“Layla! Yukine!”
Paying no mind to the Wyvern corpse I just cast aside, I hurried back to where the girls were.
They seemed to have barely moved since we split up earlier. They had constructed a barrier of ice and were using it as cover as they kept the Wyverns in the sky in check with their spells. The five people I saved had gone somewhere else, it would seem.
“Dear!”
“Master! You’re hurt!”
“It’s healed up. More importantly, over there, Yukine, the wall!”
“[Oh, Water]!”
“[Ice Wall]!”
I saw with my normal vision a Wyvern coming at us with great speed. In response, rain water quickly coalesced and froze, forming a wall that separated us from the incoming monster. Thanks to that wall forming faster than usual thanks to their combo, the Wyvern crashed head-first onto it.
“Ga, aaa…!?”
It might be a monster, but the Wyvern still had a body of sorts—a transient kind that dissolves upon exposure to magic power, unlike the material flesh that humans had. So, because it had a head, it wasn’t surprising for it to get dizzy at least a little when said head came crashing into something else.
Simply put, it was vulnerable right now. I thrust my sword at the fissure in the ice wall and then toward the immobile Wyvern’s throat. I was aiming for its palm-sized reverse scale. My blade easily pierced through.
Immediately, I activated Magic Power Discharge. Magic power erupted from the blade of my sword and widened the wound I made. The neck got so destroyed that it looked like a cannon hit it. The Wyvern died before it could shriek from the pain.
While blood spurted all over me, I looked around. There didn’t seem to be any other Wyvern coming for us for the meantime. Looking around had also made me notice—much to my dismay—the horrors happening in the city.
“D-don’t come near! Don’t! Gyaaaaa!?”
“No, no, nooo!”
“Ack, ghh…”
A young man was carried in the mouth by a Wyvern as it flew high in the sky. A woman who likely tried to run but twisted her ankle and fell was being crushed underfoot. An elderly stared blankly at the sky, their guts eaten and their breathing the only sound that escaped from their throat.
There were people who were desperately running from the train and there were people running frantically to escape the city, but try as they might they were still being attacked and eaten.
My head was spinning. The smell of blood and smoke all over didn’t make it any better.
Maybe it was because the area was becoming part of the dungeon or simply because of an increased concentration of magic power in the air, but regardless, monsters were now visible to even non-Awakened Ones, it would seem. On one hand, it made them aware of the danger and were taking action to escape it, but on the other, it was causing wide-spread panic. People blocked each other’s way on the roads and threw even the places they could take shelter into chaos.
Black smoke and screams arose here and there as the sky grew darker. Or rather, steadily turned black.
“…we’re prioritizing our escape. Yeah, that’s, that’s what we’re gonna do.”“Understood!”
“Certainly”
As a deep crease formed in my forehead, I said so to the two. If I didn’t make such a declaration, I feared I would half-ass things.
“Master, I have a suggestion.”
“Layla?”
Layla said so as she stood back-to-back with me and scanned our surroundings.
“I’m thinking we should rescue as many people we could as we make our escape.”“Huh?”
I was so surprised to hear so that I turned my head around. I noticed from her profile that she wasn’t smiling like she usually did. Instead, she was expressionless.
“Do you remember the habit of Wyverns?”
“I think I did read about that in a government website…ahh, I see…”
I could only vaguely remember it, but it would seem Layla’s memory of it was quite detailed. Some time ago, I did research on dragon species out of curiosity. I mainly read the information on dragons that the government released to the public. Written somewhere in there in broad strokes were the location of a Wyvern’s reverse scales and their behavior.
“Huh? What are you two talking about?”
“Basically, Wyverns chase after moving things. More specifically, they chase after humans who are running away.”
“Ahh, I see!”
As if understanding what Layla was going for, Yukine nodded her head.
“In other words, those people will serve as our decoys!”
“……”
“Ahh”
Realizing I had gone silent, Yukine awkwardly averted her eyes from mine.
Yes, what Layla was proposing was the indefensible, fiendish act of sacrificing others for our own sakes.
