Chapter 47

Previous Summary:

Gerbera was about to die off-screen.

29

Shiran lay sprawled on her back in the corridor, her limbs splayed out, and did not move at all. Her body, a testament to the fierce battle she had fought, was covered in wounds.

Deep cuts marred her limbs, and her left forearm had been severed at the wrist. A deep gash ran from her forehead, through her right eye, and down to her chin. Her side was torn open, and her organs were spilling out. In the center of her chest, which was protected by armor, her own sword was deeply embedded, piercing through the metal.

There was no sign of life in her wide-open eyes. What lay there was the mutilated corpse of Shiran.

Kurujiru, who had thrown Shiran's body as if it were an object, was in stark contrast to her, with all his limbs intact. Apart from a cut on his cheek, he had no noticeable injuries. From the direction he appeared, it seemed he had cut through the inner wall and jumped down to the outer side, taking a shortcut to get here.

Perhaps he had brought the body to unsettle us, or perhaps to boast of his "accomplishment" and mock us.

In any case, there was only one fact before my eyes: the knight Shiran, one of the greatest warriors in this world, had been killed by Kurujiru, a member of the exploration team.

The girl who had believed in me, who had said she looked forward to talking to me again, was no longer in this world. She had honed her skills with the sole purpose of protecting her comrades, her people, and the world, without ever resting on her abundant talents. And yet, she had been killed by a human who had suddenly gained power just by transferring to this world.

And this was not just Shiran's story. There were many people in this fortress who had risked their lives to protect the human realm from the threat of the forest. Like Shiran, they had fought with different thoughts in their hearts.

Their thoughts and feelings were all devoured. They were consumed by a hero who wielded a power devoid of any emotion, reduced to mere experience points.

It was utterly unjust. But that was our reality. Perhaps this was the true nature of the "cheat" abilities we transfer students possessed. After all, the "cheat" in our cheat abilities means "cheating."

That's right. The power given to us is unfair. It is an unjust and precarious force that tramples on the feelings of others, despite being devoid of any emotion itself. What kind of blessing is this? What kind of power of a hero who saves the world is this?

As I was struck with shock, Kurujiru's voice reached my ears.

"I was surprised that you could hold your own against me, even for a short time."

There was a hint of pride in his tone.

"But it seems that your power had a time limit."

"...Time limit?"

What is that? I had never heard of it. Neither she nor the captain, who knew her well, had mentioned anything.

...No, in this case, the fact that they didn't say anything was the problem. The captain had only said, "Shiran will fulfill her duty." He never said she would be safe.

She must have known what would happen to her important subordinate. That's why the captain's behavior had been strange since we parted ways with Shiran.

If her power had been long-lasting, Shiran would have used it constantly in battle. The full-burst state with four sprites was her trump card and her last resort.

--I said, I look forward to talking to you again.

When Shiran said this, she had already made up her mind. Knowing she would never be able to talk to me again, she sent me off with those words. What must she have been feeling when she said that?

...I can't even ask her now.

"Well, but she did her best. It was impressive how she managed to buy time against me."

As he spoke, Kurujiru threw something he was holding at us. It was the severed arm of the girl. The gauntlet was missing, and the blue ring, a symbol of her knighthood, glowed emptily on her exposed hand.

"But in the end, it was a waste of life."

Looking down at Shiran's left arm, Kurujiru laughed. He was mocking her struggle and the thoughts she had invested in it.

"---Aaah! Kurujiru!"

As I shouted, a white shadow leaped out beside me, responding to my thoughts.

"You are the enemy of my lord! --!"

Garbela, radiating burning anger and fighting spirit, leaped like a cannonball. Her right foreleg, propelled by the momentum of her charge, attacked Kurujiru's tall figure. It was the decisive blow of a genuine high monster, a white arachne, with a ferocity that no spear expert could mimic.

"Whoa!?"

Just before the sharp claws pierced his chest and tore out his heart, the warrior's extraordinary reflexes allowed him to dodge the attack with a sidestep.

"Damn, I missed!"

"...What's this? This isn't an ordinary arachne, is it?"

Landing, Kurujiru readied his blood-stained straight sword, looking somewhat flustered. Garbela attacked him.

"Die! Feel the sorrow and anger of my lord!"

"...You've brought a troublesome one."

Kurujiru said with a weary tone, shouldering his sword and stepping forward.

"Uoaaah!"

"Shaaaaa!"

The white brutality and the hero's violence clashed. Spider legs and straight swords collided repeatedly, and severed body hairs and metallic sparks flew.

The white giant spider, which boasted the greatest strength in the deep forest of powerful monsters, engaged in a close combat with the hero, not giving an inch.

