Chapter 16
○○○
There’s not a moment to lose.
Eris.
Mika. Angie.
Time is running out, every single second.
Angie’s barrier emits a screeching sound, like a cry of anguish.
I’m scared to choose either one.
I’m afraid that one of them will die.
At that moment, a voice reaches me.
「Master! I told you to leave this to me!」
「Eris!?」
「I’m fine! I will definitely defeat this guy! So Master, please do what you can do!」
We are the best master and disciple, I feel like she said that.
There’s no more hesitation.
「I’m counting on you, Eris.」
I mutter softly and attempt a 「chant cancellation chant」.
「My magic power! Take it all!!」
I activate my last resort.
「Alright, I’ll keep you company for seven seconds.」
○○○
The world changes.
The flickering of the Sacred Sword seems to have stopped.
In this time where almost everyone is frozen.
One second passes.
I tear apart a single blade touching Angie’s barrier.
I don’t even notice the damage to a part of my own body.
I stab my sword into the second and third blades.
Three seconds pass.
I smash the fourth and fifth blades together.
Four seconds pass.
The sixth blade finally notices its own damage.
Too late. Without allowing a counterattack, I grab the blade, throw it into the air, and hurl my sword at it.
Ah, there are still three seconds left.
Five seconds pass.
I wipe the tears from the eyes of Angie and Mika as their barrier shatters.
Six seconds pass.
Of course, you’re also responsible for recklessly attacking me, right?
I hold back (not sure if I can) and punch Ryūgūin in the stomach.
○○○
Seven seconds later.
The technique is released, and sound returns to the world.
「What the – !」
The sixth blade I launched explodes, illuminating the night sky.
Beside me, Ryūgūin,
「I want to die-」 the moment he says that, he receives a mysterious explosive impact to his stomach and goes 「Bleeegh!」 while bending over and tumbling.
「Ahh! The Hero vomited!」
「Oh no! The Hero also had an accident down there…」
I thought I messed up, but what’s done is done. His behavior this time was too much.
Convincing myself of that, I run towards Eris.
○○○
When I see the Dragon Bone Swordsman crossing swords with Eris, I somehow see a glimpse of the Knight Commander’s swordsmanship.
That’s when I feel something off.
No, this is different… but is it possible?
The Dragon Bone Swordsman seems to be wielding several different sword styles.
It’s as if he’s possessed by different people, with multiple completely distinct sword techniques and schools.
Most likely, somehow, the dungeon granted this monster the sword skills of those considered the strongest among humans.
But so what if that’s the case?
The strong are strong, and the victors are the winners.
If the opponent wielding the sword is just one person, then it’s merely a duel.
What’s unfolding before my eyes right now is a duel between the strongest swordsman in history and the current strongest swordsman.
It’s simply a matter of which of the two is purely stronger.
Then, a strange thought crosses my mind.
The fact that the two boss monsters wanted a one-on-one duel might have been an inconvenient error even from the dungeon’s perspective.
The Dragon Bone Swordsman swings his arm with such force against Eris that it wouldn’t be surprising to call it a dragon’s strike, due to the dragon bones constituting his body. Eris continues to parry the Dragon Bone Swordsman’s sword, which makes a sound like it’s tearing through the air with each swing, by a hair’s breadth using divine realm techniques.
At that moment, Eris, who seemed to be on the defensive and at a disadvantage from an outside perspective, lets out a shout of vigor. The Dragon Bone Swordsman’s sturdy sword is smoothly entwined by Eris’s Holy Sword, and Eris wastes no time slashing it off diagonally in a single stroke.
「Well done.」
The Dragon Bone Swordsman speaks as if satisfied and vanishes into ashes.
○○○
「Master! We won!」
「Yeah, I saw.」
「Wasn’t I awesome?!」
「Yeah, you were awesome. You were amazing!」
My vocabulary disappears due to her immense skill, but we wait together for the excitement to subside over time.
