Chapter 6: Monster Attack

Chapter 6: Monster Attack

Aki wandered Port City’s main thoroughfare wearing nothing more than the casual red dress and short leather boots Mina had prepared for her.

After hearing what happened between her and Elias, Leo told her to wait in his room while he confronted Elias, but she grew impatient and snuck over to check on them. Neither Elias nor Leo was inside.

Surprised to find Elias’s room empty, Aki rushed downstairs and found the rest of their party gathered in the dining room’s lounge area. Everyone took her panicked news calmly, and their group concluded “Aki should look for the boys in town first before we all go out searching.”

When she asked why, they avoided the question and strongly asserted she look for the boys alone, so here she was roaming the city in search of them.

They really should have helped! I can’t use magic to find people or to send messages like Johann and Leo can. I’m clearly a lot less likely to find them on my own.

Stuck in an absurd situation, Aki hopelessly scanned her surroundings.

Her feet carried her near the city’s main gate, and she could see the stone walls and the open arabesque iron gate at the end of the road that continued straight ahead.

Oh, that’s the gate we passed through when we initially arrived at Port City.

It filled Aki with nostalgia as she remembered the day she traveled through the main Field with Elias, Leo, and Johann for the first time. At the time, she was just enthusiastic about the journey to come. But after everything she learned about this world and herself during the last Quest, her excitement had been replaced by apprehension.

Our next destination is finally going to be… Aki shifted her gaze from the iron gate to the vast blue sky. Once she located Elias and Leo and regrouped with the others, their next destination was the Dark Lord’s Castle.

I’m going to see the Dark Lord again at last.

When she thought about it, it was that first encounter with the Dark Lord in her apartment that led her to this world to take her kidnapped sister back from him. Until recently, she always believed that meeting the Dark Lord again would mark the end of her journey.

But after reuniting with Nako along the way and learning the Dark Lord might not be the true enemy, after all, she had lost sight of what the real end goal was now.

Meeting the Dark Lord isn’t an endpoint, but a turning point leading to new challenges. I have a feeling it will guide us to uncovering the secrets of the Hero, the Dark Lord, their Right-hands, the Goddesses, and this world’s very foundation.

One of Elias’s last comments suddenly invaded her thoughts: “I plan to go to the Dark Lord’s Castle alone.” Aki looked up at the gate with a start.

Elias can’t possibly have left without us, right?

He was capable of anything. With the charged mirror, he could just ask for help from a Royal Court Mage to send him on a one-way trip to the Dark Lord’s Castle.

Was he already on his way there? Was he really the type to leave everyone—to leave Aki—without a word?

Aki tried to convince herself that he wasn’t, but she anxiously stared at the gate. I have no guarantee that Elias wouldn’t leave without us. He’s done nothing to make me think otherwise.

Her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach as she thought of his empty room and the last words he said to her.

Has he already gone somewhere out of reach this time? I don’t want that…

His tranquil smile and the warmth of his big hand holding hers came to mind.

I love Elias. I love him so much, I can’t suppress these feelings. I’d be so lonely if he’s gone, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.

Aki always believed they would be together as long as she was in this world because they were bound as Hero and the Hero’s Right-hand. But now that she might lose him for good, she realized her arrogance. If she didn’t grab hold of his hand, he was going to move on, leaving behind that sad smile as the final reminder of what they once had. Elias was going to take all the burdens on himself and disappear.

If I don’t want that to happen, I need to grab his hand and never let him go.

“Please still be somewhere in this city, Elias…!”

Aki sprinted toward the gate, driven by emotion. She hoped she could run into him near the main city exit if he did intend to leave. Something told her she could stop him, even if she was a little late at saying what needed to be said.

As she ran, Aki suddenly heard screaming and shouting in the distance.

What’s going on?

Shuddering, she slowed her pace as she neared the gate where the commotion grew several times louder. A giant, squirming black blob charged toward her—it was a crowd of people madly running away, their hair flying in every direction. The ground shook with their escape, and a cloud of dust kicked up around the area.

People fled past either side of Aki, not caring she was standing there confused. They seemed to be fleeing from the gate.

“E-Excuse me!” Aki called out, hoping to ask someone what had happened, but no one heard her as they raced by screaming.

Growing impatient, she reached out to grab hold of someone, but their shoulders banged into her as the wave of people grew more erratic and she barely kept herself from being swept away with them.

“What’re you standing around for, miss?!” A middle-aged fisherman outran the human stampede and grabbed Aki by the shoulder. He seemed worried that she wasn’t running with the rest of the crowd.