“Master. We could do that or simply run for the exit, ignoring everything else. I think our likelihood of survival won’t change much either way, so if you don’t want—”
“Nah, let’s do it, let’s help others as we retreat. Alright, let’s move.”“Understood”
“Y-yes!”
After holding my sword with my right hand and placing it on my right shoulder, I broke into a run. I was headed for the edge of the black dome, somewhere that wasn’t part of the dungeon yet.
Between focusing entirely on escaping or escaping while making decoys for the Wyverns, I would much rather do the latter. That way, we could move without slowing ourselves down too much to avoid drawing too much Wyvern attention.
Moreover, looking at it from another angle, this option gave people about to die a fighting chance to survive. It might be nothing more than a sham, but doing something due to a sham was better than doing nothing for them.
Besides, Layla spoke in consideration for my feelings. The best way I could think of to repay her kindness was to not waste any more time.
It would be inappropriate to say “as luck would have it”, but not long after, we came upon a Wyvern poking its head into a shop of some kind that had people inside. Initially, I wondered why it didn’t just made use of its spirit-like body and phased through the walls, but then it hit me, maybe the Wyvern couldn’t do so anymore because the buildings here now had some traces of magic power in it.
That wasn’t good. That meant I was still far away from a spot not being swallowed by the dungeon. I didn’t think I had much time to escape to begin with, but it would seem I had even less.
At any rate, while maintaining my running speed, I grabbed the guard of my sword with my left hand and aimed the tip of it at the Wyvern’s body.
“[Ice Jail]!”
“[Oh, Water]!”
Six pillars of ice appeared around the Wyvern and restrained its movement. The water clinging to its scales accelerated the freezing process and made its movements even more rigid.
“Gi, a”
Despite being on the verge of becoming an ice sculpture, it tried to turn around toward me. It was already too late for that though. I had sunk my blade to its side. When I did, the supposedly sturdy scales easily broke and the flesh underneath was pierced so deeply.
I twisted the blade from a horizontal position into a vertical one and then slashed upward with all my strength.
“Oohhh!”
The step I did cracked the rain-soaked asphalt ground but I managed to cut through flesh and bone. I felt I even shattered its spine. To serve as the finishing attack, I did a front kick near the cut. That split the Wyvern in two, with the cut as the starting point.
While watching the dragon vanish with my peripheral vision, I looked inside the building. I found a few people who looked like employees of the store and people who seemed to be the customers huddling together in a corner.
“Please evacuate now! This place is being swallowed up by a dungeon.”
“A-a monster!”
As soon as I spoke, a customer-looking woman looked my way and screamed so. There were no Wyverns nearby. The only one in front of them was me. In other words, it was that kind of thing.
An employee-looking woman hurriedly shut the first one up, but I honestly wasn’t too bothered by it. I would even go so far as to say that I was relieved to hear that.
“A, ahm!”
“Go evacuate please. I wish you luck.”
As I was about to leave, the employee-looking woman spoke.
“Thank you!”
“…it’s nothing to thank me for.”
Overcome with some indescribable emotions, that was all I could say before I left.
Man, I really was soft. For a moment there, I had a mind to lead the group in our escape. But not parting with the group would have defeated the purpose of why I saved them.
As I ran with haste, I took a moment to look back. Yukine and Layla were of course behind me, but in addition, I saw the employee-looking people leading the customer-looking ones out of the store.
But then, my Magic Eye activated.
“Master!”
“I, know!”
It was yet another Wyvern. It hid in the shadow of a building I was running toward and when I was in range, it attacked me with both its forelegs. I intercepted the diagonally descending claws with my sword and invoked Magic Power Discharge.
The impact made my feet sink into the ground, but in exchange, I managed to break the claws on the Wyvern’s right rearleg. That threw it off-balanced and it even fell head-first into the road. Unfortunately though, it recovered right away and stood itself up with all its legs. It let out a ferocious roar and faced me once more.
“[Oh, Water]!”
“[Ice Fang]!”
Water soon splashed all over its face, and at almost the same time, ice spears stabbed it there.
“……!?”
Right when its head was frozen, I stabbed my sword at its reverse scale to finish it off. I adjusted the angle at which I stabbed so that I could easily pierce its heart. When I pulled the blade out and took some distance from the monster, its body begun turning into particles of magic power.
