4
Crossing my arms, I block a kick from the griffin’s front legs. A moment later, I find myself rolling forward on the ground, Heine’s fireballs landing where I had been just a moment before.
“Stay down, Six!”
“Whooooooa!”
Trying to get up leaves me vulnerable, and the griffin swings again to take advantage of that moment.
“Boss! Behind you!”
“Yiiiiiiiiikes!”
Another of Heine’s fireballs whizzes past me as I somehow avoid the griffin’s blow.
“Hey! Why am I the only one fighting?! We outnumber them!”
I take a quick step backward, barely avoiding losing my eyebrows to a fireball. My bangs aren’t quite so lucky, and I catch the unpleasant waft of burning hair.
“W-well…I brought a burning blade this time! It’s not much use against an enemy that manipulates flame. Look, keep Heine and the griffin busy! I’ll go burn the supply crates!”
“A-and I’ll go grab the boxes we’re taking home, so Snow doesn’t burn them by accident!”
Talk about useless. I find myself seriously considering Heine’s offer in light of how useless my companions are turning out to be.
“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Amazing! Simply amazing! To think a mere human is holding up against the combined attacks from me and the griffin! Just who the hell are you?”
I plan my next few actions around positioning myself so I can use Snow to shield me from the strangely giddy Heine. Turning to avoid another fireball, I mentally map out the steps required. The griffin rears up on its hind legs to pounce when…
…There is a loud noise, and the griffin is flung backward. I look to the source of the sound…
Alice is on the ground, flattened by the recoil of a big-game shotgun shell.
“…Not that I’m not grateful, but just how weak are you anyway?”
“Shut up. I was waiting for the right moment as you jumped around like a headless chicken. You could at least fight more convincingly,” Alice complains, inserting more shells into her shotgun and taking aim at the griffin.
The creature whines weakly, blood pouring from the gunshot wounds all across its upper body. The sight wipes Heine’s smile off her face. She freezes for a moment in shock, then eyes the shotgun in Alice’s hands.
“…A mere child, intimidating my griffin? Just what is that thing…? Just who the hell are you two?!”
Heine drops down to a low fighting stance, all playfulness gone from her features. There’s a new tension in the air, and it’s clear from her demeanor that Heine’s reevaluated how much of a threat we pose.
The animal part of my brain screams to me that this woman is much more dangerous than the griffin. Alice appears to agree, shifting her aim to Heine and keeping watch over her movements.
“Looks like the odds have shifted in our favor. Your defeat will be my greatest achievement yet!”
Snow, having realized that Heine’s pinned, wraps up her arson and joins us, blade raised. What is up with this woman? Now that the heavy lifting is done, here she comes to steal the show. I try to come up with the perfect cutting remark for the insufferable glory hound when suddenly…
I hear a dull thump behind me.
It’s the sound of a really heavy object landing after a long fall. I turn around, and there it is. An enormous creature stands and spreads its wings, immediately darkening my surroundings as its wings block the sun.
“…Mutant class,” Alice states without inflection.
The object that fell from the sky was an enormous, horned, humanoid demon at least three meters tall. The well-built monster has a pair of large bat-like wings growing from its back. It holds an enormous metal club in its hand and tilts its head downward to stare at us.
“<Let’s use Snow as bait and get the hell out of here, Alice!>”
“<Right there with you!>”
“Hey, Six, enough of that strange language; it’s hardly the place or time! You’re clearly plotting something!”
Snow is whining behind us, but I don’t have the time to respond. Heine and the griffin are bad enough. I’m not standing around waiting to face that thing, too!
“…Mm… Huh…?”
A voice chooses this moment to speak up in a sleepy tone. At the foot of the mutant that fell from the sky is a familiar-looking wheelchair. Grimm, who had somehow managed to sleep through all the other commotion, is awoken by the sound of the monster’s impact.
She rubs the sleep from her eyes, glancing around in a daze. She turns her gaze upward, staring directly into its eyes.
“G-good morning…?”
In response to Grimm’s greeting, the monster lifts the club in its hand and draws back…
…The sound is a cross between a moist crunch and a wet pop. Grimm slumps back into her wheelchair, missing everything above her shoulders.
“H-hey, Grimm?”
Snow steps into a fighting stance as she notices Grimm’s motionless body.
“Six! Go get Grimm while I keep this thing busy!”
Get Grimm…?
I’m pretty sure that blow was lethal.
“Um…you want me to go get her? You sure you’re okay? She’s just a pile of meat now.”
The monster swings its club, flicking the blood off it, then kicks over Grimm’s wheelchair. Grimm’s body lands on the ground with a thud as pieces of the wheelchair go flying in every direction.
“Heine, why are you playing with these maggots?”
“…Tch. I wasn’t playing. Whatever, the moment’s ruined. You finish cleaning this up, yeah?”
Heine climbs onto the back of the whimpering griffin, patting its back. The dark-skinned demon sighs, giving us a cursory glance before the griffin takes flight and vanishes off into the distance.
My brain’s having a hard time keeping up with everything happening at once.
Okay, first order of business is to do as Snow says and get Grimm. If I think about it, Grimm’s a magic user. So her current state’s gotta be an illusion of some sort, right?
“Six! Get it together!” Alice smacks my back, shoving me forward.
“Oof! A-all right! Okay, Snow, I’ll leave the big guy to you. I’ll handle Grimm!”
As I make my way toward Grimm, Snow steps forward to engage our new adversary.
“Ha! Frail humans who die from a little poke…fighting me? Hilarious! Too hilarious!”
He flexes his enormous wings, blasting the area with a gust of wind.
“Urgh…”
Snow lets out a soft snarl as the headwind holds her back.
