A New Companion
"Ah... I miss that smoked meat."
Lebetri seemed unable to get the taste of the smoked meat she'd eaten at Blue Heaven a few weeks ago out of her head.
"Especially the smoked sausage... that was incredible..."
"Maybe I was actually the good cook here?"
"No, I'm pretty sure the smoker machine was doing the heavy lifting."
"..."
And so we headed north, trading that kind of idle nonsense back and forth.
"So where are we headed next?"
"Hmm... no idea."
"Isn't the food we scrounged from Blue Heaven nearly gone by now?"
"Well... true, but..."
There was something more important than food.
"Right now, we need a new companion."
"Why? Aren't the two of us enough?"
"..."
I answered her question with silence. Then, meeting Lebetri's eyes, I gave her the real answer.
"You're good at putting one man down with that sword. And I can back you up in a dozen different ways."
I looked down at the pebbles scattered across the ground.
"But what if the enemy were as numerous as these pebbles?"
"..."
"In the end, we're still only two."
I pointed a finger at Lebetri.
"With the Thousand Eyes Blessing, you can see every existence within a certain distance — no blind spots at all. But if something can attack you without ever closing in, there's nothing you can do."
"..."
"And your Linear Leap is worthless if the other side has monstrous speed of its own — or reflexes sharp enough to track you."
Having said that, I pointed a finger at myself.
"Me? My strengths are wide vision, information, analysis, and healing."
"..."
"But... close combat is my weakness."
"Yeah, but you're good with a sword. Like back when you fought that wooden fish thing—"
"I can't say much about that, but there's a risk that comes with using it."
"..."
"We can put an enemy down. What we can't do is bend the fight itself into our favor."
And with that, I glossed over the rest.
"So what is it we need, then?"
Lebetri asked. I answered, looking up at the sky.
"Someone who can remake the battlefield and bind the enemy in place."
We kept walking north. Far ahead, a woman in a bikini came into view.
"Hi there! Nice to meet you!"
The woman waved a hand at us in greeting. I turned my gaze to Sapi.
"I feel like I've seen her somewhere before. Is she an enemy?"
"Hmm... hard to say? Let's go take a closer look first."
Sapi walked toward her in that sly, drawling tone of his.
"A pleasure to meet you."
"Yes! Nice to meet you!"
"..."
BANG!!
The shotgun roared, muzzle leveled at her flank. But the instant the shot touched her, yellow crystals surged up from her skin.
The crystals had knitted themselves together like plates of bulletproof armor, swallowing every pellet whole.
"Hee~ Firing on someone you've only just met? How electrifying."
"Ha... 'just met'? We already met once — and you attacked first. Or did you forget?"
"Oh my? A good memory too. How charming."
"For the record, women who dress like that outdoors aren't my type."
Both of them stepped back at the same time.
"It's Breeding Uncle's entrance time!!"
"I told you to stop calling me that damn nickname!!"
A hulking man materialized out of thin air and swung a hammer down at Sapi.
BOOM!!
The enormous hammer came crashing down on the spot where Sapi had been standing.
The ground caved in, dirt and stone spraying in every direction — but Sapi had already fallen back out of range.
There was no sign anywhere of the man who had swung the hammer.
I swept our surroundings with the Thousand Eyes Blessing. His presence was there — his body was not.
"Where is he?"
"On your right."
The moment Sapi's words reached me, I swung my sword to the right.
VWOM!
The tip of my blade carved through empty air. A heartbeat later, though, the sound of weapons colliding rang out.
CLANG!!
The head of the hammer had snagged on my sword. Only then did the man's transparent body begin to reveal itself, little by little.
"You blocked this?"
The man shoved the hammer down with all his weight. The hand gripping my sword trembled.
In raw strength, I was the one being pushed back. And in that instant—
A sticky sensation crept up from beneath my feet.
"...?"
When did this get here?
Yellow liquid had risen to my ankles, clamping down on my legs.
"Gotcha."
The woman in the bikini wiggled her finger.
Honey seeping out of her skin had spread across the ground like something alive, crawling its way toward me.
"Now stay just like that."
The honey hardened in a flash. My ankles were welded to the earth.
"Alright!"
The hammer man grinned and hefted his hammer once more.
"Take it head-on this time!"
His transparent body vanished from view again. My legs wouldn't move.
Which meant I had to read where the attack would come from — and block it. I felt for movement around me through the Thousand Eyes Blessing.
Left.
No.
Behind me?
"Above you!"
Sapi's shout. I looked up — only the hammer was visible, dropping out of empty air.
I raised my sword to meet it. And then—
SPLOOSH!!
Yellow honey streaked across the sky, swallowing the hammer man's body whole.
