guard for another sound of wind cutting I looked at the place where the mist like miasma was slightly wavering. Probably that’s where the main body of the enemy is. It’s clearly very far away. It could be using something like tentacles to attack as well. It is an attack from out of our reach. It’s clever….. I could conclude that it was not at the same level of ghosts or zombies. And if it can even use magic, it must be a very troublesome monster. But are there really monsters of that level in this forest? Before I could answer myself, once again the sound of wind cutting came. A cold sweat ran down my spine.

Enemies location is not certain, neither is its aim. Panicking at something I couldn’t see I ended up getting a bit late deciding whether I should block or dodge.

“Kuh!?”

[Renji, fallback for now!]

I somehow took that attack with my iron knife but my left hand went numb and I dropped it.

I somehow restrain myself from screaming which I was about to leak due to the insanely heavy attack. Unable to object at Ermenhilde’s advice, I did as it told and took some distance and took cover behind a big tree. On the other hand, Mururu was cutting apart through the invisible enemy’s attack without leaving any opening.

Must be due to her wild instincts, or maybe she was detecting the attacks from the swaying of the dislike miasma. In any case, her skill was incredible.

“Aya! Feirona!!”

Without any sense of shame, I called for my comrades with a loud shout.

I bit my lips. Was this monster waiting for us separate? For such a highly intelligent monster to have moved, it must be confident that it could at least take both me and Mururu together.

Instincts like that come to monsters or beast men much easier than to humans like us. That was irritating in itself. I was about to call Mururu but hesitated. Until the others come I have no other choice but to have her face this monster with all her strength. I don’t want to break the concentration unnecessarily.

“Ermenhilde.”

[I know.]

With those words, a silver long sword appeared in my hands.

Among the seven jade green gems embedded in its handle, two were shining. I don’t know which of the two conditions had been fulfilled but two alone won’t create a very strong weapon. I clicked my tongue in irritation but that won’t change the situation. The weapon to protect me has simply changed from an iron knife to a long sword, that’s all. I once again confirmed the swaying in the mist. From what seems to be the origin of the swaying, a tentacle like, whiplike something was attacking Mururu. It’s movements were incredibly fast. It was impossible for me to follow it with just two of my covenants released. I could only confirm that the mist was swaying.

If it goes on like this, she’ll be in danger. No matter how strong she is, I don’t know how long can she fight against an invisible enemy. She is more suited to a fast paced attacking battle. To stand in one place and take on enemy attacks is not how she fights. She probably is not moving because she would lose the movements of the opponent. If you cannot see the opponent it is better to stand your ground and focus on defence, she must have thought that way.

Should I wait for the others or should I move? Opening and clenching my left hand, I tried to get rid of the numbness.

“We are going to rush it.”

[Got it.]

Saying that, I jumped out from the cover of the big tree and rushed towards what I thought of as the origin of the swaying in the shortest distance. Due to my movements which came exactly when it’s attack had been deflected by Mururu, the enemy’s movement stopped for a second. It must have hesitated in deciding which one to attack first between the two.

But that hesitation only lasted a second. His aim was me. Confirming the swaying of the mist, I predicting the place and timing where the attack would come. Silver sword in my hand creaked from the impact, and my body felt like it had gone completely numb for a second. Just how strong is this monster. I screamed inside my head.

But the very next instant, this time Mururu rushed towards it. Unlike me, she closed in incredible speed and slashed with her beautiful sharp claws. The sound of something hard breaking resounded throughout the forest. But—— there was no blood.

Confirming that, both of us took some distance from the monster. The space swayed and twisted and the outlines of the monster became more and more visible. It’s as must have been voided due to Mururu’s attack.

The first thing I saw was that it was white. It was not a pure, beautiful white like Mururu’s, it was more dull, impure—— it was bones. It’s size was equal an adult elephant. Inside four legs, like a spider but body was long and slim like a centipede. It’s head was like an Orc with one horn. And above all that, the most conspicuous thing was the speed at which it moved in scale; so fast that it left after-images—-

“Mu—”

My body moved faster than I could warn her.

I blocked the attack, which could even be followed, by pure intuition. The sword I was holding was blown off and my body flew unable to withstand the attack.

