Chapter 51

Chapter 51. "What the Dead Feel Toward the Dying." 11

The instant they heard her words, sparks seemed to fly from the eyes of the two men and the two golems.

Kal moved his hands like lightning, nocking three arrows at once to the Great Bow, drawing the bowstring, and releasing it. The arrows flew forward with an eerie sound.

SCREEEEEECH!! THUD!!

Kan’s face twisted at once after he blocked Kal’s arrows with the Small Shield fastened to his arm.

That was because the arrows had pierced through the shield and lodged themselves in his forearm.

When I saw that, I frowned and hurriedly rushed forward.

But what came flying toward me was a huge log mace.

I bent sharply at the waist, letting the log sweep past over my head.

The Iron Golem with the golden trim had uprooted a nearby tree and was swinging it in both hands.

Beside it, the golem with the silver trim, after setting Narsh down, uprooted a massive tree and hurled it at the Lizard Men charging toward them at tremendous speed with a SCREECH!!

And it flew toward one particularly unlucky Lizard Man among the ones charging in.

The creature saw the log missile flying straight at him from the front, but he could not dodge it in time. Gritting his teeth, he raised his Small Shield.

“SCREECH!!”

BOOM!

With a heavy sound, the Lizard Man collided with the tree and was sent flying backward along with the log.

Kan, who had been turning his head to watch the scene, bared his sharp teeth. Then he pulled the arrow embedded in his arm out in one motion and threw it away.

Then he drew the shortsword stuck in the tree beside him and shouted.

“SCREEECH!! Itsra mu-t!!”

At Kan’s shout, the Lizard Men raised their weapons and charged toward them at incredible speed—faster than Rene, no, faster than an elf running through the forest.

Kan also stood among them and ran so quickly that his legs were almost invisible.

He held his blood-red shield in front of him.

At that sight, Kal gritted his teeth and raised the Great Bow. Just as before, he nocked three arrows to the string and released them.

The arrows flew toward the Lizard Men, either embedding themselves in their bodies or piercing straight through them.

When I saw the Lizard Men collapse, I clenched my teeth.

Then, barely dodging the incoming arrows, I ran forward to stop them.

“Please stop!! We should not fight like thi—ugh?!”

Since I was running forward with my arm covering my face, I had no choice but to be struck by Kal’s arrow.

Damn it!

I broke the arrow that had pierced more than halfway through my forearm and pulled it out.

Red blood flowed, the same color as the Lizard Men’s blood.

Did people with the same blood truly have to fight each other!?

When I lifted my head and looked ahead, the arrows were flying sideways like rain falling outside a window on a summer day. They carried a terrifying roar with them.

And the Lizard Men struck by those arrows were either sent flying while bleeding the same red blood, or kept charging forward with five or six arrows embedded in their bodies.

However, they could not get anywhere near Narsh and the others.

Whenever they approached, they were immediately struck by the golems’ log maces and sent flying to the far side of the forest, or they fell after Jeff, who had drawn Iriyad, slashed their chests or shoulders.

At that moment, Jeff, who had just punched a charging Lizard Man with arrows stuck in his shoulder and leg, frowned and shouted.

“Why are they so damned tough!! Damn Lizard Men! Kaal!! Let us run! These bastards are trying to make you run out of arrows—ugh?! You, you damned bastard!! What do you think you are doing while I am talking!”

Jeff bared his teeth and swung his sword upward from below.

Then a wound of the same sort appeared on the shoulder of the Lizard Man who had been holding a bloodstained shortsword and raising his shield toward his chest. The startled Lizard Man clutched his shoulder and collapsed.

“SCREECH!”

Kal continued firing arrows to keep the Lizard Men in check and spoke without even turning his head.

“Are you all right?!”

“Damn it! Does this look all right to you?!”

After answering like that, Jeff kicked the fallen Lizard Man in the stomach.

Breathing hard, he turned his head, glanced at the wound on his shoulder that was spurting blood, and spoke to Kal, who had thrown away an empty quiver and was opening the lid of a new one.

“Damn it! Do this in moderation and run!! Lizard Men have willpower on the level of elves, so they do not die easily even after taking a few arrows!! Narsh? Narsh!! Where is that lady?!”

Jeff looked around for Narsh, and then he spotted a shortsword spinning through the air.

