Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 11 - Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Skanda’s Hard-Fought Battle ~Iino Yuna’s POV~

Kudou Riku and all his servants vanished from sight. He even took the corpses of the former exploration team members. There wasn’t a single trace of his presence left. Now alone and standing atop the cliff, I clenched my fists.

I hadn’t been able to do anything. I’d had a terrific chance to catch the culprit behind the attack on Fort Tilia, but he’d slipped out from under my nose. No... It was more like he’d let me go. Kudou had no reason to overlook me, so maybe he just didn’t like the idea of what losses he’d suffer having to clash with the Skanda. Whatever it was, it saved me.

“I don’t have the time to feel down about it.”

Kudou claimed he had nothing to do with the fake savior, but I didn’t know if he was telling the truth. It was possible he was just trying to confuse me. It was also possible that rushing to the village the monsters were swarming would set off a trap made just for me.

Still, there was one thing I knew for sure: that village was in danger. I didn’t have time to worry about it being a trap.

“I’ll definitely make it in time! To do that—!”

This cliff looked over the village. Going down and around would take too much time. I jumped without hesitation.

“Guh?!”

No matter how sturdy my body now was, it had its limits. The cliff was high enough I could die if I handled it wrong. I was prepared for that, though.

“This is nothing!”

I managed to kick the cliff’s face to slow my descent. That still wasn’t enough, so I plunged into a nearby tree to cushion my fall.

“Urk!”

Thunderous cracking sounds echoed from all around, and broken branches and leaves fell to the floor with me. I immediately got back to my feet. My joints hurt from my reckless action, but I had no time to waste. I paid the pain no mind and ran.

I wasn’t sure if I would make it. No... I had to make it. I kept telling myself I would. I was the Skanda. I was the fastest in the exploration team. How could I not make it? I ran as fast as I could, advancing like a rocket and leaving all of creation behind me.

“There!”

I spotted a monster in my path. It was just a few seconds away. I maintained my speed.

“Aaaaah!”

I roared and slashed. I felt resistance in my sword-wielding hand, but I pushed right through. Backed by my speed, my sword tore apart the bug monster’s sturdy body as if it were paper. However, more than one monster blocked my path.

“Out of my way!”

I caught up, stepped in, and swung. Every time I repeated those actions, a monster fell to the ground. I was quite literally opening a path. I knew I was being reckless, but not unreasonably so. In this world, emotions became strength. If Kudou Riku had acquired his power through his hatred for humanity, then I was the opposite. I’d acquired a power that far surpassed all common sense so that I could become the sword of judgment that cut down all evil.

I had no reason to hesitate. Regardless of whether Kudou was lying or telling the truth, the damage done by the fake savior was undeniable. There was clearly some form of malice behind it. I couldn’t forgive that. I wouldn’t forgive that. So long as that emotion remained within me, I wouldn’t bend, give in, or break. That was who I was—the Skanda Iino Yuna. No matter what happened, I wasn’t going to stop.

“Aaaah!”

I cut and cut and cut again, piercing my way through the swarm of monsters.

“Guh! Hah!”

A wall suddenly obscured my sight.

“I made it!”

I was just in time. Monsters were attacking the walls, but they hadn’t made it inside yet.

“Okay! Now I just have to—!”

I dug my heels into the ground to stop myself and fixed my grip on my blood-soaked sword. My wrist was in pain, and my fingers were numb. I’d exhausted a fair bit of stamina by rushing in at full speed. My breathing was ragged. My heart was noisily pounding away, the sound irritating in my ears.

Nevertheless, I had more than enough strength left to fight. If I could defeat all of the monsters outside the walls, I could prevent any and all casualties. I just had to defeat all...

“Ah.”

That was the very moment my thoughts caught back up to reality. The blood drained from my face as I realized it was hopeless. The swarm of monsters surged against the walls like a dense fog, one that would instantly crush even a cheater around the level of an average warrior.

But I had a nickname. I also specialized in hand-to-hand combat. Even if I faced hundreds of monsters, I could annihilate them to the last. Nevertheless, that wasn’t equivalent to turning the tide. On the contrary, specializing in hand-to-hand combat meant the exact opposite. It was a simple matter of efficiency.

For example, take Watanabe, who’d gone to Fort Tilia with me. He specialized in magic, so he could have eradicated the monsters using a large-scale magic attack. But I couldn’t use magic. I had to defeat the monsters one by one.

Even if I could kill one every second, it would still take several minutes to eliminate the hundreds of monsters that were attacking the village. Some would take more than one strike to defeat, so in reality, it would take even longer than that. With that much time, the monsters would make it into the village.

For the average soldier of this world to even consider taking on a monster I could easily defeat, the village’s defensive walls were indispensable. If only a few monsters got into a village this size, the whole place would be done for.