"What are you doing?!"
His invisibility peeled away. Soaked in honey, the man twisted wildly in midair.
Then he crashed down right in front of me, his balance shattered.
THUD!
"See? Caught him."
The woman said it like it was nothing at all.
"Caught who?"
"Both of you."
"You caught me too!"
"Then get yourself out."
"Why do I have to do that myself?!"
I looked back and forth between the two of them. They were glaring at each other as if they'd forgotten a battle was even happening.
"...Sapi."
"Yeah?"
"Those two."
Sapi answered as he fed a fresh shell into the shotgun.
"They're on the same side, but I don't think they're a team."
BANG!!
A gunshot cracked. A bullet streaked toward the woman.
She didn't even turn her head. A wall of yellow honey rose up like a shield and swallowed it.
THUNK!
The bullet stood embedded in the honey, dead.
The woman tapped a fingertip against the honey, which had set solid as a bulletproof wall.
"Not at this level, it won't break through."
"Guess not."
Sapi answered — and swung the muzzle somewhere else entirely. Far to the woman's right, this time.
Empty air. Not a soul in it.
BANG!!
The instant the bullet split the nothing, the woman's eyebrow twitched.
"What are you even shooting at?"
"Checking."
"Checking what?"
"What sets your defense off."
I could see her expression stiffen, just a little.
Sapi moved the muzzle again. This time, toward the hammer man.
BANG!!
"Wait—!"
Honey erupted from the woman's body as if it had detonated. A wall of it slammed up in front of the man and caught the bullet.
But at the same time—
The man's legs sank to the waist into honey that had gone solid around him.
"Hey!"
"Shut up."
"You keep tying ME up too!"
"Better than taking a bullet."
"I could have dodged it!"
"Don't believe you."
The man's face flushed red. He poured his strength into the arm holding the hammer and forced the hardened honey apart.
CRACK-CRACK!
The moment the honey split, the woman's eyes narrowed to slits.
"Don't break my honey."
"Then don't tie me up!"
"You could just match your movement to mine."
"You don't HAVE movements! You just do whatever you want!"
"So?"
The woman tilted her head as if she genuinely couldn't see what the problem was. The man fell silent — wearing the face of someone who had only just realized that words were getting them nowhere.
"Lebetri."
Sapi's voice dropped low.
"What?"
"Every time the hammer guy attacks me, he gives his position away to that woman."
"..."
"And that woman isn't watching us. She's only watching her own attacks."
I cut through the hardened honey gripping my feet with my sword.
Shff.
The blade slid through. The outside had set rock-hard, but the core hadn't fully cured yet.
"So what do we do?"
"Just let them keep getting in each other's way."
"And that alone wins us the fight?"
"No."
Sapi looked at the woman.
"We make them interfere with each other a whole lot worse."
That instant—
Sapi aimed at the woman's face and fired.
BANG!!
She threw up another wall of honey, and the bullet buried itself in it.
And at the same moment, I used Linear Leap.
BOOM!!
I drove in from her left. The woman spread her palm out toward me.
"Let me make you nice and sticky."
Honey came surging like a wave. I didn't dodge.
Instead, I swung my sword straight into the pouring honey.
VWOOOM!!
The pressure of the blade split the honey apart to either side of me.
I couldn't cut all of it. Honey clung to my clothes, my legs.
But it wasn't enough to stop me. The corner of the woman's mouth curled upward.
"So you're trying to bulldoze straight through?"
"Nope."
I turned — not toward the woman.
Behind her.
"...?"
There was nothing there. Nothing to the eye, at least. I lowered my sword without swinging it and crouched low.
In that instant, something transparent swept past over my head.
The hammer man.
"Look out!!"
He shouted — but it was already too late.
The honey the woman had sprayed to bind me came crashing down over his body instead.
SPLOOSH!!
His invisible frame, drenched in yellow honey, revealed itself all over again. The man flailed his arms in midair.
"Not AGAIN?!"
"Why are you there?!"
"I was going for the one YOU had pinned down!"
"Then stay out of my way."
"When else am I supposed to attack?!"
"After my attacks are done."
"By then the enemy's already gotten away!"
"Then move faster."
The woman flicked her hand in irritation. The honey coating the man's body hardened all at once.
"Hold on—"
His face froze. His entire body was sealed inside the honey.
The woman hoisted him up like some giant blunt weapon.
"Hey."
"Hold still."
"Don't tell me—"
"Turn invisible."
"What?"
"If they can't see you, they can't dodge you."
"You're planning to THROW me?!"
"Yep."
"You're insane!!"
He screamed, but the woman's arm was already cocked back.
"Go."
WHOOSH!!