“Hey, human, before I kill you, allow me to introduce myself. I’m one of the Demon Lord’s Elite Four, Gadalkand of the Earth! Remember my name! You’ll remember it, right? Okay! Now let’s see who else I can poke to death.”
Gadalkand roars as another of Alice’s shotgun blasts rings out. He throws his arms up to block his face, the shot peppering his stone skin. Unfazed by the blast, Gadalkand digs his heels into the ground and charges toward Snow…
“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuu…”
Rose inhales deeply as Gadalkand begins running.
“Raaaaaagh! C’mere you! Don’t you dare underestimate me!”
As Gadalkand steps forward to attack Snow, Rose’s fire breath blasts him backward, engulfing him in flame. Seeing an opening, Snow steps forward, striking at Gadalkand with her burning blade. The flames billowing around Gadalkand intensify, and he lets out a pained cry, staggering backward.
Gadalkand roars in frustration, using his mighty wingbeats to quell the flames lapping at his skin. I reach Grimm’s side and pick her up from the ground…
And freeze.
Nope, this doesn’t look like an illusion at all. Grimm’s body, lacking its head, has the characteristic dead weight of a corpse. It slumps in my arms.
“<Hey, Alice…you think humans on this planet can survive this sort of wound?>”
“<Get it together, Six. She’s clearly dead.>”
Alice glances at Grimm’s body in my arms and gives her frank assessment. I feel something inside me as Grimm’s death registers. I mean, I only met her yesterday, and I don’t know anything about her other than her taste in underwear…but still, she was a member of my squadron.
“You’re as good as dead, you son of a bitch! Alice, Snow, cover me! Screw the Elite Four! I’m gonna rip this guy a new one! Rose, take care of Grimm’s corpse!”
Snow flinches at my anger but drops back into her fighting stance.
“R-right. He’s one of their top brass. Defeating him here will be a tremendous achievement.”
“Ha! What are you getting so worked up about? You need to relax, learn to enjoy life more! You humans barely live that long to begin with. Are you so eager to die?” Gadalkand taunts.
“I don’t care what else happens—you’re dead. Alice, fetch me the R-Buzzsaw! I’m gonna make mincemeat out of this bastard!”
“Okay!”
Just as we all get in position to attack, a voice interrupts from above.
“Lord Gadalkand, there you are! What are you doing, sire?”
Hovering above us was a demon that looked like Gadalkand except two or three sizes smaller.
“Oh, it’s you. I didn’t feel like dealing with that brat Lassel lording his command over us, so I was taking my time getting to the battlefield. Heine caught these humans attacking our supply convoy and was toying with them. I figured I’d have some fun, too…”
“Lady Heine is already on the front lines, sire. The battle is already joined. Whether the supply convoy survives is not our concern but rather Lord Lassel’s as supreme commander. However, if we’re not at our assigned posts it will be our responsibility. Please, sire, let us make haste for the battlefield—if not for Lord Lassel’s sake, then for our clan.”
Gadalkand curses under his breath.
“Looks like you get to live a little while longer, humans. Go ahead and carry that corpse back to your castle and sob around it. You’ll stay out of my way next time if you know what’s good for you!”
And with that parting line, Gadalkand stretches out his wings and takes flight.
“You bastard! You think you can run away? Get back here!”
My taunts ring hollow as Gadalkand gains altitude, rapidly disappearing from view.
“That bastard mentioned heading toward the battlefield…”
“You planning on going after him? I wouldn’t recommend it. There’s no way you’re going to catch up with a flying target. The battle’s likely to be over by the time you get there. We’d better do something for Grimm first.”
Snow stands next to me, watching the demons fly off before turning her attention back to what’s left of the convoy.
“…Alice, what’s the status on the R-Buzzsaw?”
“Didn’t send the request since that winged bastard flew off. Want me to send it now?”
“……No, it’s fine. Let’s take care of Grimm’s body, then make our way back. I’m sure we’ll see that bastard again.”
Around me, Rose continues collecting various crates and piling them on a captured cart, while Snow checks for any stragglers. I turn to look at Grimm’s corpse, laid out on the supply cart, and sigh.
What a waste…
Sure, the things she said were kind of weird, and she spent most of the day napping, but still she seemed like a good person.
“Snow, what do you do with bodies in this kingdom? Burial? Cremation?”
The least we can do is give her a proper funeral.
“…Mm? Wait, Grimm didn’t tell you anything?”
“……?”
I stare at Snow in confusion.
“You seem to be under the impression that Grimm is dead. She’s not this easy to kill.”
“…Say what?”
……
What the hell is she talking about? The last time I checked, surviving decapitation wasn’t on the list of things humans could do.
“I’m saying Grimm’s not actually dead. Did you not read her résumé?”
Snow points to Grimm’s body on the cart, which is rapidly being surrounded by Rose’s captured crates. I get that space is at a premium, but I wish Rose hadn’t placed a pumpkin where Grimm’s head would be… It’s more than a little creepy.
“Go over that one more time for me, would you?”
Snow lets out an impatient sigh at my slack-jawed expression.
“Remember when I told you that all the potential candidates for our squadron were rejects of one sort or another? Take Rose, for example. She’s got demon blood running through her veins. That in and of itself is enough to make her a target of prejudice. Despite her abilities, her previous commanders made her take on all the dangerous tasks, usually alone. An expendable pawn.”
……
“Seems this kingdom’s filled with people who make me look like a saint by comparison.”
“That’s right, this kingdom is full of men as worthless as you are.”
…This bitch…
“Now, about Grimm. The god she serves, Zenarith, is a bit of a special case.”
Snow struggles to find the right phrasing.
“Grimm is quite famous as an archbishop in the right circles…the Archbishop of Zenarith, the ancient evil God of Undeath and Disaster.”
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