Chapter 6: Too Strong, but I Want to Fall in Love
WE run toward the rising red smoke.
“Maybe there’s an owl demon out here, too? And the information the Guild acted on to start this quest was accurate?” Leila puffs as she runs.
“What’s the chance it’s another Owl Demon Lord?” Kazuya asks.
“No chance whatsoever. You never see that with any monsters higher than C-class,” Ganzi answers. “Strong monsters get territorial toward monsters on the same level, so it’s not possible for two Owl Demon Lords to inhabit the same woods. Of course, it might be a sub-species of owl demon.” His tone brightens as he adds, “If that’s all it is, we’ll be able to handle it even if the other party’s down.”
Kazuya remains unconvinced.
“What’s wrong?” I ask him.
“You already beat one owl demon, so that should’ve been the end of it. It was C-class, so it should’ve been the only one here. Which means we’re probably heading toward a whole different kind of monster. One more dangerous than the others expect.”
What? When did I beat an owl demon? Oh, right. Kazuya still suspects that’s what we killed when we first arrived in this world. But that’s impossible, because it was such a lightweight. At least, I hope that’s the case…
Thinking back, I’m not so sure anymore. The Owl Demon Lord we defeated earlier was supposed to be a higher order species of the owl demon I beat way back when, which looked quite similar.
Screams pierce the air, followed by the roar of violent wind. Is someone getting attacked? Even the smell of blood is in the air. I hold my breath, picturing the worst.
“We can hardly see anything through all the tall trees,” Ganzi grumbles.
Heavy footfalls thud toward us. With Luke in the lead, we ready ourselves to take on whatever’s coming, only to see a man and woman tearing our way, crying and screaming. The woman throws herself at Luke, clinging to him like her life depends on it.
“Help us, please! It’s still attacking our friends!” she cries.
“Are you the ones who raised the red smoke signal?” Ganzi asks.
The woman wails and nods, unable to put into words the terror her face is conveying.
“Meirin! Forget them! No one can save them now,” the man snaps at her. “We need to get further away! It’s gonna catch us!”
“B-but, Augen!” Meirin protests.
“Hold on, tell us what’s going on!” Ganzi says. “What’s over there? An owl demon?”
The man frowns, clearly not wishing to remember. “It’s not an owl demon! It’s one of those—” A tremendous blustering wind interrupts him. “It’s coming! We’re done for! There’s no way you can beat it. It’s…” The rest of his moans are drowned out by the wind.
What’s coming? I search for Kazuya, and when I find his hand, I grab it. Kazuya squeezes back.
I have to protect Kazuya. I will protect him.
The wind stops, and I sense something bad overhead. Looking up, I see what looks like a beautiful man floating in the sky. It has long brown hair tied in a tight, slicked-back ponytail, and it’s staring down at us with its arms crossed. On closer inspection, I see its arms are more like wings, the skin of its feet is scaly, and its hands and feet have talons instead of nails…which are dripping with fresh blood. It’s a monster.
Kazuya begins casting a spell. My hand trembles in his.
“It’s an Owl Demon God,” Kazuya tells me under his breath, his voice hoarse with nerves. “It’s an S-class monster.”
“Wh-what on earth is an Owl Demon God doing here? What’s going on?” Leila yelps.
“No! It’s caught up already!” Augen shouts bitterly.
Meirin, who is still hanging onto Luke for dear life, looks up and turns as white as a sheet. “L-look, see what’s in its claws? Those are Celas’s clothes! No, no, I can’t, no!”
Her frantic shrieking compels Augen to grab hold of her. “You lot, get out of here!” he says to us. “Hurry! There’s no way you can beat that thing!”
But just as they turn to run, the monster dives after them.
Luke reacts in a flash, leaping in front of them and shielding them with the broad side of his sword.
“Luke!” Leila shouts.
Luke has stopped the monster, yes, but it’s gripping his sword with its feet so hard that the metal creaks. The two are in a power struggle, but the monster has the upper hand. His arms are still crossed, and he has a sly smile on his face.
Luke doesn’t take his eyes off the monster as he yells to Augen and Meirin, “Get away from here! Now!” His shouting hides Leila’s voice as she chants a spell. “Mother! You go, too, while I’m buying time! Same goes for the rest of you!”
“What are you talking about?! We could never leave you!” Leila pauses her casting to argue.
Luke struggles to push the monster back, his sword being yanked this way and that. “Please! Leave already. We aren’t enough to beat this guy… Ganzi!”
Ganzi looks pained, but he obediently holds Leila back to prevent her from rushing over to Luke.
“Ganzi?! What are you doing?!”
“We can’t, Lady Leila. Sakurako and Kazuya need to leave, too.”
