The End of a Long Night
Back when Schwarz was still human.
Whenever he drifted off alone in that cold, empty house, the nightmares always found him.
A long, lightless corridor stretching into endless dark. Monsters that began to stalk him in silence from the shadows. And every nightmare ended the same way—falling into a darkness whose bottom he could never see.
This time, though, it was different.
[Guaaah… Aaaah…!! Aaaaaaaaaah—!!]
What stood before his eyes was no dream. The monster from his nightmares had become reality.
With a scream no human throat should ever produce, the thing slowly rose to its feet. Its bulk dwarfed even the iron golem they had faced before. The upper body resembled the creature they had seen inside the cocoon in the Black Forest—yet instead of hands, razor-edged saw-blade pincers jutted from its arms, and two pairs of sharp, arthropod-like legs sprouted from its back. Its lower half was a writhing mass of fused flesh that called to mind a spider, trailing into a long scorpion’s tail tipped with a venomous stinger that dripped poison in thick, glistening drops.
Even that would have been horrific enough. But the true horror lay elsewhere.
[Guaaaaah—!! Aaaaah—!!! Aaaaaaaaaah—!!]
A human face was embedded in the left side of the monster’s chest. Half-eaten by living flesh, the face contorted in endless agony as it screamed without pause. And it was a face they both knew.
“Ha… Hagner…!?”
It was the face of Hagner—the sole survivor of the expedition that had ventured into the Twisted Land.
The moment Milia’s startled cry left her lips, the monster raised one massive pincer. She snapped back to herself and hastily brought her spear up into a guard.
The pincer came crashing down.
“Hup!”
Milia angled the shaft of her spear, pouring strength into the deflection. Metal screeched as the pincer scraped past her weapon—then twisted on an unnatural trajectory and smashed into the rubble beside her. The force reduced the debris to powder that scattered in every direction.
“Kh…!!”
She had managed to turn the blow aside, but the shock still rattled through her. Her hands trembled faintly. And the monster was far from finished.
[Graaaaah—!! Aaaaaah—!!]
With another howl it lashed its spiked tail at her. Spines thicker than a grown man’s forearm streaked toward her midsection. Still reeling from the previous impact, Milia’s reaction came a fraction too late. She sucked in a sharp breath and raised her spear desperately to block—
“What do you think you’re doing to My Lady!!”
A furious shout cut through the air. Schwarz launched himself at the monster and drove his fist straight into its face. The air itself seemed to explode. The massive body staggered, lost its balance, and crashed down with a thunderous roar. The tail that had been aimed at Milia whipped past her and obliterated a pile of rubble far off to the side.
“My Lady!”
“I know!”
At his cry Milia adjusted her grip on the spear, charged the still-prone monster, and drove the point down into its thrashing tail.
[Guaaaaaaaaaah—!!]
Black blood erupted from the impaled tail. The creature writhed and screamed. Even so, Milia braced herself against the shaft, fighting with everything she had to keep the thrashing limb pinned.
“Uwah!?”
“My Lady!”
The violence of its thrashing finally flung her free. Schwarz snatched her out of the air mid-flight.
“Are you all right!?”
“Yeah. I’m fine! But that monster… what in the world…”
Schwarz landed carefully and set her down. Milia’s voice trailed off as she stared at the thrashing abomination. She had heard the soldiers’ reports, yet nothing explained why Hagner’s face was fused into its chest—and in such torment.
“Save the thinking for later. First we focus on putting this thing down.”
“You’re right.”
She nodded at his words, then stooped and pulled a halberd free from the corpse of a fallen soldier.
[Guaaaaah—!!]
The monster seized the spear still lodged in its tail with one pincer and yanked it free as though plucking out a needle, flinging it aside. At once the wound began to bubble and knit itself shut.
“So this one regenerates too.”
“Looks like regeneration is just standard equipment for these things, huh?”
Neither of them sounded particularly surprised anymore. They settled back into fighting stances. The monster clacked its pincers threateningly and planted itself squarely across the path to the heart.
“If it’s going this far to protect that thing…”
“Then smashing the heart is the only way to end it.”
Milia finished the thought for him.
[Uwaaaaaaah—!!]
With a fresh roar the monster charged, pincers and tail whipping toward them in a storm of blades.
[Uwaaaaaaah—!!]
The monster swung a pincer at Milia with a howl.
“Haaah!!”
Schwarz intercepted the blow, deflecting the massive claw and sending the creature staggering. Milia seized the opening, dashed in, and brought the halberd down on its head with all her strength.
