Re:Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu (LN) - Volume 21 - Chapter 2.8

8

What awaited beyond the wall of sand was a secret garden.

The phrase in full bloom came to mind as Subaru looked around.

If it was just a field of flowers, then he might have felt a moment’s peace at the tranquil scene. But they were in a barren desert riddled with miasma and demon beasts—it was an impossible field of flowers.

The vibrant and brilliant colors of the field of flowers covered the ground all around them.

It was a paradise filled with so many flowers that there was quite literally nowhere to step without trampling them. Subaru felt an odd sense of déjà vu at such an abnormal and incomprehensible scene.

Mysterious and bizarre, a combination of unnatural and irrational. The identity of the doubt he was feeling was—

“—They’re oiran bears.”

Meili spoke at the same time that Subaru’s instincts reached an answer.

Glancing over, he saw that Meili had moved to the driver’s bench of the carriage and was staring at the field around them. She always looked composed and at ease, but the blood drained from her face, and there was a tense urgency in her eyes.

“Oiran bears…?”

“Demon beasts disguising themselves as flowers that attack people. Normally they lie in wait with their mates in forests, though…”

Hearing that, Subaru looked around again. The colorful flower garden extended as far as the eye could see—it depended on how big the demon beasts were, but it sure didn’t look like just one or two.

A chill ran down Subaru’s spine as he imagined being attacked by that many demon beasts.

“Subaru, what happened? Ram said her clairvoyance suddenly broke off…”

“—Stop there, Emilia-tan. Stay calm and stay quiet.”

Emilia was peeking out of the small window on the carriage, but Subaru immediately gestured to stop her.

Emilia quickly closed her mouth, guessing from Subaru’s tone of voice and the sudden appearance of a field of flowers that something strange was going on.

“These flowers…”

“If the sand time was the first stage, then the second is the garden of demon beasts… It looks like the Sage’s nastiness is on a whole ’nother level.”

A second trap set to catch people when their guard was down after having just cleared the first stage.

Meili’s warning and the fact that the demon beasts just happened to be sleeping. Were it not for both of those…

“It’s too soon to breathe easy… I suppose you should save it for after we get out of here.”

“I’m not fearless enough to be able to breathe easily in a situation like this— The tower is…over there?”

Subaru managed to pry his gaze away from the field of flowers. The silhouette of the tower was much closer than before they pushed through the sand time. It had been correct to rely on Ram’s clairvoyance.

However—

“Demon beasts are most violent right after they wake up. So…”

She probably wanted to tell everyone to keep quiet, but she stopped partway.

The reason was obvious.

—The field of flowers woke up. Slowly, as if the ground itself was being peeled upward.

“—Ngh.”

Subaru’s throat clenched as he saw a demon beast stand up a few yards in front of him. Not because of the sudden movement, but because of how repulsive the monster was.

“ ”

Meili had called it an oiran bear, and it did have a bearlike form. But that only applied to its silhouette. There was a crucial difference.

It was almost three yards tall. The legs were short, but its arms were long enough to reach the ground while standing. There were vibrant flowers growing from its back, but its front side was the most impactful.

The roots of the flowers extending through its body and out the front were so dense they almost looked like black fur. Between the sunken eye sockets and the dim eyes, it almost seemed like a living corpse, as if the roots were absorbing all the vitality from the body.

The flowers and beast were not living in harmony. The flowers were clearly killing it.

“Ugh.”

“—Don’t move.”

The corpse-like demon beast sniffed, as if confirming their presence. Subaru started to gulp at that, but Meili stopped him.

There was a sickly sweet scent in the air. The disconnect between the fragrance of the flowers and the hideousness of the bear made Subaru want to vomit. It even made him miss the violent sandstorm.

If only it could just come and blow all this away.

But that plea wasn’t to be, and the oiran bear reached its claws out toward—

“Psst.”

There was a sound that drew the oiran bear’s attention from Subaru. It was Meili, who had kept her head better than everyone else.

