Chapter 100
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
William tried to boost morale as much as possible, even if it meant pushing things a little.
Whether it worked or not, the phalanx held, and the spear shafts were aimed more firmly at the monsters.
-Chief of Security, how are things?
A telepathic message came through.
William shouted.
“We’ve encountered three monsters! The security force alone isn’t enough! We need reinforcements!”
-Understood. Two descendants of Iorga are heading there. Hold on a little longer.
Shortly afterward, something with spread wings flew toward them from the sky.
It descended with graceful movements and confronted the monsters.
“Filthy monsters. Your master has already gone to the afterlife, yet you lot have pointlessly long lives.”
“Return to your master’s side.”
The descendants of Iorga expressed their hostility and opened the canteen stoppers.
The transparent water inside moved with the flow of their fingers, transforming into a whip split into ten strands.
Swish!
When they swung the whip, the ten strands scattered and reached toward their targets.
They accurately seized the monsters’ bodies as though they were their own limbs.
The three monsters were subdued in an instant.
“Chief of Security, finish them.”
“Yes!”
The knight’s sword, wrapped in red sword aura, struck at the vital points of the bound monsters one by one.
“Aaaah! Die!”
The spearmen, unable to simply stand by and watch, moved with renewed courage.
As the old saying went, no one could withstand being ganged up on.
A monster pinned down completely was bound to be pierced by a volley of spears.
Thus, William dispatched two monsters, while the spearmen cut off the remaining one’s breath.
Only a few minutes earlier, they had been struggling, so he never imagined they would subdue the monsters this easily.
“Th-thank you, mages.”
“……”
The descendants of Iorga glanced briefly at William before turning away.
Then they flew off somewhere as though their work were finished.
Proud dragonspawn did not casually associate with low-ranking humans.
‘So that means I’m not even worth interacting with to them.’
He felt unpleasant, but quickly accepted it without holding a grudge.
‘If I had been stronger and more charismatic, this might have been an easy problem to solve.’
He accepted his circumstances, but did not settle for them, instead using them as a stepping stone.
William, the Chief of Security, thought to himself.
‘Let’s get stronger.’
He resolved to possess strength befitting a village under the rule of a Red Dragon.
* * *
“The knight of the Grand Duchy of Waldrova is setting out now.”
-Understood. Please handle the north.
Two horses came down from Waldrova Castle.
No, one of them was not a horse but a donkey.
The man riding the donkey wore a vacant expression.
“L-Lord Jed! I don’t think I’ll be of any help. W-what should I do?!”
The one who answered him was Penelope, seated behind him.
“What else? Go eat some popcorn.”
“Sh-should I?”
“Of course. Make enough for my share too—urk!”
“Good grief, every time you open your mouth, you say something that makes me sigh.”
“Cough, cough! I surrender, I surrender!”
Jed choked Penelope, and Penelope slapped his sturdy forearm.
“If you want to be useful, act as bait! At least try to draw their attention when the wolf monsters come out!”
“Y-yes, sir!”
“I’m going that way! Keep moving straight along the road over there!”
“Understood!”
As she parted from Malcolm, who was riding the donkey, Penelope spoke again.
“You told him to be bait? Isn’t that a little heartless?”
“He can at least run if things go wrong.”
“He didn’t look like he had that much intelligence.”
“He’ll still be smarter than you, idiot.”
“What? Seriously!”
Just as Penelope was about to grab his hair from behind and yank it out, a huge object entered their view.
It was a wolf monster.
They put their bickering aside and focused on their target.
“Enemy spotted. It’s similar to last time.”
“Yeah.”
“The size and shape are similar too. We barely escaped back then. Are you sure you’re okay now?”
“Of course I am.”
Jed smiled.
Had he not endured all that pain for this moment?
“There’s nothing more exhilarating than getting revenge.”
Now it was time to reap the harvest.
Jed drew the shortsword tucked into his waist.
Blue sword aura rose from the shortsword.
The blindfolded horse charged bravely, then came to a stop.
Jed was flung upward from the horse’s body by the recoil.
“Pepe! Now!”
“Haste!”
The pink-haired demon cast an acceleration spell on the airborne Jed.
The two had developed a reasonable degree of coordination by now.
With even more agile movements, his figure vanished the instant he landed.
-Grrr!?
The wolf monster panicked.
It tried to follow his movements, but the snake heads attached to it could do no more than chase his afterimage.
This was different from when he had simply been running away.
The blue sword aura held by the shortsword traced a long arc after the afterimage.
Shushushuk—!
The arc reached the wolf monster’s body and pierced it.
It cut off all the snake heads and severed its tendons, rendering it helpless.
The greatest opening Jed had been waiting for was when the incapacitated monster used its strength to regenerate.
Jed thrust the shortsword into its chest.
Unlike when he had protected Ferda, it ended very easily.
“Wow, that was awesome!”
Penelope hopped frivolously.
“Jeddy! What were you doing over there?”
“Do you think I was playing, you bitch?”
