Episode 19: Eerie

“Uwaaaaaaah?!”

The moment I realized it was a slash meant to cut me down, I twisted my body and leaped back.

It could be called a reflex at this point—I instinctively judged that getting hit would be bad.

And that judgment seemed to be correct.

The black shadow that was released passed through where I had been standing, then sliced through the trees behind me as if meeting no resistance at all.

A gust of wind assaulted me belatedly.

Branches and leaves were blown wildly about, rustling and crying out noisily.

I couldn’t dodge the wind pressure—I somehow lowered my body and rolled across the ground to deflect it.

…With one swing it whipped up wind and sliced through objects effortlessly, huh.

What the hell is this thing—some kind of monster…?!

“Tch, [Smash]!!”

I thrust out my right hand and fired off the spell.

I didn’t know what would be effective, so I used this versatile option.

But there was no armored figure at the point of impact.

That thing was closing in on me with a sliding movement that completely ignored the laws of physics.

From the arm part of the armor, something like a black haze was billowing out, and within it, something like the black whip from before was swaying limply.

It clearly wasn’t a human arm.

There was no person inside that armor.

Then what happened to the owner of this armor?

What happened to the escort people?

…I wasn’t given time to think about such things.

The eerily extending black arm blurred.

A slash was coming.

I reflexively drew my sword.

This was a pattern I’d practiced many times.

Responding to surprise attacks and sudden strikes—this was a situation I’d particularly anticipated after intensively training not to die.

“———”

“Haah!!”

I deflected the released jet-black sword flash.

The sword infused with magical power didn’t display enough power to slice through the trees like butter.

Of course, I had anticipated this.

With an ordinary sword, I could see myself being cut clean in two.

And also, the opening right after it unleashed its attack.

I kicked off the ground and jumped into my opponent’s guard.

Close combat was disadvantageous, but if I could finish it in one blow, there’d be no problem.

I had enough cards in hand to say that confidently.

“[Gran Blaze]!!”

From the gripped portion to the sword tip, raging flames burst forth.

You could even call it an explosion.

The violent flames illuminated the densely overgrown thicket.

I didn’t want to overuse flames in this forest.

But I judged this was the only way to cut through metal armor.

I swung down the blade, suddenly accelerated by the explosion.

The flames followed its trajectory, simultaneously clearly illuminating the state of the armor—its head and body now separated.

I heard the sound of the severed helmet crashing down somewhere with a thud.

And yet, somehow… there was no real impact.

I didn’t have the sensation of having succeeded.

As expected, something swayed at the edge of my vision.

I felt a cold chill on my back.

“Tch!!”

I kicked the armor in front of me with all my strength. Using the recoil to distance myself backward.

In my field of vision, the thing’s utterly eerie form was reflected.

From where the armor’s head had been, something pitch black was gushing out.

The whip-like hand visible from the gauntlet had at some point taken on a definite form like a human’s, existing there. Accompanied by strange movements, as if forming hand seals.

“…[Blaze Slash]!”

I couldn’t afford to watch leisurely.

I swung and released the flames wreathing my sword as a slash.

The fan-shaped attack flew straight toward the armor and struck it directly.

Its entire body was engulfed in flames like a human torch, and a human-shaped shadow appeared within the flames.

…Can I win?

There had been no resistance from the opponent.

I didn’t know what it was intending, but it couldn’t be unharmed in those flames.

“[Gran Blaze]! [Gran Blaze]!!”

Like a broken record, I fired off spells in rapid succession.

If it was working, rather than getting elaborate, I thought it would be better to keep hitting it with the same thing while it was working.

The raging flames grew even larger in scale with the follow-up attack.

Because of that, the shadow within the flames disappeared.

I can win… I can win.

Just as my sense of impact was about to shift into certainty, at that moment.

“Ka…e. …uu?? Ruu??”

Through the gaps in the sound of flames burning through the air, I heard something like that—a voice that sounded almost like a child’s sleep talk.

In an instant, the atmosphere transformed.

Following that sensation, sudden wind pressure and burning heat assaulted my face and entire body.

Once again, nature began to rustle and make noise.

“Ngh!”

I groaned softly from the heat and pressure, protecting my vision with my arm so it wouldn’t be crushed.

THUD—something made a sound nearby.

When I looked with narrowed eyes, something like a metal plate was stuck in the ground, charred.

Startled, I tried to look at the flames before me.

But the wind pressure was still terrible and I couldn’t look directly at it.

When the surroundings regained their calm and the heat of the flames disappeared, stability finally returned to my vision.

And what jumped into my view was the aftermath of those raging flames.

There was nothing.

Only the blackened ground that stretched endlessly.

Not even the empty shell of the armor remained there.

It disappeared.

Where to?

Did it die?

That anticlimactically?

While my thoughts connected in an unbroken chain, something moved at the edge of my vision.

It was a child.

That child who had been grabbed by the armor earlier and thrown away by my attack.

I’d thought they were dead, but they were alive, huh.

But it wasn’t such a carefree situation.