I took that chance to look again at the group I saved earlier. They were just about to enter an alleyway that was so narrow that barely two people could pass side by side.
I see. Certainly, a body as large as a Wyvern’s can’t—
My Magic Eye activated again. It showed me a vision, but it wasn’t of me.
“Wai—”
I tried shouting to them, but a roaring sound drowned out my voice. Soon, a cloud of dust and awful screams arose from the backstreet.
Certainly, a body as large as a Wyvern’s couldn’t fit in an alley that narrow, but that didn’t matter. With a Wyvern’s strength and toughness, it could destroy the walls and make the path wide enough for itself. The walls had some magic power and could thus offer some resistance, but that was about it. At the end of a day, it was just a wall.
And so, a Wyvern had swooped straight down from the sky and attacked them, destroying all the walls and ceilings along the way.
“Damn, ittt!!”
“Master!?”
“Dear!”
With my sword at the ready, I sprinted toward the alley.
I saw a wall damaged like it was clawed from top to bottom. And clinging to that wall were blood and flesh. There was even somebody’s chopped-off arm.
“GaA…”
When the vile creatured turned its head, its mouth was unsurprisingly steeped in blood.
“Youuuuuuu!”
What I was meaning to say with that shout, even I had no idea. Heck, I didn’t even know why I launched an attack at it.
Because the alley was so narrow, the Wyvern was slow to turn its whole body around. I climbed on its back and ran until I reached its head. Once there, I drove my sword toward its neck with all my might.
“GyaA!?”
“Take this, this, this!”
I had completely forgotten to make proper slicing motions and was merely whacking the blade at the Wyvern’s neck and head. I whacked and whacked. By the third blow, the monster’s head was chopped off. However, I still bashed my sword at the monster. I only stopped when there was no more of the monster to hit since it had already transformed into particles of magic power.
I steadied my feet on the ground that was cracked and littered with flesh and blood.
“Haa…haa…!”
I was panting not out of fatigue. It was because my chest had tightened from the gruesome sight that I saw once the Wyvern vanished.
One might argue that this scene was to be expected. That this was the fate that awaited those I saved, those I meant to draw away the Wyverns’ attention. Those I meant to be decoys.
“Damn it…!”
“Master”
Layla grabbed me by the shoulder and forced me to face her. There was a suprising amount of strength to it that I didn’t even consider to resist. Seeing her face as emotionless as a noh mask, my ragged breathing calmed back to normal.
“Please try to calm yourself.”
“So-sorry…”
“I don’t mind. But master, what do you want to do now?”
“Huh?”
I thought she would be angry, but she was calm when she asked while staring at me with her blue and gold mismatched eyes.
“I am your Guardian Spirit. As such, I will place your survival and well-being above everything else. That’s not to say I will simply ignore everything else. So, my master, please tell me what it is you want to do.”
“W-well…”
I pondered on it for a few seconds.
As Yukine kept watch of our surroundings in our stead, I could hear the sound of destruction as well as screams erupting everywhere. The noises were enough to drown out the sound of rain.
There was, of course, the smell of blood from behind me as well. The red mixed in the rain hit the ground and made my footwear even more soaked.
I couldn’t think straight. It was just absurd. All of this was. That was maybe why the only words that exited my mouth were…
“I, don’t want to die. I wanna live.”
“Of course.”
“But using somebody as a stepping stone toward that…it’s hard for me.”
“Right.”
I had no doubt that if my life was truly in immediate danger, I would knock down the guy next to me without any second thoughts just to escape the said danger. I knew full well I wasn’t someone anywhere near enlightenment or sainthood. Even so, until death was staring me in face, I didn’t think I could drop this facade of being a “good person”.
So, yeah, it wasn’t that I was kind, it was just that I procrastinated in making the call. I was just an average guy who was hesitant, unable to commit to one way or another. It would seem I was still as half-assed of a fool as I was on that eventful day.
“I want to do whatever it takes to survive…while still helping others, like really help them. At least to a degree I can be content with.”
“Understood.”
Layla let go of me and bowed like a knight.