Next moment, my body hit the ground and I rolled and then hit the trunk of a tree as a final blow. All of the air was knocked out of my body and my vision blurred due to lack of oxygen. My body limped to the ground powerless but that lasted for only a second. Forcing my body to move again, I stood up while taking support of the tree I hit just now. It might be easier if I just fell asleep right there but I know that if I did, I won’t wake up ever again.

[Renji! Renji!!]

“I can hear you. Don’t shout in my ears……..”

The next moment, a familiar feeling entered my hands. Grabbing it with my both hands, I took the Seigan stance which is often seen in Kendo. (T/N: google seigan to see what it looks like.)

My body stiffened as I heard the sound of its foot moving. Next time, I’ll cut off its damn tail with a counter. Practically speaking, it’s really difficult but I still held the sword with full confidence.

But, no attack came towards me again. Only my own rough breathing resounded in my ears.

How long did I simply stand like that I wonder.  Finally, something touched my swordtip. The next moment, I swung my sword overhead and——

“It’s fine now.”

At that voice, my tension depleted. It was a voice I had become used to listening.

“—–Mururu?”

“Un.”

“Haaaah……”

That calm voice was definitely hers, and it proved that the battle was over. Realizing that what had touched the sword just now was her finger tip, all tension left my body.

And just like that, I fell back to the ground and took a deepe, deep sigh.

“What happened to that monster?”

“It ran away.”

“……Really?”

“Un.”

Even though it was a great chance to finish me off. Perhaps it plans to make sure to kill me easily after I have weakened?

That must be the case. I started feeling a bit depressed. Considering that it knew exactly when to fall back, it must be really used to hunting. Or contrary to its appearance, it’s actually a coward. In either case, it doesn’t change the fact that its very difficult to fight against. Almost invisible, and insanely strong as well. This is cheating really! I cursed in my head.

Suddenly I felt a pain from my right hand. On looking, I had a big, deep cut running from shoulder to the elbow. Taking on that kind of attack, I’m actually lucky that this much is all I had to bear. In the worst case, my whole arm could have been ripped off.

I feel exhausted just to have survived this but I really have to stop this from bleeding too much as well.

“Are you okay?”(mururu)

While looking at my arm, she asked worriedly.

Feeling a bit happy at that, my cheeks slackened involuntarily. Though I got hurt, it’s great that we both survived this ordeal. I felt a bit better thinking like that.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

But we can’t stay here like this. Seeing that the others didn’t come here even after all this time means that something must have happened on that side as well.

As I stood up with the support of the tree again, I started walking towards what I felt was the direction the camp was in……..and then soon stopped again.

“Which way is the camp?”(mururu)

“………I’m sorry.”

Due to this battle, I’ve completely lost our bearings. Even the tree I had marked as a landmark had been destroyed due to fight. I can’t even tell which way is west and which is east.

Mururu is the same as me so she is also just standing by me.

“Oi, Feirona!!”

I shouted in a loud voice but there was no answer.

I’m certain now that something must have happened there as well. It’s not like we went very far to gather the branches anyway. They should have noticed if such a big battle happened.

The only conclusion I can get to is that they must have been attacked as well. But I doubt there would be a more than one monster of that class so nearby each other………or rather, I don’t want to think like that. Let’s try and not imagine the worst scenario directly.  If I didn’t do so, we’ll just end up standing here all day.

As time passed, I thought of what to do next. It’d be too dangerous to just recklessly start running around to look for the camp as well. We’ll definitely get lost. But, it’ll be dark very soon. Then it’ll be time for ghosts to rampage. Before that, I really want to meet up back with the others.

“Mururu, can you smell where that monster or Aya is?”

I asked that but she shook her head. I feel that her wolf ears drooped a bit as well.

“Is something the matter?”(renji)

“Hm?”

“You seem very less energetic than usual.”

At the same time, I confirmed my wound as well. The cut is pretty deep but it’s not gotten to the bones. The blood vessel seem fine as well so the bleed wasn’t as profuse I had expected. A small piece of luck in misfortune, eh? It hurts so much I could cry but I won’t die at least.

I took help from mururu to rip of my left sleeve and used it to tie my right arm tightly to my side to stop the blood loss. This should hold it back a little. As the pain lessened my thoughts became more arranged as well.

