Lily (4)
Lily (4)
Hah! Heu-uk! Haa..!
The party was dashing through the forest. They ran, barely dodging the trees that suddenly appeared right before their eyes.
Whenever a Tiger Wolf got too close, Stachys waved his torch to make it shrink back a little.
They had given up on returning to the village long ago.
Other Tiger Wolves were blocking the way to the village,
and there was nothing more forbidden than dragging these Tiger Wolves back to the village.
Lily was using loud-noise magic to scare the Tiger Wolves.
Thanks to that, the wolf pack hadn't recklessly attacked them yet.
It was a fortunate thing.
Aside from the monsters inside dungeons, Tiger Wolves were one of the most dangerous things ordinary people could experience, but because they were still testing the waters, it bought them some time.
Stachys gasped for breath as he squeezed out a plan.
"Heuk...! Heuk..! Kids-! Hoo! Listen up! I think we need to split up from now on!"
"H-H-W-What?!"
Rus asked back, gasping for breath.
"First..! Lily-ssi! Once again, heuk...! 3 seconds from now, stop and fire your biggest attack magic backward!"
"Haa..! Haa..! Understood!"
"Once Lily-ssi casts her magic, everyone stop for a moment..! We can't keep burning stamina like this anymore..!"
Kwaaaaaang!!
Instantly, the party stopped and looked back. Lily had used magic. The trees were on fire, and four Tiger Wolves were running around yelping with fire attached to their bodies.
Even though it was the largest-scale magic she could use, due to the Tiger Wolves' massive size, she had only managed to deal with four of them.
Still, it wasn't meaningless. At her magic, the Tiger Wolves grew wary once again and maintained a certain distance from the party.
"Hoo..! Hoo..! Everyone catch your breath while listening. Don't show that you're exhausted."
Vien, whose stamina was poor, wanted to put her hands on her knees and breathe, but she corrected her posture at Stachys's words.
"We can't go on like this. Guys. Hoo..! We're, all of us are going to get got. Like I said earlier, we have to split up."
"Haa...! Haa...! Absolutely not, Chis. You're trying to take on the danger again, aren't you?"
Rus, who still had enough stamina to converse, asked.
Rus could already read Stachys's thoughts.
"Never..! Absolutely not!!! This time, I'm going to help too..!"
"Listen to me, Rus. Vien and Rus, and me and Lily-ssi. Let's divide like this. Haa.... Haa.. While me and Lily-ssi buy time, you and Vien run to where the horses are. And ride the horses straight back to the city to report this situation."
"I said no!! Why are you trying to do something dangerous again!"
Rus let out a frustrated sob. Still, Stachys was resolute.
Even Stachys, who acted like a total pushover over trivial matters, never backed down on important ones.
"Rus. I'm the leader of this party. If you won't listen to me right now, I'll expel you when we get back to the city."
"Huk..!"
Rus held back her rising tears.
Vien also wanted to make a fuss and refuse, but she couldn't say anything because she was panting heavily.
She just wished Rus would persuade him a bit more.
"Then stay with me. Me and you, and Vien and Lily-ssi, let's divi...de..."
Rus couldn't leave him behind.
And turning her gaze toward Lily, she realized one fact.
The fact that had been tormenting her all day.
Lily couldn't ride horses.
Ah. There was no other way. Rus felt like she had been hit in the head with a hammer.
Stachys sensed that Rus had also realized that fact.
"You get it? There's no other way besides this right now. And in this situation, Lily-ssi's magic is far more effective than you guys. Lily-ssi, I'm sorry. I think you're going to have to be in more danger with me."
Even in this terrifying situation, strangely enough, Lily didn't hate the fact that she had to be in more danger. She liked the fact that she could stay by Stachys's side instead of abandoning Stachys to go ride a horse.
Without showing that she was struggling and breathing heavily, Lily nodded.
-Grrrrrr
As the party stood still without moving, the Tiger Wolves slowly approached.
A hand supported Lily's back as she flinched and tried to step backward.
"You mustn't show weakness," Stachys whispered.
"Rus, Vien. I'll trust you. You have to go quickly."
Rus was bursting into tears.
"Why does it always end up like this... This time, I wanted to protect you."
"Rus. Pull yourself together. I'll be fine."
"Even so, I hate it...."
"I'll trust you, Rus. From now on, you have to protect Vien. Understand?"
Rus gnitted her teeth and nodded.
Seeing that, Stachys felt a bit relieved.
"Now then, I'll count to three, so—!"
Someone jumped into Stachys's embrace.
It was Vien.
She hugged Stachys tightly and muttered to him.
"....Please don't die. Please.. Please.... Got it..?"
Stachys smiled gently and stroked Vien's hair soothingly.
"...Lily-ssi would be upset. Try worrying about Lily-ssi too."
"....Sniff. Lily-ssi has you."
Vien slowly answered Stachys, who spoke playfully.
"You can find the horses through the darkness, right?"
"...If I chant a prayer, I can create a light to see ahead."
Stachys nodded.
He pushed Vien away, who had been hugging him, and looked back at the Tiger Wolves.
If they come just a few steps further forward, they will be within each other's range.
"Now. Then, once again. When I give the signal, you guys count to three and run back. Lily-ssi. We're going to run over there to the side."
"Pardon..? Over there where the Tiger Wolves are?"
Where he pointed, two Tiger Wolves were standing proudly.
"If we want to draw their gazes to us, we have to make the Tiger Wolves attack us. To do that, I think we need to go in there and fight a few of them."
Lily swallowed her saliva. For her, who always fought in the rear, it was a terrifying plan.
The current situation was already precarious and scary, but in this situation where she had to do something even more dangerous than before, cold sweat flowed from her hands.
