The Piercer

The Piercer

'GGGGYYYYY!'

With a roar, a Lesser Demon's arm came at me from the front. At the same time, my precognition warned me of an attack from behind.

I accelerated at full force and slammed my one-handed half-sword into the creature ahead. Using the momentum to knock it down, I pulled out my sword in a forward roll and fired magic at the other one I'd left behind as I turned.

The white light bullet struck directly, and the Lesser Demon's body burst into flames. Screaming, the creature fell toward the ground.

But there were still countless enemies. I deflected a claw sweeping in from the right with my sword guard, then spun around one foot. As I drove an elbow into the Lesser Demon, I leaped down from the roof.

The demon waiting below swung its claw, but I twisted my body just before landing and kicked its arm away.

'GA...!?'

I landed with my knees folded beneath me and spun sideways. Sweeping my sword as though performing a leg sweep, I cut down the legs of three creatures around me.

I could cut them. I could fight them. But there were too many. I kept moving to avoid being surrounded, yet wherever I went, monsters blocked my path.

More importantly, I couldn't assume that their only means of attack were their bare hands.

'■■■■……'

Several meters ahead, four Lesser Demons had stopped and were pointing both arms at me. Mana writhed around them, rising like snakes lifting their heads.

I realized they were targeting me with magic and tried to charge, but three demons leaped at me.

"Damn!"

'GYAHA!'

I dodged the descending right arm and severed the creature's neck. Immediately afterward, I saw the future in which a claw thrust out from behind me, but I couldn't evade it in time. My armor took the blow, but the impact sent me flying.

"Guh……!"

I slammed into the coffee-cup attraction with tremendous force, crumpling the iron structure. My insides were shaken, and the contents of my stomach surged up into my throat.

There was no time to vomit. I immediately rolled sideways to evade a follow-up kick. The red foot that missed destroyed the attraction.

I had no time to worry about the damage to the amusement park. As I rose, I drove the beak-shaped tip of my staff into the belly of another Lesser Demon leaping at me and swept it sideways.

As the two creatures fell in a tangled heap, I loaded a scroll by spin-cocking the weapon. Before they could recover, I fired a light bullet.

I tore my gaze away from the Lesser Demons burning amid their screams and turned toward the place where the mana was intensifying.

I sprinted toward it, but the enemy was faster at activating its magic.

'■■■■■■!'

Twelve spears around a meter long appeared. They were all fired at me at once.

I saw a vision of myself being pierced by the spears hurtling toward me at tremendous speed. Following my precognition, I dodged by weaving from side to side.

'GY!?'

"Take that!"

I closed the distance in a single breath and swung my sword at the neck of the Lesser Demon with its arms still thrust forward. At the same time, I drove the tip of my staff into the throat of another one with my left hand.

I pulled it free as I gouged the creature, passed it, and used my leg strength to forcefully change direction. I slashed at the two remaining creatures that were preparing to counterattack with their claws, bisecting the one closer to me with a diagonal cut.

'GYYYYYGA!?'

The last one turned and tried to run. But another Lesser Demon came flying into it, and the two fell together.

I drove my sword through both of them at once, then looked toward the one that had come flying.

Around the waterless fountain, 'Kenning' was batting Lesser Demons away with its baton and shield.

It raced around in every direction, its rollers spinning at high speed. At times, it even kicked off the roofs of attractions and the standing streetlights, moving in three dimensions.

"Otaku-kun! Find Tatsumin!"

Kenning continued fighting. Clinging to the back of its cockpit, Riko-senpai gripped the handle with one hand and had one foot braced on the boarding ladder.

In that unstable position, she drove a backfist into the face of a Lesser Demon that leaped at her.

"You can manage on your own! We're securing the route of retreat here!"

"……Got it!"

There was no time to hesitate. I cut away a claw approaching from behind with my sword and kicked the red flank.

I spin-cocked the weapon while avoiding an arm swung down from the side, then cut through the Lesser Demon's torso.

I ran toward the edge of the plaza. Perhaps determined not to let me escape, more than ten demons stood in my way.

I came to an abrupt stop, scraping the ground with both soles. At the same time, I hooked my right elbow over the scroll case at the base of the staff.

A magic circle unfolded at the tip of the staff. Five light bullets scattered like buckshot toward the approaching monsters.

'GAAAAAAAA!?'

The Lesser Demons struck directly burst into flames and rolled across the ground. I leaped into the opening they'd made, and heard a light landing behind me.

"Go!"

"Yes!"

Even without turning around, I knew that her great scythe had swept away the monsters trying to pursue me. I didn't worry about further attacks and simply ran.

I left the plaza and ran past the merry-go-round, scanning the area without slowing down.

Tatsumin-san was most likely somewhere inside the park. If so, she should be in a place with a higher concentration of mana than the plaza we'd just left.

As I ran with that thought in mind, my precognition detected another reaction.

Just then, a Lesser Demon burst through the wall of an abandoned restaurant we'd passed.

'GAAA!'

"Out of my way……!"

I came to an abrupt stop and swung my sword, sweeping through its torso. Half a moment later, another creature appeared, and I kicked it in the jaw.

Using the momentum of my follow-through, I made a small leap diagonally. Twisting my waist, I pointed my staff at the creature I'd kicked.

Almost simultaneously with pulling the trigger, the scroll burned and the magic was fired. The white light bullet struck the Lesser Demon's left arm and blew it away.

'GY……GAAAA!?'

White flames spread from the place that had exploded, engulfing the red body.

Keeping the screaming creature in view, I sheathed my sword and checked the magazine loaded into my staff.

Three shots remained. I filled the magazine with scrolls and returned it to the staff. Then I loaded one more into the chamber through the ejection port.

