Chapter 2. Encounters and Opportunities (13)
Chapter 2. Encounters and Opportunities (13)
An ear-splitting sound rang out. Hunters were still beyond the Gate—at least the best Hunters in this Association. Naturally, they hadn't stopped attacking either; red blood was now dripping from beneath the tiger skin draped over the monkey's shoulder.
A sound like ears being torn apart rang out.
The monkey was wedged awkwardly in the Gate, unable to properly judge which direction it should go.
Its desire to get outside did seem stronger, but—
"———!"
It wasn't as if there were no Hunters on the outside.
Low-Rank Hunters were still Low-Rank Hunters, but the Hunters I'd saved were all extremely important talents within this Association.
Of course, I hadn't saved all of them. For those who had died instantly in the attack, or whose bodies had come flying in already torn to shreds, there was nothing I could do either. You could only save someone if they still had breath in them.
Crack!
A chunk of rock flying toward us split apart in midair. It was the same way the large radio that had flown at me earlier had been split.
How on earth do you cut something like that with a sword?
It wasn't as if there had been no such depiction in the original work, but—
The area outside the Gate, which had initially been in some disarray, was now getting organized around me. All the wounded had gathered around me. The Hunters who were able to fight were blocking our front, and attacks continued from beyond the Gate against the Monstrous Beast wedged firmly into the opening.
It wasn't as if there had been no additional casualties.
"Over there......!"
An attack flew in from the inside and struck the Monstrous Beast's shoulder.
The Hunters beyond there were surely people not much different from us, yet I couldn't understand how they were pulling off attacks with such wide range.
The shoulder split open, and a gap appeared. And through that gap, a person stained red with the monkey's blood suddenly stuck their face out.
Naturally, the Monstrous Beast shrieked and swung its hand toward its own shoulder, but—
Shhk!
Even if they couldn't completely sever those fingers, this was someone with enough ability to keep the incoming hand from reaching them.
A Rank 1 Hunter.
People who fought on humanity's front lines and were considered a match even for Heroes.
But perhaps that had used up the last of their strength; all they managed was to slip out through the wound and fall outside the Gate.
People kept coming out after that. Through that split gap. From beyond the Gate.
"Don't let the Monstrous Beast turn around!"
Someone shouted that, and the Hunters all rushed forward at once.
"Ria!"
I shouted as I stood up with my shield, and Ria nodded.
Ria slid one hand around my side.
"Eek!?"
That was a sound I couldn't stop. Call it a conditioned reflex. Maybe because Ria had poked my ribs with her fingers so many times, even though I knew that wasn't her intention, I ended up making that sound.
Fortunately, whether she heard it or not, Ria just hugged me and leaped forward.
My view shot upward as my feet left the ground, and cold sweat broke out down my back.
As I clenched my teeth and tried to hold back a scream, Ria landed softly on the ground.
Right in front of me was that blood-soaked person.
The Monstrous Beast was right near us.
The Monstrous Beast, which had been swinging its arm as if the Hunters slashing at its body were nothing but a swarm of insects, suddenly lowered its head and looked at me.
"......!"
I reflexively raised my shield, but this time I didn't feel anything smashing down on me.
Shhk.
Instead, I only heard the sound of something being sliced.
"————!"
Blood pattered down onto the shield, and the Monstrous Beast's scream rang out. Right, I had an escort knight who never tired. Ria must have blocked the Monstrous Beast's attack for me.
With my shield raised, I reached out my other hand and placed it on the Hunter's body.
Through my hand, the Holy Power I'd let seep into my body earlier transferred to the Hunter. The wounds where the beast had clawed and bitten all over healed in an instant.
"Huaaah!"
The person, who had nearly stopped breathing, shouted like that as soon as their body was healed and jerked their upper body upright.
Then they hurriedly felt over their own body to check, opened their eyes wide, and looked at me.
"You're—"
The person was about to say something to me when their expression suddenly hardened. The abrupt change was almost chilling: a face that had looked gentle transformed in an instant into that of a hunting dog with prey in front of it.
But those eyes weren't looking at me.
More precisely, they were looking past the shield, at what was behind it.
The Hunter sprang to their feet and leaped, gripping the sword they hadn't let go of once.