Her voice wouldn't come out, so she substituted it with a nod, but her hands were trembling violently.
-Tap
And Stachys grabbed her trembling hand.
"It's alright. You can be nervous. I'll protect you as much as possible."
Then, strangely enough, she felt her tension ease a little bit.
"Now!! Let's go!! Count to three!"
Stachys, who had been muttering just loud enough for party members to hear until now, shouted in a loud, confident voice.
His voice echoed through the dark forest.
The Tiger Wolves grew wary again.
One.
Two.
Three.
Phat!
Without any particular words, the party split into two. While the Tiger Wolves panicked over which ones to chase, Lily and Stachys dashed toward the Tiger Wolves on one side.
-Kwang!!
What drew the panicked Tiger Wolves' attention was the sound of Stachys's tonfa striking down one of the Tiger Wolves.
The Tiger Wolf Stachys targeted reacted momentarily and raised its front paw to block his attack, but the moment it blocked, that front paw snapped.
The Tiger Wolf with the broken front paw yelped and backed away.
"Lily-ssi, attack that bastard!"
-Snap
As Lily snapped her fingers, fire caught on the fur of the Tiger Wolf with the broken front paw.
It became a large, bright fire, drawing the gazes of all the other Tiger Wolves.
Glance—Stachys rolled his eyes to look around, and Rus and Vien had already disappeared.
-Good.
he thought. Now, they just needed to buy a little more time here and hide.
Enraged, several Tiger Wolves came running. Stachys swung the torch held in his other hand in large, sweeping arcs.
Whoosh— Whoosh—
The torch left red flame afterimages in the empty space, blocking the Tiger Wolves' approach.
"We have to hold out just a bit longer. Until all the Tiger Wolves' attention is drawn!"
Whoosh—
Tiger Wolves were everywhere that the passing torch illuminated.
He thought that seeing this many Tiger Wolves might be the last thing he ever saw in his life.
-Grrrr—Awooooooo!!!
In time with the first howl, dozens of wolves howled.
And the moment the howling that seemed like it would never end finished, a huge Tiger Wolf rushed out from the darkness on Stachys's flank.
Launching its heavy body, it threw its entire body at Stachys.
-Can I block it?
While he was worrying,
"Barrier!!"
The Tiger Wolf collided with something right in front of Stachys's eyes.
And at the same time, Lily dropped to her knees.
"Haa..! Haa...! I don't have much mana left now..!"
Even in the situation where she spoke to Stachys, the Tiger Wolves didn't stop.
As Lily knelt, a Tiger Wolf appeared from behind her and lunged through the air.
Seeing that, Stachys simultaneously threw his body and swung his tonfa. Unlike earlier, he had time to put his own weight behind it, allowing him to push away the flying Tiger Wolf.
-Kwang!!
The Tiger Wolf, hit by the tonfa and shoved aside, narrowly missed Lily.
And Stachys hoisted the kneeling Lily onto his shoulder just like that. He also gathered the tonfa and torch in one hand.
"Kyaak!"
Then, after swinging the torch in a wide arc once, he started running toward the space that had opened up.
"Lily-ssi, hang in there..! Where are Rus and Vien? I think we bought some time, but..!"
Stachys looking forward and Lily looking backward.
Lily was terrified at the sight of the Tiger Wolves running toward her.
"Lily-ssi! Pull yourself together! Did Rus and Vien escape safely or not!!"
Stachys slapped her buttock sharply while running.
"Hyaat!! Ah!! Yes, just a moment..!"
And funnily enough, Lily snapped out of it at the stinging pain felt on her backside.
She was still terrified of the Tiger Wolves chasing her as if to kill her, but she closed her eyes and scattered all her remaining mana around her.
Then, under the illusion that her surroundings were brightening, she could see everything. Her eyes began to glow blue.
"Y-.. Yes!! They're escaping! It looks like about two of them are attached... With that much, Rus and the others will be fine! And we are..."
And at the overwhelming scale of the wolf pack visible through her brightened vision, Lily swallowed hard. The scale was bigger than expected.
"It's fine! You don't have to tell me.. haa.. haa... about our situation! Can you possibly find if there's any place to hide nearby?"
"Th-.. That..! Ah!! From here forward..! Run straight ahead!! There's a place that looks like a cliff, I think we can jump off from there!"
"Pardon??"
Stachys wanted to ask more, but he couldn't because of his breath.
"Stachys!! Watch your side!!"
As Lily shouted, another Tiger Wolf jumped out from the side. He rolled and avoided that wolf.
However, Lily, who had been riding on his shoulder, also rolled.
"Ba.. Barrier!!"
Lying on the ground, Lily blocked the Tiger Wolf that was attacking Stachys as he rose to his feet.
She squeezed out every bit of mana in her body, both existing and non-existing.
-Cough.
Soon, due to the severe strain, she coughed up blood. As a magic squeezed out by force to protect him, the burden inflicted on her body was severe. Her vision spun in a circle, her sight went black, and Lily collapsed unconscious right there.
"Kuk..!"
Stachys, who stood up safely thanks to the barrier, hoisted Lily onto his shoulder and ran once more. This time, throwing away both the tonfa and the torch on the ground, he ran carrying only her.
Lily had told Stachys that they just needed to jump off the cliff.
She said if they went forward, a cliff would be visible.
Stachys ran through the darkness.
The moon was floating brightly, but it couldn't illuminate deep into the dense forest.
He earnestly prayed not to trip over a rock protrusion and fall.
And at that moment, the forest cleared away, and a cliff appeared right before his eyes.
"You just have to jump off!"
Lily's voice echoed in his head.
Stachys threw his body down the cliff.