“Gah... Hah...”

Faced with this hopeless situation, I gasped for breath. In this world, emotions became strength. Wasn’t that supposed to be the case? Were my feelings not strong enough? Was that why I had failed to stop this tragedy?

“Aaaaaah!”

That...can’t be...!

That can’t be!

I screamed to shake off the cold chill running down my back, and it sounded as though it came from someone else. I cut my way through the monsters as if trying to run from this horrible premonition.

The sword in my hand felt as unreliable as a broken stick. Every step I took felt as if I were sinking farther into an endless darkness.

Aah, I get it now. I can’t change the future.

◆ ◆ ◆

“That’s...the last of them!”

I wheezed for breath as I pulled my sword out of a monster’s head. How many had I cut down? The magic sword that was supposed to be a masterwork from a past savior’s era had long been dulled and smeared in blood. The defensive walls of the village were covered in monster corpses. Nothing moved except for me.

“Ah...”

My knees buckled. Exhaustion dominated my entire being. My head was in a daze, and my brain wasn’t getting enough oxygen. Sprinting at full speed versus jogging made a huge difference when covering the same distance. Normally, I would’ve been able to fight more calmly, but this time I’d prioritized completely annihilating monsters as fast as possible, so I hadn’t thought of what came afterward. Nevertheless, I didn’t make it in time. It was completely hopeless.

“No. I still...have to fight...”

Several monsters I hadn’t been able to reach had made it over the walls and into the village. There were surely others I hadn’t seen on the other side of the village from where I was. It was easy to imagine what was happening inside.

“Gah...”

I looked up at the walls before me. Things were different from the ghost towns I’d seen up until now. What happened on the other side was a direct result of my weakness.

“A-Aah...”

My knees trembled, but not because of exhaustion.

I’m scared. I don’t want to see it.

Fear bound my limbs. I’d used all my strength and done everything I could, yet I couldn’t do anything. There was no helping it. There was always the possibility that things would remain out of reach in situations like this, and I thought I’d resolved myself for that already.

But somewhere in my head, I’d thought I could do something about it one way or another. This was the punishment for my optimism. The shock was too much for my heart. It was also a first for me. After coming to this world, I’d failed a few times, and I’d been too late before, but I’d never lost anything out of my reach right before my eyes. I’d never witnessed a tragedy resulting from my own weakness.

“Ah...”

My breathing became shallow. I felt dizzy. A desire to run away crushed my heart. At the same time, a certain someone’s face came to mind. This world was cruel. Did living in such a harsh world without a power like mine mean constantly facing such fear? If so, that was why he was always so desperate.

“Ugh...”

A pathetic groan rang in my throat. I slapped my trembling knees.

“G-Gah!”

I tried to stand back up. I staggered but still got to my feet. I wasn’t really thinking of anything; I was merely spurred by my sense of responsibility to see things through to the end. Had the reality of failing to protect something given birth to desperation? Was I simply trying to escape reality, hoping that someone was still alive? Or maybe... No, it didn’t matter.

I did as the unreliable impulse in my heart desired and jumped. I landed on top of the wooden walls and looked down at the village on the other side. And there...

“Huh?”

I didn’t see the hell I was expecting.

“Are those...knights?”

Was I dreaming? A formation of knights faced down the monsters who’d gotten into the village. For a second, I thought it was Gordon and his men; they wore the same armor, after all. This was the Holy Order, and the knights were protecting the village. The battle went on as I stood there in disbelief.

The knights took on individual monsters in small groups, skillfully manipulating the battlefield to do so. They readied their shields, blocked attacks, found openings, and counterattacked. Their method wasn’t flashy, but a sound and steady approach to battle. It demonstrated their tremendous amount of experience.

Be it by sword or magic, a single counterattack couldn’t defeat a monster, but with enough repetition, their tactic worked. A monster ape covered in blue fur, fighting somewhat close to where I stood, couldn’t withstand the constant barrage of magic and fell back.

“Leave the rest to us!”

That was when another group charged in with swords at the ready.

“They’re...?!”

I gasped as an enormous swell of mana rose from their bodies.

“Ooooh!”

The sword had enough power behind it to crush a rock. I was familiar with this sight—a strength that defied common sense. With the support of the Holy Order, the group steadily defeated the monsters one after another.

“No way.” I doubted my eyes. “They’re...from the exploration team?”

They were definitely former members of the exploration team, and there were three of them at that.

But that was odd. Jinguuji had told me that three former members were here, but Kudou had killed two of them. One was possibly still alive, but I hadn’t heard anything about any other visitors in the area.

So what was going on? I stood in a daze as the monsters fell in front of my eyes. Before long, the fighting came to an end.