At the sudden appearance of the man who had burst out from nowhere, everyone turned their heads in unison.
A black overcoat drenched in rain, adorned with accessories of unknown origin.
His appearance was suspicious no matter who looked at him, and his every action seemed to scream, please suspect me.
"W-who?"
At Sairon's question laced with wariness, the man stared holes into my face instead of answering.
And then, slowly, he tilted his head.
He was nothing but skin and bones with only his height looming like a withered pole, and seeing him do that sent an involuntary chill down my spine.
Then, suddenly, as if recalling something, he clapped his hands together and laughed.
"Aha! You're a mage, right?"
"···!"
Well, it wasn't like he couldn't know.
While everyone else was holding swords or bows, I alone had a staff.
As if gauging my reaction, the man raised the corners of his lips and slowly approached.
"Being able to crush that child to that extent... it could only be magic, right? Or what, did you use a relic or something?"
He tossed the words out lightly, but when his gaze briefly swept over the fallen servant, those eyes of his weren't laughing in the slightest.
'...Just how much does he know?'
Seeing him fish for information like that, it was clear he hadn't witnessed the battle directly.
But his piercing tone left me feeling strangely hollow inside.
"Whatever the case, I like it. I like it very much."
Quietly raising the corners of his mouth, the man drew even closer.
His gaze was sharp, like a predator that had marked its prey from the very beginning.
"To think I'd see a mage in a place like this. I'm lucky today."
I unconsciously stepped back.
From behind me, I felt Baldik quietly gripping his sword.
Sairon was also behind me, holding his breath as he assessed the situation.
"...What do you want?"
When I asked in a low voice, the man smirked and spread both hands.
"Don't be so tense. I'm just... curious, that's all. Who killed that chimera, who destroyed my cute little creation—I want to know, don't you think?"
"...Creation?"
"Yeah. Unfortunately, it was a failed work, but I had some affection for it. And yet, to end so futilely like this..."
The man looked up into empty air and bit his lip, then soon lowered his head and muttered.
"...This means I have to hold someone responsible, doesn't it?"
Slowly, but unmistakably, a hostile aura spread.
A tension that seemed to make the surrounding temperature plummet hung in the air.
Beneath the man's smiling expression, a cold and tenacious malice began to reveal itself.
"However, before that..."
The man raised his head and looked straight at me.
"Hiding your hands behind your back and doing something since earlier—"
Boom!
The man's face was engulfed in a blue explosion.
In an instant, water splashed in all directions, churning up the mud, and a short shockwave rang out like lightning.
Water Bomb.
It was the magic I had been hiding and condensing.
He'd been suspicious since he started the conversation, but that last line just now had confirmed it.
'He's the culprit.'
In that case, striking first is the answer.
There was no reason to hesitate.
"Huh. Doing something fun—"
Boom!
Like I said, I have two shots.
I lodged another water bomb in the bastard who had been rambling like a villain off guard, and immediately pulled my body back.
Baldik immediately drew his sword on reflex and guarded against the bastard, while Sairon flinched in surprise and stumbled backward.
The merchant silently carried the servant on his back and cautiously retreated.
'He didn't die...'
In a brief moment, my instincts whispered.
Beyond the vision tangled with steam and mud, his presence was still clear.
"...Hahahahaha."
A bizarre laughter flowed out as if rising like smoke.
Between the settling steam, he revealed himself.
His left face was badly mangled, exposing raw flesh, but beneath the blackened, peeled skin, tissue hardened like an exoskeleton was revealed.
That appearance was closer to a skinned monster than a human.
"Good. I like it very much."
Slowly pulling up his distorted lips, he brushed his cloak aside.
And, a low following word.
"Shall I also return the greeting in my own way this time?"
Something squirmed behind his back.
Slender tentacles drenched in black mucus slowly revealed themselves between the gaps of his overcoat, and at the same time, the ground beneath his feet began to vibrate faintly.
"I won't kill all of you."
His gaze immediately pierced through me.
"Mages are... hard-to-find ingredients."
The moment those words ended, tentacle-like things surged up in unison from behind his back.
Tentacles entwined like bundles of muscle drenched in sticky mucus spread in all directions, revealing sharp thorns.
[Water Barrier]
I reflexively activated the spell.
Thud! Thud-thump—! Swhoooosh!
The tentacles crashed against the barrier with a deafening roar, and in an instant my body was pushed back, drawing a line across the damp dirt path.
From the insane impact, I slid backward without even a chance to brace my feet, and mud splashed up behind me.
"Ugh!"
The tentacles' appearance was close to clumps of organic matter, but their strength was as sharp and powerful as a thrown steel spear.
The [Water Barrier] seemed to hold for a moment, but soon began to warp under the pressure, and my mana was depleting rapidly.
'At this rate... I can't hold out.'
Feeling my mana bottom out in an instant, I dispelled the barrier and rolled my body to the side.
Bang!
A tentacle struck down right beside me, gouging into the mud.
Muddy water splashed, and dried clods of dirt flew up to strike my face.
"Blue? Puhah, so you're a blue one...?"
