When Savannah first saw the black tentacles surging above the building, she felt only puzzlement, not concern.
Because there was an enormous burning monster right in front of them.
Sterling’s magic showed tremendous power this time as well.
Slow, but an incredibly powerful single blow.
He was fulfilling the role of the party’s cannon quite well.
Someone with abilities like his had no need to step into petty battles.
Besides, Sterling had other abilities aside from this.
As the son of a man of power, and as someone belonging to a secret cartel, he was learning something called “magic,” unlike other people.
That was why she stayed by his side.
His handsome face was nice, but to her, Sterling’s skill and background mattered more.
“Another monster appeared! Sterling is exhausted, so we need to buy him time!”
Seeing the tentacles, she shouted to her companions.
The men who had been watching the burning monster raised their heads at her words.
They, too, saw the black tentacles rising beyond the rooftop.
“Aren’t those tentacles? I heard the one with tentacles is dangerous too.”
Looking at the approaching tentacles, the young man frowned.
Savannah glared at him and pointed at the burning monster.
“Look at that! They’re just big, that’s all. If we buy enough time, Sterling will take care of it.”
As always, the reports had been exaggerated.
Unlike the reports, the monsters on this planet were not very different from the monsters they had seen in Paradise.
The same had been true of the terrifying monsters discovered at first.
Even now, that huge monster was burning in Sterling’s flames.
The black tentacled monster that had supposedly destroyed the forward base would surely be the same.
“I don’t know what the advance party was doing. Back in Paradise, they all seemed fairly useful.”
The Black man rested his longsword on his shoulder and agreed with her.
Once he agreed with her, the young man no longer objected either.
As the two men took up their weapons and blocked the way, Savannah approached Sterling, who was on one knee, gasping for breath.
“Another monster is coming. It’s too big for us to stop on our own. We’ll buy time, so please recover quickly.”
At that moment, Sterling snapped his head up.
His expression was different from what she had expected.
His face, which had always been confident no matter how exhausted he was, was now twisted harshly.
Gasping for breath, he barely managed to speak.
“R-run… run away. Now.”
At Sterling’s words, Savannah turned her head and looked at the approaching tentacles.
The tentacles were closing in quickly, and below them, she could see a black body as well. It was large and looked frightening.
But Sterling had defeated an even bigger one in a single blow.
‘But the one who brought that thing down was Sterling. If Sterling doesn’t recover in time, we won’t be able to stop it.’
She had never once been disappointed after listening to Sterling’s words.
This time, too, she could simply use Sterling as an excuse.
Savannah immediately carried Sterling on her back.
She shouted to her companions.
“Buy us time! I’ll take Sterling and put some distance between us.”
Her companions grimaced, but they did not object.
After all, it was true that if they wanted to defeat the enemy, they had to keep Sterling safe.
As the two of them aimed their weapons at the tentacled monster, Savannah began running with Sterling on her back.
Sterling was far larger than she was, but running was not difficult.
That was because the strength and speed she had gained from energy were that great.
Just as she began to pick up speed while carrying Sterling.
She heard her companion’s voice from behind.
“It’s here!”
At the same time as the Black man’s voice, another sound rang out.
Puhak!
It was the sound of flesh being pierced.
Startled, she turned her head.
The first thing she saw was a red spray of blood decorating the sky.
Along with the blood mist, shattered pieces of a human body were flying through the air.
She knew whose pieces those were.
The middle-aged Black man, the mercenary Sterling’s parents had attached to him.
His ability had been ordinary, but he had known how to fight.
And yet even he had been smashed apart without being able to resist.
Unlike him, the man who had followed Sterling from the beginning was still intact.
No, it was difficult to call him intact.
“M-monster!”
At some point, he had been caught and wrapped in black tentacles.
Before she knew it, the monster’s main body had also descended to the ground, and he was being dragged in front of it while bound by tentacles.
“S-save… save me…”
He screamed continuously as he was dragged away.