A sickening crack split the air. The monster’s skull parted in two; black blood sprayed outward. It screamed in agony and flailed its pincers and the sharp legs on its back. A bladed limb stabbed toward her; Milia kicked off the creature’s body and leapt clear. The tip of the leg tore through the hem of her skirt by a hair’s breadth.
“This thing is disgustingly tough! How much more do we have to do before it dies!?”
Flesh already writhed from the severed edges, knitting the wound shut again. Even a troll—the classic regenerating monster—would have collapsed from the punishment they had already dealt. This abomination simply shrugged it off and healed in moments.
Then Milia felt a sudden wave of searing heat at her back. She ducked just as a jet of dark-blue flame roared over her head.
[Guaaaaaaaaaaah—!!!]
The monster vanished inside the inferno, thrashing and screaming.
“Hah… hah…”
Schwarz wiped the lingering flames from his lips, breathing hard. The creature’s regeneration far outstripped any troll’s; there was simply no opening. As if it knew it could not die, it abandoned all defense and poured everything into attack.
“At this rate we’ll never finish it…”
Milia’s voice was ragged with exhaustion.
“Agreed.”
Schwarz nodded. The fight had already stretched across dozens of minutes; both of them were beginning to flag.
Then the burning monster’s tail lashed out again—straight at Milia. The unexpected strike caught her flat-footed. Schwarz reacted on pure instinct, throwing himself between her and the blow.
—Thud!!
“Kh…!!”
“Schwarz!”
A dull impact rang out. Schwarz’s body went flying. Seconds blurred past in a haze of pain before he hit the ground and rolled, a groan escaping his lips.
“Schwarz! Are you okay!?”
“This much is still fine!!”
Dizziness swam through him; something warm trickled down his forehead. But he could not fall. The only people left here were ordinary soldiers, Milia, and himself. If he went down, what came next was something he refused even to imagine.
“How dare you…”
Milia rose with a grinding of teeth, but Schwarz caught her shoulder and shook his head, urging her to stay calm.
“I know… Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Excessive rage clouded judgment. He knew that better than anyone, which was why he had stopped her.
“What do we do? This is never going to end…”
Milia glared at the monster, irritation thick in her voice. Fortunately the distance Schwarz had been thrown was great enough that the creature merely clacked its pincers near the heart, content to guard rather than pursue.
“We’re going to need another approach…”
His vision cleared. Schwarz pushed himself upright. His mana was almost gone. The ambient magic here was so thoroughly corrupted he could not replenish it. Even physical reinforcement would last only a few more minutes at best. Milia’s reserves were little better—ten minutes, maybe. Against an endlessly regenerating monster, a war of attrition was a death sentence. They had to find another way before they collapsed completely.
But how?
No matter how hard he thought, nothing useful came. Then a single reckless idea flashed through his mind.
“Got any bright ideas?”
“…I might.”
He answered after a brief hesitation.
“Really? You have a way out of this?”
Milia’s eyes widened. Schwarz simply nodded.
“What is it? Tell me.”
“…”
He could not bring himself to speak at once. The plan he had conceived was nothing short of suicidal.
“You… you’re not thinking…”
His silence made her voice tremble with dread. She had already guessed. Her eyes wavered.
Schwarz understood her fear perfectly. There was simply no other choice.
“Buy me time while I gather enough mana to cast.”
“No.”
Milia’s refusal was absolute, her face hard as stone.
“Absolutely not. Do you even understand what you’re saying?”
It was the only reaction that made sense. Schwarz’s method of casting was to draw ambient mana into himself. Here, that mana was so warped that merely standing still made the skin prickle. The brief moment he had drawn power for a breath attack had already been agony. What would happen if he forced himself to absorb the corrupted magic to its absolute limit? No one could predict the result.
“But there’s no other way.”
“I said no! It’s too dangerous!”
“My Lady…”
He tried to reason with her, but she shook her head sharply, refusing to listen. Deep down, though, she already knew the truth. If they continued like this, they would all die. A gamble—however desperate—was their only remaining option.
“…”
Facing his resolute expression, Milia bit down hard on her lip. The pain was nothing compared to the helplessness crushing her chest. The hand gripping the halberd trembled once, then stilled.
“Just remember one thing.”
She turned away from him, voice low.
“I’m listening.”
“If anything happens to you… I won’t forgive you.”
“…”
Schwarz blinked at her, momentarily lost. Then understanding dawned.
“Don’t worry. That won’t happen.”
“…”
He offered a faint smile. Without another word Milia strode forward, halberd in hand. Watching her back, Schwarz let out a short breath.
She would create the opening. Everything now rested on whether he could do his part.
He steeled himself and slowly steadied his breathing. Then, carefully, he began to draw in the surrounding mana.