Kurujiru's sword could not sever Garbela's spider shell, covered in white, flexible hair, with a single strike. Even if it caused some damage, the white arachne's remarkable healing ability would quickly mend the wounds. However, Garbela's overwhelming three-dimensional movement and speed were not enough to land a decisive blow on Kurujiru.

Both were exceptionally strong in terms of strength and speed, leading to a seesaw battle.

Realizing that this would not end, Kurujiru made his next move.

"Try this!"

Burning away the spider silk Garbela shot, Kurujiru's fire magic approached her.

"Annoying!"

Garbela burst through the wall of flames. She could easily withstand magic up to the third tier. The light burns on her arms from protecting her face would not affect the battle and would heal in less than a minute. Even with the exploration team's cheat abilities, Kurujiru, who was more of a warrior, could not cast effective magic against the white arachne during the battle. On the other hand, Garbela's spider silk did not fare well against Kurujiru's fire magic.

Inevitably, the battle turned into a grueling close combat.

During this time, I rushed to Shiran's side.

"Shiran..."

I called out and touched her cheek. I felt heat in my palm. It was the residual heat of battle. It would only grow cold from now on.

"Lily?"

"...No. There's nothing I can do for her now."

Lily, who had followed me, hung her head weakly.

There was a known fact in the former colony. In this world, there is no resurrection magic. While there is a powerful healing magic that comes close, it cannot cross the absolute line of "death" with magic.

"...Damn it."

Cursing, I raised my head.

There was Kurujiru, chasing Garbela as she leaped three-dimensionally on the walls and ceiling with her eight legs.

"...Guh, what incredible strength."

"Annoying! Don't make me waste my time!"

The incredible combat ability of the cheat user. Gradually, Garbela was being pushed back.

Originally, Garbela's fighting style was that of a beast. She would crush her enemies completely with unmatched physical abilities and reflexes. This meant that her fighting style was similar to Kurujiru's, who relied on the combat abilities given to him by the world to overwhelm his enemies.

If she was outmatched in strength and speed, Garbela, unlike Shiran, could not overcome it with technique. With her reliable spider silk also ineffective, a comeback was difficult. Of course, that didn't mean she would lose easily. With her innate high regeneration ability, she could regenerate a severed leg and continue fighting during the battle. However, as it stood, there was no hope of winning. Garbela alone could not defeat Kurujiru. Shiran, who could have defeated Kurujiru with her cooperation, was dead. We couldn't break the monster's encirclement on the hill, and we couldn't escape from this fortress. If this continued, we would all be wiped out this time—

"Sister?"

—A girl's voice was heard.

Turning around, I saw the Alliance Knights. They had finally caught up to us after defeating the monsters that had held them back.

Among them, of course, was Kay's figure. She was looking at me, but she didn't see me. She was staring at the dead body of the girl I was holding with an empty expression.

"Sister Shiran!"

Kay, who rushed over, pushed me aside and peered at her sister's face. One of her eyes, the only one left, looked back at the young girl without any emotion.

"Ah... ah..."

There was no breath in her body, and her heartbeat had long since stopped. The strict yet kind sister would never smile at her again.

"No. No way..."

I could see the despair freezing her heart. Kay's eyes, streaming with tears, saw nothing but the changed form of her sister.

Kurujiru's shout was heard at that moment.

"Aaaah! Annoying!"

Frustrated by the even battle, Kurujiru kicked Garbela's spider body with all his might. Garbela let out a groan and was sent flying. The recoil made Kurujiru jump back as well. Garbela landed safely on her eight legs and prepared to start over, but she didn't realize Kurujiru's true target.

"No, Garbela!"

Lily, who noticed at the same time as me, shouted, but Kurujiru was already in motion. He had turned around where he landed. Garbela, caught off guard, opened her red eyes in realization.

"Damn...!"

She was on the opposite side of Kurujiru from us. In other words, Kurujiru had taken advantage of the gap in the Garbela in front of him to attack us.

Garbela had never expected her opponent to take advantage of a gap to target a weaker opponent. This was a mismatch between her straightforward thinking and the cunning of a human. Additionally, her experience, gained over a long life spent mostly in solitude, was biased. Her abundant battle experience made her prone to being dragged by her biased experiences. In other words, she was inherently weaker at protecting something while fighting compared to fighting alone without anything to protect.

If she had to protect us while fighting, Garbela had to pay attention to her positioning. However, Kurujiru was not the kind of opponent who could think about such things. In this case, it was rather abnormal that Shiran, who was far weaker, had succeeded in doing so earlier.

"...Damn it."

Kurujiru's tall figure approached in an instant. His target was me. Unable to defeat the monster in front of him, he intended to incapacitate me, the one leading it.