Savannah turned away from him.
She felt sorry to say it, but Savannah hoped he would remain caught.
Because while he was being held, she could flee even a little farther.
She moved her feet desperately, but things did not go as she hoped.
Puhak!
A sound similar to the one from before rang out,
Kraaaaa!
And then the monster’s roar followed.
Tututututu.
Then the sound of tentacles striking into the ground rapidly approached.
The monster was running toward them.
He had failed to buy even the slightest bit of time.
Savannah did not slow her steps. Nor did she urge Sterling.
Because from the moment she had put him on her back, Sterling had begun chanting a spell.
“!#!@#!@#@!!…”
She still had no idea what he was saying, but judging by how damp her back was, Sterling seemed to be pushing himself as well.
Casting magic immediately after using an excessive spell.
If things went wrong, his energy might be depleted, but there was no choice now.
Though he was terribly conceited, objectively speaking, Sterling was a decent man.
Honestly, if this were not a place like this, he would have been someone she could never dare reach for.
But that thought vanished immediately.
For Savannah, seized by terror, survival had become the most important thing.
‘Those words weren’t wrong. They really were terrifying monsters. This planet was a dangerous place.’
She regretted not listening to what people had said,
‘What do I do? Can I escape by running like this? If Sterling uses magic, won’t it be all right?’
And she kept thinking of ways to survive.
Fortunately, before the monster reached them, Sterling’s chant ended.
“Fire Wall…”
His voice was small, but the moment his words ended, flames surged up behind the two of them.
Hwaaaak.
Contrary to the quiet words, it was an extremely magnificent wall of fire.
It was a very long and high wall of flame.
Seeing it, Savannah’s face brightened.
The tentacles looked long, but they did not seem capable of leaping over those flames. The wall of fire was so long that going around it seemed difficult as well.
Sterling’s magic had burned a monster even larger than that one, so it should not be able to break through those flames.
Even in a situation like this, Sterling had cast exactly the right spell.
“We did it! Now all we have to do is run—”
She began speaking in a bright voice, but her words could not continue to the end.
Puhahak!
Because the tentacled monster burst through the flames.
It was different from the enormous monster that had burned away.
The tentacled monster had turned red-hot as well, but no wounds were visible.
Even the places that had heated red soon disappeared.
As if nothing had happened at all, the monster chased after them.
The black tentacles had caught up right behind them.
It felt as though she could hear the monster’s breathing at her back.
With her fear reaching its peak, Savannah finally lost her reason.
“I have to live. I can’t die here.”
She threw away the heavy burden.
Thud.
That burden was the man she believed she loved, the one and only rope leading to success.
But right now, none of that came to mind at all.
With the burden gone, her feet grew faster.
“N-no.”
Unfortunately, the monster did not even glance at the burden she had set down.
It kept running toward her.
Puk.
She gritted her teeth and ran, but soon she felt heat in her chest.
When she looked down, a black tentacle was protruding from her chest.
With a hollow expression, she turned her head.
To see the man she had abandoned.
But she could not see Sterling.
Sterling was not in the place where she had dropped him.
The moment she wondered why.
Puahak!
Blood filled her vision, and sensation vanished from her hands and feet.
Her sight went dark.
***
“Well… Even after throwing away her lover, she still couldn’t escape.”
Rising from where I sat, I looked at the woman being torn apart by tentacles and let out a sigh.
[Monsters are clever. They kill the opponent most likely to run away first.]
In truth, that was basic common sense that did not even require cleverness.
The woman had simply been too terrified to think of it.
This time, however, the monster had thought wrong.
“It was mistaken this time.”
[A mage always has one last move.]
It was absurd.
Soph spoke proudly, even though he was not the one who had done it.
Naturally, my words came out crooked.
“You said he was a half-baked mage.”
[He is half-baked. The magic Sterling is using now came from a relic.]
At Soph’s words, I narrowed my eyes again.
It was just as Soph said.
