Chapter 3: Crisis
Chapter 3: Crisis
“UGGH! I can’t stand mermen! There’s something super disgusting about fish heads running around on human torsos…!” Mina blanched.
Aki nodded along with her appraisal, cold sweat beading her hands and making the bow slick in her grip. Th-They really are repulsive… Not only did the mermen shuffling closer have grotesque appearances, but they exuded the nostril burning stench of rotting fish. Nngh, my nose! She shoved her nose into her arm.
Elias gave his sword a practice swing and positioned himself to fight the incoming mermen, his eyes narrowing on them. With his attention locked on their enemies, he shot a brief glance over his shoulder at Mina, Aki, and Louis.
“I’ll cut a path through them. Can you keep a close eye on the battle and follow behind me once it’s clear?” Before he finished talking, Elias launched off his back foot to land the first strike. Only streaks of color from his golden hair and white coat remained as he propelled forward faster than a gust of wind.
Mina’s jaw dropped as he closed the distance with the mermen at a speed untraceable to the eye. “Wh-What’s with that inhuman speed?! His quick moves put the Thief class to shame!”
Louis let out an awed sigh and scratched the back of his head.
With everyone’s attention on his back, Elias brought the Holy Sword down on one of the mermen. The merman held its harpoon overhead to block, but it split right in half under the weight of the Holy Sword; the wooden scraps fell worthlessly to the ground. Elias’s blade didn’t stop there as it sliced diagonally from the merman’s shoulder to its waist in one clean sweep, rendering it in half.
The merman fell on one knee spraying black blood everywhere, uttering a gargled scream that echoed loudly through the stone passage. The next merman in line thrust its harpoon at Elias to take vengeance for its slain ally, but Elias spun out of the way and used the momentum to slam his foot into its torso. It slid across the ground, taking out two mermen directly behind it.
“Four down! Six to go!” Elias swept his sword to the side, shaking off the blood, crouched, and sprung at the next batch of enemies.
His overwhelming strength stole Aki, Mina, and Louis’s breath away; they even forgot they were in the middle of battle.
Elias is ridiculously strong! Aki sensed it during their first encounter on the field, but Elias’s strength was so overpowered it didn’t give his enemies the chance to strike. I might not need to fight after all…
Seeing Elias wipe the floor with the mermen in the blink of an eye had Mina jumping with excitement. “Nice! You’re getting my blood boiling! There’s no way we can lose with Elias on our side! So this is the strength of the world’s greatest champion—the Hero!” She nimbly threw her dagger up in the air and caught it in the reverse hand position. Amusement tugged the corners of her lips into a grin as she set her sights on the mermen. “But I’m not going to fall behind!”
Exhaling, Mina agilely launched herself into the fray with the light steps of a dancer and the speed of a street cat.
Mina is incredibly fast, too! She carried herself in a way that didn’t pale in comparison to Elias. It’s so reassuring having her and Elias handle the frontlines! Aki kept an eye on the remaining four monsters while being wowed by Elias and Mina’s perfect teamwork.
The Archer’s role was to support the vanguard from behind. Even if the close-range fighters were strong enough to hold the line on their own, the Archer had the important role of eliminating out of range monsters before they became a threat.
Telling herself that she had a role to play, Aki concentrated on the mermen at the back of the enemy formation. And then she saw it—one of the mermen drawing back its harpoon to throw it like a javelin at Elias. He was preoccupied with fighting two mermen at once, and had yet to notice the rear attack.
Nervous tension coursed through Aki’s blood. I have to…I have to help him! She shook out her trembling hands. She was going to save Elias with her own strength this time for sure. She was going to be of use to him as the Hero’s Right-hand, and not just a burden he had to save at every corner.
Please lend me your strength! Praying to her bow, Aki slipped an arrow from the quiver on her back and nocked it into place. She pulled back on the arrow until she could hear the tension in the bow. Her body instinctively knew how to use the bow and arrow as if she had years of marksman experience. The Goddess’s power was guiding her.
“Elias, duck!” she bellowed in warning as he continued slaying monsters in front of her.
Elias dove out of the way when he saw her taking aim. Confirming his location out of the corner of her eye, Aki locked onto the merman gunning for Elias and loosed the arrow without a second thought.
Hit home! Praying to the arrow that whistled through the passageway like a comet brought back the same pain she had felt at the entrance.
“Ouch…!”
This pain again?! Aki thrust her bow into the ground and leaned against it as she rubbed at her stinging forehead with her right hand. It hurts… But I can’t faint like this!
