We reached the edge of the cliff.
I had the others wait while Slei and I went ahead a short distance to check what lay beyond.
"Looks doable," I said when I returned.
The path ahead seemed clear enough. We would probably avoid any major detours. The big disruption to our schedule had been avoided.
The area around us had a marshy feel to it, though the ground was not so muddy that it would trap our feet. Small puddles dotted the landscape, their water clouded with silt. Dense, unchanging forest surrounded us. The only real variation was that the trees here were mostly conifers. I checked the sky. Thick clouds covered everything, and the air was starting to grow damp. Seras and Eve had mentioned it earlier. It looked like rain would come soon.
"We have finally made it this far," Seras said.
Eve nodded. "Mm." She turned her head toward Liz.
"Liz, you did very well too. Touka, Seras… I do not know how to thank you properly. If it had been only Liz and me, we never would have reached this place."
"Sister."
"Hm?"
"Pigi-chan and Slei-chan helped too, right?"
Eve looked reflective at Liz's words.
"Ah, that is true. I must thank Pigi-maru and Slei from the bottom of my heart as well… We were helped by all of you on this journey."
Eve bowed politely.
"Well, we needed that map you carry, Eve. I told you before. It was not purely out of goodwill."
Seras let out a small chuckle.
"So do not worry about it, she says. You really are kind, Lord Touka."
"Yeah, well."
Seras smiled wryly, her brows forming a slight frown. She did not seem especially embarrassed at being called kind. The fact that it was not pure goodwill was true, after all. And since Seras could detect lies, she would know I was not being modest. That was probably why she had given that wry smile. Conversations with Seras Ashrain, who possessed the power to see through deception, served as pretty good training for everyday talk.
Eve's gaze grew distant. Longing filled her eyes.
"Even a small house would be fine… A peaceful land untouched by battle, where Liz and I could live quietly… The moment I thought I might finally reach that dream after ending my days as a blood fighter, the dream vanished… But now hope has appeared in that dream once more. At last… my wish may finally come true."
Eve's expression softened. Her leopard-like eyes now gazed gently at Liz.
"Once everything is settled, we talked about growing some crops together someday… That too may come true in the not-too-distant future, Liz."
"Yeah… that's right, sister."
Liz looked deeply moved. Tears welled at the corners of her eyes.
"――――――――Eve."
The voice belonged to Seras. It had come out almost reflexively.
Above Eve's head.
The appearance was far too sudden. It could even be called an emergence from outside recognition. A manifestation. With neither sound nor presence, it had appeared out of nowhere.
It was floating.
Its shape was bizarre. If I had to describe it, the creature looked like nothing but the lower half of a human face, from the nose down. A monster consisting only of a lower jaw and mouth. Two slightly elongated front teeth gleamed gold. Those must have been its eyes. Its total length was around two meters. Those golden front teeth swayed like tentacles. Liz's face went pale.
"Sister, cha――"
"――――"
What the hell was that monster…?
"Kh…!"
Seras, who had been momentarily stunned, regained her senses and reached for her sword. But Eve was faster. With a fluid motion, she drew her blade from its sheath. In the same sweeping momentum, she traced a flashing arc above her head. The movement resembled iaijutsu. Her perfectly timed slash caught the monster's body.
"!"
I noticed it then.
"Eve, wait――"
**ZBAN!**
"Gyoe!"
The monster let out a muddy scream and sprayed blood as it fell. It slammed into the ground. Blue blood spread at Eve's feet. Eve, still in the follow-through of her swing, looked confused.
"What… what is it, Touka? It looked like you were trying to stop my attack…"
"――… Does it still seem to be breathing?"
"No, it appears to have stopped. It is not moving at all."
"…Just in case, step back."
"R-right."
"..."
Eve's judgment had not been wrong. The creature had caught her by surprise at close range, an extremely short distance at that. Considering her own safety, that had been the best possible response. However…
I stared at the monster's corpse, which now lay on its back (?).
"That feeling it gave off…"
It carried the aura of something that had no attachment to life. Yet it had radiated hostility. Yes, almost as if it had been luring us in, begging to be killed.
**Twitch.**
The monster moved. Or at least it looked that way.
The next instant, the creature emitted light.
"Shi… ii… i… ii――"
I called out as quickly as I could.
"Everyone, get away from here!"
The scream that followed was ear-piercing, like a shrill metallic shriek amplified to an unbearable volume. The sharp, overwhelming pitch and sheer loudness forced me to cover both ears.
It had to be that thing.
The thought that suddenly flashed through my mind was the fully bandaged man who had been among the Five Dragon Warriors. A technique that activated after death. A spell designed to alert the undead to the presence of a powerful enemy.
A bad premonition.
It proved more accurate than I had hoped. Or perhaps it was simply a prediction born from instinct.
The voice stopped.
The light faded as well.
Eve lowered her hands from her ears.
"What in the world was that just now…"
"It seems to have used up the last of its strength… Perhaps it was a death cry."
"But what an incredible volume…"
The first to notice what was coming was Eve Speed, who had the sharpest hearing among us.
"――――This is…"
**Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.**
They were approaching.
From every direction.
All heading straight for this spot.
I dropped to one knee, closed my eyes, and focused on the presences.
I pressed my fingertips to the ground.
Layer upon layer of grating cries overlapped.
Even from a distance, the continuous faint tremors were strong enough to shake the earth.
A viciousness like that of torture devices made manifest.
Jet-black malice, painted over as thickly as ink.
A sadistic urge as sticky and tar-like as molten asphalt.
"…I see."
A click of my tongue escaped me.
They were definitely mixed in.
"Human-faced ones."
My mouth had already gone dry.
Even the simple act of swallowing saliva had been stripped away from me.
It was true that we had taken down the human-faced species in the monster swarm zone the other day, but…
"This is…"
There were far too many of them.