Chapter 38

As the cherry blossoms danced in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of the promise written there.

Decken, the squad leader, was leading a squad and directing one of the units, advancing through the grasslands in search of the Grinder. He saw the shadow of a large bird passing overhead.

Shortly after, a signal flare went up, and he realized that the shadow he had seen earlier was the Grinder. He turned his horse around.

He had ten soldiers under his command.

For a moment, he hesitated about whether to join forces with the other squad searching nearby, but since the Grinder had flown in the direction of the main force, he immediately began to move.

The main force consisted of three squads, thirty soldiers in total.

He probably wouldn't lose.

In fact, he was growing anxious at the thought that they might finish the extermination quickly.

For Decken, this extermination was a precious opportunity to restore his honor.

He had been called the best swordsman in the army, yet he had been easily dismissed by a mercenary woman of unknown origin. To erase this disgrace, he needed to achieve success in the extermination.

If he could show a universally accepted achievement in this Grinder extermination, he wouldn't be called a "puffed-up tiger who lost to a woman" behind his back.

That's why he needed to join the main force as quickly as possible before they exterminated the Grinder.

"Captain Decken! Something is flying from the direction of the main force!"

One of the archers noticed the approaching shadow and reported it.

Stopping his steps, Decken strained his eyes from atop his horse and saw a shadow flying overhead.

The shadow quickly approached, larger and faster than a bird.

It had the same silhouette as the one that had passed overhead earlier.

For some reason, the Grinder was flying from the direction of the main force.

"It's the Grinder! Everyone, prepare for battle!"

Following Decken's command, the soldiers formed their battle formation.

"Heavy infantry, to the front! Archers, ready your bows!"

While they were doing this, the shadow continued to approach Decken and his men.

As it got closer, its size became more apparent.

When the shadow reached above Decken and his men, it stopped and seemed to observe the grasslands below.

"Archers, fire!"

Three arrows were shot at the shadow upon the command, but all of them fell in parabolic arcs before reaching the target.

The shadow let out a piercing cry.

"Keeeee!"

Winds of blades attacked Decken and his men.

A violent storm, comparable to high-level magic, bared its fangs and tore through the lightly armored soldiers.

"Aaaaaah!"

The soldiers' screams echoed across the grasslands.

Decken, being better equipped than the soldiers, managed to avoid fatal injuries, but the horses that were caught in the storm were cut and fell, bleeding from multiple cuts.

The green earth was stained red with blood as the shadow, flapping its wings, landed.

"It's... huge..."

The soldiers were taken aback by the size of the shadow that had landed before them, which exceeded their expectations.

"This is... the Grinder..."

The overwhelming presence.

Their instincts as living beings warned them to flee immediately.

The fighting strength was already reduced to less than half, and only five men remained, including Decken and the heavily armored soldiers with shields.

But he couldn't run away.

This was the ultimate opportunity to restore his honor.

If he turned his back now, even if he survived, he would be pointed at for the rest of his life.

Decken clenched his teeth, forced himself to shake off his trembling, and raised his sword, giving orders to the remaining heavily armored soldiers.

"Do not fear! Look! It is already wounded! We can defeat it if we surround it!"

In Decken's eyes, he saw a dagger piercing the front leg, blood flowing from it, and the upper body feathers burned by fire.

It must have attacked the main force and been driven back to this area.

If so, the Grinder must have already expended its strength.

Although he had made a mistake earlier, it was not an impossible situation to win.

"Ooo!"

Encouraged by Decken's voice, the heavily armored soldiers charged at the Grinder.

But the swords wielded by the heavily armored soldiers were deflected, and the blows that seemed to have hit were repelled by some force.

In return, the Grinder's claws sliced through the air, cutting one of the heavily armored soldiers through the armor.

"Guh...!"

Next, the heavily armored soldier beside him was struck in the head by the sharp beak and fell.

It was as if they were no match at all.

"What...!"

Decken was speechless.

He couldn't win. The words he couldn't say flashed through his mind.

"Captain Decken! The 32nd Squad has come to assist!"

A friendly voice came from behind Decken, who was speechless.

Followed by the heavy footsteps of multiple people approaching.

It was another squad from the west of Decken's squad.

Now there were thirteen men.

However, Decken, who had seen the strength of the Grinder, understood that it was not a battle they could hope to win.

Heavy infantry and heavily armored soldiers ran past Decken and charged at the Grinder.

"Wait! Don't charge!"

Despite Decken's attempts to stop them, the soldiers, carried away by their momentum, were met with the Grinder's sharp claws.

The spearman's chest was torn open.

Another soldier's arm was cut off.

A heavily armored soldier's shield was pierced by the beak, creating a hole in his neck.

The Grinder's every action claimed the lives of the soldiers one after another.

If they didn't retreat, they would all be wiped out.

This thought flashed through Decken's mind.

But would the Grinder not chase them if they fled?

The enemy could fly, unlike them.

It would be easy for the Grinder to catch up to human legs.

As he hesitated, an arrow suddenly pierced the lower half of the Grinder.

The arrow, which came from nowhere, wounded the unguarded Grinder.

Then, ice pellets appeared overhead and were hurled at the Grinder's wings.

"Roar!"