The honey-sealed man went flying straight at us.
Sapi said nothing. He simply took a single step to the side.
I dodged the other way.
KRA-BOOM!!
A colossal impact thundered across the spot he'd been thrown at. The ground caved in.
From between the shattered chunks of honey, the man staggered upright.
"I nearly DIED back there!"
"You had your hammer."
"The hammer doesn't protect my body, you know!"
"But you're alive."
"That's not the point!"
The man stalked toward the woman, seething. She matched him, balling honey up on top of her palm.
"You want to fight?"
"We ARE fighting!"
"Not each other."
"And that's YOUR fault!"
I watched the two of them for a moment, then quietly asked Sapi.
"Can we attack them now?"
"Let's wait just a little longer."
"Why?"
"I'm curious to see when those two actually start fighting each other for real."
Before Sapi had even finished, the hammer man leveled his hammer at the woman.
"Bind me up one more time—"
"And you'll hit me?"
"Yeah."
"Go ahead. Try it."
She didn't show a flicker of fear. If anything, she balled the honey on her palm even bigger.
"You'll be the one hit first."
"This woman, I swear..."
I watched them, slowly lowering my sword.
"They'd keep fighting even without us, huh?"
"Wouldn't they."
"Should we sneak off, Sapi?"
Sapi slung the shotgun over his shoulder.
"Let's just watch a little longer."
This man...
I couldn't feel that charm I'd felt when we met before. Had what I felt back then just been my imagination?
I spread my palm. Honey flowed out of my body and blanketed the ground.
I sealed off the left. Raised a wall on the right.
The sword girl's only path of escape was dead ahead. The moment I moved to harden the honey there into a spike—
BANG!!
A bullet came flying at my face.
"Ha."
I didn't even need to turn my head. A wall of honey rose up in front of me.
THUNK!
The bullet buried itself in the honey. But something was off.
Because of my wall, the sword girl had changed direction too — the one who'd been about to charge straight in. She slid into exactly the position I wanted her in.
'Coincidence?'
I snapped my fingers. The honey coating the ground shot upward, gunning for the girl's ankles.
The girl tried to leap. And in that instant—
BANG!
This time, the bullet was aimed at the girl's feet. She abandoned the leap to dodge it, twisting her body sideways—
Straight into the spot where I'd already spread my honey.
"Sorry, aimed wrong."
"It's fine, Sapi!"
SPLOOSH!
The honey closed around her ankles.
"Got her."
A smile spread across my lips. Then it froze right off my face.
This catch wasn't mine. That man had pushed that girl onto my honey.
I looked at Sapi. He was smiling, the muzzle already lowered.
"What are you looking at?"
"Keep doing whatever it is you want to do."
"Don't give me orders."
"I never gave you one."
BANG!
Sapi fired into empty air. The transparent man hiding there twisted his body in a panic.
"Ugh — how do you keep finding me?!"
"Because you reek."
"I bathe every single day!"
The obstacle blocking my front was gone.
The sword girl was bound in my honey, too.
And the man didn't attack me.
He simply kept pushing everyone, piece by piece, into the positions where I could fight at my very best.
I should have been furious. Someone was making use of my movements.
And yet, somehow — it was fun.
It was the first time. No matter how carelessly I sprayed my honey, no one had ever stayed out of my way.
No — more than that, he understood the walls, the traps, the paths I was building. He wasn't failing to keep up with my attacks, either.
He never demanded that I move for his sake. He carved the road ahead of me, in the direction I wanted to go.
'Yes.'
'This is it.'
My heart was pounding. Honey boiled up from somewhere deep inside me.
Until now, I'd thought spilling it, hardening it, and firing it off was enough.
But I'd been wrong. Honey wasn't only for covering a battlefield.
It could change my body, too.
Yellow honey surged up from the tips of my toes. My legs. My waist. My back. And then over my head.
The honey spun, gathering itself into one enormous cone. Hardened layers stacked dozens deep, and each one began rotating in the opposite direction from the last.
KEEEEEEEN!!
The air itself was screaming. For the first time, Sapi lowered his gun. Interest had kindled in his eyes.
I smiled.
"It's all thanks to you."
"The honor's mine."
"So then—"
The honey beneath my feet exploded. My body launched itself at Sapi.
"Take it yourself."
The colossal horn of honey spun, grinding the earth to ribbons beneath it.
"Horn Drill!"
"Good. Finally something I like."
KRA-KA-BOOOM!!
The man could have dodged it. But he didn't. He took the blow head-on, grinning — as if he wanted me to feel, with my own body, what it was like to land it.
Ah... so thrilling. This is the best! Sapi... you and I make the perfect match!!