“What’s their status?” I asked.
“Our seeker died...” Surena murmured. “We have one lightly wounded and one severely wounded.”
“I see...”
It seemed Surena had been working in a team of four. Due to the casualty and their injuries, they’d judged that it would be too dangerous to move around carelessly and had instead taken refuge inside this cave. Actually...even if Surena’s injuries are minor, that means I’m the only one here in peak condition.
When Surena had dropped by my house, she’d told me that she’d planned to do this solo. But ultimately, she’d chosen to form a team to investigate the Aflatta Mountain Range. I didn’t know what had led to that, but there was no point in asking. Given how things had turned out, the reasons didn’t really matter.
“You faced something strong enough to injure you and your team,” I said. “I’m guessing things aren’t so simple.”
“Yes...” Surena confirmed. “We are probably still being watched.”
“Hmmm. I haven’t sensed anything, though...”
I questioned her claim. I really hadn’t sensed a thing. It was surprisingly easy to detect when someone was watching you, even for an amateur. And if that gaze contained hostility or bloodlust, it could sometimes be apparent from a fair distance. It would honestly have been eerie if we were being watched but couldn’t sense anything. Surena had said “probably,” so she didn’t have any evidence either.
“What makes you think that?” I asked.
“We tried escaping several times, but it appeared every time we did. It pretty much never makes a move while we hide here, though... It’s unclear whether this tenacity comes from sadism or cowardice.”
“I see...”
It might sound strange to call a monster cowardly, but it was entirely possible. There was no guarantee this monster actually stood at the top of the food chain, after all. It made sense for a monster to fear something stronger than it and act cowardly for the sake of survival. However, that was only if it possessed the intelligence to properly tame its own fear. That would definitely make it all the more formidable as a foe. I could see why they’d sent Surena to investigate.
“Well, we should be able to handle it one way or another if it shows up,” I said.
“That might be difficult...”
“Why?”
Surena was injured but not incapacitated. And though I was a little tired, I was in pretty much peak condition. I’d figured the two of us could pull it off as long as we could find the monster. However, Surena had deemed this unlikely. I thought she’d say, “There is no foe we cannot take down together, Master,” or something, so her response had been a little unexpected.
Hm...? I kinda came here assuming I’d be able to resolve this and that she’d rely on me.
One year ago, I would’ve never thought that. It was a little late to realize that I could probably take the monster down only after coming to the mountains on my own, but that was simply how my brain worked. When undergoing a huge mental shift, as I had recently, it was possible to grow arrogant. I have to be careful about that.
I’m getting carried away by my thoughts—none of that is the real issue right now. For some reason, Surena believed the two of us would have a hard time.
“You can’t see it,” she explained. “That thing...is capable of turning invisible.”
“Wh-Whaaa...?”
That was a bit of a problem. Isn’t that seriously cheating?
“So it...vanishes? Talk about overpowered...” I muttered.
“It is...”
The complete fiction I’d thought up on the way here had ended up being pretty close to reality. A part of me thought that maybe it would be better not to let my imagination run wild and conjure ideas into being.
Either way, we couldn’t remain here. Surena knew a lot more about this monster than I did, so I had a ton of questions for her. First, assuming it could turn invisible, how had Surena found that out? If it was capable of vanishing, then it was impossible to identify. After all, it could just remain invisible all the time. However, Surena knew that it could turn invisible, so she must’ve seen it do just that. I was hoping we could figure out the conditions from there.
“If it can’t be seen, then how did you figure out what it could do?” I asked.
“It seems to only reveal itself the moment it lands an attack,” Surena explained. “I don’t know the exact logic behind it, though...”
“Hmmm...”
That still made it pretty hard to develop a strategy. Even if its bloodlust was detectable the moment it attacked, reacting to an invisible strike was pretty much impossible. That would require reflexes that transcended human limits. I obviously hadn’t ascended to that territory, nor had Surena.
“Can you ever feel its presence?” I asked.
“A little bit—when it attacks. That’s how we managed to survive this long.”
“I see.”
That still meant there was nothing to sense until it struck. If Surena was able to react, then I would probably be able to dodge one or two hits if I tried really, really hard. However, counterattacking was an entirely different problem. From what I’d been told so far, I doubted I could land a hit. Honestly, my concentration would be entirely focused on dodging, giving me no room to attack. Also, having no direct experience against this thing was a major downside. There was a limit to how much I could work out using only my imagination. It was entirely possible for me to see a vague outline of something, only to be killed the next instant.
“Hm?! Are reinforcements here?!” a voice asked from deeper inside the cave.
“Keep resting,” Surena said. “Your wounds aren’t too bad, but you still can’t move properly.”
“If only resting would get us anywhere...but it isn’t going to, right?”
Judging from the voice, it was a man—and not a young one. Someone accompanying Surena on her mission would have to be a veteran. I figured that he had to be fairly old, but not old enough to be past his peak. He had a proper yet pessimistic grasp of the situation. Well, at least it’s better than him panicking after getting his hopes up. His assessment definitely makes him sound like a veteran.
“I don’t know who you are...” he said, turning to me, “but you got this far, so I’m guessing you’re no amateur. You in good condition? If so, then take her and get out of here already.”
Surena immediately protested. “But then, you two will—!”
“Our lives are cheap...” the man said, cutting her off. “Well, maybe that’s going too far. Still, we’re worth far less than a black rank.”
I sank into thought as they talked. From an extreme point of view, Surena’s life was indeed valuable. I thought so personally, and the world at large did as well. It would be a huge loss for a black rank adventurer to die here.
However, Surena didn’t want to be forced to make that sacrifice. Their survival thus far had likely been due to her skills, but that meant if Surena withdrew, they were pretty much guaranteed to die.
They seemed accepting of that outcome if it meant Surena survived, but she wasn’t okay with it. She hated the idea of sacrificing anyone. And normally, she would have been right, but their seeker had already died. The other adventurer, who hadn’t spoken yet, was heavily wounded and probably didn’t have long to live. So, her companions figured it would be better to save the one person who could be saved with my help. It wasn’t ideal in any way, but there were no better alternatives.
I would probably have to be the one to make the decision. I didn’t possess any authority over them, but anything we did revolved around me. Whatever I chose to do, they would have no choice but to go along with it.
“Master, what about other reinforcements?!” Surena asked, clinging to her last hope.
“Honestly, I doubt anyone will come,” I told her. “We had to throw all kinds of formalities out the window just to get me here.”
I’d been able to make it here, so others could too. She wasn’t wrong in assuming that, but there were barriers to any rescuing party: They either had to go through all the formalities of getting official permission, or they had to be in the unique position to ignore all the red tape.