Glad someone finally stopped, Aki was about to ask him when he yelled at her.

“Don’t you know what’s going on?! You’ll be devoured by monsters if you hang around here!”

Monsters?

“What monsters? I was on the other side of the city until now so I don’t know what’s happening!” Aki raised her voice as loud as she could to prevent it from being drowned out.

“Now’s not the time to talk about it, but fine!” The fisherman nodded when he realized she wasn’t going to move otherwise. He spoke loudly next to her ear. “A section of the Goddess Barrier just failed and monsters are pouring in through it! It was the section protecting the gate!

“A horde of monsters are charging right into the city! The city guard and Guild Adventurers are holding them off for now, but who knows how much time we have before monsters breakthrough! So get running, lady!” He pushed her back in the direction she had come from. “Stay far away from the gate!”

The Goddess Barrier failed? Shock rooted her to the ground.

The Goddess Barriers existed to separate the spaces where humans and monsters lived. She had created the barriers to keep human cities and towns safe from being overrun by the monsters living in the Field.

Was this barrier’s failure a sign that the Goddess’s powers were falling out of balance? In other words, it was just the beginning of the catastrophe brought about by the depleting Creation Energy.

The Hero and Dark Lord are born out of a need to replenish the world’s Creation Energy… Aki thought back to the harrowing secrets Johann had told her at the start of their journey.

Basically, the fact that Elias and the Dark Lord were even around meant the world was running low on Creation Energy. If one of them didn’t die soon, these kinds of disasters were going to increase. Or at least that was the theory.

“C’mon, lady! Get moving! Normal citizens like us will only get in the way if we’re still here when the monsters get through!”

“I-It’s okay!” Aki shook her head and tugged back as the fisherman tried to drag her away from the gate. Annoyed that she was refusing to budge, the man whipped back toward her. She leaned forward and spoke before he could yell again. “I’m an Adventurer too!”

“Huh? You?!” He gaped at her.

“I can’t go with you. I have to fight with the others to protect the city!” she explained, wrenching her hand loose.

“H-Hey!” Dumbfounded, he reached for her, but Aki was already running through the crowd.

She weaved through the fleeing cityfolk, careful not to bump into anyone, which made it take longer to get anywhere.

I have to hurry! I need to reach the gate before more people get hurt!

Heart pounding in her ears, Aki raced at full speed toward the gate.

By the time she arrived at the main square leading out of town, she was met by a catastrophic sight.

A flock of demi-vultures swarmed overhead, blotting out the blue sky. Their shadows fell on the green plains of the Field like sharks circling underwater. The demi-vultures flapped their bat-like wings as they let out ear-piercing screeches.

Aki swallowed hard and fearfully shifted her gaze from the sky to the ground where demi-monsters that looked like magically enhanced wolves and leopards rushed on the open gate with their maws wide open.

The gatekeepers, city guards, and Guild Adventurers bravely fended off the monsters, trying to keep them from pouring into the city. One of the Warriors swung his glinting sword around, knocking back the monsters lunging at him, while the mage behind him unleashed a fireball that burst like fireworks on impact.

High-level Adventurers accustomed to fighting monsters appeared to be doing well but injured and moaning novices were falling left and right. Priests kneeled by the injured and frantically cast heal.

The corpses of fallen monsters were scattered around the dusty ground, and other monsters feasted on their flesh.

Standing amid the din of monster roars, Adventurers shouting spells and orders, and the emergency bells ringing to alert the citizens of danger, Aki realized she was in the middle of a battlefield the likes of which she had only read about in books.

“This is horrible…” Aki’s legs refused to budge before the horrors unfolding in front of her.

She gritted her teeth to stop them from chattering and breathed slowly to calm her panic. This was the disaster that awaited when a Goddess Barrier failed even partially.

Monsters feasted on humans. It made sense they would charge in once the doors to their favorite buffet opened.

I have to fight. I can’t let fear stop me. I’m the Hero’s Right-hand. I’m charged with protecting this world. I’ve received power from the Goddess to do just that.

Aki watched as the peaceful town square transformed into a bloody battlefield. She closed her eyes and breathed through her nose.

I won’t let Elias bear every burden alone. It’s because I always rely on him for everything even after becoming a couple that he was driven to lose his mind.

Aki reached into her pocket and pulled out the silver pen.

All right, Lunar Goddess. I don’t know if you’re my friend or foe yet, but lend me the power I need to help Elias, to no longer be dead weight, and to shoulder the same fate as him.

“I’m going to protect everyone even when you can’t, Elias…!”

So watch me show off that I can fight too!

