
The Inquisitor also stepped in to vouch, her face tinged with guilt.
“Furthermore… I recommend issuing an evacuation order just in case. The surge of demon energy I sense from behind is far too intense.”
“…Damn it. That bad?”
“It may even be a Great Demon. And if it is a Great Demon… no matter how strong the Demon Knight is, he cannot cover every bit of collateral damage that may arise during the fight.”
On top of that, the precautionary evacuation warning. For someone who had been trying to move the battlefield away from people, it was the greatest consideration possible.
The lord’s face showed a brief conflict, then the screams rising from several directions forced the decision out of him.
“Can you do it? Without our support?!”
There was only one answer I could give.
“Do not ask the obvious.”
The concept never retreated before a demon.
“Good! We’ll evacuate the people through the western or southern gates, so fix the battlefield as close as possible to the northern gate! As long as you don’t stray too far from where the flare went up, that will be enough!”
The lord laughed and nearly cried as he tossed something to me. A signal flare that launched upward when you struck the bottom.
“You know how to use this, right? Support will come from the adventurer guild and the Magic Tower as well, but if you ever feel you need ours too—”
So that was why he gave it to me: insurance for the worst case. Thorough, as expected of a lord.
“No support is needed. Same for the adventurer guild and Magic Tower. Anyone who comes will only die pointlessly—tell them not to get in the way and to stay clear.”
Not that I really needed the thing. The Magic Tower might still be useful, but the adventurer guild was all melee jobs. And melee classes were meaningless unless they could draw sword-ki at my level.
They would either end up as spectators or get caught in the crossfire and die horribly.
As for the Tower mages… they were so sluggish it was a problem. I didn’t have an aggro-focus skill, nor any way to stop aggro from bouncing onto them. One area skill from the demon and the mages would be wiped out in droves.
I’d rather fight alone than fight while constantly fretting about them.
“But…….”
“Tell them this: if they truly want to help, clearing the area is the greatest help they can give me.”
“…I’ll convey your opinion for now. But take the flare with you—don’t let pride get in the way. The lives of every evacuating citizen rest on you.”
Well, taking the flare as insurance was fine. Even I felt a little uneasy about a solo raid with no backup ready.
I pocketed the flare I probably wouldn’t use and left the wall.
“Demon Knight! Please take care of yourself!”
“Young master, you must be careful!”
Their worried voices echoed two or three times against my back.
Surging Cheongsanho calmly wiped his split forehead.
Blood soaked the cloth, yet he felt little about it. Just a mild thought that he would have to visit a temple later.
“Still alive?”
“…Barely.”
What rotten luck.
The strength of a demon contractor varied wildly depending on the contracted demon or the amount of sacrifice offered… and of course he had to run into one of the stronger specimens.
“Glad I wrote my will in advance.”
“Don’t talk like a man who’s already accepted the day he dies. You’ll make me feel like I’m going to die with you.”
Cheongsanho summed up the regret in a single line. His escort immediately needled him.
“Look at it realistically—how high are our odds of surviving?”
“You’re a Great Sage, for heaven’s sake. You can’t go out this meaninglessly.”
“Sorry to break it to you, but among the living Great Sages I rank dead last in combat.”
So dying weakly wouldn’t be strange at all, he added in a joke that didn’t feel like one. Boom! A massive hand from the secretary slammed down toward them.
“Please dodge!”
“If I could dodge that I’d have become a swordsman, not a mage.”
“Then at least shut your mouth! You’re pissing me off!”
“That tone is no way to speak to your employer. When we get back, pay cut.”
“I’ll take the pay cut—just make sure we get back.”
By a hair’s breadth the escort yanked him clear. Boom! Cheongsanho helped their retreat by hurling an explosive substance straight at the secretary.
For all the banter, their coordination was excellent.
“Looks like the money I poured into him paid off. Don’t you think, Great Sage?”
Even if the opponent happened to be one of Cheongsanho’s major clients and therefore wore extremely sturdy clothes he himself had prepared… rendering every attack ineffective.
“Who made it? Of course it works.”
“This isn’t the time for pride…….”
“Credit where credit is due.”
The elegant frilled shirt and the long skirt tailored perfectly to the leg line were among his masterpieces. Even if they were currently on the enemy, Cheongsanho never doubted their quality.
Even if that very quality was making his life hell right now.
“Unless we bombard it with large-scale magic, that fabric won’t tear.”
“…Please, sell things like that only after looking at the customer.”
“Then our Magic Tower goes bankrupt. You won’t get your salary either.”
“Ha. No choice, then.”
While the dark humor banter continued for a few more beats, the secretary charged, smashing buildings as she came.
The area wasn’t residential, and everyone who had been there on personal business had already fled at the commotion, so there were no civilian casualties.
Crash!
Of course there would be if the two of them died.
“……!”
An item Cheongsanho used bound the opponent’s feet, and the magic he had been preparing bloomed in his hands.
A frost storm slammed into the street.
“You should have used that earlier!”
“Urgh.”
“Aaaagh!”
Skipping several steps of the casting process made the mana thrash his organs.
Wasn’t the only downside of skipping those steps supposed to be reduced power, with no harm to the caster? Cheongsanho wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
“I don’t know if it can stop her consciousness.”
It was nearly complete… He was about to say as much when the ice created by the frost storm shattered spectacularly.
Like a beast that had been hiding in the brush and then lunged the moment prey came close, the enemy closed the distance.
“Great Sage!”
This one I can’t dodge.
Cheongsanho’s cold mind delivered the verdict. Looks like my life ends here. He felt little attachment.
“I will begin the ruin of this city with your blood……!”
No—maybe a little attachment to research and his grandson?
“I wanted to see that boy finish the research…….”
His consciousness cut out before the giant hand even struck. Backlash from the frost storm.
Boom!
But at the fading edge of his vision, a pair of jet-black leather pants stepped in.