Grimgal of Ashes and Illusion - Volume 17 - Chapter 9

9. Simply Painful

“Thaaat’s...!” Purple lightning danced madly as Kimura shouted. “The terrifying poweeer...! Of a reliiic...!”

“Is that the demon sword and armor, Aragarfald?!” Ranta jumped, slashed a specter, then raced past it. The specter burst. “It’s the power of the relic Renji found on the Red Continent!”

The number of incoming bullets had dropped massively. Actually, there were hardly any at this point.

“Tokimune-san!” Haruhiro prompted. I didn’t need to say that, he thought as soon as the name left his mouth. But Tokimune wasn’t the type to take an “I don’t need you to tell me that” kind of attitude.

“Yeah!” With a flash of his pearly whites, Tokimune began advancing once more. “Now’s our chance! Let’s go, people!”

Had Tokimune anticipated this? Anticipated that Shinohara, Renji, and the others taking route B would come to their aid?

Since the synchronized unlocking had worked, that had to mean the team on route B had entered the corridor. However, if the route A team ended up struggling, the route B team surely would too. That was the natural assumption. It was entirely within the realm of possibility that both teams would be pushed out of the corridor by the enemy. If Tokimune had been relying on support from the route B team, that was awfully optimistic of him.

But things worked out this way because the route A team had hung in for so long.

Haruhiro had been trapped, thinking, Nope, we’re at our limits, this isn’t going to work. While he might not have been in a state of panic, he’d definitely felt boxed in. If Haruhiro were the one giving commands, the route A team would have pulled back before Renji and the others could reach them.

Under Tokimune’s leadership, the route A team blew up the incoming specters, carved their way through the shadows, and pressed forward.

Suddenly, the purple lightning vanished.

“Ron.”

“Aw, yeahhhh!”

The buzz-cut warrior who came in from the side had a lantern tied to his waist, and wielded a greatsword shaped like a massive meat cleaver. Ron. When Team Renji’s warrior took a swing, a horrifying slicing sound echoed through the corridor.

What had he cut? A pawn? Or was it a haunt? Or maybe a miniature golem?

Whatever it was, there wasn’t much that the meat cleaver he was carrying couldn’t cut. When he finished the swing, Ron’s weapon was buried deep in the floor. How was he planning to free it?

Ron gripped the hilt of the giant weapon with both hands and forcefully twisted it. When he did, it popped free from the floor, and he swung it down again. Slice. This time the arc was diagonal, and the blade tore into the wall instead of the floor.

With a grunt of exertion, Ron yanked the massive meat cleaver out of the wall, scattering shards of stone rubble all over the area.

“He’s mighty powerful!” Yume was impressed. Rightly so, but Haruhiro couldn’t help but question the turn of phrase “mighty powerful.”

“Zeel, mare, gram, tera, kanon.”

There was chanting. A spell? A whitish sphere flew about wildly. No, there were five, ten, maybe more of them, and they weren’t just flying around at random. Each one accurately struck a shadow, a haunt, or something else.

“Geh-boffah! So many Ice Globes, and with such controoool...!” Kimura shouted. When the whitish orbs struck an enemy, their bodies locked up as if frozen. They likely couldn’t move no matter how they tried.

“Jess, yeen, sark, fram, dart.”

More magic. A bolt of lightning.

“Lightning! Yee-hawwww!” Kikkawa cheered. Haruhiro wasn’t about to start dancing jubilantly like Kikkawa, but it was definitely impressive. The magical lightning arced between the enemies frozen by the whitish spheres, as if chaining between them—no, it was definitely chaining between them—and electrocuted them.

Though Haruhiro didn’t know how it worked, there had to be some meaning behind casting Ice Globe and Lightning in rapid succession like that.

Haruhiro couldn’t see him from here, but Team Renji had a mage who wore black-rimmed glasses. Adachi. He must have been the one responsible.

“Rah!” Ron sliced through several more enemies with his meat cleaver sword. And when he was done, with his weapon embedded in the floor again, he didn’t yank it out for another swing. “We’re finished already? Wasn’t even a challenge.”

It seemed Ron was standing at the end of the straight path. There was a turn leading off to the left near him.

When the group went over to him, they were surprised to find Renji sitting against the wall with his legs crossed, greatsword lying in his lap, arms folded, and eyes closed.