As might be expected, it wasn’t normal.

It was abnormal.

It wore an eerie atmosphere reminiscent of that armor’s bearing from before.

…Did it possess them?

After arriving at that thought, I think my actions were quick.

But even more than that, that thing was faster.

“[Gran———, !?]”

The child before me lunged toward me.

With abnormal acceleration.

I flinched for a moment at the rapid approach, but my spell-casting hand didn’t slacken.

If I could cast it faster, the opponent would take a direct hit.

That thinking was mistaken.

“———Blaze]!!”

I released raging flames forward.

Burning through grass, trees, and air.

However, it didn’t hit the crucial target.

The child swerved sharply to the side—it hadn’t come straight on.

Bad, I allowed it to close in.

The next attack… while I was hesitating like that, something high-speed crossed beside me.

“What?!”

It passed by.

I couldn’t immediately grasp what had happened.

…It ran away?

Crossing past me and leaving.

In that direction is…

My heart pounded heavily.

Immediately, I turned on my heel and started running in the direction that thing went.

Bad, that direction is bad.

That direction is toward the Sacred Rock… where the children are, where Eleanore is.

What will it do when it gets there?

…I accelerate as much as possible with magic.

An unpleasant sweat clung to both my mind and body.

***

Eleanore was waiting for the servant with a serious expression.

After going to search for the missing commoner and some time passing.

He’d said he had a lead, but was he right?

She had no way of knowing.

“…U-um”

The boy beside her spoke to her.

It was the boy who had come to inform them about someone going missing.

The other children were playing around, somewhere treating it like someone else’s problem while understanding that something serious seemed to be happening.

But he, perhaps feeling responsible for having informed them of the situation, was quietly waiting with her for Arcs’s return.

“W-will that child… be alright?”

“Do you mean Arcs… that person from earlier?”

“Uh, yeah…”

“He’ll be fine. Surely he’ll come back with the missing person, acting like nothing happened.”

It was always like that.

The person called Arcs Leefort.

Even when pushed with impossible demands, he would just make a slightly troubled face and always accomplish them without fail.

Despite being 10 years old, the same age as her, he was recognized by the adults around him, and it wasn’t uncommon for him to be entrusted with work beyond even those adults.

So this time too, he would return with a face like nothing had happened.

She was certain of it.

“But… that armored monster was… really scary, so…”

“Arcs is many times stronger than ordinary people. There’s no need to worry.”

His strength had been glimpsed even during this trial.

Though they had encountered few magical beasts, when they did encounter them, he dealt with them calmly and swiftly.

Though he probably could have overpowered them with force, perhaps out of consideration for Eleanore, he even had the composure to handle things in ways that wouldn’t send entrails or blood flying.

He often lost when fighting her family’s knights, but conversely, the fact that he could fight on equal terms with them at the same age showed that Arcs’s strength was real—even she, an amateur, could tell.

“I hope so…”

While she was full of such conviction, the boy responded half-heartedly.

Well, it would be normal to wonder what a child the same age as oneself could do.

Surely when he returned, the boy would change his view—Eleanore thought this secretly.

That’s why she furrowed her brow at the information that next reached her ears.

“Ah! You came back!”

The children’s voices of surprise.

“Where did you go?!”

“The others were looking for you”

“Were you lost? That’s lame!”

They were full of vigor, laughing boisterously.

In the midst of it was a single boy.

“A-ah, that’s my friend!”

Saying this to Eleanore, the waiting boy also ran over there.

But she watched the scene with an unconvinced expression.

(Arcs…?)

His figure wasn’t there.

She thought he might have returned together with that boy called his friend, but she couldn’t see Arcs’s figure anywhere.

Hadn’t he found him… perhaps?

“Where did you go?! We were looking for you, you know?!”

“Well, I guess that’s everyone from our village done”

“Phew, should we head back then?”

While they were getting excited among those from the same hometown, she watched the scene blankly, standing alone.

“…Hey, we’re going. What’s wrong?”

“……”

The boy who had been missing held out his hand silently.

Not a single emotion could be read from his expression.

Come to think of it, even while they were getting excited, his mouth hadn’t moved at all.

“…A handshake? Is that it?”

While questioning, the boy timidly tried to take the hand.

In that instant.

The arm blurred.

It was probably such a faint movement that you wouldn’t notice unless you were watching carefully.

Eleanore, watching from a distance, understood.

And she also understood that this was probably bad.

But she couldn’t move instantly.

She could only watch the moment when hand would touch hand.

At that point.

“Don’t touch that thing!!!”

A desperate shout rang out.

Everyone’s movements stopped with a jolt.

In that silence, the only one actively moving was the owner of that voice who had entered their field of vision.

“Arcs…?!”

The person she’d been waiting for burst out from the thicket and delivered a powerful flying kick to the head of the boy who had been seeking a handshake.

And simultaneously, from that boy, some kind of black shadow was sent flying toward the rock.

That it was an intense black slash, and that it had bisected the Sacred Rock—she learned this immediately after.