To my eyes, his reaction to seeing the shortsword looked extremely slow.

The shortsword spun slowly in front of Jeff’s face as he slowly turned his head.

Then Jeff’s eyes widened when he saw it.

Time returned to normal, and he raised his sword almost reflexively, barely blocking the shortsword that had flown toward his neck.

CLANG!

“Ugh?!”

But what had come flying was not a knife. It was a shortsword.

Moreover, Jeff was currently injured. Although he managed to block the heavy shortsword, he still rolled to the side.

Iriyad, which had been in his hand, scattered glittering metal dust as it stabbed into the ground.

I turned my head toward the Lizard Men.

Since they could no longer approach because of the golems, they were throwing the shortswords in their hands.

At that sight, the golems, which had been swinging the logs around, threw the trees away and spread both arms wide to block the incoming shortswords.

CLANG! CLANK! SKRAAAPE!? CLATTER!

“Lower your head, my lady!”

Kal threw himself over Narsh, who was sitting on the ground with the Dragon Heart in her arms.

Not many shortswords had flown in, but even so, the golems kept their arms raised for a while and shielded them.

Kan, who had thrown his shortsword and was drawing a knife from his waist, smiled coldly at that sight.

When I saw his gaze move from the log lying nearby up to the golem, a chilling thought flashed through my mind.

I quickly took a step forward to run.

But before I could, Kan loosely gripped the knife in his hand and dashed forward.

As he charged in, the golem with the silver trim narrowed its blazing crimson eyes and threw a powerful punch. However, Kan let out a light laugh at that sluggish fist, ducked, and dodged beneath it.

Then, lowering his waist, he ran past the golem toward Kal, who was nocking an arrow to the Great Bow behind it.

Kal calmly nocked the arrow, aimed at Kan as he charged from the front, and drew the bowstring.

“Do not come any closer!”

“SCREEECH! Itmaaa!”

TWANG!!

Kal released the string, and the arrow sprang out at tremendous speed, flying straight toward Kan’s forehead.

Meanwhile, Kan’s knife gleamed sharply as it rested lightly in his lowered hand.

Then their time stopped for an instant in that state.

A moment later, the stopped time began to flow again, and Kan brushed past Kal’s side before dropping to one knee on the ground.

In that position, he raised his hand, touched his head slightly, and glanced back.

Kan was smiling, while Kal wore a dazed expression.

The arrow Kal had shot had flown into the tree beside me, burying about a quarter of itself into the trunk.

And Kal was sitting on the ground with a look of utter dismay, staring down at the Great Bow whose string had been severed.

Kan wiped the blood flowing down his face—the part that would correspond to a cheek on a human—with the back of his hand, flashed a broad smile, and rose to his feet. Then he slowly began walking.

He was heading toward Narsh, who was sitting on the ground and trembling.

At that sight, I hurriedly ran forward.

“No more!! Stop now!”

“Dieeeeeee!”

THUD!!

“SCREECH?!”

I could not believe my eyes.

Kan’s body floated into the air, his long tail whipping behind him as he flew sideways.

What was that?! I turned my head, searching for what had sent him flying.

The two golems were still shielding them.

Then who had done it?

At that moment, I heard the dull sound of something falling to the ground.

And I realized how Kan’s large body had ended up flying through the air.

It was Jeff.

He had thrown his whole body into a drop kick against Kan, and Kan’s body had flown through the air and was now rolling across the ground like that.

In any case, it seemed the fight had stopped, so that was a relief.

I quickly ran over and helped Jeff, who had collapsed on the ground, to his feet.

Then Jeff leaned his shoulder against me and gave me a loose grin.

“Hehe, is it all right for me to help the other side like this?”

“I am not on any side. I merely share the same objective as them.”

I said that while looking at Narsh, who was sitting on the ground.

However, Narsh had her head lowered deeply while tightly clutching the Dragon Heart in her hands, so she could not see my face.

That was why I gave her a somewhat bitter smile.

Kal turned his head, looked at the unconscious Kan and the Lizard Men who had stopped fighting, and said,

“That is the same thing, is it not? Could you not allow it for even a few hours? Once my lady’s illness is cured, we will return it immediately. And if you wish, we will repay you as well.”

After hearing his words, I could tell that they still did not know what kind of story was tied to that Dragon Heart.