“Lunar Goddess, lend me your strength!”

Heat burned in the center of Aki’s forehead. The first time she experienced borrowing the Lunar Goddess’s power, the shock and pain caused her to faint, but now she knew it was a sign of receiving power.

She was going to master this cursed blessing only she could use and fight bravely alongside the Hero Party.

Aki concentrated on the pen gripped in her lowered right hand. Silver light stretched like putty into a bow. When the brilliant light dissipated, it left behind a beautiful bow with golden embellishments, and a leather quiver appeared on her shoulder.

Every time she transformed her pen into a weapon, she remembered how Leo burst out laughing about it the first time, saying how much she fit the part of the Hero’s secretary.

That’s right. I’m the Hero’s Right-hand and his secretary. I need to drive off the monsters and protect the people in a way fitting of the Hero Party.

Adventurers and the city guard were concentrating on defending inside the gate, so Aki decided her skills could serve them better repelling the monsters from the outside. Bow and quiver summoned, Aki dashed through the chaotic square and out the gate.

“Come back! It’s dangerous out there!” one of the gatekeepers bellowed after her.

His voice and the gate at her back, Aki charged into the open Field.

Vast green plains stretched on for miles. Various guard and Adventurer parties were battling monsters to slow the horde from breaching the walls. It was even more chaotic than inside Port City, with monsters and people clashing in every direction. The metallic smell of blood permeated the area, and Aki could taste the blood in the air.

This is awful…

She stood in the Field surrounded by roaring monsters and the sound of swords meeting teeth and exhaled through her nose to calm down. Countless monsters blanketed the sky and the ground—she couldn’t charge in recklessly and expect to be of help.

Calm down. Aim carefully at each target and steadily decrease their numbers!

Aki silenced the fear and exhilaration of battle bubbling up inside her and set her sights on the screeching demi-vultures.

Archers excelled at attacking monsters at distances where swords and other short-range weapons couldn’t reach. While they inflicted less damage than Warriors and Fighters, they were necessary to handle aerial monsters.

Therefore, Aki’s job was to shoot down as many flying monsters as possible before they swooped down on her allies.

Aki nocked an arrow and tilted her bow back. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the guards frantically pushing the gate closed from both sides to suppress the monster invasion.

However, monsters stampeded into town before they could finish closing it, and the guards were forced to deal with the new threat rather than seal the gate.

I can’t let anymore get close to the gate!

Aki asked the Lunar Goddess to give her arrows as much range and damage as possible and aimed at one of the low-flying demi-vultures.

Heat stung her forehead as the Lunar Goddess’s crest formed there. Aki drew back the arrow and narrowed her eyes on the target. She loosed the arrow at the demi-vulture swooping down with a deafening screech.

Please hit!

An arrow bathed in silver light cut through the wind like a comet. As it approached the monster, the arrow divided into multiple parts like stardust, shining like a meteor shower in the daytime sky, and pierced several giant monster birds flying in the sky.

It was the mercilessly beautiful judgment passed down on the monsters by the Goddess—at least that’s how the sheer magnitude of the attack looked to Aki.

She was awestruck by the attack. As she stood there in a daze, demi-vultures fell from the sky like hail.

I’ve never been able to do wide-area attacks before… Did chanting the ancient magic with Leo and Johann help me draw out more of the latent Goddess power?

Adventures and guards looked from the sky that had been instantly cleansed of the black flock of death to Aki with hope in their eyes.

“Holy Goddess, you’re strong! What kind of bow is that…?!” One of the Adventurers enthusiastically ran over to her.

Aki finally awoke from her stupor when he shook her by the shoulder.

I did it… I took out a bunch of monsters on my own. I nearly lost all confidence after what happened with Elias, but maybe I should place more faith in my abilities after all. It’s time to put my doubts and insecurities behind me!

Aki held the bow in her left hand and placed her right hand over her heart. “Hello! I’m the Hero’s Right-hand Aki! The rest of the Hero Party is handling matters elsewhere, but I will do my best to assist you on my own! I’m sure the others will rush over soon!”

Every person on the battlefield who heard her cheered.

“That’s reassuring! We’re glad to have the Hero’s Right-hand on our side!” The man shook her hand and then shouted at the top of his lungs to the parties fighting further away. “HEEEY! The Hero’s Right-hand is providing back up!”

Anyone who could spare a moment to look over did so, raising their weapons in acknowledgment.

“Hell yeah! A goddess has come to aid us!

“Let’s clear the Field!”

“Don’t let monsters into the city!”

Letting out battle cries, the humans charged the monsters.