Clenching her teeth, she raised her gaze from the swaying floor just as the arrow shone with a black light and struck the merman like a bullet. It ripped off the merman’s right arm, harpoon and all, and sent it catapulting backward. Without its right arm, the merman barely stopped itself from falling off the ledge into the abyss below by rolling onto its right knee.
Mina maneuvered to the back of the mermen and beheaded the one Aki weakened. She quickly moved back into position, avoiding the merman’s death shriek and the geyser of black blood spewing from its neck.
Elias glanced over from his battle with another merman, a look of surprise over Aki’s powerful arrow attack plain on his face. “You’re awesome, Aki! You saved me there. Thank you!”
“N-No problem! I’m glad you’re okay, Elias!” She returned his smile with sweat trickling down her face. She traced her forehead with her fingertips.
I don’t feel the crest. What in the world was that just now? Thinking back on it, the arrow emitted that black light the second her forehead ached—the same black light that had dyed the ancient letters. Is it connected somehow?
There was something dreadful about possessing a mysterious power she knew nothing about.
Louis ran over to her from behind, his excitement palpable. “Aki, your arrows pack a serious punch. As a penetrating weapon, bows normally don’t do enough damage to blow a monster’s arm off with a single hit after crossing a long distance. Typically only ballista is capable of that, but your bow and arrow seem to inflict the same damage as a slash from a single-handed weapon. It momentarily looked like the bow turned into a ball of light—was that your magic?”
Aki shook her head at his volley of questions. “I don’t really understand it myself… I felt that same pain in my forehead when I loosed the arrow. And the second I fought back against the pain, that black light consumed the arrow. Say, Louis, is there something wrong with my forehead?”
Did that crest leave a mark? Worried, Aki pushed her bangs up to show him.
He examined the area and inclined his head. “No, there’s nothing there right now… A moon crest, huh? Since you can’t seem to control it, I wonder if it’s a latent power. And if it is, you may be unconsciously imbuing your attacks with it to strengthen them.”
Aki cast down her gaze as Louis tried to work out the nature of her powers.
The moon crest was unquestionably related to what just happened, but she didn’t know if it was a latent power. It may have been a special ability granted to her by the Goddess, but she had no way to confirm that theory.
“Hmm. I don’t know anything for sure, but I don’t see anything wrong with using the ability if the moon crest is giving me more strength… As it is, I’m constantly holding everyone back, so I want to be of some use during battle, no matter how small.”
“I see… As your fellow party member, I’m glad to have your strength on our side, but you’re borrowing from a mysterious crest that causes you pain. Whatever you do, don’t overdo it. I’ll look into the ancient records for you once this quest is over, so don’t abuse it before then.”
“Okay. Thanks, Louis.” She raised her head with an encouraging smile, which Louis returned.
Obtaining some solid leads on the crest seemed likely with someone as knowledgeable as Louis on the case. No sooner did she think that, than the notebook in her suit pocket flickered on and off to warn of impending danger.
“Strange?”
Why is it reacting now? We’re already fighting monsters—it can’t be good if the notebook is trying to alert me about something else. Aki quickly pulled out the notebook and studied the page it automatically opened to.
The page displayed the layout of a single straight passageway: a map of their current location. Red dots marked the locations of the mermen fighting Elias up ahead, proving this was indeed a map of the area. Elias and Mina had been chiseling away the enemies, leaving only three red dots.
The notebook went out of its way just to tell me how many enemies are left? No, that can’t be it, since I can tell the numbers just by looking.
Aki was straining her eyes to see the difference, when all of a sudden, ten red dots appeared behind their current location.
“No way!” Feeling the blood drain from her, she ascertained what the notebook showed with an ashen face.
Ten more enemies were fast approaching from the rear. Noticing Aki’s sudden shift to look behind them, Louis followed suit and turned around.
“It’s a trap! They’re flanking us…!” He immediately brandished his gittern and Aki reached for an arrow in her quiver.
A new batch of harpoon carrying mermen closed in on the back entrance Aki’s party had entered through. Realizing they had detected their stealth approach, the mermen switched tactics: they charged straight at them with their harpoons, their feet pounding the ground to a drumlike beat.
They’re fast!
“Aki! Louis!” Elias and Mina cried out in unison, their hands already tied up in battle.
The cries of her party members at her back, Aki wiped the icy sweat dripping down her cheek with the back of her hand. Avoiding battle before their close-range fighters returned was impossible with how fast the mermen approached. There wasn’t any time to nock her arrow. At this point, she had to block their attacks with her bow alone and use it as a bludgeoning weapon if lucky.
