Chapter 221
★ Dark Elf Settlement ★
"Hah, haah, hff, hah, hah, haah..."
"Pick up the pace! You'll die too!"
"Hiiiiii!"
Punta was running as the centurion chewed him out. His soft, flabby body had already exceeded its limits, and his flesh was screaming. It was a wonder he could still run.
"Get down!"
"Eek!"
The centurion grabbed him by the collar and hurled him sideways. When Punta plunged headfirst into the ground, fallen leaves and mud filled his mouth.
Immediately afterward, a bird's "Giiieee!" cry rang out, followed by a raging blast of wind from its wings.
The early-summer birds descended to seize their prey, but with their wings spread, their bodies were more than five meters across, which limited the places where they could dive.
"Get up and run!"
"I-I can't anymore..."
"Run, damn you!"
A novice might think he could simply stop where the trees grew thickly.
The early-summer birds were wreathed in flames, and if he stopped, they would set him alight from a distance and cut off his escape.
All he could do was flee.
He did not even know how far he needed to run.
He had a feeling that he probably could not escape.
The number of early-summer birds chasing him had easily surpassed three digits.
He had already told the centurion all this. The Dark Elf settlement was visible in the distance, too. And yet, for some reason, the centurion did not run off and leave Punta behind.
The Dark Elves who had spotted the early-summer birds appeared in the treetop settlement with weapons in hand, but there were not many of them. Punta knew that many of their most skilled fighters were out scouting today.
Among them was a High Elf with shining golden hair.
(High Elf-sama, I'm sorry. I'm afraid of dying. I'm afraid of being killed. I brought the early-summer birds here...)
Punta knew how exalted High Elves were, too. Ever since he was little, he had been made to listen to stories of the rise and fall of the races in ages past until they had been etched into his mind.
The situation caused by his own rash actions brought tears unrelated to physical pain streaming from his eyes.
"I'm done..."
His mind was muddled by tears and breathlessness, and Punta toppled forward. The centurion forcibly hauled him back up again.
"Get up! You wanna die?!"
"E-either way, I'm gonna die..."
"Shut up, idiot!"
A slap across the face brought a little of his sanity back.
"B-but you were planning to get yourself and the Dark Elves killed..."
"Shut up, idiot!"
He was slapped again.
"The goal's right there! Won't your comrades help you?! Are they the kind of people who'd just throw you away and tell you to die alone, huh?! Live!"
It was complete madness.
At first, after hearing Punta's story, the centurion recognized how terrifying the birds were and decided that splitting the unit into three groups to escape had been an excellent choice.
He had then headed toward the Dark Elf settlement, intending to drive the flock into them. If the Dark Elves and birds tore into one another, it would give him a chance to escape, and if night fell, he could even slip away under cover of darkness.
But that was only possible when dealing with "ordinary monster birds."
Thirty minutes, then an hour, then an hour and a half after they set out, the bird silhouettes grew more numerous every time he looked back.
Seeing the group that should have been only a quarter of the whole grow to this size made him lose confidence that the comrades who had fled toward the subterranean city were safe. He began to think that even the subterranean city itself might be in serious danger.
Now, no matter what, he had to get the Dark Elves to defeat this quarter of the flock.
He wanted conclusive proof that those birds could be defeated even by a race that could not fly.
"Is that Punta?! And the one beside him is a Subterranean—You fool! To be controlled by a Subterranean and, in fear for your life, bring the early-summer birds here...!"
The clan chief trembled with rage as he took up his bow, and Punta and the Subterranean came within range.
"Clan Chief, what do we do? Should we shoot them here?"
When Nikki asked, he weakly shook his head.
"It's too late. The early-summer birds have targeted this settlement too."
The enormous flock spread out across the sky and began circling overhead, as if to surround the settlement.
It was an eerie sight, with flames swirling against the backdrop of the sky.
"Everyone, take up your bows! We have to hold out until Nokk and the others return!"
At the clan chief's command, a chorus of "Ooh!" rose.
The early-summer birds all began to dive at once. Bowstrings twanged here and there, and arrows flew.
A single arrow wasn't enough to stop a bird's momentum. When one swept past nearby, the force of the wind buffeted the Dark Elves, knocking them from the branches.
"This place is dangerous. High Elf-sama, go to the hut—"
"Even returning to the hut would be dangerous, wouldn't it?"
"...Well, yes, but..."
Nikki's eyes asked what they should do next.
"Clan Chief-san! Fighting birds from the treetops puts us at a disadvantage! Wouldn't it be better to fight them on the ground, using the great tree as a shield?!"
At Anastasia's words, the clan chief suddenly realized something.
"Th-that is... Indeed. I was thinking only about enemies on the ground. Everyone, did you hear me?! As High Elf-sama says, get down to the ground at once!"
Because it was both the clan chief's order and the High Elf's word, the Dark Elves moved quickly. One after another, they leaped down from branch to branch.
"I'll take High Elf-sama down!"
"Huh? Huh? Um, ah—"
Nikki tossed her bow to the ground, took Anastasia in one arm, and jumped from the branch. Anastasia let out a scream like silk being torn, but Nikki swung safely from branch to branch, hanging from a rope with one hand, and landed on the ground.
"Can you stand, High Elf-sama?"
"Y-yes...!"
The descent had been rougher and more direct than Reiji's, and Anastasia's knees nearly gave out.
"It's coming!"
Someone shouted.
One of the early-summer birds swooped down until it was just above the ground and came rushing toward them. It kicked up clouds of dust and hurtled forward at the tremendous speed of its dive.
Punta and the Subterranean had reached the settlement. They were unconscious, their faces drenched in sweat, tears, snot, and drool, and they collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.
The Dark Elves cried out in surprise.
In a settlement full of musclebound people, Punta was certainly an unusual sight. He was round and squishy.
But that did not mean they disliked him.
Everyone knew that he was a thoughtful man.
"Hey! Don't go passing out here!"
At that moment, the Subterranean—their enemy, in theory—drew the short sword at his waist and stood protectively in front of Punta.
The Dark Elves wondered why—why him—but as long as he protected Punta, they had no grounds to complain.
"Fire!"
At the clan chief's order, the arrows struck the oncoming early-summer bird several times. Its body lurched, and when its right wing touched the ground, it spun around and went tumbling head over heels across the earth.
The giant bird slammed into a great tree some distance from Punta and the Subterranean. The trunk shuddered, and a great many leaves fell.
"..."
The centurion's face was plastered with mud kicked up by the bird, but more than anything, he saw it twitching helplessly after crashing into the great tree:
"Woooooooooah!"
He let out a roar.
"Hey, did you see that, Punta?! We brought it down! We actually brought one down!"
"U-ugh..."
Punta foamed at the mouth as the centurion grabbed him by the collar and shook him back and forth.
"Not yet!"
The clan chief's shout wiped away their joy.
"The next one's coming!!"
One after another, the early-summer birds began to dive.