“Yeah,” Haru briefly replied. He’d already noticed. Though it was still some distance away, there was a humanoid figure up on the walls to their right. Not a person, though. It was carrying a spear with a banner attached to it. It was the priest. It must’ve circled around to get ahead of them.
Haru didn’t let it stop him from dashing through the gap in the wall and out of Alterna. Manato followed.
He looked to the right. The priest was jumping down from the walls. It wasn’t alone. There was a divine soldier captain with its head covered in shiny stuff, and another one of the ones with just its eyes shining. They were following the priest.
Haru slowed his pace for some reason. That let Manato catch up to him.
“Okay, Manato, listen up.”
“Right. I’m all ears.”
“Head for the Ark. You can’t get inside by yourself, so just hide near there and wait for me.”
“Huh? What about you?”
“I’ll deal with them somehow.”
“By yourself?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Uh...”
“I’ve been living here for over a hundred years. But I’m not sure if I can do this if I have to protect you at the same time.”
“Over a hundred years?!”
“Go.”
Haru gestured toward the tower with his chin. Then he did an about face.
Manato turned around and drew his sword too.
“Manato?!”
Haru’s eyes widened.
“I’m gonna help!”
Haru laughed despite himself.
“If things get dangerous, I’ll bail! It’ll be fine!” Manato insisted.
“As if you have any idea whether it will or not.”
“Look, there’s a lot of them coming. See? One’s coming out of the hole in the wall we just came through too.”
There was the priest that had jumped down off the walls, one divine soldier captain, and four, no, five of the ones with shining eyes, plus another captain that was coming out from the same spot Haru and Manato had. It was followed by even more of the ones with shining eyes.
“Haru, those people with the shining eyes...”
“They’re divine soldiers too.”
Haru switched his dagger to his left hand, then pulled another weapon out of his cloak. It was also a dagger, but shaped differently. Instead of waiting for the enemy, he rushed toward the priest. The priest, the captain, and the five lesser divine soldiers swarmed around him. It was seven against one. Talk about being outnumbered. Manato wanted to join in and help, but if he didn’t do something about the ones coming through the wall, Haru was going to have an even harder time.
Manato charged at the divine soldier captain that had come through the gap in the wall. Its head, which was covered in that shiny stuff, had two horns sprouting from it. Haru had mentioned that there were a variety of races in Grimgar. One of them must have been people with horns. The two-horned divine soldier was holding a rounded stick in its right hand. The stick was maybe as long as a person’s arm, at most. In its left hand it was holding a round object that looked like it was defensive in nature. A round shield, huh? It looked like it could probably be used for bashing too.
“Rorbarol!”
The two-horned divine soldier captain held its round shield out as it closed in on him.
If Manato tried to slash at it, the two-horned captain would either block with its shield or parry the blow. Then it would immediately attack Manato using its stick.
There was no need for him to play along with his enemy’s plan, though. Manato narrowly dodged the two-horned captain’s round shield, then he threw himself forward diagonally to the right. Once he’d rolled and gotten to his feet, Manato found that the captain had stopped and turned to face him. It was targeting Manato, not Haru. That was exactly what he’d been hoping for.
Manato ran for the gap in the wall. There were two divine soldiers, no, three of them, hollering some nonsense about the light as they all rushed toward him.
This’s scary and all, but the scarier it gets, the less scared I actually am.
It was like jumping down from a high place. He’d think, Whoa! It’s so high! This is dangerous! His chest would tighten and he’d get goose bumps. But though he would feel like he shouldn’t jump, he’d also feel a strange urge to.
That was something about Manato that had always worried his parents. Hunters had to be cautious. A fearless hunter would go after quarry that was beyond them and pay the price for it. Hunters were better served by being a little cowardly. Manato’s parents had probably thought he wasn’t suited to be a hunter.
But Manato couldn’t do anything about not being afraid. Juntza, Amu, and Neika had all looked at him funny when he’d talked to them about it, so perhaps he was just weird. Manato didn’t mind being scared. If anything, he might have liked it a lot. He laughed in the face of fear. He was definitely scared, but he wasn’t afraid of it. No, he was afraid, but it was fun.
Yeah. It’s fun. And the scarier it gets, the more fun I have.
But the fact that he was having fun didn’t mean Manato wasn’t thinking. There were three divine soldiers. He watched how each of them moved, predicted what they’d do next. He thought about what to do, how each enemy would respond, and how he would respond to them. But despite all of that thinking, he made his decision in an instant. The general idea of what he should be doing was clear to him.
I’ll dodge them.
He wouldn’t run away. If he turned his back to them, they’d catch up and take him down. He was going to have to dodge, and dodge, and dodge some more.