“Well, well, well, I knew that if I acted like the source of all this trouble, you’d send in your best! And hunting them is my job.”
He was a real chatterbox. The gaunt man looked at us with a sticky gaze. A thin smile was plastered on his face.
“Here, I’ll give you this.”
So saying, the man casually tossed something, as if throwing a piece of candy.
“Ugh…”
It was a mine worker whose body had already begun to decompose.
He was likely someone who had been too slow to escape the collapse.
It was a cruel thing to do.
“You…!”
“Don’t fall for it, Fee-nee! It’s a provocation!”
“You’re surprisingly calm, how disappointing. Now then…”
The man brushed off his palms as if he’d just finished handling the corpse and eyed us, as if he still wanted to keep talking.
“Out of you three, I wonder who’s the strongest? You? Hmm, no. You just seem like a somewhat talented mage.”
“What!?”
“Your affinity is wind and earth? No, wind and water, huh. A very elf-like skill set.”
He pinpointed Fina’s abilities exactly.
Just what is this guy?
“Then you? No, not you either. Just a power fighter with a high aura level.”
“H-How do you know…?”
He must be talking about Neil.
What kind of ability could you use to gauge someone’s combat capabilities in such a short amount of time?
It’s unnerving.
“Which means it must be you. A swordswoman with an ultimate-class aura. It’s just a shame you’re a woman.”
“Katia-chan!”
“Yes. I don’t know what tricks he’s using, but it seems he’s figured out our combat strength.”
“Now, now, if you don’t concentrate, you’ll die!”
The gaunt man took out the ocarina and blew into it.
Then…
“Katia-san, the worms are here!”
A massive number of worms, who had been waiting behind the man, began to surge forward.
There were so many that the ground rumbled.
“Damn, we’ll fight back! The sound of the cave-in must have been heard outside! If we can hold out, we can expect rescue!”
To get through this situation, we had to either endure until reinforcements arrived or neutralize the worms after defeating the man controlling them.
“I wonder if you can do it… Huhu.”
The swarm of worms closed in.
Each worm on its own wasn’t much of a threat.
Their movements were slow, and their skin was soft.
However, when the man blew the ocarina, they simultaneously spat out dissolving fluid.
An inescapable area-of-effect attack, a carpet bombing of dissolving fluid.
Even a single splash would cause the skin all over your body to fester and become a fatal wound.
Our defense was Fina’s wind magic.
She blew the dissolving fluid away with wind.
After the defensive action, Neil and I plunged into the swarm of worms, desperately reducing their numbers.
Fortunately, they didn’t seem to be able to fire the dissolving fluid continuously.
We repeated the cycle of defense and attack over and over.
But…
“Haa, haa, Katia-chan, my magic power is…”
There was almost no airflow within the cave.
Creating airflow from scratch would consume a lot more magic power than it would outside the cave.
Fina, who was solely responsible for the defense, was reaching her limit.
In the first place, Fina was taking on too much of the burden tactically.
However, there were no other effective means of defense.
Neil, unable to stand it any longer, shouted.
“Katia-san, go! If you defeat him, their control will be disrupted! You’ll be able to avoid the dissolving fluid without relying on magic!”
“That’s right, at this rate we’ll just get worn down! Katia-chan!”
“Please, just hold on a little longer!”
“Leave it to me!”
“Katia-chan, be careful too! That guy is an unknown quantity!”
There was no time to hesitate.
Leaving the worms to the two of them, I charged towards the gaunt man!
“I’m breaking through!”
I slashed with my black sword and dashed forward.
Splitting the swarm of worms to the left and right, I ran, ran.
Increasing the density of my aura, I blew them away.
Cutting my way through the swarm, I finally saw the white-haired man.
There he is!
“Haha, amazing, amazing! The worms are like scraps of paper! Very well, I’ll be your opponent!”
Riding the momentum of my charge, I slashed at the man.
The man took the ocarina away from his mouth, drew his sword, and blocked.
He blocked it?
This guy, contrary to his appearance, is surprisingly skilled with a sword too…!
And even though he stopped playing the ocarina, the worms’ control hadn’t broken.
“Have you noticed? The worms won’t stop until you kill me. The orders have already been transmitted.”
“Then!”
“I wonder if you can do it? You’ve never killed anyone, have you?”
“Guh…”
For some unknown reason, he had seen through me.
Get a grip!
Didn’t Dan-san say it too!
Killing might be necessary right now!
“Useless, useless. In the end, people’s words only sink in when they’re accompanied by their own feelings. No matter what advice you receive, it’s meaningless if you can’t make it your own.”
“!!”
He can read that much…?
“That’s right, I can read minds. This is also the power of God!”
“…”
Whether he was getting carried away or just had plenty of confidence, the man confessed his ability.
Even if that was true, he should only be able to read the surface thoughts.
Otherwise, if he looked at my past, my inner self, he should feel something strange.
And maybe his endless chatter was to guide my thoughts and extract the information he needed.
“Oh? Did you realize? But it doesn’t matter. I just need to keep you here like this. Then…”
“Fee-nee! Behind you!”
“Damn! Sorry, I’m losing concentration!”
“Fina-san! Neil-san!”
I heard the two of them groaning in pain.
Their limits were near.
“The other two will collapse on their own. Then your kind heart will break too, won’t it?”
“You bastard!”
I slashed at him with my sword, two, three times.
But, perhaps because he could read my mind, he blocked everything.
Damn it! My aura is fluctuating too!
“Ahahahahaha! It’s your fault that the two of them are going to die! Hesitate, hesitate! You’re still afraid of killing people, aren’t you? I love people like you! You have immense power, but your heart is weak! If you went all out, my precognition would be meaningless, yet so many similar people have lost to me!”
Is it… my fault?
Are Neil-san and Fina-san going to die because of me…?
My heart creaked.
No, it’s not me.
It’s this guy’s fault!
Then why can’t I kill him…?
Am I scared? Even if I am, I would choose to kill the guy in front of me rather than let my close friends die.
Is it because “all lives are equal”?
…I suddenly felt a jolt from my own incongruous thought.
Ah, I see, that’s what it was.
The fetters of my previous life.
I was raised to believe that all lives are equal. With my peace-addled head, I believed that everyone thought the same way. That life was equal, and everyone cherished it. That’s why I never thought that nameless guy I met in the back alley would stab me.
That’s why I couldn’t sense it. That killing intent. Because there are people who take life lightly.
That’s why I was stabbed as I carelessly walked past him, without any wariness.
Life is an illusion of equality.
If it were equal, I shouldn’t have had to die so miserably, so unfairly!
Then…
“It’s simple, isn’t it…”
“Oh?”
If life isn’t equal, then it’s simple. The scale in my heart.
On one side are the lives of Neil-san and Fina-san. On the other side is the life of the guy in front of me.
It doesn’t matter that there are two lives on one side.
The result would be the same even if it was just Neil-san or just Fina-san.
It doesn’t change. The scale tilted.
“Your life… isn’t worth hesitating over for me.”
“Hick! What, it’s completely different from just now…! No one has ever reacted like this before…!”
I took a step closer.
The man backed away.
Entrusting myself to dark emotions, I raised my sword.
Selfishly, selfishly, just as I felt.
“Stop! Don’t come any closer! Don’t direct such pure killing intent at me!”
“Die.”
Blood splattered.
The man’s head flew off and rolled on the ground.