In Sterling’s hand, as he approached rapidly while lying prone, something was clenched.
[An emergency escape magic tool. A relic, most likely. It seems he set this place as the destination.]
After falling from the woman’s back, Sterling had pulled something from his chest and clasped it in both hands.
Then he shot toward where I was.
As if sliding over snow, or as if being dragged by a horse with both hands tied, he raced across the wilderness.
“I wonder if his face will be all right.”
[As long as he lives, it does not matter.]
Soph was right.
In fact, the fact that he was still alive at this point was unexpected.
I had thought he would die along with the others.
But even half-baked, a mage was different.
Puk.
As I stabbed my spear into the ground and waited for Sterling to approach, Soph asked.
[You are not going to kill him?]
“I said I wouldn’t kill him. Besides, even if they weren’t my comrades, it doesn’t feel good to watch people die.”
I thought I had done everything I could, but that did not mean my heart felt at ease.
They had acted high-handedly, and I had not liked them, but that did not mean they deserved to die.
In truth, if I could have saved them, I might have gone to do so.
However, I could not leap into the jaws of death to save them.
[That is a relief. It seems you still have at least ordinary emotions left.]
Though he had said it jokingly, it seemed Soph had been worrying about me all this time.
Well, Soph was not a soldier with a mental illness like me.
He had been a hero who threw away his life to save people.
Naturally, he could not help but worry after seeing how cold I was.
[If he makes it here safely, I intend to save him.]
Did he hear me?
He arrived safely in front of the rocky mountain.
Sterling stopped before me.
He opened the hand he had been clenching tightly. As expected, what he had been holding was a relic.
A bracelet broken in half.
Perhaps it had been single-use, for there were no traces of magic left on the relic.
Contrary to my expectations, he had not lost consciousness yet.
He struggled to raise his head and looked at me.
“H-hurry… take me and run. I have to go back. I have to tell them about the monster.”
[An amusing fellow. He is asking to be saved without losing the pride of a noble. Seeing him say such things as if it were only natural, he is a man who will go far.]
Listening to Soph’s strange admiration, I looked at the man who had lifted his head.
It was a shame. He was covered in dust and had many wounds, but his handsome face remained intact.
The fact that his face was fine annoyed me most of all, but I did not change my mind.
“I’ll save you.”
Relieved by my words, he tried to continue speaking.
“Move quickly… take me…”
But then he dropped his head to the ground.
He had fainted.
[What remarkable willpower. To have endured until now while his energy was depleted.]
“Disappointed?”
[Disappointed? There is a mountain of gold beside me. Why would I miss a silver ring?]
A smile rose at the praise, so unlike Soph, but I erased it at once.
Because following Sterling, the black tentacled monster—the scout—was approaching.
The scout had come right after Sterling.
Sterling had used a relic, but he had not gained much distance.
Now it was right before my nose.
Sterling had told me to take him and run, but there was already no time to run.
And I had no intention of running.
I placed my hand on the spear I had planted in the ground.
Energy was sucked into the spear.
Hwaaaak.
With the spear at its center, the magic circle drawn on the ground began to shine.
It was the magic circle I had been drawing on the ground until now.
A magic circle I had prepared to face the monster here.
Fortunately, the opponent I wanted was coming.
“At last, it’s a head-on match.”
[Be careful. You prepared a great deal, but this side is still a little lacking.]
“If it’s only a little lacking, that’s fine.”
If I only sought safety, I would never know when I would finally fight.
The rest could be filled in while fighting.
I had fought and defeated scouts many times until now, but I had never won with my strength alone.
But now, it was time to fight one directly.
The abilities I had built up until now and the magic Soph had remembered were enough to fight the scout.
Chwaaak!
This time, too, before it arrived, its tentacles flew in.
At the same time, Soph cast magic as well.
Light burst from the magic circle.
Kuaaaaa!
The monster roared.
I also pulled up my spear and charged at the scout monster.
One-on-one