Swoosh!
Baldik burst out from the bastard's blind spot.
Not missing the opening while the tentacles were focused solely on me, he closed the distance in an instant.
'Now.'
The bastard's gaze was fixed entirely on me.
As if having seen through that, Baldik raised his dagger high and dove straight for the bastard's main body.
As if this single blow could end it all, he lowered his stance and was right about to slash—
The remaining distance was barely half a step.
It was at that moment.
Shwrrrrrk—
From behind the bastard, between the gaps of his cloak, a tentacle shot up abruptly.
'There were more—'
Puk.
The next moment, Baldik's body stopped in midair.
His dagger trembled in midair, and the tentacle that had pierced Baldik's abdomen protruded out together with red mucus.
"Kk... ugh!"
Baldik's eyes wavered violently.
His lips trembled, and the dagger slipped powerlessly from his hand.
Splish.
"Baldik!"
Sairon screamed and dashed forward at the falling Baldik.
The bastard's gaze turned to him.
The tentacle twisted its body in midair and changed direction.
"Sairon, dodge!"
Before my shout could even reach him,
Puk!
Sairon's body was struck in the side and thrown onto the mud.
He rolled a few times across the rain-soaked ground, barely managing to turn his body and plant one arm on the ground.
One arm was already hanging limp and useless, and blood streamed continuously from the corner of his mouth.
"Kuh... shit..."
He gritted his teeth and tried to stand again, but a tentacle slowly cast a chilling shadow over his head.
At that moment, Sairon instinctively curled up and rolled.
Barely escaping the spot where the tentacle struck down, mud splashed up.
'No good.'
My breath caught in my throat.
At this rate, both of them would die.
I gathered up my remaining mana.
Gathering moisture from the air to my fingertips, I even pulled in the raindrops brushing against my cheeks with magical power.
The rainwater trembled in my grasp and soon condensed quietly.
[Sea Fog]
The moment the spell activated, the surrounding raindrops floundered and scattered as if losing their direction for an instant, accompanied by a bizarre vibration.
Fwshaaaaaak—
A cold energy rose from beneath my feet.
The breath of the rain-soaked earth and the humidity of the air mixed together, and fog exploded outward as if the ground and sky were exhaling simultaneously.
Amidst the ceaseless downpour, the fog grew thicker and heavier.
It wasn't mere water vapor, but a dense curtain formed from condensed moisture and magical power.
The white haze covering my eyes completely swallowed the battlefield from moments ago.
The cold rain and mixed fog left behind a chill that seemed to pierce the skin.
The tentacles seemed to lose their way, groping at the empty air, and only sounds of thrashing about like beasts could be heard.
I pushed myself up from the ground.
Within the thickening Sea Fog, my vision was blurred, but the same went for him.
I had to use this opening for Baldik—no, for Sairon first.
"Is it this way?"
Splat.
Bang!
I instinctively lowered my body and rolled to the side.
A tentacle slicing through the wind from behind left a bursting sound in the mud.
Mud and water droplets splashed, wetting my face, but I couldn't stop.
As long as it rained, this Sea Fog was my domain.
'Sairon first...!'
I estimated his position from the direction of the tentacles' reaction and ran the opposite way.
The fog was thick, but thanks to it, my presence was also hidden.
As I waded through a puddle risen to my knees, a small silhouette came into view faintly.
Buried almost completely in mud, with only his head barely raised.
"Kuh, Boss..."
He was barely responsive.
The moment I reached out my arm to raise him,
Swhooong.
Tentacles flew in, crossing from behind.
Before the black trajectories could pierce both me and Sairon, a barely completed barrier blocked the space between them.
As the tentacles flailed in the air and turned to return to the main body,
I gripped the war hammer at my waist and struck down with it.
Clang!
A sound hard to believe came from striking flesh.
A heavy, metallic reverberation spread across the mud, as if striking iron with a hammer.
The end of the tentacle bounced away, and a sharp scream burst from beyond the fog.
"Kraaagh!"
It worked.
The tentacles weren't mere weapons. They were nerves directly connected to him, sharing his senses—parts of his body.
Using that opening, I pulled Sairon out.
When I barely managed to drag his body onto the rain-soaked mud, my breath hitched at the bottom of my throat.
For my frail body, even that was too much.
But the real problem lay elsewhere.
'...I'm out of mana.'
Continuous battle, consecutive defensive spells.
My mana had already hit rock bottom, and my stamina was nearing its limit.
Splorch.
Holding onto Sairon's body, I collapsed to my knees.
A scorching heat pressed against my forehead, and every time I breathed, it felt like the inside of my lungs was burning.
What do I do...
I knew the tentacles were the weakness, but I had no way to destroy them.
Two comrades had fallen, and all that remained was my rain-soaked body and Ranson, who had vanished at some point.
And even he was a merchant who didn't know how to fight properly.
...Is this the end.
It was truly a hopeless situation.
Strength gradually drained from my body, and now I just wanted to give up on everything and close my eyes.
Splorch, splorch.
The sound of something stepping across the wet mud.