A man with a muscular build, his body bulging with muscles, charged at the Grinder with a battle cry, wielding a bastard sword.

The swordsman, with his dark purple hair flying, thrust his bastard sword.

The tip of the blade injured the Grinder's side.

"Keeen!"

The Grinder writhed.

"Ted, back off!"

A woman's voice rang out, and the swordsman with the bastard sword immediately put some distance between himself and the Grinder.

As if waiting for this, a sharp arrow was fired at the Grinder's head.

However, the monster seemed to have anticipated the attack and dodged it by crouching slightly.

"Orfealia!"

"Shining blue, dance in the eternal moment and silence of the colorless land—Arctic Storm!"

The voice of the man who fired the arrow and the incantation of the woman in the robe overlapped.

As the incantation was completed, a fierce blizzard mixed with hail attacked the Grinder, trying to cover and freeze its body.

However, most of the attack was negated by an invisible barrier-like force.

The Grinder shuddered, shook off the ice that had stuck to its body, and stomped the ground with its horse-like legs.

"Ah, it doesn't seem to be very effective?"

A bowman with steel-colored hair said in a light tone.

"I know! If you have time to talk, shoot an arrow!"

"I know, here goes!"

An arrow was fired at the Grinder again, but it was deflected by a gust of wind, which seemed to have been anticipated.

The swordsman with the bastard sword charged.

The Grinder blocked it with its claws and struck down with its beak from above the swordsman's head.

The swordsman used a round shield attached to his arm to skillfully deflect the attack.

From Decken's perspective, the battle seemed to be evenly matched.

The swordsman standing in front of the Grinder was not trying to block the heavy attacks but was dedicated to dodging and deflecting them, taking advantage of any openings to wound the Grinder.

The attacks from the bowman and the mage were not decisive, but they were effective in restraining the Grinder and limiting its movements.

There was a glimmer of hope in Decken's mind that they could win, but at that moment, the swordsman's round shield was cruelly torn apart when he failed to deflect a claw attack.

"Damn!"

A foul word slipped out of the swordsman's mouth.

Deflecting attacks with a shield was not as easy as it sounded.

One had to instantly calculate the direction and strength of the force, as well as the speed and timing, and adjust the position of the body and shield accordingly.

If the calculation was even slightly off, or the timing was a moment too late, the attack would not be deflected, and the full force would hit.

The swordsman with the bastard sword had been able to deflect and dodge all of the Grinder's attacks so far because of his high skill.

But it couldn't go on forever.

If only they could take away the enemy's fighting ability before that, but they lacked the decisive move to do so.

"Where the hell is Ardis wandering off to?"

A hysterical woman in deep green robes shouted.

"Shut up. I wasn't just fooling around, you know?"

To the woman's voice, which was thought to have no response, a voice replied.

"Ardis!?"

The voices of the bowman, mage, and swordsman overlapped.

There, Decken saw a black-haired youth taking a position behind the Grinder, wielding a broadsword.

"Keekeen!"

The Grinder, sensing the presence behind it, cowered and tried to escape into the air by flapping its wings.

A human shadow descended from above, where the Grinder was trying to escape.

"This time, I won't let you escape."

A woman in a white robe, with long alicebrown hair flowing, struck the Grinder's wing with a dagger.

A spray of blood.

The black-haired youth's broadsword attacked the unbalanced Grinder.

One slash.

The other wing, which had been unharmed, was easily cut off at the base.

With one wing injured and the other lost, the Grinder had no way to escape into the air.

"Don't make it too difficult."

While saying this casually, the youth swung his broadsword horizontally, and the Grinder's head and body were cleanly separated.

It was a moment when the Grinder, which had repelled all the attacks of the army, was overwhelmed by an even more overwhelming force.

"Saved..."

Seeing the Grinder's massive body fall to the ground, Decken was finally able to take a deep breath.

But it was only for a brief moment before he turned his eyes to the surrounding damage.

The army's casualties were severe.

Of the squad Decken had led, only three, including himself, survived.

Of the squad that came to assist, only six remained.

Out of twenty, eleven were dead. It was a crushing defeat.

Moreover, the ones who saved Decken and his men, who were helpless against the Grinder, were none other than the lowly mercenaries.

To Decken, everything was unsatisfactory and unacceptable. It felt like a bad dream, a voice in his heart told him.

"My lord. Will we take the body as well as the head?"

"Leave it. It won't be worth anything anyway."

"As you wish, my lord."

Decken's gaze was drawn to the woman speaking to the youth, a voice he recognized.

There stood a woman in a robe with long alicebrown hair and sky-blue eyes.

Decken's eyes widened.

An unexpected encounter with an unforgettable adversary.

The woman who had dismissed him and caused him to be ridiculed in front of the marquis and generals.

A lowly mercenary woman who had no sense of propriety and pursued only power.

The very woman who had just taken away his chance for redemption and given him a new humiliation.

A dark emotion began to erode Decken's heart.

As the army's soldiers surrounded the youth and the woman with cheers and praise, Decken stepped away from the circle and whispered with hatred.

"That woman...!"

2019/07/30 Typo correction: "静止" → "制止"

2019/07/30 Typo correction: "浸食" → "侵食"

*Thank you for reporting the typos.