The blade bit deeply into the wall, melting the stone and sending up smoke. When Balgor pulled his weapon free, the wall fractured, and the rock and sand it was built from collapsed heavily into the hall.
The flame demon fanned away the thick cloud of billowing dust with his whip. When our vision cleared, we saw that the entire upper wall of the hall’s south side had completely caved in, connecting the hall to a cavern on the other side.
The flame demon peered through the dust and found us.
“Still alive? Persistent insects.”
From atop the horse-lizard’s back, I asked Astoria, “Can you move?”
“He got one of Snorts’s legs…but we can still go!”
Astoria’s own breath was ragged. With how hard she’d been hit, there was no way she could have been unscathed.
“Can you make it so he can’t catch us?”
“I probably could… But are you telling me to flee?!” she demanded in disbelief.
Patiently, I answered, “Yes. If we don’t draw him out of here, everyone will die.”
“…I see. We’re to be decoys, then?”
“I knew you’d understand.”
“Right! In that case, Sir Taiga, make sure to record him chasing us!”
No sooner had she said that than she kicked Snorts in the sides. Twisting itself, Snorts began running up the slant created by the collapsed wall.
“Mizuho! Troach! Ignore us and withdraw!” I shouted.
The two of them burst out of their hiding place.
“Taiga, what do you mean to do?!”
“You have to be kidding! Wait—”
Behind us, as we burst into the new cavern on Snorts’s back, the flame demon spread his wings.
“I will not allow you to escape!”
To see something so gigantic fly defied all reason. I watched in shock as the demon floated into the air, kicking up clouds of dust. He didn’t take flight like a bird, instead levitating. He flapped his wings, chasing after us and landing in the cavern’s entrance.
Snorts dashed through the natural cavern, which was filled with stalactites and stalagmites. It had tucked in its wounded middle-right leg, but the hooked claws on its other five grasped the earth, charging ahead with considerable speed. Behind us, the flame demon gave chase, breaking through stalactites as he went.
Good. At least we were able to draw him away from our allies.
But then Astoria gasped, realizing something. “Sir Taiga, I know this place!”
I realized it, too, a moment later. What a mistake. We’d fled right into the greatbat cave. I remembered the cave coming to a dead end when passing through it before. The cave-in was the only thing blocking it from the corridor wall!
If we continued this way, we’d arrive at the palace with an enraged demon of fire and flames on our tail. This was the worst mistake we could have made.
“What now, Sir Taiga?”
No side paths to detour through and no plan to hold him off if we stopped. If we failed here, he would be able to destroy the palace without opposition, and the others would be cut off from their return.
“Keep going. Just keep going,” I replied. Astoria nodded.
Snorts dashed through the high-ceilinged passage and burst full-speed into the palace. Everyone who was standing there working gave cries of surprise. From the horse-lizard’s back as it sprinted past the pillars, I yelled, “Everyone, retreat! Run away now! Hide yourselves!!”
Heavy footsteps rapidly approached. The flame demon appeared through the archway leading to the palace’s northern passage. He stopped and looked around as the citizens screamed and fled.
“Oh? No wonder I felt this place was familiar. Why, this is my sacrificial altar!” the flame demon said, advancing at a leisurely pace. “It was long ago, but I once had worshippers living in this area. They would throw their living sacrifices into this hall for me, and in exchange, I gave them flame. Though I do forget what happened to them in the end.”
I shuddered. The burn marks dotting this hall—those hadn’t been traces of campfires. They were spots where this flame demon had once been offered ritual sacrifices!
“To come here of your own volition… How commendable. Yes, I do believe I have an idea. Miserable King and Knight, if you would offer unto me one of you as a living sacrifice, I shall allow the other to live.”
“I will not concede to your wicked machinations!” Astoria loudly called back.
The flame demon snorted. “I see. Then I will make your people deci—”
The demon’s words came to an abrupt end when he beheld the scenery before him.
“…What—what is this?”
Even he seemed taken aback by the incredible sight of the Great Fracture. Monster or human, none in Million Dungeon were accustomed to such wide-open spaces.
Snorts stopped by the side of the flowing river. We could run farther by crawling along the cliffside, but we’d have to face our foe somewhere. This would probably be our last chance.
I alighted from the horse-lizard and gave the black mirror to Astoria.
“I’m returning this. Sorry, but I don’t have any time to record. I’ll draw him away.”
“Sir Taiga, that is my job—”
“No, I’m better for it. I will create an opportunity, I promise. When I give the signal, you attack with everything you have.”
“…All right.”
I left Astoria and stood with the river to my back. Then, in a loud voice, I yelled to the flame demon.
“Hey, lumbering giant! Over here!”
“What’s the matter? Couldn’t wait your turn to be scorched to death?”
“More like I got tired of you standing there. You’re in the way. So I decided to take you down.”
“Take me down? Ha!” The flame demon regarded me with a sneer. “You don’t even have a proper sword. What do you plan to do with that little stick?”
“Oh, this? Well, you see…”
I pointed the flashlight in my hand at his face and flipped the switch. Powerful light flooded his face.
Amid a bellowing roar, the monster covered his face with a hand.
“You wretch! What is that light?!”
His vision stolen, the demon howled in rage and blindly brought his whip down. The rocks on the dry riverbed crumbled and scattered upon impact. Fortunately, I was no longer among them. I’d withdrawn the moment his vision was gone.
As the flame demon attacked his surroundings wildly, he staggered toward the river, unsteady. The ends of his whip struck the water’s surface, splashing up white vapor that rose upward.
I shouted, “Now, Astoria! Force him off!”
Snorts kicked off the ground and charged, delivering a full-force tackle to the enemy’s back with all its speed and mass. It knocked the flame demon off his feet; he stumbled a step forward and fell into the river.
A plume of steam exploded into the air, and from within it came a deafening scream that reverberated throughout the Great Fracture. The water’s flow as it fell to us from an upper stratum was quick—quick enough to wash away even the giant body of the flame demon. I watched closely as the river swallowed the monster. His hide changed to the gray of dead coals, cracked apart, and flaked off, exposing the burning fire within—whose heat was also extinguished…
And then it happened. From within the bubbling waves, something black and snakelike flew out and struck me hard. I froze up from the pain, and in an instant, it had wrapped around me and yanked me toward the river.
My head was submerged before I’d even had the chance to curse. As the raging current tossed me about, the flame demon’s face suddenly appeared. Though his whitened, muddied eyes probably couldn’t see anything anymore, I painfully felt his desire to take me down with him.
The whip, its flames put out, weakened and dissolved. However, I was already at the mercy of the surging current. With it going this fast, all the trash and driftwood became lethal weapons. When I tried to surface, something struck me in the head, and I immediately felt faint. Air began to leak from my lungs. The waterfall was right there, but I couldn’t move. As I beheld the smile on the flame demon’s face, moments before I tumbled to the basin far below, I passed out.