Chapter 23:

Running Away

The Female Leads Have Eyes For Only Me


The humanoid creature was thin and dark. It was as if darkness and shadows were all it was made of.

The creature’s height and body proportions had so many similarities to King.

“It’s coming!” Arnold yelled.

The shadow humanoid dashed towards us.

An arrow shot past us and towards the shadow humanoid.

But it didn’t connect. The creature side-stepped the arrow.

“It’s fast!” Cici—the archer—yelled.

It wasn’t just the thing’s speed but its reaction time as well. In less than a second, it saw the arrow and dodged it.

Arnold and August stood beside each other at the front of the group.

August raised her shield and was ready to use her sword as a spear to stab at the shadow humanoid.

When the humanoid ran at them, Arnold simply swung.

And that was a problem.

His swing was too slow.

Arnold missed the humanoid, and it jumped in the air, front rolling past them.

Arnold and August’s flanks were open.

Frank and Mia tried swiping at the shadow humanoid, but the creature kept its body near the stone floor, making it impossible to hit the thing as it blended with the shadows.

Shoot! Where is it?!

Just a second later, I got my answer.

As the only thing any of us could see of the shadow humanoid was its purple, soulless eyes.

And its eyes were focused on Frank.

“Frank! To your right!”

Before Mia’s father could even register what was said, the shadow humanoid struck him with its fist.

Frank fell.

Mia pounced on the shadow humanoid. Her swings were erratic and filled with rage.

Mia didn’t say a word. She was focused. And angry.

She grunted with each swipe. The anger at seeing her father punched and fall was clear with every step she took.

But none of her hits landed.

The shadow humanoid stepped back and sidestepped each attack.

Then it made its move.

It ducked under one of Mia’s swings and punched her in the gut.

“Hrk!”

Mia grunted and puked up saliva.

The shadow humanoid twisted its fist. Mia dropped to her knees, gasping for air.

August came to her defense.

“Hraaagh!”

She thrust at the shadow humanoid, but it jumped away.

Arnold, Betram, and Frank joined in.

They swung, kicked, and lunged at the humanoid creature, but the thing was acrobatic. It moved past the attacks as if it was one with the wind.

Each swing that the group missed was met with a counterattack.

A kick, a punch, and a shove of Bertram towards Arnold’s colossal greatsword.

Arnold dropped his sword and caught Bertram, but with how sudden everything was, the two fell.

August and Frank were pushed and kicked to the ground as well.

Throughout the whole battle, Ophelia let go of my hand and aimed at her staff.

She narrowed her eyes.

“I-I can’t cast my Earth magic. It’s too crowded.”

If she did cast her Earth magic, there’d be collateral damage.

When Arnold and the others fell to the ground, the shadow humanoid shifted its attention to us.

Or more specifically, to Ophelia.

The creatures eyed her staff.

Of everyone here, Ophelia was the biggest threat. And the shadow humanoid knew that.

The shadowy creature leaped towards Ophelia.

“Oh, no you don’t!”

Cici shot an arrow, but in mid-jump, the shadow humanoid twisted its body—causing the arrow to fly past it.

Cici clicked her tongue.

“Damn it!” she yelled.

The shadow humanoid nimbly landed on the ground.

It wound its arm all the way back.

And it was aimed right at Ophelia.

There was a house behind us, so we couldn’t jump back.

I readied myself to step to the side. If I did that, then I had a chance to slice the shadow creature’s side with my dagger.

But glancing at Ophelia, she didn’t move. Was she frozen in fear?

Damn it! She’s gonna get hit!

I scratched off the side slashing plan and grasped Ophelia by the arm.

“Huah?!”

“Come on!” I yelled.

With all my strength, I pulled her away from the shadow creature’s punch.

Bits of wood splintered and flung towards us as the shadow humanoid’s attack went through the wall of the house behind us.

This is my chance!

I ran towards the shadow creature and swung up at its arm.

