Chapter 26
No One Is Born a Hero (11)
From the cave opening in the middle of the cliff, we couldn’t even see the entire body of the Gigantic Arachne. It was that enormous.
Gigantic-class monsters don’t appear very often, even in the future. How fortunate that is. Even I, at my peak, found it tricky to deal with Gigantic-class monsters.
So now, it’s even more out of the question.
‘Would it be possible if I joined forces with Ethan Behemoth?’
I glanced at him, then quickly turned my head back.
Even the current Ethan Behemoth is no match for that thing. He needs to become stronger. And right now, we don’t have any experience coordinating with each other.
‘…Still, the terrain is advantageous for us.’
Will tactics work in the face of such overwhelming power?
Watching the Gigantic Arachne demolish the majestic ravine with just a few kicks, I clicked my tongue softly.
‘It’s absurd.’
Rather than planning to face that thing, it would be more realistic to plan an escape with the surviving students.
Didn’t I give up on the idea of subjugating it from the start? What am I pondering now?
The sound of wind rushing through the collapsed ravine seemed like layers of eerie screams. In fact, screams were coming from here and there.
As I poked my head out through the shattered, exposed cliff, I saw the corpses of the reconnaissance team members horrifically embedded in various parts of the ravine.
They were faces I vaguely recognized.
‘Hit by legs that can crush cliffs. They must have been helpless.’
After checking the bodies, I quickly turned to look at Ethan.
He might lose his composure seeing familiar faces.
Ethan bit his lip hard and drew his sword.
Rather than screaming, he muttered to me in a voice that seemed to scratch his throat with anger.
“Get ready, Edith Crowell.”
‘Is he thinking of charging in?’
Even if fleeing immediately is the only way to save our lives?
Clang!!
…A metallic ripping sound came from not too far away.
On top of a pile of rubble that the Gigantic Arachne had carelessly crushed and passed over, a knight who must have been inside the mimic’s stomach like us was desperately protecting someone behind him.
They were familiar faces.
Camilla and Ian.
Camilla, bleeding from her head, collapsed on top of the rubble, and Ian stood in front of her, facing off against the small spider monsters swarming in.
“…That looks dangerous.”
It was an extremely precarious scene, as it seemed to be beyond Ian’s capabilities.
Although the spider monsters were small, that was only in comparison to the Gigantic Arachne. They were still about half the size of an adult.
At this rate.
“Soon…”
It seemed like past events were about to repeat themselves.
Ian Gardwin dies here protecting Camilla Guinevere.
And perhaps this time, Camilla Guinevere might… die too.
“We need to save them quickly.”
I blurted out reflexively, and at that moment, as I turned to look at Ethan.
I saw Ethan Behemoth raising his head.
He was looking at an even higher place.
Among the remaining ridges of the collapsing ravine, it was the highest point.
Why there?
I raised my head to follow his gaze.
Then I saw the silhouette of a person who shouldn’t be there, who couldn’t be there, on top of the ravine.
In other words… no ordinary human could be up there alone.
As the wind flipped back his hood, delicate white hair fluttered.
Rimos Therion is smiling.
He, too, was looking down at us from atop the ravine.
I could vaguely read his lips.
‘I said we’d meet soon, didn’t I?’
Therion slowly raised his arm.
Screech!
Following his gesture, a winged monster took flight from behind him.
The sound of wind being cut pierced our ears with frightening sharpness.
Though not gigantic, it was large enough to be impossible to ignore.
And its target was.
“Edith.”
Me.
Without any attempt to hide, the monster dove sharply towards me and Ethan.
Ethan bent his knees, taking a stance to jump, and called my name softly.
At the same time, a bizarre cry that resonated to the brain erupted from the monster’s beak.
“Yes.”
We didn’t even make eye contact. Yet somehow, I felt I knew what expression he was wearing.
“I’m counting on you to help Ian and Camilla.”
“Understood.”
And then Ethan swung his sword with all his might.
The intense sound of air being torn drowned out the monster’s roar.