As far as I knew, judging by their personalities, they would probably return it easily once they heard that story.

Of course, it was a little cold, and it was not exactly a good method.

But there was no helping it.

I shook my head at Kal and opened my mouth.

“I am sorry. If it were only to cure her illness, they would probably have allowed it for a while. But…”

The moment a subtle change of emotion crossed Kal’s face, Kan’s furious voice came from where he had fallen.

“SCREEECH!! Itsra mu-t! Kuta neipo nuriima!!”

At his shout, all the Lizard Men turned their heads toward us.

What?!

Kal looked around in panic, then raised the Great Bow with its broken string and pretended to nock an arrow.

However, they were not frightened.

Rather, the Lizard Man walking at the very front bared his teeth at the sight and said,

“Hu, man, are you mocking us? What, do, you, think, you, can, do, with, a, bow, whose, string, is, broken? We, will, make, you, pay, for, our wounded, comrades. Prepare yourselves.”

Then they charged again.

As long as they were not injured so badly that they could not walk, they charged without caring whether arrows were embedded in their bodies or blood was flowing from their wounds.

From the bushes ahead, even the Lizard Man who had been sent flying earlier after being struck by the log the golem had thrown came running, tearing off his completely shattered shield.

Every one of them who could still move was charging.

Perhaps I could understand their feelings.

Because I was in the same position as they were.

Because I lived here too.

If the king rose, he would destroy everything in sight, so they were trying to stop him here with their own hands.

But… I turned my head and looked back.

I saw Narsh sitting on the ground, clutching the Dragon Heart tightly to her chest with her head lowered.

She had said she wanted to live.

Should one human be saved at the cost of sacrificing the forest?

Or should the forest and the people living in it be saved, no matter what happened to her?

I already knew what I had to do here, but even so, I could not take anyone’s side.

I hated this kind of fight.

I could not throw a fist at someone I could not hate.

I did not want to ask someone who wanted to live why she had done it.

And I was tired of this absurd fight.

I truly did not want to fight like this anymore.

I slowly turned my head.

Kal bit his lower lip, held the Great Bow like a rod, and swung it at the Lizard Men.

At that sight, Jeff, who had been leaning on me for support, slipped his arm away, pulled out the sword stuck near his feet, and drew a red line across the chest of a charging Lizard Man.

Then he walked forward, stood beside Kal, held his sword in both hands, raised it straight in front of him, and said,

“Hahahaha! Come at me, all of you! Since it has come to this, let us have one glorious fight!”

As he said that, he began fighting one Lizard Man with both swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat.

Kal swung the Great Bow horizontally.

However, the Lizard Man bent sharply at the waist and avoided it lightly.

Then he rushed in at tremendous speed and kicked Kal in the abdomen.

Kal cursed at him as he fell backward, then struggled to his feet and said,

“Cough, cough?! Ngh. Mir, Kali. B-block them.”

At his words, the two golems turned and swung their arms at the Lizard Men charging from the front.

However, not a single one was hit.

Because of their size, their punches had a huge range of motion. Even Luna would have been able to dodge them easily.

It was obvious where the blows would come from.

I turned my head.

I saw Narsh.

She was sitting with her head lowered.

Judging by the way her shoulders were trembling little by little, she seemed to be crying.

At the sight of her, my eyebrows rose.

Do not just sit there crying like that. Look ahead! Ahead!

I turned my head at the sound of something strange, and saw Kan striking the golem’s head with a shortsword.

Since it was an Iron Golem, it was not wounded, and only sparks flew. But Kan did not care about that. He choked the golem’s neck with one arm and kept hammering its head.

The golem stopped dealing with the Lizard Men attacking from the front and raised both hands above its head, waving them around while making a strange sound.

“Oo-oo, oooooo~~~~”

It was a mournful sound.

It sounded like a child pleading not to be hit on the head.

In front of me, Narsh raised both hands and covered her ears when she heard that sound.

Damn it!

Look at the ones fighting for your sake!

I bared my teeth. This could not continue. They could not fight like this.

Was wanting to live truly so wrong?!

Why did people with the same color of blood have to fight each other?!

Did they have to go this far over a single jewel like that?!

Could we not just kill some damned zombie dragon?!

“I said, stop it alreaaaaady!!”