Chapter 42

Previous Summary:

Ω's Wrath.

(※It's not that)

24

Standing in front of the iron gate of the fortress, I tore my gaze away from the nauseating scene and saw a swarm of giant rhinoceros beetles charging towards us.

“――!”

The moment I saw this, I pulled back from the window.

The reflexes I had developed naturally over the long years living in the forest kicked in. There was no time to counterattack, and there were too many to do so. By the time I made that judgment, I had already used my magic to enhance my physical abilities and leaped back as far as I could.

At the same time, I grabbed the collar of the student uniform that Kihiko was wearing and scooped up Kei, who was nearby.

This was all I could do.

The rest was out of reach.

Lily, moving in perfect unison, picked me up and leaped. Our goal was the door leading to the spiral staircase. The moment we reached it, the living projectiles had already ravaged the top floor of the watchtower.

“Ah!?”

A soldier, whose gaze was fixed on the scene at the gate, screamed as he was impaled by the horn of a Stag Beetle that had flown through the window. The beetle, still impaling the soldier, crashed into the opposite wall, and the soldier died, vomiting everything from his stomach.

It wasn't just through the window. With a crash, cracks ran along the walls, and one after another, the insect projectiles crossed the room.

The closeness of the passing wing sounds made my skin crawl. If we had been unlucky, we might have been hit by the intense body blows. In fact, several soldiers were mowed down and let out their final screams.

“Ugh…!?”

After a few seconds of sheer terror, I was breaking through the door with my back.

The impact, felt through the shield I was carrying, made it hard to breathe, but I didn't lose consciousness because I had increased my physical strength with magic.

...And because of that, I witnessed the end of the chaos.

In just a few seconds, the wall from which the Stag Beetles had attacked had collapsed. Not only that, the swarm of giant insects that had rushed into the room repeatedly crashed into the opposite wall.

It was a kamikaze attack, just like the one that had taken place in front of the iron gate of the fortress, without regard for their own lives. The wall cracked, fissures ran, and it finally shattered. The remaining wall could no longer support the ceiling, which creaked, bent, and crumpled.

Then, gravity took over, and the top floor of the watchtower, containing both humans and monsters, collapsed.

＊＊＊

We tumbled down the spiral staircase, rolling over twice, three times, and came to a stop against the curved wall. I let out a muffled scream.

I was in pain all over from the fall. If Lily hadn't cradled my head, I might have hit it and been injured.

“...Are you okay, Kei?”

“Yes, I am.”

I sat up and confirmed that the girl I had been holding in my arms was unharmed.

She seemed to have no injuries. I sighed in relief and looked up at the staircase we had tumbled down.

“...It's no good.”

The door leading to the top floor was buried under rubble.

The sight was enough to realize that there was nothing we could do.

“Is Kihiko alright?”

After helping Kei to her feet, I called out to the only other friend I could save.

“...Just a bunch of scrapes and bruises. It really hurts. I feel like crying. But, you know, being alive is wonderful, isn't it?”

Kihiko stood up, holding his right shoulder, which seemed to have been hit.

Despite his light-hearted words, the expression on his face as he looked up at the blocked staircase was one of pain. I lowered my eyes.

“Sorry, Kihiko. I couldn't save the others.”

“...No, it happened so fast, I didn't even know what was going on. But I'm alive thanks to you, Takahiro. Thanks. I can't die until I've convinced the leader to join us.”

Kihiko didn't seem to notice that Lily had been the one to execute the emergency escape. It had been a sudden move, and he had been grabbed by the collar and forcibly moved.

Turning to Lily, Kihiko showed a smile that still had a hint of bravado.

“Lily seems to be fine, too.”

“Yeah, but what do we do now? We can't just stay here.”

Equipping the wooden spear and shield she had been carrying, Lily turned her gaze to us.

“...Let's move from here. This tower could collapse at any moment.”

I held the round shield I had been carrying in one hand and drew the wooden sword from my belt.