“Hey...” Ranta looked like he was going to say something, but Ron shrugged at him.

“After he does that, he needs to rest a bit.”

“After he uses the power of the relic, you mean? I see...” Kimura’s glasses flashed and he nodded.

“What happens if he doesn’t?” Tokimune asked.

Ron groaned and thought a little before responding, “He probably dies, I guess?”

“Huh?” Haruhiro was speechless.

“Di...” Kuzaku stopped midword, then laughed. “You’re kidding, right? I mean, dying sounds a little excessive...”

“Well, I don’t know what would really happen,” Ron said, then added, “It’s not like he’s tried it,” with a weak laugh. “But if Renji’s taking a break like this, it’s gotta be pretty damn serious.”

“Kimura. Tokimune.” There was a voice from the left.

Haruhiro looked over to see a tiny priest carrying a lantern and a mage wearing black-rimmed glasses standing there. Chibi-chan and Adachi. Uh, all the volunteer soldiers called her Chibi-chan because she was tiny, but was that okay? Calling her that?

“If there’re no problems, let’s move along.”

Obviously, Haruhiro didn’t remember Adachi. They hadn’t had much occasion to meet, so the two of them had apparently never really interacted. Haruhiro got the impression Adachi was hard to get along with. He was an especially particular mage.

“You can hold on to all your thanks for saving you until this is all over. I don’t want to waste time. Renji, you’re ready to go, right?”

“Yeah.” Renji stood up. He gestured with his chin, signaling something to Haruhiro and the others. Move along, probably.

He could’ve said it out loud. Why can’t he just talk to us?

“Thanks,” Tokimune said, winking as he clapped Renji on the shoulder. His forbearance was incredible. It made Haruhiro feel small and petty for letting such a minor thing get to him.

Having reflected on his behavior, Haruhiro said, “Thanks.” The corners of Renji’s lips turned up ever so slightly. Not enough to describe it as a smile. But enough to make Haruhiro think, Wow! Never thought I’d see that from Renji. Glad I said something.

They went left around the corner and found Shinohara waiting for them with nine members of Orion.

“Hey,” Shinohara said, raising one hand as he gave them his usual smile—the strategic, practical one. That was how his own friend and confidant had described it, so it was basically a fake smile. It was a very convincing fake though. Kimura had also said Shinohara was a really good person. That might mean he was multifaceted, hard to sum up in a few words.

“Looks like we kept you waiting.” For some reason, Tokimune extended his hand for a handshake, and Shinohara immediately reciprocated.

“Yeah. A bit.”

“Oh, listen to this guy,” Tokimune jabbed Shinohara in the ribs with his elbow.

“S-Stop it, would you?”

“That’s the kind of ‘stop’ that really means keep going, right?”

“No, it’s the kind of ‘stop’ that means stop, okay?”

“Are you serious?”

“What could possibly make you think I’m not?”

It was hard to imagine that look of bewilderment was strategic, something he was wearing purely out of pragmatism.

Shinohara was plotting something. But that didn’t necessarily mean it was some horrible conspiracy against everyone else present. At his core, he might well be a good person. Haruhiro wanted that to be true, but he knew to make the distinction between his hopes and reality.

“Anyway...” Shinohara and his people had been waiting for them at the fork in the road. To the right was the path Haruhiro’s group had come from, and to the left was the path Shinohara’s group had taken. If they went straight, they would reach the location that Orion had named the antechamber. There was apparently an antechamber, central room, and back room, but Orion claimed to have only reached the central room so far.

“First, I’d like to say that I’m happy to see the twenty-six of us have made it this far without losing anyone. How were things along the way, Kimura?”

“They did better than expected, as you expected. Ho-voh...!” Kimura’s glasses flashed. “Even with my guidance, they were relying on second-hand knowledge. It was their first time here. Despite that, they came as far as the antechamber with ease. Mr. Tokimune’s Tokkis and Mr. Haruhiro’s Haru Heroes are not to be underestimated.”

“Haru...Heroes...” If he acknowledged the pun, he’d only be kicking a hornet’s nest, so Haruhiro suppressed his urge to quip.

“We struggled just an eensy weensy bit there at the end, though!” Kikkawa said, sticking out his tongue playfully.