“You look kind of sexy. You’re the first man I’ve ever seen this sensual.”
“Ha-ha, get away from me. Where do you think you’re trying to suck out my life force, you damn pervert?”
“Come on, I haven’t had a woman in a week……!”
Penelope rubbed her hungry stomach and gave him a sultry look.
Sultry to her, perhaps, but to Jed it was an expression that inspired disgust and a beating.
Just then, Isabella’s telepathic message came through.
-Sir Jed.
“Yes?”
-Sir Malcolm is herding the monsters. Please provide support there.
Jed answered immediately.
“Where is he?”
-I’m heading there now. Look toward the alley.
There was no need to search for which alley it was.
A loud noise was drawing closer.
The first thing they saw was the donkey’s face.
Then came Malcolm, screaming a scream that did not sound like a scream.
“Aaaagh! Ugh! I’m gonna dieee!”
Hee-haw!
Malcolm and the donkey came running with tears and snot flying everywhere.
Soon, two wolf monsters appeared.
Jed watched them and was shocked.
‘How the hell is that guy still alive?’
A man with no particular physical ability or martial arts skill was fleeing for his life with nothing but a donkey.
Well, perhaps that was because he was riding the donkey.
But the donkey, too, was moving without any notable traits.
The wolf monsters surpassed it in both speed and agility.
By every indication, it was perfect prey for the wolf monsters.
And yet the wolf monsters could not catch Malcolm.
More precisely, whenever the two wolf monsters moved to attack them, they became tangled because their movements were not coordinated.
Whether the dullards had gotten themselves caught, or he was absurdly lucky.
Whatever the case, killing the wolf monsters was the priority.
“Hey, Donkey Man! Come over here!”
“Ugh! Ugh! Aaaagh!”
Instead of answering, the man merely screamed at the top of his lungs.
That useless bastard.
Just when Jed wondered whether he would have to adjust to their movements,
the donkey seemed to understand his words, turned its body, and began running toward him.
The thoroughly enraged wolf monsters came running again, determined to catch the two of them somehow.
In any case, things were proceeding as intended.
The donkey passed Jed.
Jed counted down inwardly.
3, 2, 1.
At zero, the wolf monster’s body appeared.
Jed launched his accelerated body and drove into the heart of the monster whose eyes had rolled back.
-Yelp!
One wolf monster died, and the other realized that this was no time to chase the donkey and moved.
But the lone wolf was no different from a meal to Jed.
The shortsword held in a reverse grip claimed the remaining monster’s heart as well.
Jed had thought that two monsters might be difficult, so he could hardly believe the result.
‘He really is the perfect bait.’
He wondered if this was why Ferda kept him around.
In any case, Jed praised Malcolm in an attempt to build some camaraderie.
“Wow, you really were flawless as bait, old man. Nice wor—”
“Uwek! Uhek! I’m going to die. I’m dying……”
“……”
It took another three hours for the soul of Malcolm, who had made such excellent bait, to return.
* * *
Before the monsters attacked, Waldrova stood in the alley she had been instructed to guard.
‘The monster is coming.’
Her five senses reacted to the phrase she repeated to herself.
As though everything happening in every direction had been rendered into a diagram, it appeared vivid to her eyes and ears.
The range extended beyond the village, beyond the forest……
Nothing could escape her senses.
Therefore, Waldrova suppressed those senses.
‘What I have to do is…….’
Kill the wolf monster coming down this alley.
That was all she had to do.
Other matters could be considered later.
Shortly afterward, the presence of the enemy caused her to open her eyes.
-Grrr
The wolf monster growled with its mouth open.
What she saw were green molars, not the yellow teeth of a beast.
-Bark!
It lunged at Waldrova.
It was a threatening charge, like a cannonball flying through the air.
Any human would have been frightened and needed to make thorough preparations to respond.
But to Waldrova, it was merely an insignificant creature.
Waldrova grabbed the monster’s muzzle and lifted it with speed and strength greater than its own.
As the wolf monster’s body was dragged along without resistance, she thrust her left hand into it.
Squelch!
She pierced its hide like wet paper, pulled out the heart inside, and crushed it.
Crunch!
The entire process took 0.1 seconds.
Waldrova had killed more monsters than anyone, so she finished the task quickly and easily, like a simple process.
-Ghurk…….
The wolf monster died instantly without even managing to whimper.
Waldrova confirmed its death and pulled out her hand.
Then she threw the monster onto the ground as though discarding trash.
Waldrova did not keep her eyes on the monster.
No, she could not.
‘Don’t look.’
When she looked at it, something writhed up from within her heart.
Waldrova knew this emotion.
Hatred.
Whenever she faced monsters, she felt a clear hatred and burned it as fuel.
That was how she had killed the many monsters attempting to march out of the demon lands.
But the emotion she felt now was somewhat different from that familiar feeling.
It was fear.
‘Why……?’
The answer was simple.
The circumstances were different now.
Back then, she had sought to protect the continent as a dragon. Now, as a single knight, she had to protect a village.