It was fortunate that we hadn't been disarmed. From here on, we didn't know what we would encounter.

Seeing our resolve, Kihiko also seemed to have made up his mind, as he drew his short sword and handed one to Kei.

“Alright. Let's go.”

We started down the stairs.

Just before we did, Lily, who was running a half-step ahead, glanced at me and asked,

“What do we do after this? We can't just run aimlessly, right?”

“That’s...”

As I was about to answer, I felt a breeze on my face and stopped.

Looking closely, it seemed that one of the Stag Beetles' 'stray shots' had hit the wall, creating a hole through which the wind was blowing.

From there, we could see the state of the fortress, and we all gasped.

The first line of defense, the wall, which was supposed to repel the monsters approaching the fortress, was in utter chaos.

Soldiers were falling from the wall, enveloped in the flames of Fire Fangs.

The powerful arms of Rough Rabbits shattered the bones of soldiers, armor and all.

Green Caterpillars crushed the wounded and the dead together, and Slimes suffocated their pitiful victims with their tentacles. There were also many other monsters that I had never seen before, attacking the soldiers.

It seemed that the Green Caterpillars had broken through the gate, and these monsters had invaded the fortress. It was only then that we realized that the Green Caterpillars were not the only ones that had attacked the fortress.

Some of the larger monsters, like Trenths, were wandering outside the walls, but most had already invaded the fortress. From the entrances leading to the walls, more monsters were still emerging.

The soldiers seemed to be trying to surround and break the monsters, which were superior in strength and speed, but there were too many of them. If they scattered, they would be picked off one by one, and if they tried to attack as a group, they would be overwhelmed before they could even form up.

The Chelia Fortress was shaped like a flat, multi-sided column stacked on top of each other. Inside the outer walls, there were more walls that formed a higher inner wall, allowing attacks from above even if the outer walls were breached.

However, it seemed that most of the fighting force had been left behind on the outer walls, and the limited number of soldiers on the inner walls were being attacked by flying monsters like Stag Beetles, and were unable to mount an effective counterattack.

The delay in response was not due to a lack of training, but rather to the overwhelming number of enemies and the speed of the invasion, which far exceeded the worst-case scenario.

“N-no way. Could those be deep-sea monsters...?”

Seeing this, Kei covered her mouth with trembling hands and turned pale, as if she were about to faint.

“Besides, for so many monsters to attack at once...!?”

“Do you have any idea what might have caused this?”

When I asked, Kei shook her head strongly.

“No, I don't. For so many monsters to attack at once! It's like... like the hero's expedition into the forest...!”

Indeed, the scene before us was similar to a part of the legend of the hero that I had heard from Shiran. It was about a hero who led an army into the forest and was chased and routed by a large number of monsters.

“...Could it be that the rescue team made a mistake?”

Kihiko narrowed his eyes and muttered in a low voice.

The exploration team's 'Vajra' Yuna Iinoya had led a group of imperial knights to the colony in the depths of the forest to rescue survivors just yesterday. It was possible that this was the cause, but...

“...I don't know.”

There was something that didn't feel right. There seemed to be a discrepancy between the scene before us and Kihiko's speculation.

However, I couldn't immediately figure out what it was.

In the end, I shook my head.

“We can't figure it out here. Right now, it's more important to escape to a safe place...”

Even as I said this, I felt a knot in my heart.

There was a sense of unease about moving without fully understanding the situation. I was aware that we were being swept along by the circumstances.

Is this really the right thing to do? ...But there was no time.

“To escape to a safe place, we still need to know more about this fortress. Kihiko, where do you think we should go?”

As I switched my thoughts and asked, Kihiko closed one eye and groaned.

“...Maybe the area where we were staying. It's the deepest part of the fortress. Right, Kei?”

“Yes. The residential area where the heroes stayed is the most heavily fortified part of the fortress. Even if the walls are breached, it shouldn't be easily invaded.”