“Order received. I will act as you wish, especially so if it will safeguard or even raise your spirit.”
She then put on her usual lovely smile.
…it was quite the curious thing. Layla and Uoyama-kun had thoroughly taught me that Layla was a part of me. In that case, this whole exchange would have been nothing more than a monologue. Yet, her words made me feel saved.
Like I always thought, I just couldn’t picture her as a part of me.
“Thank you, Layla.”
“Don’t mention it. I am your Guardian Spirit, after all!”
“Still, thank you.”
I rested my sword on my shoulder and then turned to Yukine.
“Sorry, Yukine, but I’d like you to stay by my side too throughout this.”
“But of course! Come what may, I will always be with you, my dear husband!”
While she gave a beaming smile, I lightly slapped my face through my helm.
If the only way forward for me was that of half-measures, then so be it, regrets be damned!
“As much as we could, we’re going to help others as we evacuate! We’re going to prioritize our own lives above all else, but we’ll do what we can to protect them!”
“Understood!”
“Consider it done!”
For a moment, I turned back.
The corpses were beyond recognition, and even retrieving anything that would serve as their keepsake seemed impossible.
“Sorry.”
I apologized more for my own sake than anything, and moved to leave.
When I jumped out to a road, I saw a group that looked like a family being assaulted by a Wyvvern. Without delay, I activated Magic Power Discharge and accelerated toward them. I wedged myself in between the family and the Wyvern, and then swung my sword to get between the rows of dagger-like fangs. I managed to stop the monster’s mouth dead in its track with my sword, yet the monster kept pushing back.
“Hurry and get away from here! Run and don’t look back!”
“Y-yes!”
“Thank you!”
I sensed the people who seemed to be the parents run behind me, likely carrying the children with them.
At the same time, I felt hostility, no, killing intent from the Wyvern’s glare. The Wyvern tried to send me flying simply with the weight difference between us, but I turned the tables on it. I kicked it, drew my sword back, and sent the monster a short distance away. Immediately after, an ice spear with water spiraling around it landed on the Wyvern’s side. As the monster screamed in pain, I swiped at its neck. Critical hit. With what I would describe as my most beautiful display of swordsmanship to date, I cut that log-like neck in one strike.
“Let’s go, to the other one!”
““Yes!””
Another Wyvern was giving chase to the family we just saved, and we in turn were now going after that Wyvern. It left its neck wide open when it swooped down, so I deployed Magic Power Dicharge again and hit that neck from the side.
“Go! Run faster!”
“Y-yess!”
There was yet another Wyvern though, and it appeared by breaking through a nearby store. A wall of ice stopped its charge but only for a moment. It smashed that wall with its sturdy claws. In that opening, I crouched myself and held my zweihander as though it was a spear.
“Rargh!”
Aiming for the Wyvern’s reverse scale, I thrust my sword from below. I then twisted the blade and pulled out, splattering blood all over. As its severed head was in the middle of its death throes, I stomped on the noisy thing.
This was probably the limit of what I could do to help people. There was no way I could protect everyone in a group with more people. But even so!
“Master, please don’t forget, we’ll help others, but only so long as we don’t die in the process!”
“Yeah!”
I would do whatever as long as I could, but by the same token, things that were beyond me were beyond me.
It was then that I saw three incoming Wyverns flying in a group. As I made a face under my helm at the sight, I dashed in a different direction than the family I saved.
I was no hero of justice, of that I was sure, but I was no unfeeling realist either.
You damn lizards better not underestimate us middle-of-the-road people!
“No way I’m going down hereeee!”
On the next time I go on a trip, I should bring a time bomb so I can use my Silver Apple as a decoy!
Taroppe-sensei(author)’s Q&A corner
Thank you for reading!
Also, please consider leaving some of your thoughts, a review, and bookmark the title over at the narou site (https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7336ie/)
Your support is appreciated and I hope you continue doing so.
Q: What is the connection between the Silver Apple and time bombs?
A: Leaving the Silver Apple behind so that I could serve as decoy runs the risk of its existence getting exposed. Kyotaro wants something to destroy any trace of it after it has served its purpose.
RPGNovels 
Leave a comment