That footstep echoing beyond the fog had sounded far away at first, but it was gradually approaching.
'Has he already pinpointed my location...?'
Tension ran down my spine.
But soon, I sensed something strange.
'...The direction is opposite.'
The side where the tentacle monster was was clearly in front of me.
But the footsteps were coming from behind me, from beyond the fog.
A sensation like my heart was being squeezed.
Should I shoot now.
While I hesitated, the footsteps drew another step closer.
Splorch.
Gathering a water bomb in my hand with the resolve that this was the end, I whipped my head around.
I reflexively twisted my body and raised my staff.
A black figure approaching, cutting through the fog.
That shadow was slowly revealing its form.
And, the moment I was about to fire the water bomb,
Splorch.
"Oof, that surprised me."
The voice that arrived together with the sound of metal clanging had a light tone that didn't feel the slightest bit of crisis.
What revealed itself cutting through the fog was a man dressed in a way that made anyone think he was a soldier, equipped with armor and helmet.
But his appearance made it impossible to tell if he was friend or foe.
"What is this, everyone's lying flat on the ground... are you holding a funeral or something?"
I, who had been taking a stance prepared to die, froze blankly at those absurd words.
He was wearing chainmail with mud caked all over the metal.
The loose chains draped over his padded clothing rattled and shook, and his helmet protruded long like a bird's beak.
In the eyes visible through that gap, there was a strangely excited playfulness.
"You're Liv, right?"
"···!"
You know me?
He pulled a crumpled sheet of paper from his waist and held it up, tilting his head as if comparing it to my face.
"Hmm... She's got no knack for this sort of thing, so it's hard to tell."
"...Who are you?"
"Me? Is that really important right now?"
He strode closer, glancing at Sailreon, who had been groaning beside us, and spoke.
"But this is pretty serious. That one's passed out, and you look like hell too."
His tone was light, but the way he nodded suggested he was mulling over the situation, and his fist clenched tight on its own before soon relaxing again.
Then he jerked his chin toward the area behind me.
"It's over there, right?"
"...It's a monster."
"Good. That's my specialty."
Saying that, he unwrapped the object slung across his back, bound in cloth.
What was revealed was a two-handed sword that looked quite heavy.
The fact that he carried it around wrapped in cloth without even a scabbard already marked him as someone not entirely right in the head.
Without a word, he raised the sword, slowly rolled his neck once, and then walked into the fog.
Mud splashed beneath his heavy footsteps, and his retreating figure seized my gaze immediately.
Crimson hair cascading over chain mail.
Those locks hung long like a mane beneath his helmet—so striking that, had I not seen his face, I might have mistaken him for a woman.
Thud, squelch.
His footsteps gradually faded before soon being swallowed by the fog.
"...Just what kind of person—"
Crack! Boom! Thud! Thud!
Explosive sounds erupted one after another from the direction the man had disappeared.
Mud shot up in fountains, and impacts that seemed to shatter the ground crashed over us like waves.
Beyond the fog, in that unseen place, I could feel—not just hear—that something was being mercilessly beaten.
And then, a single scream pierced through the explosions.
Kkkeeeeeeeek!!
Sharp and brief, a bizarre shriek that seemed to scrape against the eardrums.
It was a sound resembling neither human nor beast, nor anything else in this world.
'...What was that?'
Thud.
Soon after, I heard something collapse heavily, striking the ground.
And then, silence.
Shhhhhh—
Only the gentle sound of rain filled the stillness.
The tremors that had shaken the earth until moments ago, the tangled cacophony of impacts—all had vanished like a lie.
In the silence where everything seemed to have stopped, I finally realized.
That the wind was blowing again.
The fog began to slowly scatter in the blowing wind.
Beyond the cold vapor, the outline of the battlefield, stained with blood and mud, gradually revealed itself.
The man who had been wielding tentacles until just moments ago was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, at its center lay a monster so mangled its form was unrecognizable, sprawled across the mud.
A form indistinguishable as head or limb.
Its flesh was torn and burst; its back and abdomen were crushed so completely that their original shapes were utterly unrecognizable.
Blood and mud were twisted together, making it impossible to tell where the body ended and the ground began.
Even at a glance, it was clearly no ordinary being.
It was undoubtedly something similar to the monsters I had faced earlier.
Squelch, rip.
And upon that corpse kneeled a man.
Squelch.
Covered in mud over his chain mail, he had both hands buried in the corpse, quietly tearing away flesh.
He slowly gripped a piece of flesh torn to a suitable size and, keeping his head lowered, brought it to his mouth.
Chomp, chomp.
I instinctively drew in a breath.
'...Is he eating it...?'
In the silent fog, without even turning his head, he spoke in a low voice.
"...Has the fog lifted already?"
Plop.
The sound of flesh slipping from his hand and falling into the mud.
And slowly, he turned his head.
"Hrrm... Got anything to drink?"
Through the gaps in his helmet's visor, his blood-soaked jawline and shoulders moved languidly.
It was an extremely natural motion, as if everything that had just happened had been nothing more than an ordinary meal.