“Even if Renji hadn’t shown up, we could’ve broken through on our own!” The masked dread knight seemed needlessly insistent.

“Obviously.” Tada’s grip on his warhammer, which was resting on his shoulder, tightened. A vein was visible on his forehead. There was no need to tense up like that.

“We didn’t need your help,” he said. “Don’t get full of yourself, Renchin.”

“It’s Renji.” Though he had instantly corrected Tada, Renji’s face looked absolutely calm. Still, he might not have liked Tada’s attitude. There was a vein on his forehead that looked a lot thicker than usual.

“Looks like you and I need to settle this. Mano-a-mano. You’re not gonna refuse, right?”

“If it can wait until after this, then fine.”

“Could you please refuse?” Haruhiro quipped, and got ignored too.

“All right.” Tada licked his lips. “Don’t forget it. Because, come hell or high water, I won’t. I’ll BTBS you.”

“BTBS?” Tokimune cocked his head to the side. “Does that stand for something?”

“Beat, thrash, bludgeon, and smash.”

“Ohh! Cool! I like it. BTBS. That’s gonna be a thing.”

“B! T! B! S!” Kikkawa jumped up and struck a weird pose. “B! T! B! S! B! T! B! S! BTBS!”

“Shut up, yeah! Kikkawa! Or I BTBS you! Yeah!”

“Anna-san’s already using it! Yahoo!” Kikkawa cheered.

Mimorin nodded. “Yahoo.”

“Heh!” Suddenly, Inui started running. Toward tomorrow—no, back the way they had come.

“Huh? Inui-san?” Kuzaku looked at Haruhiro as if to say, Uh, should he be doing that?

Hell if I know.

...But Haruhiro couldn’t say that, so he shook his head diagonally, not committing to a yes or a no.

“We’ve brought some real talented people with us, huh?” Adachi muttered, then let out a short laugh. He was being sarcastic, no doubt. His exasperation was obvious. Understandable, really.

“A duel between Renji-kun and Tada-kun. This will be something to see,” Shinohara remarked, sounding like he might genuinely mean it. But, this being Shinohara, it was hard to say for sure. “Once the operation is over, I hope you’ll let me get a front-row view. Now then, how about we move on to the antechamber?”

The twenty-five members of the platoon waited for the priests to recast their support magic, then proceeded to the antechamber.

Unlike the corridor, the antechamber, central, and back rooms were not pitch dark, though they weren’t as bright as the inner courtyard either. Were the rooms reflecting the light of the party’s lanterns? Or maybe they were made or painted with a material that glowed when exposed to light. The patterns on the ceiling and floor, the wall art that seemed to depict the king and his retainers, and the rows of statues all shone faintly. Thanks to that, they could make out the size and structure of the room, at least vaguely, and could see even farther than the light of their lanterns would have otherwise reached.

“In the central room...I can see a passage on each side, heading off to the left and the right.” Haruhiro surveyed the antechamber, central room, and back room while remaining slightly cautious of the statues.

“It’s a T-junction... Are there passages in the front of the back room too? These three rooms are all cylindrical, and maybe...twenty meters across? They seem pretty tall too, but...there’s no second floor, huh? The ceiling’s about five meters high. No, maybe a little more.”

“Those things,” Ranta said, shifting his mask aside, and indicating a statue with his eyes. “They’re not gonna start moving, right? Well? Am I right...?”

“Ryo-goh!” Kimura’s bizarre laughter took on too many implausible forms to count. “Why not find out for yourself, Mr. Ranta?”

“I’m taking that as a challenge. If you think I’m gonna chicken out, you’re dead wrong, okay?”

Though he said that, Ranta tip-toed forward, slowly, carefully inching toward the statue. How was it that despite being so recklessly bold, he could act comically cautious at times like this? Because he was Ranta?

“Damn it! I’m not scared! I’m too awesome to be scared!”

“Mew-ewww!” Yume pounced forward and hugged the statue. “Hmmm? It’s just a statue, huh?”

“Ahh! Yume! Damn iiit! I was just checking that!”

“Well, hey. You were actin’ all jumpy, so Yume got all hot and bothered.”

“That doesn’t mean whatever you think it does! Wh-What are you getting all hot and bothered for?”

“Hey, Yume has times when she gets hot and bothered too, y’know?”

