They walked the rest of the way to the exit in silence, and then they traveled to Fort Sandras, where their master had last assigned them.
A silver silhouette pierced the darkness, moving at great speed. She had lost track of how many times she’d revisited the same areas, searching for a scent that she couldn’t detect anywhere.
“Kettle… Where are you?”
Sylvia kept running with a single-minded focus. She’d always prided herself on her bottomless stamina, but now she was feeling the first signs of exhaustion.
At first, her master’s compatriots seemed only like a burden to her, but as they traveled together, she gradually began to see them as part of her pack.
“Wow! Sylvia really eats anything you give her!”
“I’ll give her some of my ice cream!”
“I looove her silky-soft fur…”
She used to tell herself she’d only have to put up with them until her master was ready to continue with his plan.
“Whoa! Is it just me, or is she better at blocking than I am?”
“Why don’t we have her be the tank?”
“Don’t put me out of a job!”
Everyday scenes were coming back to her. She favored Shuutarou, of course, but she didn’t dislike being around his friends.
“When I hold her, I can forget about all the bad stuff.”
The smiling girl who’d said that was nowhere to be found.
“Wait for me, Kettle…!”
Sylvia started running even faster. She checked every area from the beginning to the end, and when she was finished, she checked them again. And again. And again.
Severe pain woke her up.
“Ugh… What…? What’s…?”
Her body screamed in pain as she forced herself to sit up. She didn’t know where she was. Her recent memories were hazy, as if her body was resisting remembering what had happened. As if a noise in her head was jamming her thoughts.
“Where is…everyone…?”
Feeling like she might burst into tears at any moment, Kettle got to her feet and took stock of her situation. She was in some sort of a damp space overgrown with luminescent moss, which was the only source of light. And in that light, she saw something milling around—a great number of monsters. She didn’t have the leisure to count them, but at a glance, there were about fifty.
“Wh-what? M-monsters…?”
Noticing that she’d awakened, the monsters began crawling toward Kettle. When she quickly took a few steps back so as not to draw the other creatures’ attention, she felt a wall behind her. She looked around for a way out, but there was none.
I’ll have to…defeat them!
She reflexively grabbed her weapon.
“Speed-Casting!”
Her mind cleared. The hours of training with Reilan and the others were paying off.
Speed-Casting shortened the casting time for the next spell. High-tier magician-class jobs did a lot of spell casting, so they’d always start with this skill.
“Flame Wave!”
As a flame magician, Kettle had powerful fire spells in her arsenal. The wave of flame she’d conjured swallowed up the monsters in front of her. It also briefly lit the area so that Kettle could see it was a round cavern as big as her school gymnasium. And it was absolutely packed with an array of different monsters, big and small, with all sorts of weapons. There were close to a thousand of them.
Kettle’s legs buckled under her. Her spell had incinerated a few of the monsters, but it was only a tiny percentage of the enemies around her.
“Shoukichiii!” she cried. “Barbaraaa! Kyoukooo! Reilaaan! Raooo! Where are you?! Please, heeelp!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.
They should have been together. They were all she had.
“Shuu…ta…rou…!”
She waited and waited, but her trusty allies weren’t coming to help her this time.
The monsters all rushed in to attack the defenseless, sobbing girl.
“Aaaaaaaaarrrrgh…!”
They stabbed her with swords. Fangs clamped down on her flesh. They were chewing her, ripping her to pieces. Countless monsters were tearing through her.
Everything went red from a blood-spatter effect. Kettle had no way to defend herself, paralyzed by pain. She watched as a monster shoved a dagger into her stomach and jerked the blade up to her chest, cutting her open.
“Hhhrgh…!”
Her LP bar was shrinking fast. She’d only had half of the bar left to begin with and was almost at zero.
This is where I die…
The pain began to feel distant. She had a strange sensation as if she were only watching from afar as her body was getting mauled, and then her vision started fading to black.
Ten seconds passed. Twenty. A minute. Ten minutes…
The hellish pain was coming in waves only to recede again, stopping her consciousness from drifting away.
Why…?
Her LP was stuck at one. Her body had been mutilated, and her mind couldn’t take it anymore, but death wasn’t coming. It’s like a curse, she thought with despair. She wouldn’t be granted the relief of death.
After some time, the monsters withdrew like the sea at low tide, crowding at the far wall. Kettle was left on the ground like a bloodied, tattered rag.
Her LP was gradually recovering with passing time as she lay dazed on the floor. Eventually, shaking from pain and fear, she laboriously pulled herself to her feet.
“What is this place…? Where am I? Let me out! Let me out!!!”
She walked around the gloomy cave, banging her fists against the walls. There were no doors or even cracks in the rocky surface.
When Kettle’s LP recovered to 50 percent, she heard a rustle from the monsters as they began approaching her again, like robots programmed to destroy her.
“No… This is worse than death!”
Kettle was pummeling the walls so hard, her fists might break. A monster threw a sword at her, which skewered her to the wall.
“Go awaaay!!!” she screamed in terror as the mass of monsters pounced on her again.
The dark prison offered no hope. Kettle’s friends, her guardians, and her role models weren’t there to save her. She was all alone with the monsters that mauled and devoured her with no end.