The Gwenna Corps Clash: Merill vs. Barna (1)

Man, I got the short end of the stick.

Merill, his eyes slightly downturned, watched Barna, the spear-wielding demon, and thought so.

From what Merill could tell, Barna was the second- or third-strongest among them.

The strongest was unquestionably Gwenna, the demon wielding the greatsword. You could tell just from his bearing. The second and third were Rabio, the female demon with the whip, and Barna, the one with the spear. Judging from the others' attitudes, Enge, who used finger shots, ranked fourth, while Kargo, the staff-wielding mage, ranked fifth.

I wish I'd gotten one of those two...

Merill looked enviously at Enge and Kargo.

Their opponents had been decided by chance, but Merill couldn't deny that he had drawn the short straw.

It had been the same when Kyle threw daggers our way to provide cover earlier. Enge, who used finger shots, and Kargo the mage had fallen back, while Rabio the whip-wielding demon and Barna the spearman had instead stepped forward, choosing to attack even while taking wounds.

It was the choice of soldiers always prepared to take their opponent down with them. A soldier like that couldn't possibly be weak.

In fact, when they attacked under Kyle's cover, Barna took a dagger in his right shoulder and still counterattacked, while Merill took a spear through his left arm. Merill's attack, meanwhile, did no more than sever Barna's left thumb...