The Arrow of Great Destruction
“……”
She said nothing. The two stood with their backs to each other in a strange standoff, as if time itself had frozen, and neither was willing to speak first.
Then the man, who had seemed determined never to move, suddenly made an awkward gesture and opened his mouth as though forced to.
“Does your silence mean you don’t care if you die like this?”
Yet his voice was cold, carrying a killing intent beneath the words. It was like a small dagger glinting in his hand—ready to fly at any moment and pierce heart or skull.
“…Die?”
Only then did the hair-covered woman react to his tone. Since her back had been turned, she hadn’t seen his earlier gesture, so she had no reason to doubt the killing intent in his voice. Moreover, she was currently restrained. That alone should have been enough to stir fear—or at least unease.
“You think a wretch like you can do that?”
But no such emotion showed. Her low, gloomy voice held only mockery toward her opponent, not anxiety.
“With just this much?”
Several strands of hair that had slipped between the tentacles rose upward, and suddenly the tentacles holding her were torn to shreds. Black blood and the remains of the shredded tentacles scattered across the floor, while the surviving stumps of the tentacles quickly retreated into the black passage from which they had emerged.
The woman, now free, was drenched in the tentacles’ blood, yet her hair writhed and undulated as though delighted by it, floating toward the sky. She slowly turned to face the man.
“You dared to speak so arrogantly about killing me with only this much?”
Her face, framed by the raised hair, was horrifying by human standards. Eyes were clearly visible and unmistakably eyes, yet they were so distorted and grotesque that one wondered if the word “eyes” even applied. They clustered densely across her face, with small protrusions sprouting between them.
Any ordinary person would have screamed at the sight, but the man remained eerily calm, showing not the slightest movement.
“Oh? So that’s what the inside looks like. Are you mimicking a human form, or were you always like this?”
The woman felt a growing sense of bewilderment, though she didn’t show it.
“…An interesting fellow. To keep that attitude even after seeing Nenesobi’s face.”
That was all. Nenesobi had no intention of letting him live any longer. Her eyes glowed red, and several strands of her hair twisted together before shooting toward him at high speed.
The hair writhed and attacked from multiple angles, moving too fast to dodge. But at that moment, people draped in yellow rags descended from the ceiling and blocked the hair.
“……!”
There were about ten of them. Their faces and bodies were hidden beneath the yellow rags, but they hunched as though their backs were bent, heads bowed toward the floor. Their arms looked abnormally short—roughly half the length of a normal person’s. Between those outstretched arms, Nenesobi’s hair stopped dead, as if caught in midair.
Nenesobi tried to pull her hair back, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Well then, are you ready to answer who Isog Negtaru is?”
His gaze remained sharp, missing nothing—not a single movement or shift of the eyes.
Savio Dinok, who had been watching silently, couldn’t help but wonder about the man’s identity. He didn’t have a particularly strong presence, nor did he seem especially remarkable, yet his abilities were anything but ordinary.
The stories of the Hero and his companions flashed through her mind, but she had never heard of anyone like this man.
“Or shall I simply end it here?”
As if for dramatic effect, a red flame rose above the man’s outstretched hand. His calm, composed expression suddenly turned awkward, and he offered a stiff smile toward empty space.
“…You seem to possess quite an amusing trick, but know your place, human.”
Anger laced Nenesobi’s low, gloomy voice.
“Do you truly believe a mere human like you can take the life of Nenesobi, one of the four pillars supporting La Ieyanrei?”
The parts of her body that had maintained a human shape swelled and split open. From within emerged two legs covered in scales and tipped with gleaming black claws, along with two arms ending in fin-like talons. The arms had stretched so long that her palms nearly touched the floor, and when she lightly scraped the ground, the solid stone tore apart as easily as soil.
Four long black tentacles burst from her lower back like wings, each tipped with sharp, menacing hooks.
“With such petty tricks!”
She shook her head violently, and the hair that had been suspended in the air thrashed free of its restraints. The strands lashed out at the yellow-ragged figures holding them, driving black bundles of hair deep into their bodies.
“So you really were mimicking a human. But you couldn’t change your face—or did you choose not to?”
The man remained perfectly calm even as all his subordinates fell and a monster that seemed ready to crush him loomed before him. He didn’t so much as blink. In fact, he kept glancing away, his eyes drifting toward empty space.
“La Ieyanrei. Is that a place name, or the name of an organization? I’d appreciate it if you told me everything you know.”
Nenesobi studied him again. She checked the direction his gaze kept returning to, wondering if he had some hidden trump card, but saw nothing unusual.
Her countless eyes blinked in succession as she considered various possibilities. Then, as though realizing something, she began slowly approaching him.
“Were you buying time? Or do you actually have some hidden method? Either way, it doesn’t matter. I’ll find out for myself.”
Nenesobi’s sharp claws gouged deep furrows into the floor as she lunged. Her speed wasn’t invisible, but it was undeniably fast. The hair still embedded in the yellow figures also began to move, joining the attack.
“……?”
Yet the hair’s movements felt strangely awkward. At first Nenesobi thought it was because of the ragged figures still attached to the ends, so she tried to yank the strands free—but not a single hair came loose.
She sensed something was wrong, and a nameless unease flickered through her, but it was already too late to act on it. She was nearly upon him. Nenesobi swung her arm with all her might. With that reach and grip strength capable of grinding stone to sand, she was certain it would be enough.
“……!”
Her hand never reached him. An invisible barrier stopped it cold.
“If that’s all you have, this is more than enough for me.”
She couldn’t tell who he was speaking to, but Nenesobi lashed out with her other arm and the tentacles on her back. Though shorter than her hair, the tentacles were far more powerful and should have been enough to break the barrier. Yet at that moment, her body jolted from a sudden impact.
“Kuhk?”
Hearing her own belated groan, her countless eyes scanned the surroundings. Only then did she notice the black fists emerging from the shadows along the walls and floor.
“You certainly have good eyesight, but your mana detection seems lacking. Judging by how you failed to notice the Dark Elementals.”
“…So that’s what you were relying on!”
The Dark Elementals that had burst from the shadows swarmed over Nenesobi. She thrashed her arms and tentacles wildly while her hair also whipped about, but the embedded ends still refused to move.
However, Nenesobi was only pushed back for a moment. Soon the Dark Elementals began to crumble and scatter.
Confident of victory, Nenesobi braced her legs to lunge again—
“La Nakal Lesef!”
She saw a single streak of immense black light shoot toward her from the man’s fingertips. She tried to twist away, but the remaining Dark Elementals still clung to her body, and more importantly, it was already too late.
Her countless eyes could do nothing but watch the black light approach. Her right hand, extended on instinct, vanished the instant it touched the light, as though erased.
Before she could even register that her right hand was gone, Nenesobi was forced to scream from the overwhelming pain that flooded through her.
“Whew. It’s been a while, so it definitely took some time to prepare.”
La Nakal Lesef. The Arrow of Great Destruction. It was the most powerful offensive spell I could use in actual combat. I hadn’t used it since the Great War—and even during the war itself I had rarely cast it—but fortunately, nothing embarrassing like a failure occurred.
“Aaaah! It hurts! It hurts! What? What is this? Aaaah!”
Yet despite taking a direct hit that erased her lower body, the opponent was still alive. Perhaps I had been right to feel confident.
Of course, seeing her thrash in agony with half her body gone made it seem like only a matter of time, but I had already encountered enemies who survived even when their heads were blown off—or when only their heads remained.
—So just leave it to me already.
Though currently hidden from everyone else, Rofena was standing right beside me.
“I already told you—we have to be careful.”
Now that I had decided to intervene, I had to act as though everything would eventually reach Rowell and the others. If word got out that I had seen a beautiful woman, it would be disastrous.
—So I’ll just hide and cast the spell. You can take the credit.
“I don’t have that kind of ability.”
They all knew my real strength. If I suddenly destroyed a monster like that with fire, mana, or a physical attack, of course they would find it suspicious.
Honestly, I was already a little worried about the barrier I had requested to protect Savio Dinok. I couldn’t do anything more than that.
“Still, I was hoping she’d tell us everything, but it seems she won’t.”
It wasn’t common, but it happened sometimes—enemies so full of confidence and arrogance that they would spill their entire plan without even being asked.
‘Then, as a sign of respect, I shall at least tell you this one thing.’
And Georges had said the same.
“At best, we got the names La Ieyanrei and Isog Negtaru.”
I had never heard either name before. Even Rofena had shaken her head when she first heard them. I would have to remember them and ask Medrup later.
“Aaaah! Aaaah……!”
The screams gradually faded until they stopped altogether. The hair that had been stretched taut lost its strength and hung limply, while her many eyes either closed or lost their light. She looked unmistakably dead. But—
—Over there……
“Yes, I know.”