Without realizing it, I tilted my shield aside and followed the figure with my eyes.
The Hunter, gripping the long hilt with both hands, immediately swung their sword at the Monstrous Beast's arm that was falling toward us.
Ria happened to be swinging her sword to protect me as well, and by coincidence, the two sword strikes crossed beautifully, drawing an X.
Krrrk!
The Monstrous Beast's wrist, which Ria had failed to sever the first time she swung her sword, was now cut through, bone and all. Along with the sound of something hard breaking, the Monstrous Beast's right hand fell.
The blood that poured down after that was not particularly pleasant.
"Did everyone make it across?!"
The Rank 1 Hunter shouted loudly. Answers came from all over. Their gaze quickly checked the headcount, and then—
"Close the Gate!"
They shouted.
The Monstrous Beast wasn't about to ignore whoever had slashed all over its body and even bored holes into it.
Krrrk, a grinding sound rang out. It was the sound of the hide over the Monstrous Beast's head tearing. Had it caught on the thin edge of the Gate and ripped?
Its dense black fur beneath the hide was soaked with red blood as the Monstrous Beast roared again.
Those eyes were looking at me—
"Close it!"
The Hunter shouted with all their strength once more—
And then, the Gate, which until then had been like a rippling mercury surface, vanished in an instant.
For just a brief moment, the Monstrous Beast's head hung in the empty air, still wearing the enraged expression it had made at the very end.
And then it fell unceremoniously to the ground.
Thud.
Not just the head—the other body parts of the Monstrous Beast that had been trying to force its way across the Gate also fell to the floor in severed chunks.
......Well, it wasn't a very pleasant sight.
I caught my breath, dropped my shield, and stood up from my spot.
Everyone stood frozen in place, dazed by the situation that had suddenly ended.
For just a brief moment, a tense silence hung in the air.
Only after confirming that the Gate didn't reopen and the beheaded Monstrous Beast didn't move again did people begin to sink down onto the ground one by one.
There was no cheering. Only a sense of relief that they no longer had to risk their lives lingered in the air.
I raised one hand.
"Anyone wounded!"
The gazes of the people who had been sitting there blankly for a moment turned toward me.
"If there are any wounded, come here—"
Those words never reached their end.
Strangely, my field of vision tilted straight upward. Huh, I'd definitely been standing upright—
Thump.
Only after seeing the person who caught me around the back with an arm did I realize I'd simply fallen backward in that same posture.
I saw Ria's face.
"Aren't you the wounded one?"
"No, I'm not, hurt, anywhere......."
I'm not hurt, anywhere.
The arm I had raised high above my head went limp and drooped down.
As if my legs had turned to jelly, strength drained out of me rapidly. It wasn't just my arms and legs. The muscles in my entire body seemed to melt away in an instant.
My body was refusing to move.
"......Holy Power puts a strain on the body of the person using it, you know. And the power in your body, in the end, you poured it all into other people instead of yourself. Of course you'd end up like that."
"What about you, Ria?"
"I'm fine. I was on the receiving end. If anything."
"......."
Does it work like that?
I thought I'd divided it—well, strictly speaking, I'd divided it up and 'given' it away.
I wanted to say something, but my tongue wouldn't move properly. Honestly, even lifting my head to look at Ria was difficult.
"Just rest well. You did more than enough."
"The hurt, people......."
"There are plenty of other people. There should be enough Holy Water. ......And the people who almost died all owe their lives to you."
I hadn't seen everyone who returned from beyond the Gate— there might be injured people among them too—
But in the end, I couldn't even get those words out.
As if my brain couldn't hold out any longer, my vision cut out, like a switch simply flipping off midway.
The last things I felt were the people murmuring as they gathered around me, and—
The warmth of Ria's body as she lifted me in both arms.
*
"......Hah!"
I thought I opened my eyes the very next moment, but outside the window it was already dim.
Even considering that the days were still short, it seemed I had been unconscious for several hours.
I heard rustling beside me and turned my head,
"Mmph!?"
Something was shoved into my mouth and I panicked— ah, it's sweet.
A little belatedly, I realized I was ravenous. After using that much Holy Power, of course I was hungry.
