The explosions echoed loudly. Black smoke billowed, and the smell of burning flesh filled the air. The stone walls came crumbling down as the castle town was enveloped in a sea of flames. Within the red-stained sky hovered several black dots. One of them abruptly descended at incredible speed, shaking the ground as it crash-landed. What was revealed to be a monster then opened a gigantic maw lined with razor-sharp teeth and breathed a stream of flames all around. Men and women who were running about screaming in panic were reduced to mere ashes in the blink of an eye. A child crying for his mother suddenly found himself picked up by a huge hand. The owner of the hand, a giant who towered over all the nearby houses, opened its mouth to bite off his head. Just in the nick of time, someone chopped off the hand holding the child.
“Everything’s gonna be fine! Now that I’ve arrived, I won’t allow the monsters to do as they please any longer!”
“It’s the Hero! It’s the Hero, Takayuki!”
Hope reignited in the eyes of the people who had been simply running about aimlessly a moment ago. Immediately afterwards, fire magic slammed into the giant’s face. The giant brought its hands to its face and roared, even while turning into smoke. A beautiful woman holding a staff encrusted with gems appeared behind the Hero, followed by a blonde woman carrying a huge sword.
“The Holy Maiden and the Holy Dame are also here! We’re saved!”
The gathering crowd pumped their fists into the air. This man had been summoned from another world using all of the resources at the kingdom’s disposal. He and his companions were surely going to save this country — nay, this entire world. Everyone present believed this with all their heart, and they cheered to express it. A roar of defiance rose up from within the dancing, crimson flames.
Splat.
“Eh?”
However, that roar was cut short almost as soon as it began. Above the heads of the Hero and his companions, who were waving in response to the cheering, fell several boulders twice the size of a carriage. These three heroes, upon whose shoulders rode the hope of retaliation, were squashed flat like inconsequential insects.
Everything had happened so suddenly that the onlookers were dumbstruck, their jaws hanging open and their fists still in the air. The Hero’s party was not supposed to die. Any moment now the boulder was going to crack into pieces, and they would emerge unscathed...was surely what many of those present had been thinking. However, a red liquid oozed out from underneath the boulders. This was the cruel reality.
“The Hero... The great Hero has...”
“We...we’re doomed!!”
All that was left after the silence was tragedy. Every single person — be they man or woman, old or young — fell into the stomachs of monsters one by one. Everything that lived and breathed was massacred without mercy.
The farce that had just taken place evoked a sigh from a woman who had been watching from her vantage point on top of a hill that overlooked the town. Then again, everyone else together with her on the hill had also been watching, so it wasn’t as if she were the only one.
“So that just now was the self-proclaimed ‘Hero’ who had been called from another world using a large summoning spell? For someone who claimed that ‘I can save you all because I was granted a special power when I came to this world,’ he didn’t do all that much fighting.”
“They are fools, every last one of them. What would be the point of hard work if it was so easy to get strong? Even the tiniest scrap of growth is attained only with incremental effort, ingeniosity, dedication, and a staggering amount of time. Why do they not understand this?”
“I agree. Humans really are stupid. Just because they know how to cooperate with each other and use tools and devise strategies, they think themselves hot stuff. Even monsters have the ability to think for themselves and make discoveries and invent things.”
Feeling resigned, the woman listened to the mocking going on behind her with only half an ear. Although she had no recollection of it, she was sure that she had seen these two sights many times before: foolish humans pushing their problems onto unrelated strangers instead of trying to resolve things with their own strength and then paying the price for such inanity, and so-called “Heroes” getting carried away with all the flattery and dying a dog’s death. The woman’s memories no longer remained, but her feelings did.
“Well then... I suppose we should get down there as well. We’ve probably had this exact same conversation countless times before, but even so, we can’t very well continue watching this tragedy without doing anything,” said an old man with a muscular body, stepping forward while rubbing his goatee.
The figures behind him, which numbered slightly over a hundred, followed suit. Everyone here came from the same place and were in the same position as the woman. Back when monsters first appeared in this world, they, too, had also appeared at the same time. The task that they had been entrusted with was simple: to fight, down to the very last person, so that just one more resident of this world could live for just one more second. Despite knowing that everything and everyone was slated for death, these individuals still had to fulfill their duty.
After everything, it looks like this world is going the same way. Once more, we will be reabsorbed, purified, and manifested. Again and again and again...just the same cycle going on for what’s probably eternity. Will we never get to rest...?
The woman shook her head to bring herself out of her thoughts. She drew the kunai from her waist, then took off together with the rest of the crowd. While pumping her legs, she lifted up a prayer that she had probably made countless times before.
Someone, please, stop this cycle. I’ve probably placed my hopes on the next iteration again and again. Even so, I pray. I pray that next time, a true Hero will finally appear who will stop this nightmare from repeating itself yet again...