Of course, Lily intervened to stop him. The magic she cast was of the third tier. Her specialty, the wind blade, tore through the space.

"Lie!?"

In response, Kurujiru also cast a third-tier fire magic. Surprisingly, it was not just a simple flame but one with explosive properties. It was no wonder Lily was shocked. Using such a powerful explosive magic in such a narrow corridor was insane. The explosion would rage through the corridor, leaving no place to run, and there was even a risk of the corridor collapsing.

Perhaps that was Kurujiru's intention. He was confident he could survive even if he was buried alive.

Fortunately, the corridor withstood the magic's power, but the compressed explosion in the narrow space scattered Lily's wind magic. Kurujiru, enduring the backdraft with his warrior's strong body, attacked Lily.

"Out of the way!"

Lily stepped forward to meet the attack but couldn't even last a single exchange. The spear she used to block the straight sword bent and was deflected, and the tip of the sword buried itself in her shoulder.

"Ah, ugh..."

In one breath, she was cut open to her waist. However, Lily did not give up.

"Not... letting you through."

"What!?"

Even as her upper body was opened, Lily tried to thrust her spear again. Kurujiru, not expecting a counterattack from such a severely wounded opponent, was left wide open. Lily, who had the upper hand from the start, aimed to thrust the spear's tip into Kurujiru's abdomen through his breastplate.

"...Ah."

Kurujiru's fist exploded into her face. Her head burst like a watermelon dropped from a height.

Pulling out his sword from her opened body, Kurujiru ran past her. Lily collapsed. She wasn't dead, but I could tell through the link that she had lost consciousness. It would take a few seconds to recover. Lily had been defeated.

Lily was not weak. However, the opponent was just too strong. This was more of a disaster on a human scale than a demon.

The time Lily's desperate resistance bought against the cheat user was about one second. With no one left to stop him, Kurujiru's eyes met mine. A mocking smile appeared on his sharp face. Realizing Garbela wouldn't make it in time, I bit my lip. I had to do something.

I had already picked up Kay, who was standing in a daze next to Shiran's body, while watching Lily get attacked. Extending Asarina's left hand to the wall, I jumped back with her in my arms.

"Roar!"

Ayaume spat out a fireball to deter him, but Kurujiru, moving straight ahead, cut it with his straight sword and closed the distance. A red magic circle unfolded in his left hand. The second-tier fire magic was constructed in no time.

I could withstand that. It wasn't a problem.

Just as I made that judgment, I felt Asarina's hand pierce the wall.

Good, now I have a way to evade... I thought, but then I realized my mistake.

My blood ran cold. It was too late; Kurujiru's magic was already being cast. A small explosion occurred, and Asarina's long, vine-like body was burned through the middle.

Kurujiru's demonic smile drew closer. There was no way to evade in an emergency. No, no, he's catching up...

Thump, my heart beat.

If this continues, I'll be killed. I could vividly imagine my body being cut in half in the next instant.

Not just me. If that happened, Kay, Shiran's precious younger sister, would also be killed because I couldn't protect her. It was a future that was almost certain, and it was something I absolutely could not allow.

I cannot accept such a future. --No matter what, I have to protect them.

"...Eh?"

Just as I tightened my grip on my sword, ready to make a last-ditch effort, I couldn't help but let out a cry of surprise. I could see Kurujiru's eyes widen in shock as well.

--A hand had grabbed Kurujiru's shoulder from behind, stopping him.

It wasn't Garbela's slender, white hand. It was a firm, yet pale and bloodless hand, the kind that grips a sword. The fingers, stained with blood, were exerting so much force that Kurujiru's face contorted in pain.

"Why... are you here?"

Kurujiru, turning around, let out a hoarse groan.

The response was -- a row of teeth sinking into his skin.

"Gi!?! Gyaaaaaaah!?!?"

Kurujiru let out a loud scream. His outstretched forearm, which he had instinctively raised to protect himself, had been bitten into.

The teeth tore through the sleeve of his breastplate, sinking into the skin and tearing through the flesh of the cheat user, who was supposed to be strong, with a squelching sound.

"Aaah!?! Ahhhh!?!?"

The straight sword clattered to the floor. Kurujiru crouched down. His right forearm was torn open in a crescent shape.

A wet, squelching sound echoed. It was the sound of chewing 'flesh'.

Everyone froze, unable to say anything at the gruesome sight.

--Swallow.

The 'flesh' that had been bitten down was swallowed.

"Aaah... aah, aah..."

A hollow groan escaped from the mouth, now dyed red.

It soon turned into a scream of the undead.

"Aaaah, aaaaah, Aaaah, Aaaah—!"

Shiran, who was supposed to be dead, stood up and let out a roar devoid of reason. This is my first post of the day.