“Cheer up Mururu, we’ll soon meet up with Ms Francesca and others.”

“Un. But will they be okay?”

“Yeah, they’ll be fine. Those guys won’t make a blunder like me after all.”

With those 2 there, they should be able to deal with it while protecting Ms Francesca as well.

I am a bit worried but Aya’s there as well. Let’s believe that they’ll be fine.  Right our situation is the bigger problem.  We’re lost and have no items either. And one’s injured as well. Let alone being a burden, with this kind of wound, normally you’d just abandon me. Well, I doubt Mururu’s actually that cold of a person to do that though.

“With this place as the centre, let’s look around a bit. We shouldn’t be very far away from the camp.”

“Un. We, need to treat your wound as well.”

“There’s that as well but I’m more worried about those guys.”

We are both frontline fighters. Those three are all rear line fighters. This isn’t just at the level of being a called a bad party balance. We have to really meet up fast since I’ll be the next one to get targeted definitely. I have been weakened and there’s really no condition for much of my covenants to get released so I can’t even fight properly.

While thinking of that, I realized that Ermenhilde hadn’t said anything for quite a while now.

“Oi, what happened?”

I struck my pocket with my working left hand.

[……..I’m sorry.]

For some reason, I was apologised to with a heavy sounding voice.

I ended up tilting my head in confusion. Did something strange happen I wonder? I thought but couldn’t come up with anything. Is it just worried about the attack from that monster? But that had nothing to do with Ermenhilde though?

“Hm?”

[Even though I kept saying things like I want to be of use to you, this is the end result.]

“No, this isn’t really your fault you know?”

I was the one who was just weak.

In fact, it’s a miracle that we survived after facing something like that. Neither Mururu nor Ermenhilde did anything to get blamed for.

“Don’t worry about it partner. We’ll win next time.”

[……….Yeah.]

It’s still depressed. Now how should I cheer up this partner of mine who gets depressed at the weirdest of things? While I was thinking that, I felt my mantle being pulled slightly.

On looking, Mururu was looking up towards me with upturned eyes. Shit, she’s really cute.

“What is it?”(renji)

“Who are you talking to?”

Ah.

“Now that I think about it, I haven’t let you hear it, c’mon Ermenhilde, greet her.”

[What’s up with that——-no, well, never mind, I guess it’s fine.”

Normally it’d snap at me but I guess she took more mental damage than I thought.

In my opinion, it’s fine as long as I live though. As usual, its really hardheaded.

On looking at the ground, the iron knife I was using before came to my view. It had completely broken. I picked its handle but its pretty much unusable now. I just put the handle back in the sheath. Guess I’ll have to depend on Ermenhilde completely from now on.

[Hm Hm, can you hear me Beastwoman?]

“!?!”

Her small shoulders jumped up in surprise. It looks like she can hear Ermenhilde.

“My name is Ermenhilde. The sword of the Hero and the GodSlaying weapon granted unto Yamada Renji by the Goddess Astrarea.]

“What kind of intro is that. I’m not suitable as a hero.”

How many times do I have to say that, this idiot.

I ended up sighing.

“un, nice to meet you.”(mururu)

But, Mururu’s reaction was simpler than expected. She must have heard about me from either Aya or Ms Francesca already I guess. She must have been explained that back when a great hero like Aya took on this request.

[Mu……]

But apparently, Ermenhilde would have preferred if she was a bit more surprised I guess since she doesn’t seem to accept her reaction.

She was surprised when you spoke up first so it’s fine right? Be satisfied with just that.

“With the introductions now complete, let’s join up with Aya and the others as quickly as possible.”

If this goes on, if we get attacked again, Mururu may be fine but I’ll be dead.

Saying that, I began walking while looking for trees that could act as a landmark. I guess it’s a small blessing that terrain became easier to recognise due to the battle. I decided to look around the area with this place as the centre.

I hope we can join up with the others before the sun sets.

Just when I was being optimistic thinking that we could leave this forest by tomorrow, this happens. It’s really heart-breaking but I can’t really give up either.

There’s someone here who’s more than 10 years younger than me. I can’t be the one who gives up before her. Let’s do our best and keep walking. I’ll take this girl to the capital safely. Definitely.