“Ca-captain! Look at the mountain to the west!”
From the direction that Ditore was pointing at frantically, something was charging.
It was a horde of demonic beasts and loathsome insects. The creatures should have been left masterless after losing the ones controlling them… Yet they were all unharmed as they came down with terrifying momentum.
“N-not that way! Go around the main force and head to the east…”
“We cannot! There are monsters that way too!”
Meshe cried, and the monsters began to shout.
The Fang Riders, who should have been reduced to heaps of mangled flesh, were shouting gleefully as they came.
“What the hell…is this.”
His body began to shake.
All of the monsters they had defeated were now rising up and charging towards them.
“Wh-what should we do, captain!?”
“What…?”
“Move, Poro!”
With his remaining arm, Leodor pushed him to the side.
And then his head went flying into the air.
“Shaaaaaaaaa!!”
The creature kicked aside Leodor, who had dropped to his knees with blood gushing from his neck, and leveled its bloodstained blade at Poro.
“Ca-captain! Hurry…”
Like a phantom, the lizardman vanished.
And in the next instant, it had leapt high into the air and came crashing down onto Farnan, who had been about to throw his knife. And like that, he was cleaved in two.
“N-no…ah…pl-please…do not come…any…”
Beside him, Ditore had collapsed to the ground, desperately swinging a stick in terror.
And casually as skewering a ripe fruit, the lizardman drove his blade into the plump face, killing him instantly.
Poro collapsed to hsi knees.
And a warm stream trickled down his legs.
“Ah…ah…”
His body refused to move. He could not even think of resisting. In front of the overwhelming brutality in front of him, Poro could do nothing but press his head against the ground in surrender.
“He-help me! Help me! I…I…I! I don’t want to die…here! Ah….ahhhh!”
What was the point of doing such a thing? Surely monsters would not pity him.
However, the lizard’s feet stopped.
“O…over here! You monster!”
“Me…Meshe! No!”
He raised his head and followed the voice. Meshe was holding her sword, standing in the center of their comrade’s corpses as she stared at the lizardman.
“G-go! You must get out of here! I will…hold it off…!”
“No! You cannot beat it! Run!”
The lizardman turned its head back to Poro for a brief instant.
Presented with two targets at once, it showed hesitation for the first time.
In that moment, fleeting memories returned to Poro, only to then scatter like petals.
The faces of the family he had abandoned.
The faces of the villagers he saved.
And the face of Meshe…
…His companion, who he had shared so much with until now.
“O-over here, you damned lizard!”
He picked up a sword off the ground and hurled it with all of his strength.
And as the lizardman batted it aside with ease, Poro broke into a sprint.
“That’s right! Come after me…”
But before he had taken more than a few steps, a searing pain and crushing impact slammed into his back.
“Gaaah!!”
Poro fell to the ground, and his vision went black.
“Meshe…ru..n…”
The footsteps of the lizardman grew closer. It then stopped as if to inspect him.
The monster stared down as Poro held his breath, enduring the pain without making a sound.
Then, as if it had lost interest, it turned and walked away.
Poro could feel the thudding footsteps through the group as they began to fade into the distance.
Both relieved of his survival, and concerned about Meshe, he rechecked behind his back to feel the spot under his armor.
Apparently, the enemy’s sword had been dulled by madness, as the wound was not too deep.
“Damn it…”
He forced himself to rise to his feet.
But as looked around again, Poro became speechless.
Before him was a world of misery and torment. Monsters with bloodshot eyes were throwing themselves onto soldiers with spears.
However, the soldiers were slow and uncoordinated. They were quickly dragged to the ground and torn into pieces.
Demonic beasts spewed fire after penetrating deep into the formation. And the battlefield was filled with poison as throats were slit by invisible fangs.
The resurrected monsters crushed the living beneath their feet.
Then the dead they had slain rose once more, only to drag even more of the living into the realm of death.
“Wh-what is this… God… You have abandoned us like this… What are you doing now!? Aren’t you supposed to save us! That is why the Hero served you!”
He tore off the dog tag from his neck.
“But you disappear at a time like this! Come back here…! Save us, like you are supposed to!”
The only answer that came to his desperate cry was a volley of spears that pierced straight through Poro’s already shattered armor.
“Ga…ah…”
“Gihiiiiii!”
The spear wielders cried with delight.
It was a pack of kobolds.
Their eyes were bloodshot, foam dripped from their long muzzles, and their faces were twisted with the sadistic joy of torment.
As Poro collapsed to the ground, they swarmed over him all at once.
“Stop… GAAAAAAAHHHH!?”
Wooden spears pierced through his thighs, pinned his arms to the ground, and the dog-like creatures cackled as they surrounded him.
They were all licking their lips, savoring the sight of the feast before them.
“Ha…haa…what…are you…”
As he was surrounded by the stench of beasts, blood, and the aura of madness, Poro gave out a bitter laugh.
“So…you’ve come to collect my experience points…have you?”
The kobolds raised their weapons high.
“Hey, god…”
Tears streamed down Poro’s face.
“Where the hell are you?”
And those were the last words he ever spoke.