Just as we’re about to make a break for it, a booming sound cuts through the wind.
Molozov springs in front of Leila and Ganzi and slams his shield into the ground to block the impact of the shockwaves. Despite that, all three are blown away into trees. They collapse heavily on the ground.
“Leila!” I shriek. “Ganzi! Molozov!” I want to go to them, but Luke’s desperate shout stops me.
“No, don’t! Sakurako! Run, now, even if you’re the only one who makes it!” He glares grimly at the monster, his sword still caught in its talons.
In stark contrast, the monster wears a brazen, relaxed smirk. It spreads its wings once more, then claps its hands together as if praying, sending a sharp wind hurtling toward Luke.
Luke grits his teeth and ducks his head behind his sword to block the wind. Small, fresh cuts appear everywhere that’s exposed, but he holds out.
Did that monster cause the wind? Is it using wind magic? So that wind blew the rest of the Evenfall Lions away?
“Sakurako, go! I can’t hold it back much longer! Kazuya, Sakurako…!”
I can’t take my eyes off the two of them. Luke’s sword is starting to crack. It’s seconds away from shattering, but for some reason, I don’t care. It doesn’t matter to me.
I’m delirious with anger. All my rage is rushing to my head. Luke’s voice sounds far away.
“Sakurako,” Kazuya sounds worried about me, but he feels distant, too. Why’s his voice so faint?
I can’t speak a word. I’m afraid that if I say anything, I’ll curse the monster so loudly that it’ll burst everyone’s eardrums.
I motion for Kazuya to get behind me.
The monster moves his arms, and the roar of the wind is deafening. Uh-huh. I knew it. That’s how it sent those three flying.
I approach it and Luke, step by step. Although it waves its arms again, focused on me now, I pay it no mind. My hair whips in the wind as it frowns, confused.
What, thought you could blow me away with a breeze that wispy?
“No, don’t! My sword’s about to—” Luke yells in a panic.
Kah-KSSH.
Luke’s sword finally gives up. He loses his balance when it shatters and falls to his knees. But the monster’s moved on. It glares at me, spreading its arms wide again and sending another gust my way.
If it thinks that’ll make me flinch, it’s got another thing coming. Now it’s starting to look flustered. It flaps its wings to climb higher.
Nope. You’re mine.
I lunge at it before it can escape into the sky, grab one of its long, bird-like legs, and hurl it back into the ground. It groans in agony, then claps its hands together again. What a sore loser.
The wind it sends forth makes a tree collapse behind me. Just from that? The trees in this world are so feeble.
“What are you trying to achieve? Cut it out. You’re messing up my hair.”
The monster slides on its backside, struggling to retreat as I draw closer. I come within arm’s reach—near enough to hit it—when it lies back fully and kicks its leg up, barely missing me.
“Nice kick.” I grab the leg before me, swing the monster’s whole body into the air, and slam it back into the dirt. Releasing its leg, I straddle it and raise my fist.
The monster sucks in a draught of air and spews flames out of its mouth. I bend at the waist to dodge them.
“Look out. You could really hurt somebody,” I say.
The monster twists to break free, but I won’t let it. I flex my thighs and hold them tense to stop it from wriggling. A muffled groan doesn’t cover the sound of crunching. I think I might’ve crushed a few ribs, but it manages to get an arm loose and starts swinging it around.
With every wave, I hear whistling and thunderous breaking—maybe of trees being mowed down behind us. Besides the noise, I don’t notice anything in particular, but man, it’s loud.
My hair’s a mess and I’m sick of the cacophony, so I snap his forearm.
Having lost the use of its arm, the monster breathes in again to blast me with fire.
“Somebody’ll get hurt if you do that.” I hold the monster’s chin and clamp its mouth shut.
Its eyes dart around in alarm before its throat glows red and the smell of burning flesh permeates the air. When I release its chin, black smoke pours out of its mouth.
“Did you burn your own throat? I told you someone’d get hurt.”
Although it’s scorched its own mouth, I gotta say, it’s resilient. The arm I just fractured is jolting and bucking back into place. Is it healing itself? Does it have a healing ability?
Its crushed pelvis and ribs feel like they’ve hardened and healed, too… Not good. At this rate, it’s going to end up suffering for a long while. I don’t want to bully a creature weaker than me. I’m no sadist. I’ll put it out of its misery right away. I raise my fist and breathe in, focusing.
“Eeep!” the monster squeaks in terror. It looks kind of pitiful, but I won’t forgive it for hurting Leila, Ganzi, and Molozov. I hope they’re okay. They only got hit by the wind, so they ought to survive. It even put Luke and Kazuya in danger… I’ll never forgive it for hurting my friends.
“This is for the Evenfall Lions.” I bring my fist down hard.