Chapter 27

“Sherry, Sophia, are you okay? How are the kids?”

“Yeah, we’re fine… somehow. These kids… were the only ones we were able to save,” Sherry said, her voice low. Sophia’s eyes were downcast.

There must’ve been people that the two of them couldn’t save. I suppose I’m the same. There are plenty of people that I failed to save, too. They were… trembling. I suppose that makes sense, though; there’s no human who would be able to stay sane after witnessing that hellscape. Simply being there, surrounded by the dying screams of countless others, was enough to sap away any strength we had.

But I was an S-Rank Exorcist. I had to keep moving. I ordered the other Exorcists to guide Sherry, Sophia, and the kids back to the castle. More importantly, though, there seemed to be something else that was scaring the two of them – something even worse than the situation in the city. Hm… I wonder if it’s something they can’t tell me about?

“Eira, what should we do now? What’s the Army doing?”

“The Army seems to have finally mobilised, but not well. The situation right now is far too chaotic, and the chain of command isn’t working properly. On top of that, they’re not trained to fight within the city. It’ll take some time before they’ll be of any use, so… we have to take the lead.”

The Anti-Demon Army. It’s composed of graduates of the Exorcist Academies and exists solely to fight demons. This attack, though, was completely unexpected, and they weren’t prepared to fight when the chaos broke out. After all, this was the first time in 150 years that monsters had been able to attack a human city. It also hadn’t been very long since the attack started. The Army needed time to prepare, and it was our job to give them that time.

“Eira, I think this is our chance to go outside the walls and take out the leader.”

“…If we leave now, the front line might collapse. We should wait until the Army can take over here.”

“Things will only get worse if we don’t solve the problem at its root,” I replied.

“That’s true… Even if the city doesn’t fall completely, there would be countless dead by then.” She looked troubled.

“Then we have to do something. If we can kill the leader, we can at least decrease the number of deaths. Who knows how bad it’ll get if we don’t kill it now? Plus, I think I know approximately where the leader is.”

“Do we… really have no choice…”

“I can go alone if need be,” I said.

“Can you handle that?”

“I can’t be certain. I might die, yes, but I’m confident that I’m the best choice we have. You may have a lot of combat hours in the Twilight, but I think I’m still more accustomed to being out there.”

“…Can I leave that to you, then?”

“Yes.”

“Got it. I’ll take command of the forces in the city and try to do something here. So, Yuria… Good luck,” she said.

“I’ll do my best.”

I prepared myself to fight – to go alone into the Twilight again. I’m used to fighting solo, after all. I’m used to it, but my hands were still shaking. I was about to head out there again. Into that world. If I said I wasn’t scared… that would be a lie. After all, I know, more than anyone, just how scary the Twilight is.

On top of that, the battle I was heading into was unlike any I’d fought before. I knew there was a high chance I’d die, but… if I did nothing, things would only get worse.

So I decided to go. In order to save all the people I care about, I would go.

“Yuria…”

“Oh, Sherry and Sophia.”

The two of them came up while Eira and I were talking. Sherry was the one who spoke up; Sophia’s eyes were still fixed on the ground.

“I’m heading out,” I told them.

“Heading out? Where?

“To the Twilight. The leader of these monsters attacking the city is out there. Unless I kill it, this battle will never end.”

“You’re going alone?”

“There’s no one else who can do it. The only person who would be able to come with me is Eira, but… we need her here to protect the city. So I’m going alone.”

“…That’s… But… I can…” Sherry stammered.

“No, Sherry. If we went with him, we’d just hold him back… You know that, don’t you?” Sophia finally spoke up.

“…Yeah. You’re right; we… we couldn’t do anything…”

Sophia was right. If she hadn’t said it, I would have. The two of them may be powerful – and I’m sure they’ve killed plenty of monsters in battle – but fighting in the Twilight is entirely different. As they were, I couldn’t risk taking them into the Twilight with me, and they knew that.

Sherry composed herself. “Yuria, we believe in you. You’d better come back.”

“Got it.”

“…Yuria, I’m… I’m so sorry… It’s all my fault you became an S-Rank, and now…” Sophia said, crying.