“Don’t just say that in a public place like this! Have some shame.”

“Gettin’ hot and bothered is nothin’ to be ashamed of. Right, Merry-chan?”

“Huh?” Merry said after a moment of surprised silence. “Oh... Y-Yeah... Uh? I guess...? Uh...?”

“As animals that need to reproduce, I think some degree of sexual appetite is appropriate and to be expected, although the amount may vary from individual to individual,” Setora said in a disinterested tone.

“Yeah, that’s right.” Yume nodded. “Animals’ve got appetites too. They eat three meals a day. You’ve gotta remember to eat your greens.”

“Pft...” Hard as it was to believe, that outburst of laughter had come from Renji. But wait, when Haruhiro looked at him, there wasn’t even a hint of a smile. Maybe he had imagined it?

“She’s a natural comedian...”

But it was Renji who muttered that to himself, so maybe it really had been him?

“Hm? Do animals not eat three meals a day?” Yume asked, cocking her head to the side, and Renji snorted again. Yeah, that was definitely him.

“Matsuyagi, help us prepare,” Shinohara ordered.

Matsuyagi, one of Orion’s warriors, stepped forward. The guy was practically a giant. He was taller than Kuzaku’s 190 centimeters, and his broad shoulders and chest were impressively thick. His head was big too, probably twice the size of Merry’s or Setora’s. Maybe three times. Matsuyagi had a white cloth wrapped around his neck, apparently the same cloak that the other members of Orion wore. He was so massive he could wear a cloak like a tie.

But Matsuyagi wasn’t just big, he also carried a lot of stuff. The large backpack he laid down on the ground looked awfully heavy. Inside was a bundle of warhammers. Easily more than ten, probably close to twenty.

Matsuyagi had two warhammers hanging at his waist. It was questionable whether Haruhiro could have swung one of them, even if he’d held it in both hands. They looked sturdy.

The warhammers in the bundle were much smaller.

“Stone guards.” Kimura’s glasses flashed. “That is what we call the enemies that caused us so much trouble, forcing us to retreat not once, but twice. We will have you use these to eliminate them.”

Orion had two more warriors in addition to Matsuyagi. Both were men, and they used swords. They undid the bundle and helped themselves to the warhammers.

“You can’t beat stone guards with ordinary swords,” Shinohara explained, but did not reach for the warhammers himself. He was the master of Orion, after all. Presumably his sword was no ordinary one. “Let’s see. I think Renji and Ron will do just fine with their usual weapons. And Tada as well, of course. Haruhiro, I’ll ask you and your party to use the warhammers Matsuyagi brought. We should have more than enough, so if they break, feel free to help yourself to another.”

Despite being told he could use his own weapon, Renji grabbed a warhammer. No, not just one. Two of them. Ron was apparently good with his massive meat cleaver.

Tokimune and Kikkawa each took one. Mimorin followed suit.

Ranta tried to take two, but after giving them a test swing, apparently decided it wasn’t for him.

“I guess one’s good enough...”

“I’m gonna go with the two-sword style.” Kuzaku bravely took one warhammer in each hand. Ranta snorted.

“They aren’t swords, moron.”

“Fine, two-hammer style.”

“That’s not a thing, you idiot.”

“Fine, what should I call it then, senpai?”

“Senpai? Who’re you calling senpai?”

“You. You’ve got seniority over me, right? Even if you’re scum.”

“Who’re you calling scum?!”

“Yume’s fine with takin’ just one.”

“Uhh, me too...”

Haruhiro and Yume both tried using the warhammers, but it didn’t feel right to Haruhiro. Can I use this thing properly? he wondered. He wasn’t sure, but he was going to have to try. Setora took a warhammer too.

“Um, what about Inui-san?” Haruhiro asked Tokimune, just to be sure.

“Ah.” Tokimune deftly twirled his warhammer around, then flashed his pearly whites at Haruhiro. “No need to worry about him. He’ll come back soon enough. Probably at the best possible moment.”

Will he really?

“Now then...” Kimura’s glasses flashed. “They say the third time’s the charm. How about we get down to business?”

Shinohara nodded and drew his sword.

The blade was short and broad. Its tip wasn’t pointed, but instead slanted, as if it had been cut off. It looked like a long, sturdy dagger, or perhaps a short, thick longsword. Maybe it was a relic?