The 'Demon-Bane' scrolls now in the staff numbered seven, with one more in my pouch. I didn't know how effective they would be, but perhaps I should consider using 'Wind Bullet.'

If possible, I didn't want to use 'Fire Bullet.' Even if this was a spiritual disaster, this place was……

Then a thunderous roar came from far away. It wasn't from the direction of the plaza. I immediately drew my sword with my right hand and ran toward the source of the sound.

That way…… the roller-coaster side……!

"Suuuuh……!"

I drew a deep breath and accelerated. The 'Physical Enhancement' scroll had already run out. I activated another one and kicked hard against the ground.

'GYYYYY!'

"Move!"

Eight Lesser Demons blocked my path. Four of them pointed both hands at me and fired magic.

Twelve black throwing spears came flying. I feinted to the right for an instant, then changed direction to the left. Twisting my upper body as I ran, I let one spear graze my shoulder.

I fired magic in that position. The light bullet pierced one of the demons, but the remaining seven charged with their sharp claws raised.

'GGYA!'

"Hng!"

I dodged the claw thrust by the lead creature and slashed it as we passed each other, tearing open its torso.

I countered the next creature's charge with a sweeping sideways kick. Continuing into a horizontal spin, I lifted my pivot foot from the ground.

A Lesser Demon's arm swung in from the side and passed directly beneath me. I let my back brush along it as I spun once more, then shattered the creature's skull with my pommel and used the recoil to leap onto the roof of a nearby building.

Five left—no, six. As soon as I landed on the roof, I backstepped while spin-cocking the weapon, and five creatures leaped after me.

Immediately afterward, the one I'd kicked away came through the roof and approached from behind. Following my precognition, I fired magic over my shoulder without turning and finished it off.

'GAGAGAGAGA!'

I charged into the five creatures approaching from the front, and they charged me as well.

I knocked aside an extended claw with my forehead guard and kept advancing. Using our combined momentum, I drove my sword into its solar plexus.

With the tip of my sword protruding from its back, the creature grabbed both my shoulders while vomiting blood. Ignoring it, I kept running and leaped from the roof.

I spun around in midair, kicked the impaled creature, and used the recoil to leap toward a streetlight. I collided with it soles-first, bent my knees to absorb the impact, then extended both legs and leaped again.

I slashed at one of the Lesser Demons that had jumped down after me and severed its neck.

As I'd thought, these creatures weren't intelligent monsters. Setting aside their overall strength, they were inferior to the Zmeu in that regard.

I landed, scraping the ground, almost simultaneously with my enemies. The remaining three turned their skull-like faces toward me.

'GGAAAA……!'

Did they possess enough intelligence to know they shouldn't give me time to reload? The three charged again, and I charged them in turn.

I raised my sword, then threw it at them just before entering striking distance.

'GA!?'

The central creature couldn't evade a blade thrown from such close range. The thick blade sank deeply into its head.

I slipped past its side and leaped, lifting both feet from the ground. While twisting around in midair, I grabbed the lower part of my staff with my right hand. Click. I loaded the next scroll.

'GGGOOOOAAA!'

I fired a light bullet into the chest of the Lesser Demon turning toward me. As I landed, I moved the lever and sent the next scroll into the chamber.

The last creature charged at me with a roar, but I calmly slammed magic into its stomach.

I moved the lever and ejected the spent case. The empty scroll case fell to the ground with a high-pitched sound.

"Fuuu……"

My stamina and mana were still fine. My concentration, however, was beginning to suffer.

I loaded a 'Magic Expansion' scroll into the lower part of the staff. Just as I reached for the magazine, another roar sounded. There was no time to spare, so I picked up the sword lying on the ground and ran.

At last, I reached the plaza beside the roller coaster.

It was an open space where colorful stalls had once stood, and visiting families had probably sat on the benches.

Now there were only several faded benches, a rusty iron fence, and the battered roller coaster visible beyond it.

This was no longer a place for people to play.

It had become a hunting ground for monsters.

"Tatsumin-san……!"

"Guh……!"

Slightly closer to me than the center of the plaza, she knelt on one knee in her armor.

Her sturdy plate armor was scored with numerous wounds, and a small pool of red had formed at her feet.

Just after I ran toward her, 'something' landed.

About ten meters in front of us, powerful limbs gouged the ground.

A blue-white horse fixed us with its crimson gaze. Its outline wavered like flames, and it radiated an oppressive presence that did not belong to this world.

Yet even that presence paled beside what sat atop it.

An old knight sat astride the saddle. His skin was as black as though shadow had been compacted, and white cloth seemed to be wrapped around it. His attire looked like something from an age of antiquity.

His muscular arms and legs were fitted with golden leather gauntlets and greaves, and he carried a rugged spear in his right hand.

He had long white hair and a full beard. But the face beneath them was skull-like, just like those of the Lesser Demons.

Goatlike horns parted his hair and extended to either side. Red light glowed within his exposed, eyeless sockets.

'Furcas'

One of Solomon's seventy-two pillars, and the only being among them to possess the Title 'Knight.'

The demon god glared down at us from horseback.

───Our gazes met.

For an instant, the sound of my breathing seemed to fade away. A sensation like lead had been stuffed into my throat seized me, and both feet felt nailed to the ground.

This wasn't magic. This was…… pure 'fear.'

The neurochemicals released by those horns seemed to be freezing in my brain. Strength drained from the fingers gripping my weapons. The fact that I didn't drop them could only be attributed to luck.

"Ah…… aaah……!"

The voice that finally emerged was utterly pathetic.

As I stood there unable even to raise my sword, the demon god slowly extended his left hand toward me.

Light kindled at his fingertip, and he traced something in the air. The next instant.

A vortex of flames rushed toward me from directly ahead.