When she had been a dragon, she flew to the demon lands and tore everything apart and burned it.
The things she needed to protect were behind her, so she did not need to worry about them.
Even if she rampaged while expressing her deep anger, no one would be hurt.
Only her own body would be injured.
But now, the things she had to protect were in the middle of everything.
‘If I lose control…….’
Everyone would be hurt.
Hestia Village would burn, and people would die.
That was why she feared this emotion.
‘Calm down.’
She tried to stop that emotion from boiling over.
But her five senses were more powerful than anyone else’s.
The smell of monster blood and the echoing shrieks were not things she could block with sheer willpower.
In the end, a monstrous wave of sorrow overturned her heart and swept everything away.
What remained was an unquenchable fire.
It was a deep anger toward the demons.
That flame, that anger, touched the unhealed wound once more.
The pain of the wound stirred her memories.
‘They’re trying to take it all away again…….’
The things she had built.
The things she loved.
Godwin’s malice, still moving to take everything away and defile it all, forced her to remember that intent.
“Ugh…….”
The fire was kindled.
Her uncontrollable anger threatened to turn into an impulse.
‘I have to go back.’
She had to leave the village quickly and return to her lair.
If she rampaged there for a little while, everything would be resolved.
She prayed.
That everything would proceed smoothly until then.
Please, let nothing happen.
“Aaaah!”
She raised her head.
Two girls who had failed to evacuate caught her eye.
A small girl and a somewhat larger girl shielding her.
Waldrova knew the two of them well.
They were the children she had rescued by giving them three shillings.
She saw the monstrous figure trying to swallow both of them in one bite.
‘No.’
It opened its jaws to brutally violate the helpless girls.
The moment those jaws closed, the two girls would lose both their forms and their lives.
‘No!’
At that moment, the voice struck clearly into Waldrova’s ears again.
-Look, Waldrova.
It was Godwin’s voice.
Those were the words he had spoken while looking at her before the Dragon-Demon War broke out.
-This is what it looks like when the things you wanted to protect disappear.
At that moment, the hesitation in Waldrova’s mind vanished.
Her body reflexively bent her right leg and extended her left leg backward, taking a stance.
Boom!
Leaving a huge shockwave behind her heel, she flew like a human cannonball.
Waldrova’s fist shot forward with all her strength toward the monster’s muzzle.
Crunch!
The wolf’s muzzle twisted, then tore apart completely and flew into the wall.
Its body rolled like a tilted barrel and bounced all the way to the main road.
-Kruk…… krrrgh……!
The dazed wolf monster spat out the blood pooled in its lungs.
Its aggression, created to destroy everything, drove it toward Waldrova.
-Grrrrr bark!
Though its muzzle had been blown away, it had no trouble vocalizing.
It had never been a wolf to begin with, but merely something imitating one’s appearance.
It was nothing more than a filthy, crude amalgamation imitating a wolf.
‘Don’t hurt them.’
The anger inside Waldrova burned.
Meanwhile, teeth harder than steel bit into Waldrova’s shoulder guard.
But her armor was made of a rare mineral several times harder than steel.
It was a masterpiece created by a Bronze Dragon, practically a god of blacksmiths.
The wolf, having wasted its attack, was caught in turn.
She slammed the ugly thing into the ground.
‘Don’t touch them.’
Waldrova’s fist dug into the wolf’s flesh and broke its bones.
Crack!
-Yelp!
The wolf monster realized it too late.
It should have run away instead of charging this thing.
But Waldrova’s hand, buried in its body, had no intention of letting it go.
‘You are the one who needs to disappear.’
She was power incarnate, and that incarnation blazed with crimson eyes.
Waldrova ripped out what she had grabbed.
The spine hidden beneath the skin and the ribs were pulled out with grotesque sounds.
Even the internal organs were shaken, reducing the inside to complete mush.
‘Not yet.’
Monsters did not die easily. Waldrova reached in, gripped the heart, and crushed it.
The source of the monsters’ life was pulverized, and the wolf’s form began to melt away.
That was the monster’s complete death.
‘Not yet.’
Her anger did not stop.
Even the remaining form was hateful to her.
The corpse still seemed to mock and taunt her.
Waldrova clenched her fist and brought it toward the corpse’s face.
‘From this continent.’
Her fist slammed down along with the ground.
‘Disappear forever!’
Boom!
A great reverberation rang out.
At the same time, green blood splattered against the inside of her helmet and reached her skin.
Only then did she realize that she had lost her reason and come to her senses.
“Ah.”
What came from her mouth was ragged breathing.
The scene before her was a floor stained purple and green.
Her two hands were painted even more grotesquely than the ground.
She raised her head.
Waldrova stood at the bottom of a crater-like depression.
Everyone had come outside and was looking at her.
She turned her gaze toward the alley.
The girls were there as well.
They were still afraid of the monster.
Even though the monster that had tried to harm them was already dead.
‘Ah…….’
She knew.
That the fear was directed at her.
That she was the monster.
That she was the monster.