To my surprise, when the blade connected, there was almost no resistance.

I cut the shadow humanoid’s arm right off!

And it evaporated, blending into the shadows.

Bertram raised his fist.

“Nice one, boy!”

I almost couldn’t believe it myself. I actually did something against a monster of this world.

But I didn’t damage it.

The shadow creature’s soulless, purple eyes conveyed that.

And now, I was wide open for an attack.

The shadow humanoid didn’t need both arms. Raising its leg, the creature kicked me in the center of my stomach.

“Urgh!”

I fell to the floor. A wave of heat and pain surged from my stomach.

“Uck!”

I struggled to breathe.

“Tai!” the girls yelled.

Ophelia raised her staff. She tried chanting Rock Volley, but before she could pull it off, the shadow creature roundhouse kicked her staff out of her hands and proceeded to wind up a heavy punch.

Ophelia raised her arms and tried to jump away, but she didn’t need to.

“August!” she yelled, grateful to see her.

She raised her shield against the shadow creature’s punch.

“Take this!”

August thrust her sword towards the shadow humanoid, but it spun away from her attack.

But it couldn’t spin away from Maya’s grip—who was able to latch onto its one arm as it tried fleeing.

Nice one, Maya!

Was she waiting for an opening this whole time? She's a badass!

Oh, no!

My thoughts stopped there. Lying on the ground, I saw the shadow creature shift its foot.

It was gonna kick Maya!

I shot my arm out and grabbed its foot.

The shadow creature tried moving its feet, but I held on.

“Someone!” I yelled. “Get ‘em!”

“On it!”

Mia sprang towards the shadow creature.

The shadow humanoid tried to move its other leg, but I grabbed onto it before the creature could attack.

“This is payback for that towards me and my dad!”

With one swift horizontal slash, the shadow creature’s head flew into the air.

Its head evaporated before it could hit the ground. Shortly after, its body turned to smoke and rose into the air.

Mia huffed and puffed.

We all did.

But it wasn’t heavy breathing filled with despair like it was with the werewolves.

Instead, we smiled.

“You did it!” Maya yelled.

Maya ran and hugged her daughter.

“Nice one, girl!” Bertram said.

“Good work,” said Arnold.

Mia chuckled.

“I like the praise, but I couldn’t have done it without your guys’ help. Especially you, Mom.”

“Mia’s right,” Frank said. “We all worked together to bring this monster down.”

Cici and the rest of Arnold’s party agreed.

I sat up on the ground and collected my breath.

“Need help there, healer~?”

Standing in front of me and lending a supportive hand was Mia, who was all smiles.

I smiled back and took her hand.

“Thanks.”

“No problem. Though I should be thanking you too.”

I pointed at myself.

“Me? Really?”

“Oh, don’t try to act so humble,” Mia giggled. “You know what you did. Or maybe…”

She then brought her hand to her lips as a thought crossed her mind.

Her eyes slid in my direction.

“You want me to praise every good thing you’ve done to feed your little ego.”

“It’s not like that!”

Well, not completely. It’s true I wanted to be complimented for what I did since everyone was praising each other, but the way she worded it makes it sound so awful.

Though now that I’m thinking about it, looking for validation like that is pretty bad.

“S-stop bothering him, Mia!”

Mia and I looked over in shock.

It was Ophelia who came to my defense. She held onto her staff as she glanced at us.

“Y-you shouldn’t tease him in that way. It’s discomforting.”

Dang. I never knew Ophelia could put her foot down in this sort of situation—or any if I’m being brutally honest.

Mia chuckled.

“Oh, what’s this? Ophelia, I never knew you could be so assertive~.”

She wrapped her arm around Ophelia.

Ophelia squeaked. She was back to her normal self and hung her head low.

Mia went on, bringing her face closer to Ophelia’s.

“Could it be that…”

Mia leaned towards Ophelia’s ears and whispered something to her.

Though I could guess what she was saying. I’ve read a fair amount of fantasy light novels after all.