She put her finger to her lips, indicating for Subaru and everyone else to calm down. And then she held her finger out and tried to draw the oiran bear’s attention toward her.

“Psst psst psst.”

She waggled her finger side to side while making noises to get its attention. It was almost like what a person might do to comfort a kitten. It would have been a cute image if it had actually been a kitten she was doing it to, but with a ferocious demon beast, it was like a scene from a horror movie.

“Psst psst psst psst.”

She kept going, wagging her finger as she made noises, and gradually the oiran bear’s attention shifted from her to her finger.

“Psst psst psst…pssst.”

After centering its focus on her finger, she pointed it to the side of the carriage. Drawn by that, the oiran bear followed her finger’s invitation, slowly taking one step in that direction.

“—Ngh.”

Subaru accidently let out a little sigh of relief when he saw it starting to move away.

Emilia and Beatrice were still frozen, but the tension in their eyes was gradually abating. If the one that had already gotten up moved away, then they might be able to discuss how to deal with the rest of the field.

We haven’t even had time to celebrate actually making it through the sand time together ye—

“ Graaaaarrr!”

That moment, a low, thundering growl resounded across the field.

Faced with a sudden emergency situation, it was easy for the heart to give out. That applied to humans, of course, but also to land dragons—so no one could blame Joseph.

“Shit.”

When Joseph’s roar broke the silence, the oiran bear spun in that direction.

—No, it’s not just that one.

All of the sleeping oiran bears woke up as well.

The field suddenly rose up as one, unleashing a savage howl. The air was filled with the noxiously sweet fragrance of the flowers, and the base killing instinct of the bears permeated the area as the demon beasts charged at the carriage—

“—That’s enough!”

Mana rapidly formed into an ice spear before running through one of the demon beasts right in the face.

The head of the spear entered its opened mouth, crushing its head from the inside and freezing it at the same time. The oiran bear collapsed backward without a noise, dead, knocking several of its friends backward with it.

“Ruuuuuun!!!”

The moment he realized it was Emilia’s preemptive attack, Subaru shouted.

Responding instantly, Julius cracked the reins violently, sending the carriage racing. And naturally Patlash started sprinting, too. They blew past the demon beasts standing still in shock and charged through the field of flowers.

And one beat later, the mob of demon beasts started running after them.

“They’re coming they’re coming they’re coming they’re coming they’re comiiiiing!”

All around them, the enormous field of flowers peeled backward, releasing a sweet scent as the ferocious demon beasts pressed toward them. They were rising everywhere, from all around.

At the end of their long arms, it was like they were wearing nightmarish cactus gloves. If they had the same sort of strength as a bear, it was easy to imagine the nasty, bloody pulp that would be left if just one attack from that landed.

As sturdy as the carriage was, it wouldn’t be able to hold out if a blow like that hit…

“Ey! Ya! Yeah! Youuuu…hit them!”

At some point, Emilia had leaped up on the roof of the carriage and was swinging both arms, creating countless ice blades to keep the demon beasts’ savage attacks at bay.

The bluish dance of light visited a beautiful but cruel death upon the demon beasts, creating a little bit of space around the carriage.

“Whoooooa! That’s my Emilia-tan! I’m falling in love all over again!”

“You seem awfully composed, Barusu. If you don’t want to die, then you better run like your life depends on it.”

“Obviously… Wait, Ram?!”

Subaru got excited at Emilia’s fighting, but a cold voice brought him back down to earth. Looking over, he saw that the driver of the carriage had shifted from Julius to Ram.

Her exhaustion from using clairvoyance was still obvious on her face, but it didn’t affect her handling of the reins. Leaving the driving to her, Julius had drawn his sword and moved around to the side of the carriage, deftly slashing any demon beasts that dared approach.

“I cannot allow Lady Emilia to shoulder this burden alone.”

Sensing Subaru’s eyes, Julius responded with grace and refinement. All the while, his knight’s sword flashed adroitly, piercing the arms and faces of several different demon beasts, shaving away at their ability to fight. Thrusting forcefully at another that charged in, there was a flash as his blade pierced straight into its head, destroying its brain.

