Though I was frustrated with Sato. Peeved because he'd been sleeping away while we succumbed to new traumas, I knew a dependency on his strength wasn't my organization's way. It wasn't my boss' way.
I had to make a path for myself and my allies, to contribute however I could.
"Just get me a weapon!" Takagi shouted, breaking me from thought. "Even if my leg is like this, I'll slash that thing while it's digging us out! Let's at least make it pay for its fucking dinner!"
"With what weapon?! With this?!" She stretched out her arm and held up her bloodied knife to Takagi's face. "You think this'll reach far enough to fight with, head on?!"
'That's what I could do!' I felt a glimmer of hope swell up inside me. Looking beyond the roots and the beast that'd been within a few meters by now, I could see it.
Our sliver of hope took the form of Takagi's lost sword.
"Agawa," I shouted, "could you distract it?!"
She and Takagi looked at me with expressions of confusion mixed with frustration. "What?!" She snapped. "That's what I was go-"
"Not baiting, "I interjected, "a distraction. I'll run for the sword, then meet back here. Let's stab it through the roots!" I smiled in an attempt to inspire confidence in the others.
We definitely wouldn't survive if we merely waited for the beast to claw its way inside, but with a proper weapon, we stood a chance.
She raised her finger to argue, but I couldn't allow her to waste precious time.
"There's no damn time to decide! Just listen to me and do what I say!" I was too busy trying to will myself to perform such a dangerous task. I had no time to entertain her arguing.
It was amazing how much a person could change in an actual life-or-death situation.
I mean, look at me! I, Kamida Gin, was now shouting orders, speaking with crass language, and was as unkempt as a wayward drunkard!
After my outburst, Agawa gaped at me in disbelief before shaking herself back to reality. "F-Fine, okay…okay." She conceded to my demands, and we both prepared to run.
Takagi glanced at me and lit up with an impressed smirk. "I'm starting to like you a little, Conman." He shakily gave a "thumbs up" before his arm fell to the floor from its own weight.
It wasn't just Nakamura who'd been fast approaching his final breath.
Takagi's complexion was fading to a pale white. Though his wounds weren't as severe as Nakamura's, he'd been bleeding from his back, arms, and legs for longer than one should.
I grinned back, but that was only a facade. Setting aside my worries for his and Nakamura's conditions, I was also about to leave safety. I was about to confront a predator that tore a horse to shreds with ease. What else could I feel but a numbing dread?
In spite of that, I wouldn't let my cowardice stop me from honoring my boss. Especially if this had been a new world. I had to spread his ideals as much as I could to repay my debts to him.
'Besides, 'I glanced at Sato, 'I still have another debt to repay.'
"You ready?" Agawa smirked and outstretched her legs for a sprint.
"Likely not, "I laughed, "but I'm going anyway." Then, I raised a hand and clenched my fingers into a fist. My plan was to symbolize my fear and hesitation and crush them like dust within the palm of my hand before casting them aside.
Our minds in sync and our peace with fate made, Agawa and I readied ourselves for the conflict to come. We approached the roots to see that, as if to meet us, the bear had stood nearly right outside.
It was hunching down low and storing as much momentum as possible in its legs to smash away our defenses in a single blow.
Once we grew closer, the bear spotted us emerging from within the darkness. Its pupils enlarged in rage, and it unlatched its mouth to release a deafening roar.
The bellow was perhaps the loudest, most bloodthirsty one we'd seen up till now; it shook every bone and every vein in my body.
Using the beast's attempt at intimidation as our signal, Agawa and I nodded to each other silently, and we launched our own plan into action!
We dashed outward with fiery spirits and unbreakable wills. No matter what the beast threw our way, we'd struggle and overcome it!
Once we'd passed the roots, the beast gutturally roared once more and began its charge in retaliation. In an attempt to rouse our own fury and intimidate the beast, Agawa and I loosed a battle cry too.
Unlike the bear's, our shouts were far from potent enough to quake the air around us, so I doubt we had been menacing. Still, it stoked the flame of our determination to the point of being inextinguishable.
Thankfully, my body was swept up in adrenaline and pride, completely masking the fear I'd felt about confronting the beast.
With Agawa playing decoy, I was going to retrieve the sword. I was going to be heroic and contribute to our survival as a warrior should!
Or, at least, that was the plan...
A plan that failed once we'd heard the resonating boom of the ground shaking apart. Though we were running full tilt forward, an epic shockwave of dust and mud blasted us back underneath the tree behind us.
Following us was a whirlwind of skin-shredding pine needles and small pebbles.
Agawa's trip was clean, only slamming into the moist dirt next to Ayame.
I, however, was ill-fated. On my return, I collided with every possible obstacle before finally face-planting into the mud. Sadly for me, unlike Agawa, my body was left next to the entrance of what used to be our cage, making me a prime first target for anything that would do us harm.
Aside from the excruciating pain in my neck and back, what I noticed first was the unusual coldness I'd felt across my torso. The rags I'd been wearing as clothes were utterly annihilated, leaving me nearly naked from the waist up.
pαпdα Йᴏνê|,сòМ I tried returning to my feet, but intense dizziness thwarted my efforts.
My head spun to the point of motion sickness and my muscles twitched wildly in searing pain. Both factors made my arms buckle, forcing me to fall back onto my face.
"W-What the h-hell did it d-do?" was the question I managed to stutter while looking upward.
I'd expected this to be the end. Especially considering the roots had been mostly blown to bits, exposing us to the dangers of the outside world.
I expected a painful death as my entrails were gutted from my body. An expectation that nearly brought tears to my eyes as I remembered the fear I'd felt back in the manor. The fear I felt back when a vampire woman had almost done the same.
But an end wasn't what we'd gotten.
Rather than the charge of a magic-infused mutant grizzly, I saw the silhouette of something else within the smoke. Inside the turned-up dust and debris, there stood a creature.
The creature didn't prowl low to the floor; it was bipedal and upright. It didn't have billowing brown fur, rather its skin was smooth and bare, covered only by a pair of blackened slacks and a padded leather apron. It hadn't struck the ground with serrated claws; instead, it wielded a massive war hammer of darkened steel.
Despite these differences, one thing was similar between the bear and this creature. They were both gargantuan in size, both monsters within their respective species.
Once the smoke finally scattered, the creature's face came into view from obscurity. A face that contained two shimmering silver eyes as they returned my gaze, eyes that lacked any form of deep emotion.
'Could a man really be this...huge?' I questioned in shock.
He raised his hammer from the small crater of pulverized earth he created with his mighty strike, planting it firmly onto his shoulder.
His eyes locked us into submission with an unwavering glower as he approached, one calm step at a time. Several strides later, I was officially in range for a deadly headshot blow.
After gripping the handle tightly with both hands, so much that he revealed the snaking veins within his fist and arm, the man readied for another earth-splitting swing.
Fear, relief, despair, hope, and curiosity; all of those emotions welled up inside me at that moment. My vision was limited, so the bear had been entirely out of sight. That said, I had one question flare up in my mind.
'Is he aiming for me?'
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