My face grew warm and red.

Ophelia perked up.

“N-n-no! Gosh! It’s not like that! I-I don’t like it when people are being picked on is all! Especially when it comes to friends being picked on…”

Her voice trailed off towards the end.

Mia patted her shoulder.

“Oh, come on! If we’re friends, then that’s all the more reason to tease them! It’d be strange with a stranger, but a friend would understand I’m just kidding. Right, Tai?”

She wore her signature mischievous smile as she called my name.

I sighed.

“As much as I don’t like it, I have to agree with you. I know you’re only joking around when you say stuff like this.”

“See?” Mia said to Ophelia. She was pretty much rubbing the fact that she was right in Ophelia’s face.

Ophelia turned her head. She didn’t say a word to Mia and instead glared at me.

It wasn’t an intense glare, but considering how gentle and shy she usually is, it was on the same level.

Did I do something wrong?

Ophelia pouted and then turned her head away.

There goes my answer…

I sighed once more.

Everyone in the group seemed to have gotten their breath back and recovered from the battle.

“Is anyone seriously injured?” I asked the group. “If you are, speak up. I can heal you.”

Everyone shook their heads.

Everyone except Mia.

She wrapped her arm around my neck.

“I need healing~” she said. “And the damage is really bad. I can’t move my legs. You’re going to have to heal and carry me, Tai.”

“Spare me ‌the teasing, will you?” I told her.

Mia giggled.

“M-M-Mia!” Ophelia spat. “You’re too close! G-give Tai his personal space!”

Mia shot a glance at Ophelia.

“Hm? So it’s fine for you and Tai to hold hands and frolic through the city, but I can’t have a casual chat with him?”

Ophelia’s hands spazzed in all directions as she stumbled over her words and stuttered harder than I’ve ever heard before.

Thinking about it, she might’ve been the first person I’ve ever heard stutter that hard.

“A-a-at least I asked if we could do that…” Ophelia squeaked. She fidgeted with her fingers, shooting a few awkward glances at me. “You didn’t ask at all, Mia. You went and wrapped your arm around him without considering if Tai is even comfortable with it.”

It’s a fair point that Ophelia made. Respecting boundaries is something everyone should do.

And I guess Mia caught on to that.

She squeezed her arm around my neck.

“Do you hate it when I do this sort of thing, Tai?”

I sighed.

“Not really, no.”

Mia smiled.

“There, Ophelia. You heard him. There’s nothing to worry about now.”

Ophelia pouted.

“I guess…”

Things got awkward, but thanks to Bertram, he pulled our attention.

Though the topic he pulled us towards wasn’t as lighthearted as our little conversation.

It was the opposite.

This was serious.

Bertram gasped.

Something was going on.

Arnold and Cici glanced at him.

“What’s wrong?” Arnold asked.

He pointed towards the smoke where the shadow creature had been defeated.

“There’s something wrong with that smoke. I can sense an odd amount of mana coming out of it.”

Arnold and Cici drew their weapons. Everyone else did too.

“What do you mean?” Arnold asked.

“Are you saying that the humanoid shadow is going to reform?” Cici asked. With great haste, she drew an arrow from her quiver.

“I’m not sure,” Bertram said. “It’s not even a lot of mana I’m sensing from it. But either way, it can’t be good.”

When Mia took her arm off me, I closed my eyes to focus on the smoke.

It took a second, but I felt it.

That tingling sensation.

“Bertram’s right,” I said. “I can sense it too.”

“I do as well,” Ophelia chimed in. “It’s very faint.”

We all turned toward the rising smoke. It wasn’t like the smoke caused by the fire down the street.

No, this smoke was much thicker. And it had way more volume.

It reminded me of a certain scene from Attack on Titan—when they shot a flare to indicate the reclaim of Wall Maria.

“Guys, I think this smoke is some sort of signal!”

Frank stepped back, holding onto Maya’s hand.