「Well then, shall we prepare to go back?」
「Master, Master, look at this!」
「This is the boss’s sword, right? Wow! That’s my disciple for you!」
「Praise me a lot when we get back, okay?」
Eris puts out her pinky, saying it’s a promise.
「Sure.」
I link pinkies with Eris and nod with few words.
However, I’d like to note here that the time Eris and I hoped for never came again.
○○○
They say there’s a phrase 「easy come, easy go」 to describe encounters.
I don’t think that’s the case at all for me.
○○○
「Are you three okay?」
I call out to the three standing at the entrance with dejected expressions.
「I’m coming over there, so wait. It’s quite a distance to the portal, so if you’re tired, Ryūgūin, I’ll carry you.」
When I say that, Eris runs towards the three.
I see Eris’s expression.
Those eyes, that look.
Memories resurface.
No way, that’s wrong, stop, why is this─.
Eris kneels and holds up her Holy Sword with both hands.
「O Hero, if you would be so kind, please accept me, Eris Gladius, as your sword─」
「!!!」
I scream a voiceless scream.
─This isn’t right!
I leap in a single bound into the range of their attack.
─This must be some kind of mistake!
I knock the raised Holy Sword away from below.
─Don’t insult their noble souls!
I slice Ryūgūin’s head off in a straight line.
Ryūgūin’s head, sticking out its tongue, rolls on the ground.
Mika and Angie, dumbfounded for a moment, immediately scream.
「Mika!!」
The trembling Mika responds with a 「Y-Yes!」
She raises her voice, perhaps because my sword isn’t pointed at her.
「Heal him so he doesn’t die!! You should be able to do that much even in this state!!」
Mika is one of the world’s top healers.
That much should be easy for her.
「Yes! I’ve performed the healing!」
「Are you afraid of me?」
She hangs her head with a pale expression.
I’ve done this much in front of everyone.
I can’t go back now either.
I was aware of the stagnant, muddy emotions accumulated within me. I was just forcibly keeping the lid closed so they wouldn’t show their face, so they wouldn’t explode.
「Mika, you can use Vow Magic, I’m sure. Invoke it.」
I point my fingers in order.
「The targets are me, Ryūgūin, and you three.」
I convey the detailed steps.
A single shining scale appears with Mika’s chanting of Vow Magic.
「The weight I can give you on the scale is the weight of life – ‘To let Ryūgūin live’. In exchange for that, there’s something I want to ask of you four to balance the scale.」
Angie stands dumbfounded next to the bloodied Ryūgūin.
She turns her hollow gaze towards me.
I feel a heart-wrenching emotion at their gazes.
「First, from now on, you three ‘must cherish yourselves’.」
The vow I’m about to give them is my selfish desire, nothing more than my ego wanting them to return to how they were before.
「Angie, ‘be sincere with magic and yourself’.」
She used to love magic more than anyone and was honest with herself.
Mika, frightened by me, desperately tries to suppress the trembling of her hands, gripping them until they turn pale.
「Mika, ‘please continue to save many people’.」
She used to be a person of compassion who helped others without regard for herself or their status.
Eris is crying with a pale face, holding her head.
「Eris, ‘don’t forget to strive and don’t offer your sword to the Hero’.」
She was always a proud girl who never broke and strived for improvement, and would never offer her sword to the Hero.
The one emotion that caused this situation is – don’t defile their, no, I can’t deceive myself anymore at this point – my, my noble souls of them.
Did they change, or were they changed?
No matter how much I thought about what happened, I couldn’t find an answer as to whether I should believe in them or if I was betrayed by them.
Mika nods repeatedly at my request and hurries to complete the incantation.
Once this incantation is over, I probably won’t be able to face them again.
They say a person can’t live alone.
But I think,
People don’t become alone because they want to be alone.
Memories with them float up like bubbles, many and many, appearing and disappearing, appearing and disappearing.
This emotion was the remnant of my possessiveness and baseness.
「The-The incantation is complete…」
Turning my back to Mika, who informs me with a trembling voice, I leave the place as if cutting off everything, along with the signal of the completion of the incantation.
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