MTM 46

“…Huh?”

Harto was briefly confused by Zed’s next action. The hand he thought would be extended toward him remained against Zed’s side instead.

This is…

‘Is, is he telling me to link arms…?’

He is asking to link arms in this deadly situation? Harto was bewildered by Zed’s unexpected move, but he had no time to think. He held his breath and quickly linked his arm through Zed’s, he trusted him.

“I’ll finish this quickly. Hold the shield tight.”

“Okay.”

Harto didn’t know what Zed planned to do, but he instinctively felt that he must never let go of the shield. He cautiously gripped it, treating it as part of his own body.

“Haaa!”

As if waiting for that moment, one of the enemies roared and charged at them.

Zed’s left foot slammed into the ground, and a small vibration ran through it. He took a short breath and watched the enemy without blinking.

The enemy twisted his body and swung a serrated sword at the motionless Zed. The sharp blade double rapidly, slicing through the air. The strong gust swayed his hair.

Taking that as a signal, Zed put strength into his feet and thrust forward as if throwing his sword.

When the one swinging his sword recoiled and retreated, another enemy lowered his stance and rushed in. Zed pushed Harto, who had linked arms with him, forward. When Harto’s shield blocked the view, the enemy didn’t even try to dodge and slammed his body into it.

Thud.

At that moment, Zed quickly pulled his sword back, twisted his ankle, and swung to the side.

Whiiing!

As the blade smoothly sliced the enemy’s neck, blood spurted out like a fountain. The ceiling was dyed crimson, hot drops of blood spraying in all directions.

Zed pulled Harto close under his cloak to keep the blood from splattering on him.

“What… what is this….”

It all happened in an instant. The enemies froze mid-attack. They were quick to assess the situation and seemed to realize Zed wasn’t an opponent to take lightly. He looked at the illusionist from the corner of his eye.

“What’s wrong. Is that all?”

Zed flicked the blood from his blade and scoffed.

“If you’re going to hold back, wouldn’t it be better to use something like the illusion you guys are good at?”

“…I only meant to bring back clean corpses.”

The illusionist, who had been completely still until now, answered in a low voice. Black flames rose and burned at his fingertips. The flames grew larger and moved like a living snake, drawing something in the air.

Tsssss…!

Black fire rose in a circle from the ground around the illusionist. In an instant, it reached waist height, emitting a shrill roar. The flames entangled, swarming towards Zed and Harto like a beast hunting a prey.

“……!”

Zed snatched Harto’s shield and slammed it to the ground. At the same time, he unleashed his holy power through the hand holding the shield. The shield was instantly surrounded by white light.

Shhhh!

The holy light covering the shield blocked the oncoming black fire. The flames faltered for a moment but spread out again. At this rate, the entire place would soon be swallowed by fire.

‘I can’t just keep blocking this. We have to get out!’

“Harto, first we get Leon…”

Whoosh!

Before he could finish, an enemy came up silently and grabbed the back of Harto’s neck. The attack came so suddenly that Harto couldn’t even scream.

“Harto!”

Zed reached out to grab him, but the black flames had already filled the underground prison. A huge serpent of fire lunged toward Zed to swallow him whole.

Boom! Boom!

The ground shook, with the roar and the surge of heat, everything began to collapse.

“……!”

For an instant, Harto met Zed’s eyes. Then the floor split open, and he fell into a deep abyss.

“Zed…!”

Harto shouted toward Zed, who fell into darkness whose depth he couldn’t see. But the black flames already wrapped around Zed and completely swallowed him, and not even his voice reached him anymore.

‘Ah, ah… no….’

Harto was overcome with despair. He repeatedly screamed Zed’s toward the darkness deeper than the underground, but it didn’t reach him.

“Ugh! Zed! Zed…! L-let me go!”

Hanging in the air, caught by the enemy’s hand, Harto struggled with all his strength. But when the grip tightened around his neck, even breathing became difficult.

“You little brat are in the way. Should I just kill you?”