A g-goddess? Aki was surprised by the way the other Adventurers looked at her. Maybe the Hero’s Right-hand is also a symbol of hope to the people? Then I’d better step up to the plate.

The Hero’s Right-hand wasn’t very useful if all they did was follow mindlessly behind the Hero. She needed to stand as his equal on the battlefield to actually assist him.

I can’t stay in Elias’s shadow forever.

Closing her eyes, Aki took a deep breath and raised her bow overhead. “Let’s protect the city together! We are going to win this fight!” she declared in a loud voice she never knew she was capable of.

The Adventurers who heard smiled and raised their weapons in response.

“The rest of the Hero Party is on their way,” the Adventurer beside her shouted. “We just have to hold out till they arrive!”

That news gave the various parties the extra burst of morale they needed to drive their swords into the next wave of monsters. Their victory cheers after each successful kill bolstered Aki’s morale in return. It told her she wasn’t fighting alone.

I have people who will fight alongside me. It’s not just my party members, but also the people of this world who are fighting toward the same goals.

She hoped Elias would realize that soon too. The people of this world weren’t just pathetic creatures that needed to be protected, but allies willing to fight for the same cause. If only he knew, then maybe some of the burdens he shouldered would lessen. Maybe he wouldn’t feel so isolated.

Aki was going to fight to show him that the people didn’t just need a Hero to protect them all the time.

Her eyes met with the Adventurer who had helped spread the good word for her and he smiled. “Stay safe out there!” he said, charging back into the action with his sword drawn.

Everyone inspired each other with their successful kills, further strengthening their cohesion as a raid party and giving them the edge over the horde as they dispersed packs of monsters. Arrows whistled through the air, meeting every target Aki set her sights on.

The battle was steadily turning in the human’s favor and Aki was encouraged by the light of hope cracking through the dire tension permeating the Field.

We might be able to win! Maybe we can save the city without Elias. Hope spread through her. Will he accept me as a fellow party member if we succeed without him? Will he look at me again? Will he say I can be his girlfriend again?

Aki nocked another arrow as she thought of Elias who she was certain was on his way. When she looked for her next target, she noticed all the monsters in the sky and on the ground were retreating like the tide.

What’s gotten into them?

The other members of the raid shared confused looks as the monsters withdrew mid-battle. It almost seemed as if every monster had agreed to leave at the same time.

Did we successfully repel the monsters? Aki wished that was true, but her heart raced in warning. She held her fist over her chest and strained her eyes in the direction they ran. Something bad is going to happen. I can feel it.

As cold sweat dripped down her back, the ground started to shake with loud thuds, sending vibrations up her legs.

She quickly looked for the source and spotted a swaying black shadow plodding toward them from the horizon. With every step it took, the ground shook, and its shape became clearer as it neared.

It was a horned dragon.

Covered with glowing black scales, the huge demi-dragon was capable of trampling several people with just one foot. As if laughing at the humans who were too overwhelmed to make a sound, the demi-dragon approached with its blood-red eyes gleaming brighter than the sun.

Is this for real?!

At last, the demi-dragon had closed the distance and moved its red eyes about the Field, assessing its unmoving prey. Its massive body blocked out the sun, casting a shadow over the area and creating a false night.

I’ve never seen such a large monster before! Did one of the Field’s boss monsters decide to take advantage of the fallen barrier?

Fear spread through the Adventurers and guards who had never fought a boss monster before. The demi-dragon was on a whole different level from the horde they had been fighting before it arrived.

“What the hell is that giant lizard?!”

“We can’t beat that!”

Overwhelmed by its mere presence, everyone slowly inched back toward the city walls. But if they retreated, everyone living in the city behind them would be fair game for the demi-dragon. Many people would lose their lives if they let a monster like that inside.

Aki immediately thought of Elias. She was positive he had sensed the danger and was on his way by now. If he hadn’t already left for the Dark Lord’s Castle, that was. She shook her head to chase away the negativity.

It’s all right. He will come. All I have to do is have faith in him and focus on slowing the demi-dragon until he gets here.

Aki watched as some of the guards fled to the city gate. She clenched her teeth and held her ground.

Elias, Leo, and Johann wouldn’t run! They would bravely take on any enemy, no matter how strong! Because protecting innocent people comes first.

Aki planted herself in the demi-dragon’s path and stared it down.

I might not win. I might lose.

“But…! I won’t just be a burden anymore!”

Aki drew an arrow from the quiver on her back and nocked it. She aimed for the demi-dragon’s red eye and drew back on the bow.

I can’t lose!