“We tried a variety of methods, but magic was almost completely ineffective. To be exact, we found that it’s possible to destroy the stone guards by alternating between Arve fire magic and Kanon ice magic. However, this technique can’t be used in the middle of a chaotic battle, and it’s hard to call it efficient. Considering what we’ll still need to do after this, I’m asking everyone to conserve your magic.”

“So all we’ve got to do is smash them up, huh?” Tokimune winked. “Simple is best. Anna-san, we’re counting on you!”

“Of course! I cheer you extremely hard, yeah!”

“Yay! With Anna-san cheering for me, I’ve got the strength of eight men!”

“What, only eight?” Ranta said.

“Huh? Uh, well, how many do you have, Ranta? Can you beat that?!”

“I’ve got the strength of a hundred men, obviously!”

“I’ve got the strength of a thousand.” Tada jumped in.

“Oh! That’s some big talk, Tada! Then I’m gonna aim for eight thousand!” Tokimune wagered.

“Tokimune, you ass... I’ve got the strength of sixteen thousand, then.”

“You so small, yeah! Assholes! Your loincloths squeezing your family jewels too tight?! Aim for a million!”

“Wow! A million?! Why not beat that and go for, like, a billion?!”

“I’ve got the strength...of eight trillion!”

“There he goes! Tadacchi! Tada-san! We’ve got a trillionaire! Yahoo...!” Kikkawa cheered.

“Yahoo.” Mimorin followed him.

What was that? The tag team of Kikkawa’s exuberant “yahoo” with Mimorin’s far more subdued one made Haruhiro’s head hurt.

“Buh-vwohah...!” Kimura laughed. His laughter sounded downright eccentric, and Haruhiro really wished he’d cut it out. “Here they come! Here they come! Here! They! Come! The stone guards have arriiiived...”

Shinohara banged on his shield twice with his sword, and a number of the members of Orion began throwing pole-shaped tools toward the central room one after another. Those tools would emit a relatively powerful light until they burned out. They started shining just past the entrance into the central room from the antechamber.

Haruhiro exhaled, then looked at each of his comrades.

“’Kay!” Kuzaku raised up his shoulders, then let the tension out of them.

“Meow!” Yume spun her right arm in a circle. That was the arm carrying her warhammer, but she seemed not to feel the weight of it in the slightest. Her wrists and her shoulders were both incredibly flexible.

“Heh...” The masked dread knight slowly twisted his neck, acting like this was no big deal to him.

Merry met Haruhiro’s gaze, nodding slightly.

Setora was looking toward the central room, not holding the warhammer in a fighting posture, but instead letting it dangle at her side.

Some things came out of the passages on either side of the middle room.

There was a heavy sound, and they came out, one after another, in columns.

The things. They were too stoney to call soldiers. Too stoney might seem like an odd turn of phrase, but they looked like rocks. They seemed to have two legs. Or maybe it would be better to say they had the bare minimum required to move around. Their bodies were like thick shields. In fact, it might have been more accurate to describe them as excessively thick stone slates. They didn’t have arm-like appendages or anything that resembled a head. The shields, or slates, had four or sometimes five spines sticking out of them.

“Stone guards?” Tada lifted up his warhammer and lowered his hips. “You guys have no naming sense. Those things are just spiny walking statues. I’d call ’em spinies instead.”

“Ohh,” Tokimune said, flashing his pearly whites. “Spinies, huh? I like it.”

“Yes! Spinies! I dig it!” Kikkawa swung his warhammer around excitedly. “Spinies sounds wayyyy cuter than stone guards! Don’t you think so, Anna-san?!”

“They spinies now, yeah!”

“Yay! Spinies! Yahoo!”

“Yahoo.”

Seriously, what was with that “yahoo”? Mimorin’s yahoos are way too unenthusiastic. And they’re just renaming things on a whim. Spinies? Seriously? Is that name okay?

Well, it was already stuck in Haruhiro’s head. He wasn’t going to be driving it out any time soon.

“Then let’s slay some spinies.” Shinohara accepted it without fuss.

Looks like spinies it is.

“This is going to be a long fight. If you run out of breath or get injured, please don’t push yourselves. Fall back and rest. —Now, let’s get started.”