“The hell is that…?”
Ada dropped the cigarette she had been clenching between her lips.
“Shh!” Psycho reminded Ada to keep quiet. “The enemy is headed this way. They’re after the believers. They want to take out Falmeyr’s magical power at its source.”
“Those cretins. But that’s smart… If they can neutralize Falmeyr, all of Galdorssia will be vulnerable.”
“Once panic breaks out, it’s going to be hard to evacuate. We need to act now, while everyone is still calm, before—”
Just then, the sound of the city wall crashing to the ground thundered in their ears.
“Dammit, we’re too late!”
The colossus was free. It had broken through the wall!
“Wh-what was that…?!”
Even though Psycho had tried to be careful, the refugees inside the castle were beginning to notice something was wrong. They didn’t know yet that Falmeyr and the Holy Protectorates of the Shield had fallen. They had probably assumed they were still safe.
Previously, the monsters had been forced to squeeze together through the gate in order to enter the city. Now that the wall had been destroyed, they began pouring in without restraint. A surge of smaller monsters joined the massive colossus. The situation just kept getting worse and worse.
It wasn’t long before it took another bad turn.
“Hey, you’re that freak from the tavern that likes to hang out with monsters!”
Psycho gritted her teeth. The man’s voice felt like nails on a chalkboard to her.
“What are you two muttering about over there…? H-holy crap, what is that giant creature doing out there?!”
It was the mean-spirited soldier they had run into at the tavern. He pointed at the colossus currently headed toward the castle and shouted loudly. He was making a scene, and his panic was gradually spreading.
“Be quiet, do you want to get killed?!”
“Ahh…!”
The sharpness in Psycho’s tone was enough to shut the man up for now, but he probably wasn’t going to keep quiet for long.
“Everyone, calm down and listen to me. It’s dangerous here. A lot has happened, and we need to buy time, but right now everyone has to leave the castle.”
At this point the decision was out of their hands. Psycho kept the details to herself, but she urged them all to flee immediately.
“Don’t listen to this girl! She’s working for the Dark Lord!”
“What?!” Psycho shouted, taken completely by surprise. She couldn’t believe that the soldier had just accused her and her friends of being servants of the Dark Lord.
“That tiny one there is a monster! I saw it with my own eyes! Look at how she’s covering her face with a mask! Everyone, see for yourself!”
The soldier flounced his way toward Tsutsumi, reaching out in an attempt to rip off her mask.
“Hey, hey, hey, calm down there, buddy!” Ada said, stepping between them and gently holding the man back.
“Are you with them, too? Rotraud was supposedly a servant of the Dark Lord, right? You’re telling me that a bunch of rookies managed to take him down all by themselves? I bet that was just a lie in order to infiltrate Galdorssia!”
“You got a death wish or something?! We risked our lives out there…”
Just then Psycho spotted Leela. Leela had been there. She had seen everything!
“Leela, perfect timing! Tell them!” Psycho said, hoping the people would be more willing to listen to someone who had actually been there.
But Leela didn’t answer. She pressed a distraught hand to her chest, her body trembling. It seemed she was still deeply traumatized by the event.
“She didn’t see nothing! You can’t fool me! I bet you had something to do with Lady Falmeyr collapsing as well!”
The man’s words hit the crowd like a lit match.
“Lady Falmeyr collapsed…?”
She had been the crowd’s last hope. Their fear soon turned into hostility, and they began hurling accusations at Psycho and Tsutsumi.
“This is all your fault!”
“Get out of here!”
“Everyone, please listen! It’s not like that!” Ada tried desperately to intervene, but no one was listening to her.
“That’s what you get for siding against humans!” the mean-spirited soldier said, sneering.
He was so caught up in his bullying that he didn’t even notice the anomaly happening in the air around him. But Psycho did not fail to see the faint shimmering creeping up behind the soldier’s back.
“Watch out!”
Psycho shoved the soldier out of the way. In the next moment, something transparent pierced her chest.
“Huh…? Uh…?”
The soldier stared at Psycho, who was dangling in midair before his eyes.
“It’s one of the giant ants! One of the giant ants is here and it’s invisible!” another soldier shouted.
They thought they had gotten rid of all the larger ant creatures, but there was another one—one with the ability to turn invisible. It must have sneaked into the castle at some point. Its invisibility wasn’t perfect, however. If you watched closely enough, you could see a faint shimmer in the air where it stood.
It was the same creature that had fought Seigrat along with Long Legs. The same one that had destroyed the portcullis. A shroud.
The monster tossed Psycho aside. She hit the wall with a splat and fell limply to the ground.
“Psycho!”
There was a gaping hole in Psycho’s chest. She showed no signs of movement. Ada began frantically casting healing magic on Psycho, but the wound wasn’t closing.
“The wound is too big…,” Ada sobbed. “Come on, Psycho! Don’t die like this!”
Tsutsumi threw herself at Shroud without a second glance at Psycho. There were too many people here. Some of them were even injured. She couldn’t use her gas. Instead, she faced off against the creature with a single tiny dagger coated in venomous ichor from her own body.
Psycho watched absently as her vision began to grow dark.
Specimen No. 13 was telling Saiko about her dreams.