7. Ambush

Pepon slowly sank under the table with a wine bottle in her hand. Naomi tried to hide his pain despite his obvious teary eyes. Gabriel gazed at the food before him with a troubled look.

Stevie saw that the mood was sinking faster than Pepon sunk into alcoholism. There was only one way of saving the situation and it was through a topic that everyone would enjoy.

"Mister Gabriel!"

Gabriel snapped out of his thoughts and turned to the boy.

"Yes?"

"Who were you in your previous life? I guess you have already figured I was a student by my uniform. Yours though, I cannot imagine what elegant place you must have worked at."

"Oh, I'm... I was a butler."

"Ah, that sounds interesting! Whose butler were you?"

"I..."

Gabriel arrived at a crossroads.

If he were to say he was a servant of Lord Lazar, that wouldn't say much to someone from a different world. That just means they would ask even more questions, which is never a good thing. He didn't know what kind of relationship these people had with vampires and the dark arts, thus revealing his identity could have meant another ride with an electric chair.

However, he had another option.

"I can't remember." Gabriel lied.

"Huh?" Naomi joined the conversation. "That's strange. Reincarnating into a fantasy world shouldn't wipe your memories. That's the fun part of an isekai, retaining the memories from your previous life."

Pepon fell off of her chair. Naomi let out a sigh and helped her back to the table.

"I would like to lie about my past, but that would just mean one more thing to worry about. I was NEET and a massive otaku. I tried to create my own manga, but thanks to having no talent, that dream stayed just that. A dream."

"How did you die?" Gabriel jumped to the point.

"I used to be a huge manga collector. One day my collection fell on me and I got buried under a pile of books."

"...that's it?"

"Yup, pretty much."

That was one pathetic way to die. Gabriel tried not to think about it too much and instead get to know more about his other companion.

"So?" Gabriel turned to Stevie. "How did you die?"

"That's a complicated story." He scratched the back of his head. "Are you sure you got the time?"

"Well, I don't have anything better to do."

Stevie felt embarrassed. It looked like he wasn't used to getting the spotlight and his awkwardness started to show.

"So, to put it short, my mother--"

Suddenly, the lights shot out. Darkness engulfed the room, followed by the windows breaking.

Gabriel couldn't see in the dark, since he has lost his demonic abilities. He quickly reached for the silver knife beside his plate and equipped a fighting stance.

In less than a second shadows jumped through the window and panicking screams filled the dining room.

"What is happening?!" Naomi covered under the desk.

Even though Gabriel was caught off-guard, it took him less than a second to recollect his thoughts. His inner guardian took over and he was ready to defend those around him.

"Grab a knife and defend Miss Pepon! Where is Stevie? Hey!"

The boy was still sitting in his chair. He was frozen from fear.

Gabriel grabbed him by the shoulders and shook the boy.

"Hey, wake up! Grab a knife and defend yourself!"

"A-Am I going to d-die...?"

Stevie was too scared to move. Gabriel tried to get him out of his chair, but he just wouldn't budge.

Something was rapidly approaching them. By the sound of it, it stood on four legs and growled like a wild boar.

Gabriel kicked aside Stevie's chair and raised his knife just in time. The monster was a purple dog-boar abomination, much larger than him. It had razorblade-sharp teeth, which it showed for a large bite.

"Back off!" Gabriel shouted as he struck the knife into the monster's face.

This attack was not lethal, but incredibly painful. The monster stopped its charge and recoiled to get the blade out of its head. It stood onto its two legs and squealed like a wild pig.

Gabriel jumped at the monster in an attempt to wrestle it. Unfortunately, his weakened body was unable to and, in less than a moment, the tides of battle turned against him.

The monster fell onto Gabriel and crushed his lower half under the heavy weight.

"Kahh!" Gabriel gasped as the air shot out of his lungs.

The monster tried to crush him under its weight and it appeared to be working.

Gabriel flapped around desperately, searching for a weapon. This was the first time he felt such intense pain and it struck a previously unknown emotion in his heart: fear.

"I can't lose, god damnit!

Looking around for help, he caught glimpse of movement under the table. It was Naomi, holding Stevie's mouth.

Gabriel reached out toward him and forced a word out of his mouth.

"H-Help..."

As their gazes met, Naomi recoiled. That beast was too big for him to play the hero. There was no way he would leave his hiding place to get crushed by that monster.

Still, he was not a coward. Naomi wasn't going to abandon his friend.

He reached above the desk and searched around for anything useful.

"Come on… Come on…"

There was still a set of dining tools on the table. Since Suzuki did not sit down with them and they weren't sure whether he would come back, they left his seat untouched. That meant that there was still a knife somewhere up there.

"Jackpot!" Naomi found something sharp.

However, as he tried to pull it down, it wouldn't budge. Subsequently with that, he could feel something breathe on his hand.

"H-Huh?!"

Suddenly, an incredible pain shot through his hand as something pierced his palm. Naomi quickly pulled away and screamed as he saw the gaping wound on his hand.

"W­­-What the hell?!"

As he asked that, a face leaned down from above, nearly giving him a heart attack. It was a purple humanoid, its grin reaching above his bulging red eyes. The monster's mouth was so big that his head bent back to an extreme angle when it opened.

"Geeh!" Naomi kicked away the monster before it could've hurt him. As he did, more of the same monsters began to appear all around from above.

The peaceful dining turned into chaos. Pepon was missing, there were dead bodies everywhere, Stevie was unresponsive, Naomi was outnumbered and Gabriel was slowly suffocating under the heavy beast.

Gabriel was losing hope. Tears formed in his eyes and his thoughts became clouded. His heart nearly burst as he experienced fear for the first time in his life.

In a last-ditch effort, he clenched his fists and began bombarding the beast with all the little power he could muster.

"This can't be the end! I don't want to die!"