“Wretched humans.”
The monster could talk—which was an utter shock to me.
“How dare you sully my floor-domain with your disgusting feet. I shall turn every one of you to ash. But rejoice! As a reward for making it this far, I will give you a choice. Will you die by the sword, or by the whip?”
As he pontificated, Balgor walked toward us, his footsteps rumbling.
“Retreat! Run away!”
At my yell, our subordinates all began to flee to the rear of the hall at once. But it wouldn’t do any good. Not for all of them. We had wounded who couldn’t escape, and we wouldn’t get away while carrying the unconscious.
The flame demon chuckled and swung down the whip in his left hand; he must have caught on to our predicament. The whip flew through the air like a living creature, destroying the entranceway to the shaft room, walls and all. The escape route before their eyes now blocked off, our subordinates gave cries of despair.
The flame demon narrowed his eyes, seeming pleased.
“It seems you have no intention of accepting my generous proposal—fools! If you will not choose a single means of death, then I shall kill you slowly and painfully.”
I desperately racked my brain, but I couldn’t come up with a single effective plan of action. Attack his legs and trip him? Not possible. He was clearly not like the deer-head. The skin covering him was like rock; I doubted the billhooks and spears we carried would get through. I felt like I was standing in front of an armored bulldozer.
Troach was in no state to move, and Mizuho was out of the question. That left either me or Astoria who would have to do something, but even that…
The moment I saw Astoria out of the corner of my eye, I was stunned. Her…her eyes were sparkling. With her visor flipped up to expose her face, those eyes burned with flame.
This woman… This knight was an adrenaline addict. She’d just told me earlier she felt joy being in dangerous, life-and-death situations. And she was probably going to stream this, too!
“…Sir Taiga?”
“What? What are you about to do?”
“Don’t stop me. I live for moments like these. I will become their shield, become their sword—”
“You just want to revel in the danger!”
“But who else is there? As a Landmaker, now that the people have entrusted me with their hopes, I have a responsibility to confront hardships. Am I wrong?”
She was so hard to deal with—slinging around ideas of great, just causes for her own convenience.
Astoria handed me the black mirror and smiled. “We’re live. Make sure you get this, all right?”
“Astoria!”
She shut her faceplate and gave Snorts a kick in the side. The owner and her mount were much alike. With a single loud exhale, the horse-lizard started off toward the flame demon.
“Bastard child of the accursed demonfloors! I will be your opponent!”
“Oh? I will permit you to give your name.”
“My name is Astoria the Wing-Blessed! Wandering Knight and Landmaker of the Great Camp Bravo Kingdom! I ask you, monster, that we fight with our swords!”
“Fine. I will grant your wish.”
The words had barely left his mouth when he slammed his longsword into the stone floor. It cut deeply, drawing a line of red-hot molten lava.
Snorts jumped right before it cut the horse-lizard, then leaped at the flame demon. Astoria swung her longsword down, carving a diagonal wound into the enemy’s chest. A viscous flame spurted out that I might have confused for blood.
The others made impressed noises. Maybe I had as well. I could sense the light of hope coming on in those who had almost succumbed to despair. Wouldn’t Astoria be able to defeat this terrible monster?
But things wouldn’t be so easy.
“It seems the miserable human has managed to wound me! That deserves a reward—take it!”
With a wrathful howl, the flame demon used both his longsword and his whip at once to launch a terrifically fierce offensive. It seemed he’d been vastly underestimating us—until Astoria’s strike made him get serious.
The sword and whip flung all over the place, smashing into everything. The hall no longer had many safe spots. I yelled at the others to take refuge anywhere they could. Those able hid behind nearby doors.
The command seemed to draw the enemy’s attention. The flame demon glanced at me, then looked back at Astoria.
“Knight. You act in that man’s defense, do you? I see now. That man is your King, is he?”
What? Acting in my defense? Was this demon an idiot?
“I believe I would like to see the face of a Knight as the King she serves is killed in front of her. You there, man—do not move.”
I flung myself away, and a moment later, the monster’s fiery whip slashed the space where I’d been.
With no time to waste, I got up and started running. The lash swung down to crack at my feet, and as the embers licked at my back, he laughed loudly.
“Your King certainly knows how to scurry!”
I wasn’t their King, but telling Balgor that wouldn’t do me any good.
I let him chase me, running up the stairs at the edge of the hall. Walking and running were the hallmarks of a soldier. As I arrived at the top level, the demon smashed the stairs behind me. I kept on trying to flee, aiming for the upper-level walkway built along the wall. But then his whip flashed down in front of me, smashing the walkway to smithereens. I had stopped myself just in time, but my return path was already gone, too. With nowhere left to go, the flame demon laughed at me scornfully.
“Look, Knight. Your King is stranded.”
“Sir Taiga!”
The flame demon didn’t miss the opportunity created by Astoria’s shout.
His lash cracked through the air and slammed into Snorts and Astoria from the side. Knight and rider were knocked away and slammed into the wall. Armor clanged against stone, and the blond woman cried in pain.
“Astoria!”
“And now it is over. I will reduce you to ash together.”
The flame demon held its incandescent longsword aloft to strike me down.
And then a dagger, thrown from somewhere else, grazed his face.
“Hrrr…?”
The dagger bounced off his hard exterior and fell to the floor without leaving much of a scratch on him. It had been Troach, propped up with Mizuho’s help.
It wasn’t just the two of them, either. Even the subordinates, who were supposed to be finding safety from the flame demon’s onslaught, started to creep out and hurled whatever spears or stones they could find. None of them seemed to do even a bit of actual damage, but the flames began to spurt from Balgor’s body just a little bit harder. He was clearly annoyed.
“Know your place, scum!”
The blazing demon’s enraged howl made the hall shake. Arrogant as he was, he couldn’t tolerate the very fact that beings he saw as lesser were overcoming their fear to defy him. I knew the concept well, for humans thought the same way.
His whip cracked through the air, sending crimson sparks showering down on us. Seeing our subordinates yelping and scurrying for safety, the monster laughed.
“Sir Taiga! Sir Taiga!” Astoria was beckoning to me astride Snorts, which was struggling to stand back up. The young woman’s armor had already been covered in scrapes and dents, but now it featured several new burn marks from the whip.
“Now’s your chance! To me, quickly!”
May as well try!
I jumped off the edge of the walkway and landed on Snorts’s back. I nearly slipped and fell off its scales, but I held on to the saddle’s belt. The six-legged lizard gave an unhappy groan underneath me.
Though the flame demon had been preoccupied with tormenting the soldiers, he was not oblivious to what we were doing. His burning longsword was upon us in a flash. Thankfully, Snorts dodged in the nick of time.