6
“What is with you?” Meili murmured to herself while continuing to fight atop the sands.
Of course, that question could refer to a lot of people.
Shaula, who had transformed into the giant scorpion in front of them, the cheerful and spirited silver-haired half-elf, Ram and Julius and them fighting their various enemies in the tower, and Subaru and Beatrice fighting alongside her, in particular.
But the one that seemed the most off was…
“What is with me?”
Meili couldn’t understand why she was acting like this.
From the point that she had joined them on their trip into the desert, she was already acting out of character. Acting accordingly in the moment, going with the flow of things. That had been the secret to her success in life, and she had intended to do the same here, too. And yet…
“…There just had to be a book of the dead.”
When she heard it was possible to experience the feelings of someone who died, Meili couldn’t resist the curiosity that welled up within her. She had no choice but to release the feelings toward Elsa Gramhilde smoldering away inside her all this time, and as a result, she had committed a series of errors that were completely out of character. And of all things, Subaru had questioned her and lectured her about it so high and mightily.
Mysteriously, though, for whatever reason, she didn’t feel the urge to just snort derisively at his plea.
Somehow, she had even progressively promised to help afterward.
“Arghhhhh! I’m going to make him spoil me so much after this!”
So busy she couldn’t even wipe the sweat off her brow, Meili grumbled about Subaru while carefully maintaining just the right distance from the giant scorpion as they kept each other in check.
This sort of decisive all-out battle wasn’t her preferred way of fighting. Her style depended on careful preparation, positioning demon beasts nearby, setting them up just so, choosing the battlefield beforehand, and then watching everything unfold from afar.
That was Meili Portroute’s specialty as a demon beast tamer. She had made her living stealing people’s lives at the order, direction, and request of someone else.
So this was the first time.
—The first time she had fought to save someone’s life, to protect someone.
“This isn’t my style at all!”
Subaru’s delirious rambling earlier had been impossibly irritating. Saying something like that to Meili. That attitude, like he couldn’t imagine why he might be hated, was genuinely infuriating.
Even though she felt nothing but bad things when she thought about Subaru, before she knew it, she had started listening to his instructions, letting herself be moved around like a piece on a game board, like everyone else.
If it was a situation Subaru had created out of some deep insight and devious design, then it would at least make sense to Meili. But there was no way to look at Subaru and think he had the capacity for that. All he had was desperation, pushy expectations, and a ludicrous amount of faith in the people he trusted with his life…
“It feels like I’ve become a big dummy, too.”
Meili pulled up the demon beast she was holding underground, aiming it at the scorpion.
“ ”
A massive sandworm erupted from below the reddish sands. Twisting its massive, thirty-three-foot-plus body, it barreled down on the giant scorpion.
It would have been the upset of the century if it could crush the scorpion and bury it in the sands—but it didn’t go so smoothly.
A white flash erupted, blowing away the sandworm’s massive torso in an instant.
Split in half, the sandworm shrieked and collapsed as fluids spilled out from its body, breaking apart into finer pieces as the stinger unleashed even more attacks.
But by sacrificing the sandworm, she’d created cover from the splattering flesh and blood in the air.
The real aim was the three gabaou that appeared from where the sandworm had leaped out of the ground.
“ Giiiiiii.”
With a baby’s cry, the flaming half-human, half-horse monsters launched a suicide charge on the scorpion.
Meili had spotted all sorts of different monsters in the Auguria Dunes, but in terms of pure firepower, the gabaou reigned supreme.
“I guess I’m in top form.”
Meili was riding one herself, Subaru and Beatrice were riding another, and she had three more prepared for this attack. The burden of controlling all of them at once should have been incredibly heavy.
But for some reason, Meili wasn’t really feeling the effects of it.
There was a possibility it was just the excitement of battle, but either way, she intended to make the most of it.
She wasn’t trying to finish the scorpion off. But if she could at least hurt it a little, it would make Subaru’s goal that much easier to pull off.
“ ”
In a sense, it might be the third time ever that Meili, the girl who had always lived her life by going with the flow, had tried to do something of her own volition.
The first was going out at night in search of salvation in the books of the dead.
The second was when she had snuck up on Subaru standing at the top of the spiral stairs when she had felt trapped.
And the third was now, when she sought a better result than was expected of her to buy more time.
“Meili!”
There was a bloody shout as the three gabaou charged at the scorpion.
It came from Subaru, who had blood trickling from his mouth as he shouted.
Meili was wary when she realized it wasn’t praise or joy or wonder.
Even though she was going so far above and beyond, why was he so angry?
But then…
“—Huh?”
The three monsters furiously charged with blazing lances raised.
Her calculation that no matter how deftly the scorpion could handle its pincers and tail, it should not be able to block them entirely—all that broke down when she saw the change in the scorpion’s body.
As if scorched by flame, or as if absorbing blood just like the sands…
Its black carapace was normally a dull, steel-like gleam, but it had suddenly started changing colors. In a beat, its pitch-black color turned into a bloody crimson.
Certain species of demon beasts had a transformation that was sometimes called an offensive color.
A change where their actions clearly differed from before, becoming more ferocious and violent. In many cases, there was an external change as well, the easy proof that such a transformation had occurred. The gabaou’s flames swelling, or the white whale sprouting eyes all over its body.
And it also applied to the giant scorpion—or rather the crimson scorpion.
More aggressive, more destructive, and more devastating…
“…ah.”
Unleashing a white light in all directions, it annihilated the three gabaou charging down on it. And at the same time, the aftermath of the wild flashes flew across the sands—
“ ”
Swallowed up in the torrent of light, Meili’s small body flew through the air with a spray of blood.
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