“…Sophia, I would’ve become an S-Rank at some point no matter what, I’m sure. It just happened sooner, that’s all. And thanks to that, I’m now able to stand here… to stand proudly, and fight to protect others. I can prove to the world that the time I spent in the Twilight was not in vain.”

“Yuria…” She began crying harder.

There’s a lot to unpack around her right now, but… I think it’ll have to wait until I get back.

“Eira, I’m heading out. I’ll leave the city to you.”

“…I’ll take care of it. Don’t die out there.”

“Alright.”

And so, I prepared to leave the city. But I never got the chance.

The leader of the monsters had entered the city.

I was stunned. I couldn’t understand what had happened.

“That’s…”

“Looks like there’s no need to go out, after all…”

“Y-yes, that’s right, but…”

Somehow, my target had entered the city, completely undetected. It broke the outer walls, letting even more monsters flood into the city. Its imposing figure stood there almost as if to say, “This is the end.”

How? How did I not notice? I thought it was still outside; Twilight Sight told me it was still far away? With that much mana moving around, it should’ve been obvious, and yet, somehow, it was suddenly much closer. Almost as if it had teleported…

I suddenly remembered Dan’s last words: “It’s… too late now…” I hadn’t paid much attention to them at the time, thinking they were just the delusional words of a dying man, but I started to wonder if this was what he meant.

“Wait a minute, this monster is…”

I’d seen something like this before. Just before I reached the Ogres’ village, I’d encountered something. The Twilight there was dark – not as dark as it is around this monster now, but still quite dark. At the centre of that darkness was this monster: not a Huge Spider, like the others, but… an Ancient Spider.

When I came back to the Seventh City, I spent a lot of time gathering information on monsters and demons. While doing so, I found a book with information about demons that existed 150 years ago. This monster, the Ancient Spider, was one of them. Well over 10 metres long and with an abnormally fast rate of healing, they were, without a doubt, the strongest S-Ranked monsters.

I suddenly understood how Dan must have felt when fighting me. I understood how it felt to face an enemy and know that you were no match for them.

“Is this… Is this really the ringleader, though?” I wondered aloud. It didn’t make sense, after all. The Ancient Spider was definitely strengthening and leading the monsters in the city, but it couldn’t be the cause of everything that happened. There was still no explanation for what happened to Dan, nor was there an explanation for the ancient barrier trapping the other S-Ranks. Wait, was Dan a decoy? He might’ve just been a pawn to distract me and keep me from reacting to the situation at large… There’s definitely someone behind this, I thought.

There was no other explanation: either a human, or perhaps a high-ranking demon, had to be behind this attack. It was, without a doubt, the work of an intelligent being.

Then, the Ancient Spider roared. The shock waves rippled throughout the city, shaking the very earth beneath us.

“W-what is this thing?!”

“…This is bad!”

I could dimly hear the shouts of the other Exorcists around me as I felt a searing pain in my right arm. I rolled up my sleeves and noticed the Duskmark on my arm was glowing red. Is it… resonating? With the Ancient Spider’s roar? I could feel my strength growing, like something burning deep within my core.

“Eira, Sherry, Sophia. I’ll handle that thing. Alone.”

“Don’t be crazy! There’s no way you can beat that thing!” Sherry protested.

“That’s not important. Someone has to fight it. On top of that, someone has to deal with all the weaker monsters pouring into the city. If we can’t accomplish both of those things, a lot of people are going to die. In order to do that, we need to conserve our strength here. Plus, I was planning on fighting this thing alone, anyway. The plan hasn’t changed.”

“…That’s…”

“Eira, Sophia. The two of you seem to be thinking straight right now; you understand what I’m saying, right?”

“…Yeah.”

“…Yes. Your plan is the most logical.”

I gave them no room to object. The two of them understood that and put their trust in me, leaving me no choice but to respond to their trust.

“I’ll head out now. I’ll try to keep it near the entrance, so please take care of the weak monsters that come through.”

”

”

I held my knife with both hands and activated Invisible Blade. I was now in a race against time. The sooner I could finish this battle, the fewer the casualties.

I kicked off the ground and ran towards the final battle, alone, as the sole hope of mankind.