An irritated voice rang in his ear. The man holding Harto shook his head in annoyance, then pulled off the hood of his robe. The man, with shiny black hair like it had been oiled, didn’t remove the silver mask shaped like a bird’s beak.

He raised his serrated sword toward Harto.

As the frightened Harto froze, the man in the silver mask tilted his head and stared at him. It was a strange sight. The tip of the beak on the mask was black, and the eye holes were small, which made it look like a real bird.

The darkness hid the man’s eyes, but Harto could feel that the man was looking him up and down, and it made his skin crawl.

“What is wrong? Are you scared to die with your friend?”

The man asked in a mocking tone.

“Z-Zed isn’t dead….”

Harto spoke with a trembling voice. He was worried, but he didn’t think Zed was really dead. Zed was strong.

“Is that so?”

The man snorted and smirked. Harto wanted to break free from his grip, but he couldn’t. His shaking hand moved toward his back pocket.

‘Use the dagger only when you mean to hurt the enemy.’

Now was the time to use it.

“Then what about him?”

At that moment, the man moved the tip of his sword away from Harto and pointed somewhere else. Harto followed his gaze and saw Leon inside a magic cage. Leon was still unconscious and completely still. Harto’s hand stopped.

“You saw it earlier, right? My comrade died.”

The man grinned and leaned closer toward Harto. A foul stench emanated from him and stung Harto’s nose.

“Then doesn’t it make sense that one of you should die too?”

Tap tap, the man asked as he tapped Harto’s shoulder with the tip of his sword.

“Do you want to die instead of him? Or should I kill him?”

“……”

“Hm? Hurry up and choose.”

The tip of the sword moved back and forth between Harto and Leon. The man’s laughing voice sounded like a demon’s.

“Why are you quiet all of a sudden? Huh?!”

When Harto said nothing, the man lost his patience and thrust the sword deeper against Harto’s neck.

“Ah…!”

The blade only grazed his skin, yet a thin line of blood trickled down.

“Your skin is soft… so…haaah….”

The man licked his lips when he saw the red blood, breathing heavily. He seemed to be some pervert who got excited by blood.

‘W-what do I do? What should I do….’

Harto’s heart was pounding. He didn’t even know what was happening to Zed right now. Many thoughts flashed through his head. He knew he should use the dagger Zed had given him, but he didn’t know how to attack.

Or should he turn into a monster and escape? Should he set the man’s body on fire? But he couldn’t just leave Leon behind, and if the man touched him first, he might be attacked before he could use his ability properly.

‘Zed….’

If only Zed were here now. Harto wanted to find him, but he felt miserable that without Zed, he couldn’t even think of fighting.

‘…You are a monster. Don’t get in the way.’

He didn’t want to become the nuisance Walter had called him.

‘I’ll protect him.’

He had promised himself that he would always protect Zed.

Harto gritted his teeth. He had to think of something and get himself out of this danger on his own.

…Plop.

‘Huh…?’

Just then, he heard a small but clear sound of water. Behind the man’s shoulder, drops of water were falling from a cracked part of the ceiling where it had caved in.

“……”

Harto stared at the falling drops without blinking. When one drop hanging from the ceiling finally fell, he moved one finger.

At that moment, the falling drop twisted in midair and bent toward the man’s nape.

Plop.

“Ugh! Wh-what the hell?!”

The man flinched and grabbed the back of his neck. He frowned as he felt the dampness on his palm.

“Shit, scared me….”

Just as he turned his head back toward Harto, Harto thrust the dagger from his back pocket straight into one of the mask’s round eye holes.

“Arghhh!”

The man screamed in pain, dropped Harto, and fell back. Blood poured from the spot where the blade had sunk in.

“My eye! My eye! Aaghhh!”

The man writhed in agony, unable to even pull the dagger out.

The sight was so horrifying that Harto turned his gaze away and ran toward the magic cage where Leon was trapped.

Crack

“…Ah!”

The moment he reached the cage, the floor beneath his feet split in several directions and shattered. There was nowhere to run. Harto fell into pitch darkness together with the magic cage holding Leon.