Despite being quite exhausted, the sword he wielded carried a breathtaking murderous intent incomparable to when he sparred with me.
With his single strike, the monster’s tough hide was torn and flesh burst open. Seeing that afterimage, I turned my head.
Ethan Behemoth is a hero, so he’ll manage well. He doesn’t die here.
I’ve never imagined a future where he dies.
…And I have the task he entrusted me with.
‘Damn, I didn’t want to do this sort of thing…’
I ran down the slope of broken stones as if sliding, and stood in front of Camilla and Ian, who were completely surrounded by spider monsters.
“Ian! Step back towards Camilla and protect her.”
“…! Edith Crowell!”
“Keeek!!”
Along with Ian’s relieved voice, as soon as he stepped back, I shot flames towards the spiders that were charging with terrible cries.
“Gaack…!!”
The spiders flinched and retreated, then regrouped to form a circle around us.
These creatures fear fire, so this much is enough to keep them at bay.
Looking up, I saw Rimos Therion’s figure atop the ravine beyond the flickering flames.
His silhouette overlapped with the flames, making it appear as if he was smiling within the fire.
At that moment, he raised his hand and swung it in my direction.
As if receiving a signal, the spider monsters howled and charged all at once, despite the flames.
“Kaaak!!”
“…!”
…As expected, did Rimos Therion do something? But how?
No, that’s not important right now.
Adjusting my posture, I turned my gaze from Therion’s blurry figure and glared at the charging spider swarm.
With my current mana, I couldn’t unleash large-scale magic to sweep away the entire area.
‘Instead.’
I connected each charging spider with mana, creating a chain of flames.
As one burned, the one next to it was instantly engulfed in flames as well.
Thanks to their tightly packed formation for a joint attack, the fire spread quickly among them.
An unquenchable fire rose, illuminating a corner of the ravine.
“…Phew.”
I grabbed the spiders charging towards us while on fire with mana and threw them into areas where the fire hadn’t spread yet. Then I turned to look at Ian.
“Are you alright?”
He stared at me with a dazed expression, then dropped his sword with a clang and grabbed my shoulders with his tattered hands, shaking me vigorously.
“…Alright? Are you alright?! This is unbelievable.”
I immediately kicked him in the shin.
“Ah.”
“I’m dizzy. Stop shaking me. Didn’t you get hit like this once before?”
“…You really…”
Ian made a strange expression, neither crying nor laughing after being kicked in the shin. He didn’t even gesture to hold his shin.
So, that time before, he was just pretending to be hurt.
“……”
Feeling my gaze on his shin, Ian belatedly pretended to be in pain.
“Ouch…”
“You’re a beat too late.”
“You’re not falling for it. Did you survive? And Ethan…?”
“He’s up there. …What happened to the people who were with Ian?”
‘I saw Rimos Therion earlier, but…’
Without saying that explicitly, I looked past him to check on Camilla.
“The cave suddenly collapsed in a chain reaction. We got separated from Bethyl and Rimos Therion then. I grabbed Camilla, but… is she alive?”
Camilla lay limp on the pile of stones, not moving at all, but her spirit, the bluebird, was still circling above Ian’s shoulder.
It seems she’s not dead.
“…Yes. Thanks to you, she’s alive.”
‘If it weren’t for the bluebird’s assistance, it would have been over quickly.’
It seemed that because the two were together, they both managed to survive.
Unless it’s a one-on-one situation, the Gardwin family’s flashy swordsmanship isn’t practical against mindless monsters.
Even when I saw them from afar earlier, they were barely holding on, to the point where it was strange they hadn’t collapsed immediately.
Without the spirit left behind by the unconscious Camilla, they would have been done before I arrived.
Turning my head back to look ahead, beyond the blue flames consuming the dying spider monsters… the collapsed ravine shimmered.
From the spider monsters that had given Ian and Camilla a hard time to indescribably horrific small monsters of all shapes, they were crawling toward the ravine beyond.
Beside me, Ian groaned softly.
“What on earth is this…. Wait, that direction is.”
🥀
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