“I think so too! Come on, everyone! We need to leave! Right now!”

“Right!” we all said together.

Damn it. Why did things always have to get worse?

Can’t the author give us time to breathe? I want to take a bath and get some sleep, for crying out loud!

And having another meal doesn’t sound too bad either!

We took off running aimlessly once again, like we always do. Trying to hide and run away from these problems of ours.

We didn’t know where we were running. We took a left turn, then right, and then after that we ran straight through an alleyway.

It was like we were mice being watched in an experiment.

And King was the one watching.

I clenched my teeth.

I’m getting tired of running, but what if this smoke signal was for King? What if he ran over right now?

We’d be done for…

A short yet sharp pain stung my knees as I placed one foot in front of the other.

We ran past ruined buildings that crumbled and smelled of blood. Corpses of what were once people who minded their business and were slaughtered nonetheless lay on the stone-cold floor.

Most of those corpses were alone. It was awful to think that in their last moments; they realized that they were all alone against creatures they knew they had no chance against.

I wanted to cry for them. To puke. To give up.

I know this world is based on a light novel series, but still, this question ate at my thought process.

Can we really beat King?

It felt impossible. And to think I proposed a “plan” to beat him, if you can even call it that.

This “plan” was pathetic and laughable.

All this plan will do is bring us down to the Underworld. And it’s gonna be all my fault.

How awful…

That phrase and feeling must’ve been plastered all over my stinkin’ face.

“Hey,” someone said. Someone with a voice that was deep and rich with bass.

They smacked my back. It wasn’t painful, nor was it soft. It was a firm slap, one that cleared my head.

I looked over to the person who did it.

“Arnold?” I said, dumbfounded.

We were in the back of the group, running along with the others when Arnold spoke up.

“You’re scared, aren’t you?”

It was sad to admit, but I nodded.

“Yeah. I am.”

“There’s no shame in feeling that way. I’m fearful as well. So is everyone here. And it’s normal. All adventurers come across fear on a daily basis.”

Yeah. I guess he’s right.

“But you mustn’t give in to it,” Arnold went on. “It’s okay to run, and it is great to fight back and earn your honor, but giving in to fear and letting it devour you is a fate I hope no man should take. So don’t let it eat you. We need our healer after all.”

“…”

I didn’t say a word at first, but my steps had a bit more spring to them. A bit more life.

I took a deep breath.

Inhale, then exhale.

“You’re right, Arnold. But…”

I turned my head.

“I don’t know what to do now.”

As August said before, always prepare for a plan to fail because nothing will ever go the way you want it to.

But I couldn’t think of any strategy or even a place to run to. I was at a loss.

But Arnold flashed a reassuring smile.

“It’s okay. That’s how every adventurer feels at one point or another. But don’t worry.”

He turned his head and peered at everyone we ran alongside.

“We’ll find a way to manage,” he said with emphasis on ‘we.’

Bertram slowed his pace, allowing us to catch up.

“Arnold’s right, you know? We’ve managed to make it this far as a team. So I’m sure we’ll beat this crazy powerful mage to a pulpy pulp.”

I laughed.

“A pulpy pulp?” I said. It wasn’t funny, but at the same time it was.

“Damn right we’ll beat him to a pulpy pulp! It’s got a nice ring to it. Unless you want me to say the cliché thing all adventurers do.”

Bertram made his most serious face and deepened his already rough voice.

“I’ll bring you down to the Underworld!”

“I prefer the other one better.”

“Same here,” Arnold chuckled.

Bertram smiled, as proud as ever.

Moments went by as we continued running. That’s when I saw it.

“Everyone, stop!” I yelled.

The group did just that. We all gasped for air. Our lungs were killing us.

We stood in the open-market area. Empty stalls were crushed and sprayed with blood—though at least this place wasn’t on fire.

But that was the least of our problems.

“What is it?” August asked me.

I raised my head and pointed at it.

“Up there! The smoke…” I said. “It followed us!” 

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