Minimal motion for maximal effect. The epitome of the finest swordsmanship.

“Damn it. I’m not gonna lose now! You ready to go, Beako?!”

“Naturally! You aren’t going to run out of gas, are you, Suba…ru?!”

Subaru was holding the reins in one hand while lifting Beatrice up with the other, standing her up on Patlash’s back. They held hands, and Subaru felt something fiery welling up in the pit of his stomach—

“Minya!”

A purple crystal appeared with her cast, taking aim at a demon beast blocking Patlash’s path. Lining up the target, accelerating for a brief instant, and then it hit.

Hit by the purple arrow, the demon beast recoiled as its head crystallized and then shattered like glass.

“All right, good one, Beako!”

“But I can’t fire recklessly! We have to carefully manage yo— Minya!”

“What happened to careful management?!”

Beatrice’s ability to keep fighting depended on Subaru’s mana supply.

And unfortunately, Subaru’s mana was a drop in the bucket compared to the number of demon beasts they were dealing with. Beatrice’s tuning ability was top-notch, but each shot still shaved away at Subaru’s spirit.

Emilia, Julius, and Subaru and Beatrice were all fighting the good fight, and set off by that—

“Ugh! Arrrgh! This was my ace in the hole!”

Their ultimate weapon who had stayed silent so far finally stood up and stamped on the carriage with a red face.

Looking at the demon beasts that refused to obey her, she held out her palm.

“Here’s a punishment for bad children! Come, sandworm!”

It sounded like the words of a sulking child picking a fight, but in response, there was a tremendous force that shook the ground beneath the oiran bears. Sand welled up from the ground as the enormous sandworm reared its head.

“ Raaarghhh!”

“No way?!”

There was an awful stench as it rose into the air and swallowed several oiran bears. The sight of it chewing on them and then knocking back a dozen more just by wriggling its body was stunning.

“Gooo, sandworm! Smash ’em all!”

“Wait, really?! Are you serious?! Hey! Really?! Like actually?!”

The sandworm’s giant body slammed down, crushing a dozen oiran bears beneath it as sand, the scent of flowers, and death throes filled the air. The oiran bears were not small, but they were nothing compared to a twenty-yard-long sandworm.

And the surprises didn’t stop there.

Meili clapped her hands, and there were eruptions of sand one after the other from multiple different spots.

They were smaller than the first one, but the addition of six more sandworms as reinforcements was still dramatic. It was like a clash of titans as the battlefield filled with magic and demon beasts started to sprawl all around them.

Emilia’s and Beatrice’s magic, Julius’s sword, and Meili’s power opened a path for them, and they were charging straight through the field of flowers—the tower was getting closer and closer.

“Just a little bit more! If we push straight through to the tower like this…”

There was no way the oiran bears would just give up then, but if they could change the situation some, it might be possible to come up with a plan for breaking out. Believing in that possibility, Subaru called out to his comrades as loud as he could.

Just a little bit more. Just keep it up for a little bit longer.

Their goal, the Pleiades Watchtower, was right before their eyes—

“—?”

Suddenly, Subaru’s pupils narrowed.

There was a faint feeling of something off. It was light. Somewhere on the middle of the tower, it looked like something was shining.

“Wh—?”

But he never finished his question.

“ ”

A light flashed through the sky, hitting Subaru’s head straight on.

In an instant, Subaru Natsuki was vaporized from the neck up, and his consciousness was erased without even a moment to think.

—There was no one able to call out in that one moment of terrible spectacle.

Because everyone who saw it, everyone who started to cry out, was vaporized in the same way, too.

Having lost their heads, the land dragons collapsed to the ground, and the carriage tumbled on its side.

The dry desert sands eagerly drank the rivers of blood until nothing remained.

And finally, slowly, the grains of sand swallowed everything, pulling it down into the depths of the desert, hiding everything from sight.

Not even bloody flowers remained as evidence of their journey. It was all was taken by the sand.

—The party was completely wiped out.