The great genius mage Leo made this weapon for me—I’m sure he imbued it with the durability to handle close-range combat too!
“Of course I did, you dummy,” she imagined him announcing with a boastful smile as she raised the steel bow over her head to swing down on her enemies like a hammer. It’s so light!
Keeping an eye on Aki as she prepared to smack down mermen, Louis thrummed a ballad on his gittern. The notes activated his Lunar Magic spells.
Inhaling, he weaved the lyrics in a deep baritone that beautifully echoed through the stone chamber. “Halt. Where are you going in such a rush to a fault? Why not rest your weary feet for a spell? Don’t you worry, all is well. We’ll be waiting for you.”
The Lunar Magic circle formed in the air and vanished. Slowing down monster movement was one of the support spells Minstrels excelled at. Louis’s beautiful rendition wrapped around the mermen’s feet, slowing their full-speed charge.
But the merman closest to Aki forced its sluggish legs forward and swung its harpoon toward her head!
“I-I’m not going to lose to the likes of you!” Aki held the bow horizontally over her head like a shield, and blocked the harpoon. The sound of steel colliding with steel reverberated in her ears and the vibrations caused her legs to slide apart into an awkward split. “Kya!”
Aki stumbled backward. She felt like she was falling in slow motion and, as she did, fearfully looked behind her to where a vast expanse of darkness belonging to the wide pits lining the passageway awaited. One misplaced step had sent her tumbling backward into the void.
“K-Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!”
“Aki!” Louis reached out for her, and she tried to grab onto his hand, but their fingertips only brushed before they clasped empty air.
This might finally be it for me! Amid her despair she watched as Louis grew smaller with his hand held vainly over the gutter she had fallen into. And I thought I’d be able to fight alongside everyone now. That I’d be able to obtain the secret panacea from this quest and cure Arnie with it. Nako, Leo, Johann, Mina, Louis, Elias—I’m so sorry!
Aki gave in to gravity’s pull and was absorbed into the dark abyss as memories of everyone she cared about in this world swirled through her mind like a kaleidoscope.
***
“AKI! This can’t be real…!” After watching the rearguard’s crisis unfold from the vanguard, Elias bolted without a care for the enemy he was fighting straight to where he caught sight of Aki falling.
I can still reach her at this distance!
Elias slipped his hand into the back of his coat and drew the hidden knives fastened to his back. Pinching a knife between each finger, he flung them at the mermen surrounding Louis with the recoil of a large ballista held in hand. The knives pierced into the brows of multiple mermen, and Louis cleaned up the rest with a wide area Lunar Magic spell while they were staggered. Launching off an accurate wide-area magic spell in seconds spoke volumes about Louis’s skill.
“Mina!” Elias looked over his shoulder as he ran to see Mina finish off the last of the mermen they had been fighting together.
“Yeah?”
“I’m diving into the gutter to save Aki, so take care of the rest!”
“Got it! Please save Aki!”
Mina’s entreaty echoing far behind him, Elias raced over to the ledge Aki had fallen off and kicked off the ground to give his dive more momentum. Endless darkness stretched on within the massive abyss, giving the impression it was a bottomless pit.
“Aki! Where are you?!” Elias shouted as he plummeted. Then he saw it: the fluttering of his white cloak and Aki wrapped up in it. She seemed to be unconscious; she didn’t respond to him.
Right, there’s an enchantment attached to my cloak! I’m positive that enchantment is imbued with wind magic that allows the user to float. I can slow her descent with it. Lending Aki my cloak was the right choice after all! Not that I expected it to come in handy for something like this!
Magic enchantments on items or charms allowed someone without any magic like Elias to benefit from the spells held within. Only the owner tuned with the magic item was able to activate it. He stretched his hand toward the feather emblem attached to Aki’s chest and quietly chanted the activation spell.
Instantly, the forest-green gem in the center of the feather glittered and faintly illuminated the dark gutter. The weak floating spell surrounded Aki’s whole body and slowed the rate she was falling as if a gust of wind had welled up beneath her.
Perfect! Elias reached out for the slowly descending Aki, grabbed her arm, and pulled her into his chest. The magic item’s floating spell spread to him, easing their descent to the bottom of the gutter as if they were a feather floating on the wind.
Just how deep does this pit go? I can’t even see the bottom.
Elias guided the back of Aki’s head against his shoulder. Her firmly shut eyes proved she had lost consciousness.
I don’t know how far we’ll fall, but I swear I’ll protect you! He tightly held onto Aki’s slender body and glared at the deep nothingness whisking past them.
At long last, a single beam of light cut through the darkness.