Kei seemed to have regained some composure. Perhaps the sense of duty to protect us, the heroes, had calmed her down.

“Besides, the two members of the exploration team are there.”

“Yeah. I don't like them, but they have top-notch combat skills. It's probably the safest place.”

Kihiko looked at me. I nodded and looked at Kei.

“Then, I'll leave it to you to lead the way. You know this fortress the best, don't you?”

“Yes! Leave it to me!”

With Kei, who clenched her fist and charged ahead, we took off.

Just before we did, I glanced at the hole in the wall. I could see many monsters roaming outside the walls, and I sighed.

...If possible, I wanted to go outside the fortress and meet up with Rose and Garbela.

However, with the monsters surrounding the fortress, that was difficult.

Unfortunately, there was no other choice. I shook off my hesitation and ran after Kei.

＊＊＊

“Kyaa! This way is no good!”

“Damn! We have to go around again!”

How long had we been running?

We had to change our course countless times.

The corner we turned led to a battlefield where shouts and screams intertwined.

Soldiers, already in formation, were waiting for a Green Caterpillar, which had grown to about two meters in length, to charge with its many spears.

Numerous spears were thrust out, and a few of them pierced the green skin. However, the giant caterpillar charged into the formation, knocking soldiers down and crushing them.

As the caterpillar gradually lost momentum, the soldiers surrounded it and thrust their spears into it, as if avenging their fallen comrades. When the damaged caterpillar writhed violently, soldiers were slammed into the floor and walls, and casualties piled up. And already, new enemy shadows were appearing in the distance...

“This way!”

Leaving that scene behind, we ran down the corridor, led by Kei.

While the monsters had been overwhelming the humans on the walls, their momentum seemed to have been reduced inside the fortress. The fortress's defensive forces, using the complex structure to their advantage, were barely able to fight in their usual manner against the scattered monsters.

However, it was undeniable that they were being pushed back. In some places, the defenses had been breached, and the monsters had advanced deep into the fortress. Battles were breaking out in the direction we were trying to escape, making it difficult to reach our destination.

Moreover, the Green Caterpillars, which were the main opponents for now, were only surface-level monsters. Among the monsters on the walls, there were many more powerful deep-sea monsters. If they began to invade the deeper parts of the fortress in earnest, the damage would be far worse.

If we were caught, it would be the end. Even if the white Arachne Garbela were here, the sheer number of monsters would overwhelm us.

For now, we had to keep running...

...But, is that really the right thing to do?

To begin with, it was questionable whether the current situation could be handled by the fortress's forces.

Could we be running into a dead-end alley? A sense of foreboding was gradually rising in my chest.

“Hey, Takahiro.”

“What is it?”

Kihiko, running alongside me, called out. His face, seen from the corner of my eye, was slightly tense.

“After all the times we've clung to life, could this be the end?”

“...Don't say that.”

“You know, Takahiro. This atmosphere... It's just like the last day of the colony.”

“...”

I couldn't respond. I shared the same uneasy feeling.

This corridor seemed to lead to a future of destruction. It felt like a path we had already walked.

We had experienced similar terrible events before reaching this fortress. It was natural that our feelings would be similar in this situation.

“Something might happen.”

Kihiko said, his words cutting through my ragged breath.

“If it comes to that, I'll go first. Then Takahiro, and the girls need to be protected.”

“...If that's the case, I'll...”

“No, Takahiro. You have Lily. You go after her.”

It was a tone I had never heard before.

To my pale face, Kihiko said in a surprisingly gentle voice,

“Takahiro, you might not have realized it, but when we were in the other world, you were infatuated with Lily, weren't you?”

“...”

“Well, to be honest, I was too... But, this is a secret from the leader. I'm loyal to the leader now, and besides, it was just a mild infatuation. I think you felt the same way.”

“...”

“Now that you've become Lily's boyfriend, you should take good care of her.”

Kihiko smiled.