As I chewed and swallowed the chocolate in my mouth, I looked at the person who'd so aggressively shoved it in there.
Well, it was Ria, no need to ask who.
"What do you think you're doing to someone who just woke up!?"
When I protested after swallowing all the chocolate, Ria raised the half-unwrapped chocolate she was holding.
They slowly waved it from side to side in broad arcs.
Damn it, my eyes followed it against my will.
"Ah, that hurts, that really hurts. And here I prepared a snack you can eat right away, thinking about my roommate's health."
"......Ugh."
I ground my teeth at Ria's words.
Waving a sweet-smelling snack in front of someone obviously starving was cheating, no matter how you looked at it.
Ria smirked and handed the chocolate to me.
I took it, trying not to look too desperate, and carefully bit off a piece.
Snap. With the characteristic sound of chocolate breaking, something sweet entered my mouth, and I felt a little more alive.
Still, I'd need to eat something more.
As I slowly melted the chocolate in my mouth, I leaned back against the bed again. Maybe because it was for patients, the back was raised a little, so it didn't look too rude to do so.
"What about the injured people?"
"Almost all treated. They may not be at your level, but a Saintess Candidate is still a Saintess Candidate. They can treat most serious cases. The ones they couldn't treat, you'd already healed all of them. The Hunters said thanks."
"I see......."
I let out a breath.
Because if someone had died because I passed out, I wouldn't have been able to sleep properly for a while.
"......No one there is going to say anything about you passing out, you know? What kind of weird worry is that?"
Looking at Ria, who spoke as if she'd read my mind, I pouted.
"Still, what can I do if it bothers me?"
"......."
Ria crossed her arms and stared at me quietly before opening her mouth.
"I don't think that's what you should be worrying about."
"What else, then? What could be as important as a person's life?"
"You, who said you didn't want to become a Saintess, even wrote a letter to the Cardinal."
"I did."
"But this time, two Saintess Candidates saw you in action, didn't they?"
"They did?"
"......Are you seriously thinking nothing will happen?"
"Uh......."
Honestly speaking, I was a little worried.
Worried, but—
Hmm, well.
Wouldn't there be political issues? Or conceptual ones.
The leaders of religious groups are inevitably conservative, even if they can't help it. The scriptures of a religion always contain the most important parts that must never change. Especially when it touches on 'the parts they believe in,' even more so.
No matter how capable a person is, if they insist on that, that part can never change. From a religious group's standpoint, it's a dangerous topic in many ways.
Which was exactly why I felt free to go around saying such things. If anything was going to change because of my words, it would have changed long ago.
"So before that, you turned the Saintess Candidates' insides upside down first."
"Was that on purpose?"
"......."
No, well, it wasn't intentional, but things did turn out that way.
I'd need to hear more about the circumstances, but if that situation hadn't erupted beyond the Gate, they probably would have just thought I was tactless and moved on.
"Then you must have also expected that the girl named Sophie, who heard that from you, would head straight to Myeongdong."
Hearing Ria say that, I shrugged.
"Why, did she say she'd report me as a heretic?"
"How could she? After seeing that."
"......What?"
"She left a message saying there must be another 'opportunity,' and that maybe she needed to seriously think about what she believed in."
"What?"
"I already knew, but you've got even less common sense than I thought, huh?"
Ria said something openly infuriating.
"No—"
"Didn't I tell you? The scriptures are being revised continuously. If a problem comes up that requires completely overturning them, they'd have no choice but to overturn them, wouldn't they?"
"......."
Huh?
"The people who already gave up a religion that had been passed down for thousands of years and built new doctrine over a decade ago—do you think they'd just sit still this time? That's what I'm saying."
I couldn't say anything as I looked at Ria speaking like that.
Uh, um, what.
Saintess.
.......
Ah.
Right. Of course.
It was something the 'Saintess' had done. In the novel, she had already been the 'Saintess.'
How she had become the 'Saintess' rather than a 'Saintess Candidate' had never been shown separately in the novel......!
Only then did I realize again what I had done, and I dragged a hand down my face.
"Well, you'd better hope the Cardinal is a much more rigid man than expected."
Whether she felt sorry for me or not, Ria said that and patted my shoulder.